Chris Datres

Let’s not forget the Ft.Myers-Belfast double a few years ago. The rest of that season we can forget.

With the exception of the clockball at the 5:00 mark and the struggles with the press break, there are zero complaints about this one. They seemed to have even more energy in this one than last nite. Real nice to put together a 40-minute performance and pound someone good. I didn’t hear the announcers tonite but they kept mentioning last nite that we were picked 8th in the CAA. If we did a re-rank after 3 weeks, I wonder where we’d land.

Penn's coming off 3 games in 4 days in Myrtle Beach where they went 1-2, including a double OT loss to Utah State. Their win was against a dreadful ODU (haha) team. They're scrappy and they'll hit the boards and aren't afraid to shoot a 3 or go backdoor. Donahue is still coaching there so be prepared to hear 100 whistles. I'd like to think we'll be more athletic than they are and can use that for a comfortable win.

So you’re in my head now and know what I think? Cool. While you’re up there, dust around cuz it could use some shining.

First time here? (sarcasm) That’s his shtick no matter what the sport.

Zane developed? Maybe into a ball-hogging offense killer.

Careful, 2024, optimism is frowned upon around these parts 😉

Looks like the game against NC State will be on ESPN+ at 7:00

Aleah Nelson had 39 points, 8 boards, and 8 assists and the Tigers shot 12 of 19 from the 3-point line as they pounded the Gators 87-70 in the first game of the WNIT at Raleigh. Tigers got out to a 37-20 lead after 1 quarter and never looked back.

Yep, they did in 2009. I think it was home too. That's a bad miss by the SID.

Did Zane Martin masquerade as an Albany player Tuesday night?

That was a pretty good first impression. The only things I had issues with were the free throw shooting and I feel like Thompson and Holden can be stronger with their takes around the basket. They're going to get a ton of offensive boards like they did tonite and there's no reason why they shouldn't at least draw a foul when they take it back up. Holden had one where he could have taken it up for a 2-handed slam and gotten the foul but instead, shied away from the contact and got his stuff thrown away. Thompson's a big boy and he should be drawing a ton of contact so draw that contact, Charles!! Both guys' moves in the post don't look all that great but they were effective with the hook shots and the dropsteps into the lane. Biggest difference I saw from these guys tonight versus past years was the ball was moving around the perimeter instead of staying in one spot. A lot of that is thanks to a certain #0 no longer on the roster to torpedo the offense. But a lot of that I think is due to the experience that is on this team with all the transfers. They all understand how an offense should be run and what they ran tonight had a ton more flow and fluidity than offenses we've run in past years. Yes, it's just the first game but there were encouraging signs in it.

It's about damn time. Now let's hope this is a foundation for more in future years.

From a basketball standpoint, JMU's departure would drop us down to 9 teams. Do we need to be at 10? I don't think so. But if they absolutely have to be at 10, I wonder if we try to poach a CAA football member to make them full-time (looking at you, Stony Brook). Orrrrr, do we go after a non-football school that makes geographical sense (Boston U, Loyola, UMBC). I also thought about the possibility of a CAA/America East merger but that would make 19 teams and that's far too many (unless you bounce Binghamton to the MAAC, Hartford goes to D2, NJIT to the NEC, UMASS-Lowell to the MAAC/NEC, and UMBC to Saturn). In a CAA/AEC merger, all of the CAA football teams will be together in one conference minus those elitists Villanova and Rhode Island. From a strength perspective, the CAA is never going to get back to where it was when it had ODU/Mason/VCU. So it's up to the schools that are left to build it back up to the stature it had 10 years ago.

Have said it before -- it's like the owner of the Indians in the movie Major League in that hoping for losses so the team can move to a better climate. In this case, it's two teams -- football and basketball.

Ball control, taking care of it, and great defense is an excellent winning formula. It might not be exciting but it gets the job done.

Well there's a surprise.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the game was on Stadium, which I magically get through YouTube TV so I tuned in once I saw we were up 7-0. Big mistake. What I saw was a lot of horizontal passes that gained a yard and inaccuracies when throwing downfield and a defense that, while quick, couldn't figure out how to tackle and gave up extra yards. So at 21-7, I turned it off to go back to concentrating on the golf. Look again and see 21-14 at halftime and I knew we were getting the ball first. OK, I'll tune in again. Blocked punt for a TD and I'm out. Why is it that our special teams often finds a way to bungle something? Though, any coach worth their salt would take one look at our punt formation (at least the one that was set up on the block) and have it figured out by the 3rd time we punted. I'm not sure why some teams have to put these spread formations for punt safe when it all it takes is one fast guy on the other side to exploit the hole and blow it up. They put up more points than I expected they would (Vegas expected score based on spread and o/u was 32-9) on a SDSU team that is known for the defense and running game. But what I saw out there today doesn't give me much encouragement that the rest of the conference season is going to be anything more than mediocre.

The QB play was horrid, there's no sugarcoating that. That being said, UNH gave us plenty of opportunities because of their own mistakes. But I go back to something I had said in preseason -- if the staff is saying great things about the talent on defense, then let's unleash that talent. Instead, we let Coyne or Coyle or whoever that guy was run roughshod over us in the first half. Zero pass rush, zero blitz, zero coverage. It's the same BS that we've seen with the defense since 2013. Despite all of the offense's f-up's, they got it to 20-14 at the beginning of the 4th quarter and the defense immediately gives up a drive for a score. Get a freakin stop on that possession and things could have been a lot different and we escape with a win. As for the playcalling inside the 10 in the last 5 minutes, I think the coaching staff gets a bad case of hubris and tries to prove that a pass play is the right play. Could have easily run on first down from the 9 and the 4th down call was the type that should get the OC fired. But again, you can't turn the ball over 4 times as well as once on downs inside the 10 and expect to win any game, let alone one on the road.

Let em go. ODU football has been non-existent since leaving the CAA. What's Mason done in basketball since leaving the CAA for the A-10? Not saying that the CAA is the be-all, end-all but the wins don't always follow whatever extra money you might get for being in a 'bigger' conference.

And you'd be like the owner from the movie 'Major League', hoping that the team is just bad enough that you can move it to Miami...or in this case, get the coaches out. If the defense is this experienced, I would hope we're smart enough on the sidelines to unleash them and play as aggressive as you can. None of this cover-2 crap that doesn't work or not taking advantage of the speed by sitting back instead of sending extras on QB pressures. When you haven't played in almost 2 years and you have a ton of new players, the defense is often going to be ahead of the offense so they may have to set the tone the first couple of games of the season until the offense can catch up.

Didn't get it but would love to take it.

I think Louis Bullock for Michigan was from somewhere around DC so it was billed as a bit of a home game for him as well.

After seeing Abilene Christian beat Texas and Loyola smack Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, it made me think that all of these P5 teams are foolish for not scheduling just one simple road game at a lower-end non-con opponent. If you're a Bill Self or a Coach K or a Jay Wright, why wouldn't you subject your team to a hostile environment against a much lesser team in November or December to give them an idea of what they could run into if they earn that expected high seed in the Tournament? But no, if Duke is gonna play a Temple or Maryland is gonna play us, etc, they have to do it at a neutral site/big arena rather than expose their kids to an actual pressure game that could pay dividends down the line. I'd think that a Michigan would rather lose to Oakland in November than ignore them and then get upset as a 3 seed in the Tournament. Not only would it help the high major get a little bit of experience in that type of game, it would also help grow the game a bit more across the board. It's one game in November or December. If they're a pretty decent team, a potential loss shouldn't be an issue for their Tourney hopes.

Certainly not sad about today's results. In fact, it's pretty funny to see the Chickens get smashed and JMU yak a lead. I'm going to be in the Frisco area next week and I didn't want to run across any enemy markings. Now maybe they'll be banged up for the fall season but that's doubtful.