What a debacle that was...

1.  Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.  Was very disappointing see us continue to settle for bad 3's and just hand Memphis the ball so many times

2.  Soft, soft, soft.  Even more disappointing to see how soft we were in the paint.  Just let Memphis do whatever they wanted.  No heart whatsoever...

3.  Wake-Up Call?  Maybe?  Thought Bob Morris loss was that.....now it just seems like this team has a VERY long way to go to be not just an NCAA team, but a team that can win a game in the dance.  First time I really noticed they lacked that Groce-toughness.  Just let Memphis run right over them and did little to stop it.

I am the first to admit, I greatly overrated this team.  I hope they get it right in the end..but right now, let's just hope they can save face and MAYBE split OU/UMass on road and hopefully win out at home in NC.  They should still be class of the MAC...but all that at-large talk is circling the drain.  Looks like it's another win the MAC Tourney-or-bust kind of year...unfortunately.

Really expected more from a veteran team.

Disappointing

Did I expect to win. No, honestly. Did I expect our players to expect to win? Absolutely. Groce instilled a no-fear demeanor, and I loved that. We were down 29-20 and I saw that tough team I love get it back to four. Didn't see that for the rest of the game.

That was as average of a Memphis team as you will ever see.  Outside of playing Top 15 teams, this senior/junior group shouldn't expect to lose to anybody.  This team, and its fanbase, shouldn't have low expectations.  The play from this team tonight was dreadful.  The play from the 'Bigs" was god awful.  

Bshot says:  "First time I really noticed they lacked that Groce-toughness."

At the end of last year, yes.  But have you forgotten the 57 point loss to Kansas and the Pitt debacle?  And the ill-fated Toledo/EMU week of last year?  Groce produced excellent toughness at the end of seasons, but we had our weak moments under him too.  

I liked Coach Christian's comments, blunt and to the point. Perhaps some of the team got a bit cocky after the 6-0 start. Coach Christian mentioned that only Jon Smith followed the game plan. Coach Christian also responding to a question (maybe it was Russ) that Ohio is going to face a lot more athletic teams along the way and we better get used to it. Wake up calls like this may be necessary before we have thoughts of beating the likes of Oakland, UMass and Oklahoma, not to mention the MAC schedule.

Agreed.  The quote I liked in the interview was when JC was asked about Memphis' athleticism.  He kind of shrugged it off and said, in essence, we could make a lot of teams look athletic if we continued to play like this.  He talked about sloppiness in the passing game.  He didn't really buy into the line that we lost to a more athletic, more talented team.  He ended by saying something to the effect that we would get better and that this type of play wasn't going to be tolerated.  These are all paraphrases from memory (wasn't taking notes), but I think I got the essence of what he was saying.  He wasn't happy and wasn't making excuses.  I think Ohio's going to have some very tough practices coming up!

I don't think any of our guys could stop penetration. Which led to drop-offs for easy buckets and kick-outs for good looks from three.

This time of year, I like to see what the other MAC teams are doing.  They're the ones we need to beat to get to the NCAA, because the odds of a MAC school getting an at-large bid are pretty long; unlike football, there aren't any schools likely to miss out on the dance because they're waiting for a better offer.

At this point, I would put us 3rd in the MAC.  Thus far, Kent seems to be the team to beat.  They're 5-3 and their schedule is mostly teams that have been to the NCAA tourney in recent years (Drexel, Temple, Valpo, Bethune-Cookman, Princeton).  They have really the only signature win so far for the MAC; they gave Nebraska its only loss thus far, by 14 points on the road.  Akron would be next.  They're 3-2 against D1 schools, with their losses at Coastal Carolina (19-12 last year, but only 2-4 this year) and at OKSt, and wins over UNC-Asheville & MTSU (both NCAA tourney teams last year) and at 4-4 Penn St (a perennial Big Whatever bottom feeder, so I'm not sure how "signature" that might be).  Ohio's wins have all been against at least MAC-level teams, with the St. Bonnie and Richmond wins vs. at least upper-tier MAC teams.  The rest of the MAC has been really foundering, getting hammered by BS and not-so-BS schools.  And for some reason, a lot of below-D1 schools are showing up on schedules: everybody except Ohio, Kent, Toledo and Fiami has played at least one.  Ten of the MAC's 47 wins have come vs. below-D1 schools. 

This time of year is for finding the rhythm and the rhyme of a team, especially if you're a new coach.  I think last night we found there's lots this team has to do to be at the level they were last March.