Posting this late as there were no games until tomorrow night this week because of the holiday.

Monday 12/25 thru Thursday 12/28
No Games

Friday 12/29
Western Michigan vs. Aquinas - 4 PM [No TV]
Miami vs. Wilberforce - 7 PM [No TV]
Northern Illinois @ Iowa [B1G+]
Buffalo vs. Niagara - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Kent State @ St. Mary's - 8 PM [ESPN+]

Saturday 12/30
Eastern Michigan vs. Northwood (MI) - 1 PM [ESPN+]
Ohio vs. Davidson - 1:30 PM [ESPN+] (Legends of Basketball Showcase - Cleveland, OH)
Central Michigan @ Loyola Chicago - 2 PM [ESPN+]
Akron vs. St. Bonaventure - 4 PM [ESPN+] (Legends of Basketball Showcase - Cleveland, OH)

Sunday 12/31
No Games

The Miami- Wilberforce game is being added to ESPN+.

Western and Miami win their games. Buffalo played a close one with former Ball State Cardinal Luke Bumbaluagh and Niagara. NIU and Kent both lost by 20.

On the injury front, Ohio’s AJ Brown (second team preseason all conference) had shoulder surgery and is out for the year.

(12-30-2023 10:47 AM)Eagle66 Wrote:  Western and Miami win their games. Buffalo played a close one with former Ball State Cardinal Luke Bumbaluagh and Niagara. NIU and Kent both lost by 20.

On the injury front, Ohio’s AJ Brown (second team preseason all conference) had shoulder surgery and is out for the year.

More injury news ... Kent's two post players, Hornbeak and Gillespie are both out indefinitely.

I hoped the MAC would get better as the season progressed. Wrong. Akron is the only team with a shot at a 13 seed but probably 14. Need to win today. The rest of the league is so bad I think we will be in line for a 15 seed maybe 14 seed if anyone but Akron wins the tournament. BG is 9-3 but it’s a ugly 9-3.

Man, this basketball season for Ohio so far has been Heartbreak City. A 6-6 record in the non-conference season with all six losses by six points or less: four points, five points in double OT, six points, five points, four points, and today, three points. We had leads late in all of those games which is very frustrating for the team, coaches, and fans. Poor free-throw shooting hurt in a lot of those along with some lapses in defense and some untimely poor shooting.

I sure hope things get better in the MAC, but now that we have lost one of our best players, I'm not sure how that can happen. Also, we start off with Toledo, Northern Illinois, and Bowling Green. Ugh! I just hope we can pull it together enough to get to Cleveland in March. We know we are capable of pulling out a miracle in the MAC tournament even when our seeding is not the best.

One of the Chips had 35 points against Loyola today. Wait…. Checks notes…. ALL the Chips combined had 35 points today.


At least EMU beat some D-II school I’ve never heard of by 3 points.


Sigh.

Akron loses today as well, Groce over coaches an Akron’s guards aren’t very good. Groce calls three timeouts in the last six minutes and two of the three results in turnover and the last possession of the game as god awful. Pitiful inbounds play. A game they should have won. He MAC is absolutely horrible.

Rough schedule early for Ohio. If they can win some of those early games they can put the poor non-conference showing behind them. They have been in those games but lost every one of them. Bad turnovers and poor foul shooting late. The rotations are short. Foul trouble has been an issue. Teams know Ohio can't protect the rim. Ohio has been forced to pack the paint with guards and giving up wide open threes. They get hammered on glass. They got some tough matchups. Especially if they can get up tempo. Ohio's bigs can shoot the three. Conference play is completely different animal due to the scouting and how the coaches adjust.

(12-31-2023 11:13 AM)OhioBobcatJohn Wrote:  Rough schedule early for Ohio. If they can win some of those early games they can put the poor non-conference showing behind them. They have been in those games but lost every one of them. Bad turnovers and poor foul shooting late. The rotations are short. Foul trouble has been an issue. Teams know Ohio can't protect the rim. Ohio has been forced to pack the paint with guards and giving up wide open threes. They get hammered on glass. They got some tough matchups. Especially if they can get up tempo. Ohio's bigs can shoot the three. Conference play is completely different animal due to the scouting and how the coaches adjust.

Not to mention that conference coaches know your tendencies.