Thursday, January 20, 2011

Road sweep?

The Aggies fell to a 5-13 Nevada team by 19 points, allowing 90 points in a 90-71 loss on Thursday.

The Aggies had an apparent advantage in the frontcourt, but made an average, defensive minded Dario Hunt look like Derrick Williams with a 20 and 12 night. How on earth do the Aggies plan to stop Utah State on the boards, the one team in the WAC that can match the Aggies in terms of size and experience in the frontcourt.

I don't expect the Aggies to win on Saturday. They haven't since 2006. A little toughness and having a chance in the last five minutes would be as good as a win for the Aggies after taking a major step back on Thursday.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Defense and rebounding. If the Aggies have any hope at all for a win on Saturday night, then they'll need to do those two things.

Doubtful they will, but I suppose that's why the game is played.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to quibble with you on a few points, Groves.

1.) The WAC is abnormally large league this year. Using the Pomeroy minutes-weighted average height, NMSU is the 9th tallest team in the nation, Hawaii is 14th, Nevada is 21st. USU has a talented frontcourt, but is only 196th in the average height stat. Just like Nevada is a tough matchup for us, we've always been a challenging matchup for USU.

2.) I don't think Dario Hunt is average. He spent his first couple years deferring to Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt. This year he's being called upon more and has generally delivered if he can stay out of foul trouble. He's been one of the WAC's best post defenders since his freshman year, and Rahman has always had trouble with him, as he typically does with smaller quicker posts (like DWill).

3.) I don't feel like we've taken a major step back, unless we realistically believed we could win the WAC. My realistic expectation is 12-4 or 11-5 and the 2 seed in the tournament. That's definitely still in play if we can win our home games (For everyone except Hernst and Troy, home is a much happier place) and win 3 more road games of the 6 we have left. Of those 5, one is at the toughest place to win in the WAC, and the other 4 are against the 4 worst teams. Right now, getting the road win in Idaho is tremendously helpful.

3.)

Anonymous said...

This team has a sever case of SCHIZOPHRENIA! One night they can look like they will be back dancing this year. The next night they look like a Bottom of the Barrell WAC team. Seems like when they get down by 10 or more, they mail it in for the night. Signs of an immature team.
-DISSAPOINTED ALUM!

Anonymous said...

You're finally being blunt and writing like a real sports journalist Jason. I like it.

Anonymous said...

How about those 10-10 Aggies!!

You Menzies lovers better get used to having a team with a sub .500% record (i'm already counting the USU game as loss).

The Menzies pattern is right on par:
Rival loses, 20 point loses, "Ole/ matador" defense, team flirting with a .500% record and right before the WAC tourney; the team goes on a 4 game winning streak just tease the fan base. Whoopy!

Wake up people! Get rid of mediocrity: Fire Marvin Menzo!

We deserve so much better!

Anonymous said...

Road swept?

Keith said...

We got outplayed last night. We didn't play good interior defense and got killed on the boards. By the way, UNR hit a 3 to get their 90th point with under 10 seconds to go. Not that it matters, I just wanted to point that out. Last night we didn't bring our A game. What's done is done. The only thing we can do now is learn from the loss and turn the page. We have a game tomorrow to worry about. It's funny how people are riding us off after a loss. I'm confident we will get at least 11 WAC wins this year. Enough of looking that far ahead. Bring on the UtAgs!
GO AGGIES!!!!

Anonymous said...

Lets be honest here. Our defense is not good because the two main front line players do not play defense. Troy and Ham only worry about offense. They dont worry about stopping penetration or controlling the boards. They dont even take pride in stopping there man. Until Marvin holds everybody accountable and I mean everybody his teams will never reach their full potential.

Anonymous said...

Three things about this game

1)We cant have a team full big men who play like little girls. Thats exactly what Troy, Ham, Bandja, and Nephawe do on the boards. They are an embarrassment on the floor. What good does it do them to have big bodies if they are going to let smaller players beat them to the ball time and time again. All preseason and season long we have talked about how we have that advantage and only to have these four make us eat our words.

2) I am tired of this team going on the road and playing like it is the most hostile environment out there. I said before that it does us no good to have had that three game road trip earlier in the season if we play this way. The Pit and the Don are tougher places to play than Boise and Nevada yet the team wets itself whenever they are on the road. This one I will put on Menzies because you cant have the team lapse this bad in one week. Especially against a team like Nevada that is not the same power that they were in past years (Idaho beat them for crying out loud). The problem with this team is that it plays down to the opponents level and get beat. Yet they never play up to the opponents level and beat them.

3) I dont think we will win tomorrow but I dont believe that this road trip will cost us the season. We've lost three games at home this season and I dont see us losing a home game until Nevada and Utah St come back if then. If the team can control their bladders and not wet themselves on the road then I dont think we will finish lower than 11-5 10-6. If we avoid Utah St in the tourney, I think we have a good chance of making it to the championship game. this team just needs to get it together and Menzies cant allow them to lose their minds on every road game.

GS

Anonymous said...

Replace Ham with BJ---he has shown the ability to protect under the basket and block a lot of shots without fouling.

Anonymous said...

I'm tired of the "feel good" crap and everyone talking about all the "potential" that the Aggies have. They have been weak since Menzies got here...that WAC championship game against Boise the first year Menzies was here was pathetic and indicative of what kind of coach he is. He's lazy and doesn't really do any developing with his players. I'm glad others are finally seeing all this and speaking up. Basketball is not like football, it doesn't take 8 or 9 seasons to build a good team...and besides that, Menzies didn't have to build anything..Theus did it for him...Menzies has actually taken the Aggies down a notch. Enough already, get rid of Menzies.