Actually could have been Groce if he decided to stay in Athens and had similar post season success as last year.  I know I don't post very often on the board but I am almost a daily reader.  I guess I am nervous that the grammar police will destroy my posts for poor structure.  Since I just mentioned Coach Groce I think I will weigh in on the whole was Christian a good hire/did we have a good season argument.  

On a side note I will refer to the Ohio Bobcats as we because I am alumni and these student athletes represent a University community in which I am a member.  I think only in school athletics is the only time the word "we" can be used when discussing a team and only if the person using the word "we" was actually a student/graduate of the school they were referring too.  Without the students there wouldn't be a basketball team.

Anyways the definition of success is in the eyes of the beholder obviously.  In the historical context of Ohio Basketball we did have a successful season.  A record of 14-2 in conference play is remarkable and something our community should hold with pride.  I know some of my fellow attackers will not feel the banner in the Convo will bring too many fond memories but in 18 years an in coming freshman will look up and say "Wow we had a hell of a run from 2009-2013."  

As for the people who view the season as disappointing, I can see their argument as well.  We all claim we want to be the next Butler or Gonzaga.  This season was a disappointment in that view.  Let's look at Gonzaga first.  Dan Monson took a team nobody heard of all the way to the elite 8 and I believe a point or two away from the final 4.  It was an impressive performance but what really put Gonzaga on the map was the trip to the Sweet 16 the NEXT year.  They were not a flash in the pan, they were a good program.  The basketball team had the name recognition to start landing recruits that were superior to everyone else in the WCC and built a dynasty.  Eventually Monson left for Minnesota and as history tells us now Gonzaga made the correct hire in Mark Few.  So in terms of getting to the "next level" this season, I believe we squandered an opportunity.  It is the same scenario with Butler.  Until the Bulldogs made consecutive national championship games, they were a team known for losing to Florida on a buzzer beater.  Now they are heading to the new Big East.

In my humble opinion the key to getting to the next level is making consecutive 2nd weekend runs in the tournament.  If not you become a name recognized by good college basketball fans like a Valpo, Bucknell, or Tennessee Chattanooga or the answer to a trivia question.  

I think Christian is a good hire for staying in the upper third of the MAC.  We will continue to be in the top 4 seeds in Cleveland and always considered a good MAC team.  However I believe we missed a chance for being a more national player by not playing to our potential this March.  We are at least two deep tournament runs away.

Good post. Awesome avatar, bro!

Although I've nothing against this site's "grammar police" and in fact find amusing some of their grammatically correct posts, I've no intention of joining them.  And I hope fervently that no BA "lurker" lets fear of grammar police "arrests" dissuade them from joining active BA'ers.

BTW, today I no doubt would flunk a grammar test.  In my own writing, I frequently flout grammar rules. Examples:
* I sometimes split infinitives.
* I frequently use incomplete sentences.
* I occasionally end a sentence with a prepositon.

All such infractions are done with purpose.

Which reminds me.  Back in the 70s, I spent a few years as a senior editor at a national business magazine.  The late Joe Hudson was our chief copy editor and he was darned good at his job.  But he and I had several run-ins over my occasionally letting grammar infractions reach his desk.  Finally one day I asked Joe if he could bring himself to agree to the following:  "If such an error makes reading easier for the reader, could he accept it?"

There followed a pregnant silence during which Joe pondered the question.  Then he replied, "Yes, I could accept that."

During all the decades since, whenever writing anything, I've kept that in mind:  If grammatical errors make reading easier for the reader, rules be damned.   Which i think is a pretty good rule. 

We live in Ohio. Ending sentences in unnecessary prepositions is encouraged. It is our gift to the world.

Good post giacomo.

Imagine how much Ohio could spend if they had no football team?

Football is a very expensive sport and one of those sports that constitutes a lot of "all or nothing" that a university does with their sporting programs. With it, all things revolve around it, and without it, money and revenue is completely different.

This is officially acceptable now.

This whole "you can't support two major sports" is laughable to me.  Uh, Ohio St, Mich, Texas...and on and on. 

The difference is: MONEY.  Then again, if we bought in 30k people for each and every football game and 10k for each and every basketball game, we'd probably generate sufficient resources to pay what is needed.

The question is: Will we ever do that with MAC schedules? I think, NO.  So, what is the value of a MAC membership?  Oh, it keeps expenses (as well as revenues) down.

Seems like this is a dog chasing his tail.  We need to associate with institutions that want to do what is necessary to get 30k to football and 10k to basketball games.  Anybody got a name for ONE conference that does that for BOTH sports and makes sense for us to join? I'll be honest, I don't have any right now.  Does that mean it is time for 10 institutions with the same problem getting together and making something happen?  I think, YES.  Problem is, anybody know of 10 institutions thinking that way that want to get together with us?  I'll admit it, not me (unless you canvas the MAC and see if anyone is really that committed, there may be a handful and that is a start).

Exactly. In some ways I'd say this basketball season was successful (though disappointing in several facets). There are others who say that this season was a massive failure and JC should have never been hired. That's what I was getting at with the revenue discussion.

Or he would have missed the NCAA's just like this year and been stuck finding a way to rebuild a program losing a once in a generation player like DJ Cooper (not to mention other solid starters). 

Good post, and one I agree with. This season was a good season. Was it better than last year? If given the choice, who here would take a better MAC record rather than two NCAA tournament wins and a sweet sixteen appearance? Anyone? Some other points raised. (1) I think it is wrong to characterize the naysayers as claiming this was a bad year. I think our arguments are characterized in such a way in order to create a strawman. We are merely arguing that last year was a better year than this year in the most important metric, and, as the original poster pointed out, an opportunity was lost this year. I was at dinner this weekend, and a tablemate asked me how Ohio did in the post-seasons tournaments, knowing I went there, wear the clothing, and was with me when I cheered loudly at our local sports bar when Ohio beat Michigan and South Florida last year, and came within a cat's whisker of bearing North Carolian. I told him. His next question was "How many players did they lose from last year?" "Um. None. They lost their coach."

(2) How would JG have done this year at O.U.? Who knows, but we do know how he did at Illinois, which was pitiful last year, with the same players JG inherited, and which won a game in a tournament in which they were never supposed to play. We do know he made the NCAA tournament twice with this O.U. team, going 3-2. So, if past performance is any indication of future perforamance, I think the odds favor JG.

(3) I share your hopes for the program going forward. I really hope JC produces results more akin to JG than TOS. But, again, if we are considering past performance, JC inherited a good Kent program, and pretty much maintained the status quo. He inherited a lackluster TCU program, and again, pretty much maintained the status quo. He really did not elevate either program beyond what he inherited. His history at Kent was to do well during the season, and then not so much in the post season. Sort of like this year. This is why I thought JC was not a good hire. I simply thought his past performance was a known commodity, and, as I recall, when Hunter was fired many people here, as did the administration, wanted a coach who could consistently take the team to the NCAA tourney (the next level, I thought), and I did not think JC fit the suit, as it were. Ironically, many of those same folks seem perfectly happy with JC. I remember some of those same folks argue that they would rather have an unproven assistant who turns out to be a great coach, and get to the tournament at the risk of losing that coach to a bigger program after a few years. I recall them arguing that they would rather have one or two really good or great years over a number of good years of doing well in the MAC, and then not much else. I am not sure what has changed between the time of TOS's hire and now.