Must admit I did not see or hear the game.

Having said that, isn't the theme of having trouble inbounding the ball one we have discussed before?  I thought we were doing it better this year.  Evidently, not in this game?

The other troubling thing is losing more close games than we win.  Seems to be a recurring theme?

Third thing, we are barely a .500 team in a crappy league...

I don't believe in moral victories or sugar coating things.  I really like this team but it continues to be very average.  dunno why...

If you did anything other than whine and moan after losses, you would know exactly where I stand on this season.

And thinking about it, if you actually read my previous post, you would know I'm not thrilled.  But, again, we are better right now than we were earlier in the season.  Losing a lot of games early, as much as that sucked, doesn't change the progress we've made.  How we played today, in one game, is a different affair than the overall record.

I guess I could just look at the record and not go any deeper, but that would just be intellectually lazy.

Your reading comprehension sucks.

First, is that even a coherent sentence?  Second, how would you know?  You just rant after losses.

I'm enjoying the real progress that is being made in this discussion.

I watch most nights and have seen very little to no progress. Last in the Mac East and 12-13 with a ton of home games is not a failure to actively watch or analyze the season. I refuse to give coach Groce and this team a free pass for last place in the Mac East. This program lost a lot after last season, but not enough for this. Watching the games on a consistent basis should make you even more angry about this team. Talent it there, not always the guidance.

In that case, you really just have no clue.  The team's improvement is quantifiable.



Um, what?  The teams' record tells us nothing about whether you watch the games or not.



Next time I talk to him, I'll be sure to pass on the troll's words.

I would take the time to spell these things out, but you have demonstrated a complete refusal to comprehend anything I've said.

NO WE ARE 12-13 5-6 THERE IS NO IMPROVEMENT WE ARE AWFUL HOW DARE YOU KEEP SUGAR COATING THINGS

    I agree Andrew,  Making some strides on the Offensive end, making the extra pass and our inside game has been turned up a notch.  actually we are showing a little more toughness in games here lately, we're not there yet but we are making progress, we're starting to get a little more fight in us and I'm really glad to see that. Rebounding is gettiing better, but, our perimeter defense needs sum major work, I'm sure its a concern for Groce and he will try and address it before we head to Buffalo. 

   Ohio has a target on their back, after all we are the defending MAC Champion and upset Georgetown in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.  We bring out the best in even the worse teams, every game is a dog and cat fight. Teams get fired up to play us. so we're gonna get the other teams best every game.


    Ohio will be a dangerous team come MAC Tounament time,  Starting to come together slowly, sure,  we got some work to do, but I can see the improvements and most of all I can see it in their toughness and swagger. You can bet one thing, If you ask any MAC coach who he would rather NOT play in the MAC Tournament ? You can bet your ass the majority of them would say OHIO.   


    We're starting to come together slowly and some people are just to stubborn and stupid to see it or realize it. It's much more than wins and losses.  It's who's the best at the end of the MAC Tournament.  Thats the "Big Prize" 


-------------------------------------------------------------

Dennis "Gman"  "DON'T FLINCH or YOU"LL MISS IT"
      

WOW! Our "fighting Spirit" That gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling! 12-13 and 5-6 in Mac East, we play "well and lose" a lot, especially at home! I will give you Ricardo Johnson improvement (which I have said), but the rest is a giant load of crap. The sample size is 25 games, not one! The lack of forward movement is 25 games long, not one. If you had ever coached a game in your life or put on an actual jockstrap, you might understand these type of things.

Wow, you have me nailed.  Boom, roasted.  Got me.  Ouch.  I'm smarting.  It's true, I've never played a sport or coached a sport.  Ever.  It's never happened.  Got me pegged there!  I bow to your superior athletic ability and knowledge.

And it's a good thing you didn't pick on one part of a larger post, because that would be silly.  I appreciate your thoughtfulness and thoroughness when debating this topic.  You approach things in a mature, intelligent manner I can only hope to emulate one day.  The fighting spirit thing was obviously the crux of my post and not a quick added thought at the end, and I clearly meant that was the salve to all our ails.

I mean, it's not like Devaughn, after struggling early in the season, has rebounded and only had one bad game in the past month and a half.  He certainly hasn't scored in double figures in 13 of the last 14 games, including 7 in a row.  And he has absolutely not been posting high efficiency numbers on a regular basis after a sporadic start to the season.  He by no means is not getting a rebound and a half more than his season average over the last six games.  No sir, he's been bad all year.

And you're right, I was way off the mark with Ivo!  I mean, he already has more fouls than he did all of last year!  Why do we give him so many minutes?  It can't be because he's the team's top rebounder and two-point shooter.  Those aren't good enough reasons.  He's only 27% higher at the line than he was last year.  Not good enough.  He's shooting 55% over the last month?  What a chump.

Shoot, I should have checked.  DJ is still chucking shots at the same rate as ever.  I really wish he would cut back.

One thing I haven't been critical about at any point this year is rebounding.  Maybe I should, considering how badly WMU outrebounded us today.  That's really embarrassing because the Broncos are one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country.  I was horrified at all the second chances we gave Toledo.  Remember when NIU rebounded us out of The Convo?  Keeps me up at night.  Poor rebounding ultimately did us in at Ball State.  Quite the fall from grace of rebounding excellence we so wonderfully displayed earlier this year.

What really sucks is our offensive ineptitude.  I thought Tommy would remain a great outside shooter, but that hasn't happened.  I hoped Nick would be the conference's best three-point shooter, but that never materialized.  As a team, I expected us to cut down on turnovers as the season went on... that hasn't happened.  It would have been nice if today marked the fourth straight game of scoring more than a point per offensive possession when we couldn't string together three such games previously, but it's not to be.

So, I take it all back.  I should listen to you more.  You know what you're talking about and back it up.  I need to start doing that.

I'm sorry to interrupt--because 9704 and Dragon got it going ON!



But...it seems WMU hit 12 of 21 from 3-ball on us.  Let's see.  When we pulled our greatest win in about 40 years, we hit 13 of 23 3-ball on Georgetown.  So, WMU actually went better than that 3-ball on us today?

Agree with Dragon, there is progress here.  But 12-21 3's by WMU means the defense lacks.  Not good; our defense is our fate this year.