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Blake might return against Fordham

UR80sfan

UR80sfan

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Jan 28, 2018
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Sounds like Blake recovery is going well and he might potentially play against Fordham next weekend based on comments by Coach Mooney. He is not guaranteeing it, but said he was very close to being tested in practice. That is great new for our payback game against VCU.
 
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Great news! It would be great if he could be well enough to test things out a little the next 2 games and then be good to go at close to 100% for VCU.
 
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That's a major stretch to say we would have gone undefeated. I think maybe we win one of the Dayton or VCU games with him, but no guarantee. We could have used him more against VCU because of the style they play. I don't think he moves the needle much in that Dayton game though.

Regardless it would be great to have him back so soon. Just hope they aren't rushing things. Doubt we really need him for Fordham.
 
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Eight Legger said:
That's a major stretch to say we would have gone undefeated. I think maybe we win one of the Dayton or VCU games with him, but no guarantee. We could have used him more against VCU because of the style they play. I don't think he moves the needle much in that Dayton game though.

Regardless it would be great to have him back so soon. Just hope they aren't rushing things. Doubt we really need him for Fordham.
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We don’t NEED him at Fordham or LaSalle.But he NEEDS to work himself back into game shape after a month absence.Then the real test-VCU on 2/15.Disagree about Dayton.There are NO guarantees on hypotheticals but his presence v Dayton would have meant a much closer game than 8 points difference.He IS the only reason we are in the hunt.
 
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32counter said:
We don’t NEED him at Fordham or LaSalle.But he NEEDS to work himself back into game shape after a month absence.Then the real test-VCU on 2/15.Disagree about Dayton.There are NO guarantees on hypotheticals but his presence v Dayton would have meant a much closer game than 8 points difference.He IS the only reason we are in the hunt.
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We’re 12-4 (.667) with Blake and 4-2 (.667) without him. It will be good to have him back.
 
UR80sfan said:
Sounds like Blake recovery is going well and he might potentially play against Fordham next weekend based on comments by Coach Mooney. He is not guaranteeing it, but said he was very close to being tested in practice. That is great new for our payback game against VCU.
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Since this guy is the Mooney Whisperer, it's more likely to happen than not.
 
32counter said:
It’s very likely we would have gone 6-0 had he not been injured during the most recent stretch.
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We haven't passed the "6-game test" yet this season - even with Blake; even against the pillow-fight portion of our schedule, when all we needed to do was beat Radford. It's not "very likely" we would have done so in the stretch that included our two toughest in-conference games.
I'm glad we went 4-2; we took care of business, and I'm looking forward to his return.
 
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I am not sure Blake would have blocked Toppin’s 7 dunks, but it certainly would have spread our offense out and helped with the ball handling at Costco.
 
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Agree that he needs to ease himself back into game action, I was just saying that I hope we're not rushing him back.

And I'm not sure how many more points we were going to score against Dayton with him in there, unless you are assuming that all of his points would have come during our bad stretch and Gilyard and Sherod still would have combined for 50, which I think is quite the stretch. I do want him back for VCU because I think he makes a big difference against them.
 
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I would rather he not rush back and fully heal. Although, if he was going to pick one, the Fordham game would be the one.
 
Spider2020 said:
As 32 said, I’d like to see him get a few minutes against Fordham and la salle and work himself back into shape to be fully ready for VCU. Maybe we get him some minutes off the bench these next two games?
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I agree with several of you, there is no need to rush him against two opponents we should (key word “should” ) win without him. Some game time will help get him into game shape, physically and mentally, to be ready for the VCU game.
 
Eight Legger said:
That's a major stretch to say we would have gone undefeated. I think maybe we win one of the Dayton or VCU games with him, but no guarantee. We could have used him more against VCU because of the style they play. I don't think he moves the needle much in that Dayton game though.

Regardless it would be great to have him back so soon. Just hope they aren't rushing things. Doubt we really need him for Fordham.
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Yes it is a major stretch... we got killed against vcu and were down 20 to DU. Probably would have gone 6-0... yea right.
 
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Ok, I'll bite. Blake is our leading scorer bc he shoots the most. Gilyard, Sherod or Grant could hold that honor if they shot the most.

Too many of Blake's shots are totally ill advised. If you subtract the potential wasted point opportunities from these, our loss in scoring from his absence is greatly reduced. Admittedly, we could have used his ball handling against VCU.

Blake is a great addition to the team, but I'm not as high on him as most folks on this board appear to be. He would be a better player and we would be a better team, if he played more with his head and less with his emotion.
 
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I believe Blake takes more chances (more control of the game) when his teammates are struggling. He's a warrior at heart, but I agree if he would play smarter he is even more valuable to the team.
 
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It's not on him. We have plenty of good shooters. Needs to calm down, play within himself, and work for the highest percentage shot the TEAM can get.
 
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We are such an incredible and competitive team in practice that BF won't need floor time in an actual game to work himself back into shape.


#NoMoreMooneyTruthing
 
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I believe we actually would have gone 7-0 over the past 6 with Blake. We would have been playing so dominant that Fordham would have already cancelled their game with us this weekend.
 
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Doesn't really matter with all these "would have" if Blake never got injured. How about - what if Blake came to UR right out of high school - how many games would we have won the last 2 years?

What matters is that the team did well without him - sure, they didn't a big win vs. Dayton or VCU, but the key is they didn't lose any other games - that would have definetley took UR out of contention. If he is ready - let him play. I am sure they will ease his minutes back, but you can't play thinking the next game is automatic win (we did lose to Radford remember). So we need to take these next 2 road games seriously and if he is ready and wants to play - play him. We will need him full strength for VCU and would hate to think that is his first game back to try and knock some rust off.
 
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As tough as I'm on Mooney and past Spider players, I have nothing but praise for Blake. Maybe Blake wouldn't have lit up VCU, but he wouldn't have s*** himself during the game like two other go to players.
 
Blake's shot selection at times is suspect, but we need his toughness and aggressiveness
 
It will be a big boost to have Blake back. His scoring, aggressiveness on the court and speed have been missed. Make no mistake. Gilyard is the heart and soul of the team. His basketball savvy and overall play make the team go. He has been criticized when not scoring huge points, but look closer. He makes the team better by getting the ball to where the defensive weaknesses are. The last game he had 9 assists by feeding the ball into our stronger players in the paint, 4 steals, 0 turnovers and 4 points. Add those up and they account for roughly half of the team’s total score. Game in and game out, he is the engine.
 
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