Steve Mix on BG and the MAC

[gmartin]

In town for the BG women's game this evening. Listening to ESPN 1470 The Ticket and Norm has Steve Mix on the show. Norm asked Steve how he sees BG in the future and also the MAC in the future. He was not impressed with BG whatsoever. Here are some of his remarks.

Plain and simple BG is a bad team. They struggle shooting the ball and cannot score. The 2-3 zone needs to go. The 2-3 zone is the easiest to crack and good teams will make adjustments at half time if you don't switch it up which BG never does he went on saying if BG wants to play zone they need to play 2-3, then maybe 1-3-1, and maybe a 3-2 but don't keep It the same the whole game. (Wow, how many times have we heard all of this).

He then went on in saying he does not see BG improving at all over the next few years. He said the talent is not here and doesn't think any players coming in will help. He went on to say he thinks BG will finish 5th or last the next several years. Bottom line!! He is not impressed with BG and the coaching staff.

He then went on to say the MAC is rated 24th out of 30 conferences. No MAC player has been drafted into the NBA (not signed via free agent) since 2002. Not one single draft choice in 9 years and frankly none will be taken over the next year either. And now the good stat!!! (He MAC has played 47 games against teams who are currently in the RPI 50 or were at the time of the game. The MAC is 1-46 against teams in top RPI 50 and that was Miami squeaking by Xavier.

[jscottfitzwater]

Did he miss Chris Kaman in 2003?

[ZiggyZoomba]

Chris Kaman was a first round draft pick in 2003.

[guest44]

Well Steve watched the same first half that we watched, he said alot of things I would agree with. Just hope somehow Saturday can bring some little part of the Anderson Arena I grew up on.

[hammb]

As was pointed out Kaman was drafted in '03, so obviously Mix is not 100% accurate in his statement about drafting. Still, not having a player drafted or signed into the NBA since 2003 is a pretty crappy stretch for MAC hoops.

As for his BG comments I agree with some and disagree with others. Black, Sealey, and Calhoun are all VERY talented. Crawford's size will always be a limiting factor, but he's ultra quick, and his defensive value alone is enough for me to say he's pretty damn talented. I definitely think there is some talent on this team, and while I haven't seen a ton of the incoming recruits Clarke could be a pretty good get, in the least.

However, I definitely agree with his comment about switching up the zone. It's really the same thing I complained about Dakich. I hate it when coaches are married to one defense and NEVER switch out of it. Let the 2-3 be your base, but switch it up to a man every once in awhile, play a box & 1, that sort of stuff. Maybe be 2-3 80% of the time, but a few possessions here and there, throw the opposition a curve ball. I've never understood coaches that basically tell their opposition EXACTLY what their defense is going to be doing on every possession of every game. With Dakich you knew that every single possession was going to be straight up man defense. With Orr you pretty much know every possession is gonna be 2-3 zone. Change things up a bit!

Hard to argue that the state of MAC hoops is pretty poor. What was once one of the better mid major conferences has really fallen towards the lower tier. Part of me wishes we'd stop pumping the resources into football and start putting them into making the conference a better basketball conference.

[gmartin]

Kaman was drafted after the 02-03 season and he mentioned that was the last draft pick out of the MAC. I didn't put his name because I didn't think it is relevant. Still not one draft pick out of the MAC in 8 years. That is pretty bad.

[BleedOrange]

Hey guys, just curious about something. Given Mix's basic points (our program and talent will remain weak, Orr's coaching is questionable, and the MAC is at bottom of DI hoops), why the hell are you talking about his Kamen in 2003 mistake? WTF? Take his original statement, but replace 2002 with 2003, and ask yourself if the overall point is meaningfully changed. If you bother doing this, you may find that the answer is 'no'.

[Drago]

After watching the last three games I am convinced our gaurds are not athletic enough to play the 2-3 zone. Kent continually made one pass to the elbow or middle of the free throw line and hardly ever were forced into making a turnover or a bad play from that spot. Our gaurds should be able to pressure down a bit from that spot but they can't because they don't have the length or athleticism to pressure down and react to a pass back out to the perimeter.
On another note, our attendance is embarrassing. I really think the new president needs to get hire an AD who makes a better effort to get the community excited again about having D1 athletics in their backyard. Drawing 1200 fans to a mens game is ridiculous. They do "community nights" but they do a terrible job promoting them. People around bowling green are rapidly losing interest in BGSU athletics and it is a shame.

[BGSU33]

I think it's actually hard to argue against what he said. The proof is in the pudding guys. We're basically a lock to get picked 5th or 6th in the MAC East every year and we usually seem to finish right there in the end. When we have finished better such as a couple years ago, we still fizzled in the MAC Tournament and were knocked out before the championship game. Overall, we have not been in the same "league" as Ohio, Miami, Kent State or Akron for better part of 10 year. We haven't won the MAC Tournament and we haven't been to the NCAA Tournament and each of those teams have, most of them multiple times in that short span. We do struggle to score, we are married to 2-3 zone that hasn't been the same since a few years ago, and we do seem to be outcoached as well. I can only hope like crazy that Henderson can score from the outside and give us someone to not only stretch a defense but also make them pay as the two guys we have coming in are a positions where they seem on paper better suited to add depth instead of likely adding contributing to solving or offense problems. Even when we do win it's an all out grind. Aside from the Ohio Dominican game (a non-D-I team), we haven't been able to cruise past a single opponent. I'd like to think that with only losing two bench players next year that we should improve in the MAC only because of the losses that other teams might have. But sadly, I think we'll find ourselves right back in the same position again, and I hope I am very wrong. It's time for this program to match the arena and supportive backing it has given. I do not think it’s is too much to expect a MAC Tournament title and NCAA appearance once every decade or so. Mix called it like he sees it, and frankly, I think most of us see the exact same thing.

[Globetrotter]

In town for the BG women's game this evening. Listening to ESPN 1470 The Ticket and Norm has Steve Mix on the show. Norm asked Steve how he sees BG in the future and also the MAC in the future. He was not impressed with BG whatsoever. Here are some of his remarks.

Plain and simple BG is a bad team. They struggle shooting the ball and cannot score. The 2-3 zone needs to go. The 2-3 zone is the easiest to crack and good teams will make adjustments at half time if you don't switch it up which BG never does he went on saying if BG wants to play zone they need to play 2-3, then maybe 1-3-1, and maybe a 3-2 but don't keep It the same the whole game. (Wow, how many times have we heard all of this).

He then went on in saying he does not see BG improving at all over the next few years. He said the talent is not here and doesn't think any players coming in will help. He went on to say he thinks BG will finish 5th or last the next several years. Bottom line!! He is not impressed with BG and the coaching staff.

He then went on to say the MAC is rated 24th out of 30 conferences. No MAC player has been drafted into the NBA (not signed via free agent) since 2002. Not one single draft choice in 9 years and frankly none will be taken over the next year either. And now the good stat!!! (He MAC has played 47 games against teams who are currently in the RPI 50 or were at the time of the game. The MAC is 1-46 against teams in top RPI 50 and that was Miami squeaking by Xavier.

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