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Topic: Official Game 27 Thread: Ball St.
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Bobcat1998
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Posted: 2/18/2026 2:50 PM
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MiamiBlowsChunks wrote:expand_more
I'm going to keep saying this until everyone hates me on this board.

Fire Jeff Boals!

It's not about his W/L record anymore. It's about his ability to navigate the current landscape of college basketball and the program regressing a ton in recent years. This season has a chance to be one of our worst final KenPom rankings of the past 25 years.

And tonight doesn't make one difference in my opinion. Ohio should dominate weak opponents like Ball State at home.
Lots of folks want Boals gone. Ran out Phillips. After running out Christian (left before he'd get whacked). Lots thought Groce underachieved and, w/o postseason runs, would've been whacked too. So a great track record here.

Build a practice facility, update the convo somehow & then it's an alright mid to low major job.
Who ran out Christian? He jumped ship brother. What are you sipping? Christian used us as a stepping stone and underachieved with perhaps two of the best teams we've had in a while if not ever.
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 2/18/2026 2:56 PM
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Ohio69 wrote:expand_more
. . .(As for the Boals haters, well, you've made your points. Bless your hearts. Nothing to do now except root for your team.)
As long as we are "talking southern," Bless your little pea-pickin heart, but nobody on here "hates Boals." Some of us are beginning to question whether his coaching philosophy will work at OHIO at the present time in the NIL Era. That's not hating anyone.

Perhaps, y'alls southern talk is helping to psychologically prepare us for the Sunbelt Conference.
shabamon
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Posted: 2/18/2026 2:59 PM
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I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
GoCats105
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Posted: 2/18/2026 3:48 PM
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shabamon wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
I don't know if it was a clash of his style or if it was locker room stuff that people didn't like, but that Belmont Bracketbuster game in 2013 where we got blown out of the gym looked like a team that had completely mailed it in. Which was weird because at that point we were 20-7 (11-1 MAC). I just knew something wasn't right.

Still to this day the only game I've ever left at halftime. Told my girlfriend at the time "if they don't feel like playing, I don't feel like watching."
Last Edited: 2/18/2026 3:50:00 PM by GoCats105
greencat
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Posted: 2/18/2026 5:09 PM
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GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
I don't know if it was a clash of his style or if it was locker room stuff that people didn't like, but that Belmont Bracketbuster game in 2013 where we got blown out of the gym looked like a team that had completely mailed it in. Which was weird because at that point we were 20-7 (11-1 MAC). I just knew something wasn't right.

Still to this day the only game I've ever left at halftime. Told my girlfriend at the time "if they don't feel like playing, I don't feel like watching."
I was there and posted on here the next day that JC couldn't coach his way out of paper bag compared to Belmont's coach Rick Byrd. Y'all.
Bobcat1998
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Posted: 2/19/2026 6:20 AM
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shabamon wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
That team that "barely" won the MAC was a Sweet 16 team. Then that same team (exactly the same team) didn't just lose to Akron. They were throttled from start to finish. I was there. And that regular season title was good and all but as many on here agree when it comes to reg season titles: getting toasted in the finals throws that out the window (RIP Tod K).

And that 2014 team did play hard and had some of my favorite players. They won in spite of Christian.
MonroeClassmate
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Posted: 2/19/2026 8:24 PM
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Bobcat1998 wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
That team that "barely" won the MAC was a Sweet 16 team. Then that same team (exactly the same team) didn't just lose to Akron. They were throttled from start to finish. I was there. And that regular season title was good and all but as many on here agree when it comes to reg season titles: getting toasted in the finals throws that out the window (RIP Tod K).

And that 2014 team did play hard and had some of my favorite players. They won in spite of Christian.
1998, you do not give enough credit to the Zips. That Sweet 16 team was very fortunate to have gotten out of Cleveland with several boneheaded inbounds plays by both teams at the end that luckily favored OHIO or Dambrot would have gone dancing and not Groce. Also, the next year when only Big Reg showed up in Cleveland it was Dambrot going to his player Harney who was able to smother Coop with many inches on Coop. That completely took Coop out of his game and was a stroke of genius to have a big guy guard the point and be able to shut down the MAC's greatest assist man. Sports history is littered with great teams who the next season got stopped unexpectedly. Also, can you blame anyone for Ivo Baltic completely checking out and being a shell of his former self?
Bobcat1998
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Posted: 2/20/2026 4:54 AM
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MonroeClassmate wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
That team that "barely" won the MAC was a Sweet 16 team. Then that same team (exactly the same team) didn't just lose to Akron. They were throttled from start to finish. I was there. And that regular season title was good and all but as many on here agree when it comes to reg season titles: getting toasted in the finals throws that out the window (RIP Tod K).

And that 2014 team did play hard and had some of my favorite players. They won in spite of Christian.
1998, you do not give enough credit to the Zips. That Sweet 16 team was very fortunate to have gotten out of Cleveland with several boneheaded inbounds plays by both teams at the end that luckily favored OHIO or Dambrot would have gone dancing and not Groce. Also, the next year when only Big Reg showed up in Cleveland it was Dambrot going to his player Harney who was able to smother Coop with many inches on Coop. That completely took Coop out of his game and was a stroke of genius to have a big guy guard the point and be able to shut down the MAC's greatest assist man. Sports history is littered with great teams who the next season got stopped unexpectedly. Also, can you blame anyone for Ivo Baltic completely checking out and being a shell of his former self?
Thank you for making my point. Akron adjusted and Christian was a deer in headlights because he was thinking of his next move. Dude lucked into following a great coach at Kent and turned it into TCU (EPIC FAIL), then used us for 2 years with great teams and blah finishes. Then BC (EPIC FAIL) and now is epically failing at Canisius. And yes, I can blame the coach for a player checking out just like I blame Boals for Hadaway flaming out.
SBH
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Posted: 2/20/2026 8:09 AM
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MonroeClassmate wrote:expand_more
I'm one who never understands the Christian hate. We're calling a team who barely won the tournament the year before, only lost to Akron, and won the only regular season title this part of the millennium an underachiever? And say what you will about his treatment of players (Jon Smith, Treg Setty), that 2014 team played really really hard and gave unbelievable effort every night. If Ric doesn't go down, who knows what that season could have been.
That team that "barely" won the MAC was a Sweet 16 team. Then that same team (exactly the same team) didn't just lose to Akron. They were throttled from start to finish. I was there. And that regular season title was good and all but as many on here agree when it comes to reg season titles: getting toasted in the finals throws that out the window (RIP Tod K).

And that 2014 team did play hard and had some of my favorite players. They won in spite of Christian.
1998, you do not give enough credit to the Zips. That Sweet 16 team was very fortunate to have gotten out of Cleveland with several boneheaded inbounds plays by both teams at the end that luckily favored OHIO or Dambrot would have gone dancing and not Groce. Also, the next year when only Big Reg showed up in Cleveland it was Dambrot going to his player Harney who was able to smother Coop with many inches on Coop. That completely took Coop out of his game and was a stroke of genius to have a big guy guard the point and be able to shut down the MAC's greatest assist man. Sports history is littered with great teams who the next season got stopped unexpectedly. Also, can you blame anyone for Ivo Baltic completely checking out and being a shell of his former self?
Dambrot's move was not so much brilliance as desperation. His star point guard, Alex Abreau, had just been busted by the FBI for drug trafficking. Ohio should have won that game going away. I heard from an insider that Christian went ballistic on Coop and others in the locker room following our blowout win in the semi-finals. Cooper got his revenge the next night.
Last Edited: 2/20/2026 8:10:13 AM by SBH
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