What a joke!

[PorkerPoke]

And I thought we could score 67 points. The worst beating yet in conference play. These guys play like they don't give a rat's ass.

Boo!

[bladerunnr]

Now that were 1/2 way into the conference season, a few things are becoming clear. Bringing in Ogirri for 1 year was mistake. He can shoot but he plays no defense and is turnover prone. Waddell is not a D1 player. He can't catch or rebound or pass or..... you get the idea. I thought Waddell might be the next Josh Davis. Either he is not getting adequate coaching or is just not a BB player.

We are not going anywhere this year. It's time to start playing Diakate and A.J. to get them some experience and see if they can play. May as well play Linskens and see if he has a future in this program.

[Wyolie Coyote]

I think we already know RumpleLinskens fate. He is bound for Europe in May. Ogirri is asleep for 20 minutes of each game. AJ is the only one that seems to play with a sense of urgency when he is in. But we don't play him at all last night. We can expect next year to be worse in that we lose 3 seniors and we will be even younger then.

[WYCowboy]

Wyoming looked absolutely terrible last night - more like a high school team than a D-1 basketball team. We looked like we were asleep or didn't care. There is no doubt we need to wake up and show tremendous improvement to be competitive in this conference. I disagree about us not having the talent to play at this level though. Waddell will be a standout player before he is through here. I'm scratching my head as to why we look so bad at times, and other times we look like we can compete with anyone in the conference. It may not be as bad as it looked the last couple of games though. Look at who we lost to and where we played - Utah @ Utah, UNLV @ UNLV, TCU @ TCU, BYU @ BYU, UNM @ UNM. Now they all have to come to our house and play us. We did beat SDSU (who just knocked off UNLV who was sitting at the top of the conference) and now SDSU is on top. Dermody played for the first time all season last night. Dermody, Muojeke, Waddell, & Thiam have at least some excuse for rust, inexperience, and poor play, the rest of the team doesn't. This team needs for everyone to get behind them - starting this Saturday. You throw them to the wolves now and you can forget about the next several years.

[Adv8RU12]

Why didn't Davis see any action? Because of Dermody being back? Dermody was, obviously, a non-factor. At least the CBS announcers called it like it was, constantly critisizing the defense.

It appears that, as a team, the Pokes are getting worse each game, amplifing the mistakes they made in the previous game. Is this the technical coaching, the loss of morale, or just inadequate players for this level?

[bladerunnr]

I hope I'm wrong about Waddell. He has some athletic ability. However, every time he catches the ball, he either a) tries to dribble and loses it or b) looks immediately to pass like he's holding a hot potato or c) drops the ball when it's passed to him.

We don't have a single guy on this team who can get more than 7 or 8 rebounds a game. Brad Jones was a better rebounder than any of our big guys. I don't know if its desire or lack of pride or whatever you want to call it, but we don't play like we care very much.

[wellpoke]

I disagree about Waddell. He generally plays with a lot of intensity, and I think has the makings of a good (but not great) player. He's young and has a lot to learn, and I think coaching in the offseason will help him a lot. Vandiver is the big guys coach, the same one who coached guys like Davis as a GA. I predict much improvement from Waddell next year, as he learns what it takes to compete in the MWC, and how to stay out of foul trouble.

As for the rest of the team, I don't have an answer. It's obvious that we lack any kind of defensive intensity. I think to a certain extent that's Schroyer's fault, but most of the fault lies with the players on the court. Coaches can only do so much from the sidelines, and it's up to the guys on the floor to get it done. We see a completely different team at home, and I think that's a lot to do with the seniors.

I still believe we'll hold home court this year and end up 8-8 or 9-7 in conference play with a road win at CSewe or AF. The tourney will probably be a one-and-done situation, but I'm looking forward to next year. With guys like Thiam, Diakite, Bobacar, and Davis waiting in the wings with a few years of Shcroyer's system under their belts, I think things look pretty good. We'll be young, sure, but those guys are gaining a lot of valuable experience this year.

GO POKES!

[TheRealUW]

Waddell will be an average player at best. I think his minutes will be trimmed next year with Boubacar Sylla becoming eligible, and I look for him to see a lot of bench in the 2010-11 season as this years recruiting class really begins to take over. This is a very nice recruiting class that will at least have us competing with every team in the league within two years. Also, Luster becomes eligible next season as well. This guy is fun to watch play the game of basketball. He does some absoultely amazing things for his height. He will make a few of the point guards look like a fool when they try to stay with him one on one. That being said, next year will be no better than this year as many of our players who see significant playing time will be transfers seeing their first action with UW, true freshman, and sophmores. I know it's way too early, but here are my starting five for next year:

JayDee Luster
Thomas Manzano
Afam Muojeke
Djibril Thiam (Amath M'Baye will see significant time here and may even start)
Adam Waddell (Boubacar Sylla will be starting by the time conference play rolls around)

We will be 2-3 games better than this year with a few blowlout losses on the road in conference play. The 2010-11 season is a different story in my opinion. I hope you all can stomach the rest of this season and next season. You will enjoy the benefits after that. By the way, Pokes will finish 8-8 in conference play this year. We will beat both BYU and Utah at home. It isn't as bad as it seems. One last thing. Tyson Johnson is the second leading rebounder in conference (averaging 8 boards per game). He is one hell of a rebounder for only being 6'6 and undersized against most guys he goes up against.

[McPeachy]

I hope I'm wrong about Waddell. He has some athletic ability. However, every time he catches the ball, he either a) tries to dribble and loses it or b) looks immediately to pass like he's holding a hot potato or c) drops the ball when it's passed to him.

I actually agree about Waddell. Stone fingers. Hopefully he grows out of it, Leckner sure did...