Omaha at Home Ahhh!

Necks2003
Posts: 341
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:26 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

I like Wright, but finishing last in the conference 3 years in a row is going to be hard for an AD to tolerate. I know finances are tight, but continuing to tolerate mediocrity has a cost as well.

I hope Wright and the team start coaching/playing like their jobs and scholarships are on the line, because they should be. Good or bad, now everyone needs to start pressing.
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Omaha won the game 79-67. Western is now 7-15 (4-7 in the Summit).

Omaha brought a student fan bus to the game.

Mike Miklusak led the Western scoring with 26 points. Dalan Ancrum had 11. Brandon Gilbeck had 10.

Attendance at Western Hall = 887 (smaller than the Women's crowd of 1,041).
vatusay
Posts: 962
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:14 pm

Offense is painful to watch. Period.

I like wright but man, I have seen zero improvement this season. Couple decent games sprinkled in here and there but that's it.

I feel like full court press should be broken fairly easily at the D1 level. UNO sure had no problem.

Not an ALLIN effort tonight.
#ALLIN #YOLO
wiu2013
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:16 pm

I agree that this offense has been painful to watch the past few games, but we also have to think about a few things. It's bad enough to lose one point guard, but two has hurt the offense tremendously. Players now must learn new roles and what they are supposed to do to make a play work, Covington is having a hard time getting in the flow of the game as a shooter because he has to play the point, and none of them can really dribble ( I would press us too!) We are asking players who may have played point guard on their YMCA team to now play point guard at the DI level. Defensively we are now really being exposed because our two best perimeter defenders are sitting at the end of the bench next to each other in street clothes. Covington has NEVER been able to defend anyone and Ancrum does not play defense, so you can easily blow by them and Gilbeck is left to clean up the mess and collect fouls.
leatherneckcountry
Posts: 2312
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 4:55 pm

I'm in the minority who wants to see wright get 1 more season without the most selfish summit league player and see if he can run a team offense without a ball stopper who just throws up fade away jump shots every other possession.
wiu2013
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:16 pm

There are plenty of others in the minority with you, maybe just not on this board. I've had conversations about one or more years after the GC era and now finally finishing cleaning up the spills left by Coach Mo. Don't get me wrong I think Covington is a good scorer, but I have said for years that he takes a lot of "my turn" shots which usually turns into points for the other team. We have seen glimpses this year of what this team could look like when they play as a team, and each time Convington was on the bench.

This year is not finished yet and I just hope Bruster can get back soon, so there may be a little more cohesiveness on the offensive end. Never underestimate the power of a good point guard, and I know the coaches are continuing to look for one to recruit.
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Current Summit League Standings:
North Dakota State 7-3
Denver 7-4
South Dakota 7-4
Omaha 6-5
IPFW 5-5
South Dakota State 5-6
IUPUI 4-6
WESTERN 4-7
Oral Roberts 3-8

Wednesday's game at Oral Roberts will be a big one. Game time will be 7PM. The game will be on ESPN3.

A Western win would give the Leathernecks a 2-game lead over Oral Roberts plus the tie-breaker.

A Western loss would put Western and Oral Roberts in a tie for the final Conference Tournament spot.

Following the Oral Roberts game, Western will have 4 games left: Denver, North Dakota State, South Dakota, and IPFW. Three of those game will be at Western Hall. Three of those game will be with the top 3 teams in the Summit.
Last edited by wiu712 on Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
OldHare
Posts: 211
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 10:25 am

Quick correction for WIU 712 in that one of the remaining games is not SDSU, but it is USD visiting Macomb. :) Also, it would be a good team for the Leathernecks to throttle!
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

OldHare wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:08 pm Quick correction for WIU 712 in that one of the remaining games is not SDSU, but it is USD visiting Macomb.
Thanks, Old Hare! :)
I made the correction.
wiu2017
Posts: 96
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:34 pm

Reading all the post, I'm going to give my 2 cents. its therapy..lol

There are many problems on this team. But not having Delo or Jabari at point is not why we are losing... The underlying issue is coaching. There are many teams that don't have a legit point guard and do way better than us. Todays offenses don't require a point guard, they require scoring guards and good guard play from 1,2 and 3. Its about shooting now days. The way you beat pressure is by attacking and being a threat to score. Like Ancrum! Delo has alot of swag is fearless and is pretty quick, but nothing spectacular. He is very left handed, going left he is deadly. Going right ,...hmm? I agree he would have help against a full court press. But, there's so many other problems.

The glaring problem the last 4 games has been Covington missing way to many shots. When the player that shoots the most, shoots horrible, its hard to win. Covington looks down at ground when he dribbles, that would be ok if he was still scoring, but he has been shut down. Mike had 3 bad shooting games also. These are your senior leaders who take most the shots.

Ancrum is a big time scoring threat, and he always knows where his teamates are when he drives. Especially Gibeck. The ball needs to get to him, and they need to run plays for him, just as much as Covington. He has been driving scoring and getting to the line consistently and making freethrows. And he leads the Summit league in 3pt%. at 50+%. To me, Ancrum could be Reggie Miller like.. but you still need a team to win..

Defensively Delo probably wouldn't have stopped that Omaha guard from hitting those NBA range threes. The whole team defense is the problem. Its very difficult to stay in front of quick guards , you have to have help, and rotation, or play zone. If you are quick enough, they will just ball screen you .
Against SDSU our defense looked like an bad AAU team. We got dunked on several times and they scored in the paint like crazy.
Embarrassing.

Coach Wright canl use the excuse that he has had to play two freshman,.. But I would say thats what JUCO players are for. I guess Moxy is no good.. But I doubt thats the case. Moxy is fast as hell, use him for what he can do.. If Duff and Useosefe are the future, well we may make the tournament in two years but only because they are adding a team to the Summit league , but we will still be last.
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