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Tom Crean, obviously the smartest prognosticator on the planet, has picked X to win the NC. Goodman and Fraschilla have them in FF.

NBC in that first link was very high on our potential. I have to admit, after the Rutgers exhibition I'm a lot more worried. I was expecting some trouble pulling away from them, but I figured we'd cruise to a 10 pt win. It's only an exhibition so I won't read too far into it but watching the game brought to mind all the same issues from last year i.e. defense/size. Rebounding can be done by committee and our guards are actually good rebounders. What we really have to address is our defense. You can't keep getting beat by guards on Rutgers and DII teams for easy points in the paint and expect to seriously compete for a tourney spot. The good news is that defense is about coaching and effort, so it's fixable. If we don't see a clear improvement on the defensive end (not perfection, just solid D) by the first 5 games or so, we are in real trouble and it's an obvious sign that Mullin needs an experienced coach to help. It's very odd to watch this program at times...Lavin's teams were solid defensively but could not score. Mullin's teams can score but have great difficulty defending. If we cannot defend, I would assume that falls on the coach for poor coaching, but you'd think an NBA HOFer with another NBA HOF assistant would know how to teach defense right? I have had concerns about the basketball IQ of our players, maybe that's part of it or a lot of it? If you watch teams like Nova, they aren't always the high-flying, most athletic studs, but as a team they know their assignments, they know who gets the ball in which scenario, and they understand their strengths and weaknesses. That's what we need to be.

MullinMayhem wrote:NBC in that first link was very high on our potential. I have to admit, after the Rutgers exhibition I'm a lot more worried. I was expecting some trouble pulling away from them, but I figured we'd cruise to a 10 pt win. It's only an exhibition so I won't read too far into it but watching the game brought to mind all the same issues from last year i.e. defense/size. Rebounding can be done by committee and our guards are actually good rebounders. What we really have to address is our defense. You can't keep getting beat by guards on Rutgers and DII teams for easy points in the paint and expect to seriously compete for a tourney spot. The good news is that defense is about coaching and effort, so it's fixable. If we don't see a clear improvement on the defensive end (not perfection, just solid D) by the first 5 games or so, we are in real trouble and it's an obvious sign that Mullin needs an experienced coach to help. It's very odd to watch this program at times...Lavin's teams were solid defensively but could not score. Mullin's teams can score but have great difficulty defending. If we cannot defend, I would assume that falls on the coach for poor coaching, but you'd think an NBA HOFer with another NBA HOF assistant would know how to teach defense right? I have had concerns about the basketball IQ of our players, maybe that's part of it or a lot of it? If you watch teams like Nova, they aren't always the high-flying, most athletic studs, but as a team they know their assignments, they know who gets the ball in which scenario, and they understand their strengths and weaknesses. That's what we need to be.

I wouldn't be concerned about the Rutgers loss. They're not good, but thanks to Steve Piekell they're not as hopeless as they were as recently as 2 years ago. They lack talent compared to other high major programs, but its improving and the biggest thing is Piekell has them battling hard for 40 minutes. They'll beat some teams that are better than them this year and I just hope we're not one of them. I really am somewhat concerned about this game for the Hall. After back to back laughers, Rutgers actually had Seton Hall on the ropes at home last year. The Pirates should win again, it won't be as easy as beat them to a pulp for 10 minutes and then coast once they roll over like it was against the Eddie Jordan teams.

X in the FF? X as Natty Champs?? Crean, Goodman, and Franschilla are taking some very, very potent shit. Must be expensive too.
I always like X but they ain't gonna be that dominant. Their non conf slate will bring them back to Earth. The Muskies have some real issues
to work through. They can make the dance but not as a high seed.

gtmoBlue wrote:X in the FF? X as Natty Champs?? Crean, Goodman, and Franschilla are taking some very, very potent shit. Must be expensive too.
I always like X but they ain't gonna be that dominant. Their non conf slate will bring them back to Earth. The Muskies have some real issues
to work through. They can make the dance but not as a high seed.

Sounds like you are just dealing with the reality that creighton is going to be trash this year. NOVA, SH, X, PROV, BUTLER, Hell, probably St. Johns and or Marquette are all also gonna be better then your team this year. Your interior defense is going to be like a New York subway turn-style during rush hour. I'll take Georgetown's two starting front court players long before I would pick creighton's (I'm also probably picking most of Depaul's front court too). LOL, I bet Georgetown could win against creighton by simply feeding Govan the ball every possession in the post (or the three point line), whos gonna stop him?

Now, I get your a creighton hard core fan and probably thinks your team is gonna make the NCAA tourney but the reality is the shit your smoking is just as expensive as Crean, Goodman, and Franschilla's shit thinking that your team is an NCAA tourney team. Sure, creighton might score 80 a night (while giving up 90), but I doubt it. I'm not buying that a PG transferring from a Syracuse team (and a bad Syracuse team at that) is going to be a game changer. If he was he was any good he would have stayed at CUS with the HOF coach. No point guard, no front court, no NCAA tourney. And besides, its not like your team does anything once they get there.

Shots fired !

TheBlueTeam wrote:

gtmoBlue wrote:X in the FF? X as Natty Champs?? Crean, Goodman, and Franschilla are taking some very, very potent shit. Must be expensive too.
I always like X but they ain't gonna be that dominant. Their non conf slate will bring them back to Earth. The Muskies have some real issues
to work through. They can make the dance but not as a high seed.

Sounds like you are just dealing with the reality that creighton is going to be trash this year. NOVA, SH, X, PROV, BUTLER, Hell, probably St. Johns and or Marquette are all also gonna be better then your team this year. Your interior defense is going to be like a New York subway turn-style during rush hour. I'll take Georgetown's two starting front court players long before I would pick creighton's (I'm also probably picking most of Depaul's front court too). LOL, I bet Georgetown could win against creighton by simply feeding Govan the ball every possession in the post (or the three point line), whos gonna stop him?

Now, I get your a creighton hard core fan and probably thinks your team is gonna make the NCAA tourney but the reality is the shit your smoking is just as expensive as Crean, Goodman, and Franschilla's shit thinking that your team is an NCAA tourney team. Sure, creighton might score 80 a night (while giving up 90), but I doubt it. I'm not buying that a PG transferring from a Syracuse team (and a bad Syracuse team at that) is going to be a game changer. If he was he was any good he would have stayed at CUS with the HOF coach. No point guard, no front court, no NCAA tourney. And besides, its not like your team does anything once they get there.

Dumb.

gtmoBlue wrote: The Muskies have some real issues
to work through. They can make the dance but not as a high seed.

Not sure what the "real issues" are. Bringing back almost the whole team from an Elite Eight? 4 star Freshmen? What exactly? And, sorry, you have never liked X. The fact that some rate X so high just shows respect for the Big East.

BEXU wrote:

gtmoBlue wrote: The Muskies have some real issues
to work through. They can make the dance but not as a high seed.

Not sure what the "real issues" are. Bringing back almost the whole team from an Elite Eight? 4 star Freshmen? What exactly? And, sorry, you have never liked X. The fact that some rate X so high just shows respect for the Big East.

He's just trolling. If creighton isn't good, he's looking to bring down the other programs. He's just not an a** when he does it. Frankly, when you look at all the schools in the big east currently, I would say creighton is the 8th or 9th best program. If you had to bet on which big east programs would have the most success over the next ten years, I would pick Butler, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Xavier, Marquette, Villanova, and possibly St. Johns before I would pick creighton. Unfortunately for him, creighton isn't looking like a NCAA tourney/top 7 team in the Big East this year so he's going to look for to belittle the better teams.