BG picked last in the MAC East by the Sporting News

[Globetrotter]

I think you want more at the 1 then I do. I love him. He has incredible handles and quickness both on D and O and he makes the team much more up tempo, which I love.

Would I love if he was 6-0 and a better distributor. Absolutely. I think the passing will come.

[Sub-Zero]

its hard to imagine anything other than dead last. With a bullet. Should be enough to get Orr out of here (hopefully GC goes with him).

[hammb]

I think you want more at the 1 then I do. I love him. He has incredible handles and quickness both on D and O and he makes the team much more up tempo, which I love.

Would I love if he was 6-0 and a better distributor. Absolutely. I think the passing will come.

I guess I do want more at the 1.

Crawford's only assets are his scrappy defense and his ultra quickness. He doesn't have the ability to finish near the rim due to his size, and his jump shot is poor. I'd be okay with those things if he were able to better use his quickness to create for his teammates, but he's under 2:1 in assist:turnover ratio.

I think Crawford will need to improve tremendously for us to be a great team. I think we'll be pretty good based on improvements in other areas, but until we start getting top level PG play we will continue to fail in the tournament. It's a guard game.

[Globetrotter]

I think you want more at the 1 then I do. I love him. He has incredible handles and quickness both on D and O and he makes the team much more up tempo, which I love.

Would I love if he was 6-0 and a better distributor. Absolutely. I think the passing will come.

I guess I do want more at the 1.

Crawford's only assets are his scrappy defense and his ultra quickness. He doesn't have the ability to finish near the rim due to his size, and his jump shot is poor. I'd be okay with those things if he were able to better use his quickness to create for his teammates, but he's under 2:1 in assist:turnover ratio.

I think Crawford will need to improve tremendously for us to be a great team. I think we'll be pretty good based on improvements in other areas, but until we start getting top level PG play we will continue to fail in the tournament. It's a guard game.

I don't disagree with you, I just think he is the best guy we have had at the position since Pardon and he brings something special there that the other team has to worry about.

The guy you want might just be on the roster though....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKp6WhMPxwM ?

[BleedOrange]

Going into this season, I expect the following:

Calhoun grew up a lot last year. He'll emerge as our top scorer and rebounder. I'm expecting 17 and 9 and a potential 1st All-MAC selection. If he can become a tough go-to guy in clutch situations, it will be a big difference in our W totals. He's the only player on the squad who can fill this role. Calhoun is easily the most important player for us.

Black played soft last year and was eaten alive by aggressive post players. Will emerge stronger and tougher? I have no idea, but this will make all the difference in whether we have meaningful frontcourt depth this year. The kid has a high basketball IQ, a good shot, and good hands, but if he can't play strong it doesn't help us.

On that note, front line depth is by far my biggest concern.

Brown and Thomas will be no better than they were last year. Look for them to post similar seasons or to even drop off a bit. Can Thomas bench 200 pounds? Yet, Thomas may need to play the 4 in certain late-game situations. We have 3 hungry young guards that will really push Brown and hopefully take away a big chunk of his playing time.

Clarke and Henderson will give us speed and quickness at the guard positions. This is something that we haven't had in a very long time, and other MACs such as Kent, Akron, and Ohio have had in spades. It will be very refreshing to see multiple quick guards on the floor for us.

Crawford, of course, WILL improve his consistency and his shooting percentage. Also, he will emerge as the vocal and moral leader of the team, if he hasn't already.

After a little time, Oglesby established himself as a very steady, effective, and tough-minded low post player. We'll get that all year this year. Again, this is something our program had lacked for quite a while. He's actually my favorite Falcon. Rumor has it that he has really improved his game.

Sealey is the X factor. His athleticism is prodigious, but he plays out of control. The only position that makes sense for him is 3 - he doesn't have the bulk to play a steady 4, and I haven't seen enough ball control or shooting out of him to believe he could play 2. I'm anticipating that we'll see an agonizing mix explosiveness and nothingness all season long.

Experience tells me that Rorie spend a year on the bench, show a few flashes in mop-up time, and motivate a few posts now and that saying "wow, that kid might be a player next year."




As a team, we have decent talent, perhaps slightly above average by D1 standards. I wonder if we have the hunger and toughness to win. We should expect to improve somewhat, but it won't be because Brown and Thomas step up and have big years. Our improvement will be due to more contributions from across our roster (Calhoun, Sealey, Crawford, Oglesby, Black, and the freshman guards). My money's on a 3rd or 4th place finish in the East.

[BGSU33]

Going into this season, I expect the following:

Calhoun grew up a lot last year. He'll emerge as our top scorer and rebounder. I'm expecting 17 and 9 and a potential 1st All-MAC selection. If he can become a tough go-to guy in clutch situations, it will be a big difference in our W totals. He's the only player on the squad who can fill this role. Calhoun is easily the most important player for us.

I agree. I love AC, he is without a doubt my favorite player on the team and arguably our best overall player. I really like the improvement we saw out of him last season. The one area I do feel he needs to work on (and avoid) is picking up fouls in the post. Often when he gets the ball in the post and works for position, he consistently picked up quick fouls by lowering his shoulder and jumping into defenders in the post. Watching him continue to do this throughout the season with the same result (a foul) was reminded me of watching Otis Polk in his first two seasons come to the top of the arc and set an obvious moving screen and constantly get called for it. It seems like it took Polk about two years to understand you can’t do it, while the coaching staff looked on. I like seeing AC also work for points in the paint, but if he can avoid these sort of fouls, he will be on the floor longer which is a key to our season.