The worst 15-2 team in history: a Sunday conversation

Brad

I think I’ve been watching X for the longest of anyone here, and I’m not sure I’ve ever watched them so methodically sow the seeds of their own downfall as dramatically as they did coming into this game. Tre has been lost, ball control has been absent, and the defense has been loose. Combine that with the belief that playing 30 minutes should win you a game and you get a loss to Providence.

Bryan

This reminded me of the game at Seton Hall a couple years back when it just looked like we weren’t really all that interested. The bigs were pretty much above reproach today, but goodness me we were terrible on the perimeter at both ends, especially in the second half.

Joel

I will throw out there that my adopted son Quentin was perfectly himself. His ORtg on the year is 109.5 and he posted a 110 on the game. Unfortunately, Tre and JP were both bad, Naji was worse, and Paul Scruggs was a flaming train wreck. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a more hopeless looking eight minutes than the ones he provided. For a team that is supposed to be deep, we looked alarmingly shallow.

Bryan

I love Q as much as you can without warranting a restraining order (so a little less than Joel does), but any game where he is our most effective three point shooter is going to be a bad one for us. Still, this loss came down to defense for me and our complete in ability to get the stops we needed without fouling. Providence posted 1.14 points per possession, which is the exact same number they managed against Marquette, who is terrible at defense. Our approach simply didn’t work today.

Brad

No, we stayed zone far too long when it was patently obvious it wasn’t working. Coach Mack has gotten far better at in game adjustments the last couple of years, but he just missed that one.

What is wrong with Tre? He’s 13 of his last 33 from the floor, and now he’s missing free throws, too. It looks to me like he’s trying to find his release point and he can’t. He’s always quick, but a couple of times yesterday he never squared at all, just unloaded.

Joel

What was our offensive game plan? Was it just to rush down the floor and get the first shot we could with one or fewer passes? It was either that or the team lost its collective head and just kept rushing. So we either had crap for a game plan or we crapped the bed. I don’t like either option, honestly.

Bryan

We still averaged over a point per possession without Tre, JP, Kaiser, and Naji doing much of anything. Our offense wasn’t great, but it was good enough to win a game. Our defense was appalling.

Brad

We averaged 1.01 points per possession. That’s not exactly an offensive explosion. I think our plan was to push the pace, and we executed that poorly. Our defensive effort probably looks better if Providence doesn’t go 20-22 from the line. The more I look at this game, the more I see aberration.

Except for Tre. I’m officially worried about him now.

Joel

We’re not the same without him hitting; our offense works around him going. If we need to rest him a couple weeks, we should. There’s no point in riding him now and having him go Kluber in the postseason.

Brad

Well that’s a real downer of a capper to this.