$$$$$$$

Akron has a guy who is willing to write checks for any player Groce wants. He also paid to convert part of the student funded rec center into a bball practice facility. How they got away with that without a student protest I have no idea. Perhaps Akron students are just that apathetic.

I think St. Jeff’s greatest success at Ohio was accomplished with the players he inherited from Better Call Saul. Jeff has had plenty of time to recover from Saul. Way past time to quit kicking Saul”s Sick Dog!!! Jeff’s fortunes would be better served IF he could find at least ONE recruit that was a legit outside shooter!!!

Given the additions of Simmons and Breath (proven size) this portal season, I think our NIL budget has increased. We weren't able to land these types of players previously as a byproduct of limited funds.

I think Boals not having a set offense, bringing in his exact needs, or adapting to his own roster builds over the years continues to shoot him in the foot.

He keeps trying to attempt the same style of ball played with Preston and BVP. The previous two years we had a small ball roster without tempo and more running. It might not have worked, but that should have been the strategy paired with all the 3PT shooting. Gas teams, try to trap/defense into offense, press, whatever.

This season we have the ability to bully ball in the paint via pick and rolls with size at our advantage. We have more athleticism than the previous two years. We utilized that really well against Illinois State. Lean into that for the year since we don't really have any shooters.

It's just odd how he chooses to coach and roster build at this point.

i agree that our team has gown downhill over the years. first up is we aren,t recruiting players with good size and rebounding ability like weve had in the past. we had players like brandon hunter,gary trent,leon williams and jerome tillman. we got no one like that on our team now. second is we have to address the problem we have defending against the three point shot. a lot of our opponents especially the tougher teams on our schedule shoot quite well on the three against us. more practice on foul shots is needed. our free throw percentage is way too low.that can and does spell the difference. we could benefit from leaving the mac. i think big east, conference usa or american would be good. we could do okay in those conferences and recruiting would get better. thats cause in those conferences we would,nt need to rely on winning the conference tourney to get an ncaa bid. we also need to have a year round weight training program in place so our players could get bigger and stronger

I agree with this. OU basketball is going to need more $ for players to keep up.

Butler from what I remember transitioned well from Horizon to Atlantic 10 for a couple of years to Big East. Initiatlly at least they were representing Butler in the tournament. They hit lightning in a bottle when Indiana was down and they capitalized. With revenue sharing and competiting in a conference with a paid TV deal Butler can keep it going.

This is revenue sharing year 1. There is talk of it the money being good enough in basketball that euro players want to enroll in US colleges. Then of course already deep NIL pockets at the power schools. What is it going to mean longer term for the mid majors and what results can you point to? Will any mid-major make the Sweet 16 this year? Last yaer Drake, St. Mary's and McNeese made the Round of 32.

I'd stick with Boals for now and see if Ohio can get rev share/NIL figured out or at least see if anyone figures out a mid-major blue print for it. Then go after a coach if necessary who understands how to recruit to the new environment. At some point there might be an industry standard where 50% of basketball revenue goes to the players and euro players in the P4 will push more talent down to the mid-majors.

This can be said about so many coaches and variable circumstances. For instance, one could say, Boals got lucky inheriting Preston/BVP, Dwight getting his waiver for eligibility that same season when he was originally supposed to sit, and drawing a favorable first round matchup in Virginia. His success at Ohio also can also be directly related to “I’d rather be lucky than good” with the above logic.

Stan Heath is the MAC coach currently being blessed by a little luck.

Freshman big man Mohammed Habhab is averaging a double double through 5 games at 16 pts and 11 reb. while adding 4 assists per game. I read some where that he's a walk-on, but not 100% sure about that.

Check out his stat line from EMU's win v. Oakland yesterday - 24 pts on 10 of 13 shooting, 11 reb and 9 assists while playing all but 1 minute. Looked like a legit playmaker and difference maker in the few minutes I saw of that game.

And don't forget as a CMU redshirt he played/practiced behind a really good post player (can't remember his name) at CMU who transferred up, if I am not mistaken.

Kid may have been All-MAC.