Yes, we've seen the swings game to game even stretch to stretch within games, and we know that's all part of basketball, especially in this conference. So you're right, that should come as no surprise.triplec2195 wrote: What surprises me about these posts and the constant references as to how on two separate occasions there can be big score swings and a team will beat a team on a given day even blow them out but when they play again that they themselves get blown out. Guys we all have watched hundreds of games I'm sure over the years and this is the nature of this beast they call basketball. Lot's of variables from one game to the next and coaches making adjustments so as not to repeat blow out losses. Players having off nights on and on! Just a small sampling of this comes with Drexel's games this year. In January they lose to UNCW BY 20 BUT BEAT COC in their next game by 5 lose to W&M by 22 then to Delaware,Hofstra,Towson and JMU probably the worst team in this league. They come back and beat Elon and NE. THEY THEN BEAT JMU and W&M by 12 a team they lost to by 22 points. That's a 34 point turnaround. Yesterday they lose to COC by 22 a team they beat by 5. If you want to talk about consistency there's a lack of it in this league and I'm sure in all of college basketball. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that there are big disparities from game to game. The one thing that we have working in our favor is that we have played well all year on the road and have to think that this will continue. In spite of our non rebounding and poor defense in the last game if we shoot decent percentages this game is a lot closer.
However, defense should be a constant. Shots will fall sometimes, and sometimes they won't. Yes, that's basketball. But you can always give the same EFFORT defensively, in going after 50/50 balls, with rebounding. You may not even be one of the best teams in a conference, but you can always be a pain in the ass for anyone to play because you come to play the way you should every night. Can we honestly say that about this team? Is that this team's identity yet, 26 games into the season?
Sometimes you'll stop teams defensively and win, sometimes you won't with that kind of effort. The problem is the defensive effort and overall intensity comes and goes with this team far too frequently to win a championship.
As for their play on the road being good most of the year... how did that work out yesterday, against a team HU should have beaten on the road? I'd be less concerned if they lost the way Elon lost to HU on Thursday (low-scoring, couldn't score, etc.) because I know that would've been an aberration for HU. But to lose 90-70, giving up 48 in the second half, is symptomatic of a season-long issue.
Again, far more than the results it's the way they're playing, getting complacent after a nice win, playing with intensity on D, then abandoning that like they've done so many times before, which tells me they're still not ready to give everything it takes to win a title and get an NCAA bid... sorry, EARN an NCAA bid, by showing up at both ends for 40 minutes, EVERY game. And time is quickly running out to show that and put a scare into the rest of the league going into March.