I barely got the ESPN feed for the 2nd half...and was much unhappy about that at the time for sure.

Decent win, I gather. Clearly Southern is at least an okay team. Any thoughts how they'd fair in this year's MAC?

The talent we have should be able to play lock down D ...at least at key moments.

Very impressive we went into the half with the lead considering the early foul trouble. Taylor made big contribution. Looks like Culver has a ton of talent and Carter is very active. Couldn't watch the second half but it seems we looked more like ourselves. Good that Kenny knocked down a couple. He's huge for us.

I can see Culver becoming a fan favorite with his energy and athleticism. Not to start a 10-page back-and-forth between Monroe v. others, but do you think his shooting form can be changed by his junior season? Or sooner? Still, what a follow-up dunk in the first half?

I noticed Dartis started handling the ball more so than Simmons late in the game. Not sure if this was because Simmons was a bit hobbled (came off the floor minutes earlier and limped into and back out of the locker room) or perhaps because Saul wants the ball in Jordie's hands in such situations due to his 90% foul shooting.

I remember cringing last year every time Block tried posting up his defender. I also remember thinking that he probably got away with this back in high school. He tried this 3 or 4 times yesterday without success. He does a lot of good things for Ohio, but posting up D-I players may not be one of those things.

Is it really a tradition when the announcer has to tell the fans to stand for defense? So happy Southern hit a free throw on its first possession so all the sheep in front of me could sit down.

I thought Southern was pretty decent. We were helped by their carelessness with the ball, which made up for our bad free throw shooting and rebounding. Kaminski looked a lot better and I shouldn't complain about 4-8 from long range, but I will anyway. He's still forcing shots early in possessions, and we have too many weapons for that to make any sense. He's best in the rhythm of the offense. Dartis hasn't missed a beat and looks much better handling the ball - I don't think he's even near his very high ceiling. I agree that Block should not post people up, and he got lit up by his man despite some decent defense. He's a really good play who just had a mediocre game - it happens. Campbell's conditioning has really paid off. He's running the floor better and didn't seem the least bit tired. Simmons just seemed to have some early jitters that don't worry me at all long-term. Carter is really strong fundamentally and just needs to learn the speed of D1 ball; the fact that he's putting in productive minutes this early is awesome. Culver is incredibly promising on both ends of the floor. The future is really bright.

The fouls on Simmons and Campbell were a blessing in disguise. I agree that the team responded to it really well, and Campbell played fundamentally strong defense after the first two fouls. Plus, Doug Taylor! He was fantastic on glass and D, and looks like he was right next to Tony in the gym. I'm pretty excited about this season.

You can change a shot in an afternoon depending on how well an athlete listens and his motivation to do so..... then his discipline to get in the gym and make the changes stick. In that afternoon they will usually see early success if they are open and they will Feed that success by concentration on what they are learning and create more success by reproducing the mechanics of change

Sure would like to know who is telling Lou to say this. I too hope the other team gets a point immediately so that the sheep can sit down. Think about it - a guy from the other teams makes a hoop so you're fans sit down. Talk about a motivator for the other team. Please get rid of this nonsense.

No.

As squared implies and many others at length laid down in threads elsewhere, 2.5 or more years is how it's done.

This notion of almost instantaneous change is clearly non-acceptable.

Anybody thinking that Saul under-recruits based on who else is on our players should make note of this.

I third or fourth the motion. I like the concept of something like this to get the home fans up on our feet to start the game. This isn't it because there's no excitement behind it.

So what would be a better alternative?

I am fine with leavingit. Or not

It does not really matter, but it dies give some folk something to bitch about. For the past 2 years we got the MAC schedule playing every Tuesday and every Saturday and that complaint got taken care of..... The ticket prices seen to have been laying low for a minute......we have adequate refreshments in the rohrer room...... If you take this away what ever will they have to bitch about? Aaaaah well go ahead and get rid of it.....I have complete faith in the folks who constantly complain to be unhappy about something

Funny caa caa!!

Watched the last ten minutes or so of the Southern-Georgia Tech game last night. Georgia Tech was a bad matchup for Southern. GT has a starting lineup of 6'4", 6'4", 6'9", 6'9", 6'10". I didn't see a single player on GT that looked like they were a natural shooter though. Lots of slashers and dribble penetration leading to free throws. The good news is they are hitting less than 60% on FTs in their first two games and less than 30% from 3. Their length might lead to more contested threes so ball movement will be key. The good news is they didn't pressure the ball nearly as much as Southern and Sam Houston did against us.