^^^This. It's depressing watching these games on ESPN3. Nobody goes to these games anymore. Zero noise comes across these broadcasts. This program just doesn't have any buzz right now.

"Chad Gill Disease"....classic line! Good ole Larry Hunter's first ever recruit. I'll never forget get him looking like he was going to throw up when he stepped onto the court at Rupp Arena his Freshman year. Good memories.

Eye test > Sagarin. All you have to do is watch these teams play and you can see the talent differential on the floor. Might want to avoid the next 6 games also if possible.

Ball St. shot 61.8% (21-for-34) on twos. Ohio shot 15-for-43 (34.9%). As many have pointed out, a lot of those Ohio misses were good looks. However, Ohio is not a great 2-point shooting team. For the season, they're at 48.9% (204th) nationally. Still, if they have a normal shooting night, it's anyone's game at the end. Defensively, once BSU got the ball into Moses at the post, bad things happened for Ohio.

Couldn't agree more.

The buzz is severely lacking right now.

I think it's a combination of a lot of things over the last 6 years since that Sweet 16 run. These are just a few IMHO.

We've had three coaches since 2012 ... and after tasting the highest of highs .... trips to the CBI and CIT are pretty underwhelming. It might be a bit of an elitist attitude ... but I think it's played a role in the "apathy"

The out-of-conference schedules have been pretty depressing with the exception of a few highlights over the years (at Ohio State, Diamond Head Classic, Charleston). I'm not saying we need to be playing Duke, Kansas and Kentucky each week ... but it would be nice to get some more games of interest on the docket ... especially at home ... and limit the dogs**t games like MEAC/SWACtion & NAIA. A couple is understandable ... but four of them is overkill ... especially when it's 1/3 of your non-conference schedule. Hard to get pumped playing NW Ohio before opening the MAC season.

And speaking of MAC season ... we've killed any buzz with our starts the last four years in the MAC

2014-15 (2-6)
2015-16 (4-4)
2016-17 (5-3)
2017-18 (1-2)

A lot of times ... we hit mid-season as a mediocre MAC team. BLAH has already set in.

The injuries have been killer .... any buzz that was building the last few years has been railroaded by Campbell injury .... Carter injury ... and a lot of others in between.

Saul desperately needs a WOW year to re-energize things. These 20-12 years where Ohio finishes 10-8 in the league and loses in the MAC semifinals are the equivalent to the 7-6 (4-4) MAC football season where Ohio gets beat in some random bowl in Alabama. Just zero excitement for that. He needs a run to the MAC Title game (at worst) and obviously something more to pump some life into this thing.

I'm just not sure he's going to get the time to do that. It might 2018-19 or bust for him. I'm not sure Schaus is going to renew a guy who is on the Larry Hunter Plan ... but getting paid one of the highest salaries in the MAC.

Normally, if you have a deep team it is better to run, because it is harder to score in in the half-court style of play, but if you play a half-court offense and fire up quick shots than you are giving the defense a break because, you are not making them work. We miss a lot of layups and open three. If the quick shot is a layup or open three, take it, if not move the ball around until you get a good or great shot opportunity.

 

Sights and sounds from tonights @OhioMBasketball game against Ball State! #BleedGreen pic.twitter.com/63wWl5yo9s

— OhioBobcatTV (@OhioBobcatTV) January 10, 2018

Not cool to rip on past OU players and especially their parents. They worked hard to represent a university that you call yourself a fan of. You might want to check the success of the squad Gill Sr played on.

I agree. Enough with this "we didn't play with heart, passion, blah, blah, blah...." I don't believe that for one minute. These games are the biggest events in their lives and they want to win very badly.

I wouldn't classify last night as not playing with "heart" or fire. But there have been games where "fire" was lacking. You couldn't have watched this program the last four years and not seen instances where the team looked flat.

I'm not saying for one second that this team or program doesn't care or doesn't want to win. But the energy has been off in some contests. I wouldn't say that last night. But wouldn't you say that was the case vs. NW Ohio ... an NAIA school that Ohio struggled to put away? It happens. Sometimes teams just come out flat. I think it happens more with this regime than it has in years past. I've noticed it.

There just isn't a rah-rah type of guy on this roster. The slap-you-upside-the-head-and-light-a-fire-under-your-ass attitude just isn't in this team or program's DNA right now.

There isn't a college basketball program in the country where this doesn't apply at some point during the season. Even Bob Huggins, who is about as fiery and in your face as it gets, even his teams have a few games where this sort of thing applies.

We were 8-18 from three, actually not a bad clip. Don't count Gavin Block, and we were 8-13. Youch.

"But Ohio has had around five 20+ point beatdowns in the MAC over the last 4 years. That is a lot for this league .... and a lot for what is supposed to be a top tier MAC program."

I like to put it in context of the rest of the league, because most teams lay eggs during a year. What's the context of the rest of the league?


Setty, by the way, in his last year, deserves credit for being pretty darn skilled. He improved a ton over his time here, in particular his senior year.