-Jordan Dartis will leave this school with the best 3pt shooting percentage in the history of the program. Better than Tommy Freeman. Better than Nick Kellogg. Better than Dave Jamerson.

-Teyvion Kirk is on pace to score 1,800 career points. That's 6th all-time. Better than Ford, Skaggs, Williams, Tillman and Luckett.

-Jason Carter is going to be an all-timer. Barring further injury or transfer, he's going to be listed among the greats. Just watch.

A great signature. I also like OCF's signature.

Jordan is at .445. Freeman is at .443.

If Jordan has the same stats from three-point land next season as he had this season (which was .424), he doesn't leave Ohio with the best three-point shooting percentage in history.

But I get your point, we have good players. The question is why isn't that translating into good team success?

Because according to some people, the new standard by which to judge recruiting is "did they have one other offer from one of the 351 D-1 playing colleges" which if implemented would have a school closer to #351 than #100 within a couple of seasons.

Ohio Basketball started in 1922. Roughly 96 years ago. Saul has been coach for a relatively scant 4 years. Two of the four seasons were under .500 - so... what would make him bigger than the program itself to where he would be retained if the trajectory is not upward? Is he supposed to be "coach for life" now for some unknown reason?

Talent-wise, (incoming, at least before the two open scollies are cashed in for transfers)... right now, according to the data available in the world, the trajectory is on a steep downhill slope. If you "settle for" in recruiting, you will end up settling for a team that ends up under .500 all the time and near the bottom of the league. Some of you sound like that is actually fine by you.

College basketball is not life and death... it's not open-heart surgery or the removal of a brain tumor. It can be kept in the proper perspective and still not want the team to start sucking on an every year basis.

I suppose that depends on what the powers that be in Athens decide is most important to them. While I don't truly know, I have to assume allowing a coach to just play out the contract is detrimental to not only recruiting new players, but also to retaining the good ones you already have. To me, if Schaus, etc. are serious about getting the most out of the upcoming season in terms of wins and losses, giving a one year extension to have some stability with recruits and current players makes sense to me. The flip side is what you said - if the results aren't desirable in '18-'19, then Ohio is eating a $500k+ chunk, which also isn't desirable financially.

I'm glad I don't have to make those decisions, and I'm glad I'm not the one in this spot presented by the records request reported by Arkley yesterday.

JC: averaged 24.5 win per year, one of 2 years was a 1-seed + made the NIT and the CIT both.

Groce: NCAA big dance twice in 4 years including the sweet 16

Most people would be thrilled with NCAA big dance twice in 4 years and a sweet 16 in one of those. Saul's 47% winning clip in the MAC is very underwhelming. If Ohio clings to Saul for some unknown reason and the recruiting (including transfers) doesn't change trajectory drastically, this program will underachieve bigtime. We'll see between April 11 and May 16 how serious he is about Ohio basketball being a top mid-major program or if he is ok with being a sub .500 MAC program. Like it or not, recruiting for D-1 basketball is dog eat dog.

And, two years in a row - one of them while losing the reigning MAC POY.

Looking at Basketball Reference, since 1985 (when the NCAA field went to 64+) Ohio has had the 2nd best record in the MAC or higher in the following seasons:


2016-17 - Saul (best of several teams at 11-7, won tie breaker)
2015-16 - Saul

2012-13 - JC (with mostly JG's recruits)

*2004-05 - TOS (a bunch of teams tied at 11-7 Ohio was 4th seed)

1994-95 - Larry
1993-94 - Larry

1985-86 - Nee
1984-85 - Nee

It's fair to point out that while the numbers are in JC's favor, the 2012-13 team had all but one player that contributed minutes as hold overs from Groce. Further, into 2013-14, 5 of the top 9 minute getter's were still John Groce recruits. So his record is a little deceptive - in my opinion.

If you take that further, JC's recruiting left the current staff in a bind for several years, with two scholarships wrapped up in guys that seeming never could get healthy (Khari and Wadley), and at least one know attitude problem (Bean) that was an apparent issue.

The flip side of course is that JC's staff recruited Tony, Maurice, and Treg.

At almost $500 a ticket for the platinum section this coming year, that is going to make people sit up and take notice (the reality is that it's the same amount they paid this year but now that's the actual cost of a ticket since there is no longer a tax deduction).

I'm curious what the new president's role is in all of this as well. For all we know, he may not even be a huge supporter of athletics the way Dr. Rod was. That makes Schaus' job a little different this time around.

I think you agree that concerns related to ticket sales and lagging attendance isn't solely one that should fall on the coaching staff. While winning is important, and a part of the equation, I'm of the opinion that the game day experience, along with marketing/sales efforts were below par this past year as compared to previous years. Yes? No?

The apologists are on vacation Townie. Finally, most of them might be seeing the light. I won't embarrass the person who sent me a private message recently saying "stop with the don't extend Saul talk" because that person said he had it on good authority that Saul was extended months ago. Well, so much for inside knowledge on this board. Good job by Schaus to demand more and now Saul knows he needs to win big in 2018-2019. 5 years is plenty of time to show you either have it or you don't have it.

Fair enough