*I noticed that the Ohio Bobcats team site has listed Freshman guards Butler and Kirk at 6'3", instead of an inch taller as listed on the Recruiting message board. no biggie, or course, but it caused me to do a quick check of the heights of everyone I (we) expect on the court this season. They're the shortest, along with Jordan. I wondered midway though his first season of coaching the Bobcats if Saul would recruit bigger G.

*I'm not a recruit guy. Don't know much of anything about those coming into the program before I see them either on TV or at the Convo. But, I wish this year's newbies all the luck and happiness in the world. It actually hurts my tummy when I see folks transfer from Ohio...mainly because I want them to have the four year experience I had there, not so much for what they can do for the team on the court. Weird, huh?

*We are making the trip to Athens from Cincinnati at least a couple times this season. I hope that all of you that are within driving distance of the Convo do likewise. I'm a huge fan of Saul and everyone on the roster, they all seem like outstanding young men. Makes a fella proud to be a Bobcat!!!

*Has there been a Bobcat in recent memory frustrate the opposition more than Gavin Block? I literally expect one opponent to lose their cool at least once per game. He reminds me of Xavier's JP Macura on the court (not in the bar). Glue guy.

*100% Saul fan here, unapologetic. I was so, so impressed when he led the entire team to high five the band/Ozone/Bobcat Black after the game last season- the tough defeat to Eastern Michigan when we lost Tone to injury early on. Class.

*I also really like Doug Taylor. Watch out if me takes a couple steps forward this season, i'm telling ya!

*Quick 2018-19 digression - front line will be 6'9" Taylor, 6'8" Carter, 6'8" Dozier, 6'9" Gareri, 6'7" Vander Plus, 6'7"McMurray and 6'10" Springs? and only Doug Taylor will be a senior in the paint? woah! which leads me to my next point:

*I am extremely bullish on the club for Jason Carter's senior season. i'm pretty optimistic for the next two years, also, don't get me wrong. But JC sr year looks like the proverbial freight train coming down the tracks. Watch out MAC!

This is not going to be a fun season. There will be some pleasant surprises along the way, and I expect Jason Carter to be first team all MAC next March.

But BVP is already out indefinitely with a broken foot, according to Arkley. Taylor is recovering from wrist surgery. I think he mentioned AJG has an injury also.

And teams with freshmen point guards usually don't find a lot of success. It'll be a real test for Saul, and will require patience on our part.

The MAC lost a ton of talent. We return JC, Dartis, Block, Laster and add a veteran in Mickle. When Doug is healthy and with two athletic point guards we will be good in the league. I think it will be a fun season to watch us progress.

Went from odds on MAC favorite with Simmons as PG to 4th in MAC East?!?!

Wow.

I, too, am not 100% comfortable relying on freshmen PGs to run the team.

Best hope, IMHO, is that by March this team gels and has a set rotation and experience to make a potential run at MAC tourney.

Think about this lineup then:

Dartis
Laster
Block
Carter
Taylor

That's not a terrible lineup to start the year if the freshmen aren't up to snuff. Let the older guys take care of things and bring the freshmen along progressively.

The fears posted about the quality of this team are nothing more than an emotional response to losing Jaaron Simmons a year earlier than expected.

There isn't a team in the MAC with a better core of returning wing players than we have in Gavin Block, Jordan Dartis and Mike Laster.

How many MAC programs have a big-man with more potential than Jason Carter?

"Teams with freshman point guards don't find a lot of success"
-Our last two teams starting freshman point guards made the NCAA Tournament.

Gonna be a fun season for me as a fan as I have zero expectations this year.

Last year I had very high hopes until Campbell went down.

This year it looks like a group that will play team basketball and work had on both ends and will be easy to root for. And like others have noted, maybe we'll catch fire in February/March like 2005...

I also wonder how Carter is going to handle having teams entirely focused on stopping him. Could be a really tough year for him. Mentally and physically.

If we play Saul Ball he won't have to. If he does a good job of kicking the ball out when he's doubled Dartis, Block and company will make them pay.

I think the guy that may slip in under everyone's radar and make a contribution is Gollon. He should be able to backup both the 1 and 2.

The keys to our season IMO is how much of a leap Doug Taylor makes and whether Jordan Dartis has improved his confidence in ball handling.

Yeah ... but the rest of those rosters had some pretty damn good talent.

If Dartis can make the leap and be an alpha male on offense and do more than just be a catch-and-shoot guy ... that would be a huge help!

Carter will get his on the boards, etc.

I just don't know who on this roster you feel comfortable when you need a bucket ... he's your guy.

Previous years, you've always had a guy (Cooper, Offutt, Ndour, Wilis, Campbell, Simmons, etc)

This roster feels like a lot of co-stars .... but no leading actors.

I think Dartis and Carter have the best chance to emerge into that role. But only time will tell.

I've seen Kirk, Dartis , and Butler recently and Butler is taller than 6ft3 and he's least 6ft4 close to 6ft 5 He's taller than both Kirk and Dartis. I'm trying to figure why Butler is listed as 6ft3 ? Also, Kirk and Butler are going to play some good minutes because they're are the quickest and 2 of the 3 most athletic guards on the roster. Also , I've been told they're also are our best 2 defenders in the backcourt. The older guys are feeling HEAT because Butler and Kirk are coming to take minutes

Our roster this year has SIGNIFICANTLY more experience returning than either the 04-05 or 09-10 tournament teams had. Neither of those teams returned any players who averaged more than 10ppg the year prior. Both Fears and Cooper played with fellow newcomers next to them in the backcourt as scoring guards (Mychael Green, Armon Bassett) along with a big-man who averaged over 10ppg (DeVaughn Washington, Leon Williams)

Teyvion Kirk (or whoever starts at PG) couldn't be entering a better situation this season with Carter and Dartis already an established inside/outside threat.

...


We thought Kaminski would be our only loss from the post-Campbell injury roster, but then Jaaron Simmons quit on the team. Losing Simmons in that manner (especially considering many thought he was a MAC POTY candidate) is heart-breaking. Add to that our former-coach mentioned above becoming HC at Akron... Yeah, this off-season could not FEEL much worse.

It FEELS like a soul-crushing off-season but feelings can be deceiving. This is not a rebuilding year. This roster has more experience returning than Saul had in either of his first two seasons at Ohio. This roster will compete for the MAC Championship this season.
-Jordan Dartis is our first three-year starter as a Junior since Nick Kellogg.
-In addition to Dartis, Gavin Block is also entering year three in the program. Mike Laster was Saul's first recruiting class. This is a full four years for him. Both Block and Laster have played since stepping foot on campus and both got big minutes down the stretch last season. No other program in the MAC has a more versatile set of wing players.
-Jason Campbell is most highly-regarded big coming out of his freshman year since Leon Williams.
-All four of our incoming recruits had strong offers. This is the first year our entire roster is guys recruited by Saul. It's obvious based on the "fit" everyone has for our system. Sets up nicely year after year...


I think the MAC East will be very interesting. It's hard to imagine Kent minus Jimmy Hall, but they are extremely deep at guard and they signed BJ Duling from Newark. He is a bit undersized to replace Hall at PF at the moment but he will be a dangerous 3 immediately.
I'd love to hear an argument for us finishing below 3rd in the MAC East. Akron was due for a down season even before the coaching change/transfers due to what they were graduating. I think BG is about the same as last year while Miami is a little improved.

(I did see Akron signed Lapear Toles, other than that it doesn't look like Groce had time to do much in recruiting)

In case you haven't noticed, Ball State and UB have upped their recruiting games in the last couple years. Akron, other that this coming season, is going to be every bit as good as they've been in the past if not better. Kent has recruited well, and other than losing Jimmy Hall, is very solid. And that doesn't include Western, or Toledo.

Ohio should be shooting to win the MAC every year, yes. But the conference as a whole is definitely getting better. To state the program is in trouble if they're fighting for a top four seed is either insulting to the rest of the conference, or naive - I'm not sure which in your case.

The keys to this year, along with what OUVan mentioned re: Taylor and Dartis, are also what they can get out of the freshmen + Gollon & Dozier (spare me the comments on these two - they could make a leap forward this year).

The returning players that played big minutes last year + Mickle are generally known commodities.

Western returns a guy that's a POY candidate. Beyond Thomas Wilder, Jeff what are people saying about Western?