Bobcat Attack - Ohio Basketball - Official Game 14 Thread: Northern Illinois

Ohio Basketball Topic

Topic: Official Game 14 Thread: Northern Illinois

Page: 1 of 4

mail

Ted Thompson

1/3/2024 4:00 PM

Use this thread to talk about anything game-related. For away games, we may have a separate travel thread.

Date: Saturday January 6, 2024 2:00 PM

Opponent: Northern Illinois (6-7, 0-1 MAC)

Site: Convocation Center

TV/Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: Ohio Radio, The Varsity Network App (free)

NIU statistics, roster and media guide

NIU message board: NIU Dog Pound

mail

greencat

1/3/2024 5:08 PM

2 to 4 inches of snow in the forecast for Saturday.

During a flu epidemic while the students are gone. After 5 straight D-1 losses.

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

mail

FearLeon

1/3/2024 5:53 PM

Staring at 2-6 start if we lose this one. I'm not as confident as most here about beating all of these directional Michigan schools. We have guys giving up full-court layups off missed free throws. Something ain't right fellas.

mail

person

Casper71

1/3/2024 9:10 PM

We have a bunch of kids on defense that fall into one of two categories. One of the categories is those that don’t want to play defense. Second is the category of kids that can’t play defense. Add to that offensive players that can only dribble and not pass and the kids that can’t shoot. Makes for a long and disappointing season. I sure hope things change but I am becoming a doubter.

mail

person

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame

1/3/2024 9:42 PM

Our defensive numbers aren't that bad. Numbers aren't everything, obviously. But I was surprised looking at the yesterday.

We're middle of the pack nationally in opponent TS%, defend the three well (80th in the country), and create a lot of turnovers (74th in the nation in opponent turnovers per game).

I think our biggest issue is that we foul a lot. 20 fouls a game. 319th in the country. Basically one foul every four possessions on defense. Per 40 minutes, we have 6 guys who average more than 4 fouls, and two others at 3.9. That's basically our entire rotation.

mail

person

Casper71

1/3/2024 10:29 PM

Let’s face it, Akron poses a bunch of issues for our team. The statistics may be better defensively overall but last night was horrendous. They would have scored 90 easily if they kept their foot on the gas the last 3 1/2 minutes. We just could not stop them on the dribble then when we clogged the lane, they hit some threes. And, we foul a lot because we just don’t play good defense either individually or as a team.

Last Edited: 1/3/2024 10:31:16 PM by Casper71

mail

person

ohiocatfan1

1/4/2024 9:04 AM

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more

Constantly being out of position on defense explains much, if not all, of this.

mail

Andrew Ruck

1/4/2024 9:25 AM

greencat wrote:expand_more

2 to 4 inches of snow in the forecast for Saturday.

During a flu epidemic while the students are gone. After 5 straight D-1 losses.

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

No chance it snows that much. It will be a mix that results in less than an inch, like usual. I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible. Will the 110 come back a day early and be in attendance? That would be a huge help to the atmosphere.

mail

person

bobcatsquared

1/4/2024 10:30 AM

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

4,016 in the Convo Tuesday night.

Terrible numbers compared to years past - I remember a packed Convo on a Wednesday night in the mid 1990s with Ohio (Trent) hosting BG (Antonio Daniels).

Impressive numbers compared to the other 5 MAC games Tuesday night. KSU (1796), BG (2439), Miami (1005), CMU (1088) and NIU (917).

mail

person

ohiocatfan1

1/4/2024 10:45 AM

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

With all due respect from watching on TV 4,016 was a stretch. Not an appealing look for television. I wonder if there's ever been thoughts of curtaining off the upper areas when low attendance is expected for a televised game.

mail

person

Deciduous Forest Cat

1/4/2024 10:52 AM

ohiocatfan1 wrote:expand_more

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

The cameras hardly show that high in the arena. Also, do you know how much fabric that would take? how much it would cost? cost to put up and take down?

The issue is how bad it looks when the 100 and 200 levels are empty.

Also, Trent vs BG in 1994 was on a Saturday and was between 2 contenders with star players (did Trent and Daniels overlap?), with students and band, and was sibs weekend if I'm not mistaken.

A couple years later we had a huge weds crowd but that was a late feb battle for first place with maybe 8-10k in the house.

Edit: In general, just hard to compare those two situations with a .500 team with students still on break and zero current buzz about the program.

Last Edited: 1/4/2024 11:17:26 AM by Deciduous Forest Cat

mail

person

SBH

1/4/2024 10:58 AM

ohiocatfan1 wrote:expand_more

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

Those would be some expensive, tall-ass curtains. Plus, where would the blimp fly?

mail

person

ohiocatfan1

1/4/2024 11:08 AM

Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more

ohiocatfan1 wrote:expand_more

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

I have no idea how much fabric, what it would cost to put up and take down, etc. That's why I said has it ever been considered. The cameras show a lot of the arena from the under the basket angle on free throws. In any event if more people simply attended games it wouldn't be an issue.

mail

person

Urban Bobcat

1/4/2024 11:59 AM

SBH wrote:expand_more

ohiocatfan1 wrote:expand_more

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

Those would be some expensive, tall-ass curtains. Plus, where would the blimp fly?

That blimp is way to close to the Hindenburg Disaster for me. My grandpa knew someone, who knew someone that read about the disaster in the newspaper. Blimps are silent killers that must be eliminated from our society once and for all.

mail

person

bobcatsquared

1/4/2024 12:58 PM

Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more

Also, Trent vs BG in 1994 was on a Saturday and was between 2 contenders with star players (did Trent and Daniels overlap?), with students and band, and was sibs weekend if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, I don't remember what year it was. Maybe 1995? 1993? But I'm pretty sure (not 100%) it was a Wednesday night.

Biggest difference in this comparison? Trent and Daniels were 2 of several future NBA players dotting MAC rosters back before the turn of the century. Not too many since.

mail

person

Ohio69

1/4/2024 12:59 PM

Instead of curtains.... Windscreen type signage/advertising and whole section seat covers with signage/advertising. Windscreeny type stuff wouldn't need to be hung from ceiling -- just stood up (somehow). Maybe make the convo feel smaller depending on how high up in the stands the screen-signs are placed. Can be removed for general seating for "big" games. Sell some ads - even dirt cheap. Maybe even make the Convo louder.....

Off year for our Bobcats on many levels. Strange roster. 1PG in Sheldon, 6 dudes wanting to be SG (Hunter, Brown, James, Brown, Mitchel, Cornish), 2 guys wanting to be SF (Clayton, Hadaway), one big (Wiznitzer)... Struggling with threes... Struggling with free throws.... Just a weird one this year....

Time to put on the green tinted glasses and root for this mismatchy bunch of underdogs to do the best they can....

mail

person

Pataskala

1/4/2024 1:37 PM

I'm less concerned about how the crowd looked and more concerned about how the team looked. Disjointed on offense and often slow on defense. Put a better team on the floor and the fans will show up. At the moment, there's really no one in an Ohio uniform to get really excited about.

mail

person

bobcat 2000

1/4/2024 2:21 PM

theres good reason to be disappointed with this team. we are starting to see this team look more like the 97-98 team with every game they play so far.

mail

greencat

1/4/2024 4:13 PM

bobcat 2000 wrote:expand_more

theres good reason to be disappointed with this team. we are starting to see this team look more like the 97-98 team with every game they play so far.

It's been over a month since the last D-1 win.

Until this team can actually avoid the late first half/early second half doldrums (not to mention Toledo was leading 13-0 early)...there is no reason to think they can beat anybody in the MAC right now.

mail

M.D.W.S.T

1/4/2024 7:06 PM

ohiocatfan1 wrote:expand_more

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

Anybody want to predict the size of the crowd?

I imagine the crowd will be similar to Tuesday, which was not good but also not terrible.

Have I been summoned?

I think it’s been a few weeks since I’ve complained about the camera angles in the convo.

We could have 10K in the stands and it’d look like 10 because cameras are facing the always sparse friends and family crowd and the empty visitors allotment behind the bench rather than the student section - which even on a bad night has the entire lower bowl filled with a raucous crowd.

Aren’t the cameras still just sitting on the catwalk between sections BEHIND the students? All you ever see is hands.

We could throw down some $10 plywood across seats and put those babies on the other side and it’d be an entirely different atmosphere for the home viewer.

Last Edited: 1/4/2024 7:10:46 PM by M.D.W.S.T

mail

shabamon

1/5/2024 3:15 PM

About 10 years ago, we would often start games with the outer ring of lights off and they would slowly trickle back on. The empty seats at the top of the building were less obvious. Whenever I see tarps in a stadium, it loudly screams to me the program has given up on ever filling those seats being the norm.

These guys don't have a D1 win since Thanksgiving weekend. I'm concerned though that with these guys playing six or seven players 6'7" or taller that we don't match up well with their length if the outside shot is not falling. They could spend all afternoon at the foul line. They don't rebound that well despite their length and turn the ball over somewhat high. Need that Troy defense to show up tomorrow.

I don't need to rehash all of our personnel issues, but with a full deck, this might have been a game where it would have been helpful to try something like Gabe, AJC, and Hadaway on the floor together if needed.

Last Edited: 1/5/2024 3:20:57 PM by shabamon

mail

person

Pataskala

1/5/2024 6:15 PM

Can we try to get Sheldon to shoot FTs from behind the arc? He's hitting nearly 60% from three but only 37% from the FT line. The first two he put up Tuesday night were absolute bricks, off the back iron as if he were ten feet farther back. A 6'1" guard who hits from the filed like he does shouldn't be that bad from the FT line.

mail

FearLeon

1/6/2024 8:05 AM

7.5 favorites.

Make it make sense.

Ohio is 3-8 against the spread.

It’s like Vegas hasn’t caught up yet on what is going on in Athens.

mail

person

Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame

1/6/2024 9:31 AM

FearLeon wrote:expand_more

7.5 favorites.

Make it make sense.

Ohio is 3-8 against the spread.

It’s like Vegas hasn’t caught up yet on what is going on in Athens.

Definitely a confusing line. Toledo, too.

mail