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OK, don't call me out on this, but I am just being realistic and I hope the Falcons win all five games.

But we'll probably be the underdog in all our remaining games this year. Our best shot at winning is probably at Detroit in the Bracketbuster game or at Buffalo. But with a young team, road victories are hard to come by. Plus, at OU and at Miami won't be easy and Kent State at home is no picnic.

Worst case scenario and we finish 6-10 in the MAC and 11-18 overall, how do you assess Coach Orr's first year?

Rollo83 wrote:OK, don't call me out on this, but I am just being realistic and I hope the Falcons win all five games.

But we'll probably be the underdog in all our remaining games this year. Our best shot at winning is probably at Detroit in the Bracketbuster game or at Buffalo. But with a young team, road victories are hard to come by. Plus, at OU and at Miami won't be easy and Kent State at home is no picnic.

Worst case scenario and we finish 6-10 in the MAC and 11-18 overall, how do you assess Coach Orr's first year?

It's hard to worry about this until it becomes a fact. You make a good point, though. Every remaining game is a tough one.

Fuffalo will be an even easier game than Ball State. They were horrendous in AA. They have been horrendous all year.

The Niz wrote:Fuffalo will be an even easier game than Ball State. They were horrendous in AA. They have been horrendous all year.

I would imagine we'll probably beat Fuffalo. They suck. Outside of that though, Rollo brings up a good point, our remaining schedule is TOUGH. Here's how I see the remaining games:

@ Buffalo - we'll eek out a close one just because we'll probably get homered by the MAC refs and it'll be closer than it should be.

@ Miami - this game will probably be close and low scoring, but homecourt advantage will prevail for the redhawks.

@ Ohio - Ohio will be out for blood thanks to our opening day upset. This won't even be close, the bobcats in a blowout.

Kent State - This game will probably be similar to Akron, with our guys hanging tough with Kent before the better Flashes pull away late.

Detroit - I really don't care, this game is pretty much irrelevant.

Even if every remaining game is a loss, I feel Coach Orr has done a great job this year. BG loses two starters, including the MAC's leading scorer, from a 3-13 team, then Orr loses arguably his best big man (Marschall) on the eve of the season, and loses arguably his best playmaker (Hamblet) on the eve of the MAC season.

We were picked for last in the East, and have already won at least 2 MAC games (Ohio and Miami) that a lot of people would've said there was no way we'd win.

That having been said, I expect the rematches with both OU and Miami to be ugly, the OU game in particular. I'd like to think we'll battle KSU at our place, but they have the MAC's top record for a reason, so it's hard to predict a win in that one. Detroit has been playing better lately, and you never know what'll happen on the road. Same thing with Buffalo; I'd like to think we can beat em again, but a road game is a road game. They took WMU to double OT a few weeks back. I wouldn't be shocked at all if we lost all of them.

In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if we lost all of them, then won a first-round game in Cleveland. I'm looking forward to seeing how we play (whether we're on a 5-game winning streak, a 7-game losing streak or something in between) in a tournament setting.

Honestly, I don't care all that much as long as we compete. This season has already been more successful than I would've ever have imagined after how we finished last year and losing the MACs leading scorer. I'm not looking so much at record this year, but improvement. I see loads of potential in Joe-Jak and Chris Knight. I see a much improved Otis Polk who is still getting better. I see Brian Moten has broken out of his shell and is ready to go for double-digits on a nightly basis. I see a team that has chosen not to quit in any game even when they get down big early on. And I see Austin Calhoun, Dee Brown, and Scott Thomas coming in here and giving this team some much needed depth. I really believe that in the near future we are going to have some exciting BG Basketball experiences. I'm willing to be patient and enjoy the ride.

Yes.

I think our best shot at another win is at Buffalo, then at Detroit. Our toughest game will be at Ohio (still my pick to win the MAC Tournament) and the next toughest game will be at home against Kent State because we can't beat them at AA anymore. The game at Miami will be much more difficult than when we played them at home now that Michael Bramos is back and he's getting it going again.

But win or lose any of these games, this team has really surprised me in MAC play thus far. The only game I’m really disappointed we let get away in the MAC was the CMU game. If we get the rebound at the end of regulation, we’re 7-5 right now in conference play. The Akron home loss was tough too because it was a one-point game with just over a minute to play, but I just had a feeling we weren’t going to pull that one out and we didn’t. We've now got our work cut out for us to close out the season, but I have been impressed in how the team has played in year one of the Orr era. I can’t help but to think how this team could be just a bit more competitive if we had the services of Hamblet and Marschall this year as those two could really be the differences of giving us two more weapons and adding much more depth, scoring abilities, etc. The great thing is, barring any defections (which God knows I hope is over with concerning BG hoops), we’ll return everyone next season and we’ll add three solid recruits. This year we’re turning the corner in the MAC, but next year I expect us to finally….for the first time in about five years….make a push into the upper tier of the MAC. I believe if we retain everyone from this year’s team and that they continue to improve, if Marschall comes back healthy, and if the three recruits give us something on the floor, we’ll make that move.

This team is an experienced (which Joe Jak will soon be) point guard and some solid free throw shooting away from being a darn good team.

This year has been awesome. Next year will be the next level. I expect very soon we may be THE team to beat in this conference.

I will guaran"sheed" us a win over Fluffalo.
So yeah I think we'll win another game this year, just Fluffalo may be our last IMO.

I agree with some of the other posts. This season has already been a success. No seniors and three good looking recruits plus the return of Marschall for next year.

This is a very young team that will have its highs and lows. If we lose a few games in a row, there is no need to panic. This is the MAC.

When BG beats OU tonight will there be a new thread tomorrow BG may not lose again?

Well, if we play anything like we did in the second half of the Ohio game tonight, the answer will certainly be no.

BGSU33 wrote:Well, if we play anything like we did in the second half of the Ohio game tonight, the answer will certainly be no.

Yeah, I concur. I can't think of a scenario where we beat even the happless Fluffalo Bulls with that kind of ineptness in the 2nd half. I don't see Fluffalo being more inept than we were tonight in the 2nd half at home.

Falconboy wrote:

BGSU33 wrote:Well, if we play anything like we did in the second half of the Ohio game tonight, the answer will certainly be no.

Yeah, I concur. I can't think of a scenario where we beat even the happless Fluffalo Bulls with that kind of ineptness in the 2nd half. I don't see Fluffalo being more inept than we were tonight in the 2nd half at home.

I don't put much stock in tonight because frankly, Ohio is lightyears better than Fuffalo, and secondly, we all knew we were going to get killed tonight. It's not like it was a surprise.

That being said, I'm concerned that Falconboy "boobied" our chances of beating Buffalo by posting a Guaran-sheed victory post. Only Cavaliers (and maybe Pistons fans) know the true meaning of "Boobied" in this context.

Guys, you have the patience of Job. We've been sitting thru years of bad basketball during DD's second administration, and some of you are saying the season has already been a success.

This is what I'm looking for:
- For us to be competitive (within 8 pts in every remaining game we play (unlike tonight).
- Continued, visible improvement in Jak, Knight, Moten, and Polk in each ensuing game.
- A win or close game at Buffalo
- Nate Miller to show signs of getting his head out of his rear at the free throw line.