I thought Preston really struggled to get to his spots, both against UVA and Creighton. Both had athletic bigs that did a very job hedging on the pick and roll and pushing Preston wide as he came around the pick. Thought he really had a lot of trouble turning the corner and getting into the lane as the lead ball handler. It seemed to work a bit better when he was off ball when Sears came in late vs. Creighton.

I suspect scouts saw that and have enough questions that there's no chance he's anything but a 2nd round pick, and given that 2nd rounders almost never end up with guaranteed years, he should stick around.

You just brought back flashbacks of Andy Katz' "Ohio Has IT" article.

If this team returns in tact (doubtful) or adds a great player after some defections, I would expect nothing less than a MAC title. What we had in year 1 of the Christian season was an abomination of a MAC title game. That group should never have lost by 30 in the MAC title game. They were basically done playing for JC and for some reason, lost the spark Groce had instilled. Boals will keep this team's razor sharpened all offseason and into the season so my expectations will remain high.

Unfortunately the one-and-done nature of the MAC makes each year a sprint when it's MAC tourney time.

I'm not sure I understand. The marathon/sprint metaphor I used applies to our expectations. We get to choose how we weight each season. So, the MAC tournament may be a sprint, but that doesn't matter if we view Boals' objectives as winning a marathon.

Hah!!! Bucky Rumpke would come in to score the last basket (maybe) at the end of winning games and then beat everyone, including the bartenders, back to the Red Room! (I asked him about that at one of the alumni games and he just said that he had a secret tunnel.)

Yeah, that would not have a remotely difficult decision for the committee.

A lot of my family went to Ohio. I knew a lot of this program growing up but didn't pay consistent attention until I enrolled in the early 90s. Since then we have won the tournament numerous times while winning only one outright conference title. To me, a one and done tournament requires a lot of luck to come out on top. Literally, every single time in the last 30 years that we have done it we did it with a young team that would have been on the very shot list of MAC favorites the following year even if it had not won the tournament. It seems like the early, and possibly someone lucky, success in the tournament has often not helped the following season for various reason such as coaches leaving or players transferring.

Winning regular season titles consistently is the Marathon. Advancing in tournament games requires you to be both lucky and good. I'd rather see 23-27 win seasons constantly than NCAA tournament wins every few years after finish in the upper division of the MAC. I loved the run at the end of the season but the former is more difficult to achieve and more impressive.

I think the MAC is a very respectable league. usually in the top 10 every year in basketball. I think if the league could make a push to get all of its teams to toughen their schedules the MAC could consistently be more then a 1 bid league.

Schools should be limited to playing only 1 non d-1 school per season. and limit the schools that you play that was worse then 300th the previous year. You would begin to have NET's and strength of schedules tho give you argument to be more then 1 bid league.

Thinking of a Gonzaga of the Midwest is not what i would look at my question is What would be wrong with being a Butler, a Dayton, wichita State a Richmond. Really almost where Buffalo is headed maybe a little higher.

I think thinking you could build a program that could constantly be a threat to be in top 25 and on the edge of a at large bid every year if not a solid one can be built here. And if you can build that here then your only looking at money as a reason to believe. And i think if you build that kind of program you will get some teams to play you home and home then you have some crowds then you have some money to keep your coach.

I think there are a couple of hurdles that are specific to Ohio that makes it a little bit tougher for us to take the same sort of step up that Butler, Creighton, Wichita State, Loyola, VCU, Richmond, etc have all taken. Even Buffalo is in a better position.

Athens is a tiny market, and we're a clear step behind OSU, Dayton, Xavier, and UC in the state basketball pecking order. All of the above schools were attractive options to jump a level up conference-wise because they brought with them bigger markets. They may not be the top draw in those markets, but there's a lot of eyeballs, and wallets, to fight for. We're always going to be in a tough spot because of that.

Not saying it's an insurmountable challenge. But I don't think it's coincidence that so many of the mid-majors who have made a jump are in mid-tier cities like Spokane, Omaha, Richmond, or Wichita.

Good thread. Lots of good thoughts and interesting questions.

1. To IceCat, I'm not particularly concerned about Ohio picking up the $ on a single extra scholarship next season... We may not be a MAJOR, but we've got a big enough Men's Hoops budget that that is a small % of our budget... Heck... Our NCAA tournament win alone gives all the MAC schools extra $. Great to know the MAC has 3-straight years of wins!

2. Jason Preston is proof that if you are good enough in this day and age you don't need to transfer to a high-major program to get NBA hype. The NBA scouts know who Jason is and are watching. Jaaron transferred and rode the bench the entire season. The fact of the matter is that the NBA has the data analytics to find great mid-major players and scout them appropriately. The only thing Major programs offer is potentially better competition, but the MAC has proven itself to be strong so with a good preseason schedule and (hopefully) another tournament berth we will see plenty of good opponents next year! I think as long as the chemistry between the team and Boals is good the star players will stick around.

3. I don't think we necessarily need a rim-protector... I'd hope for more guys who can drill 3's! I do hope Dwight Wilson returns. 0% chance we would've made this run if he hadn't been eligible this season. Pretty crazy to think we didn't know he would be able to play until a couple days before the first game this fall...

Have you seen how disparate the American and Big East schools are?

BVP and Wilson are good MAC players but neither plays above the rim. We missed shots in the lane because big athletic players caused issues. Couldn’t score over them and couldn’t defend them. We need good bigs...who doesn’t.