If we won, I'd be feeling the same way. OU was picked to win the conference and they had us down 20 at points. New coach. Mostly an entirely new roster vs a roster of experience. They have every right to feel good about it. Maybe not we're ready to take on duke in the 2nd round again good, but pretty good sign they're doing something right with all the change.

Pretty much nailed it. Thought Searls was a little nervous/tight at beginning which is understandable. But he moves like he knows what he's doing and that already is a huge upgrade from what we had coming off the bench the last two years.

I'm not going to panic about size yet, but it was jarring how much bigger on the court JMU was compared to Ohio.

Not understanding the negativity about PAV. My god...it's one game. He hardly played last year and I thought he acquitted himself well. My biggest criticism is that he drove the paint too many times and forced scoops shoots between the trees.

Sheldon can't go through a game with only one three-point attempt.

Clayton played hard...just not a great matchup for him down low. I'm still not understanding some of the pub surrounding him being on NBA draft boards. Even the announcers said it. Let's get that out of his head and just focus on the next game.

I have massive concerns about Elmore. Again, it's only one game...but unlike PAV who hardly played last year...this is a continuation from last season for Elmore. He can't be playing the same or more minutes than AJ Brown in big games like this. I don't even want to look at what Elmore's shooting % is the last 10 games, but it has to be Brod-esque when he lost his shot. I understand easing AJ back a bit with minutes....but 21 minutes...come on. And to sit Brown in the second half from the 16 minute to the 9 minute mark is unacceptable. That move by Boals made zero sense.

We heard a lot about Ben Nicol in the pre-season. Boals indicated he was going to help this team. Nicol didn't get any of Elmore's minutes. Is this a sign that Nicol in year two isn't ready? I think most people here thought he would play some this year.

It's only one game. We won't face too many teams with the size and length of JMU. Onward and forward.

OUr boys hit 11 of 20 foul shots for 55%. Bobcats not named A. Clayton made 6 of 15 (40%). Unacceptable, as shabamon says.

In contrast:

* CMU, one of the MAC winners last night, made 13 of 17 (77%) at the line. Most importantly, big man Bryan Ndjonga made both of his foul shot attempts with 2 seconds left in the Chips' 4-pt win.

* Kent, another winning MAC team, hit 22 of 28 (76%) from the line. A couple of Columbus players went a combined 18 of 21 (86%) - Davis (13-15) and Safford (5-6). Safford, like Ndjonga, was clutch, making both attempts with 2 seconds left in a 4-point win.

* Finally, Miami, 14-pt winners over S. Alabama, went 12 of 13 (92%) at the line. No heroics with 2 seconds left were necessary.

Because they played most of the game in third gear and handled us comfortably. They knew they had us.

It’s fairly amazing we went from having MAC POY caliber big guys consistently to not even being able to find a dude who will get 4 rebounds a game.

Please be that guy Evans. Please be that guy.

I agree. 3 fouls 13 minutes. What stood out to anyone that he was an upgrade to Wiz is a mystery to me. One game is just that but there is a difference between Ashland competition and MAC level.

Eye test -- He looked more coordinated. Let's also point out that he's transferring up a level. Wiz came down from P5 and still struggled immensely.

Not sure but "Rush Floyd" would be a good prog-rock cover band name.

Not replying directly to anyone in general.

I expected a hard fought, closely contested L.

I got the L part right.

JMU could have beat us by 30 if at any point they decided they wanted to.

We have some talented offensive players.

We have some talented guards/wings.

What we don't have is any semblance of defense (they shot 55%) or rebounding (41-23, and 2 of those were dead-ball rebounds for crying out loud....21 "real" rebounds!!@#$!@#$). Or free throw shooting. If only we could start turning the ball over more, we'd be bad at all 4 of the most critical aspects of the game.

I'd much prefer a team that struggles to score, but you can guarantee on their lunch pail D, dominating the boards and hitting free throws. You'll win 70% of the time with that formula.

What we don't have are talented bigs. Been my complaint for years now. We are TINY. And not really all that athletic either.

AJ Clayton is a better pro prospect as a 6'9 spot up 3pt specialist than as a mid-major, undersized center who wants nothing to do with the paint.

Vic Searls - is a D2 transfer. He's likely going to be fine. It was one game. He's also not going to be a difference maker of any kind.

Ayden Evans - I said all off-season he looked more advanced on the D side and might be a project on O. Seems that might be true.

Of course, it's hard to tell when the top rated freshman class in the conference combined for 0 total minutes. ZERO. Not a single one saw the floor. That's HUGELY concerning to me, in essentially a blow-out, non-con game. Burris is hurt I know, but Elliott and Evans have to be good enough for a handful of minutes.

Lastly, the MAC is hot garbage. We have plenty of time to address all the above issues and likely still be top 2/3 in the league. Of course we're gonna get bounced by anybody with size/legit talent.

"Top-rated" freshman class in the MAC with 0 minutes in opener. Meanwhile, around the MAC Monday night:

Akron's Young with 15 pts in 22 min.

Miami's Byers with 17 min. and Skaljac with 16

WMU's Ryans with 17 min.

UT's Oowinga with 14 pts in 21 min.

NIU's Copeland with 18 min.

UB's Michaels with 13 pts and 27 min and Oboh with 12 min.

Chase Boals and Vic Searls also kind of fit in this category, I assume this is was he was alluding to. So it is 3 of 15...which is not nothing. But 2 are walk-ons and one is a 1 year player.

The anti-Wiz crowd will continue to wear Searls-colored-glasses and gaslight each other about how "great" he is. It will be the Vic fan club echo chamber. They are only fooling each other.

2 points and 3 fouls against a fellow unranked mid-major isn't very inspiring.

Decent grades from the first game:
Hadaway 7-12/3-6 (missing all 4 FTs is an issue though)
AJB 5-5/2-2
J. Pav 7-14
Mitchel 6-9 plus 3 assists and 4 steals

Failing grades:
E. James 1-7, 1-3 at the line, 4 fouls - rather puke inducing

Incomplete:
Sheldon and Searles due to small sample size of minutes
Clayton 1-6 offset by 5-5 at the line + 5 boards and 4 assists