Great assessment. Get used to more of the same when we match up against EMU and Akron - perhaps even Kent - during the second half of the season.

Akron illustrated why some of us get frustrated watching five Bobcats camp out on the three-point line and toss the ball until an open shot comes available or the shot clock runs out. They played an actual inside-out game, let the double teams come, and either took a close shot in the paint, passed in the paint, or hit an open man for a wide open three. I can't remember the last time I saw that kind of offensive basketball 101 by our team this year. Our entire offense is taking contested shots off drives or shooting threes. That's it, and that's not going to win the day in Cleveland.

I made it to the game last night, which embarrassingly was my first trip to the JAR. The gym & atmosphere are meh, most all cheering is driven by the cheerleaders. The gym is kind of cool but also lacking.

There was a 12ish year old boy sitting in front of me that would look over his shoulder at me to see my reaction every single time Akron scored. Every...single...time. Not trash talking or saying anything, just looking. I am not sure why, as I was pretty much completely quiet and still the whole game. I never wanted to curse out a child more, and that's saying something because I have 3 kids and coach baseball.

I do understand the points about athleticism, but I think a lot of that is smoke and mirrors...just because a player looks more fluid and smooth in his motion doesn't necessarily make him more effective.

I'm not a Doug hater, but he had an awful game. Made some dumb fouls, got backed down in the paint repeatedly, didn't get great positioning on the boards and just didn't have a great touch around the basket. Jason had some great moments but his night was mostly frustrating (5 fouls in 17 mins, about 2 of which were actually fouls). In that sense, having regular Tony over these 2 tonight would have been a MASSIVE difference. But then again, there's no guarantee Tony would've done well either.

Kenny & Jordy struggled to find decent shots. Our offense was centered around attacking the basket with reckless abandon. Early on it resulted in some really embarrassing looking "shots." Eventually Simmons was able to start converting on it, but given how quickly it seemed we attacked the basket you would hope for more than just 68 points (and just 7 free throws).

I'm no expert but it sure seems to me that Isaiah Johnson got away with lots of foot shuffling and extensive steps. The guys seemed frustrating all night with the calls.

I thought during EMU and Akron both, that I would love to see an advanced metric on the quality of makes & misses. What percent of makes are nothing but net, clank right down or rattle around. Same for misses - What percent don't miss by much and rim out, rattle around and off, air balls, etc. I know there would be a lot of gray areas but it could be very insightful particular in team stats by game. I think both these last 2 losses would show Ohio with a lot of "near misses" and our opponents with a lot of "fortunate makes." Maybe it's just me being biased and feeling like we aren't getting the bounces, I don't know, that's why I'd like a stat on it.

Akron looked good last night, super-human during the 9 minute stretch in which they outscored us 26-6 and looked like the Globetrotters just having fun out there for a bit. But they did not strike me as extra special, just normal good Akron. We need some development and a healthy Tony but we can beat them.

I agree with all of this. To sum up my feelings I feel kind of like "blah" right now. I don't see a killer instinct and I don't see the guys having any fun. Culver actually is regressing and doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Laster has passed him up clearly. Carter has clearly passed up DT. I thought Doug would bring some pain in the post last night but looked soft. The announcers mentioned that Kenny had ZERO rebounds the two previous games. If I were Saul I would force him into the post when the ball is reversed away from him. He actually shoots fairly well when he posts up or drives. Jaaron was on last night but for some reason if he's on, no one else is. I just want to see them having fun like the Nick-Jon-Rico-TJ-Wilkins team from a few years ago who was successful and fun to watch.