Use this thread to talk about anything game-related.

Date: February 12th, 2011  4:00 PM

Opponent:  Western Michigan   (12-10, 5-4 MAC)

Site: Read Fieldhouse

TV: None

Webcast: Bronco Insider   ($10.95 for monthly subscription)

Western Michigan media guide, roster and statistics.

Fan site:  Bronco Stampede

Despite their loss at Akron last night, Western has been playing very good basketball lately.  And, like most teams, they shoot the ball better at home.  This game will be a huge challenge for Ohio, especially with the offensive rebounding of WMU. 

I'll be there with my wife, a WMU grad.  Hoping for bragging rights on the way back to Cleveland.

Definitely a game I'm looking forward to, particularly before we get back into the East.  Also, with Western sitting at 5-4 (they're a game behind because of the Kent St. postponement), this is a potentially critical game when it comes to seeding possibilities.

Spot on...The offense has really improved on creating better looks and taking what the defense gives you.  This seems like a fundamental improvement to me as I watch, but I fear it is a product of weaker opponents.  The next 2 games will provide us an answer to that question.

Any word on how DJ is feeling? 

Western Michigan and Ohio have performed fairly evenly to this point, but Western Michigan has an edge at home. Of course, we've been an OK road team with wins at Akron and Ball State. Western's one bad home game was needing OT to beat Central Michigan. At 2-2, WMU has performed way better vs. the East than any of the other West teams.

The Broncos are a better offensive team than they are a defensive team, but they aren't as bad defensively as some of the other MAC teams we've played, as others have noted. They don't foul much, but they allow teams to shoot well (38 percent) from 3-point range. They also don't force many turnovers and they are prone to giving up some offensive boards.

As others have said, they pound the offensive boards quite well. Matt Stainbrook (6-9) and Flenard Whitfield (6-7) are very good offensive rebounders. Caleb Dean (6-9) is also good on the offensive glass, while Nate Hutcheson (6-7) is a better defensive rebounder. Stainbrook is HUGE at 290, while the others are in the 220-230 range. Muhammed Coneth (6-7, 238) is a good offensive rebounder who gets a few minutes.

Obviously, that's five guys 6-7, 220 and bigger who play lots of minutes, although Dean has not been playing lately. They have a lot of size. Whitfield, Stainbrook and Hutcheson are starters. Whitfield (12.5 ppg) and Stainbrook (8.9 ppg) are both good offensive players. The only of the bigs who is an outside shooting threat is Hutcheson, but he's at just 28 percent.

Demetrius Ward (6-3) is the team's leading scorer at 14 ppg, including better than 17 a game in MAC play. Ward has shot 38 percent on 3-pointers. Mike Douglas (6-0) is the point guard and averages 8 ppg and 4.7 assists. He's made 8 of 23 3-pointers. Juwan Howard Jr. (6-6) is the key guard off the bench, scoring 9 ppg and shooting 34.3 percent on 3s. Alex Wolf (6-0) is a good shooter (42 percent 3s) off the bench.

Several Broncos, especially Whitfield, have not shot free throws well, but Ward, Howard and Douglas all a re pretty good at drawing fouls and shoot well at the line. Altogether, they've not shot well from the outside at 31 percent. The score a very high percentage of their points on 2-pointers, rather than 3-pointers and free throws.

DeVaughn and Ivo have been playing well, and this team will challenge them. Hopefully, we'll get pretty good looks on the outside because it seems a lot of teams have against them. Most importantly, we've got to rebound!

Win this one and I think odds are highly in our favor to get a home tournament game. Lose and we could end up making this trip again. It would be huge for our confidence to get another MAC road win, considering we've got four road games out of six remaining after that away from The Convo.

No Channelsurfing.net today. Been seized by the ICE. Bummer.

Agree. We finally got back to .500 in conf and overall. We need to keep some positive momentum going heading into MAC East play. Going 1-4 again against the East will not cut it.

Wow, our inability to win a close game or have anyone make a big time play is unreal. We gacked away about 5 different opportunities in the last 90 seconds. This is getting repetitive and old.

Another close game, another loss. Anytime we would like to guard the 3 pt line, well, that would be great. Not being able to inbound the ball on your end of the floor with a chance to tie the game, says a lot about this team. Nothing positive about this loss, but I'm sure some folks will want to sugar coat it for this under .500 team.

The fact you make that post, shows your ignorance. It didn't go in, so give me a break. 12-13, 5-6 in league, those are facts. I guess you are one of the people who believe in moral vicories too! It is a loss, and this team continues to lose close games. One positive was Ricardo Johnson today.

Another one we pissed away because we couldn't inbounds the ball in the last minute.  Execution late in game. WMU gave us every opportunity to win this game late and we pissed it away. 57% 3 pt shooting allowed. 32% on the year and they shoot lights out like CMU did because we don't guard the three. All year long.  This team makes the same mistakes over and over again to lose game they should win. Good game offensively, but we still gave up 85 points.   

No, I won't give you a break.  Funny how, once again, you're nowhere to be found after wins then immediately appear after a close, hard-fought loss.  Again: That shot goes in and you wouldn't be here.  Judging from your responses to me and EGR, you miss the point entirely.  You only show up after losses to declare how much we suck then get surprised when you get called out.  Think about that for a bit.  You call me ignorant, then declare we continue to lose close games.  Explain, then, how the last close game Ohio played resulted in a win.

I said nothing about a moral victory, but it's worth noting we would've lost by double digits earlier in the year.  Instead, we almost won.  We're improving.  Devaughn and Ivo combined for 30 points and 19 boards against a good frontline.  We rebounded well against the conference's best.  DJ played well despite the ankle. 

Yes, the foul shooting could have been better and the three-point defense continues to be a problem.  But we played well overall and I choose to be positive about today.  News flash: Not whining after every single loss DOES NOT MEAN we "except" losing.  Sorry if our nuance interferes with your black-and-white dichotomy.