BG - KENT

[AyZiggy97]

Totally agree with the team being an extension of the coach. BG hired the polar opposite of Dakich good or bad. My issue is that the laid back personality is fine, but this program needs some energy bad. It doesn't have the fan base to go through the motions. It doesn't have the talent to go through the motions. Body language means alot in every aspect and every industry. The Akron game was a true eye opener for me. Go back two years when Coach Jackson got in Clements face and he took his jersey off on the court in the middle of the game and walked off the court. Notice how the team responded. The team had the most energy its' had in Orr's tenure. Jakubowski was Orr's first recruit. He was a huge contributor on that team. He might as well have participated in the half time contest on senior night. Is it not on the coach if a player becomes that worthless as senior after a failry productive first three seasons. It's 30 games into season, this team is not young anymore. It was time for Dakich to go, and if Orr losses out this season I want him gone too. 3 of 4 years of losing in first round of MAC Tournament, especially in this MAC is not acceptable. I'm not the Curt Miller could coach Mens Basketball guy. However, he is a great example of how you can find a middle ground between psycho Dakich and sleeping Orr, and bring intensity and energy the right way. Just end the snooze fest that has become BG basketball before the new arena opens.

Interesting from John Wagner's "Blade" blog:

11:30 p.m. -- Coach Louis Orr was asked about his more "animated" demeanor on the BG bench and he said, "In tough stretches like this, [the team] needs to feed off me. We have a young team -- the reality is that we have two seniors. We don't have an established leader on the court, a guy who can rally the troops. We don't have that. I feel [the team] needs to feed off me. That's the way it's got to be for the rest of the year. They have to know that you can't stop fighting; if you get knocked down, you have to get back up. And I have to do that for myself. The guys have to know I'm going to fight for them and with them. That's what that is about."



I don't know if anyone noticed Louie complaining about the no-call when Calhoun was clearly fouled late in the second half. They could have T'd him up for going halfway across the floor on the baseline.

[guest44]

"We don't have an established leader on the court, a guy who can rally the troops. We don't have that."

That is a Louis Orr problem. He has had one established leader in 4 years and he didnt recruit him. It's not like we are starting 5 freshman. Make Scott Thomas play with 3 fouls and prove he is a leader by not picking up a 4th foul in a crucial stretch of the game. Make Joe Jakubowski be a leader and play him down the stretch of a close game and make a key play. Bench Luke Kraus for fouling w/ 8 seconds left on shot clock in 4 point game.

[Matty B]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEASY boys......

Kraus's foul late was a bad call. He wasn't trying to foul at all, he had his hands back and the dribbler put his shoulder smack-dab in the middle of Kraus's chest after Kraus beat him to the spot. Anticipation call.. I hate those.

Orr has been showing quite a bit of emotion as of late. One timeout in the first half, when we had already "committed" 4 or 5 fouls and KSU had "committed" zero, he had coach Stone handle the huddle and he laid into the taller ref (who we've had a few times this year and he's just bad... usually equally for both teams). Anyway, next possession we got a cheap whistle against KSU from that exact referee.

I think the reason Erger plays over Sealy is that Orr has guys "penciled in" to positions and won't put them on the floor anywhere else. In this case he has Thomas/Erger/Kraus (Kraus to "give Erger a break... insert your own comments here) at the #3 and Sealy as a #4. Notice that Sealy didn't come in until he replaced either McElroy or Ogelsby at the power forward position. I HATE HATE HATE when guys sacrifice putting our best guys out there for playing guys "at their position," even though in the 2-3 zone the 3 and the 4 essentially do the same thing. I don't get it.

Hopefully we can string it together and get a win vs Buffalo.

[gmartin]

Yeah when Thomas picked up his 2nd foul less than 2 minutes in the game Coach Orr should have moved Calhoun to Thomas position and insert Sealey to take Calhoun normal spot. If he didn't want to do that he could have went smaller and simply replaced Thomas with Brown and went with a 3 guard set and switch either to man to man on D or a box and one D. If you have to adjust on the fly and put your best players on the court and now but in a sub just because that's his normal position. Have Erger on the court for 14 minutes in the first half when he makes 1 shot every 4 games is not a smart move. If Erger wants to sub for Thomas for 4 minutes from one media time out to another to give Thomas a break, fine, I don't have a problem with that, even though I still think there are better options than Erger but that's only for 4 minutes and not for 75 percent of the first half. I am not a OSU fan but I must admit, I think Thad Matta is a great coach on his substitutions. He goes from big, to small, and his players are versatile to be put in other positions. He subs the correct times to give the players extra time during time outs. And he shortens his bench most nights. This team is WAY too talented to be struggling like this and that falls on the coaching staff.

[hammb]

This team is WAY too talented to be struggling like this and that falls on the coaching staff.

I agree.

I'm also very much a proponent of playing your best 5 guys as much as possible regardless of positions. I have no problems with 3 guard lineups. I have no problems with playing multiple wing players, or multiple PF types. If it's a mismatch one way against you, it's probably a mismatch in another way on the other side of the court.

I see absolutely no reason why you could not have Oglesby, Calhoun, and Sealey all on the court at the same time. What they may give up in quickness trying to guard some teams' SFs they should have a decided size advantage that should certainly be exploitable on the offensive end.

It is VERY foolish to leave guys like Sealey & Black on the bench while Erger plays meaningful minutes, IMO.

I just agree that this team is way too talented to be struggling like this. I'm not ready to call for a gutting of the staff, but there is no denying the fact that right now they're not getting the most out of the talent on their roster.