The last time we gave up that many points was to Ohio Wesleyan - 122 - 115 - before many posters on this board were born (we had 115). In all fairness, our guys our tired. Only playing 8 guys all season will wear out even the most conditioned and dedicated player.

We started out the first couple minutes strong, but Buffalo played excellent defense and shut our offense down. Doug played well today, but needed to be subbed out in the second half for a breather, he clearly was out of gas. Did Dartis get hurt again? Playing with only 8 players against a good fast paced program will smoke you every time. Buffalo is a well oiled machine. I like the big man Perkins. He knows how to use his body. Buffalo coach was able to play 14 players to glide and secure the win. Let’s get that BGU win on Tuesday.

I have to plead guilty to being absent, having spent too much time watching our division leading first place NHL team. Who won the last two games by a combined 11 to 1. Congrats to Pekka Rinne on 300 NHL wins in net and 50 or so by shutout.

Beating Fiami is always a good thing. They are actually a game over .500 too, so there's that. Kent is a game under .500, so less of a thing but a win is a win. Beats not-a-win.

My gripe is not that this particular injury plagued season in down the tubes..I expect a good season next time out with most good players returning and healthy. If recruiting stays at the current level, it's everything after next season that looks S.O.L.

Without wearing Bobcat colored glasses, the current class of signees doesn't look impressive. Especially the kid from North Carolina. If none of his local schools wanted him (Wingate, Winthrop, UNCC, Davidson), that would objectively point to a talent level more in tune with NAIA teams? Murrell passes the D-1 "look test" at 225 pounds but 6ppg on the juco level where defense is not usually at a premium? From the small amount of video footage available to see, McMurray might be good enough to hit a few jump shots off the bench but don't see an immediate impact player even trying to be optimistic about it. The athletic ability of the three put together might equal 1.5 moderate mid-major level role players from the most I can gather.

So next season is do-or-die. Fish or cut bait. It may be the last opportunity for a really good season for a long time.

Let the blindly loyal flame posting retorts begin. Bookmark this post if you like though. Please do. I'd love to be wrong 2 years from now.

Yes this. We have a 6'10 180lb project coming in who averages 5 points a game in high school. We have a JC player coming in who averages 6 points a game and appears to be the 8th best player on his JC team. And another unknown who looks like a bigger Jeff Halbert. This our class?? WTF. Carter gets hurt again or Kirk gets a freak injury we are looking another 18-20 loss season. Say what you want about JC but he recruited circles around this staff.

This.

Thank you.

Interesting back-n-forth here. I guess with the MAC being a one-bid league and going to “The Big Dance” the ultimate goal, you could consider our last game, Buffalo, to be the proverbial “bar.”

I’m hearing two lines of thinking here. One line, is that with basically the same current roster with health, experience and plus Carter—next year will be much better. The other line of thinking appears to be, what we saw Saturday was a night & day difference in regards to athleticism, depth and just overall talent. That we’re more than better health and Jason Carter away from competing with the likes of a Buffalo or Toledo, especially next year while when you add Carter and whatever BVP, Gareri, etc… may offer, you also subtract Laster and Mickle. You can’t argue that adding Carter makes us much better, but how much considering the supporting cast is the question?

Interesting thought is what is the value of Carter to OHIO? For the NBA, Vegas has such statistics.
https://www.sportsinsights.com/blog/nba-player-values-spread /.

The line Saturday vs. Buffalo was 12.5 I believe. This article states that there are currently only three Tier I guys Vegas considers to be worth 5 point to the betting line (Lebron, Gianni’s and Kawhi). Two guys are considered Tier II guys (Harden and Westbrook) who are worth 4 points if they’re out of a game. Then Tier III guys include guys like Irving, Seth Curry, John Wall, who are worth 2-3 points to the line when they’re not playing.
So what’s Carter do the 12.5 point line? Guess you first take off the home court advantage, then ask if Carter, etc… would make Vegas think playing them with him would be the difference maker?

As someone very close to the program described to me at the outset and still today, the current system is a "niche" system, based on "production per minute" and it's an "acquired taste." Their terms, not mine. Hear the term "stretch 4" a lot vs. get out and go as you describe. I guess when I first realized I was going to struggle to fully understand the philosophy is when I first met Saul and he told me the guy out of that recruiting class that he was most excited about was Gavin Block. Said he'd contribute/play immediately and is the kind of player he's looking to bring in. That's when I realized I didn't have an eye for recruiting, or understood the vision, as when I first saw him play, I didn't see it. But yes to your point, this system/recruiting blueprint is definitely new too many in our fanbase and continues to take some getting used to.

This is 100% correct and something people should take notice of and be mindful of when they see the certain recruits that are brought in. Ben Vander Plas, Connor Murrell and Mason McMurray all fit that niche and could be described as stretch 4s. Interchangable parts. There will be outliers to that though: Springs is the most intriguing prospect to me because I don't think he necessarily fits the "type" of guy they want. But that's probably not a bad thing because his length is something hard to come by and he won't see a lot of floor time (if any) his first year. They'll get the time to coach him up.

Same thing goes for the guard spots. This program is never going to have a true point guard from what I can see. TK and Zach might be called that when you listen to Saul speak or hear that on a TV/radio broadcast. However, at any given moment there will be a couple guys on the floor who can play the 1, 2 or 3. Just look at the numbers this season. Look who leads the team in assists: Gavin Block. He also has the best assist/turnover ratio. This isn't going to be a team like DJ/Stevie/Jaaron where the ball was dominated and most assists came from one guy.

To me, it almost feels like soccer or hockey in that respect. The pass that LEADS to the pass that assists a score could be the most important part of any play on this team.

I'll agree with your first statement here. I think some do trust the process and some don't see it working out. And that's fine, because this season has been such a downer it's hard not to.

I don't think anyone sees the results we've seen as acceptable. I still want to pull my hair out during certain points of every game because it's like "why/how do you let that happen?"

What's being done to change it? Great question and not really something I'm willing to answer at the moment because I have no idea. I don't think the on-court philosophy is going to change. The recruiting philosophy maybe?