Western Carolina

[jakehovs23]

Huger squads have become notorious for coming out flat and having to play from behind. Today was no different starting out down 9-1 right out of the gate. It’s a long season ahead but it looks like more of the same after a very disappointing ‘20-‘21 season.

Here’s to hoping we turn it around.

[jpfalcon09]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

I'm not a hoops fan at all but had to come here and read the posts after they lost. Of course I wasn't disappointed. Surprised no one here has had any health issues with all the knee jerk reactions. Same cast of characters doing it too, which is hardly surprising. Really supportive of the program.

[hammb]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

Season isn't over. And I think anybody who has actually watched and knows BG basketball knows we should have fired the coach years ago.

Watching the first 2 outings this season just reminded us all of what sort of garbage we'll be subjected too yet again.

And don't get me wrong. We won't be a last place team. We'll probably get a hot shooting stretch somewhere and win 5 of 6 or something. But this coach doesn't coach. The style of basketball and flow of games is identical year after year after year. The players change and the type of play stays the same.

Tough to not expect this season to end the way every other huger year has ended when it starts the same way as all his years start.

[hammb]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

I'm not a hoops fan at all but had to come here and read the posts after they lost. Of course I wasn't disappointed. Surprised no one here has had any health issues with all the knee jerk reactions. Same cast of characters doing it too, which is hardly surprising. Really supportive of the program.

Wtf. Most of the most vocal on here support this program beyond what anybody should ever expect. We drag our kids and our wives to these games. We donate. We buy tickets. And year in year out the program shows no interest in actually attempting to win. And they do that despite having the largest endowment in the MAC. An endowment that was earmarked to go out and bring in better home games (which we don't do) and pay for better coaching (which we don't do).

Maybe the program should support us?

[jpfalcon09]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

I'm not a hoops fan at all but had to come here and read the posts after they lost. Of course I wasn't disappointed. Surprised no one here has had any health issues with all the knee jerk reactions. Same cast of characters doing it too, which is hardly surprising. Really supportive of the program.

Wtf. Most of the most vocal on here support this program beyond what anybody should ever expect. We drag our kids and our wives to these games. We donate. We buy tickets. And year in year out the program shows no interest in actually attempting to win. And they do that despite having the largest endowment in the MAC. An endowment that was earmarked to go out and bring in better home games (which we don't do) and pay for better coaching (which we don't do).

Maybe the program should support us?

That's great. Many should. I think it's just lazy when the first criticism on this entire board when things don't go well is to fire the coach as if it's some magic panacea.

[Diemilkweed]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

Have you been paying attention the last several years?

Or the 4 decades preceding it?

This is the continuation of a pattern. Not a knee jerk reaction to new stimuli.

[Diemilkweed]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

I'm not a hoops fan at all but had to come here and read the posts after they lost. Of course I wasn't disappointed. Surprised no one here has had any health issues with all the knee jerk reactions. Same cast of characters doing it too, which is hardly surprising. Really supportive of the program.

Wtf. Most of the most vocal on here support this program beyond what anybody should ever expect. We drag our kids and our wives to these games. We donate. We buy tickets. And year in year out the program shows no interest in actually attempting to win. And they do that despite having the largest endowment in the MAC. An endowment that was earmarked to go out and bring in better home games (which we don't do) and pay for better coaching (which we don't do).

Maybe the program should support us?

That's great. Many should. I think it's just lazy when the first criticism on this entire board when things don't go well is to fire the coach as if it's some magic panacea.

It's far fro mteh first criticism.

THose were lobbed at the players and the department when Huger did this from the beginning. Once he had time to show it was his team with his players and this still happened the same way, game after game, year after year, THEN we started calling for his head.

This isn't "the first criticism" - it's the continuation of years of the same criticism.

Huger cannot coach worth a damn. His offense doesn't exist. HIs team's effort is inconsistent. Their performance in must win games is terrible.

And this is just like every other coach we have had since I started watching in 1976.

[fanatic13]

We'll have better days than today and probably end up 4th to 6th in the Mac. Problem is if we could rebound and have any offensive system i think we could compete for a conference title. At least once a half we have a long cold streak that can't get ended with an easy bucket. We either start cold like tonight then come back or its the opposite where we start hot then allow the other team back in the game. With plowden, Diggs, and Metheny shooting better we can beat a lot of the teams we play and that's going to happen. Main problem is it's huger's seventh year and I see the same problems and games consistently and I see all the games

[Globetrotter]

5-34 from 3. I am 100% sure that I, an old man could do better than that with my eyes closed. How is that even possible.

8 assist to 16 turnovers.

Can we start a petition to get Huger to run a better offense?

[guest44]

That's great. Many should. I think it's just lazy when the first criticism on this entire board when things don't go well is to fire the coach as if it's some magic panacea.
[/quote]

That’s great. The first criticism is actually that he is still the coach. His contract should be over and a new coach that is capable of Bill Fracks vision should be in place. When you have Justin Turner and you underachieve in 4 of his 5 years, it’s time. Bob Moosbrugger and Kingston Jr. (his sports are football & men’s basketball) have no idea what a good basketball coach looks like. The one consistent in the NCAA Tournament drought is keeping mediocre or horrible (Orr) coaches around for a second contract. Here we go again, now we just use Bill Frack money to overpay the room and try pad the record with wins. The tweet alot game with Carlow will be here soon.

[TommyG]

You want more from men’s athletics then it starts with making a change at AD. Like others said, the team will be okay because there is some talent, but BG isn’t outcoaching anyone. MBB will be middle of the pack, football will continue to disappoint, and Hockey will collapse in January. Its very predictable and consistent. BG lacks resources no question, but not in those sports. Those teams have the facilities to compete consistently for league titles, they just don’t.

[guest44]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

This right here is why Bowling Green hasn't been to the tournament. This is giving Louis Orr an extension when nobody wanted him. This is hiring Michael Huger. This is giving Michael Huger an extension and raise for accomplishing nothing. This is 50 years of suck in one post. Blame Christopher, Kingston and Moosbrugger because the window has been wide open to get it done. Bill Frack wrote a big ass check to get it done. They, not the fans, botched it and continue to botch it.

[Flipper]

Was toggling back and forth between this game and the Wings/Oilers game (Mo Seider is gonna be the next great defenseman). It was about what I expected....rough. Lot of new guys ...gonna take time in the best case. Not a huge fan of Matheny...rather see someone else out there.

Really like Joe Reece...active defender and rebounder. Not going to give you any offense away from the basket, but will score enough on junk at the rim to stay useful. Gabe O'Neal has a nice low post game as well.

[hammb]

Was toggling back and forth between this game and the Wings/Oilers game (Mo Seider is gonna be the next great defenseman). It was about what I expected....rough. Lot of new guys ...gonna take time in the best case. Not a huge fan of Matheny...rather see someone else out there.

Really like Joe Reece...active defender and rebounder. Not going to give you any offense away from the basket, but will score enough on junk at the rim to stay useful. Gabe O'Neal has a nice low post game as well.

Here's the problem with this team at this juncture though: Matheny was far and away the best guard on the team against Fairmont. Mills was also quite good. Last night they were both quite poor with Gordon being the best of our guards.

If this team is going to win we need a couple of these guys to find some level of game to game consistency. You cannot roll through 6 guards every game trying to figure out which one is hot on any given day.

Personally, I really like Matheny's game, but he was really bad last night. I do think he's made strides defensively from last year (small sample thus far), but in the biggest possession of the game he got completely blown by.

I still think the biggest issue though is coaching. Matheny can shoot. Dylan Frye could shoot. Trey Diggs can shoot. Justin Turner could shoot. Yet all of these guys end up with horrendous shooting numbers over the course of their careers here. It's because we're never actually getting GOOD shots. Half of their three pointers are just stepbacks off the dribble...in the case of Matheny & Frye often times beyond NBA range. We shot 34 threes last night, were there even 5 of them that were actually good looks off a pass? The numbers across all of basketball are absolutely startling how much better guys are in a catch and shoot situation vs off the dribble. Yet we don't actually run plays to get those shots.

Like somebody said above. We blamed the players when we struggled at the beginning of the Huger tenure (and the Orr tenure before him), but at some point it's not the players. This team plays the exact same style of basketball no matter who the players are, and it's frustrating. We're not going to be terrible. We have some very talented players on this team. We'll go through a stretch where we'll win a bunch of games in a row because these good shooters WILL have hot streaks. I just don't see how this style of basketball ever accomplishes what we want it to accomplish.

I too really like Joe Reece. I think he's going to be quite good cleaning the glass and getting 2nd chance points. O'Neal does NOT have a D1 body right now, but he does have some touch and creativity in the post. Plowden is Plowden, Diggs is Diggs; both potential all MAC players. We have 6 guards who look like they can play, but we need some of them to actually become consistent players.

[hammb]

One loss and the season is over.
5 minutes into the opening game and discussing firing the coach.
Tough to see we by the 50 year drought is so tough to break isn’t it?

. Bill Frack wrote a big ass check to get it done. They, not the fans, botched it and continue to botch it.

This is the MOST frustrating part for me. Mr. Frack was one of the nicest most generous men to ever touch BG basketball. When they needed to go out and make a coaching hire he provided MORE money to make sure they go out and got the best coach they could. Then, he unfortunately passed away, and without him there to hold them accountable they took his money and gave it away to somebody that nobody was looking at.

BG Basketball has a new arena, one of the best in the MAC.
Bill Frack ensured that BG basketball had the best financial situation in the MAC.

Yet we're not even close to becoming Mr. Frack's vision. He didn't want to JUST win the MAC, he wanted to be Butler and Gonzaga. Yet the men in charge of spending his money cannot even set the goal of actually winning the MAC, they're more than content being a mid tier MAC program every year despite having more resources than every one of our peers.