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Topic: Reasons Ohio lost last night

Topic: Reasons Ohio lost last night

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bobcat695
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Parkersburg, WV
Post Count: 1,345

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Reasons Ohio lost last night

Posted: 1/15/2015 10:23:43 AM

Tony Campbell played 18 minutes, Nathan Booth played 32 minutes. Boothe was a force inside and Setty just isn't big enough to guard him. Tony had a couple bad fouls, and the technical he received was just plain stupid. It put him in foul trouble and forced him to the bench, which gave Toledo an advantage during those minutes he was sitting. As a sophomore in college, he has to know that dropping an f-bomb on an official is dumb. If he is going to perform anywhere close to his potential he has got to get his head in the game. I love his upside if he can become tougher between the ears.

While the effort is there, the team still makes a lot of tactical errors. The guards are not fighting through screens, which results in them trailing their guy towards the hoop. Both of Witherspoon's monster dunks in the first half were caused by the guards losing their guy and the help defender having to stop the ball, which resulted in Witherspoon being wide open. Bad defensive fundamentals are causing too many layups. Late in the first half, their guard got a wide open layup on an inbounds play under the hoop. That simply should never happen.

Our team played better, but they still have too many wasted offensive possessions. I cannot believe the final play of the first half was designed for Setty to shoot a 3. There was a lot of time left on that possession and I think they lost focus. Our guards still seem to dribble the ball into the corner with no escape plan. Luckily, Toledo missed a handful of corner and baseline trap opportunities last night, but those are plays that are definitely not part of the offense. Also, I cannot believe all 4 guys that lined up on the FT shot late in the game didn't know it was 1 & 1 for Toledo. That was one of the most unaware plays I have ever seen from a college basketball team.

Unlike a lot of others on this board, I am not convinced we have a horrible team this season. Last night was basically a 2 possession loss. There are a lot of things last night that could have changed that loss into a win. Laster looked good, Harley looked good and Ryan Taylor missed shots that normally go in for him. Stevie looked refreshed and happy finally. Mo was dominant in the first half and Setty provided good energy while he was in. I like the things Saul says in the postgame. I hope the team buys into his message, because he is correct. There are no moral victories. it stinks to lose. The team needs a win badly.

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

OUcats82
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Member Since: 1/9/2005
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Post Count: 1,883

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RE: Reasons Ohio lost last night

Posted: 1/15/2015 11:01:31 AM

The best is yet to come for Saulball.

There are some growing pains going on for sure, not to mention we really had some underwhelming recruiting classes over the past few years which is contributing to our struggles. All that being said I think that if the players can put forth the same effort they did last night against other teams some victories will come. I have no idea what the team's collective confidence is like right now, but hopefully they will build off of last night's game, even if it was a loss.

I think it's best to pump the brakes on our frustration/criticism until maybe next season and especially the one after.

Ohio-The State University

BobcatSports
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Member Since: 2/2/2006
Post Count: 1,094

Status: Offline

RE: Reasons Ohio lost last night

Posted: 1/15/2015 12:02:23 PM

I agree 695 that we are not necessarily a "horrible" team. I think there has just been too much "horrible" play out of this team on numerous occasions at times this year.

Saul said last nite he believes this team can compete/beat any team in the MAC this year. I would agree with that. I think this team showed that last nite against the MAC favorite and extremely talented Rocket team in spite of playing a vast majority of the game at a severe disadvantage inside due to the foul troubles of Mo, Tony and Setty. Some of those fouls were self-inflicted, ie Tony's technical, Mo fouling Witherspoon 100ft from the basket, Setty's RPM's running wild, etc.

That said, we played with energy and competed. I've noted that this team has played lazily and uninterested at times this season. I saw none of that last nite.

Play a little smarter in some key situations and we win that game.

Stop the Fbomb mouthing. That's 3 T's I know of this year (Mo,Bean,Tony) that came due to their mouths. It needs to stop no matter who it is.

Thought Stevie's play last nite was huge. He is the ONLY point guard we have on the eligible roster and this team needs him. I hope last nite gave his confidence a much needed boost and hope it boosted Saul's confidence in him as well.

Thought Ryan, Laster and Harley competed. Especially having to compensate for all our bigs being out so much with the fouls. Toledo had plenty of mis-matches to exploit and I thought we could have folded like a cheap suit but didn't.

The loss hurt but overall there were lots of positives to take forward from last nite.

Go Bobcats!!

Granger's Towel
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Member Since: 12/29/2012
Post Count: 34

Status: Offline

RE: Reasons Ohio lost last night

Posted: 1/16/2015 9:18:07 AM

Add this to my post in the "great effort" thread... Agree with a lot of this.

I have noticed every single time Stevie gets screened he is running behind his guy to the hoop. Every single time this year.

The big thing I hate is that with about 55 seconds on the clock and the ball - and I think a time out called - why not go 2-for-1 in possessions? I hate watching teams use that whole clock, then give 20 seconds to the opponent for the last shot.

I told bleedgreenandwhite after the game that this could be the first team to play a first round road game in the MAC tourney since........ ??? We looked it up and the 2010 team went from OT @ Ball State to beating Georgetown. Certainly that is the exception to the rule, but hopefully this team can improve together.

JSF
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Member Since: 1/29/2005
Location: Houston, TX
Post Count: 6,554

Status: Offline

RE: Reasons Ohio lost last night

Posted: 1/16/2015 12:08:14 PM

After an 0-3 start, a road game is all but assured.

2-for-1s are overrated. They're nice if you can get them, but one good possession is better than two rushed ones. Insert comment about the quality of our possessions here:

"Loyalty to a hometown or city is fleeting and interchangeable, but college is a stamp of identity."- Kyle Whelliston, One Beautiful Season.

My blog about depression and mental illness: https://bit.ly/3buGXH8

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