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BG travels to Evansville for the opener. This could be a VERY special year...Best of luck Coach Miller and team!

TOGETHER WE ATTACK!

On a personal note.... BEAT EVANSVILLE!

WOW!!! Did not see this coming. BG trailing by 20 pts. 26 to 6

Very Slow Start. BG can't make a shot and the Aces can't miss.

BG was on a mini run, trailing 29 to 15. LP scoreless with 3 min left in half, 2 TOs, 2 fouls. Hope all the preseason hype did not get to her. She played poorly against Findlay as well.

BG cut the lead down to 9. Halftime. EU 32. BG 23

BG has come all the way back to now take its first lead of the game 51-50. Now it is time to build on it.

EU has hit 13 or 14 three pointers tonight. BG trailing by 4 with just over 2 min remaining! Get some stops and let's fight out this win

BG loses a tough one. EU could not miss a 3 point shot or even a free throw. They started the game hitting 7 of its first 8 3ptrs and before BG could even blink was down 20.

EU. 63
BG 62

Ouch. After football seasons, I really needed a different result Roll along ladies....plenty of games ahead.

-MH

Oh...my...god. We came out and lost to EVANSVILLE on opening night?!! What...the...f***!

You know, after football and everything, now I'm really pissed. This team has been the saving grace of BG athletics, the one program that has been a great boon to the athletic department through thick and thin (and carried BGSU on it's collective back in 2006-07 when football, men's basketball, and hockey were all deep in the crapper). This is shaping up to be another of those years for the men's revenue sports, so this is a sucker punch to the gut. The problem is, the women do this every year. They lose to somebody, a lot of times somebody bad, within the first 2-3 games and it kills their RPI for the entire season. This was probably our best chance ever to get out to an 8-0, 9-0, 10-0 start, get into the rankings early and challenge for some real national recognition. All that's out the window now. We'll have to win the next 15 or 20 in a row to make up for this one horrendous defeat based on the last 5 years of play.

Just devastating. Notre Dame in 2007, Valparaiso and Temple in 2009, a whole myriad of teams last year, and now lowly Evansville gets us this year. Judging by the posts here, it looks like we came out totally flat and unprepared to play and we lost as a result, and that falls squarely on coach Miller, who has had his teams struggling to play well early in the season the past 3-4 years now. Looks like our season of dreams has turned into yet another year of success (maybe) in solitude after the first game. Guaranteed at the very least we lose every single AP poll vote, and the tournament committee and the experts are pointing at this loss as a reason for why we shouldn't get an at-large at season's end, if we end up in that position.

bgsufalcon24 wrote:Oh...my...god. We came out and lost to EVANSVILLE on opening night?!! What...the...f***!

You know, after football and everything, now I'm really pissed. This team has been the saving grace of BG athletics, the one program that has been a great boon to the athletic department through thick and thin (and carried BGSU on it's collective back in 2006-07 when football, men's basketball, and hockey were all deep in the crapper). This is shaping up to be another of those years for the men's revenue sports, so this is a sucker punch to the gut. The problem is, the women do this every year. They lose to somebody, a lot of times somebody bad, within the first 2-3 games and it kills their RPI for the entire season. This was probably our best chance ever to get out to an 8-0, 9-0, 10-0 start, get into the rankings early and challenge for some real national recognition. All that's out the window now. We'll have to win the next 15 or 20 in a row to make up for this one horrendous defeat based on the last 5 years of play.

Just devastating. Notre Dame in 2007, Valparaiso and Temple in 2009, a whole myriad of teams last year, and now lowly Evansville gets us this year. Judging by the posts here, it looks like we came out totally flat and unprepared to play and we lost as a result, and that falls squarely on coach Miller, who has had his teams struggling to play well early in the season the past 3-4 years now. Looks like our season of dreams has turned into yet another year of success (maybe) in solitude after the first game. Guaranteed at the very least we lose every single AP poll vote, and the tournament committee and the experts are pointing at this loss as a reason for why we shouldn't get an at-large at season's end, if we end up in that position.

Oh the king of overreactions strikes again, not that I'm shocked

Before you trash Evansville to pieces maybe you should see what Curt said about them

"A lot of respect for [Evansville] despite them coming off a disappointing year record-wise," Miller said. "They're impressive to watch on film with some of the things they do. And now with this year's roster much deeper and more talented, it's a scary opening game for us."

And while I can understand why you want to blame Curt for the team coming out flat, I bring you this quote as well he had about us shooting it not so well, like we did tonight

"It's the nights [when shots don't fall] that I'm concerned with," Miller said. "When we don't make a lot of shots or struggling percentage wise from the field, can we generate enough offense from our defense, from offensive rebounding, can we create offense in a different way or is our defense good enough to win games on those nights?

"I think the biggest question mark in my mind is can we and will we find ways to win when we don't shoot the ball well."

This is not the NFL or college football, this game is a dagger to all our hopes. The goals remain the same, win the MAC, then win the MAC tourney, so that at-large bids and profiles don't mean anything. Curt said this would be a dangerous game vs a much improved team to open the season, and even after an awful start we were able to fight back and make it a game before fall by just ONE point. So I much rather have this happen the first game of the season then say oh in the MAC tourney, So just chill the f*** out, I can only imagine what you would have said if we lost by 21 instead of 1

I think the vast differences in where we stand on this game can be summed up by this sentence.

"The goals remain the same, win the MAC, then win the MAC tourney, so that at-large bids and profiles don't mean anything"

If those are our goals, then clearly we have not advanced as a program in the past 6-7 years. We should be looking far past winning the MAC with a team this good, especially after winning the regular season and/or tournament for 6 years running. I guess what I'm trying to say is, here's where I'd peg the goals for this season:

1.Win the MAC for the 7th straight season
2.Become the first BG team to be ranked in the top 16, beating the school record of #17 from 2006-07
3.Be the first BG team to finish the regular season undefeated, or with one loss (which I really, really didn't think was unrealistic given how easy our OOC schedule and conference is)
4.Match the 2006-07 team's trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament and if possible, beat it and reach the round of 8 (which is the biggest of the four)

So, as it turns out, maybe I've worked myself up way too much and expected the world when perhaps none of what I've spelled out is realistic. What I do know is that goals #2 and #3 are now totally out of the window because of the 1st game of the season, and that goal #4 will now be harder to reach because the words "MAC tournament" are already appearing in posts after said 1st game. So that's where I'm at, just really frustrated that this is turning into a "murphy's law" kind of year for BG athletics as a whole.

bgsufalcon24 wrote:I think the vast differences in where we stand on this game can be summed up by this sentence.

"The goals remain the same, win the MAC, then win the MAC tourney, so that at-large bids and profiles don't mean anything"

If those are our goals, then clearly we have not advanced as a program in the past 6-7 years. We should be looking far past winning the MAC with a team this good, especially after winning the regular season and/or tournament for 6 years running. I guess what I'm trying to say is, here's where I'd peg the goals for this season:

1.Win the MAC for the 7th straight season
2.Become the first BG team to be ranked in the top 16, beating the school record of #17 from 2006-07
3.Be the first BG team to finish the regular season undefeated, or with one loss (which I really, really didn't think was unrealistic given how easy our OOC schedule and conference is)
4.Match the 2006-07 team's trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament and if possible, beat it and reach the round of 8 (which is the biggest of the four)

So, as it turns out, maybe I've worked myself up way too much and expected the world when perhaps none of what I've spelled out is realistic. What I do know is that goals #2 and #3 are now totally out of the window because of the 1st game of the season, and that goal #4 will now be harder to reach because the words "MAC tournament" are already appearing in posts after said 1st game. So that's where I'm at, just really frustrated that this is turning into a "murphy's law" kind of year for BG athletics as a whole.

I have no issues why you first, second, and fourth goals. First one is always a goal, and the second and fourth and basically connected, and with the talent we return I can understand why anyone could imagine a NCAA tourney run like the sweet sixteen team had.

As for goal number three, we aren't UConn, thats the only team out there that that should be thinking about undefeated or one loss seasons. As for our "easy" OOC schedule, you clearly haven't read a single thing Curt has said about that schedule, or the fact that 5 of our opponents this year (4 OOC ones, starting with Creighton on Monday) are ranked in the preseason Mid-Major Top 25. As for how easy our conference is, there has only been one season in our run where we ran the table through the MAC, so it doesn't really matter how easy you think the conference is, any team can still knock us off if we have a bad night.

As for those oh so dreaded words I said in my previous post "MAC Tournament" I listed that as a goal because I don't want us to win the regular season then lose in the tournament, I want to win both and prove without a shadow of doubt that we are the best team in the conference for that season, and winning both does that, we won the regular season so we should win the tournament, thats how I see it. My goals going into the season will always be win the MAC then win the MAC Tournament, I make postseason goals when I know we will be playing in the postseason.

Just step back, take a deep breath, good to bed, wake up in the morning, take a look at the big picture and realize it was just one game, and its not the end of the world. Its a looooooooong season, we can still meet our REALISTIC goals

Difficult lose, no doubt. Not the end of the world. Relating to other sports I'm not sure which one, football, hockey or men's basketball, I'm supposed to be disappointed in this year of development. And I am not putting pressure on the women's basketball team to make up for anything these teams may not accomplish.

MAC women's basketball is getting better every year. We need better RPI's from our conference mates. I think that is about to happen. That should allow our non-conference to be a little less important although still important.

As for coach Miller preparing his teams. He has prepared better than anyone else in the MAC and this region of the country. There are things that must be addressed at the beginning of every season that take away from game plans / scouting reports. Additionally there is less scouting available early in the season. He must rely on last years films and performances. This makes it a little less precise of an art and upsets occur during this time of the year for precisely these reasons.

Loses demonstrate and develop the character of the team. How they handle it will determine how successful they will ultimately be in their pursuit(s). Coaches build teams on success and failure using every one as an opportunity to build and learn. I hope our fans can support the process and enjoy the what comes from the process.

The real question on this board should be: What kind of character do we as fans have as spectators of this successful programs?

Wow...didn't see the score until this AM. Sounds like Evansville could have beaten almost anyone last night shooting like that. Sheese.

Was it two years ago we lost the first two games of the year and then won 25 straight? Sure it sucks but there is never a time to panic with Miller and Co. Things will get done and look out...

GO FALCONS!!!