Game day: Lady Techsters vs. Lady RedBirds 2nd round WNIT

[Champ967]

Ok -- what of it?



Seriously, though - there's an important difference ...

In our road game, we put up a fight until the very end. Ours was a back and forth roller-coaster right up until the garbage-time fouls started. The poor Ponies, on the other hand, were never really in it. I think a neutral site versus SMU may have been a closer game, but that's it.

We were out-coached at ISU (completely forgivable at this point in Spoon's HC career). But SMU was simply outmatched.

[Dawg06]

Agreed, hate to put it like this, but it is time to realize we are not the Lady Techsters of the old days. We are 150 RPI Lady Techsters. The fact that Spoon had them playing this well down the stretch and competed in this game makes me have no reservations about hiring her as head coach. I know we have pride, but Illinoise State was simply better throughout the year and in this game.

I'm with you. I'm not exactly sure what the Lady Techster's RPI was when Spoon took over, but I think it was around 200. To help put that in perspective, there are only 120 FBS football schools. Spoon deserves credit for boosting the Techsters' RPI by ~50 points in 8-10 games. I would bet Tech had the largest RPI jump of any team in the nation in the final month of the season. This program still has a long way to go, but it can be done. 16 of the top 50 RPI teams are not from the AQ football conferences. Even though Illinois State isn't a big name, they were a top 50 team that had 11 days to rest up and prepare to play the Techsters at home. This loss shouldn't taint what Spoon accomplished after taking over the team.

[Brian96]

Couldn't SMU say the same thing?

Not after a 20+ point beatdown.

On a neutral court, their lack of athleticism and our sloppy play would have canceled out and we would have been at a dead heat. (If we had not been playing like drunk 14-year-olds, we would have won anyway, home-court advantage or not.)

[Dirtydawg]

Sorry and again, not to debate this or belabor the point, but didn't you say you've watched 1 game of Spoon's coaching career? What frame of reference do you have to know whether or not she was outcoached? She could have sucked every other game. Is a coach outcoached every game their team loses? How can you pinpoint exactly what was wrong when you have nothing to compare it to? You can't gather someone's ability from reading stat sheets for 10 games and then watching the 11th. Did she not make adjustments or did we not execute? Any coach will tell you that at the end of the day, X's and O's ain't nothin but letters.

I did not say there was no difference in being a coach and being a floor general, I said fans who have no real knowledge of coaching like to label every former player who becomes a coach as not understanding the difference and like to dismiss their abilities to understand the finer points of the game. Former players always have their intelligence questioned either directly or indirectly. If Spoon was never a player, I doubt the same arguments would be being used. One of the very reasons opposing coaches and executives in the women's basketball world at the college and pro levels who've watched her coach praise Spoon is because she doesn't have the problem of not being able to adjust. I doubt she developed it in 1 game. We're talking about someone whose "X's and O's" once impressed Jeff Van Gundy, the biggest task master of them all.
All I'm saying is your assertion that she should hire a tactical assistant holds no merit because A) all coaches on staff should have that ability and B) she already is that person. Spoon's learning curve is no steeper than any other 1st time college head coach.

How does one "show it" to a fan watching the game on the internet as opposed to someone in film sessions, practices and huddles, and what makes you think an assistant coach just as knowledgable would have all the answers and wouldn't have an off night once in a while as well? Tech got outhustled and outworked last night. It had nothing to do with the alphabet or a clipboard. Tech had a great X's and O's coach and it got them nowhere by the way.

Tech's problem is the most intense person in the program is on the bench in a suit. That can't be the case when you're in a playoff situation. ISU wanted it more and it was obvious.

Tech fans would be better served worrying about Spoon brushing up on the NCAA rule book before she jumps into recruiting season than worrying about her X's and O's.

I'm going to make this brief because, as I said earlier, there's no way to try to make my point without it sounding like I'm bashing Coach Spoon and am against her. That's not the case. Having said that, one doesn't need to see a multitude of games to know if a coach got outcoached in one game. Several examples have been posted of things we could have done differently that Spoon didn't take advantage of. It doesn't mean she's a bad coach and doesn't know how to do it. She had an off night. My main point about getting a good x's and o's assistant was more to complement her than to mean that she didn't know what she was doing. She may not have seen these opportunities to tweak our offense or defense whereas a knowledgeable asst. would have. We obviously didn't have that luxury of this game or we would have adjusted instead of trying to work the game inside on a zone against a 6'5 post player who wasn't going to foul. It's obvious the game plan was to try to get her in foul trouble, but that wasn't happening. We should have tried something else. We didn't.

Finally, let me say. I love Coach Spoon. I want her as the HC of the Lady Techsters. Once again, I'll say it again, I was one of the first to "jump on the bandwagon" when she was hired and defended the decision as well as advocated taking away the "interim" label. It is my opinion that she can bring us back to where we want to be, but it won't happen as quickly as some of us are thinking. I have no doubt that Coach Spoon knows how to coach; I've said so multiple times. She just needs some assistants that are as knowledgeable to complement her. Now, I'm done with this.

[LT]

I'm not exactly sure what the Lady Techster's RPI was when Spoon took over, but I think it was around 200. To help put that in perspective, there are only 120 FBS football schools. Spoon deserves credit for boosting the Techsters' RPI by ~50 points in 8-10 games. I would bet Tech had the largest RPI jump of any team in the nation in the final month of the season. This program still has a long way to go, but it can be done. 16 of the top 50 RPI teams are not from the AQ football conferences. Even though Illinois State isn't a big name, they were a top 50 team that had 11 days to rest up and prepare to play the Techsters at home. This loss shouldn't taint what Spoon accomplished after taking over the team.

We were 170 something after the BSU loss that got Long fired. We climbed into the 150's under Teresa. It simply was not possible to make up much ground with so many games against lower tier WAC teams. The SJSU win (and maybe even the wins over NMSU and HI) actually worsened our RPI. The Nevada loss left us at #158.

http://www.collegerpi.com/women/

I don't think anybody has compiled RPIs since the NCAA and NIT tournaments started.

[LT]

ISU advances with a 51-50 win over Marquette.

[aubunique]

At least ISU didn't embarrass the techsters by losing the next game.
MAke spoon head coach and hang on for better days to come!

[TYLERTECHSAS]

At least ISU didn't embarrass the techsters by losing the next game.
MAke spoon head coach and hang on for better days to come!

I agree 100% Aub. Nice seeing you back.

[tigtoo30]

ISU knocks off Indiana to advance to the final 4.

[champion110]

ISU knocks off Indiana to advance to the final 4.

Yep! They are a much better team that people give them credit for. They could win the WNIT and should have been in the NCAA with their rpi. We played them hard and should be proud. I bet they could have made a round or two in the NCAA.

[Aussierules1985]

Yep! They are a much better team that people give them credit for. They could win the WNIT and should have been in the NCAA with their rpi. We played them hard and should be proud. I bet they could have made a round or two in the NCAA.

Just an FYI....

Too right Champ. If you guys didn't know they are in the WNIT final four now. They play Wednesday night against Kansas.

Coincidentally Kansas' second round game (their first) was against Creighton, they won 79-64 at Kansas. ISU beat Creighton at home by 20, and lost away in OT just prior to the tournament.

The game is 7pm Central Wedneday. Just in case you want to see how our opponent fares against the bigger players. I will be checking the score that night, that's for sure.

9 of all the played NIT games were won on the away court... just had to add. 5 on the other side of the bracket. What away win pct is that??? Without counting the games im guessing 20% ish... stats say enough about home court advantage when the teams are good enough to get the vote.