Dern!  That would've been HUGE! Kind of thought they'd step on our throats all game long, then when up 6 with less than 4 minutes to go I really thought we were going to get one.  Still, awfully proud of the squad tonight in what I thought could be another Kansas/Pitt type game.  I was way wrong.

THE GOOD:
*DJ solid and the veteran floor general we needed.  Didn't seem like he was 6-17 from the floor as I liked his shot selection, especially considering we were all perimeter.  We needed him to do what he did.
*Stevie Taylor played well despite a few Freshman bad shots and turnovers.
*Reggie was our only inside presence tonight and played about as well as you could have hoped with little/no help.
*TJ Hall really played a nice game and stepped up when the guys who usually do what he did, weren't.  Pretty clutch performance tonight.
*Our depth really showed tonight.  I would've said blowout had you told me Kellog & Baltic would play a combined 25 minutes, shoot 1-7, score 2 total points and 4 turnovers.  A lot of guys stepped up to keep us in this thing.
*Groce appeared to have his team ready to play.  No doubt our guys came in to win.
*We kept coming back even on multiple occassions when I thought the wheels were coming off.  Way to hang tough.

THE NOT SO GOOD:
*Jon Smith is one soft player on both ends.  Would've been nice to have a guy like Kenny B. to get some of those 50/50 balls that our guys could not secure.
*Have noticed that Baltic"s game is not nearly the same versus non-MAC/more athletic teams.  He really struggles against talller, more athletic guys who play good post defense.  Fade aways, blocked shots, offensive fouls--his stuff just doesn't translate as well against better teams.
*Speaking of the paint, we really didn't have a guy we could dump it down to who could take it to the basket.  In fact, we haven't had that in awhile.  As stated above, Reggie was the only choice tonight and with that we are a very guard oriented team.
*Really expected Offutt to step up in this game, but I felt like he didn't.  I really would've like for him to assert himself a little more, but he disappeared when I thought he may try to take the game on his shoulders.  Hope he develops that kind of confidence and "go-to" type guy mentality.
*This time next year I expect Goard to 2 hand dunk those rebounds he got under the basket where he nervously passed it back out like a hot potato.
*You notice that even his teammates don't want to pass the ball to Ricardo on offense.  Very athletic, just the confidence to put the ball in the hole.  For now, if I was the opposition I would not even guard him outside of 13 feet.

CONCLUSION:
This was a moral victory, though I honestly felt we were the better team tonight.  We play on all cyclinders, we win.  Then again, unless we saw a very off night, I don't see this Louisville team as being in the Top 10 very long.  Really smelled the opportunity for an early season defining win that puts us on the map.  Instead, hopefully it's a confidence booster that gets us ready for similar games down the road--one of which is our next game versus Marshall that finished their deal at UC tonight.    Interesting to see if we come out firing vs. Marshall, or come out flat?  You tell me 24 hours ago we're up by 6 with less than 4 minutes to play-- I say I take it and I'm happy.  But I still go to bed with the sick feel in my stomach of a missed opportunity.

This is not a game where you can tell much by the stat sheet. DJ's line is ugly, but everyone agrees he played well. And if I told you we would shoot 38% from the field and 50% from the line, turn it over a quarter of the time, and give up more offensive rebounds than we got defensive rebounds, you'd think it was a massacre, right?

I like DJ Cooper but let's face it...his shooting per centage has not very high and most seem to agree he will put up one or two bad shots a game.  Just gotta put up with the bad along with all the good.  Hopefully, he develops a more consistent shot and gets the shooting per centage up as he matures.

Agreed.  The frustrating thing is we didn't play particularly well in certain areas, although we played extremely well in others (defense and effort).  Too many lost opportunities to get the W but still encouraging.  I can't recall so many balls just slipping through our hands.  They had at least 10 points on balls that we just couldn't corral under our own basket.  The announcers touched on the ball being slick early on and I'm wondering if that was the case because it sure looked like it (both sides).

Must have been using "The Rock"--the official ball of the Patriot League.  

71 Bobcat...we may have graduated in the same year but you are wrong on this one.  Second chance points 22-6 Louisville.  Gave up way too many offensive rebounds to Louisville.  That is a size thing and, as I said, a thing every MAC teams gives up when going up against a Top 10 team.  We keep them even on the offensive glass and we win.  Fouls called and free throws you CANNOT control.  Rebounding, you CAN control.

Rewatched a portion of the game last night and I think Ivo may be getting a bit of a bum rap here.   Part of what you say is true but I think he was a victim of the men in stripes more than anything on Friday.  His 2nd charge was a crap call if you aak me. No way did the defender have his feet set in front of him and the 3rd foui wasn't even his foul.  Offutt raked the guy across the arm and they gave the foul to Ivo.  So Ivo only sees the court for 14 minutes.  Even with his limited time he still managed to grab 5 offensive rebounds.  No doubt he needs to adapt his game better in getting his shot off against bigger players but I don't think his game is that far off.  Dieng is averaging nearly 4 blocks a game so he has that effect on a lot of players.

Nice post slimmy....as always.

I would call that losing it in the paint - that's what got them TO the foul line.......and us not

If we would have had the size advantage we would have taken it inside a lot more like they did.  We didn't.  We gave up a season high in offensive boards. We committed a season high in turnovers.  You can't just point to one thing and say that is the reason we lost.