I'm just wondering if any of the rest of you who caught Saul's postgame interview came away with the feeling that there's a lot of tension in the locker room. He kind of hinted he'd being doing a lot of yelling at players in the locker room this year and that some of them weren't listening. He also indicated that he was going to be making some changes, but I wasn't sure if he was hinting at changes in relative playing time, or role assignments, specific plays, or exactly what. He did make it very clear that he doesn't yell at players in public, that he reserves that for the locker room. A kind of what-happens-in-the-locker-room-stays-in-the-locker-room approach. I can really respect that. I wish at least one of our previous coaches had had that philosophy. At any rate, I watched the game at a friends house, he kept pouring the beer, so I might have missed something in listening to the post-game as I nursed my last beer. Boy, was this a game in which beer was really needed! ;-)

In my 40 years watching OHIO basketball, I have never seen a team that lacks team basketball knowledge, lacks a solid point guard that leads, players that do not follow coaching, and athletes that play with no enthusiasm. A total of 34 turnovers
means a total lack of concentration or lack of effort. OR BOTH!!

The only team that would come close would be Bandy's 2nd year. They did have potential, but the lack of team unity was it's downfall. This included physical locker room fighting, maryjane use with no control.

I really feel sorry for Saul and maybe he is too nice. This team is so fragile. I really thought that the Canadian Trip created alot of team unity, but it is going downhill in a hurry.

Not sure how he can resusitate this team. Do you put a freshman at point, sit Bean?
I really think that Bean is a cancer. Then we have Campbell that gets very lazy, no hand strength and more interested in his gear(pulling at his pants and brace).

I am sure that there is more, but this is my simple observation from outside.

I will continue to support this team, but my travels to other sites will be very limited. This BGSU game and what I saw again the 2nd half will really mean less car miles.

Is the tension really with Bean though? I have no idea but he is the one starting which would make me think the tension is between him and Taylor but I have no clue. He could just be mad at everyone. I'm sure that trip built unity but, no matter what the team chemistry is when you start losing things are going to fall apart. The only fix to this is getting some W's.

Speaking from experience.....or talking from someone you know who was in the locker room? Happens every year after a bad loss? Not sure where this info is coming from....I may be wrong but this reads like you are sounding like an authority with experience. Appreciate the insight and sage wisdom/

And, I repeat a question I raised earlier: did all these guys get stupid, lazy and bitchie just this year? In others, how can you have these kinds of problems when we never heard of them last year? As was said after the hawaii tournament, something seems to be going on in the locker room and either the coach...the players...or BOTH need to resolve whatever the issues are or this is a really really long year! I am not so sure we will be better in march given the MAC start!

Yes, on shooting percentage alone. All 3 of those guys took smart shots and made them at a high rate. We also have had to replace TJ Hall and Rico (though he was of course injured so it doesn't feel like we had to replace him). It has been a lot to replace.

As great as Ryan is, he as a freshman is no where close to Nick as a senior. Laster has shown he is solid but he is not really fulfilling any particular area of need.

There is more to it - Just the growing pains of a new system & coaches, regression from Stevie, and possible strife between the "old regime guys" and "new regime guys." But I maintain that our primary issue is not adequately replacing what we lost, yet.

.492 -shooting % of Kellogg/Wilkins/Smith
.471 -shooting % of Laster/Taylor
.452 -shooting % of Kellogg/Wilkins

Sure if you add in Smith who had a different role than the other 4 guards/wings, but comparing like for like roles the freshmen have a better shooting percentage than the seniors.

Either way, our freshmen aren't the problem.

I'm very interested in what Coach has to say on the show tonight after time to process his thoughts. For a guy who has talked our ears off to this point, he was struggling for words Saturday evening.

Last year's team was 25-12 and had a player walk away before the season ended. I don't think the current atmosphere is a new one.

Nick was one of a rare few that would include Dave Jamerson and Geno Ford. It would be nice to include Ryan Taylor in that group in 4 years but it's really too early to tell at this point.

It's hard to say - his instincts might tell him to be the rah-rah guy, but it's probably hard for a freshman to do that for fear of overstepping his bounds unless he's head and shoulders the best player on the team. (Gary Trent could command everyone's attention as a frosh because the team went as he went, period.)

High basketball IQ, team leader, overall skills (though nor necessary to be best player), anything else? = "that guy"

So what players comprise our all-time "that guy" team?

Names above include/suggest: Nick Kellogg, Dave Jamerson, Geno Ford, DJ Cooper, Gary Trent. I'll nominate Eddie Hicks from the early '80s teams - refuse to let you lose guy (Kirk also considered).

Others for consideration before narrowing the team?

For the 2004-2005 squad I would say "that guy" was Harbut. The drop-off in the 2005-2006 team was noticeable without Harbut patrolling the paint. Say what you want about the implosion of the Jeremy Fears fiasco, but Harbut was the glue.

sorry, didn't know that when you said "shooting % alone" you didn't actually mean that in any way.