Written for your enjoyment by: Raff
I've got to admit, I started to doubt this Mt. St. Mary's team -- and I'm not sure I'm totally back.
This season started with such promise and I thought it could possibly end up as the greatest season in the history of the sport at Mt. St. Mary's. But the start of the season was so difficult - and nothing seemed to go the Mount's way. From the eligibility issue with the NCAA for freshman Raven Barber to the early season injury of senior Will Holland - everything went the wrong way.
And the losses piled up - and even though we expected them to get better when the NEC season started. It didn't happen. Or at least the results didn't come as we expected.
And a few weeks ago, the wins started to become more frequent. And even though I wanted to believe that all the issues, the problems, the factors that led to the losses were gone I couldn't. It still seemed as if there was something missing among this team. Or at least I wasn't getting my hopes up again.
But now there is something different. Maybe it is just the fact that I want to believe. But I think its more than that. I think its the combination of the stellar defensive play - that really hasn't wavered all season - and the recent efficiency of the offense that has really been spurred on by the shooting of the aforementioned Will Holland.
All of a sudden this team has the look that we expected. All of sudden they are piling up the wins as expected - and doing it with the flair we expected.
The Race to Dayton is heating up in the Northeast Conference - and the Mount is clearly a major part of it.
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Definitely. The year looked to me, at the start, to have great potential. I saw perhaps a few games out of reach (OK away, ODU away) but I really thought we could win every other game. Yes, I know G'town was on the schedule. Where it all went awry was, as we all have mentioned before, the loss of chemistry from ineligibles and injury. Well, we are whole for now and the performances have been gratifying, even if only within the NEC. (Damn, the Siena game would have been a good win). I have to say, I was thinking a 14 seed in November, but now any appearance is a victory.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that most stands out is the senior leadership and how the seniors have come on all of a sudden. Beidler seems to be letting all this years frustrations out with his recent dunk-a-thon. Even Jackson is showing leadership with the way he and Jean pulled the team to the side in the Monmouth game. Whatever they said worked, 23-1 run the rest of the game. Holland has surprised me, its not his talent , its his leadership that is catapulting his effort recently. Even though Goode is scoring a little more lately,and, I don't care what any of you say- Goode has disappointed me actually the last 2 years. Damn I miss Chris McGuthrie. We should have beat Siena, Vermont, and Boston U., not just Siena. Let's just hope for a good story about MSM delivered by Musberger or someone come dance-time. I damn well know the Mount is the most talented team in the NEC. The only team that comes close is QU, but look at the money they spent, they bought it, Mount didn't as much. It is all mental. I forgive them for the first part of the season before RMU, but then the loss again to RMU screwed them royally mentally again. The bane of the Mount's non-success has been RMU- as far as the root of their mental downfall. I hate all Pittsburgh teams, I sure hope we get them good the last game of the year or thereafter.
ReplyDeleteJustin Burrell = Chris McGuthrie
ReplyDeleteDonte Morales = Kelly Beidler
Jeff James = redshirt
David Golladay = unknown
Goode is a higher caliber player than McGuthrie. Don't get me wrong, I loved to see Chris score. He was reliable and he did very well closing out close games. The difference really is apparent when MSM plays top 50 teams. Goode competes and the old Mount teams simply could not compete. Compare MSM-Pitt or MSM-G'town this year with the McG teams when they played the top teams.
ReplyDeleteMcGuthrie and Inge beat GTech - the defending ACC champ
ReplyDeleteHere are the results versus BCS schools and other noteworthy opponents during Chris Mac's four years --
Freshman
Lost to Penn State 60-55
Lost to Wake Forest 76-65
Split with American
Lost to Loyola and Bucknell
Sophomore
Beat East Carolina 75-70
Beat Bucknell
Lost to Georgia Tech 79-62
Lost to Florida State 108-81
Lost to West Virginia 100-76
Junior
Lost to Penn State 90-60
Lost to Towson by 1
Beat Loyola
Lost to Oklahoma 91-67
drilled by San Francisco
Lost to VCU
Lost to LaSalle
Senior
Lost to Wake Forest 75-62
Lost to Liberty
Beat LaSalle 81-66
Beat Howard
Beat Loyola
Beat Georgia Tech
Lost to Minnesota 87-62
Lost to Tulane 100-75
that team was 21-8 16-2 in the NEC -- and by far has had the best Division I regular season of any Mount team
It's interesting to compare the two - they both meant a lot to their teams - Chris Mac was best when Riley Inge was creating thing for him. But he could create himself as well. Mac was a shooter and a scorer - Goode is a scorer and a guy who gets others involved.
Goode's performances in his junior and senior years have not been what some of us may have expected. But maybe it was just because our expectations were too high. He is going to leave as the school's all-time leader in assists, #2 in steals, and if gets his average over the last 5 - he'll be tenth in points before the playoffs begin.
I'm guilty of it as well - but sometimes we judge Jeremy on what we think he ought to be able to do - or what we want him to do - instead of what he is actually accomplishing. And he is one of the best players to ever play for the Mount, and I'll take him on my team anyday of the week.
Good stats. Inge is the least appreciated great player from the MSM past. Many of us, after Sullivan and Carter, think he is in the top 5 or 10. He had, as does Goode, great speed. He also had few turnovers. I wonder, if we did stats on the Mount Div 1 record 'per player' if Inge would not top the list?
ReplyDeleteI will definitely agree that Inge is one of the all time greats at MSM. He could play on any bigtime team and start. icepack what you said about comparing how Mount plays against other teams- well those bigtime teams you mentioned arent nearly as strong as bigtime teams were back then either. The Mount with Chris competed quite well with many big teams. Last year was really the only year that MSM played bigtime teams close. Y'all make it sound like I don't like Goode, lol. I like his play but we can argue all we want and I will still hold my ground that Chris was better. That was funny about comparing Burrell to Chris. I think that after losing Goode, Beidler, Holland, MSM will take a step back next year. I'd say finish 7th or 8th. With the talent that some other NEC teams are bringing in, MSM will have tough sledding for awhile. The players we lose this year are basically the core of the champion years, other than Jean, and you seen that he could only play great for half a season each season he has played. I'm heading to the QU-RMU game next week to heck with seeing Bryant. I have a feeling MSM will lose tonight, then win the last 4, hope I am wrong about tonight.
ReplyDeleteBryant almost beat RMU today and should have!! OMG you just wait til I get on Andrew and the boys at Colonials Corner. I bet they were sweatin this one out.
ReplyDeleteWanna puke? Listen to the woman doing the FDU broadcasting on the FDU video.
ReplyDelete