GMG_Dallas

3-11??? WTF

For those at the game, UNT alum Ted Emrich is calling the game on ESPN2. Has mentioned his time here a bit.

Jones hurt...

They're killing us in the paint, as I expected. I'd like for us to make them earn it at the line in the second half. Can't let them shoot 52% from the field on the second half. The best part about the first half? We have 5 total fouls which should allow our guys to play more physical when SMU gets the ball inside.

Allen came to play.

Student section looks very good on TV.

Agree with this (although it's probably not the last time for OOC/tournaments). I wouldn't rush the court but if the students want to, let them. Maybe they have fun, become more invested in the program, and keep coming back. Don't expect the kids coke to games when you won't let them have fun when they show up.

I agree. Personally I viewed Charlotte as a bigger game simply because they beat us last year. UAB and Rice are others I'm looking forward to more than SMU for basketball reasons. This doesn't include the obvious big games against FAU, Memphis, and recent postseason games we've played. For local press, this is likely a big game though.

Yes, Finley left because they brought in De Laura. Finley is now at WKU but when it was found out that De Laura settled a civil suit regarding a sexual assault, Texas State students planned a protest. Apparently he acknowledged guilt as part of the settlement although his attorneys have said that's not true. Regardless, all a big mess.

The last life raft was taken by those who joined the BIG12. SMU is being used as the example of that. Otherwise the legal argument for not giving SMU the P5 CFP share when they gave it to the new BIG12 schools extends to any other G5 school wanting to make the jump.

You clearly didn't read the article as about 80% of it is strictly about SMU and how receiving zero CFP payouts would affect SMU since your leaders believed they would receive that money to offset some of the lost revenue from receiving zero ACC media dollars. I'd copy and paste the SMU-related sections but so much of it is about SMU that it'd be reposting almost the entire article.

I don't remember dates off the top of my head and my X isn't coming up right now but he's liked some posts as recently as a few weeks ago. You just need click the "like" tab on his profile.

Irrelevant to my point.

Why would you want UTSA to upset FAU? One of the best teams in the conference losing to one of worst teams in the country is damaging to the reputation of the conference. The best thing that can happen long-term is FAU and Memphis keep winning (except against us) so they get at-large bids and another team (hopefully us) wins the conference tourney. It means more credits and more opportunity to solidify ourselves as a basketball conference like the Mountain West has done.

Looking at stats alone, this may come down to how we defend the paint. They shoot 45.7% from the field but only 68.9% from the free throw line on 322 free throw attempts. For comparison, we're shooting 75.3% from the line on 279 total attempts. They also have 245 total offensive rebounds over 18 games which comes out to 13.6 offensive boards per game. For comparison, we have 208 over 17 games for 12.2 per game. On paper, they look like a very good rebounding team. Other big statistical differences: they've blocked about twice as many shots as us on the season (96 to 50), have about 120 more assists (291 to 176), 41 more steals (156 to 115) and only 16 more turnovers. Threes. They've taken 390 total 3s and hit 34.6%. Even with the past 2 horrendous games, we're averaging 35.5% from 3 on 375 total attempts. Back to the first paragraph, keep them out of the paint and off the offensive glass. Make them shoot 3s. If they get to the hoop, make them earn it at the line. They play a very deep rotation with 10 guys playing 17 to 18 games and averaging 9.3 minutes per game or more. If we get Buggs and Jones back, we're going to need to use a deep 8-9 man rotation to avoid individual foul trouble. Going to be a battle.

Sure, Sissoko has to improve. He's also barely getting any playing time. Starter or not, you can't expect him to progress and/or get in a groove with how many minutes he's playing. Over the course of the season, he's averaging 17.2 minutes per game and 6.1 rebound including 2.6 offensive rebounds per game. For comparison, Abou's career high in average boards per game for us was 6.0 in 24.3 minutes per game. Obviously we need more on offense from him but at least he's not hitting 48.3% from the field on 9 attempts per game like Abou was. Being that inefficient from around the basket was a killer at times. For us, our only path to the Big dance is through the AQ. Best we get our starters healthy for the conference tournament. I'd love some marquee wins along the way but beating Memphis or FAU once won't get us in anyways. The program is otherwise in a great place. I believe we have the right coach to continue that F U culture and attitude. Ideally we can get some more depth for these long seasons in the next few recruiting cycles.

Too much over reacting about fatigue, Sissoko vs Abou, guys not pulling their weight and so on. It was an off game and that's it. I told myself against ECU that it was likely the last win of our 4-0 conference start. You just can't expect to stay undefeated down 2 starters. Going 4-1 without Buggs and 3-1 without Buggs and Jones is more than we could have asked for. Now the question is will they be back for SMU.

Where is Tre Bradford, the LSU RB transfer? Did he back out?

If the info is good, it deserves an upvote. If it's bad, it deserves a downvote. I appreciate this thread and the perspective you bring. Regarding the original topic, I agree with you that we clearly don't have the resume to be an at-large as of yet. I believe we need the AQ but if we run the table and make it the conference tournament final, I wonder if that would be enough. Unlikely but crazier things have happened. We'd have at least 5 Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins (total) and maybe more depending on the performance of other conference members. AQs aren't tied to any seed. They still rank every team independently and a 13 puts us towards the top of the midmajor AQs. If UTSA made a run in the conference tournament as the lowest seed and got the AQ, they'd probably be a 15 seed. Like you said, 13 shows recognition. Now to take care of business today against Charlotte. One game at a time.

Being close to somebody and then jumping away from them does not mean you pushed off. The link you provided shows nothing I haven't already seen. Allen is maintaining positioning and using his body to prevent the defender from getting near the basket. He then leaps away to catch the ball near the basket. He jumped away but kept his arms there to keep the defender from closing in until he was ready to catch the ball. None of that means he pushed the defender away. Again, in the moment, the defender didn't budge. That right there is the honest truth displayed by the defender. He didn't have the time to sell a foul because there was nothing to sell. There was no push. Again, his reaction in the moment proves it. What there was, however, is a travel on ECU before their previous bank-shot. Even the ECU play-by-play guys say it. "He almost traveled" by one and "oh oh" by the other. That's the honest reaction. They got away with a travel. Our guys just wouldn't let them have it.

15 scholarship players for a position group where you need 5 on the field at a time seems really low. Assuming 3 per position means 10 of those 15 are in your 2 deep and there's really no depth to handle injuries as they occur. I realize some will play multiple positions but still, there's very little room for error in talent evaluation.

Memphis gave up a 20 point lead in this home loss. The conference is open.

Espn commentators were just discussing the strength of the AAC and brought up North Texas as one of the better teams.

Swipe his phone the night before and change the date. He'll never know.

Was also a favorite of mine. I think the best part about them complaining for the foul at the end is they shot twice as many free throws as us throughout the game and couldn't pull it off. Had they just hit their free throws, this play never happens. They were soft on the interior all game and that final play is just another example of that. Points in the paint: NT 36, ECU 20.