I wanted to wait for a little while before  I spoke on my initial take on this season's team.  3 games in and before the biggest game we'll have this regular season I figure this where I should let my opinions be known.


It's hard to really know where to begin so I'll just state things in no particular order of importance.


D.J. Cooper doesn't really impress me thus far.  I see the same player in terms of skill set that I saw last year which means he is stagnating (a.k.a regressing). This is coming from the same person who made his 1st ever posting in this forum stating that he was the best point guard to walk the campus since Dink Whitaker and had a 50/50 shot at being the best point guard to have ever walked the campus by the time he left.  All of this was before he played his 1st regular season game so I'm not someone who has it in for D.J. whatsoever.  If you're going to shoot as much as he does AND be the team's main ball handler then you had better be a Kemba Walker type performer or your team is going to underachieve.  He has not developed a signature move or shot that is impossible to stop which is fine unless you don't plan on using your skills to help others elevate their games. I don't see this with him so far and it is troubling.


We STILL have no post game/presence to speak of and it is killing us.  I see several posts that laments the offense's inability to run with the same consistency throughout the game.  This, as I see it, is a direct result of having no post presence to balance out the floor.  Has anyone else noticed that our entire three point offense is based on either penetrating and kicking out or accepting a ball screen and pulling up?  How many in feeds to the post and then playing inside out to a 3 point shooter have we seen in who knows how long?  That is the lack of balance that leads to our stagnant (there's that word again) offense for periods of every game so far.  Baltic has improved significantly but he still commands no help from the opposing teams' wing defenders that would open up our shooters for either the shot or the drive to the basket as the defense runs out to the 3 point line.


Keeley has also improved marginally but he has not shown that he can plant in the low post and abuse his man one on one (which is needed in order to force the double down from the wing defenders) He does show more assertiveness and comfort to an extent but I guess I just question his talent and even his mindset to will himself to be great, not just good or serviceable. I haven't seen enough of Jon Smith in this setting but the Smith I have seen since his sophomore year of high school is a lot more talented offensively than he has shown so far in college. I have to attribute that to his lack of strength but again it's only 3 games for him.


The more I see this team the more I agree with those who in the past have stated their desire to run a 4 guard set around 1 post player.  I can see Offutt being able to rebound his position very well and perhaps even Ricardo Johnson though the overall problem is we don't really have enough wing depth (I miss Joe Mitchell)  not to mention we have too many post players to be able to sustain that type of an offense for 40 minutes but it may a great change of pace when the need to change or build momentum presents itself.


Overall I really think this team's potential is very high and I don't think we HAVE to use the 4 guard offense to achieve it.  I'm not as down on the team as my post may seem but it's only because  I refuse to grade this team on a curve based on us being a mid-major or a team from the MAC or whatever prism most in here seem to look at this team through.  I consider it an insult to the program and all the sacrifice these players make to just give a symbolic pat on the head and a "there there, you did as well as a team like you can be expected to do".  It angers me even.


I'm moderately pleased with Stevie Taylor so far and he is quicker than D.J. as  I suspected he may be. (Cooper is still a lot smoother and under control)  His defense has to improve and I believe it will. He also must learn the difference between high school and college when it comes to how to get his shot off at the basket vs. pulling up for a floater or dishing it off for an assist.  At the very least he has justified the big deal I made of him by posting  youtube videos of him in here lol.    He will not shrink from the moment when it comes to playing on the big stage I am sure of that.  I was glad to see his running mate Trey Burke show so well against Duke earlier this week. I'm sure that inspired Stevie to show up big vs. Louisville.

Transitioning into Friday's game.  I hate to say it but I see us getting our doors blown off.  There is nothing about this matchup that favors us.  This is not a Georgetown situation where they were tailor made for us to dictate the terms of engagement.  Louisville loves the pace we play at and they have better athletes.  Unless something special happens Friday night, our team floor game is not where it needs to be yet to compete at that level.  Our lone hope is a cold shooting night for them and a hot shooting night for us combined with us limiting them on their offensive rebounding.

My expectations aside....I will be cheering like crazy to be wrong tomorrow night.  We need to make a statement not only as a 3rd signature win for the MAC this year but also to announce ourselves as the equal with Akron and Kent heading into the MAC season.


Ok I'm going to go soak my knuckles in ice from all this typing.


Again for any who have dish network the game will be on channel 432 (MASN) but make sure you have subscribed to the package that gives you that channel.

Keep your day job.

Louisville lost just twice in that building. Bobcats almost made it #3.  This was a true road game and Ohio definately passed.  This type of game will help Ohio overcome the loud gyms at Akron and Kent State.  Ohio battled tonite and played some inspired defense. We played a deep bench tonite.  I like that we got enough talent for Groce to have some confidence to put in these players and see what happens.  I saw Offutt attacking them him. Hall stepped up and had a nice game. Taylor had a great niye. Tough nite for Baltic and Kelogg with the early fouls but you gotta like how we battled. These team showed character tonite down 41-32 and the come back and go on a 16-2 run. Many team would have called it a "good effort and folded down 9 but we fought back took the lead and fought to the final second.  Tonite we looked like the team that has the charater to fight for those loose balls and rebounds.  Louisville had a huge size advantage. MAC teams aren't as big.  We get those rebounds against the MAC.