Nope.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

This is so far from reality it’s ridiculous. I’m a pessimist by nature, so it feels odd to be tapping out a response like this, but I honestly don’t understand the extreme negativity of many of the posters on this board. What the hell did you guys expect after the upheaval of the last three years? Show me any program that can lose two recruiting classes in three years and not lose a step or two.

Two coaches are gone largely because they lavished this fan base with wins, and two recruiting classes were decimated as a consequence, yet people on here saw huge potential in this year’s team?

This team never had much potential. This season sucks and the team has a ton of flaws that are regularly exposed. There have been a lot more nasty nights than good ones.

It’s tempting to bitch about a bad team, and I’ve don’t plenty of it myself. It can be cathartic and it’s often warranted. I’d honestly trade this team for most any other in the MAC this year.

What I wouldn’t trade is our program. Not for any other one. This program has produced some nearly unwatchable basketball this year, yet is still supported by the biggest crowds and the most vocal and sizable student section in the conference. This program has given the MAC its only NCAA Tournament wins since 2002. This program is playing a ton of underclassmen who will only be bigger and better next year. This program has a pretty encouraging slate of transfers and recruits coming in next year.

This program is on the right track and will be just fine.

It's easy to say you could see this coming but college basketball by nature is a big question mark every year. There were way too many variables in play to make any kind of accurate assessment. It's obvious now how flawed this team is but with a new coach with new systems and so many players in new roles this year I'm not sure you can say this was the obvious outcome. I've said this several times this year but I think what we are seeing is how valuable Nick Kellogg, Jon Smith and Travis Wilkins were. I was hoping that we would have guys step up and take their roles but for many reasons it just hasn't happened. It will be interesting to see who takes the leadership mantle next year. I didn't expect us to win the MAC this year but I certainly didn't see expect to be rolling my eyes on every other possession on both ends.

I watched three championship games today for a local DC area league (5th, 7th, 9th grades) and four of the six teams involved were a joy to watch because they played smart team basketball. I enjoyed all three of those games ten times more than I've enjoyed any of our games this year because this team's play is so diametrically opposed to what I want to see on the court. Sadly I think this season has even gotten to the players who were trying to play the game the right way early on. I can't recall any Ohio team ever having more one pass or fewer possessions.

Looking forward to the addition by subtraction.

Honestly, I think 2014-15 B-ball season = 2014 football season. Both teams in rebuilding years with lots of hope for next year in the way of recruits, transfer, etc.

We had high hopes going into both seasons, but I think realistically we knew that it was a long shot. Way too many question marks, not enough senior leadership and lots of young guys getting PT.

I think next year will be HUGE improvement for both sports.

I don't pretend to know anything about where Ohio football will be next year. I'm just not that informed of a fan. In terms of Ohio Basketball, I really think they'll be a lot better to watch than this year simply because they'll be mostly Saul recruits and have an extra year in the system.


(Also, hopefully a couple certain wing players can add a few calories to their diets, and weight room time to their schedule.)

I disagree and I'm surprised everyone took my e-mail as an indictment of Ohio basketball as that's the last thing it was meant to be.

Going into this year expectations amongst most BA'ers were high for the b-ball team. While it was understand that the depth wasn't there yet, most of us were excited about the returning talent of the roster; N"Dour was talked about as a potential MAC POY, a more experienced Bean and Stevie Taylor in the backcourt with a young and improving Tony Campbell, most of us were thinking Ohio would compete for the MAC East title this year.

The 2013 football team had a 3 game nosedive when they're outscored 200-0 (a slight exaggeration). This year's b-ball team just lost 2 straight where they were basically outhustled. Go back to the Athens News and Athens Messenger articles to read where Coach Phillips is basically beside himself just trying to get his team to compete. We have threads in this messageboard titled "Embarrassing" and "I'd Rather have a Root Canal". Parallel threads were posted in the football section in 2013.

The similarities to me are amazing but I guess it's just me. And I say it was the 2013 football team that hit rock bottom-with a young team it improved in 2014 and had already began its upswing this past year.

Ohio basketball will do the exact same thing next year; with an amazing recruiting class Ohio basketball will eventually be an absolute force again. Of that I have no doubt. I'm very bullish on the team and on Coach Phillips, hence my comment on finally seeing some continuity.

I will say this....OUr team is very well positioned to be very good given that continuity. I've been looking at the 2016-17 season as a year that a lot of the young guys have matured, the system is in place, and other teams within the conference have lost some big time players to graduation.

My only expectations for the remainder of this season goes like this:

Arrive in Athens for game day. Have lunch food & beverages with people I like and have fun with them. Cheer on the 'Cats with as much enthusiasm as I can muster that day. Leave the Convo and repeat the lunch step for dinner. Maybe I'll toss in that I'll try to sneak in a walk around Stroud's if the day is nice.

That's it.

Winning is a plus, but not expected. Advancing to Friday in Cleveland would be a plus, but not expected.