3/4 @ NIU

[BillyLP]

BG takes down NIU with a balanced scoring attack and, paired with Ball State’s loss, move into sole possession of the 8-seed. Huge game coming up vs. WMU. This season is kinda fun again?!

[mbenecke]

Winners of 4 in a row, 5 of 6, and 7 of 9 down the stretch.

A home game against an 11-19 team, where you win and you’re in. Gotta take advantage.

(There’s also a chance if we lose, but I don’t have any desire to explore that)

[Buckeye Bullitt 93]

They certainly have regained my attention!!! Playing their best ball down the stretch is a good thing.

[guest44]

Ugly at times but always have a response to every run. Humphrey has hit some really timely shots over the past 4 games. Just keep the ball in Campbell’s hands and let him do his thing. Simon has coached the s**t out of this team to avoid mailing this season in. Incredibly impressive in this era of college sports.

[Hammer]

Simon has regained the faith. How we are doing this so short handed is beyond me. Let’s keep this run going.

[BillyLP]

Simon has regained the faith. How we are doing this so short handed is beyond me. Let’s keep this run going.

In a weird way, all of the injuries somehow serendipitously led to us putting the best starting five lineup we have together out of necessity. The way they are playing, I now believe that we would have a very different record if this had been the top five and Thomas, Towns & Khayet would have come off the bench.

[mbenecke]

Definitely with you on that. If this was the lineup AND we had that kind of depth, this team would've been scary. It might've been what we were expecting all along this year.

[hammb]

Simon has regained the faith. How we are doing this so short handed is beyond me. Let’s keep this run going.

In a weird way, all of the injuries somehow serendipitously led to us putting the best starting five lineup we have together out of necessity. The way they are playing, I now believe that we would have a very different record if this had been the top five and Thomas, Towns & Khayet would have come off the bench.

I think you're right, although I'm not sure we saw enough of Khayat & Towns to know if they needed to move to the bench or not. I do think we know that we are a better team with Campbell being the lead guard rather than Thomas.

I also think we now know that you cannot build a functional MAC defense playing man with Johnson on the court. Going to zone, with Campbell getting his hands on so many passes, combined with Humphrey who also gives it on defense, has helped immensely. I see no reason to believe Khayat & Towns couldn't have also been valuable players in a zone defense, but we didn't try it while they were playing.

I just know the last couple weeks have finally been fun again. Campbell is playing at a supremely high level. The Zone has prevented teams from just putting Johnson in a blender for 30 minutes, and we've gotten more big shots from Humphrey than any of us ever thought likely.

The announcers last night were positing that the other teams going to Cleveland are hopeful we fall short simply because we're playing some of the best ball in the MAC right now. I'm not convinced they're really scared of us, but I do know that we wouldn't be fighting for the 8 seed had we played with this level of intensity/competency all season long.

[Bgsu2016]

I think you're right, although I'm not sure we saw enough of Khayat & Towns to know if they needed to move to the bench or not. I do think we know that we are a better team with Campbell being the lead guard rather than Thomas.

I also think we now know that you cannot build a functional MAC defense playing man with Johnson on the court. Going to zone, with Campbell getting his hands on so many passes, combined with Humphrey who also gives it on defense, has helped immensely. I see no reason to believe Khayat & Towns couldn't have also been valuable players in a zone defense, but we didn't try it while they were playing.

I just know the last couple weeks have finally been fun again. Campbell is playing at a supremely high level. The Zone has prevented teams from just putting Johnson in a blender for 30 minutes, and we've gotten more big shots from Humphrey than any of us ever thought likely.

The announcers last night were positing that the other teams going to Cleveland are hopeful we fall short simply because we're playing some of the best ball in the MAC right now. I'm not convinced they're really scared of us, but I do know that we wouldn't be fighting for the 8 seed had we played with this level of intensity/competency all season long.

That Akron game earlier in the MAC schedule showed the potential they had. Lets not forget Akron pulled a rabbit out of the hat in that one