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#Post#: 44779--------------------------------------------------
Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Checkmate Date: December 6, 2024, 10:00 am
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AIR FORCE (2-7, 0-0 Mountain West)
Last Game: Miami (OH) 73, Air Force 60 on 12/2/24
Last Game vs SBU: Stony Brook 67, Air Force 64 on 12/31/08;
Dougher/El-Amin combined 42; finished 7-5 in first winning
record at D-I level
Checkmate Guess the Line: Air Force -5.5
NET Ranking: Stony Brook 340, Air Force 295
KenPom Rating: Stony Brook 335, Air Force 293
KenPom Prediction: Air Force 69, Stony Brook 65
Olaniyi GoFundMe:
HTML https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-elijah-with-medical-bills-and-therapy
Watch: No TV?
Listen:
HTML https://www.kvor.com/
Notables:
6-5/205 sr G Ethan Taylor 17.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.6 spg,
.455 FG%, .425 3-pt FG%, .769 FT%
7-0/245 so C Wesley Celichowski 9.3 ppg, .492 FG%
6-4/200 sr G Jeffrey Mills 8.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.8 apg, .462 FG%,
.424 3-pt FG%
6-7/215 so F Luke Kearney 8.6 ppg, .364 3-pt FG%
6-9/240 so F Caleb Walker 8.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .600 FG%
You keep waiting for this team to turn the corner, or at least
show signs of being a team that can compete in the CAA, not
necessarily for the title but at least to be middle of the pack
rather than bringing up the bottom.
Air Force was picked to do just that in the Mountain West,
ranked 11 out of 11 in the preseason. And the conference is
pretty stacked, ranking sixth on KenPom among all conferences
behind all the big ones everybody's heard of. There aren't a lot
of breaks with six teams in the top 100 and a seventh, UNLV,
just outside it. So last place is where the Falcons land plenty
often. They haven't had a winning record since the 2012-13
season, and they haven't really been close. But that's pretty
common among the service academies – Air Force last made the
tournament in 2006, Navy in 1998, and Army's never made it.
So going to a neutral site, desperate to break a miserable
four-game losing streak, this is an opportunity for us, albeit
one we evidently CAN'T WATCH. What kind of "showcase" doesn't
have a TV presence? Am I really listening to Air Force radio?
If you watch Air Force, you feel like you're watching Milan HS
vying for the state title in Hoosiers all over again. It's slow;
like, real slow, often bleeding the shot clock down to the last
few seconds. Taylor's the clear standout but they'll get
contributions from a few places – Celichowski down low, Kearney
with a smooth stroke from deep, Walker and even Kyle Marshall, a
St. Dom's kid, off the bench for a bit. It's a grind though. And
I gotta say, some of it seems awkward – Taylor's shot's kind of
wonky, others too, a lot of station to station – but you can't
argue with 37 percent efficiency as a team from three, territory
from which nearly 50 percent of their attempts will come, OR
that 69 percent of their buckets are assisted. Pretty good. It
hasn't resulted in much in the win column, but they have played
a couple good teams tough ... more than we can say TBH.
Over/under for mentions of Octave previously having played for
Air Force is set at 6.5. More on him, for a moment I said "we
need 18 a night from him if we're going to have a chance", but
more realistically, maybe he's the lead guy at 14 a night, and
then we get 8-10 from Wight, Luster, O'Connor, Frey and Snoddy.
Not impossible. I have more hope for the offense, even if we're
at 37 percent shooting against D-I teams, and in all games, it's
an abysmal 33.6% if you take out Wight's 30 for 43. It's the
defense that's especially concerning though. All seven of our
D-I opponents hit more than half their shots except CMU at
48.3%. We are second to last in America in two-point field goal
defense – 64.5%! (By comparison, Elon opponents are making 42
percent of their twos, just ahead of Hofstra at 43.)
Furthermore, our opponents are making 37 percent of their threes
too. So either teams can't miss or we aren't defending, can't
defend or both. And let's be real: we aren't getting unlucky
with guys raining contested mid-range jumpers on us. It's
layups, dunks, second chances, etc. Eight games is a small
sample size, but it's not that small, and it's not like we can
call up a promising prospect in the minors.
Looking back at the Central Michigan win, we did defend the
three well, or at least CMU didn't shoot it well (missed that
game). We didn't turn it over a ton, and we had four guys in
double figures led by O'Connor, led by a massive bucket that is
his and the team's high point this year. It's been a precipitous
dropoff since then.
We have shoveled dirt on the team before. It does feel different
this year, but we'll see what this month brings. Trouble
scoring, trouble defending, trouble rebounding – tough trio. I'm
still not high on Geno, but big picture, he has had seasons with
20, 20 and 18 wins since 2020, for a program with little NIL and
lukewarm interest locally. In this crummy transfer era, it's
gotta be hard, especially when money all of a sudden talks. But,
at the same time, through success, a coach can drive fundraising
and fan/player interest. I feel like this thing may have run its
course, unless there's a turnaround here around the bend.
Tomorrow would be a good place to start.
#Post#: 44781--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Moveitfred Date: December 6, 2024, 11:48 am
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>>>>a coach can drive fundraising and fan/player interest<<<<
Yeah, that's a bug of mine with Ford. I just don't get a sense
he has much interest in engaging with the community and fans.
Seems he is present at key events, and he does present himself
well in the post-game pressers. Also, from what I've heard his
players generally like and respect him.
I know this is drawing comparisons to someone he is not, but
we've said before how Pikiell would regularly take the mic after
games to say a few words and thank the fans. Pretty simple,
low-stakes gesture that made it seem like he cared. Of course
Pikiell also had kids in the district, and I would regularly see
him and talk to him around town. Not that this is such a huge
point, but I've never seen Ford outside of the arena. I'm not
out looking for him but just seems telling all these years that
I've never seen him at a community event or even in a store or
something.
I've just always gotten the feeling that Ford arrives, does his
job, and leaves.
Is it fair to say that beyond the job of coaching Ford seems a
bit unapproachable or distant?
And I have to wonder too, if he is would it make a difference
(ie, ticket sales/NIL money/etc) if he wasn't?
#Post#: 44782--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Checkmate Date: December 6, 2024, 1:37 pm
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The athletic department is partly to blame. I always say ... if
you drive through Three Village or any of the neighboring towns,
even right on Nicolls Road, you have no idea that a Division I
basketball game (or any sport) is taking place on campus at that
time or in the future. Selden and Smithtown and Sayville might
as well be Guam. And you can drive through campus and be
oblivious to it all. You can be standing NEXT TO THE ARENA and
have zero clue.
Emails are easy. And everybody receives those. But they're also
easy to delete/ignore.
Granted, it's going to take some real buzz to reel in the SBU
student body, between the makeup of it, the commuters, etc. And
the area just seems too busy in general. BUT the games just
aren't events in town, and I do think that seed is planted by
the athletic department and spreads if there's that kind of
positive momentum.
This is way oversimplifying it, but I feel like the order goes
...
Success –> fans –> NIL –> better players –> more success.
And somewhere in there is PR for the program. But NIL doesn't
happen unless there's success. Fans and better talent aren't
going to come in a meaningful way unless there's success. And
the success starts with the coach.
#Post#: 44783--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: OldSeawolf Date: December 6, 2024, 3:06 pm
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I agree with all of the above. I posted this awhile back in a FB
thread, but this is where I’d START, if I were in charge:
========================
It's been like this forever - I attended in the late 70's, and
the apathy/disinterest has been there since then, with small
pockets of interest (noted in this thread). Covid definitely
reversed momentum, but it's definitely more than that.
If I were in charge, I'd revert to old school, brute force
marketing, before each and every game:
1) In addition to SM advertising, I'd put signs up by every dorm
on game days;
2) I'd post game day signs throughout campus;
3) I'd get the Athletic interns to "storm the dorm" knocking on
doors reminding students of games on game days;
4) I'd have semester tuition giveaways every weekend for student
attendees;
5) I'd make sure that all campus newspaper prominently display
schedules in every edition;
6) I'd make sure that WUSB frequently advertises schedule;
7) Encourage local vendors to have discounted prices on game
days (need to show your ticket);
8) I'd hire an AD that is a marketer! Fiore, although he did
some bad things, was a marketer extreme! Pikiell was a marketer
extreme! You need someone that wants to grow demand.
Does the above take work? You bet. Will it fix things in a
day, week, month, semester? No way. But it's a start, and you
need to cultivate culture. You need to ingrain in students'
heads that today is game day and I need to be there to support
my team and University. And you need to pound the pavement, day
after day after day. Sitting on your ass, firing off FB posts
and Twitter Tweets is certainly part of the equation, but it's
clearly not enough. Back to old school. It can be done.
#Post#: 44784--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Moveitfred Date: December 6, 2024, 4:19 pm
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OldSeawolf, you warmed my nostalgia bits with that post!
Quick story. The geography likely will not resonate with anyone,
but I'll try to make it work.
In a previous life in an early chapter I was the basketball
coach at a brand new high school in southern California. We were
not in a league so tried to scrounge games however we could that
first year. We booked one game at Avalon HS on the island of
Catalina off the coast. Took the public boat out there and slept
on the gym floor on mats after the game because no more boats
went back to the mainland that late.
Telling you, it felt like the ENTIRE island came out for the
game that night. However many students there were (a few
dozen?), school people, town people, old people, drunk people.
Place was packed and rowdy.
And I'll say to this day that I think we had a better team, but
they killed us. Our kids had never seen such mayhem.
I have to assume everyone came out because there was probably
nothing else to do on Catalina at night other than maybe throw
rocks at the herds of buffalo out there (this was long ago, and
I think the island has much more life now).
That was a different time, when things like that happened. But
there sure isn't much to do at night in the Three Villages
either. If only, in a small way, basketball could be a thing.
And I'd be happy to be the drunk guy who shows up.
#Post#: 44785--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: OldSeawolf Date: December 7, 2024, 6:58 am
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As Checkmate stated above, no TV for today's game. Surprising
that the Texas Legends Showcase is not even getting a stream :)
According to its marketing director, "The Texas Legends are
proud to announce their first-ever Legends Showcase, featuring a
matchup between Stony Brook University and the Air Force Academy
on December 7 at the Comerica Center. This inaugural event will
highlight high-caliber collegiate basketball and is set to
become an annual tradition." A bit odd that we're going all the
way to Texas, to play in front of no one.
#Post#: 44788--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Checkmate Date: December 7, 2024, 3:00 pm
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Luster keeping us in it. 15 of our 23 at the half.
#Post#: 44789--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Chairman of the Board Date: December 7, 2024, 7:55 pm
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anyone see it? howd we shoot the rock???
#Post#: 44790--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: ry1nik Date: December 8, 2024, 10:19 am
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14% from three so apparently it was like shooting a rock instead
of a basketball
#Post#: 44791--------------------------------------------------
Re: Game 9: v Air Force, 12/7 3pm (in Frisco, TX)
By: Accelerator Date: December 8, 2024, 12:33 pm
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Impossible to get both Luster and Octave going in the same game,
apparently.
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