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Post by Doliboabros on Jan 22, 2015 8:39:49 GMT -5
What are your realistic expectations for the Raiders for the rest of the season? W/L, player development, coaching strategy changes, etc.
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Post by hhgreen on Jan 22, 2015 9:24:06 GMT -5
13-18 at the end of this year if we don't get Stephen Davis, JT or Kendall back this season. Next year will be the make or break season as far as getting the Raiders where they should be.
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Post by Dr J on Jan 22, 2015 12:50:52 GMT -5
I would like to see Davis and Yoho back before thr tournament. As a physician if Kendall had concussion symptoms he would be through. He is too intelligent and has a career outside of playing basketball. We do need to focus on development of the freshmen for the coming years. We don't give up on winning but we need to do what is needed for the good of the program. I think we have a team that can play a strong aggressive zone defenses to help decrease the opponents low post play. I still think BD needs to put a more aggressive offense in place. But I spect it to go to the slow down offense to reduce the opponents offensive opportunities. With our present situation we cannot compete in a half court game only. We have height coming in next year but at least two years from being competitive possibly. It will be interesting in BD's recruiting strategy that year.
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Post by wsuraider09 on Jan 22, 2015 15:34:24 GMT -5
Realistically?
Our next chance to win a game is at home against UIC. This team is going to be on a 7 game losing streak when they return home to face UIC. That's the first game Yoho MIGHT be back. I don't think Davis coming back any sooner really helps this team...we're missing size, but we're also missing leadership. If Yoho does come back, we might have a chance to win our 3 game home stand against UIC, YSU, and Oakland. Then we lose at Valpo without question...after that Milwaukee comes in, boy would it be great to punch them square in the jaw, and we finish at UIC.
I have said this before, I don't really think there's a need to bring Yoho back...We are not in the conversation to win this league, we are not in a position to earn a first round bye, hell if the season ended today we'd start the post-season on the road. I think we will be competitive in our home games even without Yoho or Davis. I love Griffin, and I think he should hang up his hat...but JJ Boggs said that he expects Griffin to see the court soon. But even then, he's looked a bit slow all season.
So realistically? If we get Yoho, Davis, and Griffin back..I think we will win 13 games..probably get it turned around enough to be 5 seed hosting the 6 in the tournament....but if Yoho doesn't return, I would honestly be surprised if we beat anyone besides UIC at home. But it could be worse, we could be Florida A&M, Central Arkansas, or Marist.
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Post by Indy Raider on Jan 22, 2015 20:54:01 GMT -5
I would like to see us competitive in games. I would like to see our freshmen get as much court time as possible. I want to see Donlon continue to experiment with zone defenses and try to press more when we have to go 5 guards.
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Post by riceownz2 on Jan 23, 2015 9:51:37 GMT -5
I would like to see us competitive in games. I would like to see our freshmen get as much court time as possible. I want to see Donlon continue to experiment with zone defenses and try to press more when we have to go 5 guards. I like these expectations, but given Donlon's track record, I don't see these as "realistic."
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Post by wolf41 on Jan 23, 2015 14:00:34 GMT -5
I don't have any particular expectations. Frankly I feel bad for the players that are still able to play. With only one big man on the court at any point in time, the opposition can send every offensive player to the boards to fight for any rebound. We have been out boarded in the last two games by 49 boards I think. As long as that continues, I don't care where we play, I think we will lose. Remember, the other HL teams are not thin in their ranks for height and "beef". Only Donlon tries to get by with the fewest number of big men, and his big men aren't often described as "beefy." Thank the basketball Gods that we haven't been hit by the flu and other illnesses this season.
I know that BigD is optimistic about our big men next season, but the two young men sitting out this season had only one other D-I school looking at one of them. Given that, I don't know how much to expect from them in the '15-'16 season. In short, I just don't see the kind of talent on the court that will take us back to a top 100 or 120 team we use to see at WSU, let alone an NCAA caliber team. Who knows, maybe next year all the seeds planted this year will bear fruit, but we'll have to wait until then to find out. For now, excluding the women's team, we have to turn our thoughts to baseball and softball road trips in February.
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Post by hhgreen on Jan 23, 2015 15:37:51 GMT -5
Don't forget we do have Karena next year and Davis.
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Post by Jazzfan on Jan 23, 2015 23:21:29 GMT -5
I don't have any particular expectations. Frankly I feel bad for the players that are still able to play. With only one big man on the court at any point in time, the opposition can send every offensive player to the boards to fight for any rebound. We have been out boarded in the last two games by 49 boards I think. As long as that continues, I don't care where we play, I think we will lose. Remember, the other HL teams are not thin in their ranks for height and "beef". Only Donlon tries to get by with the fewest number of big men, and his big men aren't often described as "beefy." Thank the basketball Gods that we haven't been hit by the flu and other illnesses this season. I know that BigD is optimistic about our big men next season, but the two young men sitting out this season had only one other D-I school looking at one of them. Given that, I don't know how much to expect from them in the '15-'16 season. In short, I just don't see the kind of talent on the court that will take us back to a top 100 or 120 team we use to see at WSU, let alone an NCAA caliber team. Who knows, maybe next year all the seeds planted this year will bear fruit, but we'll have to wait until then to find out. For now, excluding the women's team, we have to turn our thoughts to baseball and softball road trips in February. We are going to have 6 big men next year. Besides the 2 big men siting out this year, we also return all 4 of our post players from this year: Karena, Yoho, S. Davis and R. Davis. All of them will be a year older, more experienced, and have another year in the weight room under their belts.
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Post by Big D on Jan 24, 2015 10:43:21 GMT -5
I am not worried at all about our post depth next year. We are in a really crappy situation this year where we kicked a 4 year post player off our team. Our best interior player (Yoho) started the season on suspension and is now hurt. Our most athletic interior player (S. Davis) has been hurt since the OSU game. Those 2 guys were averaging 23.5 points combined before they went down with injuries. We were planning on going into this year with Sledge and Karena in the post with Yoho and S. Davis at PF. R. Davis was going to get mop up minutes at both positions to get some experience. Injuries and suspensions have killed us. Next year everyone is back and will have another year in the weight room under their belt. We also have the 2 red-shirt post players that will provide extra depth. I like what we have in the post going into next season.
Honestly, my biggest concern for next year is PG and I am concerned we aren't prepping anyone for next season. Almost all of our PG minutes this year have gone to Reggie and Chrishawn. Mark Howell barely sees the court and when he does either Reggie or Chrishawn is on the court with him, so he really isn't running the show. I haven't seen anything from him in the last 2 years that gives me any confidence that he can be a good PG for us. We are bringing in Mark Hughes, who is a pretty good prep PG, but he is going to be a true freshman. We need another PG we can trust to run our offense. Joe Thomasson has spent some time at PG at his JUCO last year and Justin Mitchell has played some PG in high school. I would like to see us use both of these young men at PG some the remainder of the season to determine if they can run the show for us next season.
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Post by Raider3G on Jan 26, 2015 21:56:48 GMT -5
I was waiting to post on this one because I wanted to see if a) Kendall played, and b) see how well WSU played.
Right now we are two back in the loss column for second place. There is a total logjam ahead of us, with three teams having two losses. The bad news is we're 0-2 against those teams so far. The good news is we have four games against them, so plenty of time to make up room.
I'm going to assume that we have S. Davis by the UWGB game, which means we have to win at Oakland without him and JT. Even given how well we played tonight, this one is going to be hard. They are big, i.e. Valpo big. But, UDM had height on us and Oakland did lose to UDM by 20. So I think we have a decent chance going into the O'rena.
The problem predicting where this team goes is when do the two guys return, and if Kendall stays healthy. Assuming Kendall stays healthy, and we get S. Davis back by UWGB, I can see this team going 9-7 in the HL. May sound crazy to some, but here's why:
We have UIC twice, and Oakland, UWM, and YSU at home. I think this team, even with just Kendall, can win 4. Throw in S. Davis, and maybe, just maybe 5.
We have a tough road slate...Valpo, CSU, and Oakland. I do think we can snag one of those with just Kendall, and maybe two with S. Davis. We could also have JT back for the Valpo game (3 weeks away).
I am still holding out the possibility of 10-6 so long as S. Davis and Kendall are together on the court from UWGB out, and Yoho comes back by either the Oakland home game or @valpo. There's something about this team that is just telling me they aren't going to go away.
But more importantly, I think there is a good chance that come HL tourney time, we may be the toughest out beside UWGB. If S. Davis and Kendall hang in there, and we get JT back for the last few games, I can see a nice end-of-season run bleeding over into the tourney. This team, if all together, would be a scary out for anybody in a one and done scenario. If you just take a big picture look, our team fully loaded has the best depth at the 1-2-3 spots; we have a legit scoring big man that is improving at the right time and can hang 15-20 when hot; we have a couple knock-down three point shooters; we play tough D; and the rebounding problems should go way down with JT and S. Davis in the line-up.....Lots of "if's" but that's sports....and it also sounds a lot like UWM from last year...
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Post by wsuraider09 on Jan 27, 2015 13:45:51 GMT -5
We have always played tough in the tournament..and year in and year out we have proven that we can make a run, and can hang with or beat just about anybody. The other coaches in the league respect BDs 'defense first' mentality, and teams that like to run (UDM, YSU, OU) don't like it, because it's usually the defense that has its way.
I would hope that holds true again this season if we can get some of our pieces back...I know I said earlier in this post I expected us to get wiped clean on this road trip, but last nights game felt somewhat like a turning point for us. If we can follow suit on Wednesday and steal one in Oakland, I will feel a lot better. Either way, I don't expect us to be able to make any noise in the tournament if we don't have JT back, and we need Davis to alleviate some of the pressure on Karena. We will see how it shakes out. I'd feel a lot better not starting the tournament on the road..those are the toughest games to win...But remember Milwaukee is ineligible, so the formatting is a little different this season...so the 3rd and 4th seeds get the bye, and only 2 games are played on opening night (5v8, 6v7) higher seeds hosting. This is the only season the 4 seeds gets a first round bye. Might help us out with our "quasi-down year"
As of right now, we'd host YSU in the 5/8 game
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Post by Raider4Life on Feb 2, 2015 13:37:21 GMT -5
This isn't an expectation, just a hope for the remainder of the season. I wish Dr. J, Keithfromxenia, and wsuraider09 would stop posting on Raider Nation until next season. Nothing is going to change with our depth, size, coaching style, etc the remainder of the year. Most of us have accepted this FACT and just want to follow our Raiders and watch our younger players develop. Reading the SAME negative posts over and over and over again from you in every game thread is taking all of the joy out of being a Raider fan. We all get it. You don't like Donlon and the way we are playing. Accept the fact that nothing is going to change this year or just go follow another team. Either way, stop posting the same BS over and over and over again.
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Post by Raider Fanatic on Feb 2, 2015 15:15:36 GMT -5
This isn't an expectation, just a hope for the remainder of the season. I wish Dr. J, Keithfromxenia, and wsuraider09 would stop posting on Raider Nation until next season. Nothing is going to change with our depth, size, coaching style, etc the remainder of the year. Most of us have accepted this FACT and just want to follow our Raiders and watch our younger players develop. Reading the SAME negative posts over and over and over again from you in every game thread is taking all of the joy out of being a Raider fan. We all get it. You don't like Donlon and the way we are playing. Accept the fact that nothing is going to change this year or just go follow another team. Either way, stop posting the same BS over and over and over again. +1
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Post by raiderfan14 on Feb 2, 2015 22:09:56 GMT -5
This isn't an expectation, just a hope for the remainder of the season. I wish Dr. J, Keithfromxenia, and wsuraider09 would stop posting on Raider Nation until next season. Nothing is going to change with our depth, size, coaching style, etc the remainder of the year. Most of us have accepted this FACT and just want to follow our Raiders and watch our younger players develop. Reading the SAME negative posts over and over and over again from you in every game thread is taking all of the joy out of being a Raider fan. We all get it. You don't like Donlon and the way we are playing. Accept the fact that nothing is going to change this year or just go follow another team. Either way, stop posting the same BS over and over and over again. +1
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