(11-27-2020 06:44 PM)Eagle66 Wrote: Any word on Edu’s knee? Hope it wasn’t a bad injury.
so far, none. he was in street clothes for the xavier game but walking normally without any crutches or anything. he was hurt jumping straight up for an alley oop. so, it it's unlikely that it was directly related to his ACL injury, but the concern is it might be related to the overall structural health of the knee. secondly, even if it isn't serious it could be a psychological blow to him. Full ACL recovery requires not just a return to full strength but a return to full trust in the joint. Setbacks like this really challenge a kid's faith in the strength of the joint and can lead to periods of trepidation and caution that limits their effectiveness.
As far as Toledo, they nearly beat Xavier without Edu, with his backup replacement in foul trouble and their top playmaker in the game knocked out in crunch time with a head injury. ultimately, short handed they just looked too tired to finish, plus, star pg marreon jackson had a really poor game by his standards. So far, UT has led 2 possible NCAA tourney teams (Bradley and Xavier) for about 65 of the 80 minutes they played, but couldn't finish off either one. This has been a trend of UT teams in recent years. Generally, very competitive and able to play with anyone, but lousy down the stretch of close games. The staff has dug a little deeper into the bench than in years past, but may need to double down there and really use their improved depth to save more energy for crunch time. This is a capable Toledo team with a lot of scoring options, good guard play and 2 legit rim protectors, but they gotta show they can rise to the moment and make the game winning shot or stop.
Also, a side note on the Ohio game, which OU also led almost in entirety but found a way to lose. I thought Preston outplayed Illinois' all american guard and the stats back that up. I'd consider OU the MAC favorite at this point. Other teams might have a little more seasoned overall talent, but none can control the pace like OU can w Preston. In addition, OU's team energy, coaching and defense look pretty high level.
One difference in how MAC teams' coaches play out end of game situations compared to P5 coaches is less nuanced understanding of when to foul. In the OU-Illinois game with 7 seconds, a 1 point lead and defending probably the best guard in the country going to the rim, but with a poor foul shooting big man also on the floor for Illinois, OU chose to let it play out and ended up committing an unplanned foul in the act of shooting on the drive-putting a good foul shooter to the line for the game winners. OU could have fouled Illinois' big guy and sent him to the line, which % wise would not have resulted to 2 made free throws. Plus, took their top offensive rebounder out of the picture on a miss. In contrast, down 3 with the ball setting up a potential game tying 3, WMU's new coach called a timeout during which Butler's coach instructed his players to immediately foul WMU's poor foul shooting big denying them the chance to take a shot to tie-it worked Butler won by 4.