Great analysis.  We have the talent, that if developed, can be insanely tough to stop.  It seems to me though that we are still tinkering with which combinations of players work better than others.  We have streaks where we're unstoppable and some where we look average at best.  Maybe it's due to youth though.  I'm not positive; while I love to watch basketball, as far as knowing the technical stuff football is my forte.  But when you rotate as much as us, this seems to be the case.

To add just a little more and give some of my input....

* We need to find a way to split the time between the 4 guards equally..Dj, Offutt, Kellogg, and Taylor are great in this league, and i dont think there is a MAC team with better weapons at guard or DEFENDERS!

* Great job of cleaning the glass on the defensive side, and very impressive on the offensive side! 18 second chance opportunities is alot of point potential, and only gave up 8 offensive boards.

* low amount of assists tonight. one of the main reasons why i think the game was close, that has to be turned around..although, the first game was fine, so im not worried.

* This was one of the best games I can remember us having from the Free Throw line in a few years it seems like, so i was very happy with that.

* DJ has been playing good, dont get me wrong, but I dont think he has found his groove yet, but that will come after a couple more games into the season

* Offutt didnt have a big scoring game, i know he had 13 but i felt like he wasnt as involved as he could have been. But he made up for it on the glass..great boarding game from him. Maybe he should be treated more like a Bassett a couple years ago

* Kellogg had a stretch where he couldnt miss, and another strong defensive performance out of him

* Taylor had a great game, and really stepped up when he needed to. The shot he hit to tie it up at 64 (I think) was unreal. It looked like he was a senior stepping up a few feet behind the 3 point line. He needs more minutes as he proved himself tonight, but i mentioned that earlier.

* Ivo played well, i though he might have forced a few to many shots, but a strong performance from him on the glass also

* Reggie and Ricardo contributed good, but both missed a couple "bunnies" that needs to be finished to be the team they are capable of being

* Tyquane and Smith have some developing to do i think, but it will come as the season goes on, hopefully. They have potential. 

This team has alot of potential, and im excited to watch them the rest of the season. This could be a season to win the MAC regular season and tourny. I know everybody in here would like to go Dancing again!

I was pleased to see Jon, Ivo, and Walter all "tear themselves and everyone around them to pieces for" rebounds.

If the goal tending call were properly made in regulation, then there would not have been overtime.  Anyone recall the play?  #33 swatted the ball on its downward arc.

It doesn't have to be in the cylinder for it to be goaltending.

From my angle, it looked like the ball may have hit the backboard just as 33 touched it.

I didn't think it was goaltending either but didn't have the best view on the video.

I agree with a lot said but I also think there are a lot of areas that need to be improved. 

--Our guards do a really good job of denying penetration but when they do get beat nobody seems willing to step in and take the charge. 

--About 5 minutes into the second half we again stopped working the offense and it nearly cost us.  Nobody seems willing to take a shot at times.  We had a lot of really good looks the first 10 minutes of the game but couldn't buy a shot.  That may have affected players willingness to shoot later. I was glad to see Walter Offut step up late in the game because he looked almost disinterested early. 

--We have a ton of versatile talent but I'm worried about our toughness. Hopefully Smith or Goard can play the role of low post banger.

--With all the warts this was a big win against a pretty good team.  

There were a lot of bad calls in both directions last night.  If we had lost this board would be full of complaints about the refs.  Since we won we'll let the Lamar fans complain about the refs.

I like the rotation, too. The way Offutt has rebounded, there's no trouble whatsoever with him playing the 3 even at just 6-3. Johnson/Hall back him up there, leaving Cooper, Kellogg and Taylor to share the 1 and 2 minutes mostly. That seems to work there, and I like the rotation with Smith, Baltic, Keely and a little bit of Goard (maybe more later) at the 4 and 5. By the way, Keely is off to a very nice start this year.

Remember, if we're missing a lot of easy shots, that means we're taking a lot of easy shots. They'll start falling. I just wish Ivo would GO UP with it instead of twisting and turning, but alas.

It seemed like we were getting killed on the glass, but we rebounded 75% of their misses and something like 45% of our own, which is very good. Funny how the eyes can be deceptive.

Only seven assists all night... unusual. DJ was bad in regulation (I actually thought they were better with him on the bench) and the man in OT. Even one of his ill-advised threes went in. Should have had more than three assists but he had good passes that were wasted at least twice. I wonder if that doesn't encourage him to shoot instead...

Stevie was great, but Groce was unhappy with some of his decision making. Is he a streaky shooter, or can he be a consistent scorer?

I think Smith is a defensively-oriented forward, which is just fine in my book.

Reggie and Ivo need to PASS THE BALL OUT OF THE POST when they don't have a good look. They don't have to try 84 post moves to create a shot.

Mike James is legit.

We would have had a lot more assists in the first half if anybody could have hit a shot in the first ten minutes.  I thought DJ was pretty good the first five minutes but then was a non-factor for the next 20 minutes.  I thought the same thing of OffUtt.  The nice thing is we have options now. 

I also thought the same thing about the rebounds. I remember towards the end of the game looking at the gametracker thinking they had probably passed us in boards.  In my eyes it seemed like they were coming down with all the contested ones.

Yes, passing is not happening, but if it becomes an option, it should significantly impact  scoring. The others players can help make this happen by working to find open space. And Reggie needs to quit bouncing the ball when he's deep in the post. Head and body fakes to complement going up with the shot is the ticket ( along with a passing option).