Remember this team was picked to win the MAC so let's not get on the high horse because we obliterated a team ranked in the 300s, at home on a Tuesday night. Anything less than an appearance in the MACC game is a let down IMO and there's still a steep hill to climb to get there.

I don't think anybody predicted that AJC was coming back and I certainly didn't expect 18 points from him last night. If he's fully healthy and is back to his old self, this puts us back in the mix. On the road at BG and Kent will tell me a lot about what direction we're headed.

Good news! AJC is still good at basketball!

Sheldon was due. I hope he's shaking off the rust / yips / bad eyes.

As always, I really like Jack P's game. Led the team in rebounding again to go along with 8 assists, just one TO. Took the night off from shooting bc AJB and Elliott were going. He really just seems to know when and where hes needed. I wouldn't have expected him to be the guy this season, but I think he's fighting his way to be the leader we need. Now everybody apologize to him.

I would've liked to see Searls hold his 20 mins, and Evans getting at least 10. We need him to find consistency in his game and he's just not going to get it playing 5 mins a night in 1 minute stretches.

Pav has gotten a lot more comfortable running the offense since the start of the year. If he stays consistent, we'll be just fine.

I couldn’t care less about the actual WMU game. This is about the bigger picture. With Clayton healthy, Ohio probably defeats Toledo and Miami. That’s the team we’re putting on the court the rest of the season.

With Clayton, they can win the MAC Tournament. I’d still say Akron is the heavy favorites but anything can happen in Cleveland. The point is that it never made sense to toss the season away. I’m not saying the team is back. What I’m pointing out is that they were never doomed to begin with like many have said they were. Boals never ruled Clayton out for the season so I’m not sure why people were assuming it was going to be longterm. Those assumptions are what led to some of the crazy takes on here.

I feel like you all were watching a completely different team than me. What am I missing?

At full strength we were basically a .500 team who beat bad MAC teams, and got beat badly by the first good one we played. Our starting 5 with Clayton back is a straight up awful defensive team that has given up 120 points per 100 possessions, and doesn't score well enough to make up for that (net was negative ~12 going into last night).

Going into last night, we were also botton 6 in the entire country defending the 3. We all know about our rebounding issues.

I really struggle to see how anybody thinks of us as a favorite down Hadaway. I think it's hard to make the case that we were a favorite with Hadaway based on the actual results.

I know there's a certain type of person who doesn't like negativity and wants to insist that's an overreaction, but at a certain point, it's kind of up to you to make a compelling case that we're a good team that goes beyond "all it takes is 3 really good games in Cleveland." For the most part, it seems like the folks here down on this team provide far more support for that stance than the folks insisting now that Clayton's back all is well.

The MAC is ass and you don't need to be statistically "good" to win it. Down two starters we were in it against Toledo making lots of "bad" looks and fought back to make it anyone's game at Miami. Sure, Akron opened up a can, but look at any of our past four championship teams and you'll find blowout losses. Are we the favorite? No. Do we have enough to win it? More than enough.

We are beating Akron in the Convo. Carve it in marble.

Yep, and down Hadaway with 11 minutes of Clayton we got beaten soundly by EMU. They controlled the game and their win probability was steady throughout. The reason I'm not convinced that getting Clayton back solves everything for us is that Clayton doesn't address a few of the things we're worst at.

Never once have I stated that Ohio is the MAC favorite since Clayton went down and I haven't said that once during the past 24 hours since he's returned.

The only point I've made is that this Bobcats squad is right there with Miami and Toledo which the metrics indicate as well.

You're putting words in my mouth if you think I'm saying they're playing good basketball or a really good team. All I've been pointing out is that some are overly pessimistic for a team that still has a shot.

Obviously, Akron is WAY better than everyone else BUT you can't say the same for Miami/Toledo. OU with Clayton healthy is in their class. Doesn't mean I'm happy with how the season has gone but this is what they are. They've been this way under Boals the past couple seasons where they struggle in the non-conference portion and heat up in late February and I think we'll see that happen again this year.