Sul Ross

[mikesarabia]

WOW!!! Been a long, long wait for such a horrible result. Guess I'm glad I wasn't there to see it. High expectations, inferior Div 3 opponent, gave up 70 and only scored 78? Not much of anything positive about this. From what you've all stated sounds to me like the sinking of the Titanic. I am so let down. Though we had something this year. Hope it's not too the same old story.
Anxious to see some stats.

Hold on, there was some things in this game that led to the final results. First I am not trying to defend anyone or make excuses, and based on some of the responses on this post, a lot of you saw what I saw. For it being an exhibition game, the officiating was horrendous. 1) Look at the number of free throws attempted by Sul Ross. 2) Paul Thomas and Tirus Smith had a lot of bogus calls go against them, so they hardly played due to foul trouble. 3) Wilms did not have a good game. He should have dominated inside but instead he was back to playing passive and weak. Stats wise his numbers looked good but he really did not have a good game. 4) Osbourne hardly played due to ankle injury. 5) Very limited production from Omega, Flaggert, and Touchet.

I hope we never see those officials again especially the one that was calling everything against UTEP. To summarize it was hard for both teams to get into any flow of the game due to the officiating. Some key players couldn't stay on the floor long enough due to foul problems. The one bad sign was our veterans did not have good games. The good things were the play of Gilyard, Wade, and Magee. Hopefully the next exhibition will give us a better idea of how this team will do this season.

 

[UTEPfan1966]

I'm not sure why everyone gets so upset about anything in an exhibition. The folks around me were all getting annoyed with the horrible refs. We all ended up laughing as a group. I remember one call so bad ....Gilyard, I guess, was in the Sul Rose player's aura, he was whistled. Floyd wanted to talk to the refs at halftime, but 2 walked off and left him. No wonder he got frustrated. How can you work on your team in an exhibition when there's a whistle every few seconds? If you had followed the game on twitter, some thought the game would last 3 hours because of the horrible refs.
"Floyd shouldn't have walked out..." yada yada
The technicals were stupid. We schedule these games as a glorified practice. The refs didn't get the memo...

As for the team, when they get to play and not have to think about it much, these guys will be good. I'm not sold on Frazier. He seemed a little distant from the guys, but later in the game is when I saw him starting to gel with the guys.

Gilyard WILL be our starting PG. Kid is fun and I saw only a few mistakes. Kobe will back him up. Kobe isn't as dangerous going to the hoop yet, but has great passing instincts. The other guys need to keep an eye on the ball when he's moving.
I think Matt needs to finish stronger, with authority. Tirus does that very well.
I like that they stayed with the first unit for a while to get a good look, then switched out all 5. I just don't agree with the "starters" after this game.
Say what you want about Jake, but his defense is extremely good. He also has great vision and passes very well. He will be a starter as well.

So, based on my opinion, which means squat, I see it....


Gilyard
Harris
Flaggert
Thomas
Wilms

I would bet Harris plays most of every game. Wade and osborne will be first ones off the bench. I personally don't think losing Jones will hurt that much.

These boys will be fun to watch...

 

[mikesarabia]

I'm not sure why everyone gets so upset about anything in an exhibition. The folks around me were all getting annoyed with the horrible refs. We all ended up laughing as a group. I remember one call so bad ....Gilyard, I guess, was in the Sul Rose player's aura, he was whistled. Floyd wanted to talk to the refs at halftime, but 2 walked off and left him. No wonder he got frustrated. How can you work on your team in an exhibition when there's a whistle every few seconds? If you had followed the game on twitter, some thought the game would last 3 hours because of the horrible refs.
"Floyd shouldn't have walked out..." yada yada
The technicals were stupid. We schedule these games as a glorified practice. The refs didn't get the memo...

As for the team, when they get to play and not have to think about it much, these guys will be good. I'm not sold on Frazier. He seemed a little distant from the guys, but later in the game is when I saw him starting to gel with the guys.

Gilyard WILL be our starting PG. Kid is fun and I saw only a few mistakes. Kobe will back him up. Kobe isn't as dangerous going to the hoop yet, but has great passing instincts. The other guys need to keep an eye on the ball when he's moving.
I think Matt needs to finish stronger, with authority. Tirus does that very well.
I like that they stayed with the first unit for a while to get a good look, then switched out all 5. I just don't agree with the "starters" after this game.
Say what you want about Jake, but his defense is extremely good. He also has great vision and passes very well. He will be a starter as well.

So, based on my opinion, which means squat, I see it....


Gilyard
Harris
Flaggert
Thomas
Wilms

I would bet Harris plays most of every game. Wade and osborne will be first ones off the bench. I personally don't think losing Jones will hurt that much.

These boys will be fun to watch...

Agree with what you posted. You are correct, the refs did not get the memo that it was an exhibition game. It looks like you saw what I saw regarding Wilms. You stated he "needs to finish stronger, with authority." This goes with what I posted earlier above about him. I also see what you are seeing regarding Frazier and that he seems distant from the rest of his teammates, but remember he is very new to the team. We need to give that some time. I think he has the potential to make a big difference if he stays focused and really wants to contribute to the team. I have been saying that Gilyard will be our starting point guard all along (nothing against Kobe). Gilyard plays with passion, has fun on the court, displays some leadership skills, good court awareness, and can both score and dish. He reminds of the late Jeep Jackson. I have to agree with you about Flaggert, he is what some refer to as the "glue guy". He does a little of everything and does it well.

 

[miner1liner]

Sooo...In spite of what appears to be the case where you have a Div 1 team with high expectations playing a Div 3 team (13-13 last year) with little or no reason for any special expectations barely eeking out a victory; do you guys who saw the game still feel as up beat today as you did before the game?
From afar, what I do take into account is the following:
* Omega has been unimpressive in both the scrimmage and the exhibition. Is this
the back injury, is he holding back to give the new guys opportunities or what?
This is our leading scorer from last year and only took five shots in each game.
Not typical Omega at all.
* Thomas, Osborne and Wade played very little compared to what I anticipate once
we are in the meat of the schedule and we must get major results from them if
this is a successful season.
*. Other than the close score, the stats looked good except that the free throws
were as miserable as they always are. 58% won't win many games. Sul Ross
outscored us by eleven at the FT line where they shot 80%.. Not acceptable for
a team with our size and athletic advantage to be called for 31 fouls thus
allowing 31 free throws.
*. I am trying like crazy to regain some hope and I think we can all see and agree
that Willms needs to be more aggressive, Thomas and Smith need to stay out
of foul trouble, Omega must get back to being Omega plus the now long
awaited emergence of the frosh PGs Gilyard and McCoy plus what I expect
from the others; maybe it's just a matter of time before it all comes together.

I know you all appreciate my input from 630 miles away.

 

[unihorn]

Sooo...In spite of what appears to be the case where you have a Div 1 team with high expectations playing a Div 3 team (13-13 last year) with little or no reason for any special expectations barely eeking out a victory; do you guys who saw the game still feel as up beat today as you did before the game?
From afar, what I do take into account is the following:
* Omega has been unimpressive in both the scrimmage and the exhibition. Is this
the back injury, is he holding back to give the new guys opportunities or what?
This is our leading scorer from last year and only took five shots in each game.
Not typical Omega at all.
* Thomas, Osborne and Wade played very little compared to what I anticipate once
we are in the meat of the schedule and we must get major results from them if
this is a successful season.
*. Other than the close score, the stats looked good except that the free throws
were as miserable as they always are. 58% won't win many games. Sul Ross
outscored us by eleven at the FT line where they shot 80%.. Not acceptable for
a team with our size and athletic advantage to be called for 31 fouls thus
allowing 31 free throws.
*. I am trying like crazy to regain some hope and I think we can all see and agree
that Willms needs to be more aggressive, Thomas and Smith need to stay out
of foul trouble, Omega must get back to being Omega plus the now long
awaited emergence of the frosh PGs Gilyard and McCoy plus what I expect
from the others; maybe it's just a matter of time before it all comes together.

I know you all appreciate my input from 630 miles away.

Omega doesn’t seem as quick.

My gut says we’ll finish 4th, 5th or 6th in the conference.

 

[Lil_Train]

Sooo...In spite of what appears to be the case where you have a Div 1 team with high expectations playing a Div 3 team (13-13 last year) with little or no reason for any special expectations barely eeking out a victory; do you guys who saw the game still feel as up beat today as you did before the game?
From afar, what I do take into account is the following:
* Omega has been unimpressive in both the scrimmage and the exhibition. Is this
the back injury, is he holding back to give the new guys opportunities or what?
This is our leading scorer from last year and only took five shots in each game.
Not typical Omega at all.
* Thomas, Osborne and Wade played very little compared to what I anticipate once
we are in the meat of the schedule and we must get major results from them if
this is a successful season.
*. Other than the close score, the stats looked good except that the free throws
were as miserable as they always are. 58% won't win many games. Sul Ross
outscored us by eleven at the FT line where they shot 80%.. Not acceptable for
a team with our size and athletic advantage to be called for 31 fouls thus
allowing 31 free throws.
*. I am trying like crazy to regain some hope and I think we can all see and agree
that Willms needs to be more aggressive, Thomas and Smith need to stay out
of foul trouble, Omega must get back to being Omega plus the now long
awaited emergence of the frosh PGs Gilyard and McCoy plus what I expect
from the others; maybe it's just a matter of time before it all comes together.

I know you all appreciate my input from 630 miles away.

Nice stat line from Gilyard, which is a definite positive. He took advantage of Osborne being limited by his ankle. Hopefully he is able to carry this into the games that count. Thomas' inability to guard without fouling is a negative. We need him to be on the court as much as possible. As a junior, it is way past time for him to figure out how to guard without fouling.

 

[JCorona]

This is the final score I would have liked to see from the Men’s team.

 

[miner1liner]

This is the final score I would have liked to see from the Men’s team.

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Haven't studied the roster, but isn't it odd that only eight players got into a game decided by 59 points?

 

[JCorona]

Haven't studied the roster, but isn't it odd that only eight players got into a game decided by 59 points?

Interesting observation. My wild guess would be that coach Baker already has his starting line up and bench set and he wanted the team to gel.

 

[utep2step]

 

[PickMyAxe915]

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Looking forward to sharing a conference with them in 10 years.

 

[JCorona]

Looking forward to sharing a conference with them in 10 years.

Funny but true. 9 years ago KSU didn’t have a football program. Next season we’re in the same conference. I’m sure there’s more similar examples. Such as UTSA, Charlotte, ODU, etc when they first joined CUSA they were infants at football. Now they’re all grown up, out of the house and in college. While we wait for our disability check to pay our section 8 rent.

 

[NoNCAAWinsSince1992]

I know you guys are half joking, but Sul Ross and UTEP will never be conference mates without something catastrophic (not athletics related) happening in the two cities.

Alpine has about 6,000 people, they will never be able to get to FBS level and probably not even FCS.

 

[JCorona]

I know you guys are half joking, but Sul Ross and UTEP will never be conference mates without something catastrophic (not athletics related) happening in the two cities.

Alpine has about 6,000 people, they will never be able to get to FBS level and probably not even FCS.

You’re correct but at the same time Jacksonville isn’t much bigger.

 

[pay4dirt]

One question might be, how big is the alumni or donor footprint? That's always been a factor in the fan interest and cashflow to colleges and universities.

 

[NoNCAAWinsSince1992]

You’re correct but at the same time Jacksonville isn’t much bigger.

JSU has almost 5 times the students that Sul Ross has.

 

[bamfor]

I know you guys are half joking, but Sul Ross and UTEP will never be conference mates without something catastrophic (not athletics related) happening in the two cities.

Alpine has about 6,000 people, they will never be able to get to FBS level and probably not even FCS.

Well, yes and no. Boone, NC (Appalachian St) has a population of 18k and supports a competitive football and baseball team. If SRSU continues to grow, it would be expected that the town around it grows as well to support the university. 12k population growth in 10 years is a bit, but if Alpine somehow positions itself as an affordable pivot for people leaving high cost of living areas, I can see a significant population increase. Boone supports a D1 football team, but I am sure there are smaller towns which support D1 basketball programs without football.

All just comes down to how much gets invested into the town and how much the towns people care to buy in.

 

[Dmanminer]

Hell they only have three or four restaurants.

 

[NoNCAAWinsSince1992]

Well, yes and no. Boone, NC (Appalachian St) has a population of 18k and supports a competitive football and baseball team. If SRSU continues to grow, it would be expected that the town around it grows as well to support the university. 12k population growth in 10 years is a bit, but if Alpine somehow positions itself as an affordable pivot for people leaving high cost of living areas, I can see a significant population increase. Boone supports a D1 football team, but I am sure there are smaller towns which support D1 basketball programs without football.

All just comes down to how much gets invested into the town and how much the towns people care to buy in.

Boone is a 90 minute drive to Winston-Salem and 2 hours to Charlotte.

App St has been a D1 program for ages and has had a successful football program. SRSU has been D3 for a long time. Alpine knows them as that.

Alpine needs jobs to grow, and it’s definitely not affordable. Check out this 2B/2B 1200sq Ft house for $269,000. You go to Alpine if you don’t like big city life and want to be 4 hours away from El Paso.

200 S Hackberry Dr, Alpine, TX 79830 | MLS #140612 | Zillow

This 1200 square feet Single Family home has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is located at 200 S Hackberry Dr, Alpine, TX.

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