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Post by Blackbird on Jan 4, 2016 23:17:57 GMT -5
I've said two things in previous game threads that I'm going to reiterate here:
1) At this point in the season, teams with bad records start playing for so-called "signature wins". That means the entire bottom half of our conference is gunning for us (and Valpo, and to a lesser extent Milwaukee).
2) Disappointing losses happen.
I kind of thought this was going to happen when I watched Cleveland State hang with us for as long as they did. It seems the guys didn't learn the lesson to be found in the Chicago State game: we can't take these teams lightly and just turn it on when we need to, because eventually another team is going to be able to keep us from turning it on until it's too late.
This loss is definitely disappointing and it's definitely a bad loss. My only hope is that the team learns from it. I don't think all the big media love has actually affected Kay much, but it may have affected others on the team. It just looks like a couple guys are out there thinking, "we don't need to worry, Kay will turn it on and carry us to victory". I think we all know that any dreams of reaching that at-large are out the window (those dreams were hanging by a thread anyway after less than half our roster showed up to play Virginia). It also means that we're just one WTF loss away from kissing our NIT at-large goodbye as well.
But for us fans, we just need to remember that disappointing losses happen. None of us were really expecting to go 18-0, 17-1, 16-2, whatever... a loss here just means we have to not lose somewhere else, and everything will be OK.
Also, here's to the freshman class of 2013. Felder, Daniels, and Hayes almost managed to beat these guys despite playing 3-on-5 for much of the game.
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Post by Germane on Jan 5, 2016 0:13:26 GMT -5
2) Disappointing losses happen. True. But this disappointing loss is especially brutal. There's no way to sugar-coat it. It was at home. We're at full strength. It was against a conference foe we should beat when they're fully healthy, not to mention when their best player (Hain) is injured. It destroys any advantage the early schedule gave us this year, especially if we stumble against Valpo on Friday. This performance looked like it was between the worst and next-to-worst teams in the Horizon, especially defensively, and I never thought that could be said about this team. UIC, which has no D-1 wins yet this year, could have beaten us tonight. Don't laugh - they could come in and beat us in the O'Rena next week. There was no intensity tonight. We "guarded" a step slow, with our arms down, and with no energy. Embarrassing. That said, I think we'll respond well on Friday night against Valpo. I hope the guys can focus and think of nothing other than destroying Valpo between now and Friday. Regain some dignity. |
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Post by oudrummer on Jan 5, 2016 7:25:34 GMT -5
Where's the forum apologists to remind me how good this team is and remind me of all the statistics? Could use them to remind me how I'm spoiled and this isn't a big deal.
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Post by ouguy on Jan 5, 2016 8:54:27 GMT -5
Three things make me angry this morning about that loss, in ascending order:
3. The home crowd was bad. The weather was fine, students were back on campus, but the attendance was poor and there was 0 energy in the stadium. Granted the team on the court was awful for 75% of the game, but we were staring down a tie game with 1 minute to go and the crowd can't even leave their feet. Our fans are really bad sometimes.
2. The bad call / mix up / screw job / whatever it was at the end of the game. I'm getting so sick of refs making calls at the end of the game only to overturn themselves a moment after. Horrible call. We have never received any home field advantage in the O'Rena ever. Maybe because our fans are asleep. We go to Georgia and they get a call overturned and we play at home and get jobbed and I'm one of two people in the stadium booing the call.
1. Do we ever do game time adjustments at halftime? The same things that killed us in the first half killed us in the second half. YSU made 16 threes and of those, I'd say all but maybe 1 or 2 were uncontested looks. Just awful defense. Our offense stepped up a bit to bring us back and the defense left the door open.
Seems like another "same old Kampe" year where we win by either outscoring the other team or by the lucky chance the other team has a poor shooting night. The defense has not willed us to win games. I don't care what kind of stats you throw out there, our three point defense is still terrible. We lost to MSU because Brynn Forbes made too many late threes and we lost last night because YSU made 16 of them.
If you're not angry about that loss last night then I think you need to raise your expectations for this team. We aren't a D2 school anymore and we aren't in the Summit League. I've seen us go to three NCAA tournaments and I want to see a 4th and 5th with Kay Felder. We should be there. If you don't think that last night was a bad bad loss than you are behind the times.
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Post by Garry Gilbert on Jan 5, 2016 9:41:03 GMT -5
If you're not angry about that loss last night then I think you need to raise your expectations for this team. We aren't a D2 school anymore and we aren't in the Summit League. I've seen us go to three NCAA tournaments and I want to see a 4th and 5th with Kay Felder. We should be there. If you don't think that last night was a bad bad loss than you are behind the times. I'm sick over this loss. Couldn't sleep. Kept seeing uncontested 3-point shooters and a final tip-in that sure looked like goaltending. And I was one of the people in E-2 last night — imploring fans to stand for the final 30 seconds. |
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Post by ouguy on Jan 5, 2016 9:49:39 GMT -5
If you're not angry about that loss last night then I think you need to raise your expectations for this team. We aren't a D2 school anymore and we aren't in the Summit League. I've seen us go to three NCAA tournaments and I want to see a 4th and 5th with Kay Felder. We should be there. If you don't think that last night was a bad bad loss than you are behind the times. I'm sick over this loss. Couldn't sleep. Kept seeing uncontested 3-point shooters and a final tip-in that sure looked like goaltending. And I was one of the people in E-2 last night, imploring fans to stand for the final 30 seconds. You're one of the good ones Garry! Just like you and many of our best fans, I bleed black and gold and I love OU and hell I even realize that everyone has bad nights, but I just can't sit back and allow for excuses when everything about that game was a let total let down. I will give the Grizzlies and Grizzly nation until Friday to rebound. I want to see a sold out O'Rena crowd and a top tier Horizon team on the floor (not including Valpo) because I have high expectations for this squad as we all should. |
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Post by ouxcalum on Jan 5, 2016 9:51:51 GMT -5
2. The bad call / mix up / screw job / whatever it was at the end of the game. I'm getting so sick of refs making calls at the end of the game only to overturn themselves a moment after. Horrible call. We have never received any home field advantage in the O'Rena ever. Maybe because our fans are asleep. We go to Georgia and they get a call overturned and we play at home and get jobbed and I'm one of two people in the stadium booing the call. the team essentially put out a welcome mat for YSU at the hoop on that last play -- so the call doesn't really bother me. shoulda never even got to point where the refs are deciding the game |
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Post by Gary McCarrick on Jan 5, 2016 10:04:59 GMT -5
I truly appreciate all of the raw emotion and feedback I see here from last night and today. We're all invested in this brand and want it to succeed to heights never seen before. Jeff Konya and team will get this Athletic department there, believe me. I think you've seen thus far in Jeff's first 1.5, almost 2, year tenure is how he's totally transformed the culture to be more forward thinking, brand conscious and even implemented process excellence initiatives.
Now, nobody supports this program more than myself in regards to time, effort, social media exposure and overall supporter of Oakland University/Athletics. I'm going to take a different approach to this loss and take the emotion out of it, not that it's an easy thing to do by any means.
In regards to the crowd, we also have to realize that a game on a day where students and working adults go back to school/work after the holidays is generally very lethargic, historically speaking. I want to praise the people and the Grizz gang/band/dj/others that came out and supported their team when they could've easily stayed at home and watched on one of many tv/radio outlets. Also, Kay Felder and this team has generated a lot of "New" interest from fans of college basketball that wouldn't have normally turned out to watch an Oakland game. We need to lead by example and set the tone for how we expect the fans to act. One example, during the "Fight, Fight, Fight for Oakland" everyone should stand and clap along and show others this is Oakland Athletics and this is the expectation. It will start small but that's how cultures generally do start and will grow accordingly.
This is a partnership with the team and when the team plays a league game as if this is an exhibition then it's on them and the coaches. Fans can only do so much. But it does take two. The fans spark extra motivation when the players have exerted all energy and have no more but reach deep down and find that they do have that little more to achieve greater. And the players have a knack for making the plays necessary to get the fans in the game. I was at the MSU game and the MSU fans came alive after MSU's big run to put them ahead towards the end of the game and into overtime. This is why we love college basketball, it's a symphony of many different moving parts, from coaches to players, fans to the Grizz Gang, to new fans to the band to the DJ to Kevin Beers to the timeout games and the putts for tuition. We're all in this together.
Was this a bad loss, YES! I don't want to hear about RPI again as this is now shot. Only way to the tourney now is to win the Horizon League tournament. If history is any indication and Kampe generally has his teams ready, except for last year's loss to UIC, but I digress, I want to judge this team at the end of the year, not now. As hard as that is. Now I sound like a GM of an NFL franchise when asked if the head coach will be fired.
I want to see how this team responds to Valpo first and how well this team plays at Mercy (Can't forget UIC this Sunday-must win!). There are plenty of concerns now with Kampe shuffling lineups and where has Percy Gibson gone? He should be dominating. He and Brad last night looked lost and out of it.
Expectations are set very high by Kampe himself and we are justified to constructively criticize when those expectations aren't met, but please don't think that the stakeholders of this program behind the scenes last night/today and moving forward are taking this loss lightly, they are probably taking it harder than we are, as hard as that is to believe. Review video, fix mistakes and PLAY OAKLAND BASKETBALL! It's a wake up call! How will this team respond over the next week? To be continued.......
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Post by Grizzfan1 on Jan 5, 2016 10:05:16 GMT -5
2. The bad call / mix up / screw job / whatever it was at the end of the game. I'm getting so sick of refs making calls at the end of the game only to overturn themselves a moment after. Horrible call. We have never received any home field advantage in the O'Rena ever. Maybe because our fans are asleep. We go to Georgia and they get a call overturned and we play at home and get jobbed and I'm one of two people in the stadium booing the call. the team essentially put out a welcome mat for YSU at the hoop on that last play -- so the call doesn't really bother me. shoulda never even got to point where the refs are deciding the game Absolutely!! You let a team go straight to the rack to make that shot with seconds left you don't deserve to win IMO!! |
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Post by Garry Gilbert on Jan 5, 2016 10:06:00 GMT -5
Nonetheless, I hope we get some explanation of that final call.
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