2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

[mitchellrabbit]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

Yeah. I think so. Don't remember which bet I lost.

I dont either remember but i remember there was something.

[jacks1]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

IUPUI beats Ft. Wayne (MBB).

[YanktonJack7]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

IUPUI beats Ft. Wayne (MBB).

There's a realistic chance that 5 schools could finish 8-8 in the league. That would be something.

[YanktonJack7]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

For MBB, WIU has locked in the #8 seed. That's the only seed decided with 1 day to go

[FeaRed]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

USD fans thought it was kind of funny when we lost both games of that IUPUI-WIU road trip, and many thought they had an easy pathway to winning the title. They very well may end up with the 4 seed instead.

Don't think I saw a single USD poster say the last 2 games would be easy. I don't think anyone (realistically) thought they'd go 2-0

[jacks1]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

There's a realistic chance that 5 schools could finish 8-8 in the league. That would be something.

And if USD beats Western and IUPUI beats Ft. Wayne, the women's side will have the top 4 with 12-4 league records.

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I don't know about all of you but I can't wait for this year's tournament! It is going to be a blast. Both sides are as wide open as they ever have been.

On the men's side you could argue that there are seven teams that could win it! It will be crazy! Every game has the possibility of being really good. Heck, look at Denver for example. Two games ago they were still harboring a chance to win in Brookings to claim the conference title. Two losses later, they could finish anywhere from 3rd to 7th. That's how tight it is!

On the women's side there are four teams that look to have great chances to win. Omaha and ORU are basically 500. So, the first round games probably won't be great but after that they should be fantastic. Unfortunate that we lost Macy or we would be the undisputed dominant team but it will make for an exciting tourney!

Going to be a great time! I prefer two dominant Jacks teams heading in but this will make for a more exciting tournament. Frankly, I love the way both of our teams are heading into the tournament. They will have good vibes on that court in front of a "non-partisan" crowd.

GBGBGJ!!!

SUPERBUNNY

[SteelSD]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I don't know about all of you but I can't wait for this year's tournament! It is going to be a blast. Both sides are as wide open as they ever have been.

On the men's side you could argue that there are seven teams that could win it! It will be crazy! Every game has the possibility of being really good. Heck, look at Denver for example. Two games ago they were still harboring a chance to win in Brookings to claim the conference title. Two losses later, they could finish anywhere from 3rd to 7th. That's how tight it is!

On the women's side there are four teams that look to have great chances to win. Omaha and ORU are basically 500. So, the first round games probably won't be great but after that they should be fantastic. Unfortunate that we lost Macy or we would be the undisputed dominant team but it will make for an exciting tourney!

Going to be a great time! I prefer two dominant Jacks teams heading in but this will make for a more exciting tournament. Frankly, I love the way both of our teams are heading into the tournament. They will have good vibes on that court in front of a "non-partisan" crowd.

GBGBGJ!!!

SUPERBUNNY

I agree with you on the men's team as they certainly seem to be trending in the right direction. A win over Denver and they should have a lot of confidence heading to the tournament.

I'm not nearly as confident in the way the women are playing heading into the tournament. The last 4 games have included 2 losses to the other contenders for the title but less than dominant performances against two of the doormats of the conference. Don't let the final score of the Denver game fool you, it was a 1 point game with 8 minutes to go. Lexi has finally grown into a solid PG for us and is doing a much better job of getting to the rim. The other 4 starters have really stepped up and have lived up to their all conference billing prior to the year. However, outside our starting 5 I can't say I'm happy or confident in any of the players coming off the bench. The lack of development of any of our bench players is concerning to me. The reason we have struggled this year is once our starters come out of the game, our team becomes significantly worse and allows other teams to hang around. I was hoping at least 1-2 of these players would make strides as the year went on, but if anything they seem to have regressed. Getting 8 ppg from them in conference play just isn't cutting it and I think is the primary factor in why we are sitting with as many losses as we are.

[BTownJack]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I agree with you on the men's team as they certainly seem to be trending in the right direction. A win over Denver and they should have a lot of confidence heading to the tournament.

I'm not nearly as confident in the way the women are playing heading into the tournament. The last 4 games have included 2 losses to the other contenders for the title but less than dominant performances against two of the doormats of the conference. Don't let the final score of the Denver game fool you, it was a 1 point game with 8 minutes to go. Lexi has finally grown into a solid PG for us and is doing a much better job of getting to the rim. The other 4 starters have really stepped up and have lived up to their all conference billing prior to the year. However, outside our starting 5 I can't say I'm happy or confident in any of the players coming off the bench. The lack of development of any of our bench players is concerning to me. The reason we have struggled this year is once our starters come out of the game, our team becomes significantly worse and allows other teams to hang around. I was hoping at least 1-2 of these players would make strides as the year went on, but if anything they seem to have regressed. Getting 8 ppg from them in conference play just isn't cutting it and I think is the primary factor in why we are sitting with as many losses as we are.

I completely agree with you on the women's assessment but I do like the way we've played at home throughout the season. Which i'm hoping gives us the edge. Like someone said before...I'd be really happy with both teams playing on Tuesday and winning on that day is icing on the cake.

I just can't wait for the tourney to get here so I can drawn myself in cold beer!

[OldHare]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

The WBB could still be bringing some new twists for different matchups. Last night the post play was highlighted as we saw 42 points and 21 boards. Guebert played good defense and she also attracted a bunch of attention. It may be disappointing that the reserves are not scoring, but I am not sure if AJ is wanting lots of shots from the reserves vs playing tougher defense. After the good start to the game, it was tense watching Denver stay with the Jackrabbits into the 4th quarter. It is still preferable for the starters to take the shots in this group. Even last year's team did not expect lots of scoring from Boever or Cornemann and they had a decent season. We have seen some nice games played against the top Summit teams in Frost and I would hope that can be replicated at the Premier Center. Gravina may get the Coach of the Year Award, but I still prefer AJ on the bench.

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I'll take our women against the field with a fair degree of confidence. We've been pretty good at home and even the games we've lost on the road we've been 2-4 possessions away from winning. In years past we've had road games where we've been pummeled in conference.

[SteelSD]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

The WBB could still be bringing some new twists for different matchups. Last night the post play was highlighted as we saw 42 points and 21 boards. Guebert played good defense and she also attracted a bunch of attention. It may be disappointing that the reserves are not scoring, but I am not sure if AJ is wanting lots of shots from the reserves vs playing tougher defense. After the good start to the game, it was tense watching Denver stay with the Jackrabbits into the 4th quarter. It is still preferable for the starters to take the shots in this group. Even last year's team did not expect lots of scoring from Boever or Cornemann and they had a decent season. We have seen some nice games played against the top Summit teams in Frost and I would hope that can be replicated at the Premier Center. Gravina may get the Coach of the Year Award, but I still prefer AJ on the bench.

I don't disagree at all the AJ may not want them shooting, and that's because they aren't very good at it. In regards to last years team, I contend that the reason we had a "decent season" and not a sweet 16 season is due to the lack of bench scoring. In the game against Stanford our bench provided 5 points on 2-12 shooting. And as you may recall, very few of those shots was actually contended. So what happens if our bench scores 10 instead of 5?

But currently it's gotten to where our bench players are not looking to shoot until the point it's just so painfully obvious the defense isn't even going to guard them that he feel they need to. For example, in last nights game S. Tracy got a pass on the wing in transition without a Denver player within 20 feet of her. She never thought to shoot, instead passing the ball into the block to S. Palmer. SP had a layup had she just turned around to realize there was no defender in sight. Instead, she immediately kicked the ball back out to S. Tracy. ST realized that no Denver player had even moved to cover her so fired up a shot that barely grazed iron. Now maybe I'm being too stubborn here, but I guess I expect a D1 level ball player to be able to realize she is completely alone under the basket and make the layup, or reliably hit a 3 pointer when a defensive player is not anywhere near her.

Why is it too much to expect the girls to be solid defensive players and competent scorers? Going back a few years, this was always the strength of our teams was that we could get a spark from the bench. Now I just hope nothing bad happens until a starter comes back in. I guess maybe the influx of additional teams into D1 in our area may be thinning out the pool of players and making all teams a little shallower. However, none of these girls got here because they couldn't throw the ball into the basket. And so I still expect a player coming off the bench in a D1 level program to be able to reliably hit an open shot.

But certainly we are a different team at home, and the Denny may almost be more of a home court advantage than Frost. So we have to feel we are the favorites. Thank goodness that is the case, because if the tourney was at a truly neutral site or at a place closer to another team, I wouldn't give us much of a chance based off how we've been on the road in conference play.

[SteelSD]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I completely agree with you on the women's assessment but I do like the way we've played at home throughout the season. Which i'm hoping gives us the edge. Like someone said before...I'd be really happy with both teams playing on Tuesday and winning on that day is icing on the cake.

I just can't wait for the tourney to get here so I can drawn myself in cold beer!

I agree with your first comment, and I REALLY agree with your second!

[Southeast]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

If we had a healthy Miller the bench would hardly be discussed. True, we did not add a scorer in the 2016 class and there's not one on the bench right now. It would be awesome to have one and we've been spoiled in that regard. Looking at the players that will be joining next year, I'm not worried about it being a long term problem.

If they can play three games as if they were on the court at Frost, I'm confident they'll get it done in Sioux Falls. No one has held serve at home like SDSU. We lost four road toss ups by a combined 15 points. All the other teams have been hammered at least once on the road. Anything can happen in Sioux Falls but the Jacks, playing in front of a sea of blue, have to be the favorites.

[91jack]

Re: 2016-17 Road to Sioux Falls SLT

I don't disagree at all the AJ may not want them shooting, and that's because they aren't very good at it. In regards to last years team, I contend that the reason we had a "decent season" and not a sweet 16 season is due to the lack of bench scoring. In the game against Stanford our bench provided 5 points on 2-12 shooting. And as you may recall, very few of those shots was actually contended. So what happens if our bench scores 10 instead of 5?

But currently it's gotten to where our bench players are not looking to shoot until the point it's just so painfully obvious the defense isn't even going to guard them that he feel they need to. For example, in last nights game S. Tracy got a pass on the wing in transition without a Denver player within 20 feet of her. She never thought to shoot, instead passing the ball into the block to S. Palmer. SP had a layup had she just turned around to realize there was no defender in sight. Instead, she immediately kicked the ball back out to S. Tracy. ST realized that no Denver player had even moved to cover her so fired up a shot that barely grazed iron. Now maybe I'm being too stubborn here, but I guess I expect a D1 level ball player to be able to realize she is completely alone under the basket and make the layup, or reliably hit a 3 pointer when a defensive player is not anywhere near her.

Why is it too much to expect the girls to be solid defensive players and competent scorers? Going back a few years, this was always the strength of our teams was that we could get a spark from the bench. Now I just hope nothing bad happens until a starter comes back in. I guess maybe the influx of additional teams into D1 in our area may be thinning out the pool of players and making all teams a little shallower. However, none of these girls got here because they couldn't throw the ball into the basket. And so I still expect a player coming off the bench in a D1 level program to be able to reliably hit an open shot.

But certainly we are a different team at home, and the Denny may almost be more of a home court advantage than Frost. So we have to feel we are the favorites. Thank goodness that is the case, because if the tourney was at a truly neutral site or at a place closer to another team, I wouldn't give us much of a chance based off how we've been on the road in conference play.

I thought that S. Palmer was guarded but I could be wrong on that. I don't know if she is a real post players or just manning the post because there aren't any other options. I heard comparisons of S.Tracy to Megan W. but I haven't seen any of that, yet.

I hope that the next recruiting class comes through with at least 2 good players. Right now we have Madison and maybe S. Palmer but not much else from our freshmen or sophomore classes. they might become good players but they aren't ready yet. Our women's team used to always go about 10 or so deep but now it looks like USD might be deeper than we are. I think the Miller, Larson and Stevens would have made us much deeper team but they aren't playing this season so we have to move on.

We may not win the tournament but I think we could/should be the odds on favorite(unless our depth kills us).
I don't see where "because if the tourney was at a truly neutral site or at a place closer to another team, I wouldn't give us much of a chance based off how we've been on the road in conference play".
We lost to USD by 3 points on the road and we beat them by 12 points at home.
We lost to Omaha by 1 point on the road and we beat them by 12 points at home.
We lost to IUPUI by 5 points on the road and we beat them by 19 points at home.
We lost to Western Illinois by 6 points on the road and we beat them by 15 points at home.
If you split any of those scores right down the middle, we win by between 5 and 7 points at a neutral site.

It sure makes things more interesting without have a healthy "preseason conference player of the year" on the team.