Murray State - 02/15/2023 - 7:00 PM - Marquee

[isuquinndog]

For what it's worth....Pedon literally said in the pregame that Liam was out with a back injury...I'm telling you, please get your news from the source and stop giving this guy clicks! The only way the Pantagraph would consider moving on is if readers stop supporting his nonsense.

the problem is Lee will just decide no one cares about ISU and not cover. Barely any one even works at the Pantagraph any more.

 

[Adunk33]

the problem is Lee will just decide no one cares about ISU and not cover. Barely any one even works at the Pantagraph any more.

I mean...the Vidette provides better coverage, though less reach. Maybe there is an opportunity for WGLT to step up.

If a D1 men's basketball team is getting the same amount of coverage as a local amateur golf tournament...Lee surely doesn't have a pulse on what people care about.

 

[Bird Friend]

For what it's worth....Pedon literally said in the pregame that Liam was out with a back injury...I'm telling you, please get your news from the source and stop giving this guy clicks! The only way the Pantagraph would consider moving on is if readers stop supporting his nonsense.

Was pointing out that Benson didn’t know and wouldn’t know until everyone else already knew. Pretty sure </sarcasm font> would have given away that I wasn’t being serious. Also pretty sure there were no “clicks” to click.

I’m guessing I triggered something for. For that I apologize. But, your response was completely unnecessary, in my opinion.

 

[Bird Friend]

We are showing actions in our own ways. In some cases, that includes not wasting anymore time or money watching a bad product. You are new here but the apathy from the fan base is real. We aren’t too far removed from a thread from a losing game being 20 pages long. This one is at 2.

It’s been 25 years and wanting to win and trying hard isn’t going to end that.

Actually, I think we were more in 30-40 page threads.

 

[DaveBird10]

So some people think that Pedon and staff were going to win with this roster and that they were going to win and get us to the tournament and end the spell, sorry but 25 years isn't on Pedon. With Sandage and Liam out we have 5 guys who can provide consistent minutes, the rest of the minutes you hope a kid can step up. We have 3 guys play over 37 or 38 minutes and to play that many minutes at a high caliber is tough. Year 1 establish the culture and move on from there. You get the guys who will be here next year with the freshman and it will look a lot better in year 2 then it is now, to ask for a drastic turnaround just isn't realistic.
I have a saying that to enjoy the good years you have to live through the down years. I trust Pedon and company will get this turned around and when they do, ill enjoy it. I also know Burford and Poindexter will be better in year 2 and year 3 after playing together then they are now. From a trusted source you get better at running those things with time.

 

[Bird Friend]

I agree, Sen was getting backed down quite a bit and he's just not big enough to be effective down there. A couple bigger or longer bodies would've been helpful.

Murray State took advantage of our switches many times last night. Darius was caught underneath with their bigs several times.

 

[Bird Friend]

I mean...the Vidette provides better coverage, though less reach. Maybe there is an opportunity for WGLT to step up.

If a D1 men's basketball team is getting the same amount of coverage as a local amateur golf tournament...Lee surely doesn't have a pulse on what people care about.

Knowing (as in I really do know him) the WGLT director, I think you can count WGLT out. Sports are not his strong suit, not sure they’re even on his radar.

 

[SlackBooDom]

So some people think that Pedon and staff were going to win with this roster and that they were going to win and get us to the tournament and end the spell, sorry but 25 years isn't on Pedon. With Sandage and Liam out we have 5 guys who can provide consistent minutes, the rest of the minutes you hope a kid can step up. We have 3 guys play over 37 or 38 minutes and to play that many minutes at a high caliber is tough. Year 1 establish the culture and move on from there. You get the guys who will be here next year with the freshman and it will look a lot better in year 2 then it is now, to ask for a drastic turnaround just isn't realistic.
I have a saying that to enjoy the good years you have to live through the down years. I trust Pedon and company will get this turned around and when they do, ill enjoy it. I also know Burford and Poindexter will be better in year 2 and year 3 after playing together then they are now. From a trusted source you get better at running those things with time.

From your standpoint, where do you draw the line between a drastic turnaround and 10-18 with five conference wins? Is it wrong to have thought we could be .500 this year with one of the worst schedules in the country?

 

[DaveBird10]

From your standpoint, where do you draw the line between a drastic turnaround and 10-18 with five conference wins? Is it wrong to have thought we could be .500 this year with one of the worst schedules in the country?

I mean yes to think we'd be .500 is crazy. We could be .500 but we can't close out games, that comes with repetition and playing together. We have lost a lot of 1 possession/2 possession games where we don't have it. After the 5 starters last night who is there? Our bench got outscored 31-4, I repeat our bench got outscored 31-4. Pedon and company has said they knew this would be a tough year and until he has time to flip the roster this is what we have.

 

[SgtHulka]

For what it's worth....Pedon literally said in the pregame that Liam was out with a back injury...I'm telling you, please get your news from the source and stop giving this guy clicks! The only way the Pantagraph would consider moving on is if readers stop supporting his nonsense.

He's more concerned with chasing away clicks by blocking fans.

On the last 17 seconds I wish we would have just played it out instead of calling the TO. Gave them a chance to setup their game plan.

 

[ScoreboardDotRace]

The Vidette didn’t have the McChesney info either. They may be better/more active on Twitter but Benson provides more coverage/articles.

GLT was never in the mix.

And I’ve never understood the golf slight either? He covers golf when it’s in season, and he’s covering local people and kids. He still had plenty of ISU bball articles this summer when there news to report.

I’m not saying he should get a lifetime achievement award, but he’s not as awful either.

 

[ScoreboardDotRace]

On the last 17 seconds I wish we would have just played it out instead of calling the TO. Gave them a chance to setup their game plan.

I agree, had just gotten a stop if I’m not mistaken? Had them on their heels. I would’ve liked to just play it out too, especially since we haven’t shown a strong ability yet to come out or timeouts and score

 

[CB2K]

"It's easy to comeback, it's hard to comeback and win." A saying Muller would use time and time again. Pedon isn't saying that. He's been very honest about what this year is. He's excited to get more of HIS guys in the door next season. At the end of the day, this roster will always struggle against teams with any depth. There are 5 serviceable players right now. The rotation is 7, when healthy. Murray's bench had 34....ISU's...4
I was surprised not to see some zone from the Birds last night. That one kid was hot (shout out to Luke for holding him to 3 points in the second half, after 22 in the first) and everyone else was okay. Luke and Mal got caught downlow again and the switching continue to make me scratch my head. At the very least, in a zone, you could've put Schmitt or Kotov out there in the middle to take up space and make it harder to get to the basket. If nothing else, they'd be good for some contact on Murray's bigger guys.

Effort was there for the most part, but so was fatigue. The last play, the shot wouldn't have counted but the foul occurred before the buzzer with 0.2. You can see DB get hit in the head. The ref called all ball. However, if you look at the stat sheet, Murray is officially credited with ZERO blocks....

I have been wondering all year why we don’t play more zone. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and go zone. I know coach P is trying to make them learn his style of man-to-man defense by replication of the team following those processes and philosophies during game time but why not also apply this same approach to a zone style defense. They constantly get beat inside over and over especially from quick guards driving the middle lane.

The switching also is frustrating. They have to correct that because it happens too much. Either they are not following coaches defense philosophy or coach needs to make an adjustment.

Kendall is playing great ball and I love to see his energy and engagement.

 

[SlackBooDom]

I mean yes to think we'd be .500 is crazy. We could be .500 but we can't close out games, that comes with repetition and playing together. We have lost a lot of 1 possession/2 possession games where we don't have it. After the 5 starters last night who is there? Our bench got outscored 31-4, I repeat our bench got outscored 31-4. Pedon and company has said they knew this would be a tough year and until he has time to flip the roster this is what we have.

Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Northwestern State x 2, SIUE, Eastern Michigan, Chicago State... and it is crazy playing those teams plus Valpo x 2, UIC x 2, Evansville x 2 to think we'd be .500? How low are the expectations for Illinois State basketball? How is that crazy?

Burford had played 48 games. Lewis 67. Knight 89. Sandage 50. Kasubke 46. McChesney 32. Petrakis 42. This wasn't a new roster full of freshmen. They're all experienced D1 players.

 

[ScoreboardDotRace]

From your standpoint, where do you draw the line between a drastic turnaround and 10-18 with five conference wins? Is it wrong to have thought we could be .500 this year with one of the worst schedules in the country?

I thought they’d be a little better overall. I figured between 8-9 however they’ve slipped even below that.

Not defending home court has been a bit of a let down for me.

 

[redbirds2000]

Everyone wants to win. No one wants to loose. We all know that. The problem is, we are good at talking, show some actions!

What actions?

 

[Redbird82]

Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Northwestern State x 2, SIUE, Eastern Michigan, Chicago State... and it is crazy playing those teams plus Valpo x 2, UIC x 2, Evansville x 2 to think we'd be .500? How low are the expectations for Illinois State basketball? How is that crazy?

Burford had played 48 games. Lewis 67. Knight 89. Sandage 50. Kasubke 46. McChesney 32. Petrakis 42. This wasn't a new roster full of freshmen. They're all experienced D1 players.

Exactly, I was hoping 7-4 non conference, against that schedule hardly asking for the moon. Then 9-11 or 8-10 in conference. We have beaten Belmont, SIU and MSU, the hard part you go 5-1 against the other cellar dwellers you are 8-10. Having absolutely zero inside presence has probably cost those 3-5 games that would make us feel better about this season. Ultimately what happens next year and the year after will tell whether Pedon is gonna be successful regardless of this year

 

[Scipio]

Reality check: We all knew this season was going to be tough. And let’s not kid ourselves; next season is going to be rough. We may be a little better but at this point any improvement will be welcome. The arena was a morgue last night. 25 years of this takes a toll and I frankly don’t know how ISU digs out of it. Another season ticket holder said to me after the game; ‘we have to look at the positives’. I agree. My positive is that this season is almost over. I only have to endure one more loss in CA. I’ll continue to pull for the Birds ( without much hope) and whoever is playing PU. Then I need to consider what to do when the program asked me to again for my season tickets support.

 

[DaveBird10]

Burford had played 48 games. Lewis 67. Knight 89. Sandage 50. Kasubke 46. McChesney 32. Petrakis 42. This wasn't a new roster full of freshmen. They're all experienced D1 players.

New system and playing together for 1st time with a 1st time head coach and how many of those kids came previously from winning programs? And of the 7 kids that you names only 5 played last night and 5 play on a consistent basis due to injuries. Depth and injuries have hurt this team and we can't defend the paint, where I think I heard Murray had 24 points in the paint in the 2nd half last night.
I also think teams like Bradley, SIU and Drake are at the top of the conference because they have had the least roster turnover. Indiana State was 11-20 last year with a first time D1 head coach and has turned over the roster completely and gets 19-9 this year. A turn around like that next year is certainly possible.

 

[SlackBooDom]

New system and playing together for 1st time with a 1st time head coach and how many of those kids came previously from winning programs? And of the 7 kids that you names only 5 played last night and 5 play on a consistent basis due to injuries. Depth and injuries have hurt this team and we can't defend the paint, where I think I heard Murray had 24 points in the paint in the 2nd half last night.
I also think teams like Bradley, SIU and Drake are at the top of the conference because they have had the least roster turnover. Indiana State was 11-20 last year with a first time D1 head coach and has turned over the roster completely and gets 19-9 this year. A turn around like that next year is certainly possible.

Then why are we recruiting them!?