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Article about BG in Troy Messenger

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:59 am
by BGSU33
Bowling Green visits Trojan Arena Monday night

By Ken Rogers, The Messenger


The Troy Trojans take a step up Monday night when Mid-America Conference opponent Bowling Green visits Trojan Arena at 7 p.m.

Troy improved to 4-3 Thursday night with a 71-53 victory over Alabama State.

Troy coach Don Maestri said he expects the Falcons to be a much more physical opponent than the Trojans have played.

"It will be a pretty different game for us," Maestri said. "They're a team from the MAC. They play a different style of basketball - very physical, more conservative. Dan Dakich played for Bobby Knight at Indiana and coached for him. So we know they'll be well coached, fundamentally sound and they'll play good man-to-man defense."

Maestri said the Falcons, 2-5 going into Saturday night's in Mobile against Florida State in the Coors Classic, will be more like a Sun Belt Conference opponent.

"This will be good experience for our league," he said. "They will have good basketball players."

Bowling Green has averaged 19 wins over the last seven seasons.

Monday's game will be the fourth straight away from home in December for the Falcons. They played at Bradley and Arkansas-Little Rock before the Alabama swing.

Bowling Green's touted freshman guard, Brian Moten (6-4, 175), has missed the early part of the season. He is a 2004 graduate of Arthur Hills High School in Saginaw, Mich., where he averaged 28 points, six rebounds and three assists as a senior. He averaged 35 points per game last spring at Eldon Academy in Petoskey, Michigan.

The Falcons and Trojans have never played in basketball. Maestri expects full-court pressure.

"Bowling Green is a very solid, fundamental defensive team. They will pressure all over the court," he said. "How we handle pressure will mean a lot in determining the outcome of the game. They have one of the top three-point shooters in the country in Martin Samarco. We will have to be aware of him at all times. They are very well-balanced on offense, with three players averaging double figures and another three over seven. This is another team whose record is deceptive at 2-5. They had a big win at Virginia Tech early in the year. They come from a one of the better basketball leagues in the country. This is a solid program in a solid league."

Re: Article about BG in Troy Messenger

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:32 pm
by JWEIII
BGSU33 wrote:
"They come from a one of the better basketball leagues in the country."


Think he is basing this on the fact that the MAC has beeb a single NCAA Tournament bid league since... well, a long time.

:coo-coo:

Re: Article about BG in Troy Messenger

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:41 pm
by BGSU33
JWEIII wrote:
BGSU33 wrote:
"They come from a one of the better basketball leagues in the country."


Think he is basing this on the fact that the MAC has beeb a single NCAA Tournament bid league since... well, a long time.

:coo-coo:
I think he is basing it on the fact that the MAC is a solid league and it showing respect in his comment. And to the MAC's credit, we "should" have had numerous multiple-team bids to the NCAA Tournament over the last decade several times. For BG, you could say 1997, 2000 and 2002 alone. But it's not the MAC's fault for not getting at-large bids, it was the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee that gave us the snub. The MAC has been a much better conference than a one-bid team over the last decade, no doubt.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:11 pm
by San Diego Falcon
I think the MAC was 9th or 10th last year out of approximately 35 Division I conferences last year according to the Sagarin ratings.

Re: Article about BG in Troy Messenger

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:18 pm
by JWEIII
BGSU33 wrote:
we "should" have had numerous multiple-team bids to the NCAA Tournament over the last decade several times.

The MAC has been a much better conference than a one-bid team over the last decade, no doubt.
Agreed. Last year was another prime example (Buffalo, Western, Miami)But I think he's blowing sunshine up our, ahem, bottoms.

Seriously, "one of the better basketball leagues in the country."

Clearly, this guy needs to be on the NCAA Selection Committee. :wink: