I have always known this to be true.  The train just had some unexpected maintenance issues that slowed its departure from the station.  Make no mistake though, Groce has the Cats headed in the right direction.


I don't want to talk too much about the season that just came to an end on the court (the entire season is not over until the season ending meetings with the players of course) as  I have already voiced my opinions about how bad this year's team was though as one should expect they were better by tournament time.


I actually prefer to look to next season and beyond as I think I grasp the vision that Groce has for the program.


As I look at the makeup of the roster, especially in the backcourt I don't see a normal progression of where certain players sit the bench until it is their time.  One can make an argument about Stevie Taylor but there is nothing about that young man's game nor his talent that tells me he is merely going to spend his freshman year "spelling" Cooper so DJ will be fresh at the end of games.  No, this next season will unveil Groce's intention all along as I see it.

He not only wants an uptempo team but he wants no let up in talent as one player leaves the floor and the next one steps onto it.  He wants to overwhelm the other team, even if that team has superior talent, with a relentless energy and high level of play that eventually wears the other team out.  He wants athletes at all wing positions that will pressure the ball and disrupt the offense once the ball crosses halfcourt.  This to me is possibly why Freeman didn't play that much at the beginning of the season as he was a "defensive" defender and Groce wants "offensive" or attacking defenders in order to force his uptempo pace.

Not having a shooter as accurate as Freeman will be missed but it's hardly necessary given the high volume of possessions and open looks that will result from the ability of all wing players to drive and either kick out to an open shooter if the defense collapses or finish themselves or dish to a post player.

Simply put there's too many talented players with no clear "superstar" to dominate minutes other than Cooper. I do expect DJ to be held more accountable in terms of his shot selection and Groce will have the talent to be able help Cooper "develop" a better understand of shot selection.  :-)  The departures of Coleman and Kinney as well as Horne served to delay the train coming out of the station.  I believe Bassett was always a one and done player.


The post players are still in need of being recruited at a high enough level to deal with teams who have the guards to force Ohio into a slower half court game where they pound the ball inside against us.  I'd like to think that it's obvious to everyone that it's much easier to establish Groce's uptempo style by bringing the wing players 1st then getting the superior post players a year or two later to compliment that style. This is also why earlier in the season I posted my desire for O.U. to lock up Groce before he became a hot commodity to higher profile programs.


One last point is about Stevie Taylor specifically.  I have heard of him in here as the next D.J Cooper.  That to me is an insult to Stevie.  He is the 1st Stevie Taylor who would be starting next year if DJ Cooper weren't on the team already.  He is about to become the favorite player of many fans in year one.  He and Cooper will compliment each others style of play, not replicate each others.  No one as quick as Stevie has played for O.U. before.  He will light up the convo with his style in a different way than DJ.


Administrators: please don't let there be another system crash so when certain people question my honesty when I remind the forum of my words about Stevie I'll be able to refer them this posting  lol

For Ohio to seriously challenge Kent for the regular season title next year, let's hope that Geno Ford doesn't recruit someone as good as or better than Rod Sherman - who if I recall correctly is the only player Ford loses. 

All due respect 69, if you believe this to be true you have failed in my eyes to have any legitimate knowledge of basketball. I have rerun several games over and over off of my DVR and my on demand tab on the ohiobobcats site. I can unequivocally without any doubt in my mind give you at least 70 examples of critical shots taken that should have been assists and can show you at least 7 games that would have been won had Groce mentored his point guard properly.  


As much as I find this Wilson fellow to be pretentious and reeking with the odor of crap every time I read his stuff I have to agree with him on this point and post. I hope Stevie Taylor is everything he is supposed to be having only seen clips on Youtube but as I read this I fully agree with the premises Wilson makes regarding Groce. The question unquestionably is whether Coach will have a light come on or grow some balls and reign in his point guard who is without a doubt without conscience passing up shooters and shots better than the ones he has in most situations. Not having the ball in Washington who has made significant free throws down the stretch all year, or Freeman's hands who always makes great decisions and a ton of free throws the other night was disgraceful and did not go unnoticed by the TV commentators or knowledgable basketball fans who follow Ohio closely or from afar.  Anyone who thinks Cooper is taking good shots is enamored of the kid or just does not know what the game is all about.

For this team to go on and win the point guard must be come the distributor and decision maker that he is more than capable of being. His strengths lie in his vision, speed and passing ability, He is a fairly capable shooter and his greatest shots have come off the ball reversal and movement when it comes back to him with his feet set. All this early season talk about not trusting team mates is crap and only enables the situation. He has a ton of ways to score the ball if he would quit choking them off and get them the ball where they need it.He is a very special player but will not be a complete player till he opens himself up to the team concept.

My verdict is not in on Groce yet.  He's not a bad coach but he hasn't conclusively proven that he's a fine coach.  From a distance it appears that he is not able to get his team, his players to play better...to improve...to do the right TEAM things.

I'm not sure how Groce's desire for certain kinds of players who play a certain style of ball gains him any credit.  Who cares what he desires; it's the product he's able to generate on the court that matters.

You want to know about our team?  Are you capable of taking off the green-colored glasses and acknowledging a reasonable attempt at objective analysis?:

We are not tough enough.  Part of this is attitude.  Part of this is lack of size and strength--particularly at power forward and center.  Part of this is the will and discipline to do do the right things.  To do the right things all of the time--not for some games or parts of same games.

We are not big enough,.  We are going to have two point guards who, while apparently pretty good players, are short.  I worry about their ability to defend.  Due to their height and or the nature of their games, they give us no ability to post up and I'm betting that you'll see that they can get in trouble underneath due to inability to pass around or over the big guys down there.  See the game against Kansas for how we lack size overall.

Our talent is decent.  Among the better teams in the MAC, perhaps.  But it needs to be better.  I know that it's tough to do  but we need one or two really, really good players.  Especially at power forward or center.  Lacking some real difference makers and 'adding in' the loss of Devo and Tommy, we have some work to do.

You must have seen something in TJ Hall and, to a lesser extent, Ricardo Johnson, that eluded me this year.  

I very much understand where you are coming from.  While I won't say "favorite of all time," I would say that DJ is my favorite Ohio player since the 1960s.  I just love to see him dish off those assists.  The guy has eyes in the back of his head and has great court awareness.  I simply marvel at some of his assists.  Though I've never met him either, his style of play kind of reminds me of my childhood hero -- Ernie Banks.  He really seems to love the game and likes making other folks look good.  He's a real team player.  This is not to overlook the fact the he does put up some questionable shots from NBA three point range (or more), and he's made some bad decisions in crunch time, and missed a potential game-winning foul shot.  But overall, he's our best and most exciting player.  Without him, we'd have been lucky to win five games this year.  And, for the record, I don't believe the Mr. Taylor is faster and quicker than DJ.  I don't think that's possible.

To be honest I'm not sure if your words are directed at me so if they are not then disregard my next statement

If you accuse me of having green colored glasses as you say then you must have a memory loss when I stated near the beginning of the MAC season that this team was horrid and went on to single out our post players.  You even responded with a post that summarily disagreed with me which is irrelevant.  What is relevant is that I can speak a negative truth as easily as I can a positive one.  My posts tend to have a bent that speaks more to understanding what is happening rather "knowing" what is happening.


Again if that comment was not directed at me then forget I said anything about it.


Now in regards to your words "Who cares what he desires; it's the product he's able to generate on the court that matters."  That statement speaks to someone who doesn't know/understand and doesn't really want to know/understand what the "plan" is.  Just that wins are the result when all is said and done.

On one level I have no problem with that statement at all.  What does bother me is the implication that if you don't care then it's an issue where caring a.k.a. understanding the plan is immaterial.  In other words what you say and think matters more than anyone else who says or thinks something differently.  Obviously I would strongly disagree with that but I understand that your words are what most fans feel.  I'm just not most fans so it's all good in the end.  We both want O.U. to win  :-)

Despite the incredible knowledge and scouting prowess of so many on this board.  I think we better wait for Stevie to dribble a ball on a college court before we knight him the the second best player and pushing DJ.  We need him to contribute as a Freshman, which given the hype, I am sure he will.

Why is this thread silly?


I never made any contention that DJ was a problem.  Far from it.  I felt the point of having enough talented in the back court would only help Cooper and by extension the Cats.


I'm sure you agree however that even the best players, regardless of what conference, have things that they need to improve.  Does 39% fg shooting indicate a need to improve?


I made many more points aside from DJ's shooting selection.  It's not within my control as to which ones get expounded upon by those who reply.


I don't intend to be overly sensitive but I am curious as to why you think this thread is silly.

Wilson Hall--stop thinking posts that do not agree with you are personal attacks and stop responding with attacks-on-the-person in  your posts.  It will be better for you and better for us.  On this board we disagree with each other but we don't take it personally.

It's okay to think outside-of-your-mind for a moment about the posts of others and your own posts--probably before you post them.

It's okay to put up posts that are less than 10,000 words.

+1 my left coast friend.

What is your minus one in reference to Steveland?  My was on Monroe's comments to another poster.