Originally Posted by bcross
And down the stretch it was all a freshman and guy that played one year at Coppin State making plays. It wasn't experience that made the difference. That's the point I was making.
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And I agree completely. When it wasnt experience, it was talent. They had more of both.
Duquesne has FIVE players sitting out this year as transfers. FIVE. They were just as limited in bodies as we were and are undergoing their own roster overhaul. That was not a good basketball team we lost to today.
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And Duquesne is under no illusion that they beat a good basketball team today. Agree they have guys sitting out as well. But the guys they suited up are more talented and experienced than the ones we suited up. They may even have more talent unable to suit up. In fact Id say its very likely.
And yes, perhaps some of their young guys are better than our young guys. Its within the realm of possibility too.
I think we're saying mostly the same thing, but from two different ends of the stick. Both teams are mediocre. The home team won a close one. The end. I just dont see much of a storyline here.
Flyer fans need to forget the Wonderfog of the last four seasons. This was and is a complete reset from ground zero. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Not when we just flipped about 10 roster positions by swapping out a gaggle of 1,000pt scorers with a gaggle of glorified HS graduates and first-year starters.
Our leading scorer averaged 5ppg last year. That's the mountain we're having to climb in 2017-18. The #2 guy has more or less played a half season of ball in the last 2.5 years and suffered a serious injury. The #3 guy has played meaningful minutes in about 1 game in the last month. The #4 guy basically never started a college basketball game until this year and didnt even play today. The #5 guy basically never played until this season and now starts. The #6 guy is a true freshman. The #7 guy is a true freshman. The #8 guy is a true freshman. The #9 guy is RS freshman. The #10 guy cant even play this year b/c of injury. The #11 guy got whacked in a jail cell and is decidedly unavailable. The #12 guy is deceased. The #13 guy that played today is best known for his last name not his basketball.
Anthony Grant is no Coach K. Neither is Archie Miller. But I think the man deserves some rope. When we're getting beaten by similarly-talented teams 3-4 seasons from now with all of AGs recruits in AG's system playing AG's preferred style, then we can level charges.
We do nothing other than make our dang free throws, we win this game coaching aside. At some point dudes on the court gotta make plays. And when they either cannot or will not, they need to grow up on the court and learn from mistakes while the staff scours the nation's blacktop for other dudes capable of making existing first teamers future second teamers.
Until then the coaches and player deserve a bit of latitude. None of them created this situation from their own handiwork -- they inherited most of it. I think it says something about both AG and the new guys that held commitments and came here anyway knowing full well this was going to be a rebuild like few others in Flyer memory -- and not a reload of any capacity.