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Horrible beat-down after leading at the half.

We need to win two now to avoid a losing season.

You have to give the Hawks some credit. Most of the threes they hit were well covered by the Wildcats.

At some point we are going to have to address the fact that the nepotism hire was a terrible and avoidable mistake. My hope is that will happen sooner rather than later.

Wildcat98 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:15 pm

At some point we are going to have to address the fact that the nepotism hire was a terrible and avoidable mistake. My hope is that will happen sooner rather than later.

I strongly, strongly disagree with what I consider to be an impertinent statement at this point in Matt's tenure.

Could not disagree more with the nepotism comment.

Matt was the top assistant to a guy that had a pretty successful run at Davidson. The fact that Matt is the son of that coach is not a negative as far as I'm concerned. I don't mind continuing a system and a philosophy that's been very successful for us, against the odds (small school, not exactly a fervent fan base, very high admission standards).

Matt has a very hard job ahead of him, made harder by NIL (the five year player issue and our lack of graduate schools will become less significant),

I have no doubt that Matt is passionate and smart and wants to win more than all us put together. He will do everything he can to make that happen.

He knows we need to get more athletic; that's not a secret. The commitment from Mani Joses (sp?) is a good start. We need to recruit better players, and we need major improvement from the guys we have coming back (save Connor).

I get the frustration. We have been non-competitive in our last two second halves (doesn't mean we didn't compete, there's a difference). I kind of feel like we are at an ebb that we haven't seen since the immediate post Steph years (yes, we had more Conf. wins then, but allowances for SoCon v. A10). That said, I don't think it follows AT ALL that hiring Matt was either a mistake or based on nepotism.

The early departures of Lee, Mennenga and Des Watson, plus the injury to Skogman really set us back. Matt deserves more time to shore up the roster. I believe he’s capable. Hopefully he and the staff can make it happen.

raptorcat wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:33 pm

Wildcat98 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:15 pm

At some point we are going to have to address the fact that the nepotism hire was a terrible and avoidable mistake. My hope is that will happen sooner rather than later.

I strongly, strongly disagree with what I consider to be an impertinent statement at this point in Matt's tenure.

“Impertinent” is a great word choice: two senses of the word.

Bill Cobb wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 2:50 pm

I was fortunate enough to sit behind the Arkansas bench when a very good Razorback team was playing in the NCAA first rounds.

Nolan Richardson had a meltdown during a time-out when Arkansas was too unselfish - turning down open looks and over passing in hopes of a better shot. He made his point, emphatically, to take the first good shot, as you may not get another good look. He was right - Arkansas played more "selfishly", and ended up running their opponent off the court.

A lesson some of our guys could use.

I think our guys do this not so much because they are being unselfish but because they have no confidence they will make the shot, either because they haven't gotten their feet where they need to be or because they just think they're going to miss.

Sadly, we do miss a lot of open shots.

I'm of the opinion that our staff's coaching acumen kept us in these close games, giving us a chance to win. Unfortunately, lack of athleticism is more evident in the last few minutes of close games. Faster, quicker, and stronger players pick up those late loose balls, offensive rebounds, and put backs as we are so tired as we have to play so hard to keep the games close.

And, as mentioned, losing Lee, Sam, and Des really crippled us.

We are going to have to figure this new era out. It ain't going to be easy.

Does that put us playing Fordham on Tuesday at 11:30, or is there some game left to go that could change things?

No TV coverage on Tuesday at all, from what I can tell.

Wildcat98 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:15 pm

At some point we are going to have to address the fact that the nepotism hire was a terrible and avoidable mistake. My hope is that will happen sooner rather than later.

Great organizations, when possible, hire from within. Davidson is a great organization and Matt McKillop was, is and will be a great hire for Davidson MBB. Plus, it would be interesting to see the candidates now for a job at the smallest D1 school, with no graduate school, tough admission policies, and no NIL $.

stevelee wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 4:36 pm

Does that put us playing Fordham on Tuesday at 11:30, or is there some game left to go that could change things?

No TV coverage on Tuesday at all, from what I can tell.

Yes, we play Fordham at 11:30 on Tuesday.

I think in prior years they had first round games on ESPN+. I would plan on that being the case unless we hear otherwise.

Bracket on A10 site shows

Tuesday ESPN+
Wednesday / Thursday USA
Saturday CBSSN
Sunday CBS.

Wildcat98 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:15 pm

At some point we are going to have to address the fact that the nepotism hire was a terrible and avoidable mistake. My hope is that will happen sooner rather than later.

Ban yourself

85Wildcatsky wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 3:00 pm

Bill Cobb wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 09, 2024 2:50 pm

I was fortunate enough to sit behind the Arkansas bench when a very good Razorback team was playing in the NCAA first rounds.

Nolan Richardson had a meltdown during a time-out when Arkansas was too unselfish - turning down open looks and over passing in hopes of a better shot. He made his point, emphatically, to take the first good shot, as you may not get another good look. He was right - Arkansas played more "selfishly", and ended up running their opponent off the court.

A lesson some of our guys could use.

I think part of the problems is that a lot of the current era players have no mid range shooting skills. If they get a wide open 10-15 footer the first thought is to pass it back for the 3 instead of taking the shot.

It’s throughout the game. No George Gervins.