I know I am fairly new here but I have a question. It seems like some (not all) on here don't give much merit to the basketball team. I must be out of the loop because I personally think our basketball team is going in an upward direction. A few short years ago we made it to the 2nd round of the tourney, which is NOT something we historically do, and have been fairly competitive since. This year we are 4-4 in conference and 10-5 overall, and that includes 2 games against WKU who is the 2nd best team in the whole conference. Outside of UAB and WKU, I would argue we are a close 3rd. We are also relatively young. So my question is, why is there so much negativity towards the basketball program? Just curious
Basketball question
- Thread starter Crush Nasty
- Start date
You sound like a HF transplant, but let me clue you in from my perspective.
Two games against WKU, both lost. Split against ODU, we were the favorite by 6-8 going in.
Yep, the first time in 25-30 years! About time right? We had a good eight-day run. That was it, nothing more nothing less. Very next year when your friends at HF were thinking we were going to the Final Four. Ended up in a pay-to-play.
Close third, but we are fifth in the east? Does not compute.
Coach is a dam idiot. Won't close Practice, although a team is having a rough time. Won't run a
zone D, because he didn't when he rode his brother's jockstrap in the NBA. His offense looks like the offense ran at any public park. Freelance do what the hell you want. Only 304, baby!
Couple more years of mediocracy and his seat should be getting really warm and rightfully so.
Two games against WKU, both lost. Split against ODU, we were the favorite by 6-8 going in.
Yep, the first time in 25-30 years! About time right? We had a good eight-day run. That was it, nothing more nothing less. Very next year when your friends at HF were thinking we were going to the Final Four. Ended up in a pay-to-play.
Close third, but we are fifth in the east? Does not compute.
Coach is a dam idiot. Won't close Practice, although a team is having a rough time. Won't run a
zone D, because he didn't when he rode his brother's jockstrap in the NBA. His offense looks like the offense ran at any public park. Freelance do what the hell you want. Only 304, baby!
Couple more years of mediocracy and his seat should be getting really warm and rightfully so.
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It was disappointing AF, but you can't discount the loss of Ajdin Penava to a terminal case of Bad Advice. A big reason Marshall was able to make that run in the first place was that he had finally emerged from his coccoon as a fully-formed baller. He was pretty stank those first two years, but his Junior year he averaged 15.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and 4.9 blocks a game. He even shot 34% from downtown! That's the kind of Unicorn stuff you need to get a program like Marshall out of the mid-major malaise, and just like that it was gone.
As far as the coach goes, I don't mind this. Unless we're going to find the next Donnie Jones that comes with his own sneaker cash runners, this is probably about as good as we're gonna do. I like seeing kids from WV out there playing D-I ball for Marshall, its a lot easier to root for than those teams of imported human meat Tom Herrion used to bring in to try to hack and club opposing teams into injury.
Herrion...he's back and forth with me. He got absolutely hosed by the NCAA the year MU took 2nd to Memphis but also couldn't sustain that success and the team collapsed.
As for the rest of your comment.
No. Penava wasn't the reason MU underachieved. MU returned Elmore, the best scorer in MU history (more on that in a moment) and had a good enough team to win, at least go on a streak at the end of the season.
If MU hadn't have won a game in the CIT, I'd have agreed with you, it was Penava.
Clearly this wasn't the case and MU won the damn thing.
I'd dare say the only reason MU even decided to play (it was the 4th ranked tournament; NCAA, NIT, CBI, and CIT) and when MU went during the DJ error, nobody was interested, people thought it was a stupid waste of money.
But MU had a narrative and a story to build upon it, to give Elmore the scoring title...and given the social perspective of the then current scoring titleholder, Elmore would be a breath of fresh air.
Penava's departure was not why MU failed to even sniff the success they had prior to, MU actually showed they could win, since they won that tournament, I'd say largely because they had more motivation for it.
Isn't there a D'Antoni on the MU BoG? If so, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Sure, MU will have 20 win seasons, which are utterly meaningless when CUSA championships and NCAA tournament appearances matter the most to the "shiny things to look at" fans around here. MU fans will scratch their heads at a loss at the hands of Dan, then perk back up and say, "Well gee golly gosh darn, I sure love his pressers! Such energy!"
Name the center from the 2018-19 Marshall basketball team.
Didn’t realize Penava was so good we’d be missing him 3-4 years later
Losing Penava was a huge loss that changed the dynamics of the team the following year. it allowed the defenses to key even more on Jon Elmore as Penava was able to spread the court so much. We won the CIT primarily because Jon (who was getting very close to the scoring title) really gave himself up and started passing up shots and passing the ball. It helped that CJ and others were able to hit their shots.
We had him bringing the ball up the floor against Wichita State with Elmore and Burks running free. They had no clue what to do.
Did you know Penava was a point guard in high school until he grew something like 9 or 10 inches in one year?
The players seem to enjoy playing for Coach D'Antoni and like his open style of offense. I would like to see more emphasis on defense, but when the offense is fully engaged, the defense seems to be adequate. Overall, we have had decent success with his coaching and I enjoy seeing the WV kids play at MU. Bennett and the Europeans have been recruiting failures, except for Peneva. Dan's personality is very refreshing.
Coach Dantoni inherited a mess when he started. It took a while to rebuild. Also unlike many of our past coaches our players for the most part get better year to year under him. Also nobody mentioned that our 4-4 conference record consists of 7 road games and 1 home game. Not another team in either division can come close to that much in-balance. His players always play hard as well.
I don’t know how many years our fans want to go back but we haven’t competed on a regular basis for conference titles for decades. Recruiting at MU isn’t easy. I too would love to dominate our conference but expectations have to be put in perspective.
I don’t know how many years our fans want to go back but we haven’t competed on a regular basis for conference titles for decades. Recruiting at MU isn’t easy. I too would love to dominate our conference but expectations have to be put in perspective.
This thread summarizes the current era of MU basketball so well.
- Endless reliving of, as well said, 8 great days nothing more.
- Woulda coulda shoulda about the following year.
- Thinking the CIT is a thing.
- But DD is such a nice guy and a dynamic public speaker. And he went to Marshall!!!!!!
- The refusal to understand that CUSA, a made for football conference made up of schools at all different levels in basketball including 1/3 or more that really don't care, is there for the taking.
- The obeisant like on the WVian players. AKA, out recruiting Concord and WV State is a framework for success in Division I mid-major college basketball.
It is sad, really.
- Endless reliving of, as well said, 8 great days nothing more.
- Woulda coulda shoulda about the following year.
- Thinking the CIT is a thing.
- But DD is such a nice guy and a dynamic public speaker. And he went to Marshall!!!!!!
- The refusal to understand that CUSA, a made for football conference made up of schools at all different levels in basketball including 1/3 or more that really don't care, is there for the taking.
- The obeisant like on the WVian players. AKA, out recruiting Concord and WV State is a framework for success in Division I mid-major college basketball.
It is sad, really.
Fans want to use 30 yerlars of bad basketball as some excuse for why the team and Dan are the way they are.
They forget he made the conference title game in year 3. Won it and won an NCAA tournament game in year 4.
Dan negated the 3 decades of bad basketball in 4 years.
But the basketball schools have had far more success over the years than football.
WKU has been to many NCAA events and won many games there.
Charlotte has as well. ODU also has a very good basketball name
La Tech with the Mailman was a force and least we not forget that UTEP won a NCAA Championship over and Adolph Rupp led Kentucky squad
ok, lets fire Dan, then the history of our program is either hire the young hot shot(Altman, Donovan or Jones) and they stay an average of two years which is not long enough to help the program and in some ways its sets us back because no base has been set with talent or culture. Or, we hire a terrible coach that also sets the program back(Freeman, Jirsa, Herrion). This is our history so at the moment yes, I like what we have. Is it perfect, no, but I like it better then the other 6 options from the past 30 years.
You know there is a reason for that. Those schools you mention were IAA or FCS, until recently.
Come on... It's WKU, then ODU. La. Tech has only been to the Tourny five times and made it to the Sweet Sixteen once. UTEP has been 14 times prior to 1992, only three times since. WKU and ODU are the only teams that has had any success in the NCAA Tourny since 2000.
Yes, you are sad. Not sure why you get out of bed each morning with your negative attitude. Coach D'Antoni has great support from Marshall fans. No t sure why you can't get on board and enjoy.
I agree, you absolutely make the argument CUSA is more a basketball conference than football.
Also, can someone tell me what HF means? I apologize I should probably know that
It’s a better b’ball league than football. Football is putrid. Worst in D1 the last two years I think.
I see both the football program and basketball program on their way up. Sometimes hard to see this due to the ups and downs of a season and the dynamic nature of roster movements. But I think 2021 seasons will be fun for fans and comments on HN and HF will be mostly positive as a result. Nothing wrong with being critical of coaches or players--that is the right of fans. And the reliving of past seasons is healthy to a point. But I try to look for a better future than what we have today, and I see the next couple of years being pretty exciting.
funny was thinking the same thing about your dumbass.. since you can’t answer a simple question about an acronym and need to copy and paste links of threads instead
well since we have a diversity of views being represented today allow me to chime in. C-USA was without doubt put together as a football conference primarily. However, it is a better basketball conference by far. The reality is this- there are only 10 D-1 football conferences. IMO the MAC, SB and C-USA are all about the same. If we switched to either of the other two I say we are in no better shape most years. The American is not going to invite us anytime soon so give it a rest. Hell would freeze over before any P5 invited us. With that being said, I say enjoy the ride and Herd sports. Dan is a solid coach and we need to leave that one alone. Huff is new and time will tell. Either way, I think we sometimes don't appreciate what we have in Huntington. Is Marshall an IVY school academically ?- no but it is a solid school offering a university level education. I am proud to have graduated from there. Is Marshall a football/basketball powerhouse? no, but we are on the map and people respect us.
Now you've gone and done it. Declaring CUSA is a better basketball conference by far over football. For shame! The wrath of Sam shall be cast upon thee. Cue Sam.
CUSA has 5 teams in Ken Pom's Top 100. That's not too shabby. In football, we usually have 5 teams in the bottom 20 of 130 or so.
Wrath? More like laughter. When you say things that are so delusional, you come sounding, sorry to say, like a Spamite. This fan base used to be better than that.
Reality? A third of CUSA makes a token effort at the sport. Another few (the Florida - whatevers) lack the fanbases. Leaving 4-5 programs, including us, which both try and have the ability to try. One of us should grab this garbage conference by the throat and rule it.
Reality? A third of CUSA makes a token effort at the sport. Another few (the Florida - whatevers) lack the fanbases. Leaving 4-5 programs, including us, which both try and have the ability to try. One of us should grab this garbage conference by the throat and rule it.
Here are some stats over the last 25 or 26 years.
Football Basketball
Winning % 47.0% 54.4%
Preseason Top 25. 4 27
Final Top 25. 13 25
Last Final Top 25. 2015. 2012-2013
Memphis and Cincinnati accounted for most of the basketball poll ratings in the 90's to mid 2000's. In 2003-2004 CUSA had 6 teams in the NCAA.
Historically it has been stronger in basketball. Which is stronger now?
Football Basketball
Winning % 47.0% 54.4%
Preseason Top 25. 4 27
Final Top 25. 13 25
Last Final Top 25. 2015. 2012-2013
Memphis and Cincinnati accounted for most of the basketball poll ratings in the 90's to mid 2000's. In 2003-2004 CUSA had 6 teams in the NCAA.
Historically it has been stronger in basketball. Which is stronger now?
