under 3. 66-65 now

(03-10-2024 06:40 PM)Dragon For Life Wrote:  Williams is back in!

and our lead immediately disappeared. things were going well not sure why risk amari at that point

4 straight and timeout stony brook. 70-65 1:33 left

OT

Our hold around for 28 seconds failed us again. Okros missed the 2nd of the 1 and 1 and stony gets a dunk. OT we go

up 2 approaching 2 mins left. lets go guys!

Maidoh is killing us

turner to the line tied up with 1:35 left

Justin wants to be the hero every damn time. Pass the ball. 2OT now. Justin dribbling around and heaving a shot is such a bad look every time. House is on fire, why bother getting him the ball?

We deserve to lose the way we are managing this game

down 88-86 with less than 1 left

Garfield hurt us with his FT's

And we gave up a late and one again (they had 4 or 5 in the game, while we couldnt make a shot when fouled) and we loss by 3 in 2OT. Tough way to go out

Senior laden team with high expectations ending in CAAT failure. Feels all too familiar

Williams coming back would be big and Okros with his 9th year lol

just so i say something nice. spiker seems like a nice enough guy. he draws up some really nice plays like the inbound play where moore hit amari for a layup towards the end of regulation.

beyond that...this game falls entirely on him and the coaching staff. could players have hit shots? sure. i don't want to hear whining about the refs. we shouldn't have been in a position where that made a difference.

if we're using our depth to wear out an opponent...it definitely didn't work tonight in a double overtime game where it should have shown up the most. it seemed like stony brook got better as the game went along. you know why? they established an identify within the game by going inside to maido and setting up clarke with that midrange jump shot. you can play as many guys as you want...but it won't mean anything if you're not putting them in situations to attack a defense. you're just putting the same guy on the floor whose talent isn't being maximized because his coach doesn't know how to do that.

(we also never adjusted to that two man game at the top of the key unless i missed it. how about a zone especially if amari is hurt and kept keep up on the pick and roll?)

he continued to sub guys in and out for no obvious reason. our starting 5 looked very good on offense and was playing with good pace. then he started subbing guys and it seemed like an endless parade to the scoring table from there. monroe had 7 points early and wasn't a factor again until the 2nd overtime. he could have been the 2nd scoring option we needed. he came out with about 13 minutes left in the first half and sat for 6 minutes (by my count).

at least have monroe out there for defensive purposes. okros got cooked for a layup at one point that you saw coming. if okros isn't scoring...and another guy is scoring AND defending...why isn't that guy in the game? house was on the bench when stony brook got back into the game for good. spiker ran him out to the table but he didn't come in until the media timeout...when it was too late.

the one sub he didn't make was taking out amari after he hit the deck. bring him out to get checked on to make sure he's good to go. we left him out there and he ends up in a heap in front of the stony brook bench. i have no idea what was going on from there. we sat him for the rest of regulation and most of the overtimes...then we put him in for defensive purposes where he was getting cooked with that two man game stony brook kept running. if he can't play...SIT HIM. if he can play...why wasn't he in the game while the lead was disappearing?

and this is spiker's fatal flaw...we never turned amari or anybody else into a go-to player down the stretch. i think it's because he doesn't do a good enough job telling these guys how they need to play. the inmates run the asylum. justin moore is next in line after amari to not live up to his full potential. a point guard makes his team better and looks for ways to create opportunities for teammates. i saw multiple situations where he took a terrible shot...or even a good shot that ended up terrible because that's where he is right now...when house was open for a look that was just as good if not better. i blame spiker more than anyone for pushing him out there as a point guard and letting him get away with taking matters into his own hands too often. understand you're not hitting and your teammate is so get him the basketball.

i'm pretty sure spiker wasn't going to call a timeout on our last possession down 3 despite two of our guys running into each other directly in front of him. he should have called timeout to draw something up to begin with...but it blew me away that he wouldn't call one with the game on the line and the guys bouncing off each other. i think turner actually started signaling for the to before spiker did.

i'm sure spiker will be back although we could debate whether he should be. what can't be debated at this point...in my opinion...is whether he's up to the task. i was going to ask when this was all over whether we're at our ceiling. could he ever put together a dominating team that takes the league by storm with some gaudy record? it turns out he can't even get his best team into the semifinals as a 2 seed. i gave him a few years to get his recruiting up to where it needs to be. then i gave him a few years after covid and the title. if i was the ad...and i was serious about putting a legit basketball porgram together...i have all the evidence i need to go a different direction.

i'll just say one other good thing before i go to bed...

luke house will go down as one my favorite drexel players of all time. it's a shame he's mixed up in all this nonsense. spiker has show affinity for this type of player and gets the most out of them. unfortunately he doesn't seem to connect as well with the guys who have more god given things to work with. maybe he's just as lost with dealing with the modern athlete as everyone else in the portal/nil era.

i've tried to give spiker the benefit of the doubt. i really have. i'm just tired of 20+ years of the same outcome.

I am also frustrated as the end of the regular game and the OT's you know it is coming down to FT's. Garfield/bad FT's should not be out there. Our defense stopped being productive so it would make sense to put guys who can shoot play. Drexel played this team before and saw SB come back. They should have prepared for that comeback better.

I am glad House went out on a great game (even if put in bad positions later on). I am bummed that Okros leaves the program in this way on a bad game. Though based on his history here, it should come to no surprise as he has been as volatile as anyone as far as consistency. The players we will lose have all represented the university well, which is what is expected of someone at Drexel. Good group of guys, but dont have that killer instinct to win when it matters or fight through adversity away from the DAC.

Looks like it will be a Charleston and Hofstra final, but not sure on a third day Hofstra will be able to keep up

I will say, it didn't really feel like a game we deserved to win. Too many missed FTs. Too many dumb clock-burning possessions late in regulation. Maidoh was out of his mind for a stretch there. It's obvious that we are not great with Williams either on the bench or playing hurt.

Just a bummer way to end this season.

I thought House might will us into a win. He almost did.