Comments About Howard Game?

[MacGuy]

From those who were there.

[JWEIII]

I watched it via bsgufalcons.com.

I don't know much about Howard, but the man-to-man defense looked good. Some miscommunications on switches, but it's a whole new thing for the team.

Crawford was driving them nuts! Clearly the quickest guy on the floor. He really had no problem with the press and was just driving throught traps and double teams. We are going to have problems when he sits - it's a big dropoff with Dee at the point (no offense to Dee he just isn't a point guard).

We were clearly the more athletic team, which was nice for a change. But our free throws need to get better (missed a bunch down the stretch).

I'd say B overall.

[Flipper]

When Jordan Crawford and Scott Thomas are on the floor, the offense looks good...the ball moves quickly and guys get open looks. When they aren't...we struggle a bit. Our frontcourt as a group did an excellent job of moving their feet and cutting off the baseline..Howard was forced to pull up and shoot a contested jump shot from the baseline or back it out a number of times....that and Crawford's great work on the perimeter were probably the keys to our defense.

Crawford is probably the most fun player to watch we've had here in awhile. He wasn't just defeating Howard's attempts to trap the ball...he destroyed them. If he can find some consitency with his shot, he's going to be a top level PG for us the next two years.

Sealey has great energy...runs the floor well and works hard. Played a bit out of control at times, but when you can run and jump like that...it's hard to show restraint. Given the struggles Calhoun had offensively...I'm really happy with the W.

Love the Stroh...love the concourses..love the video board...love how it somehow manages to feel close and open at the same time. Can't wait to see and hear it full....

[Falconfreak90]

Great to hear opening night for the men was a success...This team has the potential to make a run at the MAC title.

GO FALCONS!!!! Beat Georgia

[Globetrotter]

Great opening win. Why no Clarke or Henderson?

[guest44]

The Stroh is a fantastic place for games. The atmosphere was good and will get better once the opponent gets better. Everyone I was with is still talking about how much fun was had. Memo to athletic department, weekend night games are good.

Very impressed with the defense. Offense was lacking. This team has to make shots to be successful and IMO, the season will come down to that. Last years 3-pt % has to get better and BG has to do a better job of getting points in transition. Craig Sealy is going to have a huge year. He has a 15-foot jumper with that athleticism, and his upside is through the roof. Crawford was rock solid as well. Calhoun never got involved last night, but it's a good sign that they dominated the game on a night when he was off. Overall, Falcon Basketball is fun to watch again.

[hammb]

Crawford is just so quick. His shot is only so so and he's too small to consistently finish near the rim, but he is an absolute pest on defense. He will do enough offensively but I don't think he's ever going to be a star. He still struggles to use his quickness to create plays for his teammates. Some good passes and some wtf moments from him. Need more assists and less turnovers from the pg spot.

Sealey looked great again. He looked great most of last year when he was on the floor. That kid can play.

Calhoun really struggled then didn't play much in the second half. We will need more from him.

Thomas was his usual ho hum self. He does everything right but he's not spectacular.

I still cannot stand dee brown or Luke Kraus. No idea how each of these guys are playing 25+ minutes while Clarke and Henderson sit out. Brown brings nothing to the table. Kraus is a pesky defender but not real productive otherwise...all though he did make a couple threes last night.

As a whole the defense was good and the offense was about as ugly as usual. We just don't seem to have a plan. Calhoun and Sealey must be on the floor at the same time since they're the only two we have who can create their own shot. We need to see what we have in the two young guards because we will NOT win the MAC with the guard play we got last night or the past couple years.

Oh and of course the real story was the stroh. It is, quite simply, a wonderful place to watch a basketball game. For the first time I can remember bg actually has a facility that feels like a division one athletic venue. I already can't wait for the next game there.

[factman]

Pretty much agree hamm, with the exception I sorta liked Krause last night. Maybe he can be the one guy that can consistently knock down shots, because our shooting is atrocious.

[Warthog]

I got a question, hopefully someone can answer. On the video board under the BG and Howard logos, there was a small number with no notation as to what is was for. It was reset to zero to start each half and I think two was the highest it ever got for either team. What does this number represent?

Stroh Center is gorgeous. It's exciting to know this is our home court. I do have one nitpicky comment and this isn't about the Stroh necessarily as I think the football scoreboard is the same way. Why does it have to say "TOL" for time outs left? Why cant it just be "TO"? For Fouls, it just says "F", not "FC" for fouls committed. For points, well it didn't say anything, but you typically see "Pts" or "Points", not "PS" for points scored. I know this is crazy, but it one of those little things that drives me crazy.

[BGSU33]

I got a question, hopefully someone can answer. On the video board under the BG and Howard logos, there was a small number with no notation as to what is was for. It was reset to zero to start each half and I think two was the highest it ever got for either team. What does this number represent?

I was wondering the same thing, but as the game went on, I thought the 0 was when teams weren't in the bonus yet (under 7 fouls). I think it went to 1 when teams were in the one-and-one (7, 8 or 9 fouls) and to 2 when teams in the double bonus (10 or more fouls). I'm not 100% sure, but that was my best guess for the little I was looking at it after I noticed the same thing as you did.

[BleedOrange]

The Stroh is a fantastic place for games. The atmosphere was good and will get better once the opponent gets better. Everyone I was with is still talking about how much fun was had.

I must say, I loved being in the Stroh Center. I had very low expectations - the videos and pictures don't do it justice. I really like the ambiance and the wide open concourses. I love not having to park out by the airport and walking by around the graveyard to get to the arena. I thought it was pretty cool how the falcon shop prices were so low. The only thing I need to remember is my sunglasses for the super-bright advertizing signs along the baseline the power orange emanating from video scoreboard. I was seeing spots all night.

[BGSU33]

I just loved see us get a home win. I loved the way we started the game. Even though Howard cut it to three, I never really felt they were going to take the lead and they didn't.

Some other thoughts I had were: Great student turnout. They quickly filled the section behind the basket and then filled section 101, but then it started to appear the staff didn't know where they were going to start putting the rest of the students coming in. It appeared they allowed them to go to the section directly across from 101, but there was certainly some confusion. I was just happy to see them get seated because usually we can't many students to come, and this time we did and if seating was a problem out of the gate, I could see it keeping some of them from returning.

I also think it would be beneficial if we had a section or two that was basic general admission. I saw lots of people being moved even though they were in what appeared to be empty seats. I get have reserved seating throughout most of the building, but a general admission section would be helpful IMO.

I don't know if it was or wasn't, but it sure seemed like the guy doing the PA was doing his first game. While I think he could get better, one thing he needs to be told is, he doesn't have to get excited to announce when our opponents score when he announces their names. He did for us, which was great, but he announced the same way for Howard too. It was like there weas two home teams. I also though the bass in both the PA and music could be turned up a little, itseemed like the system was all treble.

It was also nice to see what looked like the entire football team there last night.

I agree with the comment above about how the team played. I was most impressed with Crawford last night. Thomas was steady, Sealey looked improved, and we're going to need more out of Calhoun. I was disappointed not to see Henderson as well, especially when we were struggling offensively during Howard's run. All I keep hearing about is how he can score from all over the floor, and there we were, struggling to score and he was sitting on the bench.

All in all a good night. I still miss AA a lot, but I think this place will grow on me. If we starting winning some games here like we used to, this could be a fun place to see us play in. Now lt's beat Georgia!

[FalconTurf]

The team is fun to watch regardless of their offense. They just seem to need a go to guy and they have not found him yet. Scoring by committee will work if a new guy steps up every night but it took until Howard cut the lead to nearly nothing before a couple clutch shots were made. They had chances to put the game in the book early if they score.

The student seating seemed to be a problem because students went down one aisle got seated and the guard in the next aisle went down and moved them. They needed to be greeted and directed from the beginning. It seemed that the top so many rows on the East end were supposed to be general admission/student seating but nobody bothered to direct the GA/Student ticket holders to those rows until after they sat down.

The security force is ...............different for BG. I guess we'll get used to it.

The atmosphere was subdued most of the night but the crowd noise that indicated we may have good environment occurred when a year's worth of Taco Bell was won on a half-court make by, I assume, a student. Hopefully we will see the fans get as excited about some of the dunks and athletic plays because as I said earlier this team is fun to watch.

[BGSU33]

The seating chart on bgsufalcons.com says section 101 and the sections behind the west baskets (118, 119, 120) are student seating. They should also turn over section 117 to them too. They can get to that section by walking right behind the west basket. Or put the band in section 117 and let the students have the portion of the section they lose for the band. They actually had 117 completely empty until they let students move into it and it filled up nicely. I read where we had 1,500 students on a day where we didn't have classes. We needs to fix this now before it keeps causing problems down the road.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

I don't know if it was or wasn't, but it sure seemed like the guy doing the PA was doing his first game. While I think he could get better, one thing he needs to be told is, he doesn't have to get excited to announce when our opponents score when he announces their names. He did for us, which was great, but he announced the same way for Howard too. It was like there weas two home teams. I also though the bass in both the PA and music could be turned up a little, itseemed like the system was all treble.

He was really the only issue I had during the night, what you mentioned along with forgetting to announce who called timeouts and who got called for fouls.

Had a fracklate (sp?) chip cookie at the game, absolutely fantastic, one of the best cookies I've ever had