Drake Preview and Game Thread -- 2/25/2020

[goramblers2011]

7-9 from the line. THANK YOU. Maybe we are starting to value the opportunities. That’s the best stat of the half.

Great call...

This aged poorly. And we are just 1 from 6 from deep. And choking away a 2nd half double digit home lead.

[goramblers2011]

How many shot fakes have we fallen for today? Think Lucas alone has jumped out of his shoes at 3 or 4 of them

[GoRamblers]

A win is a win.

Now let's finish the season strong in Peoria.

[01grad]

Never in doubt....

[ToledoRambler]

We can be frustrated by this game, but a win is a win, and that one was win number 20! 9-0 at home. At least second in the conference (maybe we sneak away with a share of the regular season title). All in a rebuilding year after we lost our two best players. It’s tough because of the way we won, but we shouldn’t let it take away from the full-season body of work so far.

It’s crazy to think that this cobbled together team is going to either tie or outperform last years regular season success, and they did it in what I believe is a much more competitive MVC field than last.

I was extremely impressed with Frank’s play in relief minutes, and he’s now looking like a reliable sub with a future as opposed to a “project.”

Of course I’m extremely concerned about Kennedy. I hope we get an update quickly. If we need to rest him Saturday and run the risk of losing, Im fine with it. Let him rest the ankle if he needs to.

19-31 in free throws is unbelievable. If we go down in Saint Louis it’s going to be because of that. It has to get corrected NOW. It makes no sense to me that a team do proficient from the field is so bad at free throws.

Williamson needs to start playing like a leader on offense.

Drake somehow went 75% from the line, 47% from the field, hit 7-14 threes, outrebounded us, and still lost. The difference in the game - turnovers. We stayed disciplined, and they did not.

If Drake can keep a handle on that ball Saturday and jump out to a lead early, they have the tools to knock off UNI.

[01grad]

We should be plenty rested for St Louis. Only one game in the next 10 days. And, depending on how tomorrow’s games go, we may be able to play a lot of the bench on Saturday if we choose to.

[goramblers2011]

We should be plenty rested for St Louis. Only one game in the next 10 days. And, depending on how tomorrow’s games go, we may be able to play a lot of the bench on Saturday if we choose to.

The only way Saturday's game becomes meaningless is if Bradley loses @ISU tomorrow. Otherwise, there is a non-zero chance we can get passed for the two seed under two scenarios:

1. Bradley wins out (@ISUr, vs Loyola), SIU wins out (vs ISUb, @MoSt) and Loyola loses out (@Bradley) creating a 3-way tie for 2nd at 12-6. This would then go to a round robin, which Bradley would win on account of sweeping SIU (Bradley 3-1, Loyola 2-2, SIU 1-3).

2. Bradley beats ISUr by 10+ and Loyola by 10+, finishing 12-6 and possibly passing Loyola in NET (wins by 10+ count for more).

[JCT]

Great post, goramblers2011. We're not out of the dark on getting that very dangerous 3 seed. Our crappy performance tonight (allowing the opponents to shoot 48% from the field, 50% from three point territory-- while making a season-low ONE three pointer on 6 attempts-- 16.7%!??!) dropped us from 95 to 102 on KenPom. Who knows what it might have done to the NET....

We need to beat Bradley. That's all there is to it. And we need to HOPE that Illinois State has enough ability, self-respect and pride to beat back Bradley on Doug Collins Court in Normal.

[01grad]

To clarify: I don’t think we’ll rest players on Saturday, especially given the rest. *If* Bradley were to lose tomorrow, and we were only concerned about seeding, it would be an option, but I don’t think it would be an option Porter would choose. No matter what happens tomorrow, heading into Saturday it will still be possible for us to tie for the league title, which I believe the team (rightly) puts a lot of stock in.

[Rambler88]

Ugly win. The good news is we won our 20th game and still have room to grow. Free throws and poor execution on offense will be the end of us. If we make a slight improvement in those areas, this team has no ceiling.