RMU played out of their shoes again. Karvel Anderson will never do that again. What is it with us and the Colonials. Please never play them again. Please. Regardless, Memphis loss coming with the way we played tonight. Missed way too many threes and took way too many. Will be interesting to see the resolve of this team. Last year RMU doused our top 25 hopes and this year they will too. 

I have the opposite position...schedule Robert Morris every year for eternity until we finally beat them. Just ridiculous that this senior class will have 3+ ncaa tourney wins, 2+ MAC titles, all kinds of records...and an 0-4 record against robert freaking morris.

And that is the nature of sports. Karvel Anderson wouldn't shoot 8-8 in my driveway, but he did it tonight.

I watched online.  Anderson had 2-3 open looks early, but 6 of his last 7 3's he drilled were with a man draped all over him.  Early on, our defense was a little soft.  But we tightened up, only to have almost every little bump called a foul.  I'll never blame a loss ever on refs, but Bobby Mo was in the bonus with 14:00 left in the 2nd half.  We couldn't clamp down on D much as everything was getting called.  There wasn't a charging call on Bobby Mo the entire game either, and I though Walt took at least 2 that were called blocking fouls.

Big argument in the chat room with BeerCheeseSoup.  He said we were lazy and displayed no effort (which he learned from looking at the box score, as he didn't actually watch the game . . .)

OUr guys gave it everything they had.  We took some bad shots, but everytime we got it really close, Bobby Mo would nail a big 3 or get to the line and knock them down. 

This loss stinks, a lot.  But it had NOTHING to do with OUr boys effort at all.  Regroup, and hopefully take down Memphis.

I watched the webcast.  I agree with Coach Christian's post game assessment (and I'm sure he's relieved that I agree with him) that early in the game we didn't close out well on their three point shooters.  He said that as the game progressed, we abandoned solid position defense and reached and fouled too much.  Exactly right.

Other than that, we played OK.  

Bobby Morris is a decent ball club that is really tough at home and they just had that mojo going tonight.  I agree that it's amazing that they've beaten us four games in a row now.

Thanks.  I agree that the Bobcats didn't quit.  

Just quick before the battery dies.

The Juco Transfer from Elkhart IN hit 3 with hands in his face moving right , moving left off the dribble , off the screen, off the catch...everyone one was well defended and several could have been 4 pt plays with these refs. Defense on him was pretty solid and I nthink once they look at the tape they will say ...."wow" .... And I think he will have more games like that. He got his first start tonite and deserved it. Will be interesting to follow.  

Our D was suspect in other phases. We did not stop many of their actions and that switch out top with the bigs and guard seemed to be suspect all night resulting in mismatches and bad rotations. NOt sure why we stay with that samw switch we had last year that got Ivo in so much foul trouble and why we keep him switching this year. Seemsd to lead to other guys collecting fouls when he does it. Just MHO. I think RMU got all the looks they wanted off our defense...not sure what we were trying to take away.

We got housed on calls. I do not really worry too much about refs and usually urge kids to play through it but these guys took control of the game early and made sure RMU was allowed to play very physical while any attempt by us to do the same (which we are not really good at anyway) got a quick call. I actually felt kind of sorry for the guys. Usually I get up in em and tell em to quit playing like P...well you know but I truly do not think short of sitting down to guard and keepoing their hands above their shoulder like the old time slides we used to do would have kept them form getting called for stuff.

Despite all that the character of the team in general showed. They kept fighting, through the calls and through the really exceptional shooting night by RMU. they worked and fought and hustled. Just not many breaks. COuld have been problems in the communication of the scout or what they were doing but RMU had a great night despite the efforts put forth by several key members. It struck me as odd that we have this toruble. As I sat in Rhodes office this am and read through his scrapbook I thought it ominous that Ohio lost to RMU while he was playing under Nee I think ...

I am for dropping this game. There is a similar game Muncie Central keeps playing and I have told the AD several times do not think it helps them from any standpoint as we get housed every time we are down there and their style of play often leads to multiple injuries and hurts us mentally in the long run. (tho we usually win at our place and occassionally at their leading the series overall) .OHIO do not play physically and in  this way, we never have and never will. This game does not make us tourney tough and hurts our RPI when you factor in Quinnipiac and the numbers the rest of the NEC factor in. Dusquene and richmond may be better when you do the math as the rest of the A 10 numbers play into it. I do not know the backgrounds of he kids that play at RMU or where they get them but I am sure they would be right at home at Heekin Park in Muncie.

GUess my battery lasted longer than I thought.

The combination of the absolutely atrocious refs and #15's blazing hot hand made this the most frustrating basketball game I've seen in quite some time.

Even though (maybe because) the RMU gym is so small it got pretty loud. It was a little disturbing to me that the guys seemed to get more than a little flustered in that environment, given that it really just seemed like a very loud high school gym.

Not a smart place to take your hopes of an at-large bid, it seems.

Bright side - Some good stuff out of Stevie tonight, he was instrumental in bringing us back from 17 down in the first half.

Other side - Travis looked very out of his element tonight.

 

• I can look at the boxscore and tell you how we played tonight.*
• Rebounding is an effort stat.*
• I didn't need to watch the game to tell you that we were lazy and had a poor effort.*
• Guys don't go 10/10 if any sort of defense was being played.*

*BeerCheeseSoup's sentiments in the chat room after the game


Odd?  Other people who were at the game saw exactly what I saw.  OUr boys gave it everything they had.  Keep looking at the box score and making inaccurate assumptions.

I watched the game on line and I agree with Jeff (and am sure he will enjoy the relief that JC now enjoys).   To come out on top tonight the team needed to execute better, which is different than trying harder.   Winning up there was possible with a more flawless performance.  I like that Ohio plays this game.  It's a preview of the MAC.  If there is such a thing as a bad loss for the resume, but a good loss for the growth of the team, I'd say this is it.

Plus, if we expect "big conference teams" to make the brave commitment to play at the Convo we should be willing to do the same.  Keep RMU on the schedule!

We can all dissect this game every which way but it all comes back to defense and learning how to win on the road.
We in no way should have lost this game based on where each team was at this point in the season.
Ohio is clearly the better and more talented team.
Christian needs to show that he can prepare the troops to win on the road.
Based on this performance he has some work to do.
I want to see these players living up to their words about getting better each game.
We need to take every opponent seriously like we were playing a nationally ranked team.





GO BOBCATS

I was at the game and have nothing to add. We played hard and could not overcome a guy shooting 10-10.