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Post by golions on Mar 5, 2023 0:24:28 GMT -5
How is everybody so positive after a game like this? Nothing positive at all about tonight’s performance. Zero movement, bad coaching (that 8-0 BYU run in the last 3 minutes of the first half when Stan had both Cam and Keli on the bench buried us). |
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Post by lmu2008 on Mar 5, 2023 0:45:00 GMT -5
How is everybody so positive after a game like this? Because this program celebrates mediocrity man. Check out their Instagram posts… celebrating third and fourth place finishes lol No doubt tonight was disappointing, no one is arguing that. But taking a step back and looking at the season as a whole, I'd bet most on the board would agree that the program is heading in the right direction. We NEED wins over BYU, SMC, Zags, Wake etc in order to entice high quality recruits to come to LMU. Yes, marketing is more visible, and that's a bad thing? I'd rather have what we have now rather than little to no marketing which is what we had under Husak/Dunlop. "fake it til you make it right?" That being said, I'm not all sunshine and roses with CSJ. Next season is CSJ's 4th season. Will we stagnate with 4th at best conference finishes? I hope not, but we'll need to fill a lot of holes and we cannot afford to fill them with transfers like Merkviladze. I envision Jalin, Rick, Graham and Lemaj getting minutes next year. Taitz is a wild card. Sniper's production fell off a cliff after the non-conference, so unless I see major improvements he might be the next James Nobles. Nobody should call him "sniper" until he earns that nickname back. We have McBride signed who is one of only a few 4* recruits we've EVER gotten (Viney and Ahrens being 2 others, I could be missing another?) so we need a minimum of 3 other high quality, difference making recruits to have a solid rotation. This offseason will be a huge one for our program. |
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Post by fryer4three on Mar 5, 2023 0:49:00 GMT -5
Because this program celebrates mediocrity man. Check out their Instagram posts… celebrating third and fourth place finishes lol No doubt tonight was disappointing, no one is arguing that. But taking a step back and looking at the season as a whole, I'd bet most on the board would agree that the program is heading in the right direction. We NEED wins over BYU, SMC, Zags, Wake etc in order to entice high quality recruits to come to LMU. Yes, marketing is more visible, and that's a bad thing? I'd rather have what we have no than little to no marketing which is what we had under Husak/Dunlop. "fake it til you make it right?" That being said, I'm not all sunshine and roses with CSJ. Next season is CSJ's 4th season. Will we stagnate with 4th at best conference finishes? I hope not, but we'll need to fill a lot of holes and we cannot afford to fill them with transfers like Merkviladze. I envision Jalin, Rick, Graham and Lemaj getting minutes next year. Taitz is a wild card. Sniper's production fell off a cliff after the non-conference, so unless I see major improvements he might be the next James Nobles. Nobody should call him "sniper" until he earns that nickname back. We have McBride signed who is one of only a few 4* recruits we've EVER gotten (Viney and Ahrens being 2 others, I could be missing another?) so we need a minimum of 3 other high quality, difference making recruits to have a solid rotation. This offseason will be a huge one for our program. Marketing isn’t a bad thing, but don’t be selling 3rd and 4th place finishes like it’s something… had two dudes text me this week saying something along the lines of “does your school hang banners for 4th place in the wcc now?”… their marketing is fine, but don’t be hyping up 4th places like that’s some “new standard” that we are supposed to be okay with. |
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Post by lmu2008 on Mar 5, 2023 0:57:11 GMT -5
No doubt tonight was disappointing, no one is arguing that. But taking a step back and looking at the season as a whole, I'd bet most on the board would agree that the program is heading in the right direction. We NEED wins over BYU, SMC, Zags, Wake etc in order to entice high quality recruits to come to LMU. Yes, marketing is more visible, and that's a bad thing? I'd rather have what we have no than little to no marketing which is what we had under Husak/Dunlop. "fake it til you make it right?" That being said, I'm not all sunshine and roses with CSJ. Next season is CSJ's 4th season. Will we stagnate with 4th at best conference finishes? I hope not, but we'll need to fill a lot of holes and we cannot afford to fill them with transfers like Merkviladze. I envision Jalin, Rick, Graham and Lemaj getting minutes next year. Taitz is a wild card. Sniper's production fell off a cliff after the non-conference, so unless I see major improvements he might be the next James Nobles. Nobody should call him "sniper" until he earns that nickname back. We have McBride signed who is one of only a few 4* recruits we've EVER gotten (Viney and Ahrens being 2 others, I could be missing another?) so we need a minimum of 3 other high quality, difference making recruits to have a solid rotation. This offseason will be a huge one for our program. Marketing isn’t a bad thing, but don’t be selling 3rd and 4th place finishes like it’s something… had two dudes text me this week saying something along the lines of “does your school hang banners for 4th place in the wcc now?”… their marketing is fine, but don’t be hyping up 4th places like that’s some “new standard” that we are supposed to be okay with. Objectively speaking, having 2 top 4 finishes in the WCC out of CSJs first 3 seasons is much better than any coach we've had since Westhead. Nobody here wants us to STAY at 4th, but 4th place finishes come as a building block before 3rd, 2nd, 1st finishes. It's not realistic to have a new coach come in and expect him to all of a sudden dethrone two entrenched WCC powerhouses in the Zags and SMC. It will take time for us to consistently compete and beat those teams. |
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Post by golions1444 on Mar 5, 2023 0:57:14 GMT -5
I do have faith Stan and crew will get some good transfers!
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Post by slblions08 on Mar 5, 2023 1:05:26 GMT -5
It’s hard for fans to demand/ expect the best when the alums don’t donate on the level as other programs you’re competing with. Plain and simple, LMU has to do the social media to entice 3 and 4 star kids to play in a high school gym. I was showing one of my students who loves sports some video I caught on my phone against Saint Mary’s and he said, “ what high school game was this?”
The good social media has to stay. Gen Z lives on it, not your 1950s fantasy. What’s your strategy? “Come to LMU, be anonymous , wear your hard hat every day…play for the name on the front, not the back”
Second, I didn’t show up to Vegas and neither have 95% of fans. BYU fans travel and gives them a boost every time. Today seemed small on TV but I didn’t even hear LMU fans. We seem to be broke and apathetic. Sports is not a priority.
BYU has been very “mid” all year but they turn it up a notch there. The WCC modified the tourney for them too so it’s obvious their advantage.
If Stan finishes 4th all the time, it is better than the last 6 coaches. Fire Stan, and what message does that send? He will easily find another job and we’ll be rummaging the Big Sky for assistants.
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Post by fryer4three on Mar 5, 2023 1:05:27 GMT -5
You’re missing the point. You just don’t celebrate 3rd and 4th place finishes. If I am a recruit, I say to that, what’s our goal here?
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Post by fryer4three on Mar 5, 2023 1:08:09 GMT -5
It’s hard for fans to demand/ expect the best when the alums don’t donate on the level as other programs you’re competing with. Plain and simple, LMU has to do the social media to entice 3 and 4 star kids to play in a high school gym. I was showing one of my students who loves sports some video I caught on my phone against Saint Mary’s and he said, “ what high school game was this?” The good social media has to stay. Gen Z lives on it, not your 1950s fantasy. What’s your strategy? “Come to LMU, be anonymous , wear your hard hat every day…play for the name on the front, not the back” Second, I didn’t show up to Vegas and neither have 95% of fans. BYU fans travel and gives them a boost every time. Today seemed small on TV but I didn’t even hear LMU fans. We seem to be broke and apathetic. Sports is not a priority. BYU has been very “mid” all year but they turn it up a notch there. The WCC modified the tourney for them too so it’s obvious their advantage. If Stan finishes 4th all the time, it is better than the last 6 coaches. Fire Stan, and what message does that send? He will easily find another job and we’ll be rummaging the Big Sky for assistants. Literally no one has said fire Stan, but you. |
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Post by lmu2008 on Mar 5, 2023 1:26:38 GMT -5
You’re missing the point. You just don’t celebrate 3rd and 4th place finishes. If I am a recruit, I say to that, what’s our goal here? I've heard most of our players say that they explicitly came to LMU because of CSJ. Obviously, CSJ is selling his vision that we WILL work our way to competing for WCC regular season and conference tournament titles. These top 4 finishes are the building block to bigger things and recruits and their families know that. You think CSJ is pitching to recruits "Hooray we got 4th and we want to stay here!" I'm fine with us celebrating the small victories like the win away at the Zags or a 4th place finish because it's clear there is now a buzz around the program that I've personally never seen before. More alumni are donating. Fan engagement has gone up. These are the building blocks that lead to the ultimate goal of getting back to the NCAA tourney. |
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Post by mmlion93 on Mar 5, 2023 1:35:28 GMT -5
Best year in a long time. Fans are coming back! Big signature wins! A lot to of great moments. Three years and covid, it’s just begun. I’m satisfied for now! More great moments to come. I was at the game. Talk to Lmu and Gonzaga fans, all want to send byu packing with a loss! Would have loved to be that team! Oh well! Let’s hope for some post season play😎👍
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Post by lmu2015 on Mar 5, 2023 3:35:23 GMT -5
I think this is our 8th season with a .500+ record in the last 30 years, with two of those coming in the last 3 years - we have had 24 winning seasons in the 76 years of the program. We have only been ranked in the AP top 25 in 2 seasons... ever!
I don't think anyone is saying that 4th place is the end goal of a program, but you should applaud improvement and when you notice things are trending in the right direction. Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, every unbias ranking has this year's team as the best team since Paul Westhead and co. This year exceeded every one of our expectations at the beginning of the season, so honestly not sure why people aren't "celebrating" the improvement we have seen from this team and under CSJ - if our best season in 30+ years doesn't provide some happiness and just a little reason to celebrate that is unfortunate.
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Post by lionlife on Mar 5, 2023 17:08:52 GMT -5
Really disappointing end to the season. We were good enough to take down this inconsistent BYU team, and it would have been a phenomenal way to boot them from the conference. Also, had a shot to make one of the top two tournaments that we jeopardized by this loss.
There will be time to lionize the season, as it deserves. For now, I get the need to process the pain of the loss.
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Post by cs17 on Mar 8, 2023 15:36:58 GMT -5
Going to leave this one on a high note!
Proud of the fight this season. There are a few “fans” here who will NEVER be happy (they come with every sports team), the “forever negatives” as we call ‘em. They can whine all they want about “not being happy with 3rd or 4th”; but the truth is they’d rather be a “I told you so” guy and lose than actually celebrate any program progress.
Nearly every single game that the Lions played down or bad, they more often than not answered with a strong response in the next one.
The Zags win their 19th conference tourney title under Few after only 2 games (how fair is that Stu Jackson?), with all their 4 and 5 star players while the rest of the conference largely fights for 2nd. Talk about parity. And yet, this year the Lions did fight for 2nd, one of the rare times they were in the conversation in decades. Gersten saw more support this season then it has in the last 10.
So go ahead, wallow in misery. Or join most of us and be proud and excited for the opportunity that Stan and next season’s squad have ahead of them here. I’m hopeful Stan will improve as a coach, and excited to see who he can pull from the portal/recruiting and beyond.
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Post by lionlife on Mar 30, 2023 10:34:01 GMT -5
So with BYU leaving the conference, will we revert back to playing each team twice? That'd keep schedules at 16 conference games.
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