It's really hard to maintain a consistent opinion on Boals. This is a really weird team, and really weird year.

On the one hand, I think it's basically irrefutable that the roster construction isn't good enough. We don't have enough size, and 7 games into the conference schedule, it's really striking that basically everybody we've played is more athletic than us, and stronger. I think it's a pretty reasonable -- and likely correct -- conclusion to draw that those things lower our ceiling, and even at full strength I think it's hard to see us getting out of Cleveland without those things rearing their head.

On the other, there's nobody on this team that isn't easy to root for, they pay hard, they care, and the culture Boals' has created clearly resonates with the team. Last night the energy level was great, and they scratched and clawed their way to a good win, albeit an ugly and pretty lucky one. Boals seems to be an excellent EQ coach.

In the next few years, I suspect our AD and fan base is going to have to answer a pretty tough choice, and decide if that's good enough. Boals hasn't been bad by any stretch. He's raised the level of the program since the Saul days. But I don't think it's at all unreasonable that we expect to be the best basketball program in the MAC consistently, and we're going to have to decide pretty soon if that's the standard we want to enforce.

Pretty much how I feel as well with Boals and the current state of the program. If he doesn't fix the big man issue and we don't get more athletic next season then we will be having this same conversation a year from now.

Reliable source there? If that's the case I would be surprised to see Clayton back by the App State game. That one is immaterial to the state of our season and we still have no reason to lose to WMU at home. I don't know much about stress fractures - was Tony Campbell a stress fracture? Is "play through pain" at play here? Would be cool to hear from our resident podiatrist.

In this day and age of portaling and NIL, it's going to get tougher and tougher to measure the success of a mid major program because of the lack of continuity in your roster. However, if other programs in your conference are able to keep reloading at a clip better than you're currently doing it? Man I don't know how you can't take a closer look. Boals has an NCAA Tournament victory under his belt - nobody in the MAC other than Groce and Heath (hey they faced each other too, neat!) have that. Toledo hasn't even been to a tournament under Todd K.

But there are glaring holes that need addressed as well.