2019 MAC Tournament

[mbenecke]

The university is offering a free bus and ticket on Thursday for the first 50 students who claimed a spot.

I haven't gotten confirmation yet, but I'm fairly confident I ended up getting a spot, so I guess I'll be there on Thursday night! I don't know where the BG section is or how they decided where to put us (or even what section we're in) but I'm excited to find out! Go Falcons!

[BillyLP]

The university is offering a free bus and ticket on Thursday for the first 50 students who claimed a spot.

I haven't gotten confirmation yet, but I'm fairly confident I ended up getting a spot, so I guess I'll be there on Thursday night! I don't know where the BG section is or how they decided where to put us (or even what section we're in) but I'm excited to find out! Go Falcons!

That's awesome. I wish they could do this for 200 students, but I'm sure they couldn't drum up enough interest to fill those slots anyhow. Hope to hear the students be loud and proud during the game on TV Thursday.

[mbenecke]

I got in. 46 spots were filled, so I would call that pretty good turnout, considering this wasn't even a known option until after 3:00pm yesterday.

Looking forward to being there tomorrow night!

[TommyG]

This will be a big indicator of where Huger is as a coach. He’s had time to prepare and a team that has shown at least the promise of beating every team in the Quarterfinals. If the team looks unprepared or doesn’t execute at a decent level, it will clearly show we are in the same spot we’ve been in for 16 years.

[BillyLP]

If the team looks unprepared or doesn’t execute at a decent level, it will clearly show we are in the same spot we’ve been in for 16 years.

Disagree with this sentiment. I know this board is not a big fan of Huger, but we all, along with the rest of the conference and media, expected this team to shade towards the bottom of the conference this season, and instead they ended up leading for about 90% of it while winning 20 games. It has been a blast to watch them play and there has been some clear development in talent (Wiggins aside). I am on board with Huger through next season at minimum, especially with the talented players he has coming in. If everyone stays, this should be a really good team next year, too, and Huger deserves a large amount of credit for that.

[hammb]

If the team looks unprepared or doesn’t execute at a decent level, it will clearly show we are in the same spot we’ve been in for 16 years.

Disagree with this sentiment. I know this board is not a big fan of Huger, but we all, along with the rest of the conference and media, expected this team to shade towards the bottom of the conference this season, and instead they ended up leading for about 90% of it while winning 20 games. It has been a blast to watch them play and there has been some clear development in talent (Wiggins aside). I am on board with Huger through next season at minimum, especially with the talented players he has coming in. If everyone stays, this should be a really good team next year, too, and Huger deserves a large amount of credit for that.

I think we greatly exceeded expectations because the expectation was more horrible coaching. This year we saw a big leap forward in Justin Turner, and we saw better coaching. We stopped trying to run so much offense through the post, and we leaned heavily on our best player. Absolutely we saw enough growth from the coaching this year that they'll be back next year for sure, and should be.

I'm still not a big fan, next year is very much a "show me" season. I still think we are below average to poor in drawing things up when we need a play. I also don't think a good coach can have a team that just flat out doesn't show up as often as ours. Especially with a team led by upperclassmen.

If this team doesn't play well for the tournament, it's absolutely a testament to the coaching job. We have seen that we greatly underestimated the talent level of this team. If they show up engaged and are willing to move the basketball this team can beat anybody. Too frequently we show lax effort on defense and try to play pure iso ball on offense, if that team shows up it's definitely a negative checkmark for the coaches heading into next season.

Also worth noting that the middle portion of this season was obviously the best we've seen in years, but this is the 2nd year in a row that we've looked awful in March as the important part of the season begins.

[Globetrotter]

If the team looks unprepared or doesn’t execute at a decent level, it will clearly show we are in the same spot we’ve been in for 16 years.

Disagree with this sentiment. I know this board is not a big fan of Huger, but we all, along with the rest of the conference and media, expected this team to shade towards the bottom of the conference this season, and instead they ended up leading for about 90% of it while winning 20 games. It has been a blast to watch them play and there has been some clear development in talent (Wiggins aside). I am on board with Huger through next season at minimum, especially with the talented players he has coming in. If everyone stays, this should be a really good team next year, too, and Huger deserves a large amount of credit for that.

The problem with the team has been that we recruited too small of guys and big men that couldn't play in todays game and lack of development. We trimmed away the short guys. The big guys don't play (Including our second team all mac c at the end of last year and last game). The problem now is lack of effort on both sides of the ball. The teams we have played have super easy shots and we chuck up threes and don't run an offense. That's all on the coach. I think his streak this year means he deserves another year. However, If he was fired I wouldn't blink an eye and if he was extended I would be furious. The problem is coaching and motivation. This team has 3 seniors and 4 juniors in the rotation. They shouldn't struggle to play smart basketball.

[Matty B]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

[Globetrotter]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

1-4

If we lose should we even go to whatever tourney we’re likely offered

[Hockey John]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

1-4

If we lose should we even go to whatever tourney we’re likely offered

Globe, What are your coaching qualifications? I am so tired of people whining about every coach we have. The team improved greatly this year. Celebrate and enjoy that.

[Globetrotter]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

1-4

If we lose should we even go to whatever tourney we’re likely offered

Globe, What are your coaching qualifications? I am so tired of people whining about every coach we have. The team improved greatly this year. Celebrate and enjoy that.

Improved greatly for a portion of the year. The idea that you can't criticize something if you're not an expert in it is nonsense. That's like if you go to a restaurant and the food is gross not being allowed to say it's gross because you aren't a chef.

[hammb]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

1-4

If we lose should we even go to whatever tourney we’re likely offered

Globe, What are your coaching qualifications? I am so tired of people whining about every coach we have. The team improved greatly this year. Celebrate and enjoy that.

Define "improved"?

Yeah they were much better than last year. As they should have been, considering the bulk of our rotation has been in the program for 3+ years.

As for during the season they started awful, got really good, and finished it up by playing their worst basketball of the season over the last month or so.

They surprised us all and have had a much better year than expected. But I would argue that is largely because the previous few years have set our expectations to embarrassingly low levels. If they cannot at least get to the Semis this season is just another disappointment. In reality, any year you're playing seniors and juniors for the bulk of your minutes anything less than the MAC finals is a disappointment.

[footballguy51]

I just hope we win tonight and Friday night. Winning tonight puts us against, most likely, Toledo. I would love to take down UT in that way. If we make it to Saturday, I'll be thrilled. Of course, I'd also like to win Saturday, but making it there pretty much ensures we are in the NIT. Heck, it gives us about a 50/50 shot of making the NCAA.

But, first thing, let's beat Ball State tonight. This is a game we should win. This is a game we NEED to win.

[Schadenfreude]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

This makes no sense to me.

[Globetrotter]

We are 1 point UNDERDOGS vs ball state.

This makes no sense to me.

1-4 to end the year.