Couple of things in response to this:

We've beaten  plenty of bigger name and better teams than you guys before on the road.  Certainly  not this ballclub, but our program is known for going on the road an knocking off bigger conference opponents.  We have a proud tradition.

And while this team is definitely lacking some of our normal surplus of talent and are young, and I do think this year as a whole will be a struggle, it's a little early to label us a horrible team.  Yes, we've now just picked our first D1 win, but it's also only our fifth D1 game with a new coach, new system, and no one returning that got major minutes last  year.   So we knew we would start slow regardless.  Plus, we've played  ISU and VCU which both appear to be very  quality teams.  Bad losses to  JMU and Wofford.  But still a little early to tell what is going to be the fate of the rest the season.

Ted

you are flat out ...a stats stud.       Almost God like status. thats some pretty good material up there.

At WMU was a really sucky night and that debacle in the snow at CMU was really f ed up but I really put that one on Coach. Chemistry was bad and player rotations were terrible that night. Scout was poor and we just got hosed. . Still today was really worse than either of those in my eyes. The Ball State game in 06 07 was a pretty ugly loss. Incredibly I was in the COnvo for that 07 NIU game. Whit and Sonny .....icky day. Guard play was mas horrible even though I think Sonny broke some sort of record that day.

Anyone care to make a wager on what the Illini board will look like win or lose against EKU tomorrow who come in with  a 345 SOS. ? If they do not win by 50 they will be caling Groce a failure. I dunno ....that  1 3 1 is kind of gives Groce fits.

I guess it could depend on how you evaluate a bad loss. Winthrop probably isn't the worst team Ohio has lost to in the past decade, but given how good this Ohio team should be, you might consider it the worst loss. Winthrop's final season RPI won't be nearly as bad as it was coming into the game. Winthrop is a lot better than that, but still they are a team Ohio should never lose to if they played 100 times.

I attend virtually every home game, and have for over 20 years.  I said it was the worst loss I've personally seen in a decade, which is true.  I go on the road a lot, but haven't seen a loss that bad live, or on tv in a long, long time.  I factor in a dissapointing MAC loss or two each season.  That is conference play, even if it is EMU or some other conference team that is down.  Hell, BG seems to do it to us every year.  My point is that it was a very lowly rated team, from a lower rated conference, in the Convo. 

Justifying the loss because of finals is pathetic.  They have been home for 10 days since the Memphis game.  They take reduced course loads during the season and have personal tutors to help them prepare for exams.   

They lost by one, BUT THEY ONLY SCORED 49 POINTS.  My post was not meant to knock Winthrop's team or fans.  They beat us on our own floor after we had a full week to prepare for the game.  Every one of the games Ted referenced was on the road or a neutral court, or a MAC game.  Considering all the actual factors, I stand by my statement.  

We just better be good in March!

As of right now.......no quality wins and a very bad loss.

Only route to the Dance is through Cleveland.

According to Ken Pomeroy, it was the biggest upset of the weekend.

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/weekend_in_review_the_head_to_head_fallacy_strikes_again

The 3 biggest upsets: 
1) #315 Winthrop (2%) 50, #48 Ohio 49 [62]. If you had known Winthrop was going to score 50 points in 62 possessions, this was surely going to be a big Ohio win. The prediction on this here site actually had Winthrop scoring 54…and losing by 23. 

The Dispatch wrote that Winthrop came in with an RPI of 345 out of the 347.
315-345 Really doesn't matter.

With the current roster and experience there is no way any team outside of top 75 should be able to win in our building.......let alone a team in the 300's.

I will not apologize for expectations.

In mediocre years this would have been considered a bad loss. With this year's team I absolutely believe this one should be classified as one of the worst losses in the history of the program,

 

Still very unhappy with the loss, but after watching the Buckeye's play WInthrop not felling quite as bad.