SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

[Southeast]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I'm surprised there are people shocked/upset by last night's loss. Two of the last three road games with played with both Stevens and Waytashek were either a loss or a very near loss (we won by one point at FW and got beat at IUPUI). Now you have your most important player (leading scorer, first-team All Conference) on the bench alongside another that has started all year (not to mention two other seniors). Sure we would have probably still won at Frost, but we should all know that road games are a different animal altogether. We have depth, but not the type you need when three seniors plus a solid second-year starter are out. How many teams can go on the road and win under those circumstances?

[bigticket1]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I think maybe there is a bigger drop off between our top players and our reserves than most people realize. At full strength AJ is able to mix and match our reserves with our starters and sort of hide them. Without a couple key cogs he is unable to do that. If Megan can't go against ORU, I'm afraid the outcome might not be good for us.

On to ORU and a bounce back I hope!

Even with Waytashek and Stevens in the line-up there are no reliable scorers coming off the bench. Walters,Ober and Thompson have been wildly inconsistent. Last season,Young came off the bench and was the Sixth Person of the Year in the Summit. It's too bad Gabby hasn't been able to play - If she would have,either Young or Miller would be coming off the bench and would provide the consistent offense that isn't there this year.

[Nidaros]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I think maybe there is a bigger drop off between our top players and our reserves than most people realize. At full strength AJ is able to mix and match our reserves with our starters and sort of hide them. Without a couple key cogs he is unable to do that. If Megan can't go against ORU, I'm afraid the outcome might not be good for us.

On to ORU and a bounce back I hope!

I this feeling of blasphemy, and with the late season injuries we may not make to any post season game. Tell me I am wrong.

[SturgisJeff]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I this feeling of blasphemy, and with the late season injuries we may not make to any post season game. Tell me I am wrong.

I agree and have felt this way even before all the injuries. Something just is not clicking with this team. I think the post season streak is over. I hope they prove me wrong.

[91jack]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I think maybe there is a bigger drop off between our top players and our reserves than most people realize. At full strength AJ is able to mix and match our reserves with our starters and sort of hide them. Without a couple key cogs he is unable to do that. If Megan can't go against ORU, I'm afraid the outcome might not be good for us.

On to ORU and a bounce back I hope!

I look at it as SDSU has a top six and then the rest. Will the rest be better a year or two down the road? Probably yes, for the ones that will still be around but they aren't there yet. SDSU was missing three of their top six. The rest of the team might have a lot of talent but they need a year or two to get used to college ball. It seemed to me that AJ usually had about 3 seniors in every class. That meant that you have six juniors/seniors to have that "been there done that" factor but this year you have six but three of them are out. Miller and Young are good enough even though they aren't upperclassmen but they need one or two more to step up.

I think you could argue that the mens team might be deeper than the women's team right now. I don't remember the last time(if ever) that thought even came to my mind.

I still think they will go to the post season. If Waytashek comes back they will have enough fire power to get things done.

[jackdaniel]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I think most or all the points raised are true, that this is a unique year with injuries, a lot of them being leaders and consistent scorers and that we've finally become too depleted on the bench. We had 5 starters and four bench players. Mariah,Macy and Kerri scored 59 pts out of the 72 we scored for the game, the other 6 players scored 13 pts between them (Walters 6 pts, in 25 min).That means the other 5 players got 7 points in 64 minutes. A little more than a point apiece accumulative avg(1.4?), Thomson 4 of the 7 pts. (shot 3-21) .Can't win many games if you can't have 5 players on the court at all times who can score when they get the chance,(5 on 5,not 3 on 5) and they will get lots of chances, because we share the ball well.

Short turn around,tomorrows another game.Hope more players step up and help the team win.Keep the scorers in the game as long as we can, no matter who they are, here's the opportunity for those who feel they don't get enough playing time to show you can be counted on, especially now, when your team needs you.

Should mention that we had effort stats enough to help win the game like 19 offensive rebounds, but couldn't make good use of them ie....converting that effort into points.I've thought for quite awhile now we rush short shots when we don't have to, and don't practice enough using the backboard with shooting shots at different angles, velocity off the glass, with different forward momentum,at different heights off the glass ,etc, and observe the different results. Love good post players who use the glass, and understand how to. Clarin is pretty good.
When I see a player shoot on one side of the board and it bounces off the glass to the other side not touching the rim, I see a player who doesn't know how to use the backboard.Tomorrow, we may have to rush shots however, with McIntyre coming at us. Just wish we could understand how to minimize the effect of a tall player by utilizing the backboard better and standing off a little (Clarin can hit short jumpers well over taller players, invaluable) Maybe Gabby can help with bankshot 101 ,but the short variety.

This year has shown us how valuable every player on the team really is, whether they know it or not. Need to get better.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

There's too much gloom and doom on this thread. The Jacks are still well positioned to get the No. 2 seed in the tourney, which is all they need to get a good playing schedule in Sioux Falls. Any team in the tourney will be beatable, especially when the Jacks get Waytashek and Stevens back into the lineup. If nothing else, the team will benefit from the extra playing time that backups have received the past couple of games.

[goon]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I look at it as SDSU has a top six and then the rest. Will the rest be better a year or two down the road? Probably yes, for the ones that will still be around but they aren't there yet. SDSU was missing three of their top six. The rest of the team might have a lot of talent but they need a year or two to get used to college ball. It seemed to me that AJ usually had about 3 seniors in every class. That meant that you have six juniors/seniors to have that "been there done that" factor but this year you have six but three of them are out. Miller and Young are good enough even though they aren't upperclassmen but they need one or two more to step up.

I think you could argue that the mens team might be deeper than the women's team right now. I don't remember the last time(if ever) that thought even came to my mind.

I still think they will go to the post season. If Waytashek comes back they will have enough fire power to get things done.

I think Nagys D2 teams around 2000ish were pretty deep felt like he played 10ish or sometimes more.

Sometimes this team doesnt seem to have that killer attack that prior teams had. Like rarely did an sdsu team not play at a high level or out work another team. I thought maybe we had some something going with beating the top 25 team, but then we are losing close games in the summit to teams no offense to them, we should still be head and shoulders above.

Almost every game I can listen too there is a stretch were it seems we are missing layups or bunnies if you will that I dont think we ever really struggled with consistantly. like every game on the radio sounds like 3 or 4 point blank looks we cant get to drop. Through D1 there was always someone stepping up the make those shots in close games or to start a run for us to pull away. Its like we are still waiting for this team to reach its potential all season and there isnt a lot of season left to go. I trust AJ and I think he has his work cut out for him to make sure this team is playing at his highest level come tourny time.

sure hope Stevens and Waytashek make it back soon.

[goon]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

There's too much gloom and doom on this thread. The Jacks are still well positioned to get the No. 2 seed in the tourney, which is all they need to get a good playing schedule in Sioux Falls. Any team in the tourney will be beatable, especially when the Jacks get Waytashek and Stevens back into the lineup. If nothing else, the team will benefit from the extra playing time that backups have received the past couple of games.

Yeah, but not as well positioned dropped a game to a very beatable denver team. going against ORU on the road is now a tall order to win, pardon the pun. I thought maybe they will split the two at the worst. I agree if we get top 2 seeds locked up they will have a great chance with stevens and waytashek back hopefully. If they dont make it back its still doable just harder, but it we have to play back to back to back days, then I start to worry with or without them.

[Southeast]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

There's too much gloom and doom on this thread. The Jacks are still well positioned to get the No. 2 seed in the tourney, which is all they need to get a good playing schedule in Sioux Falls. Any team in the tourney will be beatable, especially when the Jacks get Waytashek and Stevens back into the lineup. If nothing else, the team will benefit from the extra playing time that backups have received the past couple of games.

I think a top-2 finish is still very likely as well. Two of the teams that are close on our tail (WIU and IUPUI) still have to come to Frost AND play in Vermillion. Good luck with that. The third team (ORU) still has to travel to both WIU and IUPUI. We may very well lose again Friday night, but then (assuming MW comes back) we'll be in a pretty good spot to finish strong. The last four games on our schedule are at last-place Omaha followed by three at Frost.

[krak-r-jacks]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

wouldn't press Stevens or Waytashek. believe i posted somewhere before it wouldn't surprise me one bit if you don't see Stevens the rest of this year---MAYBE by tourney time. i thought i read somewhere that AJ stated the Stevens thing has been somewhat of a lingering issue? someone can correct me if i'm wrong. if your dealing with a 'stress reaction' in the foot, that can take some time to heal and if you push it, can easily be aggravated. unless MW is 100% before the tourney, i just hold her out. jacks need her for tournament time. you hate to have someone not have any gametime until then, but, it is what it is.

as far as gabby, sure, she would have been a huge help now---with all the injuries. but, i am also in the camp that says she most likely wouldn't have seen as much playing time as she has in the past. listen, i was thrilled she chose to be a jackrabbit, and she has put a lot of hard work on that floor. i get it, but, i just don't know how you would leave young and miller on the bench for very long. they are the offensive threat that eluded gabby more often than not. i'm just not sold her "intangibles" were so strong that she would have seen extensive minutes like she had in the past.

[mitchellrabbit]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

I think a top-2 finish is still very likely as well. Two of the teams that are close on our tail (WIU and IUPUI) still have to come to Frost AND play in Vermillion. Good luck with that. The third team (ORU) still has to travel to both WIU and IUPUI. We may very well lose again Friday night, but then (assuming MW comes back) we'll be in a pretty good spot to finish strong. The last four games on our schedule are at last-place Omaha followed by three at Frost.

Im with you. Im not throwing in the towel until we get beat in the Summit Tourney or the NCAA Tourney.

[goon]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

wouldn't press Stevens or Waytashek. believe i posted somewhere before it wouldn't surprise me one bit if you don't see Stevens the rest of this year---MAYBE by tourney time. i thought i read somewhere that AJ stated the Stevens thing has been somewhat of a lingering issue? someone can correct me if i'm wrong. if your dealing with a 'stress reaction' in the foot, that can take some time to heal and if you push it, can easily be aggravated. unless MW is 100% before the tourney, i just hold her out. jacks need her for tournament time. you hate to have someone not have any gametime until then, but, it is what it is.

as far as gabby, sure, she would have been a huge help now---with all the injuries. but, i am also in the camp that says she most likely wouldn't have seen as much playing time as she has in the past. listen, i was thrilled she chose to be a jackrabbit, and she has put a lot of hard work on that floor. i get it, but, i just don't know how you would leave young and miller on the bench for very long. they are the offensive threat that eluded gabby more often than not. i'm just not sold her "intangibles" were so strong that she would have seen extensive minutes like she had in the past.

Simple,move miller to the 2 and Young the 3. gabbys D was always good, she was/is also an emtional spark and leader on the team. Miller has played well and scored a lot of points, but dont think for a minute that this team wouldnt have used gabby a lot if they could have.

[bigticket1]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

wouldn't press Stevens or Waytashek. believe i posted somewhere before it wouldn't surprise me one bit if you don't see Stevens the rest of this year---MAYBE by tourney time. i thought i read somewhere that AJ stated the Stevens thing has been somewhat of a lingering issue? someone can correct me if i'm wrong. if your dealing with a 'stress reaction' in the foot, that can take some time to heal and if you push it, can easily be aggravated. unless MW is 100% before the tourney, i just hold her out. jacks need her for tournament time. you hate to have someone not have any gametime until then, but, it is what it is.

as far as gabby, sure, she would have been a huge help now---with all the injuries. but, i am also in the camp that says she most likely wouldn't have seen as much playing time as she has in the past. listen, i was thrilled she chose to be a jackrabbit, and she has put a lot of hard work on that floor. i get it, but, i just don't know how you would leave young and miller on the bench for very long. they are the offensive threat that eluded gabby more often than not. i'm just not sold her "intangibles" were so strong that she would have seen extensive minutes like she had in the past.

I didn't realize defense is an intangible. Last year Gabby had 85 steals. This year the five guards have combined for a total of 73. Last night AJ said the transition defense was terrible , which led to many uncontested threes for Denver. Our starting guards scored 47 points but we still lost , partly because Denver's starting guards scored 42. You can win games because of scoring lots of points , but when it comes to tournament time defense becomes even more important.

[jackdaniel]

Re: SDSU Jackrabbits @ Denver Pioneers

Wonder if AJ regrets red shirting Severyn this year,and if she'd be in position ,had he not red shirted her, to be of any help.She's said to be very athletic,but whats that translate to for scoring, defense? Maybe it was a player decision, or AJ left the decision to her. The injury problems were confined to just Gabby coming back later in the season maybe, back then.