There's a new article posted with a basketball focus.
Check it out at:
http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/articles/anonymous/
Please comment here as the commenting features of the article publishing section still have some bugs to work out in them.
I am NOT the author of the article even though it says posted by Ziggyzoomba.
New article posted by an anonymous author!
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ZiggyZoomba
- The Wizard of AZZ
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falconfan1
- Peregrine
- Posts: 672
- Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:53 am
My compliments to the author as he/she tries to put an overall persprctive on our current hoops situation. Well stated.
I will join our author in doing one thing: wholeheartedly supporting our Falcons this season. We have some good players who are fine representatives of BG and I will be cheering on the Falcons and supporting our coaches as well.
On the other hand, I am cerrtain our coaching staff is very dissatisfied with our results from last year and working with a tremendous sense of urgency for the coming year. Not that our staff ever is NOT working with urgency. I just believe we are at a crossroads with the program and I believe most folks associated with the program in any way know it and sense it.
Let's face it- since our coach ( who is a great person and does what he says- please note the graduation of Jabari Mattox on August 6 for instance) left for 96 hours in Morgantown, little has gone our way. Some of this is coincidence; some, in my opinion,not. Anderson Arena can be blamed for some things but why did Anthony Stacey, Antonio Daniels and Keith McLeod come to BG? When the arena is full of students (when we are winning), it is a great asset to the home team and it can be a recruiting asset on those nights- and we often have visitors in for the big home games. Ever been in Kent's gym? It is OK, but the facility isn't bringing 22 wins a year for four or five years believe me.
But when you don't win and other news is negative ( see you, Ron), getting and keeping consistent support off campus and on is very, very difficult. It becomes a viscious circle.
If only two of these players who left really mattered (and I agree- Erik Crawford and Ron are a solid D 1 player (Crawford) and one of the better natural athlete/scorers we have ever had (Ron)), then why did we sign the other six or seven or so? Did we make recruiting mistakes? Yes, we did. Most coaches do. Do we seem to make far too many of them? Yes. we have, in my opinion.
We finally sign a JC kid after a policy of not recruiting them? It's fine to change and a wish Mr. Soler all the best, but why not develop the strategy earlier and target the right type of player a la WMU/Williams for example? Not that Soler won't be a fine player, but why not go out and get a kid or two earlier?
I would never question as fine a gentleman as our coach on personal rules; I have rules where I work. But my target "customer" is not 17 years old and hailing from places as diverse as Detroit and rural Indiana and Cleveland. We all have customers and sometimes I might modify my approach if my target customer is not being reached. Just a thought; not a criticism.
All in all, I can be very proud of many things with the Falcon roundballers and staff. But with the university itself moving very sharply forward (check enrollment, quality of entering student, nationall recognized programs etc) and the athletic dept itself having some shining stars (football, women's bball, softball and a rising upbeat hockey program), the men's basketball team's situation stands in very stark contrast today.
Our team and coaches know this better than anyone and I know they are working very hard to correct it. Like I said, there is a strong sense of urgency.
Go Falcons!
I will join our author in doing one thing: wholeheartedly supporting our Falcons this season. We have some good players who are fine representatives of BG and I will be cheering on the Falcons and supporting our coaches as well.
On the other hand, I am cerrtain our coaching staff is very dissatisfied with our results from last year and working with a tremendous sense of urgency for the coming year. Not that our staff ever is NOT working with urgency. I just believe we are at a crossroads with the program and I believe most folks associated with the program in any way know it and sense it.
Let's face it- since our coach ( who is a great person and does what he says- please note the graduation of Jabari Mattox on August 6 for instance) left for 96 hours in Morgantown, little has gone our way. Some of this is coincidence; some, in my opinion,not. Anderson Arena can be blamed for some things but why did Anthony Stacey, Antonio Daniels and Keith McLeod come to BG? When the arena is full of students (when we are winning), it is a great asset to the home team and it can be a recruiting asset on those nights- and we often have visitors in for the big home games. Ever been in Kent's gym? It is OK, but the facility isn't bringing 22 wins a year for four or five years believe me.
But when you don't win and other news is negative ( see you, Ron), getting and keeping consistent support off campus and on is very, very difficult. It becomes a viscious circle.
If only two of these players who left really mattered (and I agree- Erik Crawford and Ron are a solid D 1 player (Crawford) and one of the better natural athlete/scorers we have ever had (Ron)), then why did we sign the other six or seven or so? Did we make recruiting mistakes? Yes, we did. Most coaches do. Do we seem to make far too many of them? Yes. we have, in my opinion.
We finally sign a JC kid after a policy of not recruiting them? It's fine to change and a wish Mr. Soler all the best, but why not develop the strategy earlier and target the right type of player a la WMU/Williams for example? Not that Soler won't be a fine player, but why not go out and get a kid or two earlier?
I would never question as fine a gentleman as our coach on personal rules; I have rules where I work. But my target "customer" is not 17 years old and hailing from places as diverse as Detroit and rural Indiana and Cleveland. We all have customers and sometimes I might modify my approach if my target customer is not being reached. Just a thought; not a criticism.
All in all, I can be very proud of many things with the Falcon roundballers and staff. But with the university itself moving very sharply forward (check enrollment, quality of entering student, nationall recognized programs etc) and the athletic dept itself having some shining stars (football, women's bball, softball and a rising upbeat hockey program), the men's basketball team's situation stands in very stark contrast today.
Our team and coaches know this better than anyone and I know they are working very hard to correct it. Like I said, there is a strong sense of urgency.
Go Falcons!
where to start?
While many valid points were made in the article, it seems to skip over many of the issues that are facing the program. Let's start with the synopsis of each player.
Harwell: Everyone who pays attention to recruiting or college ball in general knew this kid was a top-flight talent with a sub-par academic history. You didn't have to search for it, it was there. PLAIN AS DAY. Which begs the thought . . . When we win, we have this anti-JUCO, anti-non qualifier policy and as soon as we need guys we turn to them??? Seems rather contradictory. Either way, Dakich stuck his head out twice in the past two years for Harwell and Wright and I think it's safe to say the problems have outweighed the positives. That's tough b/c I might be the biggest Steven Wright fan here.
Wilson: Kris' departure cannot be blamed on Dan. No one has ever stated that and the ones that have were rebuked with more force than the poster originally brought. I understand it's a horrible and difficult situation, but I wonder if he was given the option of returning if he wanted to?
Mattox: He was a senior and an injured one at that, it was rather inconsequential.
Hobson: You can include me in the group that believed this kid had "it." He showed glimpses of offense late in the season. He was at times the only player that would ATTEMPT defense, despite it being a staple of the program and he was seriously athletic on a rather non-athletic team. Netter, Lewis and Wright were the only other "athletes" in his zip code. He was third in the state slam dunk contest in Illinois. He did a 360 windmill . . . Do we have anyone that can do a windmill now without the 360?
Rosefelt: Had the most hype coming in, yet played about 7 minutes the entire year. Who knows what this kid will eventually bring to the table. I hope he sticks somewhere to show us what he has. I think the judgments of "soft" and "Netter clone" are very much undeserved. He fit in just fine in the two scrimmages where he was actually allowed to participate.
Crawford: One of the missing pieces still. Versatility galore. Can play 3 positions solidly. He was never going to shoot 40% from the field, but does most things very well. His ball-handling and defense will continue to haunt us.
Moss: Slow? Yeah to practice at 5:30 in the morning. He looked like he fit in just fine when he was able to play. I'm not sure he was our missing link to an athletic 3, but he wasn't the worst scholarship we gave.
Lewis: I will give you the scorer bit. The kid can score in bunches and from everywhere. He has atrocious ball-handling skills and a shot that makes Shaun Suisham look consistent. He is not and never was our "best player." His athleticism and SCORING will be missed.
I don't see what all of this talk about the draft is. We are not here to prepare kids for the NBA or any other league. We are here to win games for Bowling Green. Can we concentrate on that since it hasn't happened for the past two years or so . . . ????
Anderson Arena: My two biggest bitches upon logging on to AA were Dakich and Anderson Arena. Now having seen three consecutive seasons and bits of others in there, it's not that bad of a place to see a game. I enjoy the atmosphere when the townies do show up and students make noise. I think it needs major renovations, but coaches offices and locker rooms are not what's wrong with the program.
Urbana scheduling: AA doesn't cause us to schedule Urbana. Our facilities do play a minor role in that, but the scheduling in part comes from an unwillingness from other schools to come here and an unwillingness on our part to play adequate competition. I don't buy the Texas stories from last year. Did they ever watch tape from the year before. Who wouldn't want us on their schedule right now? Seriously. Who wouldn't want to play this team, especially on the road, the last three or four years? We cause our own scheduling situations and it's an absolute shame that UT will give their fans the opportunity to dream about upsetting Duke, while we get to watch our guys play a rag-tag Northwest Ohio high school all-star team who are too short or too slow to play major college ball (Bluffton). If you continue to play with fire, one of these D-3 schools will eventually beat BG in AA . . .
The point is . . . There are a lot bigger issues than facilities and people that we have lost . . . Namely . . . 1) why have we lost them 2) who have we replaced them with . . . There are only so many referees, bad schedules and Ron Lewis' you can blame .500 records on . . .
Harwell: Everyone who pays attention to recruiting or college ball in general knew this kid was a top-flight talent with a sub-par academic history. You didn't have to search for it, it was there. PLAIN AS DAY. Which begs the thought . . . When we win, we have this anti-JUCO, anti-non qualifier policy and as soon as we need guys we turn to them??? Seems rather contradictory. Either way, Dakich stuck his head out twice in the past two years for Harwell and Wright and I think it's safe to say the problems have outweighed the positives. That's tough b/c I might be the biggest Steven Wright fan here.
Wilson: Kris' departure cannot be blamed on Dan. No one has ever stated that and the ones that have were rebuked with more force than the poster originally brought. I understand it's a horrible and difficult situation, but I wonder if he was given the option of returning if he wanted to?
Mattox: He was a senior and an injured one at that, it was rather inconsequential.
Hobson: You can include me in the group that believed this kid had "it." He showed glimpses of offense late in the season. He was at times the only player that would ATTEMPT defense, despite it being a staple of the program and he was seriously athletic on a rather non-athletic team. Netter, Lewis and Wright were the only other "athletes" in his zip code. He was third in the state slam dunk contest in Illinois. He did a 360 windmill . . . Do we have anyone that can do a windmill now without the 360?
Rosefelt: Had the most hype coming in, yet played about 7 minutes the entire year. Who knows what this kid will eventually bring to the table. I hope he sticks somewhere to show us what he has. I think the judgments of "soft" and "Netter clone" are very much undeserved. He fit in just fine in the two scrimmages where he was actually allowed to participate.
Crawford: One of the missing pieces still. Versatility galore. Can play 3 positions solidly. He was never going to shoot 40% from the field, but does most things very well. His ball-handling and defense will continue to haunt us.
Moss: Slow? Yeah to practice at 5:30 in the morning. He looked like he fit in just fine when he was able to play. I'm not sure he was our missing link to an athletic 3, but he wasn't the worst scholarship we gave.
Lewis: I will give you the scorer bit. The kid can score in bunches and from everywhere. He has atrocious ball-handling skills and a shot that makes Shaun Suisham look consistent. He is not and never was our "best player." His athleticism and SCORING will be missed.
I don't see what all of this talk about the draft is. We are not here to prepare kids for the NBA or any other league. We are here to win games for Bowling Green. Can we concentrate on that since it hasn't happened for the past two years or so . . . ????
Anderson Arena: My two biggest bitches upon logging on to AA were Dakich and Anderson Arena. Now having seen three consecutive seasons and bits of others in there, it's not that bad of a place to see a game. I enjoy the atmosphere when the townies do show up and students make noise. I think it needs major renovations, but coaches offices and locker rooms are not what's wrong with the program.
Urbana scheduling: AA doesn't cause us to schedule Urbana. Our facilities do play a minor role in that, but the scheduling in part comes from an unwillingness from other schools to come here and an unwillingness on our part to play adequate competition. I don't buy the Texas stories from last year. Did they ever watch tape from the year before. Who wouldn't want us on their schedule right now? Seriously. Who wouldn't want to play this team, especially on the road, the last three or four years? We cause our own scheduling situations and it's an absolute shame that UT will give their fans the opportunity to dream about upsetting Duke, while we get to watch our guys play a rag-tag Northwest Ohio high school all-star team who are too short or too slow to play major college ball (Bluffton). If you continue to play with fire, one of these D-3 schools will eventually beat BG in AA . . .
The point is . . . There are a lot bigger issues than facilities and people that we have lost . . . Namely . . . 1) why have we lost them 2) who have we replaced them with . . . There are only so many referees, bad schedules and Ron Lewis' you can blame .500 records on . . .
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Flipper
- The Global Village Idiot
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I don't get too worked up over playing Urbana. Most programs schedule a cupcake or two on the home schedule. In the long run, who cares if we whomp on a dvidion II or III or even a "low major" team? A soft spot on the schedule is a soft spot . If we can fill it with a school that's close by and is coached by an alum, I won't quibble.
Re the kids who have left, my only concern is that we are bringing in kids who really don't want to be here. The Harwell and Wilson dpartures are understandable. You have to take a shot at cleaning a kid like Harwell up academically because he has an incredible upside. The Wilson situation could not be helped.
That leaves a number of kids who have simply flaked out on us. Is the coaching staff adequately explaining the overall philosophy of the program? Are we showing these kids maps so they'll know how far away fom home they'll be?
I think the notion that we should just shrug our shoulders and say "that's just how college ball is these days" leaves a bit to be desired. We seem to have a problem here and I don't think that attitude addresses it sufficiently.
Re our facilities, AA is subpar. Everyone knows it, even the UT fans. Believe me, those people KNOW subpar. They have a whole University that wallows in it. Until the build/renovate question is answered and the project moves ahead, we're just going to have to enjoy our little dungeon while we have it.
Re the kids who have left, my only concern is that we are bringing in kids who really don't want to be here. The Harwell and Wilson dpartures are understandable. You have to take a shot at cleaning a kid like Harwell up academically because he has an incredible upside. The Wilson situation could not be helped.
That leaves a number of kids who have simply flaked out on us. Is the coaching staff adequately explaining the overall philosophy of the program? Are we showing these kids maps so they'll know how far away fom home they'll be?
I think the notion that we should just shrug our shoulders and say "that's just how college ball is these days" leaves a bit to be desired. We seem to have a problem here and I don't think that attitude addresses it sufficiently.
Re our facilities, AA is subpar. Everyone knows it, even the UT fans. Believe me, those people KNOW subpar. They have a whole University that wallows in it. Until the build/renovate question is answered and the project moves ahead, we're just going to have to enjoy our little dungeon while we have it.
I don't mind the D-3's on the schedule as long as they are played as the new NCAA "exhibition" games. Teams like Nike West, Marathon Oil, the new Harlem Globetrotters, etc . . . are no longer allowed to play in exhibitions. So teams are picking up D-3's and JUCOs to play instead. If that's the case, fine. The reason many of you complain about missing the NCAA's the past few years has a lot more to do with having the D-3's on the schedule than it does having a travelling fan base or any other issue they talk about in March.
I agree that up to this point, we have been given many incomplete answers. I don't mind that either, as long as the problems are being addressed internally. That's a question that remains unanswered as well.
It should be a rather interesting season one way or another.
I agree that up to this point, we have been given many incomplete answers. I don't mind that either, as long as the problems are being addressed internally. That's a question that remains unanswered as well.
It should be a rather interesting season one way or another.
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Falconfreak90
- Rubber City Falcon
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That was quite an excerpt.
I don't follow hoops nearly as closely as some here but I agree with pretty much everything I read in that column. IF guys don't wanna do the class work or bust their butts on the court, later days. Everyone knows DD is tough on his players. And they GRADUATE...very important in BG.
And I will be attending hoops games again this winter. I try to make 5 or 6 every year, home and away. And I'll be screaming for the Falcons to win every game no matter who the opponent.
For all the crap AA gets from folks here and other places, I still love watching games in that place.
GO HOOPS!
I don't follow hoops nearly as closely as some here but I agree with pretty much everything I read in that column. IF guys don't wanna do the class work or bust their butts on the court, later days. Everyone knows DD is tough on his players. And they GRADUATE...very important in BG.
And I will be attending hoops games again this winter. I try to make 5 or 6 every year, home and away. And I'll be screaming for the Falcons to win every game no matter who the opponent.
For all the crap AA gets from folks here and other places, I still love watching games in that place.
GO HOOPS!
Michael W.
BGSU-12 TIME MAC CHAMPION
FALCON FOOTBALL ROCKS!
BGSU-12 TIME MAC CHAMPION
FALCON FOOTBALL ROCKS!
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ZiggyZoomba
- The Wizard of AZZ
- Posts: 5916
- Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 5:37 pm
- Location: Elmore, OH
Re: where to start?
I know for a fact that he WAS given that option, Option.OptionQB wrote:Wilson: Kris' departure cannot be blamed on Dan. No one has ever stated that and the ones that have were rebuked with more force than the poster originally brought. I understand it's a horrible and difficult situation, but I wonder if he was given the option of returning if he wanted to?
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orangeandbrown
- Peregrine
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My point exactly. Anonymous seems to think all these inconsequential players wandered onto campus randomnly. The point is, the program is doing a poor job of producing players, but an excellent job of getting rid of guys who aren't good enough or who can't cut it. Sooner or later, we need players who stay. And I don't buy this "college basketball is changing" thing. Other MAC teams, including Toledo, keep players.falconfan1 wrote: If only two of these players who left really mattered (and I agree- Erik Crawford and Ron are a solid D 1 player (Crawford) and one of the better natural athlete/scorers we have ever had (Ron)), then why did we sign the other six or seven or so? Did we make recruiting mistakes? Yes, we did. Most coaches do. Do we seem to make far too many of them? Yes. we have, in my opinion.
Yea, Shellenbarger has been at UT for like seven years now, hasn't he?orangeandbrown wrote: And I don't buy this "college basketball is changing" thing. Other MAC teams, including Toledo, keep players.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."
- Ernest Hemingway
- Ernest Hemingway
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Cleveland_Falcon
- Egg
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ZiggyZoomba
- The Wizard of AZZ
- Posts: 5916
- Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 5:37 pm
- Location: Elmore, OH
Easy there big fella....
Some individuals are not permitted the luxury of posting on this site because of their positions within certain organizations. Others may want to post anonymously because they know it will tick off people like you.Cleveland_Falcon wrote:All I know is that I don't put too much faith in someone's opinion when they don't own up to their own words. As far as I am concerned 'anonymous' is a chicken way of giving your opinion without backing up what you have to say!
I don't believe it's being "chicken" in this instance, and I'm sure Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss anonymous will gladly back up her/his opinion in the near future with a follow-up article.
I'm sure Miss/Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous appreciates your in-depth rebuttal, Cleveland_Falcon. I will pass your insightful comments on to her/him/them/it.
I suspect those of us who have followed this board as unhealthily closely as I have over the last couple of years, have a pretty good guess as to who the mystery author most likely is. If I am correct, this is not the first time this individual has contributed to our little world here. And while perhaps a bit biased, I personally very much welcome this individual's input and insight.
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ZiggyZoomba
- The Wizard of AZZ
- Posts: 5916
- Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 5:37 pm
- Location: Elmore, OH
I like your thinking, and I know who you're thinking it may have been, but this was the work of a first-time contributor.brewer wrote:I suspect those of us who have followed this board as unhealthily closely as I have over the last couple of years, have a pretty good guess as to who the mystery author most likely is. If I am correct, this is not the first time this individual has contributed to our little world here. And while perhaps a bit biased, I personally very much welcome this individual's input and insight.
I will divulge no more!! NO SOUP FOR YOU!
