Agreed. In fact, I'd argue that over the last few regimes at Ohio University our successful bigs basically fit into three categories:

1) Big bodies that aren't plus athletes -- hence their ending up in the MAC and not a P5 program. A few of these guys were very skilled, but still slipped to us because they didn't profile as excellent athletes. Think Antonio Campbell, Reggie Keeley, KVK, Leon Williams and Dwight Wilson. None of them were jumping out of the gym.

2) Strong but short and lacking length. Brandon Hunter, Jerome Tillman, Terren Harbut, types. Not true 5s and spend a lot of time facing up on offense, but capable of guarding bigs and rebounding their positions.

3) Tweeners. Essentially long wings who weren't skilled enough with the ball in their hands as wings to get P5 offers, and who end up playing a position up in the MAC because of their length. Think Clayton, DeVaughn Washington, Jason Carter, Maurice N'Dour, Ivo Baltic, Treg Setty, etc. All are plus athletes as bigs, but less effective on the wing where their size would warrant they play at a higher level. Worth noting that a bunch of these guys had somebody from category 1 or 2 next to them. Clayton doesn't.

Where we've basically never been successful is with guys who have NBA/Elite P5 size. That sort of size is so valuable, that anybody who filters down to us has too many issues to contribute meaningfully. Think Marin Bota, Clay McGowan, Wiz, Ethan Jacobs, etc. These guys are fools gold. If it looks too good to be true that somebody with that size is coming here, it is.

There's a reason those three profiles are available to the MAC, and a reason why true 7 footers aren't, and that the ones we get are underwhelming.

Boals has been very light on groups 1 and 2, and far too reliant on group 3. Think that's a big part of why we play so small -- even our best guys in group 3 had bigger bodies alongside of them.

Just talking about body type and size.

Just re-upping this thread, because it's pretty apparent that until we get the frontcourt figured out, we're going to struggle to keep up with the best teams in the MAC.

GoCats105 pointed out in the recruiting thread where we offered the 7'1 guy from London that the roster's full next year. So curious to hear how folks think we address the bigs issue. Here's what we have next year in current state:

1:
Paveletzke
Elliot
Sheldon

2:
Brown
James
Burris
Nicol
Fisher
Kelly

3:
Mosley

4:
Hadaway
Kuany

5:
Evans

--------------

We offered the British kid despite a full roster, so it's clear something's going to change. And it's also very obvious from the above that something has to change.

Evans is a long ways off and certainly isn't our starting 5 next year. The kid from London looks raw and is unlikely to be a starter/rotation guy if he signs.

So who goes, and how do we fill out a big rotation beyond Hadaway's 30 minutes a game at the 4?

Nicol and Sheldon go. Business decision for all. The portal and NIL have changed roster construction and recruiting philosophy. You have to treat scholarships as one year contracts. If not, these coaches are going to lose their jobs a lot sooner than later.

Over in the portal thread, I’ve been posting random bigs who have entered the portal from lower levels — low-major to D2.

This is more of a practice to show that we can find immediate help, if we look under every rock and throw water on the whole “bigs are too expensive narrative”. There is no way we couldn’t afford to bring in a player from New Orleans (for example) or a higher floor Searls.

I’m not sure I understand the scholarship offer to the London kid unless even more spots are opening up to address next year’s 5.

I don't disagree. If we saw more from Evans this year and it was positive, then the offer to me makes a little more sense.

I'm curious to see what happens with Burris. There are others on here who know more about him than I do, but I feel like it has never really worked out long term for RS players (someone correct me if wrong) in the Boals era. Kuany likely being the exception given size and his being tied to a visa.

In his last 21 three-point attempts….Sheldon has made 3 of them.

I get that Sheldon has to spell PAV and Elliott some minutes, but I’m sorry, Elliott and PAV have to go 35 minutes a game in Cleveland. You have to limit Sheldon to 7-10 minutes moving forward. The fact that Sheldon is averaging 20 minutes per game this season is coaching malpractice by Boals.

I can see it now, Sheldon goes on fire and hits numerous threes in the MAC tourney and helps us win the MAC Championship. This seems to be what happens when the general consensus on a sports board gets really down on a player. I'm not predicting it, I'm just saying sometimes conventional wisdom, ain't wisdom at all.

Trying to liberally pass the Green Kool-Aid around. Have a sip, it's delicious and has hallucinatory properties. Just one more sip, and you'll see the Bobcats in the Final 4.