Played hard for 30 minutes, it was the ten minutes from about the 11:00 minute mark in the 2nd half until the 1:00 mark where once again someone hypnotized us and we slept walked until they woke us up with 1:00 to go. The last 4 games showed us what was possible, sadly this game was a nightmarish flashback of too many games this season. Honestly when we play as we did the last 4 games, I could see us making a run in the Big Dance. When we play the way we played in the 2nd half tonight, it will be One and Done in the MAC Tournament.

The 10 second call might have been the worst call I have seen all year. They tell officials that they must make that call when the player is in the back court. You can't make the call when he has crossed the line, either you aren't counting right or you lost your count. When I coached high school, they instructed us coaches that this should be one of the simplest calls for an official to make. Here we have a Division I basketball official who doesn't seem to understand. It was par for the course for tonight.

Forgive me, as it's hard to criticize a team that could go in as a #2 or #3 seed, but "Grit" is what we lack late in these games IMO. We gave up tons of second, third and forth chances late; they outshot us big time from the line (ie: they were attacking and drawing fouls); Rob C. stated that all of their last 15 points were going to the hole or from the FT line; and we had nowhere to go other than ill-advised shots from Simmons down the stretch when we needed a big bucket. If by "grit" you're referring to guys that care and really want to win, then I wholeheartedly agree. However if by "grit" you mean physical/aggressive play--I think that's where we struggle. We're finesse. Kent State/Akron--they're "physical and gritty." They ripped that victory out of our hands when the going got tough tonight.

FearLeon, you're right. Terrible call, but even Jaaron succumbed to the hypnotic sleep walking bit tonight, as evidened by the 10 Second Call. My guess is even a leader like Jaaron has only so much energy and when the rest of the team is in sleep walking mode, you end up doing the same thing.

It would be bad enough if we just didn't have it tonight, or if Kent State was athletically superior to us. However, as evidenced by the first half and the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, we were in the driver's seat and then suddenly found ourselves asleep at the wheel.

I am never the guys who says "even it up" as I believe if you are fouling, as we were in quite a few cases, that it deserves to be called. That said, and I have not watched the replay yet, the one stripes really did a lot to even that game up. He seemed to tilt things toward favoring a Kent win letting some things go and calling other things that were just not in character with consistent application of rules from end to end. I thought he was a bit out of his element and it makes me miss the Officials page that we used to have on STATSheet to refer to...

That was a strange game to watch... Had one long time stripes we have seen many times that is fairly consistent put in a strange position of supporting the other stripe... but we did not take care of business either. This team is a work in progress with young guys learning college ball and situations and old guys fighting to lead in an environment where they have lost their best player. It is fascinating to watch unfold and interesting to see how they handle it. Standing back and Looking from an unbiased view it is quite a study. Saul's post game was terse but positive and emphasized the need to take the lesson away and believe in the guys he has. Will be great to see him play this hand out. I would be really happy to see him come away a winner with a weaker hand than he would like or would have thought to had at the beginning of the year. SOme surprising cards in there and some glaring gaps. Gotta know what to play, when to show and when to go..... this is gonna be fun. Trust the process, don't flinch.

Some don't want to hear it, but definitely, this is a team in progress. The big runs given up are really frustrating, but overall, to be where they are right now after losing Tony is not something to be minimized. This staff and this team are getting a lot out of who they are as a group. Watching the growth and evolution is more than half the fun.

I recall Laster finishing with 4 fouls. Just like most of the year, a Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde team. That second half we more or less fell apart. No cohesion at all. Too much of Kaminski complaining to the refs. Oh, well, he's only 18-he'll lern. Oh, wait...frustrating loss. 'Cats had it-wasn't nearly all refs fault.

Mike played 7ish min in first half and 12ish min in second half. In second half he entered at 15:33 and subbed out at 8:33 when he got his 3rd foul. He came back in at 6:28, got his 4th foul at 4:33 and subbed out, came back in at 2:40 and finished game.

Seems like Saul was managing minutes due to fouls.