The year is over and I put together some summaries of returning players as well as coaching comparisons.

Coaches after 3 years on the job:

Coach             Total W-L       Conf. W-L          Conference Titles
Hunter               43-38              24-24                          0
O'Shea              58-37              27-22                          0
Groce                56-48              23-25                          1

Summary: O'Shea was clearly the biggest winner, Groce won 1 title. Who's the best? I guess one would have to vote for Groce. Now we could get into the discussion over which coach inherited the best returning class? Then we could move on to add other parts to the conversation, like OOC scheduling, however at the end of the day it's the W-L record that we always look at.
I will mention that years 4, 5, & 6 were good for Groce's predecessors.

Player Summary: Comparing only the returning players who played last year.
DJ................ Scoring down 2pts per game, FG % +1%, 3PT FG % -2%
EVO............. Scoring +9pts, FG% +4%, FT% +25%, RBS +3.5%
Keely........... FG% -4%, FT% +30%
Overall........ Evo improved the most, DJ's performace dropped off a little from last year, and Keely overall did not
                      improve.
Next Year:    We certainly have to replace 2 major players. We will still have a young team and we have to improve in many facets, defense, reduction of scoring droughts,& learning "How To Win". We have numerous transfers,  and are still unproven. We have no center of relevance returning to take Washington's place. Evo is not a center & Keely is weak and can't score or rebound. Jacobs obviously has "no game" as substantiated by his lack of PT this year, even in blow outs. We need a JC transfer who can play the position, if only to rebound and play D.
Nick is a bright spot for us, but even he needs to be more consistant. All DJ has to do is improve his shooting and he will become MAC player of the year. I would like to think that Evo will continue to improve however I would be pleased if he plays all of next year like he did the last half of this year. I don't think we saw much from the other players that saw PT this year to be optimistic about. If just 1 of those guys could improve like Evo did in his second year I would be pleased.
Finally, we must have our full compliment of scholarship player for next year, walk-ons just aren't good enough to give the coaching staff enough "go to options" in game situations. This situation hurt us this year, and we all know the reasons why we were in this predicament. We were basically at a competitive disadvantage.
I expect us to be picked to finish in the middle of the east bracket 4 or 5th.




GO BOBCATS
 

How can you say DJ's Performance dropped off. he was top 5 In the Nation in assists and averaging 16 points per game. His only draw back is shot selection but that is because there really isnt any go to scorer on this team besides him, to say his performance dropped is crazy IMO.

Ohio Pilot...................Like you said he showed poor shot selection which contributed to his decrease in % from 3pt land, as well as a drop off in scoring.









GO BOBCATS

If Keely can become consistent and play the way he did during most of the stretch run, I think he will have a good year next year.  I don't think there would be much argument that he is our best defensive rebounder (Ivo made strides this year in this department as well) and post defender.  He also averaged more than a block per game in just 18 mpg.  I admit that I have not seen Smith play in practice at all, but I would think Keely has a slight edge on him to start next year.

Baltic may be our top scoring option next year.  I would love to see him get a touch on every possession.  There isn't a big man in the conference that can match up with him one-on-one and he will force teams to double him, leaving open shooters on the outside.  Hopefully he can develop some chemistry with whichever big plays along with him the majority of the time. He and DW looked for each other a lot in the post when they drew doubles.  I expect Baltic to average somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 and 8 next year.  If he averages more than that, we will be very tough to beat.

Kellogg should start along DJ in the backcourt and will be our primary outside threat.  If he can shoot at a similar % from deep as he did this year, it will make it easier for the slashers we are adding to the program to go to work.  If Hall or Johnson can become more consistent from deep, or if Mitchell or Offut can be outside threats, we will be a very difficult team to guard.

Johnson is the guy I expect to make an Ivo type improvement next year.  Things seemed to start coming together for him at the end of the year.  He is also our best on ball defender and should see an increase in minutes because of that.

Hall showed that he can get hot from 3 but he also needs to become more consistent there.  He also showed some signs of being a good slasher but needs to stay under control when attacking the rim.  This should come with experience.

Jacobs should spend the summer getting stronger.  I noticed in his limited action that he seemed to have good fundamentals when it came to finding a man and boxing out.  Getting stronger can only help him in this area.  On offense, I could see him getting some time mainly as a screener to begin the year.  I would just be happy if he is able to work his way into the normal rotation.  More playing time will only lead to more confidence.

I won't spend much time on DJ, as I expect him to post similar numbers.  I will say that I think his scoring may go down a little next year and his assists might actually go up a little.

We have a good foundation for next year.  If this year's freshman can improve over last year and the transfers can give immediate production, we should be near the top of the league next year.

O'Shea was 40-38, 26-28 in his first three seasons.

Who is this "Evo" guy you keep mentioning?