[washingtonismoney]

Down 8-4 early.

[washingtonismoney]

Down 8-4 early.

[washingtonismoney]

Stanford scuffling on defense, average-ish on offense, down 19-18 w/ 11:32 in the first half remaining. DePaul is a very poor team -- #218 on KenPom and #167 on Sagarin.

[washingtonismoney]

Stanford scuffling on defense, average-ish on offense, down 19-18 w/ 11:32 in the first half remaining. DePaul is a very poor team -- #218 on KenPom and #167 on Sagarin.

[washingtonismoney]

Humphrey has a distance to go on offense, but his length and energy cause problems on defense.

[washingtonismoney]

Humphrey has a distance to go on offense, but his length and energy cause problems on defense.

[OutsiderFan]

Wow.  Has the ineptitude baton been passed from the football team to the men's hoopsters?  U-G-L-Y. 

Why isn't Nastic playing?

[OutsiderFan]

Wow.  Has the ineptitude baton been passed from the football team to the men's hoopsters?  U-G-L-Y. 

Why isn't Nastic playing?

[washingtonismoney]

Why isn't Nastic playing?

Foul trouble, and no one has informed Dawkins about the logical problems associated with self-foulign out.

[washingtonismoney]

Why isn't Nastic playing?

Foul trouble, and no one has informed Dawkins about the logical problems associated with self-foulign out.

[washingtonismoney]

Vegas Insider had the consensus betting line as STAN (-8), by the by.

[washingtonismoney]

Vegas Insider had the consensus betting line as STAN (-8), by the by.

[washingtonismoney]

DePaul 41- Stanford 30. What an awful first half here.

[washingtonismoney]

DePaul 41- Stanford 30. What an awful first half here.

[scorecard]

Really ugly first half.  We are not a good fastbreak team, so the frenetic pace hurts us against a team with quicker small guards (see Dayton).  We also seem to be turnover prone when the pace picks up too fast.  Need to slow the pace so we can use our height inside.  We should be more selective about running, especially when Nastic is on the floor.  Would have been okay if we didn't give up 5 easy points in the last flurry of ugliness.  Depaul is shooting the 3 very well, hopefully they cool off in the 2nd.

[scorecard]

Really ugly first half.  We are not a good fastbreak team, so the frenetic pace hurts us against a team with quicker small guards (see Dayton).  We also seem to be turnover prone when the pace picks up too fast.  Need to slow the pace so we can use our height inside.  We should be more selective about running, especially when Nastic is on the floor.  Would have been okay if we didn't give up 5 easy points in the last flurry of ugliness.  Depaul is shooting the 3 very well, hopefully they cool off in the 2nd.

[washingtonismoney]

DePaul is up by 15 now. If this continues, it's in the discussion for worst loss of the Dawkins era.

[washingtonismoney]

DePaul is up by 15 now. If this continues, it's in the discussion for worst loss of the Dawkins era.

[scorecard]

Maybe some signs of life here, lead down to 9.  And we have Depaul in team foul trouble.  It really shouldn't be this hard.

[scorecard]

Maybe some signs of life here, lead down to 9.  And we have Depaul in team foul trouble.  It really shouldn't be this hard.

[washingtonismoney]

lead at 10 with 6:16 left in the half. Stanford hasn't lost to a team as low in KenPom's ratings since 2009-10, Dawkins's second year on campus (when the 'we're-just-building-this' is a legitimate explanation.)

[washingtonismoney]

lead at 10 with 6:16 left in the half. Stanford hasn't lost to a team as low in KenPom's ratings since 2009-10, Dawkins's second year on campus (when the 'we're-just-building-this' is a legitimate explanation.)

[washingtonismoney]

Nastic fouls out, DePaul up 13, and time to cue up the Don Meredith with about 2 minutes left in the game.

[washingtonismoney]

Nastic fouls out, DePaul up 13, and time to cue up the Don Meredith with about 2 minutes left in the game.

[scorecard]

Terrible game.  Hope that was just a holiday hangover, because I'm still optimistic about the team.  Every time we drew near, we'd have a terrible play, usually of the careless variety (Randle getting picked from behind because he wasn't looking up, not boxing out on a missed free throw, careless passing, an inordinate number of traveling violations, too many big men trying to draw charges instead of just challenging shots).  Just never put a run together.  But it should never have come to that.  We also shot quite poorly from three (4-19). Pickens should get more time if Rosco Allen isn't shooting it well, because we need another outside threat.  Cannot explain why Dawkins hardly ever played Cartwright today, if only just to give Randle a breather. 

[scorecard]

Terrible game.  Hope that was just a holiday hangover, because I'm still optimistic about the team.  Every time we drew near, we'd have a terrible play, usually of the careless variety (Randle getting picked from behind because he wasn't looking up, not boxing out on a missed free throw, careless passing, an inordinate number of traveling violations, too many big men trying to draw charges instead of just challenging shots).  Just never put a run together.  But it should never have come to that.  We also shot quite poorly from three (4-19). Pickens should get more time if Rosco Allen isn't shooting it well, because we need another outside threat.  Cannot explain why Dawkins hardly ever played Cartwright today, if only just to give Randle a breather. 

[washingtonismoney]

Terrible game.  Hope that was just a holiday hangover, because I'm still optimistic about the team.  ...

I didn't expect this, so I'm surprised. But this to me is a major negative. First of all, you shouldn't be losing to a team ranked as low as DePaul is and be a good team. And certainly not by a wide margin -- 15 points is a crushing blow. So that's really bad.

Compound that with some of the weak performances earlier in the year (e.g. against South Dakota and Wofford), and the team does not appear all that strong this year. Considering that Dawkins is starting three seniors and a junior, he doesn't have youth or rebuilding as an excuse either.

[washingtonismoney]

Terrible game.  Hope that was just a holiday hangover, because I'm still optimistic about the team.  ...

I didn't expect this, so I'm surprised. But this to me is a major negative. First of all, you shouldn't be losing to a team ranked as low as DePaul is and be a good team. And certainly not by a wide margin -- 15 points is a crushing blow. So that's really bad.

Compound that with some of the weak performances earlier in the year (e.g. against South Dakota and Wofford), and the team does not appear all that strong this year. Considering that Dawkins is starting three seniors and a junior, he doesn't have youth or rebuilding as an excuse either.

[washingtonismoney]

Three letters: B.Y.U.

You mean...BYU last year? That was a 9 point loss. More to the point, BYU was a tournament team last year. While it's not a great look to lose at home, I think losing by 15 to a perennially awful team like DePaul is far worse than that.

The best comparisons for yesterday's loss are at the beginning of Dawkins's tenure -- your Murray States, for example. (But even Murray State was only by 3!)

[washingtonismoney]

Three letters: B.Y.U.

You mean...BYU last year? That was a 9 point loss. More to the point, BYU was a tournament team last year. While it's not a great look to lose at home, I think losing by 15 to a perennially awful team like DePaul is far worse than that.

The best comparisons for yesterday's loss are at the beginning of Dawkins's tenure -- your Murray States, for example. (But even Murray State was only by 3!)

[washingtonismoney]

They were ahead 97-78 with five minutes left to play before the dregs of their bench let us close the gap. They scored 112 and probably could have made 130 if they had need to.

The 90-60 loss to ASU in 2009, Dawkins' first conference game, also was pretty horrifying.

I had forgotten about that. Still, I think both losses are better than the DePaul loss, as DePaul -- and this really can't be emphasized enough -- is a historically awwwwffulll team.

Here's their record over the past few years: 7-24; 12-19; 11-21; 12-21.

[washingtonismoney]

They were ahead 97-78 with five minutes left to play before the dregs of their bench let us close the gap. They scored 112 and probably could have made 130 if they had need to.

The 90-60 loss to ASU in 2009, Dawkins' first conference game, also was pretty horrifying.

I had forgotten about that. Still, I think both losses are better than the DePaul loss, as DePaul -- and this really can't be emphasized enough -- is a historically awwwwffulll team.

Here's their record over the past few years: 7-24; 12-19; 11-21; 12-21.

[BostonCard]

Does it really matter if this is the "worst" loss of Dawkins' career?  That we are even having this discussion tells you that the loss was very problematic, and doesn't augur well for the season.  Hopefully it is a one-off "bad game", but history suggests otherwise.

BC

[BostonCard]

Does it really matter if this is the "worst" loss of Dawkins' career?  That we are even having this discussion tells you that the loss was very problematic, and doesn't augur well for the season.  Hopefully it is a one-off "bad game", but history suggests otherwise.

BC