This team is NOT going to win the MAC Tournament

[zete]

I refuse to be a prisoner of the moment. There are clear problems that need addressed, but I’m not giving up on the entire season yet.

And I just want to clarify, I’m not judging ANYONE for giving up on this team. There’s a lot to be discouraged about. You never want to lose by 18 on your home floor to a conference opponent - and we did just that.

There’s just something about the guys on this team that makes me feel like we’re going to bounce back in a major way.

Well, yea. I think the fan base thought when Turner returned we would go on to the championship game with ease....

[hammb]

IS it OK to finally say publicly that Frye simply isn't a very good shooter? He's got volume, but his % have always been bad. He's a senior now. IF he was actually a good shooter, he'd be hitting 40%+ from 3 instead of 30%.

Absolutely, he's never developed into the great shooter he should have become. And I firmly believe the biggest reason for it is that we've never had a true PG for him to play with.

Frye, as the primary ball handler, has never worked into him being a good initiator of the offense. He's so much better of a shooter in rythmn catch and shoot, and even the stop and pop in transition. Problem is WAY too often he falls in love with his own shot and starts jacking up crazy shots for no reason. Or the offense bogs down and he just chucks it.

I guess in short, I believe in an open gym or off the ball he's a great shooter. But his shot selection is (and always has been) so bad that it makes him into a bad shooter. His percentage has never been good because of that. Of course his FT% has always been ridiculously bad for a guy of his skillset, so maybe I'm giving him even too much credit for what he could be in a perfect situation.

Either way, if Turner isn't healthy enough to be the #1 option on offense, Frye is NOT good when he's asked with being that #1 guy.

That game Friday night was an abomination. Turner was clearly not himself, and the rest of the team could do nothing to overcome it. And as we've seen a billion times over the Huger era when the shots don't fall the team doesn't rally and make up for it on the defensive end...nope it gets in their heads and they go to s**t on that side too.

[footballguy51]

IS it OK to finally say publicly that Frye simply isn't a very good shooter? He's got volume, but his % have always been bad. He's a senior now. IF he was actually a good shooter, he'd be hitting 40%+ from 3 instead of 30%.

Absolutely, he's never developed into the great shooter he should have become. And I firmly believe the biggest reason for it is that we've never had a true PG for him to play with.

Frye, as the primary ball handler, has never worked into him being a good initiator of the offense. He's so much better of a shooter in rythmn catch and shoot, and even the stop and pop in transition. Problem is WAY too often he falls in love with his own shot and starts jacking up crazy shots for no reason. Or the offense bogs down and he just chucks it.

I guess in short, I believe in an open gym or off the ball he's a great shooter. But his shot selection is (and always has been) so bad that it makes him into a bad shooter. His percentage has never been good because of that. Of course his FT% has always been ridiculously bad for a guy of his skillset, so maybe I'm giving him even too much credit for what he could be in a perfect situation.

Either way, if Turner isn't healthy enough to be the #1 option on offense, Frye is NOT good when he's asked with being that #1 guy.

That game Friday night was an abomination. Turner was clearly not himself, and the rest of the team could do nothing to overcome it. And as we've seen a billion times over the Huger era when the shots don't fall the team doesn't rally and make up for it on the defensive end...nope it gets in their heads and they go to s**t on that side too.

Laster seems to play PG pretty decent. Perhaps he should be in the starting rotation instead of Fields? Or, do we think Fields could play the 1?

[hammb]

IS it OK to finally say publicly that Frye simply isn't a very good shooter? He's got volume, but his % have always been bad. He's a senior now. IF he was actually a good shooter, he'd be hitting 40%+ from 3 instead of 30%.

Absolutely, he's never developed into the great shooter he should have become. And I firmly believe the biggest reason for it is that we've never had a true PG for him to play with.

Frye, as the primary ball handler, has never worked into him being a good initiator of the offense. He's so much better of a shooter in rythmn catch and shoot, and even the stop and pop in transition. Problem is WAY too often he falls in love with his own shot and starts jacking up crazy shots for no reason. Or the offense bogs down and he just chucks it.

I guess in short, I believe in an open gym or off the ball he's a great shooter. But his shot selection is (and always has been) so bad that it makes him into a bad shooter. His percentage has never been good because of that. Of course his FT% has always been ridiculously bad for a guy of his skillset, so maybe I'm giving him even too much credit for what he could be in a perfect situation.

Either way, if Turner isn't healthy enough to be the #1 option on offense, Frye is NOT good when he's asked with being that #1 guy.

That game Friday night was an abomination. Turner was clearly not himself, and the rest of the team could do nothing to overcome it. And as we've seen a billion times over the Huger era when the shots don't fall the team doesn't rally and make up for it on the defensive end...nope it gets in their heads and they go to s**t on that side too.

Laster seems to play PG pretty decent. Perhaps he should be in the starting rotation instead of Fields? Or, do we think Fields could play the 1?

Laster is definitely the best pure PG on this team, but swapping him in for Fields would (IMO) create bigger issues on the defensive end. Frye cannot guard the types of players that Fields does.

The real problem is (and I think many of us mentioned it last year) the best position for Frye is as Turner's backup. Yes, he's probably too good of a player to be a "6th Man" in the MAC, but on this team he is NOT our best PG, nor is he our best SG. We're already super small with Frye-Turner-Fields out there, but at least 2 of those guys can actually defend.

I like Fields a lot, and I actually think he's got more offensive game in him than we get to see because too often he's out there as (at best) the 4th offensive option. He might actually look better if he played more off of a natural PG. We haven't seen him with the ball in his hands nearly enough to surmise he could play the role though.

I would not complain at all to see more minutes for Laster running the offense with perhaps Frye taking a back seat and become the 6th man. Maybe I'm off base and Laster-Turner-Frye could work too, but it is notable that Fields going into the starting lineup is what kickstarted the team last year, so I'm hesitant to remove him solely because he doesn't do much on the stat sheet.

Truthfully the bigger issue(s) for the team than Frye are exactly what we feared going into the season. I cannot for the life of me see what Sierra or Mattos actually do well on the court. And Swingle hasn't played much, but I haven't been overly impressed either. The team is very undersized and has a lack of experience/skill in the front court. When Plowden gets into foul trouble we have nobody else that I'm comfortable with out there. And that's very annoying considering Plowden is the prototype for MAC PF/C types and we watched Buffalo roll 6 of those guys at us for the past 4 years and we still have only managed to find one.

[mbenecke]

Interesting thoughts, hammb.

Are you willing to share your ideal rotation?

[guest44]

Does anyone know if Gadson is still on the team?

[hammb]

Interesting thoughts, hammb.

Are you willing to share your ideal rotation?

I'm not really sure what I'd change to be honest.

I do think, in a perfect world I'd probably start Laster, Turner, Fields, and Plowden. I guess either Mattos or Swingle at the 5. SOMEBODY has to play minutes at PF/C and AFAIC right now the only guy I really like at those minutes is Plowden. Mattos is currently playing 15 mpg, Swingle 6, Mattis 10, Sierra 17. That's a full 47 mpg of time, and I've yet to really see anything worthwhile from any of those guys. That's basically the entire game of C and plus the rest time for Plowden that is basically a black hole. That's a problem, and I"m not sure simply changing the rotation does anything to help.

The guys we have that are currently barely playing are all guards; C. Turner is long as heck, but he's not going to give you any 4/5 minutes. I suppose I'd play Sierra less, and maybe Swingle more? Not sure if that does much for us though....I'm really hoping to eventually see Swingle's recruitment pedigree come out and have him show up with a double double...I've not seen it yet though.

In the back court only change I'd make is I'd probably knock Frye's minutes down some and play more of the younger guards, but I don't know that really does anything for ya. May actually make us worse.

Comparing to last season the major difference is that Diggs has basically just taken over Lillard's minutes (which we had hoped).
Turner, Frye, and Laster are about the same (although admittedly Turner's injury makes team mpg statistics very weird right now).
Fields's mpg is way up, in large part due to Turner's injury.

Our issue, IMO, is Uju & Wiggins combined to play a full 40 minutes last year. Plowden has taken some of that load on by bumping up another 8 mpg (although again some of that is probably due to Turner's absence). But the rest of those minutes have gone to Sierra (up about 7mpg), Mattos (up 12mpg) and Swingle. We all had our beefs with Wiggins from time to time, but the production we got from those minutes last year, compared to this year, is startling.

I guess, I don't know that a rotation fix does any good. We need the players that are currently playing minutes to start producing in those minutes.

[footballguy51]

Does anyone know if Gadson is still on the team?

He had an injury and was in a boot, but he isn’t even on the bench anymore. Maybe the team gave him permission to go home over break since he isn’t playing?

[guest44]

Remember back when BGSU would actually provide information on the team, and or the local media would seek it? It’s probably not for the good if BG sports info hasn’t served it on a platter to the media. These days it’s become an extension of the cheerleading squad. What a waste of a scholarship.

[mbenecke]

Relax the negative talk about Jo, would ya? He’s a good kid who works hard. He’s fighting to get back out there with his team. Let’s support our Falcons instead of bashing them, eh?

[footballguy51]

Relax the negative talk about Jo, would ya? He’s a good kid who works hard. He’s fighting to get back out there with his team. Let’s support our Falcons instead of bashing them, eh?

So he’s still on the team? He’s been absent for weeks now.

[hammb]

Relax the negative talk about Jo, would ya? He’s a good kid who works hard. He’s fighting to get back out there with his team. Let’s support our Falcons instead of bashing them, eh?

So he’s still on the team? He’s been absent for weeks now.

Does it matter?

Fwiw, he's not on the bench tonight either...

[mbenecke]

We aren’t back in classes until January 27. It could be a while, if that was the case.

Regardless, let’s worry about the guys we’ve got right now.

[mbenecke]

We sure?

[Globetrotter]

We sure?

I would bet against us. A good team that will fall short when things get tough. I think we need someone else to step up and we just seem too nice. I find it hard to believe also that no one has stepped up beyond Turner-Plowden and Frye. Seeing Mattis vs Knapke was great though. That was a smart coaching move imo.