While I love the ignore feature, it can make following the board confusing at times.
Having only seen part of the exchange, Iāll just throw out my thoughts on the schedule. I think we did a good job of setting up the schedule for Odomās first year (letās not forget that little tidbit - it can get lost. An announcer on one of our games was raving about how Odom always gets his team right his second year at a new stop as if this was his second year at UVa. Should not be forgotten.) And of course, we can only play the ACC schedule they give us. I think weāve done a good job finding solid, appropriate games. OSU mid season was a good call, pretty happy with the noncon scheduling, given the first year issue and the expectations the selection committee has set.
Back to the point of the thread:
This should be a fantastic game. Miami is going to be hunting a signature win, and we are in the glorious position of being a potential signature win for our opponents. I havenāt seen them much this year, but I expect a tough test.
Hoping we can build on the formula we employed early vs. Georgia Tech - get in the lane, use our size and TDRās strength to play inside out. (I donāt expect to be able to lean on the way we finished that game, which was keep kicking a team that has given up, but the way we got there could be replicable).
Odom usually has a good plan going in, and I think weāll see that pay dividends. Grab an early lead, fight through the inevitable rally, and then wear them down with depth and smart rotation choices in the second.
Anyone got an extra ticket for tomorrow? My not-so-brilliant father decided to invite his girlfriend even though we only have two season tickets. Ideally, one of you will let me have your extra lower and I can wave to them while they sit in nosebleed.
Iāve been on record that our schedule was pretty meh. Maybe highly meh. Some of that is the ACCās fault, some of that is bad MTE luck (that WV ballroom tourney was like āimagine Meh became a tourney and now imagine the most Meh venueā), some of that was Brad Brownellās fault, and some of that was Odomās fault ("Q: How can we make a February game against a P5 bubble team with their back to the wall, and make it as MEH as humanly possible? A: play it in Nashville).
But I mostly really want to repeat again for the millionth time that I hate this fan tendency to say: āI am really happy we put together such a boring meh schedule because I think that boring meh schedule was good for us strategically!ā
#1 - how would we know? Reallyā¦
#2 - be a fan! As a fan, do you want to see us play Duke and UNC twice? Or do you want to see us play UMES 5 times? If youād prefer the former, and I hope you do, then say that! Youāre not the poor schlub who has to figure out logistics. Youāre the poor schlub who needs to make sure that other poor schlub knows what you like ā good hoops.
To be clear, that is my thought on the schedule as a whole. I donāt think we need to apologize because Mikel Brown didnāt play in our Louisville game. Thatās just luck of the drawā¦ Itās a semi contact sport and injuries happen.
I totally agree on the scheduling. While I understand your point on wanting to face tough competition DTW, this team definitely needed some time to gel at the beginning. This was most evident on the defensive end. Not only did they need to learn to play connected defense within Odomās scheme, even some of the veterans needed to get better at sliding and just giving 100 percent effort and concentration when on the floor.
As for Miami, this should be a tough matchup, but Iām fairly confident that we can ultimately impose our will. We just have too much size and depth for a team that relies on five guys who play almost all game.
To pick a nit, Iām not saying we should have played UMES five times. Three, maybe four, tops. I kid, I kid.
But I donāt think this team would have benefited from playing Michigan in November. February, yes. As for Nashville being Meh, Fresh is gonna square up.
Also, to be clear, I have enjoyed Nashville in the past myself. I mean, not as much as a bachelorette does, but I did enjoy. I just think itās a very meh place to play a game between a state school from Ohio and a state school from Virginia.
The handwringing about injured opponents also omits Jacariās injury a lot. Heās a pretty important piece for us!
Missed the entirety of a game we lost in triple OT and I am inclined to believe our best 3P shooter could have helped us just a bit in a game that close. He played very limited minutes and went 0-3 from 3 in one of our other pretty close losses against UNC while returning from that injury.
Heās not Mikel Brown, but he was still recovering during the Louisville game too and played limited minutes there as well in a game we led wire-to-wire. Maybe they should try being less dependent on one guy!
We smoked NC State in their gym without him too. (Is that our most impressive win of the season until we beat Duke?)
I think some people misunderstand some other peopleā¦
Making observations about opponents missing key players a lot this season has nothing to do with being unhappy that we won those gamesā¦
As Haney pointed out, it has to do with the entertainment value to me. I want to see us play against opponents at full strength for entertainment value, and as a full measure test.
I heard some pundit today say Miami needs to make 8 or more 3s tomorrow. Miami very rarely does that. I think they have done it once in conference play against Georgia Tech. But I donāt know if that is really the case. How many WE make is more important, I think.
Also, to be clear, I am no longer betting my house. I think we will win, but the house is safe.
they could certainly make 8 threes just shoot every shot from three and youāll get 8 iām sure. Of course you might only score 24 points. Wonder if that pundit thinks theyāll win 24-22 in that case!?