A-10 Media Day/Preseason Awards

[spiderman]

offense is certainly on the upper end of expectations.

not sure anyone could have predicted this level of improvement in our defense though. this has to be one of the best team defenses we've had under Mooney. we have plus defenders all over the floor. can't remember ever feeling that way. hopefully that's CM's strategy going forward.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

agree, sman. When we have the ability to switch everything on the wings and funnel guys to the baseline where our big men are ready to help, the defense is extremely good. Teams have had success running high pick and rolls against us because of Neal's lack of footspeed, but that is the only weakness we've shown defensively.

I feel like when the defense clicks in, we often go on little mini-runs. Last night Saint Joe's got a lot of what they wanted early on and had 15 points in no time, but then we locked in when Harris and Tyne came in, Saint Joe's went on a scoring drought as we also forced turnovers, and all the sudden had a 9 point lead that we held pretty well the rest of the game.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

ManiBenton won't see this because he is one of those posters that only shows up after losses to complain. Literally he has not visited this board since our last loss according to the stats shown when hovering over his name.

Bingo

 

[SFspidur]

Mani has checked in since then under his other account, but not in the past couple of weeks.

 

[fan2011]

Mani has checked in since then under his other account, but not in the past couple of weeks.

Is this a Jekyll and Hyde situation?

 

[ManiBenton]

Bumping this thread. Not as an "I told you so," because I clearly didn't, but just because it makes for some fun reading. The great thing about sports is, you just never know. Never.

A-10 champs in men's and women's basketball and CAA tri-champions, playoff participants and playoff-game winners in football. Pretty good year for the Spiders.

🤔 🤔

 

[plydogg]

This thread really shows how much we overachieved this season. From 11th place and one player on the A10 3rd team to winning the conference with the player of the year and most improved player of the year.

 

[spider23]

Ply, I think we achieved. I couldn't believe when we landed King. And he exceeded my expectations. Dji was finally healthy. So yes, based on pre portal and Dji not healthy I think we overacheived. Of course as soon as I had hopes of the real goal - NCAA's - dancing in my head we really crashed and burned. As many on here have said, I came to expect this. Thank you sir, may I have another?

 

[712LLC]

And now unfortunately none of it matters. The standard is the ncaa tournament, anything else is a failure.

 

[ManiBenton]

This thread really shows how much we overachieved this season. From 11th place and one player on the A10 3rd team to winning the conference with the player of the year and most improved player of the year.

This a skip Bayless type spin zone. I’m impressed

 

[plydogg]

Ply, I think we achieved. I couldn't believe when we landed King. And he exceeded my expectations. Dji was finally healthy. So yes, based on pre portal and Dji not healthy I think we overacheived. Of course as soon as I had hopes of the real goal - NCAA's - dancing in my head we really crashed and burned. As many on here have said, I came to expect this. Thank you sir, may I have another?

I can see this, but I don’t remember anybody thinking us winning the A10 was a possibility, much less the expected. I never thought we’d be 11th but I will admit I thought we would be closer to 11th than 1st. Expectations change and evolve as the season progresses, but if you told me December 6th after the UNI loss we would win the A10 I’d ask for a drug test 😉

 

[SpiderGuy]

Ply, I think we achieved. I couldn't believe when we landed King. And he exceeded my expectations. Dji was finally healthy. So yes, based on pre portal and Dji not healthy I think we overacheived. Of course as soon as I had hopes of the real goal - NCAA's - dancing in my head we really crashed and burned. As many on here have said, I came to expect this. Thank you sir, may I have another?

My take is that we didn't overachieve. I believe 1) returning players stepped up a couple notches. Bigs, Quinn, and Dji played to their potential at high levels, and 2) King & Hunt our new players played to their abilities also. No one knew exactly what to expect / how good they'd be. And they were excellent.

Bottom line - We had a starting 5 that was underestimated, and many of the projections didn't know the true talent level of our players & the chemistry realized.

Not passing over the bench. Just addressing the guys that got the most minutes.