Was never a fan of the double/triple bye, but this year with an essentially 7 man rotation, that sure would have been nice. Man to man, we can beat anyone in this league but, and that's the rub, I've seen some really tired legs the last two games. Three games in three days will be a very high mountain to climb. Some things that have to happen - Block needs to shoot, he has become gun shy; Dartis need to return to his earlier form of playing for fun, he's developed a bit of an attitude lately; Carter needs to listen to whoever helped him develop the best footwork I've seen in many a year and quit whining to the refs about foul calls; and Saul needs to continue to call time outs like he has done lately. Sometimes you just need to stem the tide. A time out is not a sign of weakness but of knowledge.

I know this wasn't the point of your comment but this year was why that format was a terrible idea to begin with. We finished in a four-way tie for 2nd. We won the tie-breaker but a team that was tied with us would have to win two more games than we did and one more than the other two teams it was tied with. Interesting concept that just doesn't work in practice.

Could not agree more OUVan. The difference between a big time bye and having to play right away was a crazy tie breaker under the old format. Year in and year out the MAC is a very even conference. Bye to the first four is plenty.

Agree with you guys on the double byes. Why even have a tournament if you're going to do that?

My two cents...

Jaaron needs to string together 3 above average games. Carter needs to stay out of foul trouble.

Fri and Sat two others (Laster, KK, Dartis) need to get hot.

that system works IF the season schedules are balanced. They were balanced at 16 games (2X v 5 division rivals, 1x v 6 cross division)when the new format was first implemented but then we went to 18 conference games with the 2 extra cross over games the schedules became imbalanced. Unfair to have a huge disparity for teams with unbalanced schedules.

End of season MAC stats:

http://mac-sports.com/custompages/stats/2017MBB/CONFLDRS.HTM

Scoring offense: 6th
Scoring defense: 1st
Scoring margin: 1st
Free-throw percentage: 6th (we were dead last earlier in the year)
Field goal percentage: 4th
Field goal percentage defense: 1st
Three point percentage: 1st
Three point percentage defense: 1st

We are trending up. The one category that's a little bit of a concern is rebounding margin. However, I think any statistic major will tell you that the more missed shots there are, the more chances there are for the other team to get an offensive rebound. So Ohio is causing more missed shots, but also giving up more offensive rebounds. Gonna have to be a team effort to reduce those 2nd chance points this week.

Saw something on Twitter yesterday that they need to change how teams are selected for the NCAA Tournament. Wish I would have remembered who suggested this because I'm all for it:

-Regular season champ gets NCAA Tournament bid
-Conference tournament winner gets (at least) NIT bid

This does two things in my mind: (1) makes the regular season more exciting and (2) rewards two teams in each league, hopefully.

I think the regular season is exciting as it can be, but this format would really make the conference tournament LESS exciting. Who wants to play for the NIT bid? To me, the NCAA tournament bracket starts with the conference tournament. Win and you're in.

The format put in place by Geno and Dambrot in reaction to the 2010 team winning is gone. Both sat in meetings and the news saying "that should never happen" yet neither could win a game in post season giving credence to the thought that the hottest team is the one that should be the rep in the tourney.

I disagreed with the format at first but looking at Horizon I came to like it. Now I am a bit ambivalent. The current set up looks fine and does not penalize much but Ruck's idea is appealing as well.

Looking back on 2010 it took awhile for the team to figure out how to play AROUND AB. They adjusted all year long finding their roles and finally figured it out. To penalize a team that is finally hitting on all cylinders is not right either. Geno and Dambrot have a point that the regular season should count but the hottest team and team going the deepest is also a conference goal. Interesting conundrum. (of course , my answer considering the arms race and inequities in officiating home teams and P5 teams not leaving their homes is to expand to 128 and get both regualr season and tourney teams of lower conferences in rather than barely .500 P5 teams)

I'm all for 128, or some variation of more teams as long as it allows for the regular season winner, and the conference tourney winner to have an auto berth. I've about throw the remote through the TV every time I read the screen or hear some analyst talk about how TCU, K-State, Wake, Clemson (for the love!) are on the bubble. Even JG's Illini, without a B1G Championship game appearance, have no business in the conversation. Why they continue to reward crappy teams that get two big wins over top-25 teams, but otherwise are mediocre, with an at-large bid, is beyond me. Simple solutions for me always start with an at-large requirement being .500 or better in conference. It eliminates A LOT of controversy. I give credit to an at-large with 20+ wins and a .500 record in the ACC, B1G, etc.

I also think guys like Illinois State (27-6, 17-1), Middle Tennesse St (27-4, 17-1), UNCW (28-5, 15-3) should be locks. And they are not. And I'd really like the selection committee to justify it when they put a team in the tournament with 17-18 wins over 14-15 losses for an at-large bid. I don't care how tough you scheduled, you still lost A LOT.

+1
We will need KK to drop some bombs if Taylor gets switched on him, Carter should drop some bombs as well. We will also need to collapse on Taylor at times. He is a monster cover, for a freshman. Carter can't reach, if he gets beat a couple times so be it. Also he will have to make Taylor tired by punishing him on the offensive end. All we have to do is avoid long offensive droughts and hit free throws and we should be golden. Go Cats

Don't overthink it. It's pretty simple. #2 needs to play the three best games of his career in a row for OHIO to cut down the nets on Saturday night.