Horrendous shooting and refs are calling everything Belmont's way. On one layup, Green was hit in the head/arm/face about ten times and no whistle at all... ball goes out of bounds to, you guessed it, Belmont. That doesn't help our case when refs let them do whatever they want to us.
BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee @ Belmont (ESPN+), 7PM, Monday, 11/12/18
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
This is why I could not be a college basketball coach, coaching assistant, etc. If I prepared my team all year, practice after practice, and saw my team getting screwed hard by refs in a game like this, I would no doubt be swinging at them and probably end up in jail. There is nothing more maddening than a blind, bias'd zebra, and I'm just a fan.
Nope. The young McDevitt just got schooled and out coached by a savvy veteran head coach. We stayed in the game by shooting a ridiculous 60% in the first half but no team is going to do that an entire game. Byrd made adjustments and McDevitt had no clue what to do.
I was really interested to see this game to see what we have. And like I said up front. Gonna be a long long season.
Congrats on your money.
After the first half I really thought we wouldnt skip a beat with losing the frog. Sucks.
Well I hate to say it, but the "good" (first half) does not out weight the "bad" (second half) here. Looks like this season is going to go about like we all expected. Somewhere around .400 or .500 winning %. We are just bad unless we have one player turning in a very unorthodox performance (ie. Gamble scoring 17 in the first half). I guess we should be thankful we hit the lottery in the first half with Gamble, otherwise this would have been a 40 point shellacking instead of just a 20-25 point whooping. Sad.
Also, we are gonna have to learn how to play defense at some point. There will be nights, and apparently many of them, where we can't hit the broad side of a barn. In those instances, you've gotta defend and rebound. Something we clearly are not capable of.
Also, we are gonna have to learn how to play defense at some point. There will be nights, and apparently many of them, where we can't hit the broad side of a barn. In those instances, you've gotta defend and rebound. Something we clearly are not capable of.
Nope. Gotta have high IQ players/maturity/depth to sustain for 40 minutes as well.. basketball is a game of runs and things get real tough when shot after shot doesn't drop. Combined with poor ball control and its a recipe for disaster on the road
Sorry bud. Byrd just schooled McDevitt. The reason why the shots wouldn’t fall is because all Byrd needed was one half to know what to do with this new staff. The assistant even said it at halftime what went wrong for them in the first half and what they were going to do in the second half. And that’s exactly what they did.
I wasn't able to watch the game. I watched the ESPN play-by-play updater, which is infuriating to watch when your team is imploding by the way.
What did Belmont do that was special in the second half? Were they running some esoteric defenses or something? All I saw was one missed shot after another while Belmont continued to pour in points.
Also,
What's up with our defense? Belmont has never scored that many on us. Do we just give the other team free open looks or something? I've yet to been able to see a game yet this year.
What did Belmont do that was special in the second half? Were they running some esoteric defenses or something? All I saw was one missed shot after another while Belmont continued to pour in points.
Also,
What's up with our defense? Belmont has never scored that many on us. Do we just give the other team free open looks or something? I've yet to been able to see a game yet this year.
Rick Byrd made an assanine comment about the NCAA selection last year, essentially defending P5 schools.
I hope we can start beating Mr Sweatervest on a consistent basis in future.
I hope we can start beating Mr Sweatervest on a consistent basis in future.
Sure..... but it helps when Byrd has the players to make said adjustments... CNM is the head guy so fair to put it all on him if you wish but that's not quite the whole picture now is it.. much easier to 'reload' with new players for a head coach at a school for 30+ years than a guy who is in his first season..
No. The same thing good defenses in this leagues are going to do. What Belmont talked about at half was how they allowed MT offensively to move freely wheeever they wanted to go both at the ball and away from the ball. Pretty simple really. They stopped the dribble. Got in passing lanes and forced MT to slow down and make good decisions. They couldn’t do it. I bet we turned it over 20 times in the second half. And MT got all flustered. Couldn’t handle it and couldn’t do anything except throw up a bunch of wild shots or turn it over.
Well. The point I was making is we aren’t very good and he got out coached. That’s a fact regardless of the players. He could have gotten his team to slow down based off what Belmont was doing defensively. He didn’t. Stuck to his guns and it cost him and he got taken to the woodshed for it. The problem with this style to your point is you have to have really good players who also have a lot discipline particularly with the ball. Hard to find that level of skill and discipline that don’t end up at Duke or Kansas. No one is judging the McDevitt era after just one D1 game particularly given the circumstances. But my main point was that we aren’t going to be good this year. This is a 9 or 10 win team. And that’s just hard reality after the last decade.
2 assists, 13 TO's in the 2nd half.. lot of teaching for a young team that now has seen that you have to play 40 minutes- not just 20.. encouraging 1st half but still too many unassisted shots dropped.. eventually the guys will make those extra passes but it's going to take time.
Belmont's beaten us by 25 regularly the last ten years. I'm saying once we don't have a mash up team, it will be different.
Wow. that sounds......awful. I'm glad I wasn't able to watch the game then.
If we cannot play disciplined basketball against good defense....then....well...I don't think I even need to elaborate further.
We looked absolutely horrible in the second half! Piss poor defense. I don’t think Belmont has better athletes we just had bad effort on the defensive side of the ball. When shots aren’t fallin you make it by playing excellent defense!!! We seemed really soft and I don’t like that.
it's a patchwork roster with a lot of guys that have not faced D1 competition until tonight or role players being asked to be key contributors. Honestly the Raiders looked like a juco team or like some of the swac teams Kermit played early in his tenure. Undisciplined, little to no defense, out of position, take a shot with no regard to where your teammates were or if they were open or not. It's going to be a tough season.
Honestly, the bad defense was the most concerning of all to me. I can live with shots not going in sometimes because it's hard to always hit your shots. Every team in the country has nights where they don't shoot well.
With that being said, you are exactly right about defense when your shots are not going in. That's when you step up on D. We only scored 19 points in the second half while Belmont registered 46. That's unbelievable. I don't think Belmont has ever scored 92 points on us.
If we continue to play non-existent defense, we will lose every game we play where we don't shoot at least 50% or more on the offensive end. Which means we will lose the majority of our games because it's hard to shoot that well every night.
Depressing. I was secretly hoping we would at least have a decent year and maybe win 20 games. After tonight and seeing all those turnovers to lesser opponents, we will do well to hit the .500 mark.
I was at the game. We rely on Greene and Sims for outside shots and Scurry for rebounds, inside scoring and defense. Green may have had 13 points at the half, but he had to shoot a lot of shots to get that. They concentrated on him in the first half and Scurry started getting in foul trouble. If one, two or all three of these three players gets extra defensive pressure and or gets in foul trouble, we don't have the depth to overcome it. Gamble looked incredible in the first half, hitting most of his shots from in front of the arc and just inside the arc. We might have been trailing at the half, if not for this surge.
In the second half during Belmont's run they had an extended 2-3 zone about 1/2 of the time. We lost all composure against it. We couldn't make a pass and or a shot against it. At one point we started chipping into their lead of about 8 points and Junior Farquhar made a bad pass that gave Belmont a layup. To compound the problem, he threw the ball in quickly towards Sims, but threw it away. After that quick 4 point turnaround it seemed like the Raiders just lost all heart. The play before this sequence Junior showed incredible hustle to steal the ball from Belmont. We are going to have a lot of inconsistency this season relying on freshman for our depth.
Even before we got tired in the second half, the defense was sorely lacking. When they started getting tired, the defense was almost non existent.
In the second half during Belmont's run they had an extended 2-3 zone about 1/2 of the time. We lost all composure against it. We couldn't make a pass and or a shot against it. At one point we started chipping into their lead of about 8 points and Junior Farquhar made a bad pass that gave Belmont a layup. To compound the problem, he threw the ball in quickly towards Sims, but threw it away. After that quick 4 point turnaround it seemed like the Raiders just lost all heart. The play before this sequence Junior showed incredible hustle to steal the ball from Belmont. We are going to have a lot of inconsistency this season relying on freshman for our depth.
Even before we got tired in the second half, the defense was sorely lacking. When they started getting tired, the defense was almost non existent.
Belmont has never beaten us by 25 even once, much less regularly. In the last 10 meetings they have the upper hand (we have 3 wins to their 7 in that stretch). Three of Belmont’s wins in that stretch were by margins of 15, 12, and 19 (tonight). Two of our wins were by margins of 13 and 21. The other 5 have all been decided by 6 points or less.
There’s a lot of over-reaction in this thread on both directions. We aren’t as good as we looked in the first half. We aren’t as bad as we looked in the second half. This season will have some promising nights and some long nights. Tonight just happened to capture both of those in one game.
Hopefully when the dust clears in March this will be a group that improved throughout the year, the final record is at least .500, and we can all be excited about adding the guys sitting out this year to the roster next year.
Hopefully when the dust clears in March this will be a group that improved throughout the year, the final record is at least .500, and we can all be excited about adding the guys sitting out this year to the roster next year.
One other thing I always like to point out about Rick Byrd is that even with him being pretty much deified by Nashville media, his teams have never advanced in the NCAA Tournament. For as much as some people on here seem to love to praise him, I have a hunch that if we had their results exactly over the last 10 years, many on here would be complaining about never getting out of the first round. He’s a great coach who deserves credit for what he’s built at Belmont, but I’ve never understood the fascination some seem to have with him as if he is James Naismith reincarnated.
I'm the exact opposite. Byrd doesn't really impress me at all. He runs a specific system with specific players that is predictable, yet solid, but can only go so far in terms success. They will never be anything more than what they are because they are not good enough to win NCAA tournament games. Short of a few marquee players here and there, they simply don't have enough athletes to make a tournament run.
What the H*// was that tonight?
Alright, I had to get that out of my system.
I pretty much expected that Belmont would win, but I had the early season hope of a fan that my team just might pull something out. Watching that game, I almost wished MT hadn't made such a strong run in the 1st half. It only fed getting the hopes up then having to watch the hopes and the team get crushed in the 2nd half.
In this early going, I guess I'm like a lot of folks. I'm wanting to see how CNM molds and shapes the team. After this loss, I might actually have more questions now than I did before the start of the season.
While I usually don't read the recaps, I'm glad I read the recap on the athletic dept website after this game. Turns out, CNM apparently struggled making it to the game tonight due to a stomach bug. A stomach bug! All is forgiven. Throw most any malady my way and I cope with it as good as the next guy. Throw a stomach bug at me? Stick a fork in me cause I am done. So that does explain a lot about tonight. I was wondering why CNM was almost watching the game as a casual observer, especially in the 2nd half. The stomach bug explains why he wasn't up calling timeouts and trying to direct the players when they were struggling.
At the prospect of losing Kermit, I think I dreaded most the prospect of going back to so much stock being placed in FG% for the final outcome of the game. I was spoiled with Kermit's strong focus on toughness, defense, and rebounding to take much of the focus off of the fickle FG% of each game. Then tonight's game happened which was a case study in the ups and downs of FG%. With CNM being sick, a new and young team, and the first real regular season game, this is certainly not the team that they will become over the course of the season.
In the 1st half when Belmont wasn't sure what to expect with new MT team, the Blue Raiders were able to play fast and fun ball without having think too much. Prolific scoring was the result. At half, Belmont adjusted and applied stronger defense. The young Blue Raiders simply did not look like they knew quite how to deal with it. They were thinking too much. Then the turnovers, the missed shots, and no offensive flow in general which led to Belmont getting out and running with the ball. The upside to all this is that once the players figure out how to play in the system and with each other, they just might be a decent team. In the meantime, there are likely to be some rough growing pains.
Regardless of all that, it was painful watching MT give up so much scoring at the front of the rim due to lack of size and physicalness that comes with a true center. That will likely be a struggle all season. Hopefully, CNM can rectify that situation through recruiting this upcoming year. Lastly, Sims is an outstanding player as he revealed some last year, and some of those true freshman, especially Crump and Johnson, show that they have some serious skills and potential.
Alright, I had to get that out of my system.
I pretty much expected that Belmont would win, but I had the early season hope of a fan that my team just might pull something out. Watching that game, I almost wished MT hadn't made such a strong run in the 1st half. It only fed getting the hopes up then having to watch the hopes and the team get crushed in the 2nd half.
In this early going, I guess I'm like a lot of folks. I'm wanting to see how CNM molds and shapes the team. After this loss, I might actually have more questions now than I did before the start of the season.
While I usually don't read the recaps, I'm glad I read the recap on the athletic dept website after this game. Turns out, CNM apparently struggled making it to the game tonight due to a stomach bug. A stomach bug! All is forgiven. Throw most any malady my way and I cope with it as good as the next guy. Throw a stomach bug at me? Stick a fork in me cause I am done. So that does explain a lot about tonight. I was wondering why CNM was almost watching the game as a casual observer, especially in the 2nd half. The stomach bug explains why he wasn't up calling timeouts and trying to direct the players when they were struggling.
At the prospect of losing Kermit, I think I dreaded most the prospect of going back to so much stock being placed in FG% for the final outcome of the game. I was spoiled with Kermit's strong focus on toughness, defense, and rebounding to take much of the focus off of the fickle FG% of each game. Then tonight's game happened which was a case study in the ups and downs of FG%. With CNM being sick, a new and young team, and the first real regular season game, this is certainly not the team that they will become over the course of the season.
In the 1st half when Belmont wasn't sure what to expect with new MT team, the Blue Raiders were able to play fast and fun ball without having think too much. Prolific scoring was the result. At half, Belmont adjusted and applied stronger defense. The young Blue Raiders simply did not look like they knew quite how to deal with it. They were thinking too much. Then the turnovers, the missed shots, and no offensive flow in general which led to Belmont getting out and running with the ball. The upside to all this is that once the players figure out how to play in the system and with each other, they just might be a decent team. In the meantime, there are likely to be some rough growing pains.
Regardless of all that, it was painful watching MT give up so much scoring at the front of the rim due to lack of size and physicalness that comes with a true center. That will likely be a struggle all season. Hopefully, CNM can rectify that situation through recruiting this upcoming year. Lastly, Sims is an outstanding player as he revealed some last year, and some of those true freshman, especially Crump and Johnson, show that they have some serious skills and potential.
Never expected us to go there with this team and win...so let's not jump off a bridge. We will have some good moments and some bad moments and last night we had the extremes on both. I am just going to take this season as it comes and not expect too much and not get down when a better team beats us.
I know everyone is as disappointed as I, but how many Freshman are we playing? 4. How many Sophomores? 2 How many new comers... ???
Now I realize the 1st half was an upside and the 2nd was a travesty... I also did not see the game but we will, unfortunately, have these moments as this team matures. If we can get to a 65% to 75% in the win column, I will feel success this year..
Now I realize the 1st half was an upside and the 2nd was a travesty... I also did not see the game but we will, unfortunately, have these moments as this team matures. If we can get to a 65% to 75% in the win column, I will feel success this year..
Losing to Belmont always sucks, getting bludgeoned by them is just awful.
We have no defense. We will be lucky to win 12 games this season. No D, no wins. It can never be all offense all the time. No team is that hot forever. I've been saying this and will continue to. Davis coached D which is why we were in and won as many games as we did. CNM's offense will put up more points but if your D is swiss cheese, it doesn't matter.
One game doesn’t make a season. We need to quit comparing everything to Kermit. Check Kermit’s record the first few years just good enough to hang on. This is a makeshift roster thrown together this is not nicks fault but Kermit’s fault. You can’t win with 3 of 8 being freshmen. We don’t recruit one and dones our players must b developed. This year is going to b a struggle it would have been with Kermit with the schedule we have. Go blue raiders
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