In Game: vs. Rhode Island

[Jay Catsby]

They should retroactively award him the prize given the defective question. Also seems cruel to ask a question about 1966 (not 96) to a person clearly born around the year 2010.

[stevelee]

They should retroactively award him the prize given the defective question. Also seems cruel to ask a question about 1966 (not 96) to a person clearly born around the year 2010.

He was given the prize anyway. He was told in advance that right or wrong answer would still get the prize.

[i77cat]

That's good. It would be a further embarrassment to withhold a prize when the question is bogus.

[Ursa Midmajor]

I'm afraid the glory days of Davidson basketball are over and will quickly recede into the rear-view mirror of time. I don't see a way for us to stay competitive in this new landscape of college athletics. Everything is stacked against us, and if we get a good player, he'll be raided by some other program that can offer more money. We've seen what is happening to college football, and basketball is close behind. March madness will give way to March sadness.

Saw Ed Crutchfield died. We need another bank president.

[Dr. Bliss]

I'm afraid the glory days of Davidson basketball are over and will quickly recede into the rear-view mirror of time. I don't see a way for us to stay competitive in this new landscape of college athletics. Everything is stacked against us, and if we get a good player, he'll be raided by some other program that can offer more money. We've seen what is happening to college football, and basketball is close behind. March madness will give way to March sadness.

Mr Optimistic

Yep, I'm feeling pretty pessimistic these days. Let's see what happens with Durkin. He'll have plenty of offers to transfer.

[wildforthecats]

I'm afraid the glory days of Davidson basketball are over and will quickly recede into the rear-view mirror of time. I don't see a way for us to stay competitive in this new landscape of college athletics. Everything is stacked against us, and if we get a good player, he'll be raided by some other program that can offer more money. We've seen what is happening to college football, and basketball is close behind. March madness will give way to March sadness.

Mr Optimistic

Yep, I'm feeling pretty pessimistic these days. Let's see what happens with Durkin. He'll have plenty of offers to transfer.

We’ve heard this story before. Davidson basketball is finished late 80s. I will give up when I’m 6 feet under or in an urn.

[TOK]

I'm afraid the glory days of Davidson basketball are over and will quickly recede into the rear-view mirror of time. I don't see a way for us to stay competitive in this new landscape of college athletics. Everything is stacked against us, and if we get a good player, he'll be raided by some other program that can offer more money. We've seen what is happening to college football, and basketball is close behind. March madness will give way to March sadness.

Next season is the last for the extra Covid years. Davidson was at a disadvantage during this time frame because of the lack of graduate programs.

For the most part, players Davidson recruits are interested in getting degrees. Only having 4 years of eligibility will slow movement of players that really care about graduating, The kids that want to shift schools every year weren't ever going to go to Davidson in the first place.

I don't think the sky is falling or has fallen. Now, if you ask me if Davidson will ever make a Final four, I would say no. But they never made it under the old rules either.

For the most part, NIL money is going to be available at schools that Davidson largely couldn't recruit successfully against anyway.

[bagelcat]

Agree that we'll never compete for a kid getting significant NIL money coming out of high school.

The problem, as has been mentioned, is if let's say hypothetically we have a freshman who can really, really shoot the ball. Shooters are always in demand--he will get offers. We can only hope he likes it here enough to stay.

Of course prior to NIL you could lose transfers who wanted to play at higher level. They just weren't going to get paid for it.

We have to get more athletic players into the program. It's going to be hard. Grant is the closest player we have to someone who flashes when attacking the basket. If only he could shoot...

We've haven't finished near the bottom of the league since we've joined the A10. This could be the year, but it's certainly not a forgone conclusion. We showed some concrete signs of being a good team in our pre-Conf. schedule. But last night was not good; the difference in athleticism was pronounced. If we win at GW, I will feel much better.

[djcat]

Are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell
With no kind of chance for the Cats or the Liberty Bell
I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years
Like they should
Is the best of the free life behind us now?
Are the good times really over for good?

[Dr. Bliss]

Obviously, one way for Davidson to bridge the gap is to recruit internationally, which we have done successfully. But everybody else is in on that game too, so it makes it more difficult, especially with the time, distance, and expense involved. I wonder if it would be beneficial to hire an assistant coach who actually stayed in Europe year-round and could be a full-time overseas recruiter.

[ScootCat]

It’s real simple, we need better athletes. If that isn’t in the cards then we better find multiple shooters who can reliably hit the three. A real post presence is an imperative under the latter.

[Acorn]

I wonder if it would be beneficial to hire an assistant coach who actually stayed in Europe year-round and could be a full-time overseas recruiter.

Sigh. Ok. I’ll do it.

[quickcat]

I think the biggest difficulty for Davidson in the near term will be the immediate transfer rules. Five of the top 8 teams in the A-10 right now feature 4 last 2 years transfers in their top 6 in minutes. Dayton and Richmond have 3 of those players. Somehow St. Joe's only has 1.

The bottom 7 in the conference average 2 per team, and that's with RI at 5 and Loyola and Davidson at 3 each. Though in the games post-Miami, one of our transfers has dropped out of our top 6 in MPG. To me, Davidson with 3 is very unexpected and not in line with our traditional path of recruiting players and developing them over 4 years.

[ScootCat]

There’s another simple truth regarding the transfer portal. When you use it, you have to make it count. We essentially swapped Mennenga and Watson for our two new portal players this year. The former duo would likely have averaged at least 28 points per game this season. The two that came in as replacements are, unfortunately, nowhere close to that.

[otherwildcat]

NIL will have an impact on every program, but Davidson will be fine. Stay the course recruiting 3 star and under the radar players, mix in some internationals. McKillop plays 9-10 guys so the rotation is pretty much next man up. This system helps in the long run if 1 or 2 players leave. I would take incoming freshman Durkin over either of the two guys that left.
Just wish they had some type of weight training program. When you play true freshman and soph bigs they need to add a little muscle quickly otherwise they keep getting abused like last night.