Leatherneck Nation

Free Throws............... Mo Conde should not even play until he can make 50 percent of his free throws I am sorry but everyone except Covington was embarrassing at the line.That is all

Tough one to lose at home. Pacific is probably the most physical team we will play this year.

Plus: scrappy on defense as expected, good defensive rebounding position
Minus: Not much of a scoring threat in the paint, free throw shooting costly in this one

My assessment in a nutshell for this year: We will live by the three and die by the three unless we get a point guard (Jabari or JC?) to step up big time (think Kevin Pangos from Gonzaga) and become a fearless penetrator with the rock and put up 10+ points a game as well.

Billy got out-coached in latter stages of this one. He should NOT have called a timeout near end of regulation. They were the bigger more physical team and that gave them the time to set up their defense. Their coach did not make that mistake at end of overtime and they got the easy lay-in from the big guy.

Like the fact that we had good scoring balance. Batish seemed to disappear in the 2nd half, maybe they just cranked up the defense on him. Yes same story as last year, Free Throw shooting killed us. Still all-in-all an encouraging start, but definitely a game they should have had.

Too many missed free throws tonight.

Western was 17 for 31 (54.8%) on free throws. Pacific was 17 for 24 (70.8%).

Western had 16 points in the paint, while Pacific had 34.

Attendance at Western Hall was 1,323.

Out coached late. Shouldn't have called timeout at the end of regulation. No remy Roberts Burnett late was puzzling and jabari sitting out seamingly most of the first half was bizarre.

Young guys took some shots way to early in the clock late in the game.

Lot of things to work on. If we can't win this game there may not be a lot of wins on the table this year

Billy's hardest job this year will be finding those seven or eight guys who will have most of his playing minutes. Garrett and Tate look to be pretty solid in their roles. All other positions are up for grabs with no clear front-runners IMO. Competition for spots usually forces guys to work a little harder so it might be a good thing this year. Dalan Ancrum could end up being that X Factor.

I just watched the post-game pressers. We need to put some mics on the press tables so their questions can be heard.

Interesting side note from Friday night's game:

During the halftime, Meghan Trainor's hit song "All About That Bass" was played over the PA system.

The people sitting behind me said that the uncensored version, which contains the "S" word early in the song, was played.

Here is the uncensored version:

I don't think I can stomach another year of being one of the worst free this shooting teams in the country. Hoping it was just the rust.

Love Mo's hustle out there, but if he's the best option we're in trouble. He's not a tough screen to get through and I'd say his offensive skills suck, but they'd have to exist to suck.

The up side is they were sloppy, missed too many ft, got out rebounded, and lacked any inside play, but should have and could have won.

Believe this team will find themselves and some consist play to be a .500 team and keep most games close.

I know Mo said this last year and Billy said the same thing, that they work on free throws all the time in practice.

Didn't realize that about Jabari sitting, but will need him to be a major contributor this year

Very interesting tidbit, WIU712. More importantly, how was the concession stand???