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Post by Commissioner on Feb 13, 2022 12:33:42 GMT -5
Pat Riley and Bill Parcells have famous quotes that basically say you are what your record says you are. The Titans are 7-5, 10-12. We're basically a .500 team, as we were last year. We have time to change that, but we need to get to it. That's pretty good for a team that has played 17 of their 21 D-1 games and 10 of their 12 conference games on the road. The Titans missed 5 home games. I feel quite confident we would have gotten three wins out of Oakland, YSU, Green Bay, Bob Morris, and IUPUI--possibly 4, maybe 5. We replaced Oakland with a win over UM-Dearborn, so let's assume we would have gone 3-1 in the other games. That would leave us at 13-13 overall, and 10-6 in conference. Note that while after today's game our last 4 are at home, it won't be easy. Essentially, staring in about a half hour, we play our last 5 games against the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place teams in the conference. So we'll see what kind of team we have. If I'm right that we would likely be 10-6 (11-7?) in conference (or 12-7 or 11-8 if we'd played OU rather than Dearborn), but still overall only about .500, it raises a scheduling issue I've mentioned many times. When Coach was hired, I wondered if Titan fans were really prepared to start every season off 2-11 after playing 12 of 13 games on the road against tough competition in non-conference play. Is that really necessary to toughen the team for conference play, as opposed to a more balanced schedule? Can you ever generate fan enthusiasm with that kind of start year after year, even if you do win the conference tournament and get to be 16th seed wipe out in the NCAA first round?
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Post by happy on Feb 13, 2022 16:49:10 GMT -5
Just an observation...Scout why isn't Coach Davis getting recruits from the State of Michigan? I assume that's the Coach's preference.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2022 10:18:31 GMT -5
Just an observation...Scout why isn't Coach Davis getting recruits from the State of Michigan? I'm not sure what the answer to this is - my guess is a combination of factors: He doesn't have a Michigan assistant on staff or the contacts/relationships with local High School coaches; He doesn't build his teams with HS players, preferring the transfer route/getting plug and play guys vs developing them - plus his connections are elsewhere; the talent level locally isn't very deep/good (I might buy this for the PSL, although plenty of mid major talent from Michigan is currently playing D1, especially in the MAC); he doesn't favor/seek out Michigan players vs those in other areas of the country; the old excuses - local kids don't want to play at home/our basketball reputation is currently a joke locally/our academic standards are too high. If I were Davis recruiting this year, I would be on the lookout for the high major player wanting to return home - like Cain and Oakland, but would emphasize my recruiting on the local JUCOS, who appear to be loaded this season (Macomb, Henry Ford, etc). This will get him some plug and play guys, who are used to winning games, and will have 2 to 3 years of eligibility left. I would also look for toughness - most of our current players are soft - which was obvious yesterday. Since these JUCO's are all fairly close by, Davis can actually see these players in person and talk with them and their coaches, instead of just "highlight video" scouting. Just a few thoughts....
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Post by fan on Feb 14, 2022 11:15:20 GMT -5
MD's recruiting out state and reliance on transfers, and nonleague road games doesn't work for this team.
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