I am sure there were equally if not more disappointing seasons in our history (02-03 comes to mind), and it could be recency bias but it sure feels like this was the most disappointing season in my time as a Bobcat fan. We finished 16-16, but really 15-16 when you consider Muskingum was on the schedule. Not awful but you have to consider the conference is very weak right now, and our out of conference schedule was not especially challenging. No one could have imagined we would drop 16 games this season.

I think making it about the injuries is a stretch. Missed games:

Hadaway - 14
Mitchell - 8
Clayton - 4
James - 3
Brown - 3

I don't see that as a prolific loss of production over the course of an entire season. Our underachievement and disappointment was so consistent throughout the season no matter who we had out there. There is nothing worse than losing games you are favored to win, it is the true kick in the nuts as a sports fan. We were given that experience 11 times!

Illinois State
Middle Tenn
Texas State
Marshall
Eastern Mich
Toledo
App State
Western Mich
Eastern Mich
Toledo
Toledo

Has anyone ever in NCAA history lost to the same team 3 times in a season despite being favored in all 3?

Conversely, winning games as an underdog is euphoric. The Bobcats gave us that experience ONCE - Akron at home. They followed that with our worst loss of the season, WMU (294). (Some may also include Kent at home as an underdog victory, that line hovered around 0). Our results away from Athens were awful - 3 road wins were CMU (201), BG (290), & Buffalo (340).

We could get into the individual players regression...

-Sheldon going from 46.3% to 28.4% from 3, and more importantly that causing him to not even shoot much the 2nd half of the season.
-Clayton a slight decline in FG %.
-Elmore came in with beautiful touch around the rim and it is fading with time. His 2 point % has went from 56% to 50% to 40% this season.
-Reef had a similar transformation, his 2 pointers fell from 54% to 46%.
-Not to be all negative, AJ Brown had the most positive trends in his stat line with much improved shooting across the board.
-It is harder to quantify defensive regression, but I think a lot of our guys experienced it.

I'm not really making any grand statement, just venting my frustration to wrap up this damn season. I tend to be optimistic, and if we can return Pav, Brown, Hadaway, & Elliott I think it is a great start to a MAC championship caliber roster. I just hope we see our guys grow and get better, because we certainly did not see that this season.

We were a thoroughly mediocre team all season long.

I'm much less optimistic about next season, and have trouble seeing the case for how the roster -- based on what we know right now at least -- dramatically improves.

We had an undersized front court that was basically a 3 man rotation. We lose 2 of those three, and they're the two biggest. We have A LOT of frontcourt minutes to replace.

We also lose our leading scorer and our best perimeter defender.

Barring a lot of turnover and subsequent portal success, it's hard to see the path. And an awful lot of people here seem convinced it's not possible for us to do well in the portal (for bigs) and Boals should get a pass.

So where's that leave us, exactly?

We can assume one or more players with eligibility are leaving. What remains to be seen is what happens with those openings. The right pickup or two would dynamically alter how the team looks.

It's hard to fathom that our NIL situation is so hopeless that a D-1 newcomer like UNA can get a 6-10 center that at one time was ranked the #50 center in the nation in high school and originally committed to LSU and the best we can do is offer some obscure project. I can't believe that North Alabama who pays their coach like $110,000/year can outbid us in the NIL/portal.

**And their "arena" looks like THIS:
https://i.imgur.com/ncu7yPn.jpg

Something is wrong with this picture.

So he was rated in high school. But is he any good?

Even if we didn't have injuries, does anyone truly believe we would have won the conference this season? Our 3-point defense was terrible all season long and we were too small and got pushed around. Our half-court offense was atrocious. Dribble...dribble....dribble...and hope hero ball works.

There have been a million posts about this, but Boals can't go three years in a row without having a legitimate big man in the paint play at least 25-30 minutes per game. If he doesn't find a starting big in the portal for next season and we struggle again, the seat should get very warm for Boals. His career record alone against Toledo (1-11) and the big three of Akron, Toledo, and Kent are alarming enough.

It’s way too premature to make any projections about next year before we know what the roster looks like. The NIL era has changed everything. We don’t know what type of additions or subtractions we’ll see in the portal or how the rest of the conference will be impacted.

The issue hasn’t been Boals being able to attract quality recruits. It’s been his lack of ability to build a team properly due to the market price of experienced forwards. He might need to go all-in on a talented big man while going cheap on guards if he wants to change the makeup of the team.

With a season like this, there are a lot of things that didn't go according to plan. My biggest frustration of the season is our inability to rebound when on defense.

I cannot stand when we give up second (and sometimes third) opportunities for the opposing team to score. Happened last night in the Toledo game, especially the first 5-10 minutes. They scored at least 6 points with those additional opportunities. Completely changes the makeup of the game, and to me, is one reason why we had trouble maintaining leads.

You could probably say the same when we are on offense too. How many one-and-done possessions did we have? How many times did we seemingly take a shot with nobody there to crash the boards? We were ranked 327 in D1 for offensive rebounds per game (just over 8). Limited second chance opportunities, ugh.

I'm not as concerned with our offensive efficiency, or the lack of an alpha on the team...yet. I think Jackson Paveletzki is turning into that player. Maybe even AJ Brown too, if he stays healthy. As others have stated, we need to get some help with recruiting a big who can give us a strong presence in the paint, or at least change our strategy to prioritize rebounding more. Our defensive efficiency wasn't too bad (150th in the nation), and our offensive efficiency was even better (100th). Shore up some rebounding and we might be ok.

So assume this:
PG: Pavs
SG: Elliott
SF: AJB
PF: Hadaway
C: Transfer

PG Bench: Transfer
SG Bench: Burris
SF Bench: Kelly
PF Bench: Mosley
C Bench: Evans
Bench: Kuany, Fisher

Portal: EJ4, Sheldon, Nichol (although I'd be ok if Sheldon and EJ4 stayed around under the following conditions: less minutes and promise from Boals that Evans AND Kuany are being developed. We can't have anymore years where a dude like Nichol shows zero player development or coaching confidence in him).

But what are the odds all the dudes above stay? If I were Elliott I would leave just based on the gross negligence of being left out the last key minutes of regulation and OT in the tourney game. How about AJB? Has he done enough to get a high major or major shot? Evans if we get a transfer big? This will be an interesting offseason. I didn't anticipate Pavs coming so who knows. But I do know what we definitely need, an Isaiah Adams type of player.

I've thought about this strategy a lot. I feel like this can potentially work, assuming the HS recruits being brought in are lower cost acquisitions instead of transfers at the guard/wing position.

My biggest issue with this season was the team never felt like they gelled together.

I think you all are both making a mistake in assuming it requires a major/high major for a guy like AJB to leave. Hell, Toledo and Akron could make a very compelling case to him that we can't right now.

Random Thoughts & Questions from the various comments throughout BA since last night:
*What is our NIL budget compared to the other MAC schools? That would be telling?
*I love Boals and his background suggested, now granted before NIL, that we we're going to be bringing some higher end talent to Athens. I'll be honest, I've been grossly disappointed and I'll be honest again, Groce appears to recruit WAY better. He reloads in a heartbeat and when we did go head-to-head on one recruit in particular this offseason, Groce got the guy. Again, back to point number one--is he just better at finding and getting them in, or does he just have more $$$ to work with?
*I will say, Boals & Company appear to get the most out of what they have in my opinion and the culture seems strong in guys for the most part appear to want to stay--but Akron again, just seems to have next level athletes.
*I sit behind the visitors bench, not our bench--but does Boals complain to refs on literally every, or every other, possession? Is that status quo for all coaches? If you asked MAC refs behind the curtain, would they say Boals is one of their favorites, or just a constant complainer? I just wonder if you complain every game, all game long, if your voice goes deaf? The refs impacted last nights game big time and Boals seemed PO'ed from the first whistle.
*In regards to Boals' salary, if NIL was our biggest hinderance to being better, I 100% would consider giving back some salary if I couldn't raise more resources, just like the top players in the NFL do. In the NFL, when a QB for instance takes top dollar, they don't often have enough cash for the players around them. On the other hand, guys like Brady were known for having team friendly contracts and having money to get better guys and in turn would win more, which leads to more endorsements, more winning and a better legacy. I wonder if in fact our NIL pot is something like $200,000 (just guessing) and another $100,000 gets you a center and PF you cant currently afford, if that money will pay itself back 10x with contract extensions, raises and maybe a better job down the road? If you decide to keep every dime and this trajectory continues, you could lose your job and go down a level after that. If a good center costs $35,000 per year and I was making $800,000 all in--I'd invest it to win as it will pay for itself if I believe in my other players and coaching.
*But yes, early in the season with everyone healthy, everyone in my section was under the belief that we were over rated, a bunch of mismatched parts, too reliant on 3 pointers and 1-on-1 play and way less athletic than what Akron, Kent, Toledo and even EMU appeared to be bringing in. Don't get me wrong--I came to every game, I went to Cleveland and I'm bummed tonight-I grew to like them, but it felt all along that we just weren't very good with or without everyone healthy.

I don't post these days...but last night and this entire season was a real buzz kills with some concerning trends.