BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee @ Vanderbilt, 6:30, Wednesday, December 5, 2018

[kingaling42]

Wow, Candy sure did kick our @ss. If they won by 30 without Garland, they might have beat us by 60 if he had played. And McDevitt's old team is 1-7 with the only win against a team of walk-ons from the blind school. And none of their 7 losses have been close. Maybe that is who we should have played. Both team couldn't have lost. Somebody would have left the place with a win.

UNCA is the least experienced team in the country with their roster and one the 5 youngest teams overall.

Who else does this profile resemble? The most successful 4 year class graduated last year after winning the league, 3 kids transferred - 2 of them to P5 schools, 2 incoming recruits left for CUSA teams, a new coach, new staff.. have 3 transfers sitting out this year.. I wonder why other teams are beating these teams.. you must be one of those people that blames the President for everything wrong in the world as well..

... and UNCA has one of the lowest budgets in D1.. both program's turnaround will take time

 

[Stonesraider]

In case you didn't realize stuckinthemiddle is likely a troll on their 2nd or 3rd iteration. It's cool to see a Candy fan obsessed with our program. I wonder if they're friends with Coffee.

 

[MTFNBY5]

In case you didn't realize stuckinthemiddle is likely a troll on their 2nd or 3rd iteration. It's cool to see a Candy fan obsessed with our program. I wonder if they're friends with Coffee.

I think he is "Coffee" from the Zone. He lives in his mom's basement in Manchester, has unfortunately been a VU fan all his life, claims to be connected to MT (uses "We" when discussing MT), and is a Motlow St. dropout. (The previous not necessarily conjecture on my part.)

 

[Stonesraider]

You got to commend his diligence.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

oh yeah...he is the one that said that we should respect Vanderbilt for lifeflight. Messageboards sure do attract a bunch of weirdos. *looks at mirror.

 

[stuckinthemiddle2]

I thought we played pretty good. Don't go by the scoreboard.

Our starters had 45 of our 51 points. That's pretty good. We shot a higher percentage from the free throw line than Candy shot from three. That's good because free throws are important. We had two guys in double figures, the same as Candy so we are pretty much just as good.

 

[Stonesraider]

Our women need to do a better job against Candy ..

 

[sWiley]

free money betting against middle this year

 

[stuckinthemiddle2]

Don't give up on us so fast. Team Rankings .com may have us ranked at #203 in the nation, but that kind of disrespect can be used as motivation.

It also means there are 150 worse teams in division one basketball. There is always a silver lining at the end of the tunnel. And we are that lining. Or tunnel.

GO MIDDLE!

 

[sWiley]

I love this guy.

I adamantly disagree with the #203 ranking. We are probably closer to #300 - There are not many worse teams in the country at the moment.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Name one team at our level that if they lost the top 7 players on the team would not struggle?

 

[altshauf]

Name one team at our level that if they lost the top 7 players on the team would not struggle?

Western Kentucky

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Western Kentucky

And WKU is 4-4 this year with 7 returning players (I think we had 3). Apples and Oranges.

 

[altshauf]

Last year Mike... apples to apples. They even lost their top recruit and still got it done.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Last year Mike... apples to apples. They even lost their top recruit and still got it done.

I'll admit they did well, I think they won the Lottery more than anything. They had Johnson who was a solid player, they got Thompson and Colby for one year rentals and then for this year they have to rebuild again.

This isn't normal or something that can be repeated. We sure as heck didn't have an anchor player like Johnson returning ( he average 14,5ppg and 9 boards)...our best returner was a back up point guard who average 1.7 ppg and back up center who 3.9 ppg.

 

[kingaling42]

Last year Mike... apples to apples. They even lost their top recruit and still got it done.

Last year WKU started, Johnson (SR), Thompson (SR), Hollingsworth (FR), Bearden (JR, & Coleby (SR) almost exclusively.. Anderson (FR) & Ohmer (FR) averaged just under 20 mins/game..

Love to hear how starting 3 seniors & 1 junior for a 2nd year coach is apples/apples...

 

[altshauf]

Like this
Gamble-Sr
Sims- soph (who won the spot over a Jr ly)
Hawthorne-Sr
Green-Jr
Scurry-jr

 

[kingaling42]

Like this
Gamble-Sr
Sims- soph (who won the spot over a Jr ly)
Hawthorne-Sr
Green-Jr
Scurry-jr

When did this lineup ever start this season? Sims was a walk-on that started 4 games last year and based on what I've seen with his lack of consistency- if CNM had other players- he'd likely be coming off the bench right now.. played less than 10 mins/gm on avg last year.. also had the 2nd lowest usage percentage of any player on last years team if you favor advanced stats.. not knocking him or anyone as individual players but let's be realistic about the type of returning players that Sims, Gamble, & Hawthorne are.. It says something when Scurry is your best BIG and he wasn't able to play all that much last year...

Last year
Sims: 1.7 pts/1.1 boards/1.4 assists
Gamble: 3.9 pts/3.2 boards/0.2 assists
Hawthorne: 2.2 pts/1.1 boards/0.3 assists
Total: 7.8 pts/5.6 boards/1.9 assists - starts 15; total minutes

WKU's Johnson (in 2016-17) Averaged 14.5 pts/9.4 boards/2.1 assists/ 31 starts the year before last and was a 1000-point scorer before last season started. Played over 1000 minutes (more than all 3 MTSU guys combined). There likely isn't one person here that wouldn't trade all 3 current MTSU returners for one player with that profile..

1st year coach vs 2nd year coach- noticed you had no comment there..

All this is irrelevant as I believe the statement was name a team that lost their top 7 guys and wouldn't struggle- Johnson was WKU's best player in 2016-17 and returned last year. MTSU would look a little different if Nick King returned wouldn't you think?

 

[MTBig Blue]

Western Kentucky

I disagree. They illegally recruit and they still can't win the conference! Shows you how bad of an X's and O's coach Stansbury actually is.

 

[altshauf]

These hypotheticals are boring me. Yes, we all knew this team would struggle. I hate to break it to you, but we have 9 upper class men on this roster. You put out a statement of a team that could overcome that adversity. I gave you my opinion. If you don’t like it... leave.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Why are so many posters angry lately...its Christmas!

 

[MTLynn]

I want to point out three first year records that I think are a good reference for this years expectations... it's reasonable to expect 15-17 wins this year.

Stansbury - first season wku

2016–17 Western Kentucky 15–17 9–9 T–7th

Davis first season MT

2002–03 Middle Tennessee 16–14 9–5 2nd (East)

McDevitt first season UNC-A

2013–14 UNC Asheville 17–15 10–6 T–2nd (South)

 

[SpaceRaider]

We don't have anywhere near the talent or experience of those squads and our out of conference strength of schedule. Kermit's first squad had a big three of Tommy Gunn, William Pippen, and John Humphrey returning from randy wiel's last squad as well as a fourth starter in Eric Parham (14-15). CNM's first season predicament is just in no way comparable to those.

 

[MTLynn]

Interesting to note that during Kermit's first year, the Raiders lost to Murray on 12/16 and 1/1. MT started the season 4-8 before conference games began on 1/4.

https://goblueraiders.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=16

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Interesting to note that during Kermit's first year, the Raiders lost to Murray on 12/16 and 1/1. MT started the season 4-8 before conference games began on 1/4.

https://goblueraiders.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=16

I brought this up last week and this was with a weaker schedule and 3 starters better than what we have today - Gunn, Pippen and Humphrey's. Maybe Green is similar to Gunn.

Its really been a perfect storm for our team to be in this position.

 

[stuckinthemiddle2]

I love this guy.

I adamantly disagree with the #203 ranking. We are probably closer to #300 - There are not many worse teams in the country at the moment.

Why so judgmental about out beloved Blue Raiders? We should show them unconditional love and pull for them even when they lose almost every game.