Post by mooseguy1 on Jan 28, 2017 20:18:22 GMT -5
The faltering Detroit-Mercy Titans (4-17 overall, 2-7 in the Horizon League) trying to shake off the debacle of Friday night, get right back at it on Sunday at 2:00 P.M. in historic Calihan Hall when the Green Bay Phoenix (13-8, 7-2) come to town.
The Phoenix, who started the season a very pedestrian 5-6 and at one point saw their RPI ranking drop to #303, have seemingly found their mojo, going 8-2 in their last 10 games. Climbing a stunning 180 spots in the RPI to their current #123, Green Bay’s league mark of 7-2 puts them solidly in second place in the Horizon League, just a ½ game behind Valparaiso and a full 2 games up on a logjam of 3 teams (Oakland, Northern Kentucky, and Wright State) at 5-4. Unlike the Detmer squad, the Phoenix helped their cause considerably on Friday night with a victory over Oakland at the O’Rena by an 8 point margin, 80-72. A win over the Titans sends them back to Wisconsin with a perfect 2-0 mark on their swing through Southeast Michigan.
So, while Green Bay gained 22 spots in the RPI after Friday’s win at Oakland, ours’ dropped 18 to #305. And it’s a miracle of Our Lady of Lourdes proportions that it didn’t drop farther. It. Was. That. Bad.
Let’s face it, the Titans taking on water and threatening to go under after an unbelievably awful performance Friday evening on the Dick Vitale Court of Calihan Hall. Now tied for last place with Cleveland State, Detroit really screwed the pooch by unfathomably dropping an overtime decision to a really—and I mean REALLY—bad Milwaukee Panthers team, 73-69. To put it in perspective, the Panthers shoot about 10% from the low post, have a defense that looks amazingly like a group of drunk toddlers, and just one kid who has any range at all. That kid is Accounting major Corey Wichmann. Remember the name because you’re unlikely to hear it again…unless you move to Wisconsin and need someone to do your taxes. It was “bombs away” from 3 Point Land for Wichmann as the Titans gave him the kind of open looks you rarely see outside of an empty gym. For his part, Wichmann did his best Pete Maravich impersonation, going 6 of 12 on 3s and leading the Panthers’ attack—and I use the term “attack” in its broadest possible context—with 23 points. They sucked in just about every other facet of the game. For example (and I have a buffet of subpar examples to choose from), they shot a pathetic 14-23 for 60.9% at the free throw line. That’s bad for any team outside of a rec league.
Not to be outdone, the Titans shot a jaw dropping 31% from the stripe, converting just 9 of 29. That, my friends, is virtually impossible. To try, yet once again, to put it in perspective, we here at Moose HQ conducted an experiment this morning. In an attempt to understand how the Titans could be so dreadful, we chartered a hot air balloon, then drifted over a basketball hoop at a local park. Hovering 100 feet above said basketball hoop, and taking into account a quartering tailwind of 6 knots, we randomly dropped 29 basketballs overboard. Much to my surprise, 11 of them went through the hoop! This tells me a number of things: 1. I have way too much time on my hands. 2. I need to stay out of my wife’s cough medicine. 3. Statistically speaking, what the Titans did from the line flies in the face of all we know about probability. 4. Maybe someone left the door open and blew 20 of Detmer’s attempts off course. Jaleel Hogan managed only 1 of 12 for 8.333%. That’s remarkable when you consider that Ray Charles had a lifetime mark of 15%.
It certainly appeared as though part of Milwaukee’s game plan was to employ a “Hack-A-Hogan” defense. Sending him to the line was the only way this bunch of spastic Panthers could stop him. And damned if it didn’t work. So what did our brain trust of Coach Bacari Alexander, Jermaine Jackson, and Mickey Barrett—with all their expertise—do to counter LaVall Jordans’ strategy? Why, naturally, they left Jaleel in the game for 40 minutes as his confidence plummeted like the market on Black Tuesday of ’29. At the same time, they parked sharpshooter Josh McFolley on the bench for most of the last ten minutes of regulation play, presumably for a gross (and invisible) infraction.
Okay, so what’s the line on Sunday’s game with Green Bay? Glad you asked. The over/under is 160. That sounds about right. As far as the spread is concerned, Green Bay is laying just 5. Seems rather generous to Detmer if you ask me. Still, with the help of copious levels of Zoloft, I believe we will win.
(By the way, I once tried to commit suicide with an anti-depressant. I survived but nearly laughed myself to death. )
The Official Moose Prediction (from 15,000 feet above the home office in Moose, Wyoming—Hey, does anyone know how to make this thing go down?): Green Bay Phoenix 77 Detroit-Mercy Titans 83. GO TITANS!!!
The Phoenix, who started the season a very pedestrian 5-6 and at one point saw their RPI ranking drop to #303, have seemingly found their mojo, going 8-2 in their last 10 games. Climbing a stunning 180 spots in the RPI to their current #123, Green Bay’s league mark of 7-2 puts them solidly in second place in the Horizon League, just a ½ game behind Valparaiso and a full 2 games up on a logjam of 3 teams (Oakland, Northern Kentucky, and Wright State) at 5-4. Unlike the Detmer squad, the Phoenix helped their cause considerably on Friday night with a victory over Oakland at the O’Rena by an 8 point margin, 80-72. A win over the Titans sends them back to Wisconsin with a perfect 2-0 mark on their swing through Southeast Michigan.
So, while Green Bay gained 22 spots in the RPI after Friday’s win at Oakland, ours’ dropped 18 to #305. And it’s a miracle of Our Lady of Lourdes proportions that it didn’t drop farther. It. Was. That. Bad.
Let’s face it, the Titans taking on water and threatening to go under after an unbelievably awful performance Friday evening on the Dick Vitale Court of Calihan Hall. Now tied for last place with Cleveland State, Detroit really screwed the pooch by unfathomably dropping an overtime decision to a really—and I mean REALLY—bad Milwaukee Panthers team, 73-69. To put it in perspective, the Panthers shoot about 10% from the low post, have a defense that looks amazingly like a group of drunk toddlers, and just one kid who has any range at all. That kid is Accounting major Corey Wichmann. Remember the name because you’re unlikely to hear it again…unless you move to Wisconsin and need someone to do your taxes. It was “bombs away” from 3 Point Land for Wichmann as the Titans gave him the kind of open looks you rarely see outside of an empty gym. For his part, Wichmann did his best Pete Maravich impersonation, going 6 of 12 on 3s and leading the Panthers’ attack—and I use the term “attack” in its broadest possible context—with 23 points. They sucked in just about every other facet of the game. For example (and I have a buffet of subpar examples to choose from), they shot a pathetic 14-23 for 60.9% at the free throw line. That’s bad for any team outside of a rec league.
Not to be outdone, the Titans shot a jaw dropping 31% from the stripe, converting just 9 of 29. That, my friends, is virtually impossible. To try, yet once again, to put it in perspective, we here at Moose HQ conducted an experiment this morning. In an attempt to understand how the Titans could be so dreadful, we chartered a hot air balloon, then drifted over a basketball hoop at a local park. Hovering 100 feet above said basketball hoop, and taking into account a quartering tailwind of 6 knots, we randomly dropped 29 basketballs overboard. Much to my surprise, 11 of them went through the hoop! This tells me a number of things: 1. I have way too much time on my hands. 2. I need to stay out of my wife’s cough medicine. 3. Statistically speaking, what the Titans did from the line flies in the face of all we know about probability. 4. Maybe someone left the door open and blew 20 of Detmer’s attempts off course. Jaleel Hogan managed only 1 of 12 for 8.333%. That’s remarkable when you consider that Ray Charles had a lifetime mark of 15%.
It certainly appeared as though part of Milwaukee’s game plan was to employ a “Hack-A-Hogan” defense. Sending him to the line was the only way this bunch of spastic Panthers could stop him. And damned if it didn’t work. So what did our brain trust of Coach Bacari Alexander, Jermaine Jackson, and Mickey Barrett—with all their expertise—do to counter LaVall Jordans’ strategy? Why, naturally, they left Jaleel in the game for 40 minutes as his confidence plummeted like the market on Black Tuesday of ’29. At the same time, they parked sharpshooter Josh McFolley on the bench for most of the last ten minutes of regulation play, presumably for a gross (and invisible) infraction.
Okay, so what’s the line on Sunday’s game with Green Bay? Glad you asked. The over/under is 160. That sounds about right. As far as the spread is concerned, Green Bay is laying just 5. Seems rather generous to Detmer if you ask me. Still, with the help of copious levels of Zoloft, I believe we will win.
(By the way, I once tried to commit suicide with an anti-depressant. I survived but nearly laughed myself to death. )
The Official Moose Prediction (from 15,000 feet above the home office in Moose, Wyoming—Hey, does anyone know how to make this thing go down?): Green Bay Phoenix 77 Detroit-Mercy Titans 83. GO TITANS!!!