MAC Tourney Observations

[Rollo83]

Its midnight and I just got back from The Gund. As a volunteer, I got to watch all 14 games (men and women) from courtside.

A great four days of college basketball and the men's final was as good as a college basketball game can get.

Being brutally honest, here are some oberservations about BGSU and MAC basketball:

* We have NO point guard that can compete at this level. Floyd has absolutely no buisness on the same floor with the Battle, Cage, Fears, Haynes, Mason, Ingram, Joyce and Willis. Robinson is a great on-the-ball defender but he has virtually no offensive skills (ball handling, shooting, passing). Maybe they will develop? But while we wait and hope he finds a jump shot, Ohio's freshman pont guard is winning a championship.

* Our lack of athleticism is glaring. Miami, OU, Western and Buffalo played on an entirely different level than we did. The speed and intensity at which those teams played was out of our league. Our quick guys aren't as quick as theirs and our big guys don't play as big as theirs. I love Dakich and he did a great job getting 18 wins out of this team. But we just don't have the athletes to compete. Hard nose defense, good shot selection, and taking care of the basketball is fine and dandy but strength, leaping ability, speed and quickness covers up a lot of those mistakes.

* There is a changing of the guard taking place in the MAC. Ohio, Buffalo and Akron are going to be beasts for the forseeable future. Directional Michigans, Toledo, Ball State and Kent, along with the Falcons, are going to be searching for answers next year.

* We need to do a much better job in the recruiting wars. Like it or not, Dakich's reputation is not exactly that of a player's coach. It takes a special kid who can play in his system and we have seen that a lot have tried and gone elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, I admire his work hard, discipline, get-an-education-first approach. Its defintely the right way to do things. But we can't compete with the Lefelds, Montgomerys and Eyinks of the world. All outstanding young men and a credit to our insittution...just not championship basketball material.

* What do you think Dakich would have done had he been the Coach at OU this year? There is no way he gives the ball to a freshman point guard and says OK, go run the team at full-speed, jail break pace.

* When OSU passed on him, our keeping AD Paul Krebs was very important to our athletic program. If he can do one thing its hire coaches. We saw this in football with Urban and Brandon. And, I think Dakich is a hell of a basketball coach (his recruiting is another story). But watching and listening to our women's coach Curt Miller all weekend, I came away very impressed. Another great hire by Krebs.

* Leon Williams is a man! I shudder to think we'll be facing him at least twice a year for the next three years. He'll eat Vandermeer for lunch. Coach O'Shea stated in his postgame press conference that Leon was not highly recruited in high school and Ohio was the biggest school to even offer him a scholarship. How can we find a 6'8" 250 pound unknown?

* Romeo Travis (Akron)? See prior bullet point.

[edr4225]

wow, i really have nothing to add, you pretty much nailed it, all i can say is that your exactly right and i hope dakich wakes up because these other schools are bringing in great young talent that are contributing right away.

[orangeandbrown]

* Our lack of athleticism is glaring. Miami, OU, Western and Buffalo played on an entirely different level than we did.

You make good points. I will only point out that we did beat three of those teams you say are on a different level than us.

[Tricky_Falcon]

I guess it was on tv that Krebs turned down the osu job.

[BleedOrange]

Its midnight and I just got back from The Gund. As a volunteer, I got to watch all 14 games (men and women) from courtside.

A great four days of college basketball and the men's final was as good as a college basketball game can get.

Being brutally honest, here are some oberservations about BGSU and MAC basketball:

...

I'm pretty much on board your observations.

There were many stretches this season when Floyd, Eyink, JR, and Josh were on the court at the same time. It's hard to imagine a slower lineup in all of college basketball. In comparision to the faster teams in the conference (including CMU), watching our team is like work. Although JR and Josh accomplished much and earned everyone's respect, we needed to balance them with more speed at the other positions. That means more of Soler and Robinson, less of Eyink and Floyd.

Some of us have been making points that I disagree with:
ROBINSON: His turnover stats are low, he protects the ball, has good quicks, and he has good mechanics on his shot. His problems, IMO, are mental and due to his being a freshman who is still adjusting. Moon played some minutes this year, but the commitment from DD never really seemed to be there for grooming him into the full-time point guard that we need. I think that Robinson will be just fine and that we're been way to harsh on him.

VANDERMEER and LEFELD: IMO, these two are very capable 6-11 guys who could constitute a very, very effective center rotation for us next year. Again, it's up to coach DD to put faith in these guys and let them develop. These means serious minutes for both of them. It also means not sitting them two minutes into a game after picking up a 2nd foul or making a mistake on defense. (Netter, Lefeld, Vandermeer, and Almanson all took longer to develop in their careers b/c of DD's yank-and-sit approach.)

[BGSU33]

Great points Rollo83....I'm pretty much with you on just about every one of them. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to ever end the 1968 drought.

[Warthog]

Some of us have been making points that I disagree with:
ROBINSON: His turnover stats are low, he protects the ball, has good quicks, and he has good mechanics on his shot. His problems, IMO, are mental and due to his being a freshman who is still adjusting. Moon played some minutes this year, but the commitment from DD never really seemed to be there for grooming him into the full-time point guard that we need. I think that Robinson will be just fine and that we're been way to harsh on him.

Did you ride with Fitch to the games? You can't seriously think that Moon has offensive skills unless you are smoking some wacky weed. His assist to TO ratio was 1-1. An AVERAGE PG with have 2-1 ratio. As for his shooting, Dakich even commented that Moon could be in the gym by himself and shoot threes all day and not make two in a row. Moon plays good defense, but we would be netter off going 4 on 5 on the offensive ned when he is in the game.

[hammb]

Thanks for the observations Rollo. I went up for all 4 games on Thursday and everything you said was readily evident in those games. I would imagine that you were in for a pretty good weekend of basketball from that point on.

[Rollo83]

I will only point out that we did beat three of those teams you say are on a different level than us.

During the regular season grind, you are going to have some up and down games. Playing anybody in this league on the road is tough. Having said that, when it comes to playing late in the season and during the post season, when championships are won and lost, these other team have another gear that we don't have right now.