At Western Illinois, Jan 10

[Nidaros]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

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...

This is very interesting. I think even with two full time assistants, there is plenty of work to do with each individual player. It sounds like not everyone is on the same page and that can be fixed by our staff. I will let them do that. The individuals on the roster need to come together as a team and maybe thats what needs to happen very soon.

[bballfan54]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

This is very interesting. I think even with two full time assistants, there is plenty of work to do with each individual player. It sounds like not everyone is on the same page and that can be fixed by our staff. I will let them do that. The individuals on the roster need to come together as a team and maybe thats what needs to happen very soon.

That's it in a nutshell.

[filbert]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

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.

OK. Correction accepted. I didn't really want to single Kai out though, there was plenty of bad play in Macomb to go around. But in thinking about it, you're right, Callahan and Beran aren't afraid to take contested shots.

[jackmd]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

I'll make one last post and then wait and see. If the performance from last night is repeated we have some serious problems that need to be taken care of as soon as possible. Nothing about last nights game should be repeated tomorrow night or for the rest of the season. Lets just forget about Macomb and try to move forward.

[ViciousCircle]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

Just wanted to clarify, in case anything I posted came across wrong in regards to Kai. I was not implying Kai was to blame last night. Last night was a collective struggle. No one played like they could.

Just wanted to clarify. GoJacks!!!

[Jack4Life]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

I listened to the game the other night and was just as frustrated as anyone on the forum. The game has been analyzed and picked apart by many of you and most points are valid. I guess the most disappointing thing about the game for me was not so much the loss, but the way we lost. In the past few weeks, I think we started to see a glimpse of what this team could and will be like in the near future. These men did not go out there with the intent to play a poor game, but it did happen. What I did see and hear are a bunch of players and coaches who were angry about the way the team played. Will this make them a better team? Who knows. I hope it brings the team closer together and will start to play with the chemistry that is needed and needs to be found by the coaches. I feel for these guys, but in the past few years this was the norm. Now it is an embarassment. It remains to be seen how this loss will play out in the rest of the games, but we will find out tonight. No matter what, I am still proud to be a Jackrabbit and still proud of our MBB team. Hang in there, guys...

[Nidaros]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

I listened to the game the other night and was just as frustrated as anyone on the forum. The game has been analyzed and picked apart by many of you and most points are valid. I guess the most disappointing thing about the game for me was not so much the loss, but the way we lost. In the past few weeks, I think we started to see a glimpse of what this team could and will be like in the near future. These men did not go out there with the intent to play a poor game, but it did happen. What I did see and hear are a bunch of players and coaches who were angry about the way the team played. Will this make them a better team? Who knows. I hope it brings the team closer together and will start to play with the chemistry that is needed and needs to be found by the coaches. I feel for these guys, but in the past few years this was the norm. Now it is an embarassment. It remains to be seen how this loss will play out in the rest of the games, but we will find out tonight. No matter what, I am still proud to be a Jackrabbit and still proud of our MBB team. Hang in there, guys...

Good points, can not agree more. Palarca, Moss and Sargent were all high schoolers last year so this has to be a tough time for them, but they will either fish or cut bait.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

A couple of points (and yes, I'm as disappointed in the two road games as any of you...and those on the team):

I don't believe that you can measure progress by individual games. We come into the Summit League, an established league that is certainly not the poorest D-I league in the country and compete against teams that have been long past the transition hell, have worked themselves into position to snag the recruits necessary to play at this level, and have worked through the process of obtaining a full team of Division I players.

We come into that scenario after years of losing players to "transition purgatory", have worked up the recruit level to get what I believe are players who can compete at this level but are at the freshman-sophomore stage (not junior-senior), aided by two posts who had not played for a full year. The road WILL be tough, and looking at early scores, a lot of those established programs have problems on the road as well.

I think we have made a LOT of progress over last year...but still have a long way to go! Hang in there Jacks...we will all be rooting hard for you this week!

[jackmd]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

A couple of points (and yes, I'm as disappointed in the two road games as any of you...and those on the team):

I don't believe that you can measure progress by individual games. We come into the Summit League, an established league that is certainly not the poorest D-I league in the country and compete against teams that have been long past the transition hell, have worked themselves into position to snag the recruits necessary to play at this level, and have worked through the process of obtaining a full team of Division I players.

We come into that scenario after years of losing players to "transition purgatory", have worked up the recruit level to get what I believe are players who can compete at this level but are at the freshman-sophomore stage (not junior-senior), aided by two posts who had not played for a full year. The road WILL be tough, and looking at early scores, a lot of those established programs have problems on the road as well.

I think we have made a LOT of progress over last year...but still have a long way to go! Hang in there Jacks...we will all be rooting hard for you this week!

I don't disagree with anything you've said. Expectations for the men's basketball team were a little unrealistic as we entered transition. People had a false belief that our relative success at the DII level would translate to an ability to immediately compete at the DI level. A lot of things have happened that have contributed to our struggles but at least a part of the problem is perception.

One of my issues with the current fan base is the continued expectation that we are ready to compete. I haven't taken the time to look back at the predictions for this year but I recall some speculating that we could finish .500 or better. I thought this team could win 10 games and I think they still could. I also said I thought they could lose any game, any night. I think that is still true.

So, the issue for me is expecting/speculating about this team winning 15-18 games and then asking people to understand why we can't even compete in some games. I think you're trying to have it both ways. We are new to DI, we have a group of players who really haven't played together, and thats where we are. All that said, I'm not going to accept results like this last week without at least voicing some concern. I didn't expect us to win either of the games but I thought we should have at least competed.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: At Western Illinois, Jan 10

In complete agreement with your post JackMD.