Second half of League play begins: MVC Game 10

[Old School MVC]

I find this odd, but if I have my head to head records right, I think MSU is the 7 seed as of now. In my eyes they are not a Thursday team, but who knows. I would hate to be the 2 seed playing them Friday!

[LanceShock]

Was a must win for SIU and I can't remember the last time SIU swept the season series against the Bears.

Uh, last year.

Crazy...my brain was telling me we haven't beat any valley team twice in a year except a bottom dweller the last 10 years.

MSU was the number 7 seed at Arch Madness last year, so sweeping them last year doesn't invalidate your statement about not beating any Valley team twice in the last 10 years except bottom dwellers.

[BCPanther]

I find this odd, but if I have my head to head records right, I think MSU is the 7 seed as of now. In my eyes they are not a Thursday team, but who knows. I would hate to be the 2 seed playing them Friday!

I believe you're right and they're in real trouble if there's a big tie somewhere because of their awful strength of schedule.

Could be one of those years with a 5 way tie for third where somebody gets such in Thursday...

[MSUDuo]

This is a serious question, and not meant to be a dig or an insult. Why does Missouri State keep getting blown out in 2nd halves? They were up by 9 at halftime to DePaul and lost by 2. They were up by 5 at halftime against Valpo and lost by 3. They were up by 17 at halftime at UNI, and barely held on to win by 4. They were up by 11 at Loyola and lost by 6. They were up by 8 at halftime against Indiana State, got forced to OT, and eventually won by 6. And today they were winning by 12 at the half.

They've outscored their opponents by 205 points in first halves of games this season, but they've been outscored by 17 in second halves. That's kind of weird. And I've watched several of these games and can't figure out why. Any ideas?

Lusk gets out coached. Simple as that.

After the DePaul game he claimed he forgot Johnson was on the bench...

Loyola game, Kendrix has a great first half. Don't see him the first 12 minutes in the 2nd half. Appeared to be the same thing tonight.

No one understands. Seriously, we are absolutely mystified as to how he can be this bad and continue to stick to his guns...

[glm38]

This is a serious question, and not meant to be a dig or an insult. Why does Missouri State keep getting blown out in 2nd halves? They were up by 9 at halftime to DePaul and lost by 2. They were up by 5 at halftime against Valpo and lost by 3. They were up by 17 at halftime at UNI, and barely held on to win by 4. They were up by 11 at Loyola and lost by 6. They were up by 8 at halftime against Indiana State, got forced to OT, and eventually won by 6. And today they were winning by 12 at the half.

They've outscored their opponents by 205 points in first halves of games this season, but they've been outscored by 17 in second halves. That's kind of weird. And I've watched several of these games and can't figure out why. Any ideas?

Lusk gets out coached. Simple as that.

After the DePaul game he claimed he forgot Johnson was on the bench...

Loyola game, Kendrix has a great first half. Don't see him the first 12 minutes in the 2nd half. Appeared to be the same thing tonight.

No one understands. Seriously, we are absolutely mystified as to how he can be this bad and continue to stick to his guns...

No one understands......except other bears fans. It's maddening. Personally I at times see little things that I feel are improvements in coaching strategy but they don't last. We are doomed to mediocrity until there is a coaching change. What a waste of a talent like Alize Johnson. He keeps trying to put us over the top and at least that's entertaining to watch.

[BEARZ77]

Unless you see Lusk on a consistent basis it's hard to realize how absolutely terrible he is at his craft. Being a coaches son and around basketball his entire life, he knows coach speak and that's what you hear when he's interviewed. It sounds like he knows something but it's like it's just preprogrammed and scripted and it never really addresses what has transpired. He consistently gets beat at halftime adjustments and is the epitome of someone who once he has a lead, becomes increasingly conservative,coaches not to lose , and ultimately does. Typically down the stretch at crunch time you will see whomever we are playing consistently attack the rim, play inside out as you should, and have productive possessions, while we milk the clock with useless dribble and become jump shot dependent at the end of the possession. That is a recipe for losing tight games and Lusk is a master chef.

Honestly I think we will go no better than 3-5 probably 2-6 or worse down the stretch. They will be mostly tight games except a blowout at WSU, but our script is well established. Most Bears fans are in that terrible purgatory of not wanting to see the team lose, but not agonizing about it either because we need to be bad enough[ play in round] to generate the kind of pressure on AD Moats to make a move. If we don't have much turnover, a new coach could do well quickly with the roster in place as the only significant loss is Miller. And as tough a little dude as Miller is, he makes terrible decisions down the stretch in most games as the epitome of the inefficient stretch drive Lusk offense.

[WSpringsBird]

Unless you see Lusk on a consistent basis it's hard to realize how absolutely terrible he is at his craft. Being a coaches son and around basketball his entire life, he knows coach speak and that's what you hear when he's interviewed. It sounds like he knows something but it's like it's just preprogrammed and scripted and it never really addresses what has transpired. He consistently gets beat at halftime adjustments and is the epitome of someone who once he has a lead, becomes increasingly conservative,coaches not to lose , and ultimately does. Typically down the stretch at crunch time you will see whomever we are playing consistently attack the rim, play inside out as you should, and have productive possessions, while we milk the clock with useless dribble and become jump shot dependent at the end of the possession. That is a recipe for losing tight games and Lusk is a master chef.

Honestly I think we will go no better than 3-5 probably 2-6 or worse down the stretch. They will be mostly tight games except a blowout at WSU, but our script is well established. Most Bears fans are in that terrible purgatory of not wanting to see the team lose, but not agonizing about it either because we need to be bad enough[ play in round] to generate the kind of pressure on AD Moats to make a move. If we don't have much turnover, a new coach could do well quickly with the roster in place as the only significant loss is Miller. And as tough a little dude as Miller is, he makes terrible decisions down the stretch in most games as the epitome of the inefficient stretch drive Lusk offense.

I'll certainly defer to longtime Bears fans, who seem unanimous that he is a bad coach, but I thought MSU looked really good in Normal. There's a lot of talent on that team. Perhaps that talent level sometimes masks the poor coaching.

[BEARZ77]

I'll certainly defer to longtime Bears fans, who seem unanimous that he is a bad coach, but I thought MSU looked really good in Normal. There's a lot of talent on that team. Perhaps that talent level sometimes masks the poor coaching.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Top 2-3 talent, but now that Drake made a change, absolute bottom of the barrel for a coach.

[bleach]

Lusk seemed rather angry during the post game handshake. Hinson addressed it post game but said he had no idea why he was angry. He knows it wasn't directed at him or a Salukis player though. Anybody know the reason or here Lusk talk about it post game?

Because he knows he sucks?

We have a winner!!!!
Does he know it though? Has anyone told him? Would he believe them?

[bleach]

This is a serious question, and not meant to be a dig or an insult. Why does Missouri State keep getting blown out in 2nd halves? They were up by 9 at halftime to DePaul and lost by 2. They were up by 5 at halftime against Valpo and lost by 3. They were up by 17 at halftime at UNI, and barely held on to win by 4. They were up by 11 at Loyola and lost by 6. They were up by 8 at halftime against Indiana State, got forced to OT, and eventually won by 6. And today they were winning by 12 at the half.

They've outscored their opponents by 205 points in first halves of games this season, but they've been outscored by 17 in second halves. That's kind of weird. And I've watched several of these games and can't figure out why. Any ideas?

Lusk said he didn't realize it was happening then said it was because they moved to the other end of the court. NOT joking.