It's a few hours from tipoff and I don't see a game thread. We can use this one if mods don't end up making one.

How we feeling? BU is an 8 point favorite. With us still adapting to a new small ball style I'm not sure about winning this one by almost double digits.

But...I'm not worried about style points right now. We just need to start stacking wins.

Shut down Javon Small and BU wins. Let him go off and WV likely wins.
Either way today is an absolute must win. A loss puts the NCAA hopes on the fringe

I'm hoping this is the game that gets us back on a correct path toward at least finishing in the top half of the conference. It will tell us whether our small ball will or will not work and give us an idea of where we are headed for the rest of the year. Win this game and we've started down the correct path. Lose this game and I have bad feeling this will all spiral downward, particularly if the campus rumor of quite a bit of dissension in the locker room is true.

What's the campus rumor if you don't mind sharing

Much like every team there are apparently a couple of factions who don't necessarily get along and some feel a couple are just in it for their personal stats. It's not something uncommon to any program, even if it's true or not. As you know winning usually solves those kind of issues and hopefully a winning streak starts today.

That's why I always laugh at the Bu folks who are so proud about the special culture. The culture has kind of stunk since 23'. Last year's team was okay.

Iowa st and Houston have a much better culture right now. Those guys preach chip on shoulder and yet they have guys fully bought in. Some are decent players sitting on the bench who chose to stay for peanuts in the portal era.

The crazy part is Vj deferred to these guys for a month and a half and then saw he had to do something bc his teammates sure weren't going to. Omier and VJ shot like 80% last game. Time for others to ante up.

Vandy 44
#5 Tenn 31

Half

Tenn favored by 12.5

Love and Celestine starting

Nunn and Roach off the bench

A little sturdier starting 5 with Josh O out

Who's producing this game for ESPN 2? A monkey?

So many technical gaffes.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Who's producing this game for ESPN 2? A monkey?

So many technical gaffes.

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Tx St intern AV team

Laying bricks from three point range

Roach is such a power down.

Time for VJ to go alpha mode

Norchad Omier is playing at an elite level right now. It's so nice to see him back to playing like he was early in the season.

Lord knows we need him to with our frontcourt situation being what it is.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Roach is such a power down.

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I don't understand how a guard of his pedigree can't hit open midrange shots. It's really frustrating.

We are a better team with Love, Celestine, Wright, VJ and Omier on the court and Nunn and Roach on the bench.

I was going to post about how good a first half we played, but we're messing down our leg these last few possessions.

Ugly finish to the half.

Johnny Bear said:

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Ugly finish to the half.

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Still a good half, though, especially on the defensive end and boards.

Second half need a steady diet of feeding Omier in the post until they show they can stop it

Good half. Good crowd here. Only 3 fouls against us compared to 9 on the other side

That last 35 seconds are descriptive of this team. It has a lot of talent but is prone to lapses in focus tthat unravels a lot of things they had done really well to that point. It's gotta drive Drew crazy.

Exact same HT score in the Zona Houston game

Playing small ball and only shooting 3 for 12 from 3 and still a 5 point lead at half...I'll take it.

Lets hope the 3-ball warms up in second half.

Edgecombe is doing things offensively right now that he had no prayer of doing early this season. His offensive game has developed so much this season it's crazy.

Not a good start to the half. We've just been really careless and nonchalant this game.

West Virginia is too good a team to sleepwalk to a win. They're inconsistent, but they've already beaten a fair number of teams that are better than we are.

We need to wake up and finish strong.

Why is it so easy for any opponent with any kind of a pulse to get wide open ( and wide open as in nobody within 20 feet) 3 point looks??

Johnny Bear said:

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Why is it so easy for any opponent with any kind of a pulse to get wide open ( and wide open as in nobody within 20 feet) 3 point looks??

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Because we switch and help to the point of confusion. It's been a problem for three years now.

We have too many players on this roster who can't consistently perform their roles. Roach and Celestine were both giant misses, and it's a major problem for this roster.

Great find by Edgecombe for the Omier layup.

This team can be so frustrating at times.

Roach is the biggest miss of the portal era by BU. Dudes making over a million to be a non factor on a regular basis

Losing 14-4 in the first 4 pluss minutes of the second half