Myrtle Beach Invitational

[JD24]

Myrtle Beach is a great opportunity to jump into deep and freezing water to see how prepared we are to survive or thrive. Over a 3 game stretch just about everything should average out so our expected improvements in shooting, assists, turnovers and rebounding will all be far better understood. I am going to try to await the tourney completion before I go overboard in either direction with my extrapolations for the season. Hopefully this will keep my foot a comfortable 72" away from my mouth. 

1-2 is not what I was looking for. The major plus is that our TOs vs assists is much improved vs early 17-18. Otherwise we are not ready for prime time. I'll need to see Jay and Micah healthy before I venture another guess for how good this team can be, but for now we are only slightly better than we were in Feb. Much could change when Jay returns and the role for Mileek might be altered before it is even fully established.  Long story--short, I'm expecting to see a lot of changes and adjustments before the Redbirds arrive to open MVC play and our methods of attack may change slightly not only for every opponent but with every substitution. 

I tend to agree. I just don't think the team does anything particularly well offensively, particularly shooting with any consistency, enough to be competitive (depending on what your definition of competitive is) in the conference at this point.

On a positive note, Freeman looks as if he will be a real good player capable of building a program around. This is something the program has missed since Peters left.

[govalpogo]

I think we all are looking for wins in every game, even the ones we don't necessarily expect to win.  Realistically, I saw WKY as a loss, game 2 against Monmouth being a "must win," and game 3 likely against St Joe's or Wake as more of a toss up that would be a nice win if they could pull it off, disappointing if they lost but not a reason to despair  if they could compete well (which I think they did). 

Based on my untrained eye, it really looks like making a few more 3's and grabbing a few more rebounds would really go a long way.  Hoping that shooters (Evelyn, Fazekas, Golder) can live up to their potential and Sorolla can step in and improve the defensive rebounding and defense in general.  Doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. 

[M]

I think the majority of us agree with this....my worries, and I can't speak for anyone else, is that this team might not be able to get those couple extra rebounds and perhaps aren't the shooters we were hoping they would be. 

Regardless, much improved from the exhibition game...but lots more room to keep improving.

See ya Wednesday

[crusader05]

The positives I took away from the tournament is that the team seemed more focused and less whiny and lest apt to collapse in on themselves like a dying star when things didn't go their way immediately.

Rebounding and shooting overall, as well as just individuals needing to work on specific things definitely need improvement BUT I feel much better about the team's ability to continue to work to push through this than I ever did last year. I feel that a lot of our struggles last year were due to more mental issues than skills and if they continue to improve they will be ready for conference season.

[FieldGoodie05]

The positives I took away from the tournament is that the team seemed more focused and less whiny and lest apt to collapse in on themselves like a dying star when things didn't go their way immediately.

Rebounding and shooting overall, as well as just individuals needing to work on specific things definitely need improvement BUT I feel much better about the team's ability to continue to work to push through this than I ever did last year. I feel that a lot of our struggles last year were due to more mental issues than skills and if they continue to improve they will be ready for conference season.

Well said, I agree that much of last year December & January was a fight to the shrink's couch.  This clearly limited us last year.  I also share the confidence that this team has started the year already many steps ahead of last years team.  I am optimistic that our ceiling can only grow from here as long as Sorolla is indeed able to get back on the court in the next couple of weeks.  He needs time to acclimatize and get his legs and "wind" back from missing time.