But at least we're playing fast! Right?

[BBF]

I recall reading somewhere that LJ said after his hiring that his intent was to play a fast, up-tempo style. The anti-Rob crowd cheered! Someone else can look for it. I remember that when I heard it I made a post about how improbable that seemed -- may even have been on the other board before it locked arms with the department trolls. (Btw -- somehow the social media reporting about the events in our program last March and April seem to have foretold the coming of "fake news," don't they?)

The reason I thought that was improbable (to be polite) was simply that LJ has utterly no experience with such basketball. He played at Butler. He coached at Iowa under Lickliter. Then he coached at Michigan under John Beilein. Lickliter and Beilein ran some of the most deliberate offenses in D1. Neither of them has ever played anything approaching a fast tempo.

So anyway, we are now 8 or 10 games in. I subscribe to kenpom. Here are the current tempo stats for H League teams, by their rank among all 351 D1 teams:


Valparaiso 179
Oakland 24
Green Bay 12
Wright St. 49
NKU 97
CSU 207
YSU 29
UIC 15
Milwaukee 331
Detroit 91

You read that right: 331. By the way, until last year every Rob Jeter team at Milwaukee played at a tempo ranked in the 100s or higher. Last year's was in the 260s.

Now personally I have no particular tempo preference. I just find this interesting.

[Jimmy Lemke]

While I definitely believe the reason for playing slower is to keep more talented teams from running away on the scoreboard, there's also nothing to indicate that Coach Jordan has plans to push the tempo any time in the near future.

That's how it should be. Tempo - just like offense, play style, and any number of team traits - should be dependent on the roster and what suits it best. If we finish top 50 in tempo for 5 years and that 6th year we don't have a roster suited for it, pushing the tempo will just hurt the team's chances of winning.

Gotta play with what you have on the court. Coach Jordan doesn't have much.

The good news for folks who want victories this season is that the Horizon League looks to be historically bad. This team could finish 7-11 in a watered down conference. I mean, look at the talent - Oakland and Valpo look to be decent, and the rest of us are...ahem...poor.

Who is the best team after those two? Is it Green Bay, who was blown out by CMU? Wright State, who got run out of the gym by Penn State? NKU, who got beat by Austin Peay?

You know what's going to happen. We're going to get 5th or 6th, then you're going to see people like Jason come out of the woodwork and prop it up like it's equal to finishing 4th in 2010. Forget the fact that this conference will finish 19th or 20th and that one finished 11th.

[Jimmy Lemke]

While I definitely believe the reason for playing slower is to keep more talented teams from running away on the scoreboard, there's also nothing to indicate that Coach Jordan has plans to push the tempo any time in the near future.

That's how it should be. Tempo - just like offense, play style, and any number of team traits - should be dependent on the roster and what suits it best. If we finish top 50 in tempo for 5 years and that 6th year we don't have a roster suited for it, pushing the tempo will just hurt the team's chances of winning.

Gotta play with what you have on the court. Coach Jordan doesn't have much.

The good news for folks who want victories this season is that the Horizon League looks to be historically bad. This team could finish 7-11 in a watered down conference. I mean, look at the talent - Oakland and Valpo look to be decent, and the rest of us are...ahem...poor.

Who is the best team after those two? Is it Green Bay, who was blown out by CMU? Wright State, who got run out of the gym by Penn State? NKU, who got beat by Austin Peay?

You know what's going to happen. We're going to get 5th or 6th, then you're going to see people like Jason come out of the woodwork and prop it up like it's equal to finishing 4th in 2010. Forget the fact that this conference will finish 19th or 20th and that one finished 11th.

[Skrapheap]

But how would any of the HL teams stack up against Fairleigh Dickinson? Inquiring minds want to know...

[dylanrocks]

But how would any of the HL teams stack up against Fairleigh Dickinson? Inquiring minds want to know...

It's a Throwback Thursday!

Who here under the age of 25 can describe the origin of this reference?

[BBF]

Jimmy, you are sadly right that the H League looks just awful this year. And of course that's another reason that the intemperate banishment of Rob and his staff and our best players was idiotic in the extreme. I ran into a prominent program booster the other day who said the same thing: we clearly would have been the co-favorite with Valpo for the league crown and the tournament this year. And frankly Valpo is a shadow of what it was last year, even with Peters returning.

Instead we're watching Akeem playing great at Minnesota and AA starting at Wake, and next year we will all probably watch Jordy lead the nation in assists at UNLV.

As for the Panthers, Rob left LJ a bunch of kids with great character, and they'll give everything they have, but if we end up .500 that will be an accomplishment, even as bad as the league is. And let's be honest -- is there any real chance that we will have a home game this year that attracts 2,500 people? I am told very reliably that the "crowd" at the last home game -- people actually in the building -- was well short of 500. Including the ushers.

The plan is working. Should we change our name back to the Green Gulls now, or wait until the WIAC readmits us?

What a horrific waste.

[dylanrocks]

With the nucleus of players intact and continuity in recruiting and coaching, I think that Milwaukee would have seriously challenged the fourth-highest win total (22, 2005-06) in program history. Of course, last year's team registered one of the nine most successful season's in history by winning percentage (per sports reference), but some evidently found that bothersome.

[DKelly28]

It's a Throwback Thursday!

Who here under the age of 25 can describe the origin of this reference?

Here is a FDU situation relayed to me by a former player who revealed to me that Tim Gittens was late getting on the bus to leave for the airport, and then was benched from playing in front of his hometown friends and family. He left the program days later.

[Skrapheap]

Seems like the "Poor Man's Coach K" has built his non-conference schedule this year on playing Horizon League teams.

Toledo (currently 4-5) has beaten Youngstown State, Wright State, and Detroit, and lost to Green Bay. They have Loyola (Chicago) on the schedule, too.

Fairleigh Dickinson is (still?) not on the schedule this season, sad to say.

Gee, how do you suppose the Panthers got overlooked during schedule-making time?

[dylanrocks]

In a very challenging and unfamiliar role, Akeem Springs is thriving for Minnesota. In the last two games, Akeem has scored 19 and 16 points off the bench, knocking down eight 3s in 18 attempts for the 9-1 Golden Gophers.