BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee vs Ohio (ESPNews), 6:30PM, Sunday, 11/24/2019

[SpaceRaider]

vs. Ohio University

11/24/2019 | 6:30 PM

ESPNews

WGNS 1450 AM/100.5 FM/101.9 FM; WDUC 93.9 FM; The Game 102.5 FM/97.5 FM


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[SpaceRaider]

 

[sWiley]

Ohio opened at -2 and up to -4 with the O/U @ 143

Looking like the Bobcats will take this one.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Ohio opened at -2 and up to -4 with the O/U @ 143

Looking like the Bobcats will take this one.

More than likely... It would be a nice surprise if the men won a single game in this tournament, but that's about what we expected...

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

11-7

15:28

 

[SpaceRaider]

7 straight points for Ohio

13:09

11-14

 

[MTLynn]

The Raiders are laying too many bricks

 

[sWiley]

How many points can we give up tonight?

 

[SpaceRaider]

29-43 at the half

 

[sWiley]

painful to watch. We just are not a good team. And I'm having a hard time finding the silver lining. We don't even look close to being CUSA competitive.

Off to watch 49ers vs. Packers. Can't watch this game any more

 

[SpaceRaider]

I don't really understand how our guys can be so off shooting in that little gym, all four games

 

[TrueBlue147]

So far there doesn't appear to be much Improvement at all from the Coastal Carolina blow out. It appears we are looking at another blowout. Hopefully they come out and turn it around but it will be hard when we constantly give up huge deficits at halftime and play no defense.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Green and Jones have combined for 5 freaking points in the first half. Have to find a way for these guys to get off to better starts in games.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Johnson probably has had the best tourney so far and this game he has been disappointing...

 

[TrueBlue147]

I don't really understand how our guys can be so off shooting in that little gym, all four games

I agree between this year and last I have never seen teams shoot so many air balls and bricks and that includes high school teams.

 

[TrueBlue147]

I don't really understand how our guys can be so off shooting in that little gym, all four games

I agree between this year and last I have never seen teams shoot so many air balls and bricks and that includes high school teams.

 

[SpaceRaider]

18:03

31-47

CNM gets a technical after a layup where no foul was called on Ohio

 

[SpaceRaider]

MT can not for the life of them throw a pass into Jackson. Might as well hand the ball to the other team

 

[SpaceRaider]

And MT fouls another three point shooter. Are we averaging two or three of those a game?

 

[sWiley]

 

[SpaceRaider]

33-53

15:18

 

[SpaceRaider]

Jones only has two points at the 15:18 mark of the second half, Green not much better with five points.

 

[sWiley]

We don't look well coached at all. We can hardly inbound the ball from underneath the basket. Here in the 2nd half the first inbound under our own basket we got a 5 second call and the second time we had to inbound to the other side of the court because nobody could get open.

On offense we literally appear to do nothing but motion + pass for 10-15 seconds followed up by some 1 on 1 isolation drive attempt that usually ends in a brick or turnover.

Very creative.

No inside outside play. No dribble and kick. No good isolation 1 on 1 plays. No pick and roll. Nothing.

Motion motion motion, pass pass pass, drive the ball and take a bad shot or turn it over.

No wonder we are so bad.

On defense, there's always 1 person screwing something up making it easy for the other team. Eli Lawrence just looks lost on defense, nothing else to say. I don't even understand how you can put a guy on the court who play's D like that. There's gotta be someone else. Hardly ever anything creative on D. Occasional switch from man to zone and back and forth but it never seems to get the other team out of rhythm. Where's the press, traps, box and 1, or SOMETHING. We look helpless. Other teams literally doing whatever they want. They dictate the game on both ends of the court and we end up with predictable results.

 

[SpaceRaider]

12:15

43-57

 

[MTLynn]

Eli Lawrence has had a nice burst of offense - 7 pts now

 

[sWiley]

Would you look at that. We start pressing and trapping and go on a 6-0 run..........

 

[MTLynn]

Green is really stinking it up. He is 2-9

 

[dukewayne]

Another game, another team that got too close to 50 points in the first half. You're not going to win many games with that type of defensive effort. This is beyond frustrating.

 

[sWiley]

Definite regression in year 2. No other way to put it. We were competitive and beating teams like Ohio in the second half of the season last year and now we can barely keep up with a middle of the road MAC team.

None of the new guys impress me beyond Tyson Jackson and he still needs to improve but he can at least hold his own. Jayce Johnson is a solid player but that's about it. No all conference players on this team. No CUSA POY contenders on this team. The freshmen can be as athletic as they want but they do not look like natural basketball players. At all. Crump is obviously a total bust. Not sure why he is even on the court. He's too stiff and slow to be a guard, and too weak and fragile to bang down low. He doesn't have a jump shot, and he doesn't play good defense. What's he supposed to do exactly???? Just be a body out there?

I feel like thing's are going to get quite a bit worse before they get better. It's gonna be ugly the next few years unless we have an outrageous signing class this year + the next that is also littered with high talent transfers who can play right away. And I highly doubt that happens.

Man, being an MT fan is just hell right now and will be for the foreseeable future. I don't see us leaving the bottom 1/3rd in football or basketball any time soon.

 

[dukewayne]

MT is a horrible playing team right now. What adds to the frustration is that it's apparent that there is bunch of young athletic players with tons of potential on this team. With so many new, young, and inexperienced players on the team, I can understand guys being out of place and taking some time to learn the system. It appears that it is the case that the young team is going through those growing pains. What specifically bothers me is the lack of effort and intensity particularly on defense. You may not have the system down and still developing required skills, but effort and fight you can control each and every day.

Listening to the postgame, it's clear that CNM is stressing defense. Both CNM and CJ Jones accurately described what I've been watching the last few days. Paraphrasing CJ Jones: you gotta guard if you want to do better and win. It is reassuring to hear the coaches and players are focused on fixing the glaring problem of horrible defensive performance.

I hope CNM is able to get his players to amp up the defensive intensity. I'm of the old school mindset of running and rolling around the players until they start puking their guts out at the upcoming practices. I suspect that is not a popular approach these days. I do hope CNM can find a way to motivate those guys to amp up their fight.

 

[dukewayne]

Despite the horrible performances this past week, it appears to me that CNM is doing a pretty good job of recruiting athletic basketball players that have a lot of potential. Watching College Basketball for the last couple of decades, there have been countless teams that stunk up the gym as a young team. So many of those same teams went on to develop into a force after a couple years. For that new core group of players it's usually about the Junior year that they come together to become a force and achieve impressive success. One could argue that this year is that first year or freshman year for the new core group of players. Regardless, it seems hopes for a quick or sudden turnaround is not the current trend for this team. They could end of being an incredibly good team......in another year or two.

 

[dukewayne]

Jayce Johnson is the only player that appears to be standing out the most as the player with good effort and intensity. He appears to still be developing and improving his skills overall. I sure do like that he has some fight in him.

Crump, an interesting player. CNM made a few comments about him in the preseason that were quite insightful. CNM pointed out that Crump is still growing. CNM asserted that Crump is now about 6-8 1/2 and still growing. Just looking at him, it seems pretty obvious. Crump is still growing into a young man with impressive size, but he is lanky. He has that appearance of a young man who's frame has not caught up to his length or height. He has not been able to consolidate his strength and coordination yet. Add to that, it seems his experience has been as a guard. Now he is transitioning to a forward. CNM said that he has been asked to play that SF or PF role rather than that of a guard. It appears to me it's just going to take a couple of years for him and his strength to catch up with his still growing height and length.

Sims getting his scoring touch back has been one of the few bright spots of this past week's games.

CJ Jones is an impressive talent that seems to know what he is doing. If he's not already, I hope he is taking on a leadership role with the team. Just hearing him preach about defense on the postgame won me over.

Tyson Jackson appears to be an outstanding catch for CNM. Big guys in the frontcourt usually take some time to develop for those battles in the paint. For a young man thrown into the fire this week, I'm actually pretty impressed with him.

Eli Lawrence, the pleasant surprise of the new players. He too, looks like a young man trying to grow his strength into his lengthy height. Still, he is contributing solid minutes with decent effort, confidence, and ability. I suspect he is another one that will have a bright future as a Blue Raider.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Podcast: MT MBB vs Ohio 11-24-19

 

[MTLynn]

Got to have Green hitting shots to win on most nights. When he is cold, as he was vs Ohio, the Raiders don't have a chance unless a few other guys step up and hit a bunch of shots

 

[kingaling42]

Crump was a PG is HS and he's hit a growth spurt so right now he's just figuring his own self out.. clearly he's not able to play the point at this time and he's been learning a totally new position guarding guys differently than he's ever had to his entire basketball career.. calling him a total bust is typical of Wileys ignorance.. be frustrated but at least say things that line up with reality man.. kid is still just a r-freshman.. right now Crump has to figure it out while playing; not an easy ask and it puts his deficiencies in plain view- he doesn't have the luxury of developing outside of game action as there's only a 9-man rotation, there's no one else to rely on with 3 transfers sitting out, Dishman's hurt, and Scurry can't play for a few more games..

Johnson before MT picked him up late was headed to play college football so his toughness is noted and his basketball skill now focused should only continue to improve.. the freshmen are playing like freshmen.. the one difference is that last year's team really had heart and they battled despite a clear lack of offensive talent in the OOC schedule- this team hasn't shown as much of that as I would expect.. so did that 'fight' and heart come from Scurry, Hawthorne, or Gamble? Whomever was the catalyst, someone needs to light a fire under the teams a$$ soon...

You combine the cold shooting with everything else, youth, lack of game experience in playing guys that are bigger, faster, stronger than most of these upperclassmen and you get these poor outcomes.. that said the poor defense and slow starts are on both the players and the coaches- one game here or there is one thing but the trend in this tourney is a real issue.. I hope we won't see another 4 game stretch with such poor shooting- especially to start the games; everyone knows that the offense and shooting won't always be there but the defense then has to dig in.. hopefully the young guys will take that to heart but I'm hoping to see one of these upperclassmen step up and be a leader..

I'm looking more at Green, Sims, and Jones for consistency than the younger guys..

6 games in and there are some positives- this team has more assists than turnovers- last year the team was turning the ball over at a 2:1 ratio vs assists.. so there's that...

 

[sWiley]

Crump was already a tweener coming out of HS, the staff had to have known that. He is a young man....of course he is going to grow more. Surely the coaches planned for that? Anyway......what the hell is the plan for him exactly? More wait and see? He doesn't appear to be even close to filling a traditional role as a PG,SG,SF,PF,C, etc. He looks lost out there. Too stiff to be a guard, no jump shot, too thin and fragile to bang down low, doesn't play good defense.....I literally cannot come up with 1 positive to have him on the floor and I'm honestly trying to......



This roster appears to be getting worse, not better. In rebuilds, isn't it supposed to go the other way???

And I don't think we are being unreasonable here. We are just asking for a team that can be competitive against similar programs such as Tulane, Ohio, Coastal Carolina, and other CUSA schools and G5 schools that are similar to us in budget, facilities, etc. We just saw 2 coaches in year 1 that are already going to be competitive in their leagues and we couldn't keep up with either of them in Myrtle Beach. They were also terrible teams last year and they're already on the up and up. Hell, Tulane beat Utah and last I checked is 5-1 on the season. That's already more games than they won last year I believe!!!!!!!!!!!

Our play is embarassing and it's terrible for our league. We used to b1tch and moan about the rest of CUSA dragging our RPI down because they couldn't beat middle of the pack G5 teams in their games.....Now WE are that team and that's not acceptable. It's just not. There is no reason this program and team should ever be a doormat for schools like Tulane, Ohio, Coastal Carolina, etc. under any circumstances.

We went from being a giant killer and well respected nationally to garbage. So much for salvaging any of our reputation at this point.

 

[kingaling42]

MaCio Teague of Baylor (formerly of UNCA) made that all-tourney team in Myrtle Beach.. but Wiley wouldn't have liked him either since he was only a 2-star kid out of HS... I think McDevitt's recruiting track record speaks for itself my friend..

Things have to improve no doubt but if you think it's an instant turnaround you're simply delusional and unless you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night- you don't know much about basketball..

 

[sWiley]

MaCio Teague of Baylor (formerly of UNCA) made that all-tourney team in Myrtle Beach.. but Wiley wouldn't have liked him either since he was only a 2-star kid out of HS... I think McDevitt's recruiting track record speaks for itself my friend..

Things have to improve no doubt but if you think it's an instant turnaround you're simply delusional and unless you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night- you don't know much about basketball..

I know enough to see other programs having much more success in Year 2 of a rebuild...or even Year 1 for that matter.

And nobody cares about signing great players and keeping them for 1 year. I'd rather them not come if they're leaving the second they have any success.

How many NCAA tournament wins does McDevitt have with all those great recruits you speak of?

What about NIT wins? CIT wins?

Has Nick McDevitt ever won a post-season tournament game?

 

[MT01]

I know enough to see other programs having much more success in Year 2 of a rebuild...or even Year 1 for that matter.

And nobody cares about signing great players and keeping them for 1 year. I'd rather them not come if they're leaving the second they have any success.

How many NCAA tournament wins does McDevitt have with all those great recruits you speak of?

What about NIT wins? CIT wins?

Has Nick McDevitt ever won a post-season tournament game?

All those reasons were my concerns. That combined with style of play being applied to higher level basketball and never having been anywhere other than Asheville are all the reasons I raised when he was hired. He never even should have been on the short list - not for a program that had become a perennial mid power. Now we are a joke again. I continue to hope he proves me wrong but he still looks lost Doesn’t give me a lot of hope but I will keep keeping my fingers crossed.