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Post by Raiderfan on Feb 12, 2005 22:51:58 GMT -5
02/14/2005 UW-Green Bay @ UIC
02/16/2005 Wright State @ Youngstown St
02/16/2005 Cleveland State @ Detroit
02/16/2005 Butler @ UW-Milwaukee
02/17/2005 Loyola @ UIC
Wow what a big week of games. Every game is so critical from here on out.
We start the week of with GB @ UIC. I'd love to see GB win this game but quite frankly GB has struggle at times on the road against the better teams. At this point UIC is thinking they can catch GB for the 2nd seed.
On Wed. Detroit host CSU. One of these teams will remain in 4th and the other drops to 5th. It is critical that we beat YSU on the road to maintain a tie for the 4th seed.
If UIC wins both of their home games this week they will all but lock up the 3rd seed and have a chance to catch GB for the 2nd spot.
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Post by Raiderfan on Feb 13, 2005 22:11:26 GMT -5
Current HL standings:
UW-Milwaukee 12-2 19-5
UW-Green Bay 9-4 16-7
UIC 7-5 12-10
Cleveland State 6-7 9-12
Wright State 6-7 11-13
Detroit 6-7 9-14
Loyola 6-8 8-16
Butler 5-8 10-13
Youngstown State 2-11 4-19
I realize UIC is at home but neither game is a gimmie. I think it was KfromX who said a couple of weeks ago that our seed was going to come down to us playing @ UIC next week. I think he is going to be right. If, I realize this is a big if, but if we beat YSU & UIC loses even one of their next two home games..........well, if UIC is 8-6 going into our game and we win, assuming we beat YSU then we are tied with them at 8-7 and win the tie breaker because we would have beaten them twice.
I can't believe I just suggested we win 2 HL road games in a row..........what was I thinking?
Is anyone one else getting sick from this roller coaster ride of a season?
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Post by Raiderfan on Feb 14, 2005 22:13:43 GMT -5
UW-GB 78
UIC 66
How big was this loss for UIC! We are now only one game back from 3rd place and once again can control our own destiny. This was a huge home loss for the Flames.
Just like the rest of us HL teams in the 3rd - 7th spot we are all trying, it seems anyways, to give the 3rd seed to somebody else.
Thank you GB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by bballraider on Feb 14, 2005 23:48:17 GMT -5
If we win out in our final HL games, then only 1 of two teams can beat us out for 3rd considering all the tie breakers. The winner of the Detroit-CSU game is the only team that can keep us from getting the third seed, if we somehow win our remaining HL games.
What makes it interesting is how the tie breakers play out. IF we win out and UIC wins it's other remaining games, we automatically get 3rd no matter if it is either Detroit or CSU tied with us and UIC. The only way we do not get 3rd if we win the rest of our HL games, is if these two things happen. First, UIC must lose another game (Loyola or Butler) besides to us, and either Detroit or CSU (which ever wins their game) must win all their remaining games, which include CSU having to beat UWM in Cleveland or Detroit having to beat UWGB in GB. So if we win out, I like our odds of getting that 3rd seed and the bye, the hard part is actually winning our three remaining games, but stranger things have happened.
My guess after all is said and done is we end up with a 5 seed, but I hope we can get that 3, but finishing strong has not been one of our strong suits.
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Post by ggwsu on Feb 15, 2005 9:10:44 GMT -5
bballraider, that was a nice break down! In looking at the remaining schedule's of the teams I have come to the conclusion that...........any one of four teams can finish third.
Updated Horizon League standings.
UWM 12-2
Green Bay 10-4
UIC 7-6
WSU 6-7
Detroit 6-7
CSU 6-7
Loyola 6-8
Butler 5-8
Youngstown 2-11
Remaining schedules.
WSU:
Feb 16 @ YSU
Feb 23 @ UIC
Feb 27 UWGB
UIC:
Feb 17 Loyola
Feb 23 WSU
Feb 26 @ Butler
CSU:
Feb 16 @detroit
Feb 23 Loyola
Feb 26 UWM
Detroit:
Feb 16 CSU
Feb 23 @uwgb
Feb 26 YSU
Loyola:
Feb 17 @uic
Feb 23 @csu
At this point I would still have to give the edge to UIC. They still have two more home games and only one road game. Their two home games are against us and the Ramblers. Both of us "can" win at UIC but the edge has to go to the home team. Also, UIC's lone road game is at Butler which is very winnable for the Flames. Assuming we win at Youngstown our game at UIC is probably going to be the game that determines who gets the coveted third seed. I just hope we beat Youngstown and have the opportunity to play this "huge" game against the Flames.
Cleveland State has two difficult games left. They go to Detroit then they host Milwaukee. Cleveland has struggled on the road but has been very strong at home so they have a real shot at beating Milwaukee on their home floor if the Panthers don't come to play.
Detroit has two of their last three games at home as well. Both of their home games are very, very winnable against Cleveland State and Youngstown. If they can win at Green Bay they have a great chance of finishing 9-7 and putting themselves in a strong postion to finish third.
Now I come to us. We have two road games and only one home game. The good news is that one of our road games is at Youngstown so we have a real "chance" not a "gurantee" to win a conference road game. Remember, we have won only ONE conference road game all year! This Wednesday's game is probably going to go a long way in determining where we finish. If we lose to Youngstown we most likely will lose any sense of confidence and almost have no chance of winning at UIC. To take it a step further if we lose to both Youngstown and UIC (which would make us 1-6 in our last seven games) then we probably don't win against the number two team in the Horizon League at home against Green Bay. It could be one of the ugliest finishes in WSU history (1-7 finish)!
BUT............on the flip side if we win at Youngstown then we go into the UIC game with tons of confidence and our chances of winning there increase dramatically. Even if we lose at UIC (assuming we beat Youngstown) we will still be playing for a fourth thru sixth seed in our game against Green Bay. Their will still be something at "stake" so we will definitely have something to play for.
Here is my predictions. I realize trying to predict anything in the Horizon League this year is a joke but here it goes........IF we beat Youngstown we win out and capture the third seed but if we LOSE at Youngstown we lose out. That is correct folks, I'm predicting ALL OR NOTHING! Let's hope it's "all".
Go Raiders!!
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Post by Raiderdog1 on Feb 15, 2005 9:46:25 GMT -5
Man, it's hard to be optimistic about any remaining wins. I just hope Coach gave the guys a few days off over the weekend to do some soul searching as well as resting up. Also, doens't it seem like we've been getting "controlled" by the other team recently?? Early on in the season, I felt that we would control the game pretty much from the outset......tempo and so forth. We'd push the ball quite frequently after missed shots and would attack the basket more. Now it seems the opponents are the one's in control of the tempo/game. It seems we try to push it sometimes, but usually still have to back it out and run the offense. Just a feel I have when watching and listening. I think they need to get out the film of the earlier games where we were getting off to fast starts and controlling the game. Now we struggle to get 8 points by the 12 minute mark. I just don't feel real good about our chances of doing any better than a 1-3 finish. Hope I'm wrong.
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Post by Raiderfan on Feb 15, 2005 21:58:02 GMT -5
Amen Raiderdog! I'm with you on this one. I'm not sure why we struggle so much to start the games. One thing is for sure, it seems like we have most of our TO's in the first 6 minutes of every game. Not to put all the blame on Everrett but he seems to really hurt the cause early in games with his multiple TO's. In the Detroit game we had 4 shots and 5 TO's in the first 6 minutes. That is hard to comprehend.
It is amazing how are offense struggles just to make a pass to a teammate at times much less get a shot off. I think we lack confidence right now.
The beautiful thing about teenagers is that all it takes is one really good game to rekindle the confidence and ride the momentum to a winning streak. This YSU game may be our last chance to make a run. I'm afraid if we lose to YSU the wheels will officially fall off. I'm hopeful that we can play a good solid game at YSU and find a way to win. If we win Wed. who knows what can happen?
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