Arrow pointing up

[Redbirdwarrior]

Well, I will be the first to admit that after the first couple games of the season, I thought the team as they are currently comprised would be borderline unwatchable all year. But, as usual, I was wrong. New coach, new team leadership on the court, new scheme- these things take time to get rolling. I honestly thought that as long as the players gave buy-in to the system and new culture under Coach that the season would be a success despite what I figured would be a 7-9 win year. As of right now, the Birds have more wins than I thought they would have all season and seem to be slightly ahead of where I (and I think almost any logical person) would have thought they would be in the rebuild. And it isn't just the wins and losses.

Looking back at the losses, 6 of the games we lost, we lost in the last 30 seconds or so and lost by 4 points or less. If half of those break the other way, ISU could somehow be a winning team right now, which is flat bonkers to think about.

This team seems to have found a spark after bouncing a then 17-6 SIU team out of CEFCU Arena and if they can ride this a little more, they may find themselves, somehow, not playing on Thursday in Stl. I think the odds are that they still will, but even considering that notion didn't seem possible back in November.

Keep it up, boys.

 

[stielowp]

Well, I will be the first to admit that after the first couple games of the season, I thought the team as they are currently comprised would be borderline unwatchable all year. But, as usual, I was wrong. New coach, new team leadership on the court, new scheme- these things take time to get rolling. I honestly thought that as long as the players gave buy-in to the system and new culture under Coach that the season would be a success despite what I figured would be a 7-9 win year. As of right now, the Birds have more wins than I thought they would have all season and seem to be slightly ahead of where I (and I think almost any logical person) would have thought they would be in the rebuild. And it isn't just the wins and losses.

Looking back at the losses, 6 of the games we lost, we lost in the last 30 seconds or so and lost by 4 points or less. If half of those break the other way, ISU could somehow be a winning team right now, which is flat bonkers to think about.

This team seems to have found a spark after bouncing a then 17-6 SIU team out of CEFCU Arena and if they can ride this a little more, they may find themselves, somehow, not playing on Thursday in Stl. I think the odds are that they still will, but even considering that notion didn't seem possible back in November.

Keep it up, boys.

Only the top 4 seeds avoid Thursday in the new format. I am not even sure it is mathematically possible anymore.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

Only the top 4 seeds avoid Thursday in the new format. I am not even sure it is mathematically possible anymore.

I was unaware of this. That is brutal.

 

[Adunk33]

I was unaware of this. That is brutal.

Love the new format. Less of a stigma on Thursday and more value in the BYE. That said, you will start seeing A LOT more Thursday teams making it to Saturday, especially this year. With how close the league is, maybe 3 Thursday teams are playing Saturday. It's going to be one heck of a tournament.

The arrow is pointing in the right direction for sure!

 

[MadBird]

I think many people (I won't include myself in this) tend to expect "instant turnaround", and often point to the portal and freshman at other teams playing well and other stuff to justify the idea that things can and should come together quickly. It wouid have been nice if Coach Pedon, and his squad of new Redbirds, was able to hit the floor running and just get going. Didn't happen that way. There's hope, arrow's pointing up, for sure.

I scream at the tube quite a bit watching this team, not any more or less this week than week one really, still lots of "dumb" stuff going on - I really get cranky when they can't get a shot off, don't seem to have an eye on the clock. Dumb dumb fouls - foul the 3 point shooter in the last minute of the game, for example. Fail to get in front of the man when everyone knows - at least everyone in MadBird's basement sports bar knows - the guy is going to the baseline, or going down the lane, or whatever he's doing. Fail to "feel" the defender coming up behind you before he knocks the ball away. Etc. Etc. And the damn coach sits there w/o calling a TO when it's clear - to those in the sportsbar at least! - a TO is needed.

But I gotta hand it to Coach, he seems to me to have a talent for getting the most out of the guys, knows how to pull some strings for some guys - Kotov, Sissoko for example. Let's guys play through their funk - Burford, Lewis, Knight. Waiting for him to work his magic on Petrakis and Schmitt! I have said before, I think he's got the long view, and that can be frustrating when you wanna see them win THIS GAME, TONIGHT. Let's see what he builds by next year at this time.

I wish it would happen before St. Louis, sooner rather than later, this year rather than next. But you see enough in some of these games to have some hope. Poindexter runs a pretty decent point. Lewis works and works and works some more. Burford plays a little more under control. Sissoko gets a couple more times up and down the court between fouls. Knight plays within himself and gets more confident. Kasubke drives me nuts, I hope he stops soon. Cause he does some good stuff. I love having Coach Judson on the bench.

 

[SgtHulka]

Its been a rough year to watch and a fun year to watch at times. We've held up pretty well against the top half of the conference. 4 OT games, 2-2 in those. The two losses were on the road. Need to cut down the bonehead stuff, and I think they have been, but they'll never eliminate them. Lewis is out of his funk, which probably accounted for a lot of our losses in that stretch. Didn't cause it, but didn't help it. He's been better recently and so have we.