Kentucky exposed a weakness we have that I hope can be rectified as conference play rolls around--rebounding. When Jason Preston left for the NBA a year sooner than many of us expected, I hoped that Coach Boals would replace him with another guard with length, even a transfer or a grad transfer.

Within his skill set, the 6-4 Preston provided us the luxury of a strong rebounding guard. Paired with 6-3 Lunden McDay, they not only provided length to defend the perimeter and see over opponents' defenses while on offense, Preston, in particular, helped out greatly on the defensive board. Had Preston stayed, I do believe Sears would have started along side him and we'd still have that backcourt rebounding presence.

Now? We have two 6-1 starting guards--Sears and Miles Brown--and 5-11 Tommy Schmock coming off the bench with McDay. Furthermore, rebounding is not 6-5 small forward Ben Roderick's forte. This puts immense pressure on Jason Carter and Ben Vander Blas to be board hogs.

Hopefully we'll get Dwight Wilson back and see IJ Ezuma soon. That will help rectify the situation. Wonder what's happened to Colin Granger? I thought he'd be able to help out here. What about moving Roderick to the two-guard spot? Defense isn't his forte, either.

Soooo, time will tell...

Following some shots might help - KY aggressively followed shots with multiple players and got a lot of O rb's....

Again, Ohio has a lineup that can match up with mid-major teams, like they'll see in the MAC.

If, on the other hand, you're looking for a lineup that can match up with bigger schools that you'll see in the opening weekend and beyond in the the NCAA tourney in March, Ohio would benefit from an upgrade in frontline manpower.

This.

And I'd say while other P5 teams we might see in March likely won't be at UK levels of rebounding, we got out-rebounded 43-8 in the last 30 minutes. Even if you take +/-5 to each side for a future opponent, 38-13 is still getting absolutely annihilated on the boards.

I think an "upgrade" is an understatement - though other than DW3 it's not coming from new personnel. Going to need to be something driven into this team with technique, effort and rebounding as a team over the course of the season to get better. It's also true that last year we went 6'4/6'3 with Preston/McDay at the guard spots whereas this year it's 6'1/6'1 with Sears/Brown.

Consider also that most accomplished team in recent memory had relatively small personnel. The Sweet 16 team had really only one true big in Reggie Keely who was really barely 6'8'' and not all that above the rim. Offut played small forward at 6'3''. USF and UNC were gigantic by comparison.

What did that team do so well? They had everyone run on fast breaks, hedge ball screens, double team the corners, force turnovers, bomb away from three. Having ten rotation-ready players helps that style, too. That kind of basketball gives you a fighting chance against everyone in the country. The Jim Christian at Kent State style of playing bigs always in the low post and getting to the line will win you a MAC Championship if you recruit well enough, but you'll never beat a USF, UNC, Georgetown, or Kentucky type game because they'll always have the guys that can do your style better.

Good point about Preston. Sears has been phenomenal this season and I think he's made the argument thus far he could actually be a better *scorer* than Preston, but rebounding is a clear area where Preston was better than Sears. Not even a knock on Sears as much as a credit to Preston and it really exemplifies their style differences.

Obviously, Wilson is the most talented rebounder on this roster, so his return will be huge... However, even if he can't return this season I'm optimistic we will improve in this department. We're never going to be a great (or even good) rebounding team... Just not our style with this roster makeup... However, as Clayton and Towns gain experience or Ezuma gets experience we will have better lineup options to make adjustments when we need to beef up on the boards.

Good points all around here. Even if we don't see Wilson play, the others, over the course of the season will probably step up their level of play, and there's no shortage of potential in the three you mention.

Re: Sears vs Preston, it's interesting to reflect on what you mention here about Preston. I never really thought closely about it during the season, but he was one heck of a stat sheet stuffer, always a threat for a triple-double, but rarely scoring what I would call "a lot of points".

I always wanted to see more of he and Sears on the floor together.

Re: Preston's rebounding: I always thought that Teyvion Kirk was the best offensive rebounding pg in the MAC and that Preston was the best defensive rebounding pg in the MAC.

We've got two players on our bench who will help with that--Wilson and Ezuma.

When Akron had Zeke, did that help them advance in the NCAA tournament?

OTOH, Chattanooga got a transfer big from Kansas who may make all the difference for them. But the odds are stacked against mid majors getting guys like that.