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Topic: RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Topic: RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

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shabamon
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 10:46:49 AM

The Convo is a different beast once you get 8,000 in the building. I believe the Convo with 8,000 people feels more big time than Stroh with 4,000. That said, it is too big and Stroh is too small. 10,000 would be a good capacity for us. I'm not a fan of tarps or curtains, but we used to keep the outer ring of lights off which would darken the upper levels and make the place feel more intimate, especially for those weeknight games.

I kind of wish we didn't have as big of a lead at halftime. The team came out tight on offense to start the second half. I don't think they were prepared for BG's approach to starting the half, but you had to know it was coming. I thought Boals should have called timeout after the first dunk that brought the score to 39-28. Nip that momentum in the bud. Instead we waited until it was 39-35.

Anything can happen in March, but I will be shocked if anyone knocks off Akron or BG before the MAC final. I've watched all of our games and a small handful of other MAC games. Akron appears the most talented and BG appears to be the most mentally tough. There's a huge gap between those two and the middle of the pack.

shabamon
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 10:50:41 AM

I also don't have a problem with the shots Murrell took late. He's a fourth year college wing player and should have the green light on a good look. The three was wide open, he just missed it badly.

El Gato Roberto
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 11:50:28 AM

Focusing on the positive - I was thrilled to see the team come off the CMU win with their best half of basketball all season. It�s great to see them use that leverage, especially on the road. That�s the beginnings of a winning culture! We all knew BG would make a run. Kudos to our kids for getting the lead back up to 7. There were so many chances to separate and win, despite being short Jordy and McDay. This team is so close to figuring it out. No doubt about it, this loss is going to sting, All the same, I am anxious to see how they react on Tuesday. There is still a lot of basketball yet to play! Go Cats!

Last Edited: 2/23/2020 11:53:09 AM by El Gato Roberto

"The name's Ohio University, but everybody calls me Ohio. Any of you guys call me Ohio U, and I'll kill you."

The Better Ohio Bobcat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 12:43:47 PM

El Gato Roberto wrote:

How long are we gonna say we�re close? At some point we need to beat a good team.

OhioCatFan
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 1:15:14 PM

If you need a scapegoat for this loss, I volunteer. When Ben Roderick stepped to the line, I confidentially told my wife, "He's a good foul shooter. He swishes nearly everyone. Hardly ever even hits iron." It was a. do-it-yourself, announcer jink, from the home bleachers.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

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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 Nick
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 2:07:16 PM

The missed free throw did hurt a lot. The team is young and it shows in key moments late. Hopefully someone else can step up to find their shot and/or get to the line when Preston gets extra attention. At least it�s a lot more entertaining this year. Boals could be building a very strong program here and I�ve noticed other teams announcers saying the same as of late.

Pataskala
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 2:19:51 PM

One sign of improvement I've noticed is that they're not making passes to nobody. Even early in the MAC season there would be two or more times per game where the player with the ball tossed it to where he expected somebody to be but nobody was there. It would wind up in the bench or up in the crowd. Haven't seen that for the last five or six games. Preston almost did it early yesterday when he apparently mistook a ref for a teammate (a drawback of the black unis). Communication is improving and they're getting to be on the same page.

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

cbus cat fan
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 3:22:26 PM

OhioBobcat wrote:

cbus cat fan wrote:

I have joked about Millett Hall in Oxford looking as if it belonged in East Berlin, so much so that it had to be the unanimous winner of the Walter Ulbricht East German architecture award of 1968. Well my return trip to the Stroh Center reminds that it had to the winner of the 2010 Midwest High School Gymnasium competition (Division I bracket.) Honestly, I think we have all seen large high school suburban gyms that are similar. Having said that, it works, a paltry, ho-hum crowd can seem so much bigger. Imagine a recruit visiting the Stroh Center and then Dayton's arena? It we get the Convo rocking again, I can only imagine the fear it would instill if you are accustom to arenas like the Stroh Center.

I was at both BG-OU games this year. Say what you will about either arena, as both have pluses and minuses. That said, both matchups this year had similar attendance figures. But only one game �felt� important. The one in the Stroh Center. Obviously some of that had to go with BG winning both games and this one was on their home floor. But as you eluded, a similar size crowd there was nearing a sellout and created a much better look and atmosphere. Whereas the game in the Convo was played in an arena 2/3 empty. Ohio could pull in 8,000 for a game and it still can�t shed the look of a cavernous, empty arena, even with a decent crowd. Take a look around the MAC at average attendance numbers. All of them get swallowed up in the Convo. It�s simply too big. And empty seats do not strike fear in any opponent. Yes, walking into a empty Convo can be impressive for the first time, and so can the once every blue moon of a near capacity crowd. But the majority of the time it�s cavernous, empty-seated look is what we have consistently seen and will consistently see. The size of the majority of the other MAC arenas are, frankly, better and more suitable. The Convo, while still a fine facility IMO, is hurt most simply by its sheer size.

Well put Ohio Bobcat. I will add a few things. The point I was getting at with Millett Hall compared to the Convo was they were both were built at the same time. The Convo like many similar structures owes it's look to both the Coliseum in shape and the Pantheon (because of it's inner look.) Millett Hall owes it's look to Stalin's tomb. I don't mean to be snarky, but there is an aesthetically pleasing quality to the Convo which can stand the test of time. The Stroh Center is utilitarian and it has to be considering the times; when non-Power conferences just can't draw the same crowds they one did (Dayton being the notable exception.) It is hard enough for Power conferences to draw big crowds. Ohio State and many others practically beg people to come to games, and rarely if ever have sellouts even again marque opponents.

We have all discussed ad nauseam the reasons students aren't going to the games in the numbers they once did. However, our town and campus is somewhat isolated compared to those in larger towns and metro areas. It is not like we have to convince students not to drive to beautiful downtown Belpre and Parkersburg, so that they stay in Athens to watch the Bobcats. Many, at least of drinking age may already be watching games on TV in the various watering holes of Athens, just not the Bobcats. You might recall the post I made after the Purdue game when I spoke with several seniors and fifth year seniors who said that's exactly what they do during many Bobcat games. Anyway, winning can help turn that around and get the students back in the Convo. Let's face it, the student population was less in the Nee era (most especially 83-86) when the Convo was raucous for nearly every home game.

There is also an intensity difference compared to that era. I can remember going to away games when there was near brawls after a Miami, BG or Toledo fan might elbow someone on the way to the concession stand or restroom. Even when I lived in DC in the 90s, I remember the OU Alumni club had an arrangement with a bar to show OU games when available on satellite. Once a hostile Duke contingent tried to take over our room claiming their games meant something. What ensued were heated words, threats and an unprintable shouting match between both schools alums, who were literally some of the rising stars in DC. It didn't matter, both schools loved their teams and they let it show. I thought of this yesterday, when I saw some students from both schools exchanging pleasantries and the like. It is just a different era and atmosphere. I am not advocating students now wear their emotions on their sleeves as some of us once did, but hopefully winning will help find a way for them to better back the Cats.

OhioBobcat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 3:26:44 PM

shabamon wrote:

The Convo is a different beast once you get 8,000 in the building.

I disagree that it is a "different beast" simply by having 8,000 in there as it would still mean about 40% of the arena has empty seats. Meaning, you're still playing in front of a nearly half-empty arena even with an exceptional crowd for a MAC school.

A good example that stands out to me about the Convo was the Virginia game. Some UVa friends of mine made the road trip from Charlottesville to Athens for the UVa-OU game. At tip-off, they kept commenting on how dead and empty the Convo was. Keep in mind, the attendance was about 7,500 that night in a game Ohio ended up actually winning. Both teams were having so-so season, which took some of the luster off having an ACC school visiting Athens, and it was a different UVa program than the one they've developed into in recent years. But what was interesting about their comments to me was, UVa's home arena at the time was University Hall, which seated about 8,500. So the 7,500 in the Convo that day would have nearly had UVa's arena filled. But I agreed with them, the Convo still had an empty-ish feel to it. That said, I have been in the filled Convo for a select few games where it did feel big time. But that's not the norm whatsoever.

Ball State falls into the same type of category as Ohio does as MAC schools with the two biggest arenas, yet, both suffer from the cavernous feel even with good crowds in them. Ball State's arena at least feels and looks a little more like an athletic venue to me compared to the Convo. The Convo looks and feels a little more like what it's actually named, a convocation center, than say Worthen Arena. I've never liked that there are three Convocations Centers in the MAC (OU, NIU and EMU) as each has the look and feel of exactly that over a basketball arena in some ways (mainly the capacity).

The two venues that suffer the worst, by far, are NIU and EMU. They have the 3rd and 4th largest venues in the MAC, respectively, and they are often horribly empty and are the two worst examples of empty arenas in the MAC. Miami's is odd because it has the feel of basketball being played in a non-arena all together. Even by not counting the empty seats behind curtains, the empty space is still obvious that it's there. I've never minded it that much, probably because of the success Ohio has had in it. I do like they way they turn off the lights above the seating and that they replaced those awful greenish, vomit colored seats.

IMO, Toledo and Buffalo have some of the best combinations of capacity/attendance/fits in the MAC. Their venues top out at capacity figures that aren't too big but also aren't too small and they usually have crowds that feed into that. To me, Toledo's capacity pretty much is spot on as the mean for a MAC arena. While I don't like UB's arena layout or look, it actually appears and feels bigger to me than what it seats, and the capacity works for UB. Obviously these are both urban schools.

When looking at the bottom half of the MAC for capacity, schools like Kent State, Akron, WMU, CMU and BG all play in the smaller arenas in the MAC. But they better fit their needs. While they aren't venues that you walk into and gasp at their size, they also aren't venues that are cavernous and empty when you put an average MAC crowd in from week to week or year to year in any of them either.

Personally, I love how college basketball arenas differ from one to another. Not just in the MAC, but nationally as well. When looking at the MAC, the 12 MAC football stadiums are more similar as a whole than the 12 MAC basketball arenas are to one another. Still, to me, each of the 12 MAC basketball arenas have their pluses and minuses. They different so much based on what exactly you are ranking them based on. Case in point, EMU has what one could argue is the nicest or best arena in the MAC, but it also features the worst atmosphere, and that's parts not even really up for debate.

Last Edited: 2/23/2020 3:32:14 PM by OhioBobcat

Bobcat1998
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 3:31:50 PM

Look at how BVP and Preston took huge steps in year 2. I think Rod and McDay and even Brown and Foster can make that jump. I see Brown looking more confident in his offense and when he handles the point I do not cringe!!!!! We need Tuesday!!

bobcatsquared
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 5:06:53 PM

Bobcat1998 wrote:

I see Brown looking more confident in his offense and when he handles the point I do not cringe!!!!!

Do you cringe when he shoots the ball?

El Gato Roberto
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 5:45:19 PM

bobcatsquared wrote:

Bobcat1998 wrote:

I see Brown looking more confident in his offense and when he handles the point I do not cringe!!!!!

Do you cringe when he shoots the ball?

He is fearless going to the hoop - although it seems that �discretion is the better part of valor� for him more often than not. But I love that he�s not afraid to go for it, if he starts scoring that way it sets him up to shoot the three.

"The name's Ohio University, but everybody calls me Ohio. Any of you guys call me Ohio U, and I'll kill you."

GraffZ06
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 6:26:30 PM

El Gato Roberto wrote:

bobcatsquared wrote:

Bobcat1998 wrote:

I see Brown looking more confident in his offense and when he handles the point I do not cringe!!!!!

Do you cringe when he shoots the ball?

The dude can't throw the ball in the ocean. 9-39 from the field (23.1%) and 2-15 from three (13.3%). Do we WANT him shooting at all, especially from three?

He also has a pretty sterling 9:14 Assist:TO ratio.

He's young. He can improve. I like his athleticism and defense. But to say he's anything other than a HUGE liability on the offensive end is just a lie.

El Gato Roberto
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 6:34:06 PM

GraffZ06 wrote:

El Gato Roberto wrote:

bobcatsquared wrote:

Bobcat1998 wrote:

I see Brown looking more confident in his offense and when he handles the point I do not cringe!!!!!

Do you cringe when he shoots the ball?

Just saying he�s fearless going to the rim. I love that about a freshman.

"The name's Ohio University, but everybody calls me Ohio. Any of you guys call me Ohio U, and I'll kill you."

bobcatsquared
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 6:37:16 PM

El Gato Roberto wrote:

Just saying he�s fearless going to the rim. I love that about a freshman.

SBH was fearless on the basketball court at Grover Center. You didn't want to see him handling/shooting the ball, however, unless you were the opponent.

I do cringe when I see him taking shots, especially from behind the arc. It's hard to imagine saying that about a player that averaged 33 ppg last season.

Last Edited: 2/23/2020 6:38:32 PM by bobcatsquared

Jeff McKinney
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/23/2020 11:42:36 PM

OhioBobcat: Enjoyed reading your analysis of MAC basketball arenas. I disagree that Worthen looks more like an athletic facility than the Convo. And I think the Convo is still the best basketball facility in the MAC. But I agree with you that Toledo has the ideal set up.

I attended the hockey games here over the weekend. Sellout both nights in a 2000 seat arena. It is just so much more electric and fun when an arena is nearly full and loud. I don't think there's any way to reduce the Convo capacity, but 10,000 would be nice. Maybe even 8,000. I think we are stuck with a cavernous arena due to budget limitations. If the money were available, a total renovation of the Convo or building something new from scratch would be awesome. But the next step is to build a practice facility.

100%Cat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 7:50:01 AM

OhioCatFan wrote:

I had the feeling, and said it out loud, if he misses the front end we're cooked. I hate being right sometimes.

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 8:03:43 AM

The foul at 30 seconds left was absolute crap. Roderick still has freshman jitters...despite being a good shooting, I was not confident in that 1 and 1 attempt that gave BG the opportunity. But above all else we just didn't hit enough shots in the 2nd half. We should have won this game.

Any updates on McDay & Dartis?

Andrew Ruck
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100%Cat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 8:36:33 AM

Andrew Ruck wrote:

Arkley tweeted that Dartis was just cramps again. McDay had rolled his ankle in practice, but I saw no specific updates on him.

GoCats105
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 9:32:19 AM

Jeff McKinney wrote:

I would hope that if the time ever came and the money was ever available that the practice facility and renovation were completed simultaneously. I don't think a total rebuild is necessary, as places like Dayton and Cincinnati have proven you can just work with what you have. It would be very interesting to see what an architect could visualize with the old gal.

100%Cat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 9:42:06 AM

GoCats105 wrote:

Jeff McKinney wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to do something similar (obviously the exact same wouldn't be possible) to what Cleveland does for Rocket Fieldhouse, closing off the upper sections with some sort of temporary/removable device? Probably not feasible with the Convo, just a thought.

Andrew Ruck
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 10:06:22 AM

I would think they could install a curtain system to wrap around at the start of the steep seats and cut it down to about 10k and I think it would look nice. But even if not a huge investment, it is a tough sell because it is pretty pointless. Just look how long it took us to get hand dryers.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

OU_Country
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RE: OHIO robbed with a phantom foul call at the end of the game!

Posted: 2/24/2020 12:35:34 PM

Pataskala wrote:

I couldn't figure out how BG had only one foul in the first 19 minutes of the game. But then again, there were only six fouls total in the first half of the Nova-Xavier game today and there was a lot of body banging going on.

Lousy broadcast in the second half. They completely got away from discussing the game and instead interviewed the former BG player. I was glad for the technical problems they had. Gave me an excuse to listen to Russ and Rob, even though the AM station up here kept fading.

I still think we can win three of the last four (I'm not counting on beating Akron). Three wins should guarantee a home game in the first round of the tourney.

If the AM station is giving you an issue, use Tune In Radio -- https://tunein.com /, or their app on your phone. I listen to the app with the game, and the app allows me to "sync" it with the game on the screen by pausing, etc.

The app is awesome. If there's a game that is produced by Learfield/IMG, it's on the Tune In app, so probably 75-80% of college hoops radio is on the app.

OU_Country
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 12:46:01 PM

Jeff McKinney wrote:

As much as we enjoy the place, it's too damn big for the demand at Ohio. And no matter what Boals does, there isn't going to be a demand for 13,000 seats for sports in that building again soon. I felt the opportunity was there to change this when the re-did the seats, by making each seat a little wider, and thereby reducing upper level capacity by maybe 20-25%. Another thing would have been to eliminate seats in the last 2-3 rows altogether. Those ships have sailed.

I think if they're thinking of a renovation, they should re-think it, and bulldoze the whole building and build a facility that includes a practice facility. Of course this is totally hypothetical, because to do so would require having what, $100-150 million to spend? That doesn't exist at Ohio right now.

100%Cat
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RE: Official Game 27 Thread: Bowling Green

Posted: 2/24/2020 2:47:12 PM

OU_Country wrote:

Jeff McKinney wrote:

And time. A facility that big would take time to build, meaning it would almost have to be on a new site so the Convo would remain in use until it was complete.

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