• I've been lurking around this board for a few months now. Let me start by saying the quality of posts (and posters) has significantly deteriorated since the Mid-2000's hayday of the board. Lots of new posters bringing nothing to the table. NOTHING. No. Th. Ing. A bunch of OCF Slavin's in some kind of pseudo apprenticeship to figure out who can get their post count up without ever saying a meaningful word.


• Highlight of the last few months was shill after shill chasing Jacob Corrigan's crack reporting on bowl game possibilities. Guy runs the Warehouse Tire Roll for heaven's sake, and many of the drones on here made him the second coming of Joe Schad/Mark Schlabach. Entertaining? Yep. Downright ridiculous? You got it. When I see that, I have to ask myself: "Is it worth coming back to entertain this group?" - The short answer is no. But I saw enough today at the Convulsion to warrant a post, so enjoy.


• Let's quit ignoring the elephant in the room. The Coaching in our 3 losses has been nothing short of abysmal. The Groce/Hunter/Nee/Bandy/TOS/etc etc game specific comparisons aren't applicable. All we can do is judge based on what we see and the results that follow. The Macro level is the growth (regression) of the team in the 2012-2013 season. The micro level is today's game v. Winthrop. 


• Today was nothing short of god awful. Let's work backwards - The postgame interview where the HC took no responsibility for the loss and put it squarely on the offense and unintelligent decisions. The final play. Down 1 and we settle for a contested 3 falling away in the corner where one guy touches the ball the entire final possession? Who drew that one up? The possession before that where we sent 4 guys out of the timeout and Ivo had no clue he was even supposed to be in the game? The befuddled looks after every single defensive possession? Leaving Ivo in to clank shot after shot while playing marginal defense on the other end? Kellogg, Smith, and Offutt just disappearing for LONG stretches at a time? (Justin Orr approved). I have no problem saying it - the Coaching is terrible. Facts are facts. We were a Sweet 16 Team with the exact same players 9 months ago. Today we can't beat a team with an RPI of 345 in our own gym?


• I see negative body language. I see no Coaching accountability. I see guys trying to freelance way too much. I see guys out of position. I see a general lack of toughness. That's what I see. Does anyone else see it? I think the toughness thing is what bothers me most. I remember so many times when Walt (or whoever) would have a big time hustle play and Groce would do the running fist pump with jacket flying. Um, yeah. Not seeing that this year. Understood though, different styles for different coaches. I'm fine with it, but man we just seem soft like Hawaiian Bread (Kings) this year.


• I have an employee that works for me. He checks in with me on every decision he makes. I inherited him about 4 months ago and the guy can't make a decision on his own. I get 35 phone calls a day asking me whether this is ok, or that's ok. In his own mind, he's empowered to do just about nothing. He's got some talent, too. Could be a really good Salesperson He's my Ivo Baltic. Someone has beaten the poor guy's confidence down to a bloody pulp. He's a shell of what he could be. My guy checks with me to buy pens and notebooks. Ivo fades away from 18 feet. My guy struggles to make sales on a consistent basis. Ivo can't get to the free throw line. My guy's voice cracks when he talks to customers. Ivo has no stomach to take the ball into the paint. You can bet your ass I'm going to work with my guy to make him better or I'm going to cut the line. Jim Christian, what are you going to do?


• I've seen 2 players who have actually improved since last year - Ricardo and Keely. I've seen 5 players who have gotten worse - Kellogg, Smith, Taylor, Baltic, and Walt. Yes, that's a scathing review of the progress to date. Something just isn't right. You can't tell me the Walter Offutt of 12/15 is the same guy who lit up UNC on the National Stage in STL on 3/23. This guy is a shell of himself. Frankly, the regression pattern among those 5 scares me. It scares me a great deal for this year. It scares me for what's going to happen in future years.


• Here's the most head scratching part of this whole thing. We took a culture of NCAA Tournament Appearances AND wins and replaced it with NO NCAA Tournament wins and 56-73 the past 4 years. Further, we paid a hell of a lot for this. I can tell you this, I'm not real happy about the situation. That said, I trust Jim Schaus. His track record with CBB coaches is excellent, and his direction of the Athletic Department has been nothing short of perfect the past few years. It's not easy to see the forest through the trees right now, but I'll have faith and persevere.


• How much more would you have paid to have Dustin working with Ivo and the bigs again this year? Elephants everywhere. Anyone that ever uttered a foul word about Dustin, his size, his coaching, etc should contribute a quarter to the swear jar. Look what we have now.


• Taco Bell - Nelsonville - Get your act together. "Ma'am, I'd like a Diet Pepsi. Preferably with the Pepsi mandated split of Syrup to Carbonated Water. Oh, you can only give me a 99-1 split of water to syrup? Well I guess I have to take it then." - How. Refreshing. Those little coupons on the back of my ticket stubs - useless. I have to buy a large water-cola to get my free menu item. I can't do it in good conscience anymore.


• That little Coach from Winthrop was a good one. Guy yapped like a little cocker spaniel all game long, but by god he had his guys in the right spots all game. They shot 33% and won in our building.  I was impressed. Little guy coached a heck of a game. Got every drop of talent and energy out of his crew today. Credit where it's due.


• Here's the beauty of today - it's over, we can forget about it. Here's the rest of the gem - we've got 21 games left to play. We've got the entire conference schedule. We've got the MAC Tournament. We've got some good non-con tests. We can turn this thing around today and still make it a great season. The conference is terrible. We're still the most talented team on paper. We've got big time experience to lean on, plus we're Senior laden. But this thing has to turn around from the top. The Captain of this ship has to steer it around the iceburg. The next 3 months will tell me a lot about what to expect the next few years. I hope it gives us all reason for optimism.


• I'm out. Going back to lurking. For heaven's sake, someone please try lift your game above the mendoza line and get this site back to its former glory.

Here’s what bothered me about the coaching today and I hope it’s not going to be a pattern as it is with some coaches I’ve seen. It has to do with deciding which players are on the court and which are not.

Throughout the game, when players made a bad decision or play (and granted there were a ton today), the first thing I noticed at times was that our coach would immediately look to the bench and put in a replacement for the player who screwed up. I don’t think that’s a strategy that instills anything positive in players, but rather, it can put in players’ minds that if they mess it, they’re coming out. It happened on a number of occasions. The one situation I specifically recall was when Reggie lost a player on the defensive end who scored uncontested. Coach then looked to the bench and got John up. As he was reporting to the scorer’s table, OHIO quickly moved the ball down the court and Reggie scored. Coach then went up to John and sat him down before he reported into the game.

I just don’t think that’s a healthy way to play players. It gives them a bad mindset. You want your players in the game confident, loose, and not afraid they might make a mistake.

Having said all that, I think Coach Christian was the right hire and that he will be a good coach at OHIO. I just wish he re-thinks this piece of game management.

Last Edited: 12/16/2012 12:04:55 AM by stub

Last Edited: 12/16/2012 3:07:36 AM by whocaresgobobcats

Isn't kind of ironic to see to see some of the truly irrational, illogical, overly-emotional posters criticizing the quality of the posts on this board.

donuts, your gratuitous, weak blasts at me are boring.

Last Edited: 12/16/2012 10:08:57 PM by bshot44