Is that true that season ticket sales have been low. I figured it would go down a little for a variety of reasons but is it a significant amount?
What da ya think
- Thread starter Halldan
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With all due respect 8 wins is an unrealistic prediction. If by some chance this team wins close to 8 games, it would be an indictment on the BigEast. The BigEast could not be considered a serious basketball conference if this roster wins nearly half their games.
My prediction is 4-16.
My prediction is 4-16.
I think it’s a transition year for the league. X which is usually a top half team loses a top shelf coach and its best players. Marquette has lost a ton the past two and query if they can be as good as they have with Shaka’s roster construction. Nova which struggled under Neptune but had major major talent and was viewed highly preseason in his latter years now in year 1 with a new coach.
It’s definitely a “down” year for the BigEast, but even still, on paper we are objectively the 10th or 11th team this season.
Since realignment (2013-2014), the teams finishing last and second to last have averaged 2.5 and 4.6 wins per season respectively.
This isn’t why I predicted 4-16 (it’s just coincidence). I went down the schedule and I just don’t see this team winning many games. The front court is a major issue, no outside shooting, no backup pg, etc.
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For me personally I am more strongly inclined to feel 8-12 is very realistic.
After Sunday I noted we would revisit this thread., Has your opinion or anyone else's changed?
For me personally I am more strongly inclined to feel 8-12 is very realistic.
The lack of 3-point shooting is a major flaw for this team. In order to overcome this and be capable of winning 8 BE games, they will need to be strong defensively, strong FT shooting and get some easy points off their Press or in transition. And the team will have to play the style that Sha has always wanted with 10-12 players wearing teams down with constant waves of intensity, physicality and pressure.
I think this team's range is between 4 and 9 BE wins. My prediction they fall in the middle at say 7-13. They have some solid pieces (Budd, AJ, Fisher) and some high-potential but less experienced guys (Parker, Dar, Hines) who could develop as the season progresses.
Sha's strategy(?) of spreading his budget around will have to prove effective. I would much rather have seen him splurge for 1 or 2 Alpha scorer/shooters than to spread money among 13 players. Add 1 solid BE-level scorer to this team and it would change the ceiling. A guy who can average 15 a game and be a threat from 3 like an Al Dawes, a Khadeen, Desi, Rhoden, Dre Davis, etc.
I like that they all seem healthy and engaged. Sha likes having a full roster and right now he seems to have 13 guys who could all play. Even the deeper bench guys like Rivera, Suemnick, Felton and Mike Williams are guys who can play minutes and have some experience playing in a major conference.
I hope the team plays with intensity, plays an entertaining and competitive style of basketball and lays groundwork for the way Sha wants his team to play moving forward. We need our younger guys to show they can play and then we need to lock up the best 5-7 of them to form our core for next year. We need to break the cycle of losing our best players every year. Not only does that give us stability and continuity but it also allows us to focus in on a few difference making transfers rather than looking for an entire team in 4-6 weeks.
I think this team's range is between 4 and 9 BE wins. My prediction they fall in the middle at say 7-13. They have some solid pieces (Budd, AJ, Fisher) and some high-potential but less experienced guys (Parker, Dar, Hines) who could develop as the season progresses.
Sha's strategy(?) of spreading his budget around will have to prove effective. I would much rather have seen him splurge for 1 or 2 Alpha scorer/shooters than to spread money among 13 players. Add 1 solid BE-level scorer to this team and it would change the ceiling. A guy who can average 15 a game and be a threat from 3 like an Al Dawes, a Khadeen, Desi, Rhoden, Dre Davis, etc.
I like that they all seem healthy and engaged. Sha likes having a full roster and right now he seems to have 13 guys who could all play. Even the deeper bench guys like Rivera, Suemnick, Felton and Mike Williams are guys who can play minutes and have some experience playing in a major conference.
I hope the team plays with intensity, plays an entertaining and competitive style of basketball and lays groundwork for the way Sha wants his team to play moving forward. We need our younger guys to show they can play and then we need to lock up the best 5-7 of them to form our core for next year. We need to break the cycle of losing our best players every year. Not only does that give us stability and continuity but it also allows us to focus in on a few difference making transfers rather than looking for an entire team in 4-6 weeks.
That's a very reasonable response, And IMO accurate as well.
Outside shooting until otherwise debunked will be the the team's Achilles Heel. Nothing I saw Sunday with the possible exception of Dar allayed those fears. Although obviously it was just one abbreviated viewing.
Toughness, depth, athleticism and intensity are a given, That should never change and I am confident it won't.
Foul shooting with the guards and wings shouldn't be an issue. But with the bigs I fear it will be.
I expect the team will play small as it was relatively clear to me that the players who will get the majority of the PT and will start are
5-10 PG Clark
6-4 2G Simpkins
6-4 SF Stanton McCray
6-6 PF Fisher
6-9 C Payne
That lineup will have to team rebound but since it's a very athletic group as long as they don't get pommeled underneath we should be fine.
We will have to play fast and wear teams down as the competition improves. Not sure that will work with UConn and SJU. Probably not with Creighton either. But why not with the rest of the league?
After last season I had little hope. But hearing what I have been hearing and now watching the team I am not as down. We have a long way to get back to where we were with the Whitehead, Delgado, Carrington team. But this is a quality first step.
Outside shooting until otherwise debunked will be the the team's Achilles Heel. Nothing I saw Sunday with the possible exception of Dar allayed those fears. Although obviously it was just one abbreviated viewing.
Toughness, depth, athleticism and intensity are a given, That should never change and I am confident it won't.
Foul shooting with the guards and wings shouldn't be an issue. But with the bigs I fear it will be.
I expect the team will play small as it was relatively clear to me that the players who will get the majority of the PT and will start are
5-10 PG Clark
6-4 2G Simpkins
6-4 SF Stanton McCray
6-6 PF Fisher
6-9 C Payne
That lineup will have to team rebound but since it's a very athletic group as long as they don't get pommeled underneath we should be fine.
We will have to play fast and wear teams down as the competition improves. Not sure that will work with UConn and SJU. Probably not with Creighton either. But why not with the rest of the league?
After last season I had little hope. But hearing what I have been hearing and now watching the team I am not as down. We have a long way to get back to where we were with the Whitehead, Delgado, Carrington team. But this is a quality first step.
Still think this is a 4-6 win team. Last year the games for the most part weren’t even competitive. I expect that to improve this year because of the obvious (PG, FT%, depth at the 5 w/Hines potential).
Net/Net…much better OOC performance, and BE games will be closer. Not much to move the needle on the last place predictions.
Net/Net…much better OOC performance, and BE games will be closer. Not much to move the needle on the last place predictions.
On the playing fast part, what gives you confidence we might actually do that? Because Sha has never really played that way. Some thought we would last year because the makeup of that team seemed similar on the paper.
Ever go to a tennis match? After it's over if you're sitting low you have whiplash. LOL
That's what happened Sunday with this very athletic team. And remember, we were not just watching the potential starting lineup but all the reserves as well.
This team will run.
That's what happened Sunday with this very athletic team. And remember, we were not just watching the potential starting lineup but all the reserves as well.
This team will run.
This is the one thing I really took away from Sunday.
Because the staff stopped play after almost every possession, there was no flow to the play. Nobody shot well and while that wasn't surprising, the stop and start nature to the scrimmage may have played into that. The one thing both sides did was run and press for almost the whole hour.
Even if we don't do that for forty minutes a game, establishing that as your baseline is the sort of thing that you want if you're planning to play that way.
It's not just offense. Defense sucked last year and how much will it improve this year? Anybodies guess but when you have all new players team defense takes a hit. The only saving grace is most of the teams we are playing have the same issue. Most but not all.
Just a reminder, that means our players are running against our bench…. That’s a low bar of an “opponent”
Okay I’ll rephrase a little, did they make their shots while going uptempo? Or did they just run and force shots before the defense got there?
You are doing everything possible to turn a thread into a negative. What's the point at this juncture? This is a fan site so forgive those showing some support before the season begins.
No one here is looking for miracles. We know what we are this season. But other's just want to rain on anything that is somewhat positive. Save your venon until the season begins and then rejoice in whatever goes wrong.
No one here is looking for miracles. We know what we are this season. But other's just want to rain on anything that is somewhat positive. Save your venon until the season begins and then rejoice in whatever goes wrong.
I just try to be realistic. I don’t agree with Sha’s coaching philosophy. I think his methods are stuck in the MAAC. I’ve stated I don’t know what to expect with all the roster turnover so I won’t take anything from practice as relevant.
As a fan, I'd much prefer a mediocre team playing a fast brand of basketball than a mediocre team playing a slow, grind it out pace. That's just me. So, everything I'm hearing about us playing up tempo, contrary to what Sha has done in the past, is a good thing to "throw in the optimism" pile, as folks have been saying.
Part of playing up tempo is out rebounding your opponent, getting turnovers, applying successful defensive pressure, and executing an up tempo offense.
Can that be achieved in a starters vs bench situation? Definitely yes.
Now we will have to see if that can be achieved in a starters vs starters situation.
But like dehere says, I'd rather watch a fast paced entertaining up tempo mediocre team over last year's slower than paint drying abomination of an offense.
Can that be achieved in a starters vs bench situation? Definitely yes.
Now we will have to see if that can be achieved in a starters vs starters situation.
But like dehere says, I'd rather watch a fast paced entertaining up tempo mediocre team over last year's slower than paint drying abomination of an offense.
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Well FWIW it worked today against Virginia Tech. So despite knowing scrimmages are not always an accurate gauge at least the score was favorable.