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Post by Coyote Fan on Nov 4, 2016 23:34:41 GMT -6
I am not saying this team is going to be like last year but apparently things haven't exactly gone smoothly so far and the early signs aren't exactly encouraging. Obviously it's still early but if the team is going to struggle against a D3 team what happens when they face moderate to good D1 teams. Others may choose to ignore but I take everything into consideration when making my opinions and like it or not last years team fell apart on coach Smith's watch. He is not proven at the head coaching posistion at anything near a D1 Summit League level. Call it what you want and ignore it all you want but the fact is that last year happened and it is going to take at least a year, maybe more to totally get that off the back burner. No one knows how this team is going to do this year and for the life of me I want to see good things but I am a realist and outside of Vermillion no one really respects this program. I would say two extremely vital aspects of the team with the rebounding and defense are struggling. It's pretty hard to be successful with both of those aspect struggling. A totally objective person could say that the further into the Smith era the further the regression has gone. Is it a good thing or a bad thing when the Coyotes are complete with Smith's recruited players. I don't want to be the black cloud or anything but almost no one is showing any concern whatsoever about this program and Smith's ability to elevate it. So far we still don't know that and the longer that question remains unanswered the more the liklihood that he will never raise the program. This exact thing happened with Joe Glenn. He started his tenure poorly and never recovered. So many people failed to realize that the program was never really in good shape from a competitive stand point and even after 4 years people were still willing to ride that direction further and further down the road. The Coyotes averaged in Smith's first two years finishing 6th place out of 9 teams in the Summit. That number is actually trending down.
Ok I will switch from writing in black to writing in Coyote red. This team has potential but just hasn't been able to put it together. Obviously they have barely had a chance to do so. I honestly won't judge what this team does in the non conference. The only thing I will judge it by is how it readies the Coyotes to be a Summit contender. Do people honestly think this team finishes 4th or higher which is what it will take for it to be an upper level Summit team. Right now that seems like a bit of a stretch but maybe this team gets way better between now and December 29th. I would say the over under in what place they will finish is 6.5.
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Post by Yotes on Nov 5, 2016 6:41:34 GMT -6
Early signs aren't encouraging? It was an exhibition game. D1 teams regularly lose these games and still have successful seasons. UNLV struggled to put Dakota Wesleyan away earlier this week, Iowa lost to Augustana last year, Butler lost to Northern State in between their national runner up seasons. I wouldn't call a 30 point W in an exhibition game cause for concern.
The team is likely to be better later rather than sooner though. That's only natural when you have four new starters who have not played a game for this program. There will be growing pains. My optimistic hope at this point is they are gelling come Summit play and make a run for top 3 in conference standings. Too early to tell.
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Post by notkiotees on Nov 5, 2016 8:30:05 GMT -6
We don't do enough for the mentally ill in this country.
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Post by goyotes24 on Nov 5, 2016 10:26:20 GMT -6
Using this game as an indicator of how the team will perform this year is like using the NFL preseason to predict the Super Bowl winner that year. This is an exhibition match, the coaching staff is 1) Not as concerned with a specific game plan against that particular school, 2) trying to figure out which players play better with each other in a true game setting, and 3) getting players comfortable with a new home court, system, and overall team chemistry.
For exhibition matches, you should look at individual performances as an indicator of the team's talent. If individual players had struggled, then there might be at least some cause for concern. Let's settle down, CF, wait until next week to show the pessimism.
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Feb 25, 2017 23:00:11 GMT -6
Both gopheryote and golfingyote are correct. Actually golfingyote, Sparks was a Boots/James guy as well. People act like it was such a crazy sacrifice to have three guys sitting the bench - I think you should reconsider that notion. How is it different from a RS year? Ideally, if we actually had a roster full of D-1 talent, wouldn't we want to be redshirting our new guys frequently? I realize these 3 are not freshman, but the point remains. Further, it isn't as if we are only getting one year from them. Dickerson and Hurst have two seasons and Mooney gets 3. In my mind, this is the first year of actually having a complete proper roster for the Summit League. If you want to blame somebody for not having a fully stocked D-1 roster going into the transition (as in the comparison to Omaha), do not blame Coach Smith. Blame Boots for being a lazy recruiter, lying to the AD, leaving Joey with a mess and, in turn, causing Joey to leave Coach Smith with a mess. This isn't pro sports guys. You can't just go offer a big contract to Lebron James and be a winner. The NCAA has rules and coaches need to bust their humps over 12-24 months to build relationships. It takes 2-4 years to build a roster. We finally have one now. I will give you this, by the end of the year, if we aren't in the top half of the Summit then I will be sorely disappointed. In that case, then you can apply all the scrutiny on Coach Smith you want in year 4. I honestly don't see this team being a top half of the Summit team even with the improvements they may make from November to January. I will be extremely happy if they end up 4th or higher but too many things have to go right for that to happen. I was thinking more like 6th or 7th would be more likely. If Smith has this team kicking butt and they have a good year than forgive my doubt of the program. I look forward to a home court advantage that they just didn't have in the dome. That could be the big intangible that propels them higher than they otherwise may have been. Cough cough
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Feb 25, 2017 23:06:06 GMT -6
Please re-read this thread. There is some dynamite stuff in here.
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Post by yoteforever on Feb 26, 2017 0:05:36 GMT -6
Early signs aren't encouraging? It was an exhibition game. D1 teams regularly lose these games and still have successful seasons. UNLV struggled to put Dakota Wesleyan away earlier this week, Iowa lost to Augustana last year, Butler lost to Northern State in between their national runner up seasons. I wouldn't call a 30 point W in an exhibition game cause for concern. The team is likely to be better later rather than sooner though. That's only natural when you have four new starters who have not played a game for this program. There will be growing pains. My optimistic hope at this point is they are gelling come Summit play and make a run for top 3 in conference standings. Too early to tell. BOOM.....;spot on
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Post by yoteforever on Feb 26, 2017 0:06:27 GMT -6
I am not saying this team is going to be like last year but apparently things haven't exactly gone smoothly so far and the early signs aren't exactly encouraging. Obviously it's still early but if the team is going to struggle against a D3 team what happens when they face moderate to good D1 teams. Others may choose to ignore but I take everything into consideration when making my opinions and like it or not last years team fell apart on coach Smith's watch. He is not proven at the head coaching posistion at anything near a D1 Summit League level. Call it what you want and ignore it all you want but the fact is that last year happened and it is going to take at least a year, maybe more to totally get that off the back burner. No one knows how this team is going to do this year and for the life of me I want to see good things but I am a realist and outside of Vermillion no one really respects this program. I would say two extremely vital aspects of the team with the rebounding and defense are struggling. It's pretty hard to be successful with both of those aspect struggling. A totally objective person could say that the further into the Smith era the further the regression has gone. Is it a good thing or a bad thing when the Coyotes are complete with Smith's recruited players. I don't want to be the black cloud or anything but almost no one is showing any concern whatsoever about this program and Smith's ability to elevate it. So far we still don't know that and the longer that question remains unanswered the more the liklihood that he will never raise the program. This exact thing happened with Joe Glenn. He started his tenure poorly and never recovered. So many people failed to realize that the program was never really in good shape from a competitive stand point and even after 4 years people were still willing to ride that direction further and further down the road. The Coyotes averaged in Smith's first two years finishing 6th place out of 9 teams in the Summit. That number is actually trending down. Ok I will switch from writing in black to writing in Coyote red. This team has potential but just hasn't been able to put it together. Obviously they have barely had a chance to do so. I honestly won't judge what this team does in the non conference. The only thing I will judge it by is how it readies the Coyotes to be a Summit contender. Do people honestly think this team finishes 4th or higher which is what it will take for it to be an upper level Summit team. Right now that seems like a bit of a stretch but maybe this team gets way better between now and December 29th. I would say the over under in what place they will finish is 6.5. BOOM....spot off
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Post by yoteforever on Feb 26, 2017 0:09:15 GMT -6
I can totally understand the doubt. It is basically a new team. My hope stems entirely from the talent that I know we have now. Going forward, it is up to the coaches to make it work together. This is the first year that I think the talent is finally here. You will not hear me making recruiting excuses for these guys anymore. This is their team and effectively their players. BOOM.......spot on
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Post by yoteforever on Feb 26, 2017 0:10:10 GMT -6
Yotes, thanks for not ripping on my post and instead making a good response. You are correct about the concern that should be showed if Smith doesn't get this thing going after this year. He kind of went all in for this year and IMO pushed all chips to the center so should have some type of consequence even if it's just a little bit warmer seat at the end of the year. Look at Omaha, it took them barely any time at all to get accustomed to the league and have already finished higher in the league that the Coyotes have ever finished. How does that happen. The Yotes let Omaha pass them by while standing still and eating their dust as they went by. In no way should the Mavs at this point be ahead of where the Coyotes are right now. How many schools in this conference could care less about their basketball programs at least as far as fan support goes. There are at least 3 of them out east that fit that bill. How many Summit programs could draw over 7K for a women's basketball game if they had the seating capacity. I would say one is likely, maybe two and that would already be a stretch. There is no way with the advantages that we now have at USD such as the accademics and the new arena that we should ever lag behind programs like IUPUI, IPFW, Western Illinois and probably Omaha. No way. Just slow your role and see how the year plays out. This is the first time Smith has a roster he actually put together(Flack the lone holdover). Also, the yotes have 1 senior, so lets not act like this is a full on make or break year. If we finish in the bottom half of the conference, you can hoot and hollar all you want. No hooting and hollering
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Post by yoteforever on Feb 26, 2017 0:12:26 GMT -6
Just got home from celebrating our first SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP in men's basketball. And I did the celebrating with RED BEER.
What a great job these young men and coaching staff did. Congrats fellas.....order THE RINGS
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Post by sdyotefan on Feb 26, 2017 1:37:27 GMT -6
CONGRATLUTIONS YOTES ON THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TITLE!! AND WHAT FANTASTIC FT SHOOTING DOWN THE STRETCH BY SIMPSON ESPECIALLY AND MOONEY!! Great job all season by all the players and coaches despite having a very young team and one that hadn't played much together and you battled through some tough injuries!!
SUPER PROUD!! GO YOTES!!!
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Post by sdyotefan on Feb 26, 2017 1:46:44 GMT -6
Anyone remember our preseason prediction for the Summit--I think it was like 6th or 7th? Almost every Coyote fan felt it would be better than that. And the Yotes made sure it happened!!!
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Post by Coyote Fan on Feb 26, 2017 1:55:01 GMT -6
Alright guys I kind of blew it on the prediction of the Coyotes only being slightly better this year then they were last year but I always did say that I will judge them on how they do in the Summit. I could not be more happily wrong. I don't see many people quoting me when I happen to be right with things so let's be fair both ways. Outside of Vermillion I don't think anyone saw this kind of season coming. The Coyotes were unproved and up until the NDSU win things were still hanging in the balance. Something very good happened with this team between the game in Omaha and the game in Fargo. The Coyotes stepped up their game to a new level. I think this was a tale of 3 seasons. The first part of the season wasn't really a thing of beauty but it wasn't horrible either. Very inconsistent. The second part started with the game at home vs Omaha which I thought was a vital game to kind of establish themselves as a team that knew they had to lift their level of play but also a team without a sense of urgency could have taken a step back. They did play solid and then kind of leveled off a bit and played pretty good basketball but certainly not championship worthy ball. Then Smith started talking about having a championship mentality instead of having just merely a winning mentality. That is when the third stage of the season hit. During and after the Coyotes went to Fargo they played good to great basketball the rest of the way. I guess now we enter stage 4 which is yet to be determined but at this point this season is a resounding success regardless of what happens barring something very unusual. The Coyotes are guaranteed at worst a birth in the NIT.
Just think a couple of possessions go the other way and the Yotes finish 14-2 in the league. They only had two games all year in conference play that they lost by more then one point. That is pretty amazing. Coach Smith deserves a crap load of credit for all of this and last year continues to look more and more like it will end up being the exception and not the rule. The Coyotes went 5-3 on the road and I am guessing that was the best road mark in the league. Even when things weren't clicking the best over the last couple of years Smith always kind of had this team in a good mindset on the road and played just as well away from home.
I go back to the stretch when the Coyotes had 5 out of 7 at home starting with the IUPUI game. They went a pedestrian 4-2 so that wasn't anything over the top good but they hit the minimum of what they needed to do during that stretch. Then when they had their final 5 out of 7 on the road they went 6-1 including winning the last 6 straight. I don't think anyone would have thought they would have finished that well. This was one season that I think it was important for the Coyotes to have a home heavy schedule to start the conference. They were able to settle into the conference season a little more easily. I think had the schedule been flipped I don't think they would have gone 12-4 overall but who knows.
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