Some comments from SalukiTalk:
Sorry to jump in so late. I'll respectfully take issue with some of grad1972's points:
You make the excuse that USI is a good D2 team by saying "they could beat the bottom three teams in the Valley." Did I read that correctly?
So, a team that (by your observation) would be about a 7th place MVC team dominated us for most of the game and almost beat us AT HOME. And you find that acceptable?
You also make the point that we "should assume our team is going to improve over the course of the season." Why?
And you played the "Fay would have made all the difference" card. Which is pretty weak and entirely speculative.
I'm not trying to be all negative, I just don't buy your excuses.
On the positive side, a competitive exhibition game was probably good for us. And we did (luckily) pull out a win at the end. You've got to be happy for Big Nick. John Freeman looked better tonight. Dillard took contol when he had to. Brown-Surles made a couple nice steals (although his shooting looks atrocious). Big Gene played well in spurts. Wish he had another year of conditioning under his belt.
The negatives have all been mentioned (rebounding, free-throw shooting, lack of an inside game, etc.). A quite valid point was made that this game really didn't matter anyway. But I still find it funny that Rodney Watson was able to come into our house with lesser talent and outplay us for 39 minutes. It is apparent to many on here that SIU allowed the wrong coach to walk.
Sorry to jump in so late. I'll respectfully take issue with some of grad1972's points:
You make the excuse that USI is a good D2 team by saying "they could beat the bottom three teams in the Valley." Did I read that correctly?
So, a team that (by your observation) would be about a 7th place MVC team dominated us for most of the game and almost beat us AT HOME. And you find that acceptable?
You also make the point that we "should assume our team is going to improve over the course of the season." Why?
And you played the "Fay would have made all the difference" card. Which is pretty weak and entirely speculative.
I'm not trying to be all negative, I just don't buy your excuses.
On the positive side, a competitive exhibition game was probably good for us. And we did (luckily) pull out a win at the end. You've got to be happy for Big Nick. John Freeman looked better tonight. Dillard took contol when he had to. Brown-Surles made a couple nice steals (although his shooting looks atrocious). Big Gene played well in spurts. Wish he had another year of conditioning under his belt.
The negatives have all been mentioned (rebounding, free-throw shooting, lack of an inside game, etc.). A quite valid point was made that this game really didn't matter anyway. But I still find it funny that Rodney Watson was able to come into our house with lesser talent and outplay us for 39 minutes. It is apparent to many on here that SIU allowed the wrong coach to walk.
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