NC Central

[hoopsmom]

I think we saw a reason for Hope last night. I saw girls moving in ways that I had not seen in the earlier games this season. The second half, they got more rebounds. Grace actually passed the ball out, rather than driving into triple coverage repeatedly. Especially after she missed five layups in a row… I think we adjusted at halftime, and played better in the second half, if only by a few degrees. The lack of a post presence inside still hurts us, but if they can develop some of the players to “think big” - to rebound unconsciously, to cover the middle with help defense, to box out first - there is a reason for hope.

[Men's League Waterboy]

Looking at the schedule, I think getting nine in conference is the absolute rosiest best-case scenario. I don't know that they have another OOC D-I win on the schedule unless something happens against Dayton.

[yote18]

8-8 in conference is where I initially put us and I’ll stand by it, which is pretty optimistic imo. The more I look around the league there are at least 4 teams in front of us (SDSU, ORU, NDSU and UST) that at this point I’m going to chalk up those as losses. I know we’re a ways out and things can change but how we’re currently playing compared to them is just so different. The remaining conference teams I see us splitting with UND, DU should be 2 wins, idk about Omaha or KC but I’ll just say we split both. I would say 8-8 is best case scenario still, but based on current play 5-11 is a strong possibility.

[kiyoat]

I see a finish between 3rd - 7th depending on our progress through the season.  We aren't beating either XDSU this year.  Right now we probably aren't beating the top half of the league.  Maybe by the end of the season we will be playing like a #3 or #4 team, if there are no injuries.

I guess we just have to adjust our expectations, find the incremental progress (like Groman in this game) and accept that this team will struggle to meet it's potential this year.  *shrug*

[dbyote]

Nov 22, 2024 10:29:54 GMT -6 yote18 said:

8-8 in conference is where I initially put us and I’ll stand by it, which is pretty optimistic imo. The more I look around the league there are at least 4 teams in front of us (SDSU, ORU, NDSU and UST) that at this point I’m going to chalk up those as losses. I know we’re a ways out and things can change but how we’re currently playing compared to them is just so different. The remaining conference teams I see us splitting with UND, DU should be 2 wins, idk about Omaha or KC but I’ll just say we split both. I would say 8-8 is best case scenario still, but based on current play 5-11 is a strong possibility.

I feel bad saying it, but we sort of look like a team that our good teams would have beaten by 30.  I'm optimistic it will get better.  It just might not be this year.

[Men's League Waterboy]

I don't think it's at all crazy to say that there have been more than a few teams in the not-so distant past at USD that would have beaten that NC Central team by 40-50.

[yotewannabe]

Nov 22, 2024 10:47:19 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

I see a finish between 3rd - 7th depending on our progress through the season.  We aren't beating either XDSU this year.  Right now we probably aren't beating the top half of the league.  Maybe by the end of the season we will be playing like a #3 or #4 team, if there are no injuries.

I guess we just have to adjust our expectations, find the incremental progress (like Groman in this game) and accept that this team will struggle to meet it's potential this year.  *shrug*

Here’s my issue with Groman and the transfer portal for mid majors. We should not be looking for incremental progress from a grad transfer we pulled from the portal. A bit of time to adjust to a new program…yes. But let’s be real, her progress as a player should be there. Why look for incremental progress from a girl that is not going to be here next year. We can look for that in our freshman or sophomores. Nothing against her. She did play better in the second half. But that’s why going to the portal for mid majors doesn’t always pan out. Probably not much better than what we already had in the cabinet. I’m assuming that the late coaching change probably didn’t give us a lot of time to scope things out or get any good leads.

[yotenation]

Nov 22, 2024 10:47:19 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

I see a finish between 3rd - 7th depending on our progress through the season.  We aren't beating either XDSU this year.  Right now we probably aren't beating the top half of the league.  Maybe by the end of the season we will be playing like a #3 or #4 team, if there are no injuries.

I guess we just have to adjust our expectations, find the incremental progress (like Groman in this game) and accept that this team will struggle to meet it's potential this year.  *shrug*

That and perhaps our perception of this team's potential heading into the season was just not in line with reality.

The truth is that this team is going to really struggle in certain areas as it's currently comprised. They have very little size and with RLG apparently not ready to contribute, that's going to be an issue. They will struggle to defend the post and to rebound. They remain somewhat turnover prone and nobody outside of Hempe has shown that they can make the open 3 on a consistent basis. It is what it is and I think the best way to judge this team based on how much they can improve over the course of the season. Maybe young players like Mason and Keiffer continue to improve over the course of the year. Maybe Klosterbuer finds a comfort zone and provides an outside shooting threat. Maybe RLG improves behind the scenes and contributes some as the year goes on. Maybe Wilke grows more comfortable with the college game and becomes a bigger factor. If we some some progress like that as the year goes on, we might have something to build on. We don't know much at all about the freshmen redshirting, but hopefully they develop and can make an impact in the future.

I honestly don't see this team being better than 8-8 in conference play. We're going to have to simply be patient and look for signs of improvement to build on.