We have lots of main problems.

The main problem is offense against the zone.  Can we get someone to teach that to Groce so he can teach it to the team.  Shooting 3s when your team is hitting 33% on the season (an improvement from earlier!) ain't gonna do it.  Odds are, the Cats will see nothing but zone the rest of the year.

This is a great thread.  After the game JG was all over the D but had little negative to say about the O.  i am confused here...was this a team that took 10 minutes into the game to score a point?  And, one that scored less than 60 points?  I am not sure about denial but as I heard the game, the O was clueless.  And, it has been since MAC play.  Just look at how bad the stats are!  The D held these guys to less than 70.  A team should win games with that kind of D and we did earlier in the year.  Everybody just plays zone against us now because they know we have no clue how to break it down.

Such a frustrating week to be a fan. This team has been "off" since that Bob Morris loss. Other than CMU and Kent blowouts, they have been sluggish. Lucky to squeeze wins vs. WMU, Ball, Miami at home. Piss away games at Akron, BG. Unimpressed with win at NIU. Offensive disaster finally caught up with them this week. Just frustrating seeing them settle for so many 3ptrs...Cooper needs to drive ball more and look to distribute. Offutt is capable slasher (just needs to finish more consistently)...Would be nice to see Kellogg develop more than 3pt shooter...maybe a drive or two or at least a 15-foot or foul line jumper. Missed Baltic today for sure. Most baffling was disappearing act defense pulled this week. No MAC team scored 70 on Cats all year...until Toledo??!? Then allow 68 to an EMU team that AVERAGED only 50-something a game?!?!? Need to get back to defense if they are to make run to Cleveland or beyond.

Bottom line...win vs BG, Akron at home. Hope to take 2 of 3 from Kent, Miami & Buffalo on road....should get you a shot at #2 seed at 11-5 in league. If not...at least a bye to Q'finals. Again, this team has to find heart to win on the road....havent shown it yet at 1-4 on MAC road. Loss at Akron excusable....but losses in empty, dead environments like EMU, UT & BGSU is unacceptable. Good teams find way to push thru and execute in those environments

As I listened to the post game show last night and Coach's comments it hit me;
1) Coach clearly knows this team, he selected, was not a good shooting team as in the past.
2) Our path to win is by playing great D
Think about this........This will be our team next year as well, no one graduates





GO BOBCATS

And just the other day someone on this board was saying how much they are looking forward to this team next year. You do have to wonder if that's good or bad.  I have to question whether the coach has "lost" the team at this point. This game was supposed to be a " we get the message" game and something went terribly wrong.  10 minutes without scoring?

Without a dead ball or time to take the ball out there is no time to get in position for a zone press, which is what we use (diamond & 1).  You might, and I doubt it, be able to man press on occasion but a simple clear out and decent ball handler breaks that.

EMU handled the press rather easily and got some easy buckets by doing so, more pressing was not the answer yesterday.

EMU hit some shots they typically don't. Sometimes a team shoots over their heads and makes defensive #'s look worse than the effort that was there.  There were some lapses no doubt but I didn't think it was as bad as it seemed defensively. The EMU commentators were even shocked to see some of those shots go in and commented on it a couple times.

I liked the token press EMU used to force us to slow down and shorten the game.  Very smart move on their part. They completely dictated pace on both ends. 

We have to solve the zone.  That will determine how this year finishes. If Ivo is healthy he has to be in the high post or working the soft spot of the zone on the baseline (short corner). Opposite wing needs to flash to an open spot.  Screening the zone on top is something to do on occasion not 4 times per possesion.  I'd like to see a skip pass on occasion or a big screening the low man and then sealing the middle man as the zone shifts. Break the zone up by killing them inside first then getting those kickouts and drives.  We don't have the shooters to do it the other way around every night. 

OU's Long Driver said:

"We have to solve the zone. That will determine how this year finishes. If Ivo is healthy he has to be in the high post or working the soft spot of the zone on the baseline (short corner). Opposite wing needs to flash to an open spot. Screening the zone on top is something to do on occasion not 4 times per possesion. I'd like to see a skip pass on occasion or a big screening the low man and then sealing the middle man as the zone shifts. Break the zone up by killing them inside first then getting those kickouts and drives. We don't have the shooters to do it the other way around every night."

Can you get that put on a billboard somewhere near the Convo?

Groce wants lots of threes.  Every game.  Unfortunately, Kellog, Offut, Hall, Cooper, and Taylor are not shooting well at all.

This team has already won several more games than I expected for the full season.  Groce has done well getting this group to the 20 win range.  The lost scholarship and a few recruiting misses are limiting this team a bit.  But, still good enough to get to 20 wins.  That says a lot.

At this point, I hope we can adjust and start attacking the basket.  But, I'm not sure anyone can do it very well.  Offut and DJ are just OK.  That's about it.  We are going to have to grind out every win.  

I was also a cook - and this reminded me of the common wisdom "If you can't stand the heat".....

Generous "break" there, two cents = what, 1 to 2 seconds worth of the position salary? Like they say, "That's why he gets paid the big bucks". Beyond our "day jobs", we are all also OHIO sports fans, enthusiasts, analysts, pundits, and prognosticators, as well as ticket buyers, Bobcat Club & University financial supporters - and I would say we are all "pretty good at it". We "Pay to say". Sometimes the criticism can be a bit 'biting", but the kudos can often be a little over enthusistic as well (see majority of posts in December). I think sometimes one can miss the sarcasm that can be fairly prevalent on here - I like it. We have discussed it many times, this is a fun board, witty, wonkish, esoteric, sarcastic, but rarely mean spirited or derogatory (which many other program boards can have quite a bit of).

I am not concerned that Groce does not have the constitution to deal with criticism. If he does not, then we have bigger issues, and he surely would not be interested in bolting from a mid major program on to a higher profile/higher exposure program. This is "mid/major" level fan/public scrutiny at best. This is not Anything like unfavorable daily sports editorials and critical fan letter tirades of a coach published in a major metro newspaper, sports radio call-in shows, etc., etc.....

What goes on here on BA, kudos and criticisms, is certainly better than a lot of other mid major programs and their fan forums, a Lot of which have Zero to Very Little Participation (which also indicates why they can't get more than 3-4K attendence at their home venues).

I'll theorize he knows it's a problem but is judicious about what he'll call out publicly.

You can look at it another way. If we have all these flaws, then Groce is doing a great job with 19 wins so far. We've hit a rough patch, but there is always redemption in Cleveland. We've all known it would come down to Cleveland anyway.