2009-2010: A Step Backwards

[Rollo83]

Any way you look at it, the program took a step backwards this year. Sub 500 conference and overall records and failed to win a MAC tournament game and advance to Cleveland.

Hate to say it but I am not too optimistic about next year. Not sure where the scoring will come from. Black and Sealy will have to come in and play well early.

I thought we jumped the gun on Orr's extention last year and nothing happened this year to change my opinion. Not sure if last year was just a case of Dakich's seniors coming of age. Orr's recruiting prowless hasn't wowed me. His gameday coaching hasn't knocked my socks off either. Good man, just not sure if he's the one to get us over the hump.

About the only good news is the MAC is really a bad conference right now and a good rercuiting year and a couple of guys improving/maturing over the summer could put you right into contention.

[hammb]

Any way you look at it, the program took a step backwards this year. Sub 500 conference and overall records and failed to win a MAC tournament game and advance to Cleveland.

Hate to say it but I am not too optimistic about next year. Not sure where the scoring will come from. Black and Sealy will have to come in and play well early.

I thought we jumped the gun on Orr's extention last year and nothing happened this year to change my opinion. Not sure if last year was just a case of Dakich's seniors coming of age. Orr's recruiting prowless hasn't wowed me. His gameday coaching hasn't knocked my socks off either. Good man, just not sure if he's the one to get us over the hump.

About the only good news is the MAC is really a bad conference right now and a good rercuiting year and a couple of guys improving/maturing over the summer could put you right into contention.

I guess I don't see this year as a step backwards because nobody expected us to be that good this year, did they? The nature of college athletics will always be up and down. Unless you're recruiting the upper echelon talent you're going to have up years when you've got a number of upperclassmen and down years when you don't. Last year's team was surprisingly good, but we lost Clements, Moten, and Miller off that team. Then Knight flakes out as well. That was 4 of the top 5 guys in both minutes played and scoring last year; losing a combined 41 points per game.

This year's team needed development from OP, and big jumps from Dee Brown & Scott Thomas just to be competitive. Those players stepped up at times and this year's team was, quite possibly, a bit better than I expected. The 5 game losing streak to close out the year was pretty disappointing, but I think that's the nature of relying on guys who aren't quite ready to take over a team down the stretch.

As for next year, I certainly have some reservations, but we will see. I still don't think Jakubowski is a PG that can lead a good MAC team. I really worry about our play in the paint too. For the past 4 years our play in the paint has been Polk & Larson, with Marschall contributing some offense as well. Those 3 guys are all gone next year, and our only returning player to work inside will be McElroy. We'll definitely need him to step up and hopefully get some contributions from Black & Haynes.

As to scoring next year we return our top 2 scorers who were both only sophomores this year, and both shot respectable shooting percentages (Thomas would have been VERY good if he laid off the 3pt attempts). I would be surprised to see both Brown & Thomas average > 15 points a game next year...both showed scoring ability this year, and I'm anxious to see their development going into next season. My questions for next year will definitely be on the interior, and PG play. Hopefully Crawford can develop so that he can start taking some of Jakubowski's minutes. Inside will be the big question though, especially defensively. Polk & Larson in the middle has made scoring inside tough for most teams the past couple years, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out next year.

As to coach Orr, I think he does a good job getting the most out of the talent he has. I haven't been real enamored with his recruits (although Brown & Thomas showed some promise this year).

[MarkL]

Here's the way I view it - last year, we graduated three seniors. This year, we graduated three seniors.

How many times during Dakich's tenure did three guys make it all the way from freshman year to senior year? How much attrition was there during that time?

Yeah, I know, graduating players doesn't mean wins, but it does mean continuity. I do believe that will pay off.

[orangeandbrown]

I agree....this year was about what you could expect. I worry next year because we don't appear to have a true post player, but this year was about what you would expect. I think Coach Orr gets a lot out of this players, they play as a team and the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

6 of the last 8 seasons at BG have been losing seasons.

[Redwingtom]

A step side-ways at worse. It's gonna take some time to restock the shelves after the Dakich Closeout Special.

[Globetrotter]

I think that It was a very average year with not much hope for the future. The guys who scored seemed to score out of necessity more than ability. Neither is really a great scorer but someone had to be. No one on this roster can score even like Samarco, Miller, Reimold. This team could be much of the same or far better next year dependant on the play of 5-7 wildcards

• 1. Austin Calhoun
  2. Danny McCelroy
  3. Davon Haynes
  4. Cameron Black
  5. Craig Seally
  6. Scholarship available
  7. Scholarship available

Not to mention freshmen who we have a little more idea how good they can be but there outlook is surely not completely known.

• 1. Luke Krauss
  2. James Erger
  3. Jordan Crawford

That means we literally will have 3 upper classmen next year who we know what we can expect from them

• 1. PG-Joe Jak
  2. SG-Dee Brown
  3. SF-Scott Thomas

*With 10/13ths of the team big question marks next year I may have talked myself into conservative optimism for next year.

[CrazyFan]

I havent posted in a while and really dont visit this site much anymore frankly because of the previous posts. There's this unwarranted godlike aura that you people on this site put on him which is ridiculous; just because of your hatred of Dakich. Oopen your eyes, move past Dakich and realize how horrible of a team we have. We absolutely FELL into a MAC Championship last year and you all know that. I was not happy with the hire when he was hired and im still not even close to satisfied with it. With Dakich the program was atleast interesting and fun to watch. I have NEVER watched a more boring, mediocre basketball team in my life under Orr. It would be nice to see a team win and lose by the way they play, not by whatever God dictates is going to happen (for whomever understands this reference). In summation, Louis Orr is not, nor was he ever, the answer for this program. Year 3 and we get a 10 seed in the MAC journey when the MAC is at probably its worst level of talent in basketball since its been in a LONG while. Good Coach...................

[OSUFALCON]

A step side-ways at worse. It's gonna take some time to restock the shelves after the Dakich Closeout Special.

Nice Tom Boy! Dan Dakich's close outs won the league title last year. This isn't about the coaches anymore. These swipes against Dakich have gone on long enough. Go back to your Hughey Lewis and the News cassette.

[BGSU33]

Anytime you go from winning the conference to a losing record, it's a step back. That said, I believe the success of next year’s team will revolve around Calhoun & McElroy. The trouble with that statement is, we don’t even really know the certainly of what either will give us, or as recent past history has suggested, if either will even be back for us. But I really hope both are back because I think both have a lot of potential to be very good and much bigger contributors for us down te road. I also think our style of play on offense is going to change next season. If you look at our top three seniors from this year, all of them we post players and this year our primary focus on offense was to get the ball inside, and play inside-outside ball in a half-court set. I can only hope that with the loss of those three post players that we might change, or even be forced to, play a somewhat more uptempo style of basketball next season. I really like the development of Scott Thomas and IMO, he was the biggest surprise this season for us.

[Flipper]

Dakich's teams were about as exciting to watch as a Congressional hearing on water rights in NE New Mexico..... Yeah...I really enjoyed watching John Floyd painstakingly work the ball accross mid court so we could play catch around the perimeter before hoisting a forced 3 ball with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. THAT was some quality basketball....

I'll agree with BGSU 33 that a losing record is always a diappointment, particularly after winnig a conference regular season title the prior year. I also think MarkL makes a great point re continuity. Previously we had guys quit in the middle of their senior year...we also had a guy refuse to be recognized on senior night. Those were troubling occurences.

Is coach Orr going to be a success here? That's an open question right now. I don't think extending his contract was such a good idea....but I can live with it if we see some incremental improvement next year. In 2011-2012, we need to be in a position to make a serious run at the MAC title or Coach Orr's hiring will have to be viewed as a mistake.

Look at the bright side...he ain't Gene Cross

[CrazyFan]

Well Flip......if Dakich's teams were as exciting as a Congressional hearing on water rights in NE New Mexico then Orr's team is like NE New Mexico's Mock Student UN's hearing on the same. I watched all years of Dakich's teams. I watched 1 year, then refused/can't/ dont want to go to any more of Orr's games because I am so, so, so, so bored. Orr sits there with his butt on his hands, throws out an occasional "awwww shucks ref, that was a bad call.....you'll get it right next time" and fields just a god awfully boring, and I mean BORING, team. The kicker for me, which for really seperated the last two coaches, was how Orr's integrity shined last year. A certain player whom will remain nameless decided that he was bigger than the team and bigger than the game and decided, right in the middle of the game, that he was tired of listening to his coaches and tired of the way his coaches were yelling at him and decided to take off his jersey and walk off the court. ANY GOOD D1 COACH WOULD OF ATLEAST SUSPENDED THIS PLAYER FOR ATLEAST A FEW GAMES, but Orr had other thoughts because GOD told him so. He decided to call this a 'family matter' and let that player play the following game. I dont care if this is a family matter or not, you set an example for YOUR TEAM and YOURSELF as a coach and discipline this player. Dakich would of probably thrown this player off the team, which is a lot better solution than what Orr decided to do. I never had much respect for Coach Orr and totally disagreed with the hire, but that incident sealed the deal with me. Cut your loses and move on. Be smarter about your next hire. Dont let him dig us into a deeper hole than were already in. All your gonna see Fliiper in the 2011-2012 season is a one and done 10 seed again in the MAC Tourney. Theres a reason he got canned from his last job and its showing. Move on.

[Flipper]

Right..we need some lunatic on the sidelines ranting and raving and yelling obscenities at everyone...hell, why don't you just hire Dustinxtreme if that's what you want...that's about what we had with Dakich. His behavoir was downright embarassing at times.

So far as Orr's history at Seton Hall goes...his record was in line with his predecessor and slighly better than the guy who followed after him. You'd be hard pressed to find any evidence to suggest that he hurt the program and you'd be hard pressed to find any evidence that he elevated it.

In my mind, the jury is out on Orr. But to suggest that we had a better situation under his predecessor is simply ludicrous. Dann was horrible here after he bowed out of the West Virginia gig.