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Merrimack Pre Game Thread


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When: Sunday, December 12th  12:00 PM EST

Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana

TV: BTN

Sometimes the way to cure the sting of a loss is to focus on the next game... :) 

Results for the Merrimack Warriors so far...4-6

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Predicted to finish 4th in the NEC...

Outlook: Joe Gallo was in an impossible situation after a magical Division I debut. Ineligible for the postseason, Merrimack literally could not surpass its 2020 NEC regular season title, but a 9-9 campaign after losing three senior stalwarts and not playing a game until the NEC schedule kicked off January 7th due to COVID should still be considered a success. The Warriors remain in their idiotic “transition period” for two more seasons, but with every relevant piece back from last year’s squad, Gallo & Co. can once again set their sights high. 

Merrimack’s success primarily originates from its frenetic defense, a gloriously chaotic mix of pressure zones that has made the Warriors a nightmare to prepare for and play against. The heavy use of zone and full court pressure is representative of the NEC as a whole – although no one pushes it to the extreme quite like Merrimack:

Bottom Line: Gallo has built a small-conference defensive juggernaut, and with so many pieces back to execute his unique zone pressure scheme, the Warriors should be competitive on most nights. The lack of shooting drags down the outlook, though, so unless Jensen, Reid, McKoy, and Watkins can make strides from deep, Merrimack likely settles in the middle of the pack again – though I’ll nudge them towards the upper end of that echelon thanks to Gallo + the D. 

Sounds like we'll be facing a zone and some pressure...Things we need to work on for Big 10 play...

Best player is 6-8 wing Jordan Minor...Not very deep or very big from the looks of it...

Starters stats...

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Highlights of their loss to our conference rival, Rutgers...

We should have an easy time here...Be interesting to see how much time Woody gives some of the guys who haven't been getting minutes here ;) 

Edited by IUFLA
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14 minutes ago, kyhoosier29 said:

Two predictions - TJD will score at will and dominate while he yells at the top of his lungs and 💪. We’ll win by 30 and think we’ve righted the ship. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Speaking of this, Bardo mentioned it in the game how we were all business and no hi fives or yelling or flexing or anything.  I wonder why they were so emotionless in the first half while scoring at will?

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37 minutes ago, kyhoosier29 said:

Two predictions - TJD will score at will and dominate while he yells at the top of his lungs and 💪. We’ll win by 30 and think we’ve righted the ship. 🤷🏻‍♂️

and people will still complain because we didnt win by 32 and think CMW doesnt know what he's doing or how to sub, because everyone is a better coach from their keyboard.

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1 hour ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

Speaking of this, Bardo mentioned it in the game how we were all business and no hi fives or yelling or flexing or anything.  I wonder why they were so emotionless in the first half while scoring at will?

I don't have a problem with this, so long as they continue to play like they did in the first half.  I like a cool, stone faced assassin, especially on the road. 

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13 minutes ago, bluegrassIU said:

That's not a sinking ship. It's a ship that is still finding its course.

That's the absolute perfect analogy. 

And these losses weren't just to power conference opponents, it's Syracuse and Wisconsin.  They've been mediocre at worst for the past 3 decades.  No loss is ever good, but those were not bad losses.

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Now that I’ve had a somewhat decent night’s sleep, and a little time to reflect on what happened last last, I realized I was more surprised that we were actually up by 22 pts on the road than the fact we lost the game. I still believe that Woody will get these guys to believe in themselves, and we’ll win 2-3 games on the road this year putting us in the top tier of the B10. 

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31 minutes ago, bluegrassIU said:

Righted the ship? The ship is not that far of course. We are really overreacting.

We lost 2 games, on the road, to legit power conference teams. And had every chance to win both.

We are 3 minutes of good ball from being undefeated.

That's not a sinking ship. It's a ship that is still finding its course.

Plenty to be frustrated about. Plenty to be optimistic about.

It is early folks. The coaches and players are going to learn day by day, together. 

We could/should be undefeated.

Not ready to panic just yet.

An off course ship loses by 20 or 30. Not nail biters on the road.

 

16 minutes ago, Zlinedavid said:

That's the absolute perfect analogy. 

And these losses weren't just to power conference opponents, it's Syracuse and Wisconsin.  They've been mediocre at worst for the past 3 decades.  No loss is ever good, but those were not bad losses.

But our fanbase (myself included) sometimes spends too much time searching for the iceberg...

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51 minutes ago, bluegrassIU said:

Righted the ship? The ship is not that far of course. We are really overreacting.

We lost 2 games, on the road, to legit power conference teams. And had every chance to win both.

We are 3 minutes of good ball from being undefeated.

That's not a sinking ship. It's a ship that is still finding its course.

Plenty to be frustrated about. Plenty to be optimistic about.

It is early folks. The coaches and players are going to learn day by day, together. 

We could/should be undefeated.

Not ready to panic just yet.

An off course ship loses by 20 or 30. Not nail biters on the road.

I agree with this sentiment, but I would just add that there is a real opportunity to learn from both losses, but especially the Wisconsin loss.  The question is whether we actually do learn from the loss and progress or just flatline like we have for most of the past decade.  

I don't think last night was just about blowing a lead.  There were actual warts that you could see.  Now it is up to the staff and players to recognize and accept those problems and do something about it.  

In the past, we would have a bad loss, and it really turned out to simply signal what the team was.  This time, do we actually progress?  

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53 minutes ago, Inequality said:

Gonzaga vs Merrimack tonight at 9et.

Think the article said Zags +31.

I have to admit, I’ve never heard of this school so I had to look them up. They are going through a 4 year transition to become a D1.

So, if they beat the Zags, should we be concerned?

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2 hours ago, Zlinedavid said:

That's the absolute perfect analogy. 

And these losses weren't just to power conference opponents, it's Syracuse and Wisconsin.  They've been mediocre at worst for the past 3 decades.  No loss is ever good, but those were not bad losses.

Or maybe missing a couple stones... at least on one side

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2 hours ago, bluegrassIU said:

Righted the ship? The ship is not that far of course. We are really overreacting.

We lost 2 games, on the road, to legit power conference teams. And had every chance to win both.

We are 3 minutes of good ball from being undefeated.

That's not a sinking ship. It's a ship that is still finding its course.

Plenty to be frustrated about. Plenty to be optimistic about.

It is early folks. The coaches and players are going to learn day by day, together. 

We could/should be undefeated.

Not ready to panic just yet.

An off course ship loses by 20 or 30. Not nail biters on the road.

Legit power conference teams? I guess. Both are less-talented than us, and overall mediocre. 3 minutes of good ball from being undefeated is awful optimistic, seeing that we were dreadful in 2 of the 4 halves. Heck, we were dreadful in the first half against Marshall, and struggled in the 2nd half against St John’s. Heck of a lot more than being just a few minutes away from undefeated.

I’ve not given up on this staff, but I’m also not sold either. I’ll start believing when we start seeing results go our way. We can play 35 minutes of great ball every game, but if we still lose, I don’t give a hoot about those 35 minutes and perceived improvement from last year. 

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