by Adunk33 » November 13th, 2018, 7:00 am
FWIW- Muller did not schedule the Chicago State game. It's a "mainland" game for the Cayman MTE that starts Monday.
As far as MY he is the best player in the league when engaged, which I would argue was about 40% of the time last year. He effortlessly averaged over 15/6/4 per game last season. Could you imagine if he actually tried every game? If the effort is there, no one in the MVC can stop him.
Say what you will about Belmont, but they dropped 90 again last night after outscoring Middle Tennessee something like 46-19 in the second half. After watching the last two Belmont games and the No.25 Buffalo game, Belmont looks better than Buffalo IMO. I know, too early to tell, but I wouldn't be surprised for Belmont to make an appearance in the T25 this season. Plus, Belmont is a candidate for the next phase of MVC expansion. They look pretty good so far.
Muller calling out the guys, and himself, I see as a good thing. I'm not surprised the birds got their teeth kicked in at Belmont. They have a game or two or five or 10 like that every year where the effort is just trash. I learned first hand coaching effort is one of the toughest things to teach. Muller has called out the team every year he's been at ISU at some point, this is the earliest he's done it. Hopefully, the message gets through to them. It seems to have with quotes from all the seniors except MY.
This game against Chicago St comes at a bad time. Chicago St will likely give the Birds a false confidence headed into 3 tough games in 3 days in the MTE. Georgia starts it next Monday. If ISU pulls that one out, they'll likely play Clemson.
