Yeah so J Felt and I were too depressed to post game. Writing about the team you love losing is painful. We leave it to the people who get paid by the period to do the post mortem some times so we can spend a few hours days in the fetal position. So today we started exchanging emails while I was repairing the grammar on my surgical fellow’s abstract and voila!
Here goes nothing.
NLP says: Alright J Felt, I’m going to need to be talked down from the ledge. Team US lost on a heart-breaking goal in OT by frigging Frenchy-wannabe Sidney Crosby and more importantly, the Niners were completely beat up by George Washington -this time with no last minute heroics by the back court.
We’ve started conference play 8-1 and now there’s strong reason to believe we could finish 1-6. WTF?
J Felt gets italics today.
In my high school band geek days we referred to “WTF” as “What To Fix” and I think that is especially appropriate here. We have a lot of things that need fixing, especially since it seems that all the coaches in the A14 are sharing notes on how to beat us, Martelli just ignored the email. Its almost painful to watch, the entire squad is playing extremely tight and over thinking everything. This is also known as “choking”, and it’s easy to see on their faces. The guys are so concerned about not making mistakes that they’re making a ton of mistakes. I don’t buy the excuse that ”we can’t beat physical ball teams”, we should be compensating for it and figuring out how to win. We’re not. Who do we blame? Can we blame anyone?
As for the hockey, you seem to forget that I’m a dual citizen and I am therefore legally allowed to change my rooting interests on a whim. However, I was rooting for the USA all the way, especially since they were playing the style of hockey I love to watch. Fast paced and out-hustling their opponents. Canada should send a “Thank You” card to the US for that 5-3 beatdown earlier on, because it really turned Team Canada around, made them realize they can’t just phone it in and expect to win. The USA played 100% the entire time, and got better as the Olympics went on, which was great as well, Canada was just too good in the end.
That being said, I hate Sidney Crosby, I wouldn’t have been upset if Eric Staal had scored the winning goal, but Crosby? That’s worse than Celine Dion covering Nickelback.
- Wow, you made the impossible possible. You made Nickelback even worse. That’s suffering, folks.
Best commercial of the Olympics. Much better than that awful GE Healthcare one that played over and over.
NLP says: I kind of figure I could count on you for some Crosby hating since you aren’t a Quebecois. I know this because I haven’t stabbed you in the back repeatedly yet. I guess I’ll have to shelve the “54 40 or fight” rhetoric and just focus my rage on Quebec. Je me souviens? Yeah you’ll remember when I’m going Jeff Gillooly on your knee, Sidney.
Otherwise it was a good Olympics.
But it wasn’t such a good performance Saturday by the basketball team. That final score was no indication of how much a whooping it was. 39 trips to the foul line by GW. That’s jaw-dropping for me when all season long we were a team that made more FTs than our opponents even attempted.
The biggest problem incidently wasn’t turnovers or the GW defense as much as it was on the defensive end. Our interior players got abused early on and the infection of futility spread to the back court. Probably the biggest difference in the game was Shamari and Braswell going to the bench early, and practically everyone being in foul trouble by early in the 2nd half. As bad as I thought out defense was, it was obviously worse when you consider we had to play a little looser to keep from fouling. That means layup drill and offensive rebounds galore for GW.
The larger question, which you alluded to, is how we did we get to that point?
Unfortunately our problems start in the backcourt with DiJuan and Derrio. Though DiJuan is doing a decent job, he’s struggling with traps mightily. Derrio is also turning the ball over in really painful situations, like between the circles and on fast breaks. He’s really good with the ball in the halfcourt once we’re set, and he’s good when he sees the defense, but he seems to loose too many balls when there’s a defender around him. I guess it’s the court awareness and transition to DI where you have to account for everyone, not JUCO where the defense gives up once you start the break.
I’m really getting worried about Wednesday. Despite losing to X, I see Richmond drilling us. Mooney is no fool and he’s gonna know the scouting report. They probably feel like they owe us a beating. We HAVE to solve our problems dealing with physical teams NOW.
J Felt says: It was a good Olympics, and I pretty much just hate Crosby because he looks like a bitch but he’s still pretty good, and he plays for the Penguins. After the thrashing they laid down on the Canes in the playoffs I have some serious disdain.
No more MASN!!!
As for the game, I don’t even remember most of the 2nd half. 10 minutes into the game I asked our waitress for another pitcher of Yuengling. Already then I knew the MASN curse was kicking in. I really hate that channel, and I probably let you know that. Its as if our team notices that we’re on MASN and forgets how to play basketball. I know I said we broke the curse with the Fordham game, but does a single digit win over Fordham really count as a WIN? That’s like taking home your grandmother’s bingo partner, you’re actually losing.
- “Judy Rose’s office, how can I help you?.” … “Oh, it’s MASN? One moment please.” (call immediately transferred to angry chair-slamming guy who sits in 217)
NLP says:
I also heard they were douches to Matt and cut his feed off. Something to that effect. I would tell you first-hand but with his speech rate the words still haven’t hit my ears. He’s got good announciation though and that goes a long way.
Yeah I’m going to have to agree. We need a self-imposed ban from MASN before someone gets hurt. And I’m talking a lot more than the bruised egos the Niners and us fans are currently sporting.
Remember when everyone agreed that Shamarr leaving the team was a good thing for us. Do you still feel that way? I’m not going to tip my hand on how I feel, so ha ha! You’re on your own.
J Felt says: No, it’s never a good thing when someone leaves the team, whatever reason it is. While I wasn’t suprised in the least to see him go, I still think we could have been better with him here. Derrio did blossom for a few games after Shamarr left, but he’s fallen off as late. You can blame that on being tired, but there’s another aspect that is going unnoticed. Competition. No offense to Ian, but he is never going to contend with Derrio for that two guard spot, and maybe this long slump is because of complatency. He’d never admit it of course, he probably does work his ass off in practice, but there’s no one trying to take his starting job.
I think people forget how important practice is. If there’s no one near your calibre challenging you in practice, you’ll never improve. Just look at Phil Jones’ improvement ever since he’s had to battle K.J., Shamari, and Braswell at practice. If Green is only having to play against Ian in practice, no wonder he’s struggling in games. And yes, we’re talking about PRACTICE.
- Maybe Ian is the new Butter when it comes to killing it in practice?
One of the most memorable interviews I've ever seen.
NLP says:
Not a game? Not a game? But Practice? Practice?
I’d take AI right now on this team, even with the neck tattoos (always popular since the Curtis Nash experiment) and broken down body too.
I agree I wouldn’t want to take Shamarr back, but the question was whether we’re still a better team without him, not would we take him back. You did answer that though by saying you thought we could be better with him here. I agree there too. Not only is it addtional competition, but it’s also additional options. Obviously we have a collection of streaky shooters. That’s a challenge, but less of one with more options. Of course there’s a caveat with more options, and that’s less playing time to go around, and as this season showed we fell victim to its consequences -Shamarr leaving. Pity, he could have really fit in well if he bought into the team concept.
Derrio kind of reminds me of Neo on his first visit to the Oracle in The Matrix.
And I have to go on an aside here. The Matrix was the only one they should have made. Reloaded and Revolutions were awful, especially the latter. If you’re the machines, how can you accept that deal? Yeah Smith is wreaking havoc inside the build, but the deal with the humans is untenable. It cuts off their sole form of energy, since the sun is out of the picture. Unless they have some sort of cold fusion energy production scheme worked out, I don’t know how it works.
Anyway, in the visit the Oracle tells Neo he’s waiting on something, and that no one call tell you you’re The One, it’s something you realize. I kind of think that about Derrio and when I recall Utter writing about him talking with his father about his game, it kind of reinforces that. I think Derrio has it in him to be a Me-guard (credit to Powerbait for introducing me to that) unlike any that Lutz has had, unlike any the program has had since H Will. Sorry Jobey fans, I just see Derrio being a more dynamic triple threat (dribble, pass, shoot) threat than Jobey even though Thomas’ mid-range game was awesome by the time he graduated.
That said, I hope Derrio’s confidence isn’t waning. He’s got to believe in himself. I think the fans absolutely do, we’ve seen him do just jaw-dropping things (like the comeback against Fordham). I think his teammates do too, otherwise they wouldn’t look for him on offense. I also think defenses would fear him too if he could get the turnovers under control. How do you guard a kid who’s athletic enough to either blow by you or hit his shot no matter how closely he’s guarded?
Hang in there Derrio. I seriously believe in you. I think we’re an absolute long-shot to win the A10 tournament (which in my opinion is our only way now), but if we were it’d be on your back.
The Phil Jones does remain a good example of competition improving a player, despite my differing view on the source of Derrio’s struggles. Unfortunately he’s the most polarizing guy on the team. People either love what he brings off the bench or he’s labelled as soft and unaggresive. Personally I think he’s physically limited in his explosiveness, but has the size to make up for it; however, deep down I see him as a SF in a C’s body.
J Felt says: Here’s the thing about The Matrix: it’s a double decker matrix. See, the people in Zion are in the deeper layer of the Matrix, how else would Neo have power in the “real” world? He’s obviously been removed from the Matrix but has only ended up in the 2nd Matrix. Following me? So everyone in Zion thinks they are “free” but they are, in fact, still just batteries. A little depressing. They should have stopped after the first film, we can agree on that
You gotta check your mirrors, just the side of your eye.
I can’t believe you segwayed from The Matrix and Neo into Derrio becoming a star. Did you pull out a white board and brain storm possible movie choices that could be used to describe Derrio? What movie do you think appropriately symbolizes our season?
NLP says: Oooh. Good point. I forgot about Neo’s real world powers too. I’ve ranted about those too. Your theory is plausible. That’d solve the machine energy conundrum.
What movie summarizes our season? Unfortunately Groundhog Day. We’re at the point where Phil Connors keeps getting turned down by Rita every way imaginable. It’s like all the creative ways we can blow a season. PLEASE LET IT END. WHAT RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND CHARITY MUST I PERFORM? WHAT CATHARTIC MOMENT MUST I EXPERIENCE? I’m going go step in front of a truck/electrocute myself/jump off a building/drive off a cliff with a groundhog at the wheel.
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