Carter had decided before Saul's dismissal.

Ah, a point of agreement. McDavis, as he did when Solich was hired, would have injected himself into the equation. That still doesn't absolve Albin for the bad timing mistake he made. He could have weathered the storm, but he didn't. If he had played his cards right his dog would have never gotten sick.

Come on guys, Boals has done a satisfactory job over the body of evidence but missed on the portal this season. With the portal he brought in three very good guards of Walker, Baker and Reef and a superior MAC big in Wilson. He wasn't blessed to have a perennial all-MAC big walk on to campus like the guy in Akron had--pure good fortune for him.

The team would be slightly better this year had either James or Brown stayed then Sheldon would be coming off the bench.

It takes some good fortune to win extra games in a season. Last night I was at the Zips vs Flashes game. Groce wins that one because Flashes shoot 1 for 23 from deep, one of his players on the roster who had been Sheldon/Roderick like finally goes off for Groce when others aren't hitting from deep and a Kent starter is out hurt and another vomits all over the floor. Zips get mauled on the boards and Kent cannot buy any baskets. On another night with the offensive rebounds they got perhaps Kent flips the score.

Assuming Simmons and Kelly return, the portal needs to yield a Wilson and a Walker along with the others currently on the bench and coming into town and OHIO is right back into being the team nobody wants to face in Cleveland in March.

Okay, since I have ESPN+ there is a good chance to see other mid-majors and draw a comparison. I decided to watch two of the worst ASun teams play each other the other night. Last place North Alabama vs next to last place FGCU. It was obvious that the center from last place UNA (6-13/1-7) would mop the floor with Jalen Breath. The gap would not even be close.

The center from UNA: https://images.sidearmdev.com/convert?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd...

The guy who looks like an NBA player compared to anybody on our current roster.

He averages around a 14/10 double-double.

I don't believe the portal existed when we got Wilson, did it?

Let's just start a list of all this coaching staff's recruiting/portal misses:

Ike Cornish
Abe Wiznitzer
and on and on...

frank solich had planned to leave because he was ill and wanted to spend time with his family

Baker wasn’t good. The issue isn’t always the portal additions. Individual components of Boals’ teams have always been good, but the whole product continues to lack due to missing pieces and how he coaches and develops it.

*Home loss to Bethune-Cookman (#226 in Ken Pom Rankings).

*Loss at Old Dominion (#266 in Ken Pom Rankings. Played without Sunbelt Pre-season conference player of the year Robert Davis Jr. Lost at home to 3-20 Louisiana-Monroe three nights before Ohio game).

*Loss at Ball State (#319 in Ken Pom Rankings).

*NET ranking as of 2-9-2026: Ohio is 9th in the MAC. Eastern Michigan is ahead of Ohio in the NET ranking.

*1-12 vs Tod K

*12-29 all-time record vs Akron/Kent/Toledo

Why are half the guys on this team allowed to launch 3s?
Simmons (3-24) 12%
Evans (1-6) 16%
Elliott (5-21) 23%
Hadaway (30-109) 27%
Burris (12-43) 27%
Conners (20-69) 29%

That group of six is 71-272 26.1%

Sorry but if you can't shoot 30% - you might be taking the wrong shots.




Honestly, I think part of it is Boals entire recruiting strategy. It's well known he plays a very fluid offense that is meant to give guys freedom and exploit mis-matches. So, recruits that want/enjoy that free-flowing, non-structured offense are attracted here.

The other piece is. One of the big "selling points" Jeff likes to use for almost every recruit is. Come to Ohio, we'll help you get to the pros. Whether that's the NBA, the G-League, or Europe - he sells HS kids hard on making their dreams of making $$ playing basketball a reality. Nothing wrong with that. It resonates with a lot/most kids. I'm sure it's a good recruiting tool. Flip side of that coin is - unless you're a 7 footer - in today's pro game you better be able to shoot the 3. So now we've got every 6'7 post kid thinking he's going to be the next Dirk Nowitzki, out there trying to put their 3pt ability on tape. Add that to an offense that gives those guys freedom, and it's no wonder we have folks shooting 20% from 3 who are still out there jacking them up. If Boals tried to tighten the leash, he'd essentially be going back on his recruiting word.




We really, desperately, need to figure out how to just pay guys more $$$ and use that as our recruiting draw. Facilities are sub-par. History/conference are sub-par. Academics and campus no longer matter. Team comraderie/friendship no longer matters (every season is a whole new roster anyway). Jeff has tried the "get you to the pros" angle. Outside of money, I'm not sure what levers he has to pull.

It's also a big reason why I can simultaneously be very upset with this roster and this season, and still NOT think Boals should be fired. Because best of luck to whomever follows. It won't be any easier for them in this NIL climate. We don't have the resources to compete (and no - not even on the MAC scale - just not enough industry/economics/population/income in Athens to support it at scale).

None of what you stated here is anything other than what you think is happening.

You continue to regurgitate the same thing over and over again. I responded to your last post on the subject matter. I graduated with Simmons agent. He’s a 6 figure player who didn’t care about facilities. This program isn’t cash poor and so far behind in the MAC just because you say it is.

We get it, man. You love Boals. A lot of people on this board do. Who knows what is recruiting pitch is (you certainly don’t), but it isn’t working. It isn’t a money issue. The program has just run its course under him. It happens all the time sports.

Who exactly is going to put us in the top two of the MAC next season?

Zay Mosely? Carter Reese? Chase Boals? The 23 minutes for the year guy from Reynoldsburg? The more fouls than rebounds guy who didn't get off the bench last night?

I sure hope the new A.D. takes a dim view of the current trajectory of this program. When an unathletic guy like Burris has to play in crunch time, this program is screwed. He should be playing at Denison or Oberlin. At least Ben Nicol recognized he was not a D-1 player...but he is averaging 8ppg in D-2 ball.

I was talking to a fan tonight who attends every home basketball game. He's not one who is usually very negative, and he usually takes losses in stride. However, like many BAers, he's noticed the lack of discipline on the team and the antics of Captain Chaos and the head coach. He doesn't seem pleased with either. He sees the team as one with no leadership either from the coaches or the players. He said he thought that Simmons was trying to be that leader on the court but wasn't being accepted, perhaps because he was new transfer. If fans like this are seeing these things with no influence by the perpetual gripers on BA, I think we've got a major problem that the AD is going to see as well.

All are valid points. Honestly, I just think its quicksand.

I'm really tired of highlighting this, but if we played the 365th ranked schedule and were 20-5 right now, still 7-5 in the MAC, does this thread even exist? Or is a different thread asking for funding to build the statue more likely?

There are indeed clear issues, but those issues are being magnified by a .500 season and the 35th toughest non-con in the country. That buried our whole season. This was never a great team, but starting out that deep in a hole... we buried ourselves in quicksand from the jump and even with being 4th in the MAC all we see is how bad the team is. I don't want to be 4th either, but we're still better than nine other teams. We're still positioned for the conference tournament. We may not go far, but the point is we're still in it and we still have a chance, but you'd never think it, because we went 6-7 in non-con play.