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Topic: the LOVE brings it....

Topic: the LOVE brings it....

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Bobcat Love
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 1,193

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the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 1:14:31 PM

Enjoy it, because you may not get it until MAC Play.

After having watched a few minutes of an early practice, and Game 1 vs Tennessee Martin - a few general thoughts on the upcoming season in typical bulleted format:

A. I really really REALLY like this roster. Seasoned vets - check. Talented Freshmen - check. Sound backcourt - check. Athletic bigs - check. Bench depth - check. I can't remember a year on paper where we had just about every box checked in terms of having a perfect roster.

B. Most Improved Player: Ricardo Johnson. Bigger. Faster. More Athletic. More Confident. Improved knowledge of the system. Where he was pretty passive last year, he looks much more in sync with the team concept and creating opportunity for himself this year. I'm really excited to watch his continued development. I thought he played very well against UT-M yesterday. He was all over the offensive glass, holding his own on D, and always in the right spot on the offensive end. Should be fun.

C. With respect to Corey Reed, Mychal Green, Mike Allen, Dustin, Geno, Estis, Rush, and all of the Guards who have come before....this is the best collection of Guards I've seen wear the Green and White. I'm a dyed in the wool DJ Cooper fan, but I think it's very obvious his leash got a lot shorter this year with the addition of Walt Offutt and Stevie Taylor. Both can handle the ball, create a spark, play suffocating D, and score at will. In all honesty, my biggest concern is how we manage Cooper this year and continue to keep Kellogg developing. Do we unlock all the available talent in #5, or do we turn him into someone always looking over his shoulder because of lack of minutes? Does Kellogg just kind of get lost in the shuffle instead of continuing to develop into an upper echelon MAC guard? I don't think we want DJ playing guarded and cautious, but I also know we don't want him trying to force things. Yesterday was a perfect example, 8 assists from DJ in the first half and a perfectly dominating team performance. In the 2nd half, he starts getting shot-happy and sloppy, and we let UT-M back into it. Groce and Staff have to find a way to make this work with all 4 guards. Walt is going 105% every minute he's on the floor, and Taylor has a similar motor. DJ is a bit more methodical and Kellogg controlled. The contrast is going to be fun to watch, but I can't stress enough how important it's going to be for the Staff to manage the personalities and ego's.

D. The frontcourt is either going to push us into an NCAA Tournament run or get us bounced in the 2nd round of the MAC Tournament. I know the guards can play fast and maximize our number of possessions, but can the group of Smith, Hall, Gourd, Keely, and Baltic keep up? This is going to sound bad, but I thought we looked a little tired yesterday against UT-M. I feel like Groce wants to play the up tempo style he's always preached, has the personnel to do it, but the conditioning and execution just isn't there yet. Smith is unbelievably long, but he looked winded several times yesterday. In a wierd way, he seems really raw still. Gourd is going to be good. Again, raw. Keely has definitely bulked up and appears to have been handed some form of leadership responsibility, but he's got to earn it on the floor and in practice. Baltic continues to develop on a positive path. The ball still dies a bit when it goes into the Baltic or Keely post, but Ivo is so athletic and hungry that he can create a lot of his own opportunities. Hall looks basically the same as last year, but truly a nice luxury to have when he's #9 off the bench.

E. If Ethan and Belton can get healthy and in shape, you're looking at a team that's at least a solid 9 or 10 deep and perfectly hedged against injury or the inevitable 2-3 game suspension that we face every year.

From a roster standpoint, I really couldn't ask for better right now. Superb job by the staff molding this thing together. Now I really believe it's just about execution and conditioning.

F. The schedule. It's gotten a lot of flak for being soft, and the reality is - it is soft. But, I find a TON of interesting things about the non-con that we should all be excited about. First, we have Pat Knight, John Brady, and Todd Bozeman coming to the Convo. At one juncture or another, this would have been a parade of marquee names. While all 3 are reclamation projects, I find their presence exciting. Second, with Mike Marra out, we have a real chance to beat Louisville on the road. Could be a very ugly meal for Pitino at Porcini's that night. Third, I really feel like there's enough stern tests on the slate to get us ready for the MAC grind. We get WMU and Ball at home, plus we get off easy having Kent and Miami at home early in the MAC schedule. If there was a year to rack up wins, this is it. I'll never get the Portland game (why go 2,000 miles to play 1 game, nobody on the roster from the Pac NW), and I don't particularly care for the A&T/Kennesaw games, but as somebody wise once told me "scheduling as a mid-major is equally as hard as recruiting." Sure, I want Duke and Kentucky in the Convo, but I think we can all find something interesting about every game put in front of us.

I would like to see things upgraded several notches next year. As I said earlier, we have a marquee player in #5, and I really think it does him a dis-service to hide him from the national landscape like we did this year. We are unbelievably focused on TV in football, yet in basketball it appears to have very little bearing on how we do things. If DJ Cooper was on TV as much as Paul Hershey, the Convo might have a little different feel in the thick of MAC Play.

Here's my prediction:

10-4 in the Non Conference (Losses to Lamar, Marshall, Portland, and Northern Iowa)
12-5 in the MAC (Losses @ Kent, Vs. Kent, Vs. Ball, @ EMU, @ Akron)
Win Bracketbuster

23-7 overall. MAC Tourney Finals. No prediction past that.

See you all in the Convo. Should be a good year.

LOVE

Ohio69
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 1:37:35 PM

Wow. More optimistic than me. I think we are going to lose quite often early and to the better MAC teams due to our not-yet-ready-but-could-be-by-March front court.

I hope we solve the Cooper-Taylor-Offut-Kellog minutes "problem" by playing 3 of them all the time. All. The. Time.

Can somebody hit a pull up jumper for me?.....

Ted Thompson
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Location: MAC Play
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 1:47:53 PM

Bobcat Love wrote:

I think we can all find something interesting about every game put in front of us.

Who are you and what have you done with the real Bobcat Love?

Follow Ohio Football recruiting on the BobcatAttack.com football recruiting database.

OUVan
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 2:24:54 PM

Ted Thompson wrote:

Who are you and what have you done with the real Bobcat Love?

No kidding, especially Section F. I can envision Kevin McCarthy in the doorway with a horrid look on his face with a pair of feet sticking out of the closet while BL types away.

anorris
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 2:39:59 PM

Wow, this could be the most positive preseason outlook I've seen from you. I agree with most all of it, but somehow think we manage to lose a couple we shouldn't at some point along the road. I have to say, watching the first half from afar yesterday was certainly encouraging. We looked like a well oiled machine, which is an extreme rarity in the first game of the season.

Panda
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 4:04:26 PM

The "Love" has spoken a very commendable piece. I agree almost 95%. I do think that Smith and Goard will give us some security under the basket starting in Jan. They both have long reaches and fairly good jumps. I have watched Offut in several practices and now two games. He is very impressive on both ends of the floor. Great feet, great balance, great shooting, great speed, and jumps out of the Convo. ( A better Basset) He will make DJ better and create more assists for DJ because of his speed and cutting to the basket. This occurred once in last night's game. It was so quick. A flash!!

I loved our defensive intenisty during the 1st half. Not in good enough condition to maintain at this point. Now foul shooting. Please, someone, tell me why this team is consistently poor. I watch practices and they do one hell of a lot of foul shooting. I believe they are about 85-90% during the practices.

Last Edited: 11/14/2011 4:11:30 PM by Panda

Panda

Jeff McKinney
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 4:06:38 PM

Very thought provoking and comprehensive post, Love.

Almost as complex as our agendas for our Jackson Zoning Board of Appeals meetings.

whocaresgobobcats
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Member Since: 8/29/2011
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 4:17:16 PM

Still giving up large leads and missing free throws late. Lots of good talent, but so far the team has the same problems as last year. They really need Belton as the posts will just get pushed around, especially Smith. He's long, but gets abused by bigger posts. We'll see.

The Optimist
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Location: CLE
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 4:59:58 PM

The Love has clearly taken my tweets to heart.

I've seen crazier things happen.

BOOM!!!!
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 6:10:03 PM

you really think we will lose to Lamar? ive never heard of them till i seen this years schedule.

colobobcat66
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 6:30:00 PM

JoePa not a saint and then this post by the Love-something is going on. I am shocked with the positivity.

Bobcat Love
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 7:36:13 PM

ohiou.football2007 wrote:

you really think we will lose to Lamar? ive never heard of them till i seen this years schedule.

You haven't heard of them? Then of course we'll beat them.

Turney13
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 8:05:15 PM

http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=293280195

and

http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=283410195

Last Edited: 11/14/2011 8:21:07 PM by Turney13

Turney Duff
Twitter: @turneyduff

bobcat695
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 8:35:52 PM

Not only have we played them in the past, I am bringing a loyal Lamar alum with me tomorrow night for a repeat loss in the Convo for him.

"You can't un-fist a fist pump." - Saul Phillips 1/24/15

BOOM!!!!
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 8:41:37 PM

sorry i even said anything bobcat love. ill never ask a question.

RSBobcat
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 9:34:06 PM

My favorite Love post in - well, a long time. I agree with darn near 100%!

RS Bobcat

PutnamField
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 9:51:16 PM

Bobcat Love wrote:

23-7 overall. MAC Tourney Finals. No prediction past that.

You've already predicted Sweet 16 in another thread. No retractions, eh?

OhioCatFan
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 10:41:17 PM

I was getting progressively more positive about this season until I read this post. BL being so gushingly euphoric has me somewhat worried. I think, however, that we can probably overcome the BL jinx and have a good season anyway!

P.S. I think we'll crush Lamar.

Last Edited: 11/14/2011 10:42:22 PM by OhioCatFan

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

Bobcat Love
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 10:56:49 PM

PutnamField wrote:

Bobcat Love wrote:

23-7 overall. MAC Tourney Finals. No prediction past that.

You've already predicted Sweet 16 in another thread. No retractions, eh?

You know what, I'm going to stick by it. MAC Tourney Champs, 1st and 2nd round wins. Let's do this.

Chicken George
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/14/2011 11:36:07 PM

So we lose to Lamar at home, but win at Louisville? I'll take that tradeoff.

bobcat28
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Location: United States
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/15/2011 9:01:23 AM

I think we will be good this year, but we still might be one year away from our big time run in the tourney. Next year: Ivo, DJ, & Walter will be seniors. They could possibly be 3 of the top 8 players in the conference. Kellog, Smith, Taylor, Goard will have another year under their belt. And if we can get some minutes out of Jacobs and Allen we will have the height to match up with anyone.

OUs LONG Driver
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/15/2011 3:04:37 PM

I believe Allen is 2 years away. Caris LaVert is the only guy in next year's class as of now. Hopefully Belton gets a 6th year of eligibility.

Alan Swank
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Location: Athens, OH
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RE: the LOVE brings it....

Posted: 11/15/2011 3:26:52 PM

Play like we did the first half and like love says, 23 and 7 is possible. Start throwing up threes like we did in the second and we'll be lucky to go 19 and 11.

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