kreed5120

I actually thought earlier this morning having Okonkwo might have been nice. He's not as offensively gifted as Lyles, but defensively he plays much bigger than Lyles. He might have done a better job at disrupting the shots near the basket while still being athletic enough to get up and down the court. I also think with Lyles developing more of a perimeter game they could both be on the court for stretches together if you needed to throw a different look in certain situations. Looking at his numbers in Utah through 3 games they have been underwhelming. I haven't watched Utah, but I wonder if they have buyers remorse.

When Yale took their big off the floor and moved Townsend to the 5 I felt we actually did better defensively with Lyles on Townsend. Yale still scored, but at least the shots they were taking were more challenging. We made it too easy for them in the 1st half. In hindsight we probably should have mixed up the defense more frequently. Throw zone a few possessions, play some man, and sprinkle in some hard double teams here or there. Running the same defensive set for long stretches made it too easy for Townsend to disect the defense.

Even the have programs, like OSU, use it to mainly return talent while treating the portal like FA and using it to just plug a hole here or there.

Evan never has been great offensively in the half-court. Where he thrives is when he's able to get out in space or when cleaning up misses. Akron wasn't really able to create turnovers nor were we missing many shots so his opportunities were minimal.

At-large was never going to happen anyway. Biggest issue is it's likely Yale will make the field of 68 and this could keep them seeded ahead of us. Could be the difference between an 11th or 12th seed.

Yes, most teams don't have Jokic on their roster.

Yes, I looked. 21-21 from the line and 63% from the field. Yale should mow through the Ivy League. I knew Townsend was phenomenal, but honestly they were all all-stars in their roles.

Do you attempt for steal and foul if don't get it? Letting them use whole shot clock won't give us much of a chance to get a look.

This will be challenging to pull it off if we don't get a stop here. They dont miss FT

Finally they have a shot rim out.

Let's foul Townsend out!

If they keep making shots like Townsend just made there is no coming back. That was great defense by Lyles.

I get that they have gotten a lot of high percentage shots, but they literally can't miss. You would think at least some would rattle out.

What a terrible time to foul.

I agree, place Evan on him and then play man. He'll score some, but we need to stop their cuts to the hoop.

Yale is very good as finishing near the rim in traffic.

I will be thrilled if it's only 5 guys. Younger Mahaffey is going to draw attention if he keeps this play up.

You're talking about our 10th guy in the rotation when other teams only run 8, maybe 9 deep. If he's giving ~5 minutes of hustle and solid defense to give the main contributors a breather in our fast pace style of play that's plenty. Especially in a tournament where you're playing 3 games in 4 days. I'm not sure what more you're expecting.

UMass pulled away in the final minute. Wins 73-65.

Even with the MAC improving some this year it would be a brutal challenge for the MAC. The MAC has a steep drop-off after the top 3 or 4 teams. The MVC usually only has 1-2 cupcakes the MAC ~6.

Outside of Purdue they gave us the toughest game this far.

Same with Toledo

I will say Tavari as a freshman showed flashes that made you think he could be great. It took him some time to show he could do it on a nightly basis.

Cody Head would be getting 10+ minutes a game at most MAC schools. We redshirted him from the looks of it because he doesn't have a pathway to earn minutes.

I mean if we're basing it off of early season results then it's well deserved. I still have trouble taking them serious as a contender, but it isn't unheard of for a MAC team to have an unexpectedly good year. I don't remember last years preseason predictions, but I don't believe Miami was picked towards the top.