At Western Illinois, Jan 10

[jackmd]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Fair enough. I agree with everything you just said.

That says a lot about your character because I'm not very agreeable tonight. Its been a LONG 36 hours with very little sleep and the beating we took tonight pretty much put me over the edge. Good news, I've only got a half-day of work tomorrow and the weekend looks pretty light. I get to spend most of the afternoon tomorrow with my wife and 3 children. Granted, the kids aren't going to be happy when I tell them about the results of the game tonight.

The sun will come up tomorrow.

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

http://slubillikens.cstv.com/sports/...011008aaa.html

This should put things into some perspective. Twenty f'ing points? Seven at half? Majerus's dissing of Soderberg's recruits will accelerate.

[Nidaros]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Perhaps my point wasn't clear. I get the feeling that negative comments about this teams performance are received as non-supportive. It seems as if some feel we should be expected to be positive about every aspect of the program even in the face of undeniable negatives like the performance tonight. I take issue with those who disagree with calling a crappy performance crappy. If you don't recognize when you've failed because of your own poor performance you never improve. I get the feeling some posters here only want to hear the rah, rah, rah.

Maybe I've misinterpreted. I don't want losing at South Dakota State to become acceptable.

I dont think this is a rational medical doctor speaking here. I hope you got your needed rest. Between reading the thread and falling a sleep listening to WNAX, it appears to be very substandard performance by our guys. Yeah I work part time too.

One comment Steve made before I fell asleep was that in reviewing the WIU tapes, they noted that Western was a very good defensive team. If this is correct, then I can see where our offense was not up to par. Possibly shots taken to quickly without good looks at the bucket, or no shots at all. Some one noted that Kai had only 3 shots in the first half, which probably means that WIU watched our videos and found that Kai was the guy to stop. I believe in respecting our opponents especially the Summit league who are better staffed than the NCC and usually have a very good game plan in place.

I suspect WIU is like SDSU in that this is still the semester break. I recall when I worked in suburban Chicago, nearly everyone around me had went to WIU. I suspect all those students living in Chicago area are not about to drive to Macomb for a BB game. Also MaComb might be like us in that they depend on Peroria for fans and if Bradley is doing good then that has to hurt WIU.

Do I accept this as normal progress? No its not, but its not a heart transplant either which would be a very serious matter. The sun is suppose to shine by this weekend. The Indy game will not be any eaiser, and our guys need to respond much better than they did tonight. On another note, its been a mild January for the South Dakota area and fans have been able to make it to the games. That too, could be worse with the usual January blizzards. Were okay and thats not intended to be a rah rah.

[Just in the crowd]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

A good football school that draws under 600 for basketball, Western is an example of what happens to the fan base after several years of sub-mediocrity. Still I'm willing to forget about this one. There's a much tougher challenge awaiting Saturday.

That is a scary thought, I hope it doesn't hit home.

[bballfan54]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Kai is not getting enough shots thats for sure he played 38 mins only shot the ball 6 times why ??
Maybe he needs to throw up a few bad shots too.
I had one very upset kid on the phone to me last night after midnight.

[Nidaros]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Kai is not getting enough shots thats for sure he played 38 mins only shot the ball 6 times why ??
Maybe he needs to throw up a few bad shots too.
I had one very upset kid on the phone to me last night after midnight.

Listening on the radio, you cant tell if its a bad shot or not and maybe that comment is off base, but I can understand your kid's frustration. I do believe its much harder to make a shot with a hand in your face then there is with no hand present.

Lets hope we suck it up and run the tables.

[jack power]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Kai is not getting enough shots thats for sure he played 38 mins only shot the ball 6 times why ??
Maybe he needs to throw up a few bad shots too.
I had one very upset kid on the phone to me last night after midnight.

I would think/hope all the kids were upset after the game last night.

[bballfan54]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

maybe not !!!! some kids are just more intense than others..

[filbert]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Kai is not getting enough shots thats for sure he played 38 mins only shot the ball 6 times why ??
Maybe he needs to throw up a few bad shots too.
I had one very upset kid on the phone to me last night after midnight.

The offense looked really out of sync last night. They were trying to set screens but the screens were pretty ineffective. Seems to me that the entire team needs to work harder to get Kai and Garrett and Ben open and get the ball to them--we don't always have good movement away from the ball. I also think our big three (K, G, B) maybe need to be more aggressive and take a few more contested shots.

The rebounding was also not good--Western was regularly beating us to the ball.

Western was playing pretty good defense too--as indicated by the 19 points we scored in the first half.

All in all, a very forgettable night. Learn, grow, and improve!

On to Indianapolis! (I'll be posting a Road to the Summit update from Indy after we get there . . .)

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Well, I haven't posted on the men's performance for some time, so here goes. I feel like Nagy said after the game tired of this. Some time soon this has to change. This year we were supposed to see progression of the team because of the young players. Well, we are still as inconsistent as at the beginning of the year. They may be able to make progress the rest of the year, but as of now, I can't say that I've seen progression as a team. Is that the coaches fault or the players or a combination, I don't know. Frustrating.

[bballfan54]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Coach He Told Me That No One Played Well Last Night. End Of.

[jack power]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Coach He Told Me That No One Played Well Last Night. End Of.

Coach Is Correct.

[ViciousCircle]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Was in Macomb for the game last night...

I've missed three games this year (Bakersfield, SJSU, and Minn).

I think it is safe to say, this might be the worst performance we've had collectively. Everyone seemed flat from the beginning.

The scary thing is, we were down 9 with 4:00 left in the 2nd half. I personally didn't feel we were out of the game until about the 3:00 mark. We played fairly well the second half on the offensive end, but couldn't get a stop on D and if we did get a stop an offensive rebound was given up.

The strength of our team (Rebounding) for most of the year, ended up being one of our biggest weaknesses last night.

Overall a bad night from top to bottom, but I feel fairly confident that the tides will turn when WIU comes to Frost.

[ViciousCircle]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

I also think our big three (K, G, B) maybe need to be more aggressive and take a few more contested shots.

That doesn't make much sense, because two of those three take contested shots the majority of the time. I don't think getting Callahan and Beran shots is an issue. When you look at the box score, I don't look at any player that has a FGA amount that jumps out as he's shooting to many or he's not shooting enough, outside of Kai. The issue is getting Kai a little more aggressive and consistent. 6 shots isn't going to get it done with his talent. I don't know who's fault that is, his, coaches, other players... But, we need Kai to score if the team is going to win.

[ViciousCircle]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

maybe not !!!! some kids are just more intense than others..

Mrs. Williams is dead on with that comment. I can remember quite a few times where players come out after losing and are laughing and joking around with friends or family.

Have never seen that from players like: Kai, Garrett, Clint, and Ben... (others could probably be put on that list, those are just the four I notice).

Those four off the top of my head are genuinely upset about the team losing after every loss and don't accept losing...