Let's walk through them.

1) Reef out many games early in the season
2) Hadaway lost for the year at season mid-point
3) Clayton misses 3-4 games mid-season
4) James misses' games no reason given
5) Burris out for the year, injury unknown
6) Boals injured for year
7) Kuany out for year due to international registration timeline

The disappointment is real especially since we were preseason ranked #1.
Boals knows how to coach and how to keep the team playing hard despite the injuries. He changed the line-up, substitution rotation, and time outs, all in an effort to win more games.
I am sure Boals feels the heat and will improve the team's performance come next year.



GO BOBCATS

Heading into conference play with minimal injuries Boals record was 6-6 and that included D3 Muskingum.

Our results for TY would have been much better if it had not been for all the games missed by numerous injured players.
Also, Boals teams has always registered winning seasons, quite a good track record. Not to mention winning a game in the NCAA Tournament.




GO BOBCATS

Well, our team will definitely look a lot different next year (I think that's a good thing) and we certainly won't open as pre-season anythings (I don't think that matters). Ultimately we may or may not be better next year. Lots of new faces and moving parts to integrate. I think we definitely COULD be better.

More Elliott and Sheldon at PG instead of Pavs immediately makes the defense better.
I'd love to see one of Burris, Fisher or Kelly step into the starting SG role. Maybe none will be ready yet - but we need a Jordan Dartis/Nick Kellogg esque 3pt shooter to pair with our non-3pt shooting PG's IMO.
AJB, if healthy and given the green light to make the team "his" could/should be in the running for MAC PoY.
Hadaway will be back at PF - that helps the defense. I expect a big Sr year from him.
Then it's center. We'll have Evans as a Soph with little experience. Kuany as a Fresh with no experience - and IMO we add a transfer 1-year stopgap guy ala Searls. Who wins that competition will be fun to watch. Will be all about who gets better in the summer. If you asked me right now where I'd rank them, I'd probably say random transfer/Kuany/Evans - but if you asked me who had the highest ceiling/potential I'd rank them Evans/Kuany/random transfer. All depends on who puts in the work and reaches their potential or not. I can see any of the 3 starting.

Give me Pavs, the loser of the SG comp, Elmore, Mosley, the loser of the C comp as the 2nd unit.

Lots of unknowns. I think that team will definitely be a better defensive team (unless we keep Pavs as our starting PG, then it could be much of the same sadly). Heaps of potential. Complete unknown whether it materializes. Definitely COULD be better. Could be worse.

My .02 is a team led by Jr AJB and Sr Hadaway, will be much more fun to watch and less frustrating than this years editions led by AJC and Pavs who never play defense, never play to their strengths, are super un-athletic, and are super streaky.

I guess I’ll take a stab at what I think (hope?) the lineup will look like in 25-26:

PG - Pav
SG - Elliott (more of a slasher/2nd point guard)
SF - AJB
PF - Hadaway
C - Portal Big #1

Bench: Elmore, Kuany, Kelly, Portal Big #2

Used Sparingly/Redshirts: Fisher, Mosley, Obiorah

Portal Exits: Nicol, Sheldon, Evans*

*On the fence about Evans—probably in January I would have wanted to keep him, but his playing time, advanced stats, and overall feel for the game don’t seem to be going in the right direction. I’ll take my chances with Portal Big #2.

Edit: forgot about Burris. Probably part of the bench mob. Though we know Boals will never play 10 in his regular rotation, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Burris ends up as the odd man out.

I didn't say start Sheldon over Pavs. I said Elliott and Sheldon make the defense better. Sheldon is the best defender of the 3. Sadly, if he's shooting like he is this year, his offense is so bad it doesn't matter and he's basically unplayable. My preference would be to start Elliott at PG next year.

Did you expect to win at Memphis or something?