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Post by rgs318 on Feb 19, 2024 4:31:20 GMT -5
Massey has the Bison favored by 4 (71-67) and gives them a 62% chance for the win. BU won by 12 earlier this year at Bucknell. Hopefully we will see continued improvement by HC (with everyone healthy and playing).
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2024 8:50:15 GMT -5
Saturday's loss has made a top 6 finish highly improbable. This game could be pivotal in determining if the play in game would be at Hart or on the road
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Feb 19, 2024 9:00:30 GMT -5
Really need the seniors to step up down the stretch. This is it.
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Post by trimster on Feb 19, 2024 9:13:42 GMT -5
The fact we are discussing avoiding a last place finish in one of the weakest D1 conferences in the country sums up what has happened to HC basketball over the last 5 years. I fervently hope better days are ahead.
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2024 9:22:52 GMT -5
The fact we are discussing avoiding a last place finish in one of the weakest D1 conferences in the country sums up what has happened to HC basketball over the last 5 years. I fervently hope better days are ahead. Don't be so pessimistic. We're not discussing avoiding a last place finish. We're discussing avoiding finishing 9th out of 10
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Feb 19, 2024 9:29:50 GMT -5
Saturday's loss has made a top 6 finish highly improbable. This game could be pivotal in determining if the play in game would be at Hart or on the road Would need to go no worse than 3-1 in the final four games -- none of which we will be favored in. Another year in the play-in.
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Post by timholycross on Feb 19, 2024 9:32:52 GMT -5
The fact we are discussing avoiding a last place finish in one of the weakest D1 conferences in the country sums up what has happened to HC basketball over the last 5 years. I fervently hope better days are ahead. What I found depressing as well is that not only is Holy Cross basketball itself in the doldrums; the PL has sunk lower and lower and lower since the RW and Bucknell "salad days". 31st out of 32. Worse than the SWAC and the NEC, for heaven's sake. Completely unacceptable. Women's basketball is much more what I expected. 25th.
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Post by purplehaze on Feb 19, 2024 9:57:01 GMT -5
ADKH and DP must move quickly to get this program turned around - we can certainly agree our preseason ranking of 4th was unrealistic but the inconsistent play of our seniors has contributed to many losses, imo We know our incoming class looks good but it will be critical to follow that up with an even better one for 2025
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Feb 19, 2024 10:06:11 GMT -5
How is Joe Nugent feeling—over his bout of the flu??
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 19, 2024 10:34:06 GMT -5
That rank was not "completely unrealistic" but a lack of depth hurt us with the injuries and illness that took out some key players. At the start of the year a number of posters said 2-3 years of rebuilding. That looks about right.
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Post by trimster on Feb 19, 2024 10:35:47 GMT -5
ADKH and DP must move quickly to get this program turned around - we can certainly agree our preseason ranking of 4th was unrealistic but the inconsistent play of our seniors has contributed to many losses, imo We know our incoming class looks good but it will be critical to follow that up with an even better one for 2025 Unless there are transfers from the program, we have largely hitched our wagon to the current frosh and next year's frosh. Assuming the 13th scholarship is used for Coulibaly's 5th year or is held over, HC has 2 schollies to give in each of the next 2 years. Nine scholarship players will be frosh or sophs next year.
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 19, 2024 10:40:14 GMT -5
ADKH and DP must move quickly to get this program turned around - we can certainly agree our preseason ranking of 4th was unrealistic but the inconsistent play of our seniors has contributed to many losses, imo We know our incoming class looks good but it will be critical to follow that up with an even better one for 2025 Your post makes it sound as though they are not doing just that already. Since they are doing just that it should be a relief for you. The team is playing better ball now than they were at the start of the season. I do not see any reason why that would not continue into the future, but that may just be my opinion.
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Post by trimster on Feb 19, 2024 10:54:24 GMT -5
The fact we are discussing avoiding a last place finish in one of the weakest D1 conferences in the country sums up what has happened to HC basketball over the last 5 years. I fervently hope better days are ahead. What I found depressing as well is that not only is Holy Cross basketball itself in the doldrums; the PL has sunk lower and lower and lower since the RW and Bucknell "salad days". 31st out of 32. Worse than the SWAC and the NEC, for heaven's sake. Completely unacceptable. Women's basketball is much more what I expected. 25th. It is an open question as to how many people outside of this board find the PL hoop ranking unacceptable.
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2024 11:59:35 GMT -5
That rank was not "completely unrealistic" but a lack of depth hurt us with the injuries and illness that took out some key players. At the start of the year a number of posters said 2-3 years of rebuilding. That looks about right. At first glance, a 10 man rotation (when healthy) sounds like depth. However, half of those 10 are freshmen. Needing to rely on freshmen is not a good recipe. Most of the freshmen have been wildly inconsistent. Not complaining - that's what freshmen do. But when we're talking about a 10 deep roster, it's kind of misleading
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2024 12:02:43 GMT -5
Saturday's loss has made a top 6 finish highly improbable. This game could be pivotal in determining if the play in game would be at Hart or on the road Would need to go no worse than 3-1 in the final four games -- none of which we will be favored in. Another year in the play-in. Even if HC went 4-0, they would need other things to fall in place to get #6
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Feb 19, 2024 12:27:49 GMT -5
Would need to go no worse than 3-1 in the final four games -- none of which we will be favored in. Another year in the play-in. Even if HC went 4-0, they would need other things to fall in place to get #6 In my scenario of HC going 3-1 (loss is to Colgate) to reach 8-10, we'd get the sixth feed with the following: - BU going no better than 2-2 (we beat them in a tiebreaker) - Army goes no better than 1-3 The more that I'm looking at this, the odds of earning the sixth seed are microscopic. FWIW, Playoff Status has HC at a 10% chance to earn the sixth seed or better (that's a lot better than I would have thought, actually...this outlet might not be factoring in tiebreaking scenarios though, which won't be kind to HC) -- www.playoffstatus.com/patriotleaguebasketball/patriotleaguestandings.htmlThe one upside to being in the play-in is that we have a more realistic chance for a PLT win, which would be the first since the Bill Carmody days.
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Post by DiMarz on Feb 19, 2024 13:48:28 GMT -5
How is Joe Nugent feeling—over his bout of the flu?? He was on the bench in street clothes Saturday..I'd assume he will be ready to go Wednesday.....
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Post by nextmanup on Feb 19, 2024 14:44:13 GMT -5
What I found depressing as well is that not only is Holy Cross basketball itself in the doldrums; the PL has sunk lower and lower and lower since the RW and Bucknell "salad days". 31st out of 32. Worse than the SWAC and the NEC, for heaven's sake. Completely unacceptable. Women's basketball is much more what I expected. 25th. It is an open question as to how many people outside of this board find the PL hoop ranking unacceptable. Being a member of the PL makes the turnaround even harder. College basketball has changed. The league hasn’t and won’t/cant. The league is doomed to fail and moving on ASAP would be in the best interest of the program and school.
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Post by billyball on Feb 19, 2024 15:15:09 GMT -5
Very disheartening
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Post by rgs318 on Feb 19, 2024 15:33:54 GMT -5
The league is doomed to fail and moving on ASAP would be in the best interest of the program and school. That is your legitimate opinion...but one with which I disagree. Where would you see HC going that is somehow better? Also, if the PL were "doomed to fail" (a point on which we disagree) why would all of the PL ADs continue to support it? Do you feel the athletic programs are being run by people too incompetent (or too content) to see that their league is "doomed" so they remain?
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2024 15:48:58 GMT -5
It is an open question as to how many people outside of this board find the PL hoop ranking unacceptable. Being a member of the PL makes the turnaround even harder. College basketball has changed. The league hasn’t and won’t/cant. The league is doomed to fail and moving on ASAP would be in the best interest of the program and school. What types of changes do you think the league won't/can't make? If you are talking about academic integrity, I think you're right that the league won't go there
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Post by WorcesterGray on Feb 19, 2024 15:52:51 GMT -5
What I found depressing as well is that not only is Holy Cross basketball itself in the doldrums; the PL has sunk lower and lower and lower since the RW and Bucknell "salad days". 31st out of 32. Worse than the SWAC and the NEC, for heaven's sake. Chris Spitler was born too soon - his pick-up line would have been so much better now.
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Post by trimster on Feb 19, 2024 16:08:51 GMT -5
Being a member of the PL makes the turnaround even harder. College basketball has changed. The league hasn’t and won’t/cant. The league is doomed to fail and moving on ASAP would be in the best interest of the program and school. What types of changes do you think the league won't/can't make? If you are talking about academic integrity, I think you're right that the league won't go there I don't think any of the PL members had systemic issues with academic integrity of student-athletes before its formation and I don't think any would going forward if they left the league.
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Post by timholycross on Feb 19, 2024 18:16:54 GMT -5
What I found depressing as well is that not only is Holy Cross basketball itself in the doldrums; the PL has sunk lower and lower and lower since the RW and Bucknell "salad days". 31st out of 32. Worse than the SWAC and the NEC, for heaven's sake. Chris Spitler was born too soon - his pick-up line would have been so much better now. It may have been this bad the five years or so it was 100% non-scholarship; only the fluke occurrence of having Adolal Foyle in the league may have boosted it a little bit.
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Post by nextmanup on Feb 19, 2024 19:43:39 GMT -5
The league is doomed to fail and moving on ASAP would be in the best interest of the program and school. That is your legitimate opinion...but one with whch I disagree. Where would you see HC going that is somehow better? Also, if the PL were "doomed to fail" (a point on which we disagree) why would all of the PL ADs continue to support it? Do you feel the athletic programs are being run by people too incompetent (or too content) to see that their league is "doomed" so they remain? My comments apply to men’s basketball only. Also my definition of fail is fail to be relevant on a regional and national scale (I also could see the PL fold with one or two departures). Let’s be honest, successful runs like Bucknell in late 2000s /CJ McCollum run will be less frequent on go forward given transfer/NIL rules. I don’t know a natural landing spot conference wise. Win games and options begin to show up. I care about winning basketball games at the highest level. Not winning GPA awards. There are plenty of academic schools that have nationally relevant programs their alums are proud of.
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