@ UMKC (12/14)

[mbenecke]

On Saturday, December 14, our Falcons (4-5) try to run their win streak to 3 as they head west to take on the UKMC Roos (4-7). The game will begin at 8:00pm and will be streaming on the Summit League Network on MidcoSportsPlus… for, of course, another different fee.

I don’t know much about how UMKC plays, but it looks like their 4 wins are kind of a joke. They have beaten Hanibal-LaGrange 91-68, Kansas Christian 124-36 (seriously), Calvary 119-19 (seriously), and Puerto Rico-RIo Piedras 88-55. So… not sure they have any D1 wins this year. They play Portland on Tuesday night this week, so they have another game between now and this Saturday, but I really don’t know what to expect from this game. Always tough to win on the road in college basketball, but it feels like a game we need to win if we’re going to be what we thought this team could be.

Go Falcons!

[Ayziggy01]

These guys gave us a relatively competitive game last year, and return their best player plus a couple others. Some of those losses are pretty head scratching, but we also have not won a road game yet. This game will be a tough one but it is one that we can win and, if they play cohesive like they have since AZ, should win imo.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

While they have no D1 wins yet on the season, UMKC was the preseason pick to win the Summit League.

[TheLand]

If they didn't have a D1 win before, they have one now courtesy of the Falcons.

I see so much talent on this team, but just not coming together.

[mbenecke]

We’re just not good. And it’s weird because we should be. We have a lot of talent, but like mentioned about, it just isn’t coming together.

[hammb]

We do have talented individuals, but I don't think we have a ton of guys that contribute positively to winning. Several of our better offensive players have no ability or desire to compete on defense. And to top it off we're down 2 frontcourt players in Towns and Khayat.

As we've made it through almost all of the preseason now I simply don't think this is a very good team. Maybe they'll eventually gel, but I'm not seeing it. They're a mess in half court offense, play poor defense, and didn't rebound well enough.

Is what it is with this program

[guest44]

I didn't see any of it, just followed the stats , but you will never win in today's basketball when the opponent shoots 11-22 from 3point range. Not sure if we played zone all night due to lack of bodies, but it doesn't probably matter. Going to be a difficult year if Towns and Khayat miss MAC games. The entire MAC stinks this year as most of the best players took cash for spots on the bench at bigger schools. See Agee, Maddox, and Moss as prime examples. Toledo, Ohio, Central all lost yesterday in coin flip type games.

[BleedOrange]

Yes, we're talented but it's not coming together. With yearly transfers and overhauling rosters every season, there's no reason to think any of these teams will ever "pull it together". There is no continuity, let alone loyalty, to allow that to happen. This is the new normal.

[OSUFALCON]

We do have talented individuals, but I don't think we have a ton of guys that contribute positively to winning. Several of our better offensive players have no ability or desire to compete on defense. And to top it off we're down 2 frontcourt players in Towns and Khayat.

As we've made it through almost all of the preseason now I simply don't think this is a very good team. Maybe they'll eventually gel, but I'm not seeing it. They're a mess in half court offense, play poor defense, and didn't rebound well enough.

Is what it is with this program

Totally agree, very disappointing. The. MAC is really bad, maybe the worse I’ve seen in the 45 years I’ve followed MAC basketball. Kent State appears to be the team to beat but I’m not sure it matters.

[guest44]

To further the point of how terrible MAC basketball has become Akron lost by 19 to Milwaukee, Western lost by 36 to North Dakota St, and Eastern lost at home by 23 to IPFW.

[Diemilkweed]

Jesus.

Milwaukee has given MAC school problems in the past, so not too bad there. But IPFW?

Our better teams are losing to people that we used to schedule as auto wins.

Christ.

[Hammer]

This is shaping up to be s@34show year in the MAC. It will be anyone’s conference to win. Our league is going to have to figure out what to do when you have to completely reload every year. On paper we have a better roster but we don’t play defense or play as a unit. The truth is players would rather sit the bench in a better league than be a star in ours.

We don’t have money so is there any way to compete going forwards? Maybe we need to recruit great one and done high school players?

[guest44]

In theory BGSU has the right coach to maneuver this given his prep school experience. The problem is NIL and MAC schools don’t have nearly enough to fund both football and basketball. Kent and Akron should funnel it to basketball because they have no good history in football, and all the other schools with pipe dreams of football relevance will continue down that road. In the end it likely just leads to much worse product in both sports until schools choose to pick a lane. One lane loses about 5 million per year even before NIL and the other lane has 12 or 13 players to worry about. Say what you want about Northern Illinois leaving the MAC, atleast they chose a path.