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Post by Black PantherU on Jan 4, 2016 18:44:58 GMT -5
Jordan Fouse is a better defender than anyone in the conference. The unfortunate part for GB is he's the only guy who plays defense. Well...Kenneth Lowe likes blocking shots. I don't know if he's interested in much else, though.
Wright State will officially be "back" with a win IMO. Even when GB or MKE sucks, this has been a hard trip for you guys. Sweeping it would be a big notice to the conference that you're a real tough out.
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Post by Black PantherU on Jan 4, 2016 11:57:25 GMT -5
We had no idea. The guy I was sitting with was sure that the NBA didn't reset the clock but the NCAA did.
Sent from my SCH-R970 using proboards
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Post by Black PantherU on Jan 2, 2016 23:23:58 GMT -5
So far, nothing from PantherU... Sorry for the delay. When the head coach wants to stay and bullshit about stuff after the post game party empties out, you lose track of time. Donlon has a hell of a team. We shot ourselves in the foot by jacking threes in the first half, not attacking the basket after Karena fouled out, and missing too many free throws. One free throw and the game is over in regulation. I mean not really, because the point would change the rest of the game, but you know what I mean. Sent from my SCH-R970 using proboards
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Post by Black PantherU on Jan 2, 2016 14:56:48 GMT -5
The morning paper showed a possible lineup of 4 guards and Mike. It showed Milwaukee with 2-6 '10" starters. If we have our three point shooting game in place today we should be good with a perimeter game. I don't know how much driving to the basket is going to happen until you see how the refs are going to call the game. If we drive and create fouls early we have a better chance for a win. Our starting lineup only features one player at 6'10". We have a couple 6'9" guys but they don't play much. Here's the starting lineup: C: J.J. Panoske - 6'10" PF: Matt Tiby - 6'8" SF: Austin Arians - 6'6" SG: Akeem Springs - 6'4" PG: Jordan Johnson - 5'9" Panoske is fairly soft on the interior most of the time. Occasionally he plays like a ball hawk - he had something like 4 or 5 blocks against Minnesota. Decent three-point shot. If he puts it on the floor in the post and backs players down, his hook shot is much more effective. Because he's soft, he won't do that a lot. Usually he'll just take the hook shot from where he catches the ball. It's infuriating. Tiby is a bull in a china shop. He's the guy you love to have and love to hate if you don't have him. Eats up rebounds. Has a three-point shot and will take it if he's open. He's the guy who will embellish on charges to try and draw fouls. I laugh because we talked shit about Matt Howard for four years and then got a guy who basically does the same exact thing. And he's a dick about it. But he's our dick, so we love him. Arians is our three-point specialist. He's on an incredible poor shooting stretch, though, so who knows if today is the day he comes out of it. He was cold in most of our D-I games in December. Takes a lot of shots. He has a killer cut to the basket that he doesn't use nearly enough. Just a guy defensively, no longer a liability like he was when he was younger. Springs is one of my favorite players we've ever had. Fights hard for boards, controls the ball well, makes the threes when he takes them. Sometimes defers when he should drive the lane and draw the foul. Johnson runs the offense and is second to Kahlil Felder in the Horizon League in assists. Oh, and I guess nationally too (that's cool). He gets a lot of them by driving the lane and kicking out for open threes. Little guy who has no problem taking a foul on a layup. One rebound short of a triple-double against Minnesota on December 23rd. As far as backups, expect a little more out of JayQuan McCloud. His first game was against Wisconsin on December 9th and he looks like he's getting used to D-I speed now. Wichmann is right behind Yoho in three-point shooting, but also is a solid glue guy who excels at getting loose balls and long rebounds. JR Lyle is a little spark plug, kind of an instant offense type guy. When he touches the ball, he's going to try and score - doesn't give it up as much as he should. Brock Stull has been getting himself on the court more because he plays strong defense, is athletic and shoots very well. He's just a freshman that will make plenty of mistakes so he can't be out there too long. If you wanna watch warmups, WSU has a periscope: www.periscope.tv/w/1jMKgjPdajgxL
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Post by Black PantherU on Dec 10, 2015 5:00:32 GMT -5
UWM over Wisconsin...wow....http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400841779 I still can't believe it. They played like garbage and won. Austin Arians, who scores about 13.5 ppg, shot something like 1 for 11 or 2 for 12 or something. Sent from my SCH-R970 using proboards
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Post by Black PantherU on Sept 26, 2015 16:48:41 GMT -5
Should be noted that Austin Arians, who would have been our leading returning scorer last year but chose to redshirt the APR ban season, was not included in the original preview for our team. He's still not in the preview, but after a bunch of our fans derided the College Sports Madness twitter account, he appeared in the projected starting five. I doubt it would have changed the rankings at all, but who knows.
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Post by Black PantherU on Sept 26, 2015 16:39:42 GMT -5
It's part of a three-year plan to really make the building our own. The Wisconsin Center District (the state entity that owns the arena) is spending its own money on the projects. Last summer, they added the new video center scoreboard, put better video boards in the corners, updated the signage for the new naming rights, and put in Panther-colored seats in the 100/200 level. This summer, they've redone the 300 level seats, finished updating the signage, and they're putting in this permanent store. Next summer, they're finishing the seating with the 400 level. This doesn't just benefit us, but the AHL Admirals (Nashville Predators' farm team) that will be coming to the Arena by 2018 (more likely 2016-17 season). It was planned before they were set to come over, though.
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Post by Black PantherU on May 16, 2015 16:54:49 GMT -5
I was told that Belmont's president doesn't think a move to the MVC or the Horizon League elevates the university's brand. That's a secondary source so as always take it with a grain of salt, but that would be soooooo much like an academic with no interest in sports to say "OVC, MVC, all I see is one different letter."
I don't think we should go to 12 unless it is to get teams like Murray and Belmont. It looks like that's not happening any time soon. So let's be honest: our best move is addition by subtraction: YSU, see ya later. I just don't see a school out there that is a home run add to replace YSU. If IUPUI got better about its branding, had some more autonomy from IU re: money, and spent a significant amount more $$$ in basketball, I'd be interested. That new 8k seat arena on the Indy fairgrounds is pretty solid.
You know what would have been cool in that new fairgrounds arena? A truly neutral Horizon League Tournament.
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Post by Black PantherU on May 16, 2015 13:27:14 GMT -5
If Valpo and Illinois-Chicago leave for the MVC I would say the conference is at collapse. We would be looking at the conference going from a top 15 every year to a top 25 conference. Where are you catching that from? Valpo and UIC fans always want to look elsewhere, but I'm not hearing anything on it.
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Post by Black PantherU on May 6, 2015 9:07:19 GMT -5
"The deal with the Joe involves $200,000 per year for the Horizon League, with $20,000 per school." Does that mean there will be a 10th member or is the HL pocketing $20K? There will be a 10th school. I can't get anyone who is 100% sure on it to go on the record for who it is, even anonymously. But there will be a 10th team.
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Post by Black PantherU on May 6, 2015 9:05:33 GMT -5
It would make sense if we had traveling fan bases. We don't. When Wright State plays here, you guys have 20-30 at best. When we play there, we have 10-15 at best (title game notwithstanding).
Could you imagine if the 2015 title game had been played in Detroit? Would Valpo and Green Bay sent even a combined 200 fans?
You just have to shake your head and laugh at this league sometimes.
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Post by Black PantherU on Mar 4, 2015 18:59:52 GMT -5
We dropped in conference rankings due to having two anchors. Oakland absolutely needs to change the scheduling philosophy. There's enough tough games to be had that can be won and not torpedo the conference RPI.
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Post by Black PantherU on Mar 4, 2015 11:02:21 GMT -5
We started tarping off end zones in the top level a couple of years ago - straight from a donation coach Jeter made to the university. I know that Green Bay has also tarped off end zones, in fact there was one game we had against them that they claimed was a sellout even though they had the corners tarped (and people were getting turned away at the door). UIC obviously tarps off almost half of their arena.
I believe, and I think this is implied in some of the other posts on this thread, that the reason Wright State has the best attendance in the conference year-to-year is that you guys are truly the #2 sports team in town, which is better than any other team in the conference except Valpo, which only has 30,000 people, and Youngstown, which is just putrid. Even then, I suppose football is a much bigger deal at YSU than basketball - one more reason the conference members should consider addition-by-subtraction by kicking YSU out of the conference.
In Milwaukee, we've got the Bucks, Marquette, and Admirals hockey to go up against in our season alone. UIC has the Bulls, Blackhawks, Northwestern, Loyola, DePaul and Chicago Wolves hockey. Detroit has the Pistons and Red Wings. It's the problem of being in a major city - if you want to average a lot of fans in the pro sports city, you better win and you better not stop winning. I mean hell, nationally-ranked Butler - now in the Big East - has only averaged 7,373 this season, not a whole lot more than they did when they were in our conference.
The good news for you guys is that probably means your ceiling is higher than most if not all of the conference. A few down years of Dayton in correlation with up years for the Raiders and you guys might just sell out the Nutter on a regular basis. I also agree with the poster who said that the Nutter Center is the best arena in the conference. I think there are only a couple negatives, such as a long walk down in the bowl and slightly smaller concourses. But even with that, I think it's one of the best. I'd rank them as such.
1. Nutter 2. Wolstein Center - it's great when you can get it full, like during the NCAA Tournament. For CSU games it's a mausoleum, but it is holds up well 20 years after it's built. 3. Panther Arena - There's no bad seat in the house, plenty of history, the technological stuff is getting better (new wraparound video board). No suites and the food is bad, but at least we can drink haha. Doesn't acknowledge its history as the home to NBA and NCAA Champions as well as concerts from the great musical acts like the Beatles/Stones/Elvis etc. 4. Resch Center - Great arena for watching hoops, nice bowl, suites wrap around the top. Docked for the fact that there's only one bathroom on the floor level and it's in media-only space, so you have to ask an usher to use it. Seriously. 5. O'Rena - For smaller arenas, you can tell in comparison to the ARC that it's much newer. It's also smaller and easier to fill, so big games look outstanding - watching the Detroit game from last month felt like a high-major experience on TV. 6. Pavilion - Quirky, definitely befitting the hockey team that UIC poorly chose to jettison in the 90's. The only conference venue with a true second deck, it feels like a big time building on gameday, until game time when the high-pitched screams of kids fill the arena. 7. ARC - The atmosphere is great, but that's about all it has. The video board in the middle of the arena seems out of place and already obsolete. It doesn't have the charm that old gyms can have, although we may have been spoiled with Hinkle. It's a real mess getting out of the gym, let alone one of the parking lots. If they could put the money together, this is the school that should get a new building. 8. Calihan Hall - This building has the charm that the ARC lacks, but you can tell it's been a long time since it has had any kind of real atmosphere. Even the Vitale court dedication game was kind of depressing to see much of the upper bowl empty. The concourses aren't concourses so much as hallways. They do have an oddly shaped pro shop that is nice and they display their awards right when you walk in. The Titan Lounge is real cool, although it's really just a small conference room with HDTV's and no view of the court or outside. 9. Beeghly Center - Yikes. I like the end-zones-above-the-court thing, but it's just the ARC without the atmosphere. It's got a lot of outdated amenities. It's almost like they don't care about basketball...oh wait.
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Post by Black PantherU on Feb 27, 2015 11:39:54 GMT -5
If you're expecting anything better out of the refs, you haven't been around long enough. This is the Horizon League - 'Raise Your Sights' sounds like it should be a directive to the referees, since they seem to be staring at the floor the entire game for all the calls they get right.
I only got to see about 75% of the game, we were fighting a poor ESPN3 feed on the internet at the Black Rose bar in Milwaukee. The only call I thought was bad against us was the charge called on Springs. I stopped counting bad calls at 5 or 6, and that charge was the only one against us. As biased as I am, that should tell you guys that your complaints aren't unfounded. You can bet your bottom dollar that Donlon's staff will bring that tape to the Horizon League this offseason. We were lucky to escape with a victory.
Archibald Whaley in particular has been a god-awful referee for years.
Honestly, I wasn't trolling yesterday. But I will take up the mantle in my thumbnail pic.
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Post by Black PantherU on Feb 27, 2015 11:29:10 GMT -5
That's putting the cart way before the horse. I'm talking 10 years down the road if fiscal trends continue. Their budget would fit nicely in the Summit, and they'd have nice rivalries with the Dakota schools.
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