Southern Miss - Who was the genius...

[MemorialMagic]

that claimed that was our worst loss in history or some such thing as that? Just saw they are 21-4 with a 41 RPI ranking.

[MrMemorial]

I see VCU is in first place in the Atlantic 10. Pitt has won 6 of their last 7...first place in the ACC?

NC State is on track to finish with around 24 regular season wins or so.

St Mary's fresh off their win over Gonzaga is 21-4, now in first place by 2 games over the Zags.

Memphis is 18-6...even Grambling is still alive for a league title and big dance play-in spot in Dayton.

[Vandamnit]

I sometimes marvel at the level of confidence with which some posters spit out their opinions. I get it, this is a fan board, so that's kind of what happens, but sometimes folks really ought to be a little less sure of themselves. I don't think anyone on this board is or has been a college coach before. That's not a blank check for "accept everything without question/concern/critique", just a suggestion to incorporate some new terms such as: may, suggests, could-be, possible, perhaps. I'd like to see a reduction of the following terms in posts: Worst, Terrible, Pathetic, Lame, and "Mrs. Drew"

[Jason94]

that claimed that was our worst loss in history or some such thing as that? Just saw they are 21-4 with a 41 RPI ranking.

Probably the same genius who compared Dia to Kyle Anderson or Obi Toppin.

[MrMemorial]

Dia is a true freshman who was playing against high school kids 365 days ago.

The sky is the limit for the guy with his height, build, shooting. Give him a chance. He may get there, not in the exact style of more slender built players, but a skilled guy in a big strong frame. I hear that NBA teams like that kind of thing as evidenced by the new all-time scoring king.

[Jason94]

Dia is a true freshman who was playing against high school kids 365 days ago.

The sky is the limit for the guy with his height, build, shooting. Give him a chance. He may get there, not in the exact style of more slender built players, but a skilled guy in a big strong frame. I hear that NBA teams like that kind of thing as evidenced by the new all-time scoring king.

Toppin and Anderson were already starting as freshmen. But are you now comparing him to Lebron James? Genius.

I like Dia and was wondering why he wasn't playing more. But like the loss to Southern Miss, there is a difference between hyperbole and being literal. At the time, the loss looked extremely bad. Now, it is just a regular bad loss, but still one that we shouldn't have lost. They've played exactly 1 major conference team this season, unless you count the mountain west as a high major conference, in which case they've played UNLV, a 5-7 team in conference (7th place) that managed to beat them by 11. How we can beat UT but lose to them by 12 is the question. Unless you think we should have lost to them by 12. I think we should beat them 8 of 10 times at home, and the losses would be by a single possession, and that if we were to play them again we would beat them by double digits. Do you disagree?

[MrMemorial]

Dia is a true freshman who was playing against high school kids 365 days ago.

The sky is the limit for the guy with his height, build, shooting. Give him a chance. He may get there, not in the exact style of more slender built players, but a skilled guy in a big strong frame. I hear that NBA teams like that kind of thing as evidenced by the new all-time scoring king.

Toppin and Anderson were already starting as freshmen. But are you now comparing him to Lebron James? Genius.

I like Dia and was wondering why he wasn't playing more. But like the loss to Southern Miss, there is a difference between hyperbole and being literal. At the time, the loss looked extremely bad. Now, it is just a regular bad loss, but still one that we shouldn't have lost. They've played exactly 1 major conference team this season, unless you count the mountain west as a high major conference, in which case they've played UNLV, a 5-7 team in conference (7th place) that managed to beat them by 11. How we can beat UT but lose to them by 12 is the question. Unless you think we should have lost to them by 12. I think we should beat them 8 of 10 times at home, and the losses would be by a single possession, and that if we were to play them again we would beat them by double digits. Do you disagree?

Even after VU beating uut, USM is still ranked 7 spots higher by your "pomeroy" scale, 24 spots higher by the massey ratings, and 27 places higher on Team Rankings . com (look them up if you dare)

No, I see that loss as unfortunate but NOWHERE close to the unimaged disaster of the knee-jerk reaction from those who mistakenly think they know it all about hoops...especially and including those who know so little about NBA hoops.

If we were hypothetically to play USM again, (let's say in the N I T) we might beat them by single digits. We beat Ole Miss by single digits and most people didn't gripe about it. USM is clearly better than Ole Miss. Check with any of the above listed ranking services as needed.

[Obvious]

Looks like both teams are playing much better than they were and that’s what matters at the end of the season. I hope southern miss continues to play well. Call me delusional but I want to get into the tournament.

[MrMemorial]

I see VCU is in first place in the Atlantic 10. Pitt has won 6 of their last 7...first place in the ACC?

NC State is on track to finish with around 24 regular season wins or so.

St Mary's fresh off their win over Gonzaga is 21-4, now in first place by 2 games over the Zags.

Memphis is 18-6...even Grambling is still alive for a league title and big dance play-in spot in Dayton.

That is in addition to USM being 21-4. Common sense would dictate that the better those teams play, the better it makes our strength of schedule. Unfortunately, sometimes people who think they know the most about hoops actually lack the common sense apparently to know something this basic.

Maybe they can stop by Oz and requisition the Wizard for some basic common sense.

[Ndorefin]

Here is my statement about USM after some posters considered it a horrific loss:

Southern Miss has, at least, 2 players who might be starters for us. Crowley was a 4-star who had committed to VU, but went to Ole Miss…started several games and scored 15 against us last year. Haase is a 6’9” grad transfer who played 2 years at USC before transferring to Mercer. He was a 40% 3 point shooter, scored 41 points in a game last year and has scored over 1200 points in his career. Most every player on their team is a transfer.

I dare say they could beat a lot of teams in the SEC!

[MrMemorial]

Felipe Haase is a 6th year senior averaging double figures in scoring the last three years.

[Jason94]

I see VCU is in first place in the Atlantic 10. Pitt has won 6 of their last 7...first place in the ACC?

NC State is on track to finish with around 24 regular season wins or so.

St Mary's fresh off their win over Gonzaga is 21-4, now in first place by 2 games over the Zags.

Memphis is 18-6...even Grambling is still alive for a league title and big dance play-in spot in Dayton.

That is in addition to USM being 21-4. Common sense would dictate that the better those teams play, the better it makes our strength of schedule. Unfortunately, sometimes people who think they know the most about hoops actually lack the common sense apparently to know something this basic.

Maybe they can stop by Oz and requisition the Wizard for some basic common sense.

You are talking about a bunch of teams we lost to - it will not particularly matter overall since we lost to them - this is pretty basic knowledge. SOS is a component, but not the ball all-end all of critera. More importantly is who you beat and who you lost to - losses at home are generally bad if not to great teams, and wins on the road are generally good unless they are to quite poor teams. But if you lose 6 games in preconference and go 9-9 in conference, you SOS means nothing since you didn't win enough games to make the tournament in the first place. We could have had the number 1 SOS and lost to a slate fully of conference title winners but if we go 5-8 against that slate and 10-8 in conference we are still not making the tournament.

That is why it is laughable that you have these feeble attempts to lecture me on basketball knowledge while focusing on largely irrelevant issues, like what CKS' record was in 1999. Great that these teams that beat us are doing well for them, but it would have meant a whole lot more had we beaten 2 or 3 of the teams you listed. What you listed were missed opportunities, and not much more. I'd feel silly explaining this to most any other knowledgeable basketball fan, but you apparently are slow on the uptake, and I'm feeling patient.

I don't know about you, but unless we are making the tournament regularly, we are slowly becoming irrelevant in CBB. That is really the only metric that matters when judging a program - is it making the tournament regularly or not. Especially at a school like VU - make the tournament and it is a successful season. Miss it and it is not. Nobody really cares about the NIT in the long run short of winning the title - these are just markers for teams between successful seasons to see if progress is being made. Perhaps you can read this a couple of times to see if it sinks again before your next snarky post. Or you could continue to use kenpom as some sort of insult as though I would care what the opinion of a statistical site is from someone who is apparently statistically illiterate.

[MrMemorial]

slowly becoming irrelevant

Something you specialize in on this forum.

[jpmando]

I for one was very impressed during the game with Haase and his talent, especially shooting and mobility, and several of his teammates looked capable as well. I was certainly puzzled by the reaction of forumites to the loss. They looked like a pretty solid, cohesive bunch. Guess they are after all.

[MrMemorial]

USM was playing the 20-4 Ragin' Cajuns last night and outscored Louisiana by 16 in the second half to secure the win. Haase and power forward Pinckney combined for 39 points.