Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Official Game 22 Thread: Ball State
Page: 1 of 2
Ted Thompson
Administrator
Member Since: 11/11/2004
Location: MAC Play
Post Count: 7,948
mail
Ted Thompson
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 11:18 AM
Use this thread to talk about anything game-related.

Date: February 6th, 2013  7:00 PM

Opponent: Ball St.   (8-12, 2-6 MAC)

Site: Worthen Arena

TV: None

Radio:  Ohio Radio

Webcast: Free at MAC-Sports.com

Ball State's 
media guideroster and statistics.  

Ball State fan site: BSUFans.com
Ozcat
General User
Member Since: 1/4/2005
Location: Gahanna, OH
Post Count: 820
mail
Ozcat
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 3:54 PM
I'm not worried about this one in the least.  Mainly, I'm interested in seeing our bigs playing good defense against Majok.  Should get us ready for Akron: Round II.

Ohio 71
BSU 59
Ohio69
General User
O69
Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 3,124
person
mail
Ohio69
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 4:32 PM
Ozcat wrote:expand_more
I'm not worried about this one in the least.  Mainly, I'm interested in seeing our bigs playing good defense against Majok.  Should get us ready for Akron: Round II.

Ohio 71
BSU 59


But, we haven't had our any of our annual head scratching MAC road losses yet.......
shabamon
General User
Member Since: 11/17/2006
Location: Cincinnati
Post Count: 7,316
mail
shabamon
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 4:38 PM
This one has me slightly worried. I know they lost comfortably to BG, but something inside tells me we will start this game flat. I hope I'm wrong.
Jeff McKinney
Moderator
JM
Member Since: 11/12/2004
Post Count: 6,163
person
mail
Jeff McKinney
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 10:04 PM
Ozcat wrote:expand_more
I'm not worried about this one in the least. 



Every MAC road game should worry us.
JSF
General User
Member Since: 1/29/2005
Location: Houston, TX
Post Count: 6,580
mail
JSF
mail
Posted: 2/4/2013 10:08 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
I'm not worried about this one in the least. 



Every MAC road game should worry us.


Not this year. Home court hasn't meant much in the conference.
OU_Country
General User
Member Since: 12/6/2005
Location: On the road between Athens and Madison County
Post Count: 8,401
mail
OU_Country
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 8:46 AM
JSF wrote:expand_more
I'm not worried about this one in the least. 



Every MAC road game should worry us.


Not this year. Home court hasn't meant much in the conference.


On top of that, the drop off after Ohio, Akron, WMU, then EMU/Kent is rather noticeable. I've never seen this big of a gap from 1st to 5th or 6th in our conference.  Part could be that OU and Akron are that good, but it also seems that the rest of the MAC is pretty bad.
Andrew Ruck
General User
Member Since: 12/22/2004
Location: Columbus, OH
Post Count: 5,646
mail
Andrew Ruck
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 9:04 AM
JSF wrote:expand_more
I'm not worried about this one in the least. 



Every MAC road game should worry us.


Not this year. Home court hasn't meant much in the conference.


I side with McKinney on this one.  Seen way too many good Ohio teams lose to bad MAC teams on the road to feel completely confident.
100%Cat
General User
Member Since: 1/17/2013
Post Count: 2,728
mail
100%Cat
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 10:13 AM
I can see this being closer than it should be early with our boys pulling away in the 2nd half for a double digit win.  Ball St has had some ugly losses, but I fully expect an Akron hangover in the 1st half. 

Cats 74
Cards 57
UpSan Bobcat
General User
Member Since: 8/30/2005
Location: Upper Sandusky, OH
Post Count: 3,817
mail
UpSan Bobcat
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 11:43 AM
Ball State is winless at home in MAC play, losing to Toledo, Buffalo and Kent State.

As a whole, the away team has won 22 of 47 MAC games so far (46.8 percent), so JSF is right in that home-court advantage has been minimal so far this year.
OU_Country
General User
Member Since: 12/6/2005
Location: On the road between Athens and Madison County
Post Count: 8,401
mail
OU_Country
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 12:08 PM
Looking at the numbers, BSU is a bad shooting team, though they do appear to go to the line a bunch more than their opponents. They turn the ball over more than their opponents as well.  Honestly, if we play our game, I think JC's guys will take care of business.  I don't question that at all, but the memory of past year's, where a game like this would be a "trip up" game, is there for me too.
Ozcat
General User
Member Since: 1/4/2005
Location: Gahanna, OH
Post Count: 820
mail
Ozcat
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 12:35 PM

TOS - Believed in "Life On The Road".  Didn't seem to even care if we dropped road games.

JG - Much better than TOS, but still seemed to occasionally lose a few games we had no business losing.

JC - Knows how to win the MAC.  Understands every game in a grind.  Doesn't seem to let his teams look ahead.  And not too mention, the MAC is as terrible as it has been in a long, long time.

I have a feeling Coop is not overly happy about Abreu's recent performance overshadowing him, and that Akron is starting to grab headlines.  I think we see a focused Coop, which translates into a focused team.  He wants MAC POW honors back.  Bobcats start rolling towards 2/27.

Steve
General User
S
Member Since: 12/1/2005
Post Count: 713
person
mail
Steve
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 1:12 PM
UpSan Bobcat wrote:expand_more
Ball State is winless at home in MAC play, losing to Toledo, Buffalo and Kent State.

As a whole, the away team has won 22 of 47 MAC games so far (46.8 percent), so JSF is right in that home-court advantage has been minimal so far this year.



What you're saying makes perfect sense, but I'm still expecting a grind it out game.
OUcats82
General User
Member Since: 1/9/2005
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Post Count: 1,912
mail
OUcats82
mail
Posted: 2/5/2013 2:30 PM
I'm seeing a game similar to what we had in Oxford a few weeks ago.  BSU will give a good game to start the first half but will start to wilt towards halftime, with the cats up say 8-9 points.  We put our paws on their throats in the first 10 of the second half, putting in the clean pants towards the end. 
Ozcat
General User
Member Since: 1/4/2005
Location: Gahanna, OH
Post Count: 820
mail
Ozcat
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 11:28 AM
10.5 point favorites.  Go Cats!
OUVan
General User
Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Bethesda, MD
Post Count: 5,580
mail
OUVan
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 3:07 PM
Not sure this has been mentioned but since the EMU game was cancelled this is our fourth road game in a row.  We only have three road MAC contests left after this.
ohiobobnorthguy
General User
O
Member Since: 1/8/2012
Post Count: 15
person
mail
ohiobobnorthguy
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 8:09 PM
IVO BALTIC.....why does he play so much.  He is scared period.  Never seen somebody so nervous about going to the rim.  5 ft fade away jump shot.  he will not at any cost go for a layup.  Christian, please don't play him.  Play him 5 minutes a game to give the other players a breather.  I'd rather have sophmore Ivo than senior Ivo.
ClevelandCat '11
General User
Member Since: 12/8/2010
Location: Cleveland, OH
Post Count: 436
mail
ClevelandCat '11
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 8:30 PM
Ball State is bad. This might be the worst team in the MAC, although its hard to say since we havent even seen BG yet. Ball State seems to be a program that should be better than they actually are and are an underachiever in this conference. It would be nice to have Ball State at least be competitive again to give the MAC another credible team.
LoganElm_grad09
General User
LE09
Member Since: 9/9/2010
Location: South Bloomingville, OH
Post Count: 934
person
mail
LoganElm_grad09
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 8:50 PM
ohiobobnorthguy wrote:expand_more
IVO BALTIC.....why does he play so much.  He is scared period.  Never seen somebody so nervous about going to the rim.  5 ft fade away jump shot.  he will not at any cost go for a layup.  Christian, please don't play him.  Play him 5 minutes a game to give the other players a breather.  I'd rather have sophmore Ivo than senior Ivo.


I would love to see him play back to the aggressive level he used to.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.  But hey, if he makes those long shots, I can live with them.
ClevelandCat '11
General User
Member Since: 12/8/2010
Location: Cleveland, OH
Post Count: 436
mail
ClevelandCat '11
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 8:57 PM
If before the year you said we would have four straight road games in Oxford, Kent Akron and Muncie and go 3-1 I would take that every time. Miami and Ball State arent what they used to be and Kent is down this year but still to win 3 out of 4 on the road is great. Conference titles are won with road victories. Akron is getting all of the press but until they beat us in Athens or Cleveland talk is cheap. Our last 3 road games are @BG @Buffalo and @CMU which are all bottom feeders. We could very well end up 7-1 on the road in the MAC. Ball State is a team that is terrible and seems to have quit on their coach but this was about as dominating of a victory as you can have. I like where this team is now and feel really good about where this team is going
Last Edited: 2/6/2013 8:57:58 PM by ClevelandCat '11
Buster
General User
Member Since: 12/21/2007
Post Count: 405
mail
Buster
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 8:59 PM
ohiobobnorthguy wrote:expand_more
IVO BALTIC.....why does he play so much.  He is scared period.  Never seen somebody so nervous about going to the rim.  5 ft fade away jump shot.  he will not at any cost go for a layup.  Christian, please don't play him.  Play him 5 minutes a game to give the other players a breather.  I'd rather have sophmore Ivo than senior Ivo.


This is either an overreaction or somebody who has only watched a few games.  JC benched him in favor of Hall and you're mad because Ivo still got playing time.  He would have had less if Hall hadn't had foul trouble. You're mad because he got playing time in a blowout game?  

Anyways, Hall is the hot hand right now and Ivo will have to step up his game to earn his starting position back.  In baseball, this would be a hitting slump for Ivo.  JC is doing the right thing by mixing things up.  I'm sure it's all mental with Ivo right now and he will get out of this slump. Baltic, Offutt, and Kellogg are three very important players who have had their share of slumps this year.  It's a long season.  Don't panic.
Pataskala
General User
P
Member Since: 7/8/2010
Location: At least six feet away from anybody else
Post Count: 9,465
person
mail
Pataskala
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 9:03 PM
Now we know why BSU doesn't have the score posted at the bottom of the screen on its streaming video.
Chicken George
General User
CG
Member Since: 1/3/2005
Post Count: 766
person
mail
Chicken George
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 9:04 PM
Feeling a bit spoiled as I should be thrilled to pick up a MAC win in a convincing fashion.  Listening to post game show and it appears I'm the only one not as thrilled as I should be after a 30 point blowout road victory.  Liked the defense, like the killer instinct coming out of the second half, but stil a bit disappointed that:

*Nothing but jump shots.  Realizing we live/dive by the jump shot, but very few easy one's. Seems like last year others respecting our outside shooting provided opportunities to slash and back door cuts.  Nothing but bombs tonight.
*As mentioned above, Ivo passing up open lanes and just telling JC the best he can, "I'm not playing the power forward spot!!!"  Only Ivo has the skil set to slash, dink & dunk, up & under, inside/out.... but he doesn't do any of this other than shoot jumpers so I play TJ when I want finesse and I put Kadeem or Reggie/Jon in together when I want more power/rebounding.  Glad JC started TJ, even though "good Ivo" is more valuable to us than TJ.  But we haven't seen "good Ivo" in forever.
*Stevie wild and not very good tonight.  Kellog/Wilkins one dimensional and  the one dimension not hitting.  Still want to see Walter being more assertive.  His stat line looked good due to hitting three x three's early, but we all know what Walt looks like when he's clicking and while 17 points/player of the game sounds great--I still want the end of the year guy all the way back.  .

Stats will look good due to second half of loading up on stats, but why am I not more satisfied with a great bounce back after the Akron game, not to mention yet another road win.  Maybe I'm cranky tonight, but maybe Ball State was just awful and these are the things we must expect in order to win against better teams.
JSF
General User
Member Since: 1/29/2005
Location: Houston, TX
Post Count: 6,580
mail
JSF
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 9:09 PM
Really like TJ's game. He has great instincts on offense and seems to know what's doing on defense. His knees look healthier. Hope he continues to improve!
Buster
General User
Member Since: 12/21/2007
Post Count: 405
mail
Buster
mail
Posted: 2/6/2013 9:14 PM
JSF wrote:expand_more
Really like TJ's game. He has great instincts on offense and seems to know what's doing on defense. His knees look healthier. Hope he continues to improve!


Agreed.  You can tell his knees have been a frustration for him all season.  Good to see him playing well again.
Showing Messages: 1 - 25 of 45
MAC News Links



extra small (< 576px)
small (>= 576px)
medium (>= 768px)
large (>= 992px)
x-large (>= 1200px)
xx-large (>= 1400px)