My point was there is more competition out there now. Not sure how valid it is to the topic, but more DI schools today, more competition for players. That was all.

Soft, no-defense, stretch big is being way too kind. He is lazy on the defensive end and wants nothing to do with any dirty work of any kind.

Who leads us in rebounding? Who leads us in blocked shots? Never mind. I guess your definition of "lazy" is different than mine.

Leading a bad rebounding team in rebounding and a very bad defensive team in blocks aren't indicators that you're necessarily a good rebounder and good interior defender.

For what it's worth, I don't think it's Clayton's fault. He's being asked to do a lot of things on this team that are outside of his comfort zone, and it shows.

He's not a 5 and that we use him as one as much as we do isn't his fault. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue that's he's actually a good interior defender even though I do think he's a good shot blocker. But he chases blocks which leaves him out of position sometimes, and with our lineups these days that often means you've got a 6'2 dude rotating over to defend the rim in his place.

Is he lazy? I dunno. I think his effort levels have generally been pretty good, but it's not at all surprising to me that people have developed that perception of him. He did some laughing on the bench when he probably shouldn't have, which isn't a huge deal, but is a pretty poor job of reading the room. And more importantly, while he was out our very under-sized, under-skilled team made a very, very clear effort to ramp up the defensive intensity against Kent. That was palpable. With Clayton back, that same intensity wasn't there. Is it fair to blame that on Clayton? Not really. It's Boals' job. But it's understandable that people are going to start pointing fingers at a senior leader during a season like this.

After some more reflecting and discussions with a few who attended the Appy St game (one of the worst halves of basketball ever seen in the Convo - their words not mine).

I'm fine with Boals strategy of us being a 3pt shooting team. But you HAVE to have plan b for those nights/halves when the shot isn't falling.

It's why I always prefer teams that emphasize defense and rebounding because that travels and is a function of will, want to, bbiq for positioning and some basic lateral quickness.

This team doesn't defend well (that's on Boals and the players)
This team doesn't rebound well (that's on Boals and the players)
But the other thing it lacks, is an option to get easy buckets at the rim, to stop runs, when the 3 isn't falling.

You get easy shots at the rim from a post man. That ain't Clayton, but it could be Searls.

You get easy shots by driving the lane and getting to the hoop. That ain't Pavs unless we're playing lower competition. It absolutely is in Reefs repertoire but I wonder how much the knee is limiting him here. The 2 that stand out who have the skill and athleticism are AJB, Elliott. Need lots more of them driving. We saw it in the first half from Elliott then App did a great job of cutting him off. Really need AJB to become "that guy" instead of standing in the corner waiting for a catch and shoot 3 all night. We saw glimpses when AJC was out. It's in him.

Third option for easy buckets is to get out in transition from our D and turnovers. Really think we need to continue to see more consistent full court pressure and trapping (not just token pressure to bleed clock) to try and get some layups.

My only issue with Pav offensively has been his tendency to get lost in the trees and have no way out if the bucket or foul isn't coming his way. Other than that he's been fine. Losing Jaylin Hunter and getting a kid who is 2nd in the MAC in both total assists and asst/t.o. ratio and top 25 in scoring is about as good as you can ask for.

Leading the team in those categories doesn't exactly mean he's a good rebounder and shot blocker.

I can't tell if this was written with tongue in cheek or not. But it's thought provoking that perhaps Boals is operating the landscape in a similar fashion from when he was a player.

Trying too hard to build a roster of a 4 year players/guys who buy into "culture" and demanding home and homes with P5 schools.

Neither is really a thing anymore. A P5 school is never coming to Athens and 4 year players that care about culture are few and far between now. That's fine if he chooses to go against today's grain, but the biproduct might a less exciting non-conference schedule and a roster with limitations.

The only argument I'll make here is that Purdue just came to the Convo 5 years ago. Granted, that was because we got creative with combining basketball and football scheduling. But, if that's what it takes to get them to come play in our building I say keep doing it.

I agree that yucking it up on the bench at Akron when your team is getting absolutely smoked is not a good look from your senior leader. Tyler Tettleton at Louisville immediately came to mind.