Hmm....well we won I guess? Winning ugly is better than losing pretty they say.

Checked the score in between watching OSU-UM. Saw we were up 18 in the 1st half. Peay isn't very good (got rolled by Campbell in Jamaica). Figured that was that. Surprised to check back and see us down, then OT. Not good.

A couple of box score observations (so those who watched in person feel free to correct me):

1) We are now 25-117 from 3pt for a whopping 21.4%. Five games and 117 attempts is bordering on no longer being a small sample size. That's just AWFUL.

Are we shooting with our eyes open or just like using the Force?

On a serious note - I know we're missing Dartis and Gollon, but no legitimate D1 college team should be a 21% shooting team from 3. Question is, is it the defenses we've been playing? Is it the offense we're running or not running to get open looks? Or are we literally just this awful at shooting?

Edit to add - Does anyone know Saul's view/opinion/use of data analytics? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that to be a successful offensive team, the three areas you have to focus on are points at the rim (either with a dominant big, athletic guards/wings who can penetrate, or transition buckets), free throws (a lost art these days it seems) and successfully shooting the 3. Mid-majors aren't going to get many dominant bigs these days as they usually all get sucked up by the P5, which would make you think coaches would focus on finding athletic penetrators/slashers who can get to the rim and finish and "3 and D" guys who can turn the opponent over and/or hit the 3. It's the best way to be an equalizer for mid-majors against major programs. Our current roster seems to...not...follow that theory?

2) Teyvion Kirk may be a good player but he is NOT a PG. Dude has a 14:24 ast:to ratio. He's averaging 4.8 turnovers per game. I don't care how much he scores - you can't run an effective offense if your primary ballhandler and PG is turning the ball over that much. That's why last year we ended up having to play Block at PG so much since he was the only guy who could initiate the offense without turning it over. A lot of people (me included) gave him a bit of a pass since he was a true freshman and showed flashes of ability to score/rebound/defend. He's not a freshman anymore though. I listed Kirk's ability to improve his ast:to ratio as one of the biggest areas we needed to fix in the offseason. Doesn't look any better. Whoops.

3) Our newcomers appear to be....less than we needed. Cowart appears to be a decent role player and piece on the defensive end. The rest? Springs is redshirting. Murrell never gets off the bench. James and McMurray won't be getting off the bench come MAC season and once Gollon gets back. That means we've essentially only added Cowart and Preston. One guy's shooting 37% and 21% from 3 (Cowart) and the other is shooting 37% and 27% from 3 (Preston) while averaging 6 and 5 ppg respectively. Doesn't mean they aren't decent pieces. Doesn't mean they can't/won't improve - but it also doesn't scream impact player who is going to close the gap with the Buffalo's and Kent's of the world.

4) The only thing that matters is March, but things aren't looking good for Saul.

Teyvion Kirk does a lot of good things. He drives well, he is a good offensive rebounder and he's aggressive going after loose balls. He's also a disaster as a PG. Throw out the horrible A/TO ration and next game just watch when and where players receive passes from him. Almost nobody is catching the ball center mass above the waist. (would love to see a breakdown of our 3pt shooting with him on and off the court) And he's not showing any signs that he is going to change because A) that's who he is and running an offense is not in his arsenal and B) Saul won't hold him or, as we have seen for five years, anyone accountable for doing whatever the heck they please on the court. I would love to see him do what Christian did with Bean and sit Kirk for as long as it takes until he gets with the program.