Thursday, December 14, 2006

Fresno St. Basketball

I figured it was about time to throw a little update, seeing as we are now slightly into the season. MB has been to every home this year, I have been to 2 of them, and I believe JK has been to 2, I was there to enjoy his awesome presence for one such occasion.

The Bulldogs record right now is a disappointing 8 and 1. How can you be disappointed with only one loss you ask?

Their one loss comes to UCSB in SB, a team they were favored to beat by about 13 points, and it was by an astounding 28 points. 70 - 42. They had 17 turnovers, and shot 28% from the field. 5-27 from 3 point. Played with no heart, and no desire.

Their schedule thus far has been cake. A little too cake, as they are beginning to form bad habits. They barely beat an average Oregon St. team on the road (a game that we listened to on XM on the way to Santa Monica), then followed the atrocious loss at UCSB, and then played Montana St. for the 2nd time this year, a team they beat 80 - 41 their first meeting, they beat 82 - 77 in OT, a game where Quinton Hosley saved the Dogs by pouring in 30.

The question is, are this UCSB loss and Montana St. near loss an early season anamoly, or because both of these games were on the road, can Fresno St. just not play on the road? If they are going to have road troubles this season, it doesn't look like this team will be going anywhere. With the players they have, the tournament is definately not out of the question. But it hasn't been all bad, they were rebounding with the teams they had been playing recently. A big change, as usually they are pretty passive on the glass.

Hopefully they can work through their recent inability to hit a jumper with any consistency, and play with some intensity on both sides of the ball. With Creighton in 2 days, followed by Stanford, and Cal Poly all at home, they can pick up their game. Creighton will be a tough test, they have been playing extremely tough as of late, even with 2 early losses, behind Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver.

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