When This Kind Of Thing Happens

[jibsey]

Is there any chance that teams like MEAS and VCU are actually much better than their low early season rankings? They're athletes, they are up for a ranked team. Maybe they don't know they're supposed to lose by 35? And it's also possible we don't deserve our pretty lofty ranked number just yet? Injuries and coasting were definitely factors tonight but every BE team thinks they can beat us even if they are unranked I bet.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Is there any chance that teams like MEAS and VCU are actually much better than their low early season rankings?

No.

 

[polycom]

No not at all. Look at kenpom

 

[JustbrewitMan]

UMES now 6-0 vs the spread. Perhaps they’re a better team than everyone, even the sharps, give them credit for.

Looking forward to making some $$$ off them the rest of the year

 

[Ts5034]

Is there any chance that teams like MEAS and VCU are actually much better than their low early season rankings? They're athletes, they are up for a ranked team. Maybe they don't know they're supposed to lose by 35? And it's also possible we don't deserve our pretty lofty ranked number just yet? Injuries and coasting were definitely factors tonight but every BE team thinks they can beat us even if they are unranked I bet.

I heard them mention during the game how UMES did not play last season so It’s hard to judge where they should be ranked. As of right now, they are 2-5. Just looking at their schedule, the most lopsided loss was at Temple 72-49, and the other losses vs St Joe’s, Campbell, and Liberty were by 2, 11, and 12 respectively. Not the greatest competition, but It’s not like they haven’t been competitive and getting blown out in all 5 losses. UMES lost to Campbell by 11. Duke played Campbell a couple weeks back and won 67-56. So, maybe UMES isn’t “that” bad…

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Is there any chance that teams like MEAS and VCU are actually much better than their low early season rankings?

yes. take this team tonite, fer instance. announcer analyst guy, who was superb, by the way, mentioned how whatever the name of this team that we played, only 2 guys, of 12 i think, were even there the last time that they had a normal season. so, ten new guys are a bit hard to handicap, even if they've already played a handful of games. and, when the rules went kablooie last december with the covid transfer, etc rules, it was obvious that the number of experienced players getting new life, or different teams, would dramatically impact this season. plus the effects all around on the weird new team chemistry. don't we have some 8th year seniors, and third year freshmen?
i agree with that smart announcer, we beat a really good auburn team.

 

[NowInStorrs]

We dropped 8 spots on Kenpom after this win. Not great.

 

[ThabeetDown]

UMES’s conference is the worst in D1. Their best team will be a 16 seed probably playing in Dayton so not even a real 16. Even if UMES miraculously wins their conference tournament and becomes that 16 seed, how bad does this look still? You don’t play like this vs 16 seeds. Period.

 

[Chin Diesel]

UMES’s conference is the worst in D1. Their best team will be a 16 seed probably playing in Dayton so not even a real 16. Even if UMES miraculously wins their conference tournament and becomes that 16 seed, how bad does this look still? You don’t play like this vs 16 seeds. Period.

Players play like this when there is no consequence for playing like this.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Players play like this when there is no consequence for playing like this.

We’ll see if there is some accountability come Saturday

 

[CL82]

I heard them mention during the game how UMES did not play last season so It’s hard to judge where they should be ranked

Because not playing makes you well rested for the next season. If only we had a coach who was genius enough to try that. We might be able to, oh I don’t know, squeeze out a win over Yale?

 

[Kolumbo]

At the end of the day it's just 5 young men putting a ball through a hoop. Anything can happen. This isn't rocket science, amirite?

 

[AntG168]

This is the first time we haven’t slapped a cupcake by 40 this season. It’s people thinking we should do something no other team in the country is doing. Every team is having more trouble than usual with some of these teams. Call me crazy for not being overly concerned. But slapping every cupcake by 40 is not really a realistic expectation anymore….for anyone. Every now and again a cupcake will start banking 3’s in from 28 feet, and hitting turn around contested mid range jumpers and keep a game competitive. It’s ok. Some of you need to put some more respect on Martin’s name by the way. All in all it was a weak, disinterested effort. It doesn’t speak anything to the potential of this team though. And that just my opinion

 

[auror]

Let's be honest: UMES is not good.

That being said, they're also not 350+ bad. They have a lot of new players and the metrics are penalizing their program and previous play. They almost beat St Joe's on the road and only Temple beat them by more than 12 points in 6 games.

They also played even better than normal tonight and we played worse. It happens.

 

[AntG168]

Let's be honest: UMES is not good.

That being said, they're also not 350+ bad. They have a lot of new players and the metrics are penalizing their program and previous play. They almost beat St Joe's on the road and only Temple beat them by more than 12 points in 6 games.

They also played even better than normal tonight and we played worse. It happens.

I think we have to start changing the way we look at who’s “not good” and “good”. On any given night a team can play waaaaay above their heads. It doesn’t mean the more talented team(UConn) is no longer good. It just means the UMES that played in the XL Center tonight is not the same UMES that lost against liberty. They may never play this well again. But the fact of the matter is tonight they didn’t “suck”. Did UConn make some boneheaded mistakes? Yes. But that isn’t why UMES hung around. They were putting tough shots in the basket. Sometimes, just sometimes you pat the other team on the butt, say good game, and move on. If this becomes a trend, I’ll be concerned. But I chalk it up to UMES having one of those nights. You know the saying, “anybody could be beaten on any given night”. Rest up, clean it up, and destroy Grambling St.

 

[uconngb]

Players play like this when there is no consequence for playing like this.

Well said

 

[uconngb]

We’ll see if there is some accountability come Saturday

Don’t hold your breath

 

[auror]

I think we have to start changing the way we look at who’s “not good” and “good”. On any given night a team can play waaaaay above their heads. It doesn’t mean the more talented team(UConn) is no longer good. It just means the UMES that played in the XL Center tonight is not the same UMES that lost against liberty. They may never play this well again. But the fact of the matter is tonight they didn’t “suck”. Did UConn make some boneheaded mistakes? Yes. But that isn’t why UMES hung around. They were putting tough shots in the basket. Sometimes, just sometimes you pat the other team on the butt, say good game, and move on. If this becomes a trend, I’ll be concerned. But I chalk it up to UMES having one of those nights. You know the saying, “anybody could be beaten on any given night”. Rest up, clean it up, and destroy Grambling St.

The Mensah guy played 2 minutes against Liberty and was 4/5 from 3 with most heavily contested against us.

If we had turned the ball over 10+ times or gave up 10+ offensive rebounds or fouled them 20 times, I'd be concerned. But no, none of that. There were really none of the big warning signs.

The main thing I'd say is that Hurley still hasn't figured out how to defend the 5 guard lineup when we can't rely on shotblocking to bolster our perimeter D. This was exacerbated by missing Martin and not being to kill a smaller lineup on the glass as easily. Our D keys our offense, so if we can't stop teams, we're going to have a tougher time scoring. Thankfully we shot pretty well tonight (except Adama at the line)

That and we need to stop falling for pump fakes.

 

[AntG168]

The Mensah guy played 2 minutes against Liberty and was 4/5 from 3 with most heavily contested against us.

If we had turned the ball over 10+ times or gave up 10+ offensive rebounds or fouled them 20 times, I'd be concerned. But no, none of that. There were really none of the big warning signs.

The main thing I'd say is that Hurley still hasn't figured out how to defend the 5 guard lineup when we can't rely on shotblocking to bolster our perimeter D. Our D keys our offense, so if we can't stop teams,, we're going to have a tougher time scoring. Thankfully we shot pretty well tonight (except Adama at the line)

That and we need to stop falling for pump fakes.

They got us on the same pump fake about 3-4 times. It was infuriating. And you’re right this was like St John’s last year, except St. John’s was obviously more talented. Same issues. I hate the Adama and Whaley starting together period. But I definitely hate it against a 5 out offense. Put Hawkins in the starting 5 and replace Whaley with Martin and we’d be more successful

 

[Hankster]

No.

Well playing like they did last night and posting a 2-4 record at tip off, yes it is possible they are underrated.

 

[husky429]

We dropped 8 spots on Kenpom after this win. Not great.

Dropped 13 on Torvik. Defense rankings on both took a whack

 

[dennismenace]

UMES now 6-0 vs the spread. Perhaps they’re a better team than everyone, even the sharps, give them credit for.

Looking forward to making some $$$ off them the rest of the year

They just look like they expect to win, make plays etc. with a high degree of confidence. Maybe their coach inspires that confidence; especially when they follow his game plan and instructions. As previously said by others their 4 guard 5 out picked our defense apart. That's a real cause for concern if we don't adjust. And if we needed an adjustment wouldn't having Akok in there as a quick shot blocker help against that kind of offense?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Jackson displayed some of the worst basketball fundamentals I’ve seen outside of 4th grade Saturday AM hoops league last night. Lazy passes and handle and no positioning for rebounds. He’s getting 8 boards a game based on a 45” vertical and 7 foot wingspan but doesn’t get boards right in front of him. Very frustrating

 

[AntG168]

Jackson displayed some of the worst basketball fundamentals I’ve seen outside of 4th grade Saturday AM hoops league last night. Lazy passes and handle and no positioning for rebounds. He’s getting 8 boards a game based on a 45” vertical and 7 foot wingspan but doesn’t get boards right in front of him. Very frustrating

AJAX has a lot of work to do

 

[Rico444]

I'm more concerned about the fact that the offense has looked awful for three straight games. We had the excuse about facing very good defenses for the first two, but clearly that wasn't the case last night. I'm sure the defense will get cleaned up, but I'm starting to worry that we may not be a very good offensive team.