It's really hard to maintain a consistent opinion on Boals. This is a really weird team, and really weird year.

On the one hand, I think it's basically irrefutable that the roster construction isn't good enough. We don't have enough size, and 7 games into the conference schedule, it's really striking that basically everybody we've played is more athletic than us, and stronger. I think it's a pretty reasonable -- and likely correct -- conclusion to draw that those things lower our ceiling, and even at full strength I think it's hard to see us getting out of Cleveland without those things rearing their head.

On the other, there's nobody on this team that isn't easy to root for, they pay hard, they care, and the culture Boals' has created clearly resonates with the team. Last night the energy level was great, and they scratched and clawed their way to a good win, albeit an ugly and pretty lucky one. Boals seems to be an excellent EQ coach.

In the next few years, I suspect our AD and fan base is going to have to answer a pretty tough choice, and decide if that's good enough. Boals hasn't been bad by any stretch. He's raised the level of the program since the Saul days. But I don't think it's at all unreasonable that we expect to be the best basketball program in the MAC consistently, and we're going to have to decide pretty soon if that's the standard we want to enforce.

Reliable source there? If that's the case I would be surprised to see Clayton back by the App State game. That one is immaterial to the state of our season and we still have no reason to lose to WMU at home. I don't know much about stress fractures - was Tony Campbell a stress fracture? Is "play through pain" at play here? Would be cool to hear from our resident podiatrist.