MVCfans.com

DUBulldog wrote:

Blers wrote:No words for LU's performance. Embarrassing. For what it's worth Drake is hitting insane shots.

Drake made a helluva lot of shots in the game, but I don't remember a single one that I wouldn't consider a good shot. Certainly none that were "insane"....the kind where you turn to the guy next to you and say "how the hell did that go in?" Seriously, I don't remember a single bucket that was outside of a player's normal game.

I think Drake's just a better shooting team then the record would indicate.

A bit of hyperbole from frustration on my part. But the back to back step back 3's, one of which banked in from McMurray will cause that. 3 of drakes guards hit career highs including McMurray (24 pts prev high of 10 I believe...?).

So I suppose the shots weren't insane, just based on what I knew about drake the efficiency was pretty shocking from what I previously had heard from them. They outplayed Loyola for 35 minutes; hopefully they can build on this and Loyola can learn. Super discouraging performance by the Ramblers tho.

DUBulldog wrote:
I think Drake's just a better shooting team then the record would indicate.

Or LUC is a worse defending team than their record would indicate.

Bears over the Trees in OT. Fun Game throughout. Bears talent was evident as scoring came from seemingly everywhere but especially Alize. ISU always battled back to take the lead then the Bears would just grab it back.
Redbirds and Bears should be fun Wed. @ talented teams with weak coaching. Birds should win at home but should be entertaining.

Blers wrote:

DUBulldog wrote:

Blers wrote:No words for LU's performance. Embarrassing. For what it's worth Drake is hitting insane shots.

Drake made a helluva lot of shots in the game, but I don't remember a single one that I wouldn't consider a good shot. Certainly none that were "insane"....the kind where you turn to the guy next to you and say "how the hell did that go in?" Seriously, I don't remember a single bucket that was outside of a player's normal game.

I think Drake's just a better shooting team then the record would indicate.

A bit of hyperbole from frustration on my part. But the back to back step back 3's, one of which banked in from McMurray will cause that. 3 of drakes guards hit career highs including McMurray (24 pts prev high of 10 I believe...?).

So I suppose the shots weren't insane, just based on what I knew about drake the efficiency was pretty shocking from what I previously had heard from them. They outplayed Loyola for 35 minutes; hopefully they can build on this and Loyola can learn. Super discouraging performance by the Ramblers tho.

I see where you're coming from. I've been watching McMurray hit step back jumpers all year, so I know it's part of his game. For someone who hasn't seen him before and sees the modest scoring stats, I can see how it would be a surprise. He's a guy who only averaged 11 a game in juco, but had a 44 point game. He's a pass first guy who can score when he needs to. Loyola focused so much on stopping Wampler in the second half that it allowed other guys a lot of open looks.

I know it's frustrating to lose to a team like Drake, but The Drake team right now is not the same Drake team of 3 weeks ago. Rutter has them playing much, much more uptempo, and they're playing free and easy. Lots of guys (Wampler, Arogundade, McGlynn, Rivers, etc) playing the best ball of their college careers. And, they're probably going to keep getting better....they've only been playing this system for a few weeks. It's night and day different from what Giacoletti was preaching. On the other side, other teams will get better at figuring out what Drake is doing and will adjust their defenses accordingly.

Going from Giacoletti to Rutter was like a football team going from "3 yards and a cloud of dust" to the West Coast offense. 68 possessions per game under Giacoletti, 76 possessions per game under Rutter. That might not seem like a huge difference, but the pace under Giacoletti would rank about 275th in the country, the pace under Rutter 18th.

bleach wrote:Bears over the Trees in OT. Fun Game throughout. Bears talent was evident as scoring came from seemingly everywhere but especially Alize. ISU always battled back to take the lead then the Bears would just grab it back.
Redbirds and Bears should be fun Wed. @ talented teams with weak coaching. Birds should win at home but should be entertaining.

I feel like ISUb is one person short of being a very good team. So many close losses for them this year

Stickboy46 wrote:

bleach wrote:Bears over the Trees in OT. Fun Game throughout. Bears talent was evident as scoring came from seemingly everywhere but especially Alize. ISU always battled back to take the lead then the Bears would just grab it back.
Redbirds and Bears should be fun Wed. @ talented teams with weak coaching. Birds should win at home but should be entertaining.

I feel like ISUb is one person short of being a very good team. So many close losses for them this year

Yes, I think they are better than most people gave them credit for. They are going to be a tough out.

I can foresee Alize getting better as the season goes along. Also the Bears look like they have the deepest team. If they can win on Wednesday at Illinois St., the schedule starts to set up nicely and they could be off and running

Alize had 30 points and 15 boards in this one. He was basically unstoppable until Lansing started double and triple teaming him late. I agree that I think he'll get even better.

Stickboy46 wrote:

bleach wrote:Bears over the Trees in OT. Fun Game throughout. Bears talent was evident as scoring came from seemingly everywhere but especially Alize. ISU always battled back to take the lead then the Bears would just grab it back.
Redbirds and Bears should be fun Wed. @ talented teams with weak coaching. Birds should win at home but should be entertaining.

I feel like ISUb is one person short of being a very good team. So many close losses for them this year

Correct, that person being TJ Bell, who left/was kicked off, the team prior to the game at Valpo. With him we may very well have won both our MVC games, but alas.....

Good game Bears, until we can learn to rebound we just aren't going to be able to win many games, Bears get 19 offensive rebounds today (after WSU had gotten 16 I think, last Weds.).

Just gotta block out better and be more aggressive going after missed shots.

Pivotal games today in Evansville and Chicago. Also Drake has a good shot to go 2-0 in Carbondale if their offense keeps rolling like it has been in their last 2 performances