Of course he did. It's what coaches do. But truth is we didn't belong on the same floor.

Everybody's gotta take a deep breath.

We replaced 7 guys from a .500 team. The idea that we should be playing a top 10 team tough on the road is just the nonsense musings of a delusional fan base.

I've been as tough on Boals as anybody. But let's be realistic about what we are, and how to measure success. If you think part of that's beating top 10 teams with 2 of our top 6 guys out, not sure what to say.

Ditto!!!!

I finally got around to watching the game.

My two main takeaways... and their exactly the same as last week.

- Jack is the only player who has the 2nd gear to step up.
- We need an offense. This team needs an offense. 12 assists again, because everyone stands around. The 'create your own shot, run around offense' only works when you actually create shots for others and *run around*. Everyone stands around watching the show.


We didn't play *bad, per se. We were just overwhelmed by a top 10 team on the road. And we don't have a 2nd or even 3rd player to step up and be the guy. And we're not using the depth, or developing that depth we should have.

Our defense isn't good, but again - big time acc team in their building - the offense hopefully turned a little corner. We made some shots. Didn't take a lot of bad shots.

- Hadaway isn't playing to the level we need him to play.

- Simmons had almost as many turnovers as points. (6/5)

- Sheldon... I'm really at the point of apathy. Couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. He is active though. But 35 minutes for a guy who can't shoot, is 6' and can't really defend the 3 all that well... gonna be a pain all year.

- Good to see Kuany and Evans still getting minutes. Would've liked to see Burris continue to get more, but Boals stuck with his 8 man rotation, which I thought was extremely odd in a 20+ point loss to an ACC team. Their size / athleticism will be critical down the stretch.

- JJ is SO CLOSE to a breakout. (I hope)

Shift him down into Sheldon's spot... a 6'6" guard... move Kuany into the 3. Or Ayden into the 5 and shift everyone down. We go from a slow sluggish offense to some real size and athleticism.


I'm still not all doom and gloom. OU is playing one of the toughest G5 non-cons in the country right now. Nobody is doing this. Akron lost by 20 to Purdue last night, by a fairly similiar score. Similiar shooting %'s.

We just need to nail down our rotations. Nail down everyone's role. Develop the bench. Find an offensive identity. And I think we'll be okay come MAC time.

Watched Akron-Purdue yesterday. Akron got walloped, but boy can they shoot threes. Something we couldn't do against ranked competition. In fact, if it waasn't for Purdue's 8-foot center (hyperbole), it might have actually been a competitive game. We are going to have our handsful with John Groce's boys!

They do LIKE to hoist 3s - half their total shots yesterday, hitting 13 of 33 attempts. They didn't look as overwhelmed as we did vs. Louisville but they also weren't missing 2 key players, so...

Wow, got awfully negative in this thread. We were down 13 with 12 to go. They finished with 2 junk three pointers and didn't go beyond their regular rotation until literally 12 seconds left in the game. Louisville is a national championship contender. Not saying this was an amazing performance but it wasn't bad.

Is Paveletzke a 3 point shooter? Will he start to look to shoot more? This would be a huge development if so. 6 for 7 from 3 against the 2 big boy opponents. And Connors has a great stroke from outside. I'd like to see more of him, as we need that guy who can camp out there and be a threat.

You know who is NOT a threat from 3? Our 2 forwards. Hadaway/Simmons 0 for 8 and 2 for 23 in the last 3 games. I've harped on this for years. Their attempts need to be limited, wide open and later in the shot clock.

Simmons really struggled against St Marys & Louisville. Just didn't have the quickness to hang, and his touch just is not there yet. But the matchups he has had to deal with playing the 5 these last 2 games are the stuff of nightmares. I urge some patience, he is a proven big in the MAC. That said I do really hope Breath is back for the Daytona Beach tourney.

Hope to see EE back too, but JJ Kelly looks great and he makes me not miss EE as much as I otherwise would. Very excited for JJ, has a great feel for the game in general. Impressive results at a top tier programs as a true freshman. The only starter to not have a couple ugly turnovers. I'm not saying EE deserves to lose his starter spot but I don't know how you don't roll with JJ for at least 25 a game right now.

Got some good experience with some run and gun in several spurts of that game and saw some good things. Louisville has some absolute sharpshooters and great ball movement. The gap between the big boys and the mid majors is simply greater than what it once was.

Not an easy one on Wednesday with Bethune Cookman. Any way to get a W is satisfactory to me.

I don't know where we'd be without OCF pointing our his sarcastic or, in the case of this thread, hyperbolic statements. Otherwise, I would have thought that Louisville played an 8-footer against Ohio Saturday. Thanks, OCF.

You're most welcome, bobcatsquared. Glad I could help!

More Connors...less Sheldon. We can all see it, but coaching staff for whatever reason doesn't see it.