Thursday, February 18, 2016

This Week in Wrenball: Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Just one short week ago, one short blogger came in this space to tell you about hope, and possibility, and lofty expectations.

That guy's a fucking idiot.

2015-16 Towson Tigers
Two games into the regular season's most comprehensive test, the Wrens find themselves with far more questions than answers. After a close home loss to Hofstra last Thursday, W&M got thoroughly embarrassed at Towson, allowing a dismal offensive squad (the Tigers rank in the bottom fifth nationally in most offense efficiency categories) to drop a cool 99. To put that in context, Towson scored 44 against Northeastern in the game immediately preceding their dismantling of the Tribe. Pat Skerry's team put up 37 against Charleston earlier in the season.

And the Tribe made them look like Loyola Marymount. (I'm aware that I'm dating myself with that reference. Sue me. I'm annoyed, and not in prime simile-generating mode.) More ominously, the Tribe also made them look like the Bad Boy Pistons. Towson was consistently and comprehensively the toughest team on the court.

Things don't get any easier this evening, as league leaders UNCW come to Williamsburg riding an 11-game winning streak. The Seahawks beat W&M, 97-94, in overtime in Wilmington earlier in the season in one of the conference season's best games.

Tribe, free falling(ish)
The W&M team that was 9-3 in league play two games ago seems a distant memory. The faint silver lining in this mini-slump is the obvious - it really doesn't mean anything in a one-bid league. Tony Shaver has a few weeks to get his team to play defense, to lift its intensity before the games actually do matter.

A loss tonight isn't the end of the world, but it would essentially be the end of any hopes of getting a top-two seed for the CAA Tournament. And it'd be a sobering measure of W&M's standing against the league's top teams - the Tribe is 0-5 against Hofstra, Towson, and UNCW and 9-0 against the rest of the league. Chances are they'll have to beat at least two of those teams to win the conference tournament.

That seems daunting.

26 comments:

Clarence said...

Wait 'til next year.

Clarence said...

I just got around to reading Dave's post from yesterday. My takeaway: nobody noticed that Dave's misspelling of "dike" made it a very dirty metaphor? Come on, people.

Also, Dave is right on most of those points, but it's hard. All 4 of our kids have smartphones. They are teens and preteens and out and about and I use them as a means of constant contact as well as tracking devices. I need to know where they are.

Also, I began reading Dave's post on a Smartphone while I was driving. Very bad, and I had a minor epiphany and put it away. Thanks, Dave.

T.J. said...

To chime in on yesterday's pen and paper discussion - I am indeed the old man Thornton Mellon in my grad school classes who takes notes with pen and paper. All the other folks dick around on their laptops all class, sunglass shopping, skimming Facebook, watching movies (!)...I just don't get it. And to zman's point, it absolutely make mes a better student.

GET OFF MY LAWN

Clarence said...

I didn't listen to the podcast. There is more cognitive resonance with writing a word with a pen than typing it? I know this, when I take handwritten notes, they never get transcribed, they end up maybe in a folder, maybe getting tossed. When I bring the laptop and take notes, they are stored permanently.

Marls said...

Thornton Mellon hired somebody to take notes for him.

What's a widget?

zman said...

To be clear, I took all of my notes on a laptop but the laptop was not connected to the internet. The internet is the problem, not the computer itself (at least for me).

mayhugh said...

Is this a reverse jinx post?

I agree with zman's last comment. It feels like in 10 years the current crop of young adults will be sitting in business meetings, where they are supposed to add value, playing computer games or putting together vines or similar.

Dave said...

i love keeping permanent notes in evernote, especially lesson plans. it's a real boon, but if i need to remember something, i do much better if i take handwritten notes. i don't need to look back at the notes, it just helps me remember. i suppose a tablet with a stylus would be the perfect combination. does anyone use a table with a stylus?

Dave said...

also, that is not a misspelling of the word "dike." either one is acceptable. i switched it so clarence won't take offense (and that piece needs a serious edit anyway, i banged it out during school bc i was so wound up . . . i'm sure there will be a sequel to it, although my students are doing really well with my hard ban on smartphones, i think they sensed how on edge i am about this issue . . .)

Danimal said...

ended up eating at pappasito's steakhouse. damn that was good.

will be in dubai & abu dhabi next week if you have any recs for that locale... will be leaving out of orlando on a direct flight. yup, that's right. orlando to dubai direct. get some. hoping to see my girl jen aniston at the bar. what do the call it, the "fuselage bar"? "cockpit bar"?

zman said...

A fuselage she wanted, my cockpit she got? No?

mr kq said...

Markieff Morris, that's the ticket.

Whitney said...

I'm enjoying Von Miller's Napoleon Dynamite eyeglasses.

Dave said...

i went to qatar and my wife went to bahrain when we were in the middle east, but we never did dubai and abu dhabi. the only recommendation i have for qatar is there's a really nice concrete bunker on a road in the desert, and they sell BEER! also, the mall had an arcade and an ice rink, and ladies in full black abeyas were skating and playing air-hockey. surreal.

rob said...

just got home from high school parent orientation. not possible.

rob said...

i see the tribe is crapping itself again. marls, our stay in baltimore may be brief.

T.J. said...

It's possible. You'll be fine. Just make fun of all the other parents. To yourself.

rob said...

tribe gave up a 19-2 run to uncw, then went on a 23-0 run. whatever.

rob said...

tribe closes the game on a 38-8 run to win going away and snap uncw's 11-game winning streak. told you they'd neither win nor lose all three of those games. genius! if northeastern can beat jmu (in double overtime now), w&m has solo third in the caa.

rob said...

we're number three!

TR said...

Minnesota's college b-ball coach appears to be a 23 y/o Jewish guy.

TR said...

Oh Christ, that's Pitino's kid. He's 32. I probably should've known that. He looks like a d-bag. And yeah, I'm not afraid to judge him after seeing him on the screen for 4 seconds.

zman said...

I bet he finishes in 4 seconds too.

TR said...

Terps about to lose to Pitino's team. Bad sign for the Terps to shut the bed twice in a week to inferior conference opponents.

Dave said...

hello gheorghies!

Clarence said...

Dave, don't get Marls started. Sleeping Marls.