I think we can all agree that the energy surrounding this program and the enthusiasm on this board right now is on another level. Boals came in with a plan and I can't wait for all of his pieces to come together on the roster. Not concerned about win-loss record in year one. This is going to be fun to watch.

Saul won his first game by more than 20.

jeff boals seems to have team in good shape. didn't think theyd be able to win at st bon adventure with 4 men down thell need every thing they got to stay with in 20 points of villanova though

+1 on the let's set what happens when things get a little rocky. Times are fun now after a really nice win. What happens in these threads if they go to Myrtle Beach and get run in 2 of 3 games?

(I don't expect that, but for the point, what happens?)

No reason to not be excited about the start of the Boals era. I've seen and heard nothing but good things...

He is a proud alum...some say that doesn't matter but I still believe it gives you an extra edge in motivation and genuineness.

He has embraced the guys who chose to stick around and made them happy to still be here despite it not being what they signed up for.

He is an aggressive and successful recruiter. He has shown a willingness to go after both the big fish. He was able to land 3-4 recruits who had a lot of similar or better options than our program, all late in the recruiting period.

I have heard he implemented an extremely successful diet and exercise program. The entire team got much stronger and healthier in just a few short months. This can't be overstated.

He has been tremendous with the university and community, aggressively establishing relationships. I got to speak with him for about 10 minutes myself, but have witnessed and/or heard about countless times he has given his time to Ohio fans and students.

And yes, he led them to a hell of an impressive road win to start the season. I can not remember the last time we won a game in which we were double digit underdogs, let alone won by double digits.

Of course there will be hard times ahead...that doesn't mean you can't be really thrilled with where we are at right now.

Was feeling the excitement, then felt it wane as I heard about all of the injuries and thought we were in for another slog of a season. Then, watching Tuesday's game had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the hustle, I loved the excitement, and I was wowed by many things I saw from Preston and McDay (who will certainly be filled with growing pains).

Now, in thinking of the addition of the injured players, I'm past optimistic. My head starts falling a little too much into fantasy-brain thoughts. The optimism I love, but I'm trying to temper the other part.

Not sure this season can totally be measured by wins and losses. Though I know Coach Boals will be hungry for every win that his team can get. But let's not allow an early win get in the way of the reality that this team is a bunch of unproven players who have a lot of growth to do. All the key cogs off of last years team are gone. This year should be measured by the progress that is made, and progress is NOT always W's and L's, but the toughness, the grit, the way this team plays. OHIO will probably be out talented in most of their games this year, there will be some tough times, however, I am excited to see how they develop and mature. There are already many many positives surrounding this program.

BVP and Preston were not key cogs on last year's team?

Saul also had some incredible assets that Jim Christian left behind, including Ndour, Simmons, Setty and Campbell. We EXPECTED to thrash teams like App State. Instead we ended up with a Bean Wilderness Campaign that was a harbinger of things to come.

I would say that TK was a key, or major, cog last year and that Preston was less so. That explains the lack of success we had last year. The machine at which these guys were a cog in last year was far from a well-run machine. Thus, having few of the key cogs from last year's machine is not a bad thing at all.

Preston and BVP will certainly be much bigger cogs this year and hopefully that pays off in spades.

You can't say this because we don't know how good St. Bonaventure is. They could turn out to be terrible. They could be a 30-win team. Plus, I think you understand my point. There was a lot of optimism after the first game five years ago, too.

I think most people were optimistic about the program's future under Boals heading into this season, but figured we'd basically need a year to be competitive since all of our most recent coaching hires haven't had good seasons in year 1 (except Christian)

While it's too early to know if the win over the Bonnies means anything because we don't know enough about how good they actually are and how much of their outside shooting was an anomaly... BUT to go on the road and pick up a win with the kind of youth we've got on this roster, let alone to do it with a 1st year HC is nothing but a good sign. It felt like the anti-life on the road in the MAC game.

The biggest takeaway I've got from the game is we seemed to have answered three of the biggest question marks on the roster people had coming in...

1. Is Dartis going to be the same player?
Yes

2. Do we have PG to run Boals offense?
Preston's looks like he improved from last year and the entire offense had good, even great ball movement most of the game.

3. Do we have any size down low ready to play?
No one really knew what we were getting in Ogbonda with the limited minutes he played at GT, but what we saw from him was reassuring. At minimum, I'm confident now he and BVP will be able to hold their own against most teams. What we saw from Foster, Springs and McMurray was encouraging for young post guys...

Why are we still talking about Saul? We have coach Boals and we need to move on with him. Dartis weighed in on why Saul was let go. Saul will do well at the D2 level, let’s get behind Boals. It will get rocky, three of our top recruits are injured, we didn’t fill all of our scholarships and we have a team of newcomers besides Dartis and BVP who has been injured and Preston. By year three Boals should be rolling, I expect us to compete this year and next year.