Exhibition game results - DePauw 66 Evansville 62

[WSUbballer]

This thread is pretty funny.

What is Marshall's conference record against Evansville since coming to WSU?

It's similar to his record against Creighton. I dunno what that means exactly.

Not a surprise though that Marshall and/or WSU was the first thing you were able to bring up in this thread.

[WSUbballer]

Don't compare college baseball to college soccer.

Seriously.

Young people actually like soccer.

LMFAO!

I love it with you. You're so damn hypocritical it makes tears run from my eyes.

DJA's translation:

EVERYTHING I OR A NON-WSU FAN SAYS IS FACT. EVERYTHING A WSU FAN SAYS IS AUTOMATICALLY WRONG. I WILL ALWAYS JUMP AT THE CHANCE TO GO AGAINST WSU IN ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING POSSIBLE.

And just for a reality check. College soccer is about on par with women's gymnastics. I can't believe you're one of "those" people.



This whole thread has gotten really, really amusing during the course of the day. You have more Creighton fans defending Evansville than Evansville fans.

If everyone's content on keeping the Great Aces in the conference, that's fine. I don't wanna see any more complaints from the Keep Evansville campaign ever. If the argument out there is "there's always gonna be a bottom dweller" and if Evansville fans are content with being that perennial bottom feeder, then so be it.

[Snaggletooth]

I'm really not understanding this blame Evansville vs blame WSU. When a team pulls off a big upset aren't the fans of the underdog the ones complaining that their team isn't getting credit? That the favorites always blame the loss on themselves? Shouldn't Evansville want WSU fans to say "you were better than us that day?" I personally blame it 100% on WSU and think the team should've been ashamed of the way they played. But isn't that the exact opposite of what Evansville fans would want me to think? Aren't you supposed to give the winning team credit? I remember after the UNI - KU game, KU fans were telling me that the only reason UNI won was because KU was unprepared and were off their game that day, I took that as an insult and insisted that UNI was a good team who deserved to win and forced KU off their game. Is this a completely different situation because UNI is actually good, while Evansville is actually bad?

yeah We beat UNI too

You still finished last in the MVC and had a 8-21 record and nobody expect you to them to be any better. If you enjoy that type of season so be it, enjoy. I frankly don't find losing entertaining.

[Ace Dad]

I'm really not understanding this blame Evansville vs blame WSU. When a team pulls off a big upset aren't the fans of the underdog the ones complaining that their team isn't getting credit? That the favorites always blame the loss on themselves? Shouldn't Evansville want WSU fans to say "you were better than us that day?" I personally blame it 100% on WSU and think the team should've been ashamed of the way they played. But isn't that the exact opposite of what Evansville fans would want me to think? Aren't you supposed to give the winning team credit? I remember after the UNI - KU game, KU fans were telling me that the only reason UNI won was because KU was unprepared and were off their game that day, I took that as an insult and insisted that UNI was a good team who deserved to win and forced KU off their game. Is this a completely different situation because UNI is actually good, while Evansville is actually bad?

yeah We beat UNI too

You still finished last in the MVC and had a 8-21 record and nobody expect you to them to be any better. If you enjoy that type of season so be it, enjoy. I frankly don't find losing entertaining.

Snag, the lowest art of response on a basketball board is to tell the other poster that his team had a losing record. The poster already knows that. Consider some analysis with your sage comments.

[Aces0976]

As a long time Aces fan, I have to throw in my 2 cents. Concerning the original topic, the loss to Depauw was pathetic, disgusting, just plain horrible to watch. However, keeping things in perspective, its still just an exhibition game. The more pressing concern of mine is the last 10 years of diminishing results. I could sit here and pretend to have the answers, but I dont. I do know that its much more frustrating for UE fans than it is for fans of the other schools in the valley. Believe or not, we're not happy and content to be the bottom dwellars, it's not some master plan we devised in the mid 90's to join the valley and single handedly ruin the conference RPI and national standing. I dont know if it's a coaching issue, athletic dept issue or institutional issue......but there is definitely a problem. Right now, I dont see it getting better. I hope Im wrong and I promise I'm going to support the team regardless, just wish I could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Ace Dad]

As a long time Aces fan, I have to throw in my 2 cents. Concerning the original topic, the loss to Depauw was pathetic, disgusting, just plain horrible to watch. However, keeping things in perspective, its still just an exhibition game. The more pressing concern of mine is the last 10 years of diminishing results. I could sit here and pretend to have the answers, but I dont. I do know that its much more frustrating for UE fans than it is for fans of the other schools in the valley. Believe or not, we're not happy and content to be the bottom dwellars, it's not some master plan we devised in the mid 90's to join the valley and single handedly ruin the conference RPI and national standing. I dont know if it's a coaching issue, athletic dept issue or institutional issue......but there is definitely a problem. Right now, I dont see it getting better. I hope Im wrong and I promise I'm going to support the team regardless, just wish I could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Great post.

If you go back the last 10-11 years and look at recruiting, player development, coaching, and player retention, I believe that player retention has hurt us more than anything. Too many times we lost a key player or players when we could not afford to do so based on our bench capability. I still remember how painful it was when Dan Lytle left, because we needed him to play his last year as an Ace. I still feel the pain from the November 2004 "Thanksgiving Burglary" when we lost three players and any chance to compete for an upper finish in the Valley. Basketball players in this generation are not as resilient and tough. Too many have been babied on the AAU circuit and cannot handle discipline from a tough coach. The parents are worse, trust me on this one. We see the same thing with Army soldiers. The easy thing to do is transfer. The hard thing to do is to stay, suck it up, and become a better player. The Devil's Advocate says: "other programs lose players, too." Yes, I know, but our margin for loss is more sensitive because historically our recruiting classes have not been as strong as other Valley schools and we need players to stick around for their Jr and Sr campaigns. Fans like to throw stones at the coach because he is an easy target. Fans who have never been in charge of young men for anything throw the biggest stones. It is ok to be frustrated. Too many fans become vindictive.

[unipanther99]

Aces0976, I really appreciate your comments on the situation. UNI was in this situation 10 years ago, and look what has happened. It takes the right combination of staff, administration, talent, support, and luck... but UNI is living proof that anything is possible.

It's easy to beat up on Aces fans these days, but it's important to remember that they want to see Evansville improve more than any of the rest of us do.

[Aces0976]

Ace Dad,

I whole-heartedly agree that player retention has been a major issue. I cant help but think how different we would look this year with Kaylon Williams and James Haarsma, but nothing we can do about that now. Like I said, I dont have the answers, but I'll be there in the same seats I've had since I was a teenager. I just know this doesnt look like my year when it comes to sports.....Cowboys fan, ND football fan, now the Depauw game. On top of that, Im married to a die hard UNC fan

[jayball]

If the argument out there is "there's always gonna be a bottom dweller" and if Evansville fans are content with being that perennial bottom feeder, then so be it.

Baller,

I understand the desire to strengthen the MVC. I just question if we will really get the giant bump forward in exposure, prestige, RPI, ect... if we trade Eville for SLU, Butler, or WKU type schools.

The MVC would likely be a bit better, but nationally no one would really care.

There are more successful teams that we could seek out. SLU for Eville might be a good trade, but it isn't going to launch us automatically into guaranteed multibid territory.

As for defending Eville, I just remember watching Marcus Wilson, Craig Snow, Clint Cuffle, ect and enjoying watching them compete back then Eville had some really tough teams. To me there is value in watching guys like Holslinger, Ely, Wagner...compete. They might not be on the most talented team or attend the most celebrated school in conference but they play just as hard and put in just as much time as the other guys. How many people would just give up in situations like that? CU in the Rick Johnson years, WSU before Turg? I just don't see the need to denigrate everything about UE.

AceDad and Aces0976, thanks for the info. I had forgotten about the burglaries and Lytle leaving. I thinkthat player rentention is probably one of the biggest indicators of a healthy program. CU had been slipping in this area recently and while we have had it pretty good over the last 10-15 years, there are no guarantees that things stay that way.

[bigdawg]

I'm not predicting anything similar, but where was Butler 10 or 15 years ago?