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"poof"
Dec 12, 2011 14:53:30 GMT -5
Post by GuyF on Dec 12, 2011 14:53:30 GMT -5
I expect Wednesday's game to be very high-intensity. Both teams looking to get over beatdowns, plus Richmond remembers last year's meeting all too well.
I still worry that Cluess has not yet found a solution for when the other teams successfully take away Glover, as Marshall did in the 2nd half.
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"poof"
Dec 12, 2011 14:57:27 GMT -5
Post by dangaelfan on Dec 12, 2011 14:57:27 GMT -5
I am so glad we have a challenging schedule this year. I would have hated to race through this season wondering how good we were. Marshall had a gameplan that would have knocked the Gaels out of the NCAA tournament.......now they have a few months to adapt so that , that formula isn't one that will take us out. Another 6' 7" or better guy needs to develop by the time March rolls around or we will get bounced, perhaps by Fairfield in the MAAC Tourney, who presents similar size problems to Iona.
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"poof"
Dec 12, 2011 15:02:16 GMT -5
Post by ichoops on Dec 12, 2011 15:02:16 GMT -5
In the immortal words of IC59..... "Rebounding is more about position and hustle than height"
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"poof"
Dec 12, 2011 15:33:26 GMT -5
Post by St. Louis Gael on Dec 12, 2011 15:33:26 GMT -5
Marshall has a long athletic team. I thought they were even longer and more athletic than was Purdue. We are not going to see many more of those in the regular season.
However, I thought what really killed us in the second half is that we seemed really tired. We were not moving well, we were getting beaten to loose balls, we were indecisive, and we were short-arming our shots.
The only chance we have against a tall athletic team is quickness. If we don't have our quickness, well ..... - beatdown! Hey, even my Cardinals, Pujols and all, suffered some real beatdowns this past season.
The question in my mind is did Marshall wear us down, or did the road trip do us in? I think the Denver game took a lot out of us - mile high and OT. Richmond is going to be a tough one.
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"poof"
Dec 12, 2011 15:40:53 GMT -5
Post by GuyF on Dec 12, 2011 15:40:53 GMT -5
Nobody in the MAAC has the bigs that Marshall has. Marshall's one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Nobody in the MAAC is capable of slaughtering us on the boards like that. And, statistically, that was the biggest difference in the game.
I did not get to watch or listen, only following on live stats. But looking at the box, I see that Ridley needs to get more than 2 boards in 22 minutes, and Machado, who's usually good for a healthy number from the guard spot, had just 1.
I also can't believe that Smyth had just 1 shot attempt. This doesn't cut it. Bottom line, Cluess needs to run more stuff to get him open--especially if the defense is fronting Glover. We can't just accept that. "OK, Glover's not open and they're extended on Smyth, guess it's time to start chuckin'." No. In those situations Iona's players--and Cluess--need to do some different things to get people open. Kyle/Armand don't ALWAYS have to shoot 3s. Glover doesn't ALWAYS have to be on the baseline, while Ridley hangs out at the top of the key. Machado doesn't ALWAYS have to be the one at the top of the key trying to create something when nothing is there. It's amazing, we're leading the country in scoring and yet we have so many offensive shortcomings that have been exposed.
Now, all of this said, a lot of other variables went into the second-half meltdown yesterday, and not the least of which was the QUALITY of the opponent. Marshall is a VERY GOOD team. If this happened at a weaker foe, yup, cause for alarm. Not at a quality foe when you're on a 7-game winning streak and have barely played at home. Eventually the chickens come home to roost.
Iona should play at a much higher level at Richmond. If they do that, I like their chances--but Richmond is no slouch, and we can play well and still lose. We'll see what happens.
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"poof"
Dec 15, 2011 13:11:14 GMT -5
Post by callahan1984 on Dec 15, 2011 13:11:14 GMT -5
Turned out to be a great analysis, Guy. Good job.
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"poof"
Dec 15, 2011 13:34:48 GMT -5
Post by gregcrow on Dec 15, 2011 13:34:48 GMT -5
I agree that the goal remains to win the MAAC Tournament. But just the fact that we can even DISCUSS the at-large stuff shows how much fun we're having. The schedule was assembled for PRECISELY this reason. Everyone needs to chill out. The teams we're facing are ALL better than EVERYONE in the MAAC. Completely agree. Hated getting spanked, always hurts to lose, but it was highly unlikely we were going to win all these road games anyway. Still work for this team to do. If they can pull off a win in Richmond we will all forget about this by Thursday. If not, the season will still go on and I believe great things will happen! Marshall who?
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"poof"
Dec 15, 2011 21:31:53 GMT -5
Post by dangaelfan on Dec 15, 2011 21:31:53 GMT -5
Joe Lunardi projects Iona as a # 10 seed, playing Harvard, a # 7 seed, with the winner likely to play North Carolina, a #2 seed. Connecticut could loom after that as a # 3 and Ohio State as a #1 seed, if form holds. Lunardi tends to be pretty good at forecasting the Brackets.
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"poof"
Dec 16, 2011 8:10:31 GMT -5
Post by chelseadal on Dec 16, 2011 8:10:31 GMT -5
Joe Lunardi projects Iona as a # 10 seed, playing Harvard, a # 7 seed, with the winner likely to play North Carolina, a #2 seed. Connecticut could loom after that as a # 3 and Ohio State as a #1 seed, if form holds. Lunardi tends to be pretty good at forecasting the Brackets. He may be good, but exact projections at this point in the season have almost Zero chance of occuring.
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"poof"
Dec 16, 2011 8:15:16 GMT -5
Post by ic59 on Dec 16, 2011 8:15:16 GMT -5
There was a Lunardi who did the St. Joe's radio, at Iona. Any relation to Joe? SID?
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"poof"
Dec 16, 2011 9:41:13 GMT -5
Post by sid on Dec 16, 2011 9:41:13 GMT -5
There was a Lunardi who did the St. Joe's radio, at Iona. Any relation to Joe? SID? It was THE Joe Lunardi
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Post by GuyF on Dec 16, 2011 11:55:26 GMT -5
Joe Lunardi projects Iona as a # 10 seed, playing Harvard, a # 7 seed, with the winner likely to play North Carolina, a #2 seed. Connecticut could loom after that as a # 3 and Ohio State as a #1 seed, if form holds. Lunardi tends to be pretty good at forecasting the Brackets. He may be good, but exact projections at this point in the season have almost Zero chance of occuring. So what? Still fun, still good for program to be included. Sent from my ADR6300 using ProBoards
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