I would like a scientist to do a study on what it is about opposing teams in Nacogdoches that makes them excellent 3 point shooters. I'm not talking the open 3s, I'm talking the ones from the volleyball line, the perfectly guarded shots, the last second shot clock heaves.

What makes those 3s go in? Is WRJ built on an old cemetery? Did a voodoo priest curse the hardwood? Did Ed not forward a chain letter?

What is going on?

I was just thinking that some guy at UCA is thinking, "Crap, I was just about to update the schedule with SFA (RV)."

This game is dedicated to RedRiverLa who sold me his skybox tickets to this game for two six packs. I wonder what else I'll buy? TallTexan, you got anything?

No-look said:

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Everyone talking about CC being subpar but they looked decent to me.

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Nope, this is one time when stats will steer you wrong. Corpus is trash. They may have played like good trash, but they are still garbage.

We lost to a team that in the narrowest poll is 200 spots below us at home. We average 15 points a game more than they do. Essentially, in the second half we limited our turnovers and scored eight more points than they did. If we had done that in the first, we win by 16 - on to next game. It was a trash game. Corpus may have played good for them, but we were not prepared. It was our biggest spread in 4 years and we choked.

Maybe I'll forget what happened in this interminable bye week.

The takeaway for me was the team fought and came back. This was the perfect storm for the Islanders: they played the perfect game, the Jacks played at a subpar level and the refs made a few horrible calls that went against the Jacks.
I have to laugh when a ref points emphatically to the restricted area on the Kensmil call and the replay shows otherwise. I watch the ball go off of Bain in the last minute, problem was, he was not out of bounds and had already bounced off of him before his foot landed out of bounds and off the Islander player. How could the refs miss that??
I think I saw three or four traveling calls against the Islanders not called and, correct me if I'm wrong, we were called for at least six while they were called for one.
And, don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the refs, we put ourselves in the position to lose, but because the game was a one point contest, everything is now under a microscope. You can't do very much for a white-hot shooting team, but to allow as many easy baskets in the paint is disconcerting. Eight missed free throws. How many misses at the rim?
This team will be just fine. They have the talent and they certainly have the drive to succeed. This is a bump in the road, albeit a very frustrating one, especially for the fans. If Keller does nothing else, he should loop together all the careless turnovers and just keep playing them over and over. Then, get to practice and have everyone shoot 500 free throws.

PurpleOut said:

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I don't understand the attendance number. I agree it was a bad crowd, it looked small and sounded worse. But 822? There is no way that's right.

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I guessed about 2000 but I could be way off. We need the students back to energize. (Youth will do that).

jboy93 said:

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I'm no basketball expert by any stretch of the imagination but it seems if we can fix our ability to start EVERY game so slowly then no one hangs with us! That gives the opposition some confidence at the beginning. Still think we are good to go. There will be other road blocks that we encounter but winning the SLC tourney is the prize we HAVE to win!

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I think this is one of the most important points. We start slow almost every game.

PurpleOut said:

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PurpleOut said:

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I don't understand the attendance number. I agree it was a bad crowd, it looked small and sounded worse. But 822? There is no way that's right.

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Disregard, Ivey just said it was a typo. 2,822 was the official attendance last night.

Still lower than it should be, but the concerning part to me (again) is just the lack of energy and noise from the crowd. I just have a hard time understanding how we as a fan base can't get more into games.

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. We have a decent student section when they are on campus. I wish there was some way to get more students involved. SFA has a lot of loyal older fans who may not be so rowdy. Lol.

I agree with the slow start. But is it just me..if we know we are playing a team who's strength is the 3, then we need to focus on the perimeter - it seems like we still are woefully inept when it comes to guarding the perimeter and we give up too many open 3s. Granted, they were throwing up trash from almost half court and it was going in - and when their big guy steps back and chunks in a three and it goes - that tells you it just wasn't our night. I also thought there were opportunities for Kevon and John to pass out for the shot once they drove the lane - but they're seniors and were trying to put the game on their shoulders, so can't complain too much about that. Assists are just as good as points.

Here's what I can't get my head around.... our recruiting classes are always at the top of the SLC....by a lot. We have a deeeeeeep bench. Why are we not absolutely destroying other SLC teams? We beat McNeese by 8, SELA by 11, the NO game was close at half, and now TAMU-CC beats us at HOME.

Seems like we play down to our opponent's level, right? We get up for the big games. But for the games that "should" be easy, we don't come out firing on all cylinders.

I'd love to see us be how Clemson football is in the ACC...just destroying conference opponents and leaving no doubt who is the more dominant team.

This may be the worst loss, to date, under Keller. Going undefeated through conference play was always going to be difficult, and in my opinion, a long shot, but losing at home to an average team really hurts. Any national relevance or attention we were receiving is out the window with that loss. Maybe that will turn out to be a good thing in the long run.

Might of had something to do with Oddyst and Hart not playing but we looked a little thin in spots.

PurpleOut said:

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No-look said:

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PurpleOut said:

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PurpleOut said:

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I don't understand the attendance number. I agree it was a bad crowd, it looked small and sounded worse. But 822? There is no way that's right.

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Disregard, Ivey just said it was a typo. 2,822 was the official attendance last night.

Still lower than it should be, but the concerning part to me (again) is just the lack of energy and noise from the crowd. I just have a hard time understanding how we as a fan base can't get more into games.

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. We have a decent student section when they are on campus. I wish there was some way to get more students involved. SFA has a lot of loyal older fans who may not be so rowdy. Lol.

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100%. We need our students there for the energy and any noise. But even they are pretty lackadaisical.

Agree too about the older fans. I don't expect our old fans to be up yelling all game. But every school has old fans and season ticket holders. It's a yearly, lifelong problem it seems...and I don't know how to fix it. Thousands of students on campus and a ton of people in Nac/Lufkin that we can't get into the Coliseum.

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Ivey should convene a brain trust for this with students, alums, & local community leaders. I think we can easily get to 5k or more a night when schools in session. Heck, I'd sponsor a student & buy their popcorn every night if they'll show up & yell.



On another note, do we give out automatic tickets to certain levels of football season ticket holders or something? I know there's a decent group of alums like you & Red River who own & give away when you can't make it, but rows 2-5 in our section are basically barren no matter the game. I think there's probably some of those tickets that won't be used all season.

I knew Hart didn't play. Not sure how I didn't catch Oddyst missing the game too...Definitely a difference maker

Sounds like a field trip to a few schools might be in order. Send them to Lubbock...

tangerito said:

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Is anyone else tired of the SFA Athletics website sugar coating the headlines......geez...we lost.....say it

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Yep, it pisses me off. It's like they think we are too fragile to have the ugly truth on our website. I've been sick of this game playing for a long time. It's downright insulting in my opinion.

PurpleOut said:

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TallTexan said:

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On another note, do we give out automatic tickets to certain levels of football season ticket holders or something? I know there's a decent group of alums like you & Red River who own & give away when you can't make it, but rows 2-5 in our section are basically barren no matter the game. I think there's probably some of those tickets that won't be used all season.

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Yeah I think Ivey needs to meet with PHA (maybe he does) for help. Not just meet to chat for an appearance, but actually ask them to help and start changing the way students attend AND how they act during the game. We've got a strong group of PHA students that sit in the first two rows of their section. But they do just that...sit, and don't start any cheers or anything.

And no idea about those seats, but agree that they are empty far too often.

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Ya, getting PHA involved in doing more than showing up/free throw heckling would be great and I think the perfect place to start changing the atmosphere.

I may email Ivey after the season & ask about those seats. I never really see them popup for sale.

Part of me wonders if having season ticket hold sections be first come, first serve seating for season ticket holders would be a boost to the atmosphere. It might take a while, but the 2500 or so usual fans packed into the first 10 rows most nights would lead to a more raucous environment.

I'd also like to see what effect Tuesday vs Wednesday night games would have.

MasterAxe said:

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The following things are all true:

(1) In past years, I would have gone ballistic on the message boards about Keller's ineptitude
(2) I've mellowed out in 2020
(3) Worst game of the year
(4) Our first conference loss was always going to be "the worst loss of the year."
(5) I never expected 20-0 anyways
(6) I never expected to lose at home to TAMU-CC (Who has won 3 of last 4 over us, I believe)
(7) That inbounds play...puke
(8) We're still the favorites
(9) They went 13-14 shooting FT's, we went 19-27...ballgame.
(10) Knowing that we still can play that poorly against a bad team terrifies me...especially at Katy.
(11) Next game at UCA...huge early season showdown.
(12) There goes our lone AP vote
(13) There goes our Mid-Major Madness poll appearance

Bonus truth: I ain't even mad. Disappointed, sure, but mad, nope. Not worth it. We're so vastly better than last year. I have full faith we will rip off another good streak here. I said 16-4 or 17-3 was realistic in SLC...still feel the same.

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This is a great post.

PurpleOut said:

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RedRiverLa said:

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I agree with the slow start. But is it just me..if we know we are playing a team who's strength is the 3, then we need to focus on the perimeter - it seems like we still are woefully inept when it comes to guarding the perimeter and we give up too many open 3s. Granted, they were throwing up trash from almost half court and it was going in - and when their big guy steps back and chunks in a three and it goes - that tells you it just wasn't our night. I also thought there were opportunities for Kevon and John to pass out for the shot once they drove the lane - but they're seniors and were trying to put the game on their shoulders, so can't complain too much about that. Assists are just as good as points.

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With the style of defense we play, we're going to give up more open threes. The up close pressure can lead to dribble penetration and kick outs. And the chances we take at passes, if we don't get a hand on the ball it puts us in a bad spot. But again that's our style and that's how we get turnovers and in turn offense. Some nights it's just not going to work like that.

Those don't bother me a ton (other than the fact that teams still shoot a better % against us than normal), it's the one's where we don't get back on transition, lose a man from an inbounds play, etc that are frustrating.

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Not going to disagree with that, but our style of defense should be fluid and adjust somewhat to stop the main strength of a team, if it is direct conflict with the weakness of the defensive positioning we choose to play - especially when you dare them to beat you with it, and they are consistantly doing so by halftime. I guess it was the number of opening threes that kept frustrating me. Oh, and the making them part.