Lamar at Virginia Tech Game Thread

Game time is 2:00 PM CST.

 

Virginia Tech is currently 6-3 with a 5 point win over UAB, what I consider a team Lamar could be competitive with so today should be a real opportunity so see where this team is. Game will be on ESPN3 and KLVI.

Lamar got off to a slow start. At the under 8 time out Lamar is down by 15.

LU down by 31 early in second half.

Whenever you play against a power 5 conference team you cannot win shooting the ball without passing. The last three trips down the court the Lamar player that brought the ball across half court has taken the shot without a pass and missed each of them.

Seven minutes left in the game and LU is down by forty 79-39.

As an assistant for VT I would suspect that Roccoforte was happy with the outcome. Final score 88 to 53 VT wins.

Based on the upcoming schedule LU should enter conference play with an eight and four record, which is good but I wish they had one more game against a D-1 team between now and conference.

Playing just yesterday made a tough game even tougher.

Ouch... I actually thought Lamar could make a game of it.

I was hoping they would stay within 20 but this team really has no upperclassmen that you can count on to carry the load and none of the young guards have accepted that they can't play like they did in high school or juco.

I listened to some of the game yesterday on the radio and it seemed like LU just couldn't make a shot. Were they tired from having played 24 hours earlier? I don't know, these are young guys on the floor. I did hear that Tic was hoping this would be a real learning experience for the team that would help them down the road. Va Tech isn't a pushover D1 program--they are a viable ACC program. You guys wanted quality opponents, you got one. I hope nobody is squealing about the 35 point loss. Lamar has looked good for the most part and close losses to Rice and Cal-Riverside show these kids can, and do, compete. The team gets to rest up and recharge some before the next game against Nicholls on Jan 2. I have some high hopes for the Cards in conference this year that this loss to Va Tech didn't dampen at all.

Horrible loss. Also, HBU beat uc-riverside so, idk, but things aren't looking too hot. One plus is our conference is bad this year

If memory serves, we split with HBU last year. This Lamar team is improving as the season progresses so I don't believe it really impacts how LU will do in conference overall. The teams that LU is going to struggle with the most are ones with a fairly athletic big man.

I listened to some of the game yesterday on the radio and it seemed like LU just couldn't make a shot. Were they tired from having played 24 hours earlier? I don't know, these are young guys on the floor. I did hear that Tic was hoping this would be a real learning experience for the team that would help them down the road. Va Tech isn't a pushover D1 program--they are a viable ACC program. You guys wanted quality opponents, you got one. I hope nobody is squealing about the 35 point loss. Lamar has looked good for the most part and close losses to Rice and Cal-Riverside show these kids can, and do, compete. The team gets to rest up and recharge some before the next game against Nicholls on Jan 2. I have some high hopes for the Cards in conference this year that this loss to Va Tech didn't dampen at all.

 

I have no problem with us playing Virginia Tech but losing by 35? 35 point losses should only happen to top 10 teams, if that. I'm not throwing in the towel but this is a bad loss (ok, maybe all losses are bad but you know what I mean). And UC-Riverside and Rice aren't anything special.

UC-Riverside and Rice are D-I schools and because of their enrollments and the competition they play they are inherently better than Lamar. For a small school like Lamar to play bigger schools close with a chance to win the game IS a big deal. So what if neither is a top 25 team it doesn't mean they aren't good. Virginia Tech is ranked 109th out of 351 schools which qualifies them as a decent program that deserves a little respect. They also beat 71st ranked Alabama-Birmingham and lost by 2 to 81st ranked Northwestern. The ACC is arguably the best basketball conference in the country. For Lamar to play 2 games in 25 hours on the road and to come out and shoot as badly as they did the 35 point loss isn't all that bad under the circumstances. One thing I have noticed on this site is there are a lot of schedule snobs here and it doesn't matter the sport. You bash the school for playing "cupcakes" and bitch if they lose big to the big boys. If they lose badly it's not the quality of competition to blame it's the coaches or some other excuse or the players suck. Well, I don't blame the coaches or the players. I do blame the two games in a one day span, I blame it on back to back road games and all that means and I blame a bad shooting game which was probably a result of the first two items. Did anyone honestly expect LU to beat Va Tech? Really? Lamar did gain some experience and I think that is what Tic was looking for on this trip. I'll bet he didn't have all that much to say about the schedule but he's doing a good job with what he's got. A little respect is in order for Va Tech and a little love for our guys is warranted here IMO. Edited December 17, 2015 by eagle eye

UC-Riverside and Rice are D-I schools and because of their enrollments and the competition they play they are inherently better than Lamar. For a small school like Lamar to play bigger schools close with a chance to win the game IS a big deal. So what if neither is a top 25 team it doesn't mean they aren't good. Virginia Tech is ranked 109th out of 351 schools which qualifies them as a decent program that deserves a little respect. They also beat 71st ranked Alabama-Birmingham and lost by 2 to 81st ranked Northwestern. The ACC is arguably the best basketball conference in the country. For Lamar to play 2 games in 25 hours on the road and to come out and shoot as badly as they did the 35 point loss isn't all that bad under the circumstances. One thing I have noticed on this site is there are a lot of schedule snobs here and it doesn't matter the sport. You bash the school for playing "cupcakes" and bitch if they lose big to the big boys. If they lose badly it's not the quality of competition to blame it's the coaches or some other excuse or the players suck. Well, I don't blame the coaches or the players. I do blame the two games in a one day span, I blame it on back to back road games and all that means and I blame a bad shooting game which was probably a result of the first two items. Did anyone honestly expect LU to beat Va Tech? Really? Lamar did gain some experience and I think that is what Tic was looking for on this trip. I'll bet he didn't have all that much to say about the schedule but he's doing a good job with what he's got. A little respect is in order for Va Tech and a little love for our guys is warranted here IMO.

 

I think there are some good points, but Lamar is closer to UC Riverside and Rice than indicated. The point about the conference rating is valid according to the Massey Composite.

Big West - 13

CUSA - 20

SLC 29

 

Below are other comparisons

 

Enrollment - (I don't know if enrollment is much of a factor, but Lamar is not a small university. For example, it has a higher enrollment than FBS programs Arkansas State, Marshall University, Tulane University, University of Wyoming, Vanderbilt University, Notre Dame, Idaho, Rice, Duke, Wake Forest, Southern Methodist, and TCU among others.)

Rice - 6,623

Lamar, 14,966

UC Riverside - 21,539

(Sources: Enrollment numbers in Respective university Wikipedia page infobox data)

 

Men's Basketball spending - I think this is a more important gauge than student enrollment, but Lamar is not that far off from non-football university, UC Riverside, in men's basketball spending.

Rice - $3,232,000

UC Riverside - $1,586,500

Lamar - $1,439,000

(Source: Department of Education Office of Post Secondary Education Equity in Athletics Cutting Tool)

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

 

Massey Composite Ranking - Based on Massey, Lamar should have beat Rice, but should have lost to UC Riverside

UC Riverside - 209 (includes loss to Houston Baptist)

Lamar - 251 (includes loss to Virginia Tech)

Rice - 281

 

It is interesting to note that both Rice and UC Riverside lost to 3-6 Massey #327 Houston Baptist. The 3-6 is a little misleading since HBU's strength of schedule has been tougher than Lamar's based on the Massey rankings.

 

HBU's D-I Opponents

NMSU - 158

TCU - 128

Illinois St - 196

South Dakota St - 46

Rider - 264

Michigan - 44

Rice - 281

UC Riverside - 209

 

Lamar's D-I opponents

Fresno St - 126

Delaware St - 347

Rice - 281

UC Riverside - 209

UTRGV - 339

Idaho St -336

Liberty - 346

Virginia Tech - 97

 

Based on the above, I don't think Lamar was outclassed by either UC Riverside or Rice. The Cardinals had a great chance to take both the Rice and UC Riverside games. In the UC Riverside game, the Cardinals were down by three with 26 seconds left in the game. In the Rice game, the Cardinals were down by only four points with 5:09 remaining the game. We just needed to finish out in both.

 

Although I'm a little disappointed, I'm also not surprised about a 35 point loss to Virginia Tech considering the Cardinals' game against the Hokies was 25 hours after the game with Liberty following a 6 1/2 hour flight with two stops to Lynchburg (according to Google maps commercial air estimate). The Hokies were playing at home with a four day rest after playing a game 25 miles from Blacksburg. The first half deficit was too much to overcome.

 

Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the season progresses.