Last night, I attended second round NIT action between Valpo and FSU. Valpo won 81-69. In that game, FSU never led. Never had the game tied except at 0-0. Over 5 minutes went by before they scored their first point. Their best player was #22 Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and he even threw up three airballs from 3 point land. Their tall guys had no affect on the game at all. I did not see the FSU game against ND. I guess my question is how did these guys manage to beat the Irish so decisively yet look as though they didn't even deserve a bid to the NIT last night? I have an opinion but it leans more on the Seminoles mental state than their physical play.
Question About ND Basketball
- Thread starter Toby Smart
- Start date
Not sure - maybe Baylor knows...or check with Purdue...since I have never heard of anything like this ever happening before - I hope you bought a Lotto ticket yesterday since it would look to be your day
Middle Tenn, Ark Little Rock, and Yale are all very good mid major basketball teams and all had very good seasons. Read the analysis on any of those "upsets" and you get an idea of why it happened. I asked about FSU and how they were able to beat ND. It was just a question open for a little analysis. Obviously, you two don't know why. It's OK. No one thinks any less of you. Maybe you didn't see the game either so making a legit response would be impossible.
I'm assuming mental state. Not really into the NIT, and the kids just didn't come to play.
That's what I was kind of thinking. Valpo is a very small but beautiful arena with a small student body in attendance. Though the place was sold out and Valpo is a very good mid major, the whole day had to be surreal for the boys from Florida used to playing in large arenas. Valpo was aggressive throughout and about the time FSU got their heads in the game, it was too late. It was a different team that played ND that day I can only assume. One funny thing happened at the game. After one of the FSU three point airballs, the bench immediately called a time out. Their bench was right in front of the Valpo student body. Small in numbers but mighty. During the entire length of the time out, the students were all pointing at the FSU bench yelling "airball....airball". I guess you had to be there.
