My WMU game thoughts (in TOS fashion):

1)  Ohio won.
2)  Ohio won.
3)  Ohio won.

Ok, seriously:

• Typical game from Ivo.  He was aggressive early on the offensive end, although he couldn't finish.  Played pretty good D.  Then in the 2nd half, played stupid, found himself on the bench, then came in towards the end, took a few bad shots, which included an airball.  Then he drills a jumper for 2 when we absolutely needed it.  All in all, I liked the early aggressiveness, I liked the JC sat him when he needed to sit, and I liked how he completely forgot that he airballed a 3 and stepped into a 15 footer and nailed it.  Say what you want, Ivo has been, and was today, clutch in his career.
• Reg played like a man, again.  And he did this while being in foul trouble the entire game.  I love his newfound attack mode.  He's whittling away the distance between himself and Coop in my eyes for team MVP.
• Coop was Coop.  Except for that errant pass right under WM's basket at the end.  That was a huge mistake, and thankfully it didn't cost us the game.  Other than that, the same reliable DJ.  I think he just wrapped up back to back MAC East honors.
• Big minutes from Green to fill in for Jon and Reg.  He did enough to warrant mention here, because his box score won't show much. 
• TJ wins the 6th man award.  Knocked some 3s down, and took the ball to the rim a few times.  Good to see the latter, as that's my favorite part of his game.  He also found himself defending their bigs, and I thought his effort was commendable.
• Stevie with a few solid minutes.  Showed great energy, and played intense D.
• Lots of us have been getting on Walt, most of which is deserved.  He didn't have a great game today.  Found himself out of position on D a few times, had some dumb fouls, and was pretty much invisible on the offensive end.  But, as seniors tend to do, he grabbed some big rebounds, and drew a HUGE charge at the end of the game.  Also took the ball to the rack hard within 2 minutes, and got the layup to fall.  Not sure why he can't do that all game, but like Ivo, he was clutch when we needed him.  We still need to figure out how to get him into March 2012 form.

In conclusion, ugly game, as everyone knows.  I do not like that we let WM back into the game in the last few minutes.  Some sloppy play in there.  However, this is a venue we rarely have success in, and this is also a game that we typically find a way to lose.  Someone in the chat room said that if Groce was coaching today, we don't win.  I'm not sure I completely agree, but JC did grind this one out.  This was our toughest roadie against the West, so I'll glady take the W. 

I said in the chat room that I think, with this W, that we'll sweep the West.  That keeps 14-2 in play.  Can't ask for much else to start MAC play.  2-0.  Go Bobcats.

Watched the game on WMU feed via MAC website.  It wasn't the greatest feed, but I could generally follow the ball movement.  It looked to me as though we kind of lacked that old killer instinct.   We got a 12 point lead and then seemed to let up on the throttle.  Perhaps, I'm not giving WMU enough credit, but I thought we kind of let them back into the game.  But, bottom line, I agree with the subject of this thread.  Glad to see the "W" and Ohio 2-0 in league play.  Now, we have two in a row at home.  4-0 would be a tremendous start.  

I was taken with a comment JC made in the post game interview on WXTQ.  He said something to the effect that we were finally learning to play smart.  He seemed to be implying that we are making better shot selection now and playing better team ball.  Do you think this is true?  It was also interesting when RE said that he now had a better record than John Groce in Kalamazoo that JC quickly said, "We'll this is my first win here."  It was clear he really didn't want any comparison with JC.  Is that literally true.  Has JC never won a game at WMU before?

Interesting.  Unless I misunderstood what JC said, he had a memory lapse.

Ivo did hit a big jumper at the end of the game (after the airball from the corner), but its no surprise our big run in the second half came while he was on the bench.

The defense was the best i have seen in a while, but it looked to me that the defense ran out of gas in the last 10 minutes, and lost a step.  If Reggie had made the easy layup with about 2 minutes left we would have been up by 7,, and I think the fat lady could have sung. Still lack of fake passes to throw off overly aggressive defenses, and a sh*t load of turnovers. I hope they spend time watching last years games and see out it should be done. A win is a win, and 2 home games on the menu.

I was hoping we'd just escape with a W, with a loss very possible.  Quit thinking that we are this vastly superior team than anyone else in the MAC.  We are not.  We could lose to anyone of them. 

The same team that you deemed top 16 in the country just because we made the Sweet Sixteen last season BARELY got past Buffalo and Akron in Cleveland and lost to EMU and Toledo, among others.  We are that same team.  We have DJ, and other than that, every other guy on our team is around the same talent level as any other guy on any other MAC team.  What makes us a very good team has less to do with talent than it does good coaching, communication, and smart basketball play, and tenacious D.  That defense was there yesterday, which let us grab a very hard fought W. 

Ohio only beat WMU 56-51 last year in the Convo. So like most road games, I was expecting it to be close and hoping for a tenth-of-a-point win. In my mind, you need yo build 10-point road leads because the home team will make a run. Miami blew a 21-point lead with 10 minutes to go yesterday at Buffalo before ultimately winning.

IIRC we are now 18-40 all time in Kzoo. That is a good win. WOnder when the next will come.

Ivo had a lot of history to put away after the fancy ESPN highlight dunk got blocked from behind when he pulled it way back over his head allowing J Howard to take away the game winning flush last time up there. I am glad he put those dragons to rest.

They should win the west. As much as I really like Kzoo and the area I hate p;laying up there

Good win in a tough place to play under tough conditions thanks to a frustrating tempo by WMU and the refs.  Not saying they gave WMU an advantage but it made for hard game to watch.   I know the reasons it happens by why is it okay to hammer Reggie Keely and not be called for a foul?  He must be one big mass of bruises after games like that.

An ugly date to the prom is better than no date to the prom.  An ugly road win in the MAC is better than a loss.  There are going to be games like Saturday's every season.  You tough them out and get through them; that's the only thing to do.  Saturday officiating in the MAC is always iffy because the higher-profile teams are usually playing then too and they get the better refs.  Not that these guys were bad (they were inconsistent, though), but the better refs know when to let the kids play.  Our experience showed.  A younger team would've folded if their 12-point lead eroded over the last dozen minutes.  This team stayed strong.  It was good to see.

Bryan Anslinger's brother, Bryce, is an Ohio Grad, not sure if Bryan was or not though.  Should have given us some home cooking!  Bryce is a reporter with one of the Cinci TV stations. 

Well said. That said. The refs didn't favor either team but that kind of game definitely favors Western.