BG vs Toledo

[Firelands-Falcon]

Toledo victory, 81-74. They extend to a 5-game win streak. Unfortunately, this rings a bell. However, we did play a great team and there is technically a chance that we will see them in the title game. Huger isn't done yet!

[BGSU33]

Damn man.....6 times in football and now 5 times in basketball. I just saw a tweet that said: no football or men's basketball player on the current roster at BG has ever beat Toledo. Wow. This is getting beyond old.

[zete]

Our Bigs against Boothe have ZERO points and 9 rebounds. Still need to play inside out to open the outside jumper.

Im thinking he (Boothe) or Thompson from EMU will be the POY.

[factman]

For two freshmen, I thought our "bigs"played pretty well against supposedly, the best player in the MAC. Looking forward to the next three years.

[guest44]

Wiggins was great down the stretch against Boothe. He caused several misses, and the foul to put Toledo up 4, was a gigantic travel. MAC officiating has somehow found a way to get worse. Nonetheless, the contribution that all of the players Coach has brought in since his hire, their development, should give us lots of optimism going forward.

[Flipper]

I thought Wiggins did a great job on Boothe...Tom Cole made it sound like Boothe was having his way down low, but Wiggins held him to 8/18 from the field and most of them were in the paint. Add in nine rebounds in 19 minutes ....that's a great night for a freshman no one had heard of when he signed here.

[Globetrotter]

Great thoughts about the big men. While I do agree with you it would have been nice and would be nice to have a banger down low to go with our other 2 guys.
Couple thoughts
1. Do you think that Mayleben can have more of a role like that?
2. Do yo think we will play more with Worrell and Wiggins going forward? I'm not sure they have ever played together yet. I think their games match eachothers well.

[Flipper]

I would have liked to have seen Mayleben or Go Go Gomez in for some first half minutes to lean on Boothe and beat him up a bit...tire the big fella...the aircraft carrier...the whatever the hell cliche Tom Cole gets stuck in his head for two straight hours of aural torture.

Re Wiggins and Worrel..at some point in the next couple of years that will be the frontcourt. Wiggins/Worrell/Lillard...Dylan Frye, the H kid and Caldwell. I think we need a wing also. Right now...I want Ish, Lillard, Denny, Parker and one of Wiggins and Worrel on the floor as much as possible. That's our best unit...in my view any way.

[Falconfreak90]

We are 1-11 vs tsun over the last 6 years in football and men's hoops. Sickening.

Thank goodness baseball and softball are on the way since we usually dominate them in both sports. But we MUST end this losing streak to them in football and hoops.

[hammb]

I thought Wiggins did a great job down the stretch on Boothe. He forced misses on at least 3-4 possessions in a row, and that was at the time that UT was convinced their path to victory was to keep feeding Boothe in the post every single possession. The foul they called that put UT back up was an absolute travel, I cannot believe they called the block, but it is what it is...that's MAC officiating.

I did think it was interesting that we didn't bring much help down to Wiggins either...it was just him one on one and for a lanky freshman I thought he did pretty damned well.

The biggest issue we had on Boothe, IMO, was not doing enough to deny him the ball. Wiggins (and Worrell) did struggle to keep him off the blocks, and then we did little to front him and prevent him from getting the ball. Then we brought no help. But considering the matchup I thought Wiggins held his own. It almost looked like Huger went with a strategy to just let Boothe get his (and he did) but don't free up the shooters for 3. Unfortunately the 3s they did take they killed us on...over 50% behind the arc...

And we really struggled to get open looks at the basket in the 2nd half. Too often we tried to play ISO ball and stopped moving it around. UT was doing a great job on getting Denny off the 3 point line so then he started forcing up some real deep threes...which I do know he can make, but they weren't good shots.

Still, I'm upset we lost, but I give a bit of a pass on these hoops losses to UT. Their program is quite a bit ahead of ours in terms of development....we're still trying to rebuild after a decade of suck. We're much further along than I thought we'd be right now, and last night just showed how much further we still have to go. I do think we'll get there though. This team is fun as hell to watch and I think we've got the right coach to take us where we wanna get.

[BGSU33]

We are 1-11 vs tsun over the last 6 years in football and men's hoops. Sickening.

Thank goodness baseball and softball are on the way since we usually dominate them in both sports. But we MUST end this losing streak to them in football and hoops.

I agree. It's fine and dandy baseball and softball can beat them, but it's not same as football and hoops. That's just not cutting it.

[Falconwriter]

Damn man.....6 times in football and now 5 times in basketball. I just saw a tweet that said: no football or men's basketball player on the current roster at BG has ever beat Toledo. Wow. This is getting beyond old.

This has become ridiculous in both sports. We are beyond being beat physically -- it's all now mental. BG teams are whipped before they step on the field or court. The moment they see those ridiculously ugly uniforms with blue and urine colors, it's the BG guys peeing down their legs.

This.
Has.
Got.
To.
Stop.

[hammb]

Damn man.....6 times in football and now 5 times in basketball. I just saw a tweet that said: no football or men's basketball player on the current roster at BG has ever beat Toledo. Wow. This is getting beyond old.

This has become ridiculous in both sports. We are beyond being beat physically -- it's all now mental. BG teams are whipped before they step on the field or court. The moment they see those ridiculously ugly uniforms with blue and urine colors, it's the BG guys peeing down their legs.

This.
Has.
Got.
To.
Stop.

I just have to disagree. Maybe in football that's been the case. There is no reason we should be losing 6 times in a row in football given where our program has been.

But hoops? We were picked last in our division, they were picked near the top. It's been that way for the last several years. I don't think it has anything to do with them in our heads or anything like that. It has to do with the fact that Dakich v2.0 and Louis Orr completely gutted this program. They gutted it of winning, they gutted it of excitement, they gutted it of fan support, and they gutted it of talent. Jans started a turnaround, and Huger has picked it up and is doing even more with less, IMO. I fully believe we'll get to where we want to get and Huger will have this team beating Toledo, but it wasn't going to happen overnight. We have exactly 2 players who are in their 3rd/4th year in the program who are worthy of playing time. It's VERY tough to expect this team to beat the best teams in the MAC the way it is constructed.

[Flipper]

And those two players are working with their 3rd HC in three years. Dakich was a spastic crybaby, Orr was comatose...or maybe just narcoleptic...Jans was a drunken reprobate...a cad...a bounder...too damn handsy for his own good.

Huger might be the first normal HC here since Larranaga.

Hey hammb...is Al Avila the man or what? Fixed the back end of the pen, added depth to the rotation and got Upton in for what amounts to a two year deal....if he performs well and walks, the 3rd round pick he costs us likely becomes a first-round pick from the team that signs him.

[hammb]

And those two players are working with their 3rd HC in three years. Dakich was a spastic crybaby, Orr was comatose...or maybe just narcoleptic...Jans was a drunken reprobate...a cad...a bounder...too damn handsy for his own good.

Huger might be the first normal HC here since Larranaga.

Hey hammb...is Al Avila the man or what? Fixed the back end of the pen, added depth to the rotation and got Upton in for what amounts to a two year deal....if he performs well and walks, the 3rd round pick he costs us likely becomes a first-round pick from the team that signs him.

I was pretty upset that they got rid of DD, but AA has had one helluva offseason. Trying to rebuild a bullpen through trades/FA is not something I'm a huge fan of because bullpen guys are so rollercoastery, but there weren't enough internal options to do anything else. So I won't say he "fixed" the bullpen until I see those guys actually perform, but I think he did as well there as he could have reasonably hoped given that they have next to zero minor league bullpen talent that can contribute.

But adding Zimmerman was great given what he costs. I'm no Pelfrey fan, but as a #5/6 starter, it could be ok.
Adding Upton on the deal he did was fantastic. Love me some Justin Upton. My only question was if he opts out do we still get to offer arbitration and get a pick back? If so it makes it even better. Even if he underperforms and sticks it out I don't think his salary is really out of line with with what I expect his performance to be.

Upton is right there with Miggy as a player I've always coveted, and he finally finds his way to Detroit...me likey. Now if we could add Stanton...LOL

Seriously, Al has had a great offseason. Adding Salty is good too, because I just don't really trust McCann to be honest.

If Verlander's rebound last year was real and repeatable this year, and the bullpen moves work out, this team will be very good again. If Verlander pitches like he did to start last year and/or the bullpen pieces flop like previous years' bullpen "fixes" then we'll be where we were last year. All things considered though I think Avila did a great job. The heart of this lineup will be the best in baseball. Upton-Miggy-Martinez-Martinez in whatever order Ausmus puts them in should be pretty awesome...although I'm no Ausmus fan, even he cannot screw that up...