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View Full Version : Miami loses exhibition to Saint Leo 69-67



riverside6
11-03-2012, 09:22 AM
Miami, who I regarded highly coming into the season and who was in the OTRV section of many top 25's, lost an exhibition to Saint Leo last night. Here's the box score (http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame.asp?hSchedule=14750).

The biggest eye opener from the box score is while heralded big men Kenny Kadji and Reggie Johnson combined to take 10 shots, Shane Larkin, Durand Scott, and Trey McKinney-Jones combined to take 35 shots. Big Reggie played just 13 minutes due to matchup problems with Saint Leo according to Coach Larranaga.

Here's a couple more articles...

Miami Herald recap (http://t.co/8gG5Q2LM)
Video Highlights of the game (http://t.co/Jn5doLJd)

TheDukeCreed
11-03-2012, 09:25 AM
Oh my.

Bluedog
11-03-2012, 09:48 AM
While shocking, I don't think you can put much stock in these exhibition games. Coaches are trying different things with their lineup and everybody is still getting in the swing of things. Recall that Syracuse lost an exhibition to D2 LeMoyne a few years ago and went on to dominate the Big East and earned a #1 seed in the tournament. I think the lesson here is to avoid schools with "Le" in their name when scheduling exhibitions! Still, I wouldn't be too happy if Duke lost a similar game, but I think making long-teem prognostications based on the single game can be murky as Syracuse proved.

Wander
11-03-2012, 10:54 AM
Recall that Syracuse lost an exhibition to D2 LeMoyne a few years ago and went on to dominate the Big East and earned a #1 seed in the tournament.

I'm pretty sure Syracuse is the exception though. For the most part, really good teams crush their lower-division exhibition opponents and teams that lose these games end up having disappointing seasons. Butler lost to a D2 school the year after making the Final Four twice in a row, and they had a bad season. The first clue that UNC sucked in 2010 was the rumor that they got crushed in a secret exhibition game vs Vanderbilt. I can't find a list of examples, but I'm fairly confident there are many more Butlers and UNCs than there are Syracuses.

gumbomoop
11-03-2012, 10:58 AM
As one who has posted that Miami "should" [talent/experience/depth] be better than FSU, and perhaps challenge for ACC top-3, I am surprised by this. The idea that Reggie played a mere 13 minutes because of matchup problems seems disingenuous; seems more likely that Reggie would cause, well, bigger matchup problems for a smaller frontline.

St. Leo, a team I am a somewhat familiar with, is a very strong DII team, with 4 senior starters and experienced juniors. They'll win lots of their DII games this season. Still.

Oh, wait. Now I see Miami's disadvantage. As this boxscore seems to indicate, St. Leo was allowed to play 6 on 5, so .........

http://www.saintleolions.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121102_133w.xml

SCMatt33
11-03-2012, 12:08 PM
While shocking, I don't think you can put much stock in these exhibition games. Coaches are trying different things with their lineup and everybody is still getting in the swing of things. Recall that Syracuse lost an exhibition to D2 LeMoyne a few years ago and went on to dominate the Big East and earned a #1 seed in the tournament. I think the lesson here is to avoid schools with "Le" in their name when scheduling exhibitions! Still, I wouldn't be too happy if Duke lost a similar game, but I think making long-teem prognostications based on the single game can be murky as Syracuse proved.

Syracuse is the exception to this for a reason. While coaches do like to experiment with new plays and lineups, Syracuse played a man defense that entire game against LeMoyne. I highly doubt there was any change that Miami could have made that was as radical as that. Still, that only means I think Miami won't be as good as Syracuse was that year. It certainly doesn't mean they will tank the entire year. Let's see their first couple of real games.

Cameron
11-03-2012, 08:43 PM
I'm pretty sure Syracuse is the exception though. For the most part, really good teams crush their lower-division exhibition opponents and teams that lose these games end up having disappointing seasons. Butler lost to a D2 school the year after making the Final Four twice in a row, and they had a bad season. The first clue that UNC sucked in 2010 was the rumor that they got crushed in a secret exhibition game vs Vanderbilt. I can't find a list of examples, but I'm fairly confident there are many more Butlers and UNCs than there are Syracuses.

In 2007, Ohio State lost to D-II Findlay at home and in that same week No. 8 Michigan State, that season's Big Ten preseason favorite and an eventual Sweet 16 qualifier, lost at home in double-overtime to D-III Grand Valley State. So there are more occurrences of this nature than I think most would originally think.

You are right in that there are usually more "Butler and UNC" situations than Syracuse or Michigan State, but Miami losing means virtually nothing.

YmoBeThere
11-03-2012, 10:56 PM
The first clue that UNC sucked in 2010 was the rumor that they got crushed in a secret exhibition game vs Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt was an NCAA tournament team that year...

DukeBlueDevil
11-04-2012, 12:56 AM
Anybody have any idea how those Divison II teams like LeMoyne did in those seasons? I imagine beating a Division I team would've picked up their confidence considerably.