St. Thomas Preview

Next up for BG MBB, after a week off, is the St. Thomas Tommies, a team usually playing BG in hockey, but now playing them in D1 basketball.

This is an amazing story.  They were a dominant program in many sports in the MIAC and DIII.  In fact, they were so good that they were expelled from the conference.  (They won a football game 97-0). 

Really.  

If St. Thomas had stayed, they would have dissolved the conference.  Sheesh.  They couldn't find another conference that would accept them in DIII, so they came to the NCAA and asked for a quick route to DI--which normally required passing through DII first.

In MBB, they made 19 DII tournaments and won it twice. 

Moving to D1, they joined the Summit League.  They struggled their first year, were 19-14 the next year and 20-13 last year.  They are not eligible for post-season play until 26-27. (They are supposed to start playing NCHC that year as well).

The Summit is the 20th-ranked conference right now, the MAC is #22.  Blue Ribbon picked them 6th and their own media had them #4.  KC, who beat BG last Saturday, was picked to win the Summit.  They are 9-4 this year, and 6-4 in D1 games. Their kenpom has moved from 202 to 140, mostly through double-digit road wins over Green Bay (#328) and Northern Colorado (#166) and a neutral floor 26-point win over Portland State (254).

They losses are @Oklahoma State (101), @Az State (#61), Wofford (#146, neutral floor) and @Milwaukee (134).

They have never played BG.  They beat WMU two games ago (77-71 in St. Paul) and last year 66-51 in Kzoo.

They are a scoring machine. They go at 68 possessions, which is average.  But they score 1.12 points per possession, which is #88 in the nation. It's mostly shooting. They try 46% of their FGs from 3FG, which is #54 in the country.  They are also good at it, making 39% (#24).  They also make 57% on 2FGs (#57).  They are better than average on turnovers.  Like many teams who play the 3FG game, they are not committed to the offensive boards and don't shoot a lot of FTs, though they make 77% when they get there, which is #37.  

Defensively they allow 1.1 points per possession, which is #235 in the country. That's mostly on 2FG where they allow 54% (#225.) They are good against the 3FG and do force turnovers above the average. They are poor on the offensive boards (#259) and allow FTs (#238).

Those numbers are all D1 only.  Individuals are for all games.

Miles Barnstable leads them in scoring at 12.8 per game. He shoots mostly 3FGs and makes 29.9%, with 57% from 2FG.  Also makes 88% at the line.  He is a transfer from UW-Whitewater.

Kendall Blue is scoring 11.4 PPG. He makes 54% from 2FG and 45% from 3FG, which is really good. He also leads the team with 4.2 RPG.

Drake Dobbs scores 10.2 PPG on 62% and 46% shooting and 89% from the line. He also leads the team with 3.5 assists per game.

They are #69 in bench minutes but they are 305 in effective height. 

There's no line yet.  The Tommies have a 55% chance to win on ESPN and kenpom makes it 65%.  A key issue is who suits up for BG.  It's the last D1 game of the pre-season....BG plays Aquinas on Monday for what should be a guaranteed win.  I doubt anyone gets pushed back.

Harold Fannin Jr. Makes HIstory

As fans, we had the privilege of watching something special this year.  I've been waiting to do this post until all the results were in, but it's time.  Harold Fannin is the most honored player in the history of our program, and we have a great tradition.  We have had other players on a consensus All-American team....but he's the first consensus All-American in school history for football.

As he moves on to NFL (one assumes), I want to thank him for being a Falcon and for being (by all accounts) a good teammate and embodying what it means to be a Falcon.  The national recognition is deserved, and we know that when you are from a small school, you have to really earn it to get by the P4 gatekeepers.

He has made history with this program and he will not be forgotten.

A Remarkable Season by the Numbers

It was truly a season for the ages:

• 1,342 receiving yards, second in the nation and just 11 yards shy of breaking the FBS single-season record for tight ends.
• 100 receptions, placing him third all-time for a single season by a tight end.
• 9 touchdowns, leading all tight ends nationally.
• 31 broken tackles, setting a Pro Football Focus (PFF) record for tight ends across its 11 years of grading.
• A PFF overall grade of 95.9, the highest of any college football player in the nation this year.

Fannin’s performance was not only statistically dominant but also game-changing. His 137-yard receiving performance against Penn State, a defense that hadn’t allowed a single player over 100 receiving yards all season, is emblematic of his ability to rise to the occasion. Similarly, his 145 receiving yards against Texas A&M represented the most any player achieved against the Aggies this season.

A Trailblazer for Bowling Green

Fannin’s Consensus All-American honor places him in elite company—not just nationally but within Bowling Green’s history. The only other BGSU athlete to earn consensus All-American status was men’s basketball star Wyndol Gray in 1945. Gray, a fellow Northeast Ohio native, helped lead the Falcons to the NIT final before playing professionally for the Boston Celtics.

As BGSU fans, we’ve watched Harold Fannin Jr. grow from an under-recruited high school athlete to one of the most dominant players in college football. Fannin has elevated the program’s profile and shown potential recruits what can be accomplished at Bowling Green and with this staff. In a larger sense, universities exist to develop people into their best selves, and Harold Fannin did what he did HERE.  It matters.

A Season of Awards and Accolades

Fannin’s accolades go far beyond his Consensus All-American recognition. This season, he was:

• The MAC Offensive Player of the Year and winner of the Vern Smith Leadership Award, making him the first tight end in FBS history to win a conference’s overall Player of the Year award.
• A finalist for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end.  (I saw somewhere that it is far from uncommon for the dopes who give the award to be out of step with the broad consensus of the All-American teams.
• The only tight end to be a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, typically reserved for wide receivers.

Fannin leaves an indelible mark on college football and sets his sights on what’s next. Whether it’s breaking the FBS receiving record for tight ends or showcasing his talents at the next level, there’s no doubt that he's just getting started.

As BGSU fans, we honor his contributions to the program and eagerly await what the future holds for him.

Harold, thank you for making history and for showing the world what it means to be a Falcon!

MBB Loses in KC

The MAC has had a rough pre-season in MBB.  Virtually no highlights.  And consistent disappointment.  Including for BG, which is battling serious injury issues and lost last night at #276 Kansas City by 8 points.  BG is 4-6, 3-6 in D1 games against the nation's #328 schedule.  (All kenpom).  The Falcons are currently ranked #275 on kenpom.

I'm not disillusioned.  I still like our coaches and their ability to get players.  But this year is not off to a promising start.

BG's next game is against a good St. Thomas team.  We are used to seeing them on the ice, but they are #137 in MBB which would rank them third in the MAC.

While BG stayed in touch for about 30 minutes--KC's largest lead was 14--the Roos led for 35 minutes.  A lack of depth might have been an issue...

The game started very even, with a one-possession lead in place both ways for the first 8 minutes. It was 16-16 when KC went on a 14-4 run to get a 10-point lead...featuring 2 BG turnovers that were directly cashed in for 3FGs. 

BG kept the deficit in the high single digits and then came back to tie the game with 2 minutes left in the half.  KC led by 1 at the break.

BG continued to compete.  6 minutes into the second half, the lead was still 1. The Roos tipped it up to 4 with 9 minutes to play and then went on a 10-0 run featuring 3 BG turnovers and 2 3FGs for the Roos in the interim.

It was over at that point.  BG got it down to 7, KC Ball, in the last 2 minutes, but there was no making the difference up.

There were 67 possessions in the game, which is a little slower than we like to play but not too slow.  Anyway, the key issue for BG was on defense.  KC came in very offensively-challenged and scored 1.28 points per possession, the highest against BG this year.  They had a 69% EFG, which is better than BG shot against Morgan State.  It was 66% on 2FGs and 50% on 22 3FG attempts.  

BG shot the ball well (59% EFG) and 61% on 2FGs and 39% on 3FGs.  All of which is good shooting but not as good as KC.  The turnover difference overall was not huge, but BG's came in a couple clusters (as noted above) that let KC have runs that kept BG in the role of chaser.

BG has been working on zone defenses but reverted to a man for at least part of this one, probably in response to KC's 3FG shooting. 

Javonate Campbell had 27 points for BG on 10 of 16 and 1 of 1 shooting. He added 5 steals. (He is #2 in the nation in steals per game).  Marcus Johnson had 22 on  5 of 7 and 3 of 8 shooting.  Derrick Butler had 11 and a team-high 5 rebounds.

BG played 8 players....Felt, Johnson, Campbell, Butler, Thomas, Exacte, Green and Squier.  Humphrey, Towns and Khayat continued to be out.

Portal Update

So, a portal update for BG.  Been relatively quiet since the first few days....it's open for about two more weeks, so anything could happen.

Right now, it includes:

• Alex Wollschlaeger
• Terion Stewart
• Chris Edmonds
• Alijah Williams
• Edward Rhambo
• Joseph Sipp Jr.
• Jalen Burton
• Cam Orth
• Jaylon Tillman
• Nick Reimer
• Dierre Kelly

Wollschlaeger, Stewart and Sipp are all receiving P4 offers.  We wish everyone well.

BG has added one player from the portal.  His name is Jordan Dunbar.

He is from Tarrytown, New York, which is north of NYC on the Hudson River, right next to Sleepy Hollow.  He was all-state and a 2-star recruit out of HS with mostly FCS offers.  He went to Rice, where he was all-Freshman and all-CUSA Honorable Mention before he was red-shirted his last year.  He transferred to Kansas State, where he played only 66 non-special teams snaps, and most of those in blow-out wins.  PFF graded him a 66 on those snaps, which is the neighborhood he was in at Rice as well.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jordan.

Here is the updated two-deep...there are some corrections with players who had eligibility left but I had crossed them off.  The defense is decimated, but Coach says he likes the next generation of players.

Kansas City Preview

BG's Men's Basketball is on the road for the final time until MAC play as they travel to Kansas City to play....Kansas City...formerly known as UMKC.

They are the Roos...actually, their nickname was once the Kangaroos, but they shortened it.  They have played D1 basketball since 87-88 and have never been in the MAC tourney.  During that time, they have won 42% of their games.  Their specialty for two years was ruining UT's false dreams of an at-large bid.  

BG has played the Roos twice.  UMKC won at BG in 2016, and BG beat them by 10 at the Stroh last season.

They play in the Summit League. This is the #22 ranked conference...and the MAC is #20.  Their Coach was the Summit League Coach of the Year last year and they were picked by their media and Blue Ribbon to win the conference.

The year has not unfolded like that.  They are 5-7, but that includes 4 non D1 wins.  They lost @Iowa State (6), @Creighton (42)--both tough losses--but then to American (224) and Albany (233) on neutral floors, @SEMO (293), at home to Idaho (282) and then @Montana State (131). They finally picked up their first D1 win @Portland (312).

Their kenpom has sunk from 200 to start the year to 290 right now.  They have a 56% chance of beating BG, according to kenpom and 74% according to ESPN.  There's no line yet.

They have struggled to score historically and were hoping to turn that around this year, but it has not happened.  They are #309 in adjusted offensive efficiency.  (Out of 360-something). They have a lethal combination of terrible shooting (29.5% from 3FG and 42% from 2FG....#349 overall) and 20% turnover rate, #300.  They are average on the offensive boards, #204 at getting to the line and #26 at FT shooting.  They take A LOT of 3FGs....#29 in the nation at 48%.

Very tough to win at that rate.

They are not great on defense, #225 overall.  They are among the easiest teams to shoot against, especially on 2FGs--61%, which is #351. They are actually good on 3FG defense at 32% allowed.  They do force some turnovers (#116), are average on the defensive boards (#185) and don't give up a ton of FTs (#227).  

Their leading scorer and top player is Jamar Brown, scoring 13.3 PPG and about 6 RPG game.  Menzies said he should be the Horizon Player of the Year in the pre-season.  Although he is scoring, he is also struggling.  Last year he made 55% from 2FG, this year it is 44%.  This 3FG% is good at 41%.

Anderson Kopp is their second-leading scorer at 11 PPG.  He is scooting 52% and 34%.  Jayson Petty is also scoring in double figures at 10.6 PPG, but shooting 41% on 2FG and 20% on 49 3FG attempts.  Last year, he made 52% and 30%

All stats for D1 games only.  Reminder that BG is fighting injuries.  Hopefully, there was time for the minor injuries to heal.  The game will not be on ESPN+.  It is through Midco, which some of you might already have for the CCHA package.  Otherwise, it's a month subscription of $16 or so....or the audio feed.

Mackey No, Camp Yes

Harold Fannin did not get the Mackey Award.  I'm disappointed, I wish I was surprised.  This is a 100% ignorant and wrong decision and it is exactly what we have come to expect.  I could see it if we hadn't played Penn State and A&M and watched them be unable to stop Fannin.  The decision was lazy and wrong.  Yet there it is.

Let us not get lost in outrage though.  Because virtually at the same time, Fannin was named to the first-team Walter Camp All-American team.  The Walter Camp is the oldest All-American team---Camp used to name the team himself--and includes 130-some FBS coaches and SIDs doing the voting.  Fannin is the first BG player to be named to the Camp team and it is a huge honor.

I learned last night that there are 5 All-American teams that stand apart, of which Camp is one of them.  If Fannin makes two more, he will be the first consensus All-American in our program's history.

There were 3 MAC players on the Camp team.  Shaun Dolac, of UB and the MAC Defensive player of the year, and Addison West, an OL from WMU.

So congratulations to Harold.  It was an historic season for him.

Falcons to Mobile to Play Arkansas State

So, it's onto Mobile for the 68 Ventures Fund Bowl.  (68 Ventures is an investment firm in the Mobile area that appears to me to be a serious collection of badasses).  Mobile has had a bowl for a while....GMAC, Go Daddy, others.  BG has played in it 4 times...two wins and the last two they were absolutely routed.  The loss to Tulsa was, for a long time, the worst bowl loss in history, but I believe it has now been eclipsed.

The game will be the day after Christmas.  We will have more on Arkansas State coming up...they play in the Sun Belt and were 7-5/5-3.  I saw somewhere that BG is a 6.5 point favorite.

The exciting news from today is that while BG players have been declaring for the portal, it appears that BG will have a full or almost full lineup for the bowl game.  At his presser this morning, Scot Loeffler said, to everyone's surprise, that Harold Fannin Jr., will play in the game, even while saying that Fannin has "to get into the NFL as fast as he can."

Fannin does have a shot at some records for TEs, so that's an incentive. 

Second-best is Terion Stewart, who is in the portal and will also play.  Add Joseph Sipp, Sr. to that list.  In fact, Coach says that BG will have its starters in the game, largely intact. 

Most of the players on our two-deep are out of eligibility, and that means this is their last chance to play football.  They seem to be settling into a pretty driven approach to cap off their careers by snapping BG's bowl losing streak and ending their career with a win.

Arkansas State has a number of players in the portal as well.  No idea if they play.  In general, I always thought they don't play, but last year Howell played for BG despite being in the portal.

Coach said he would build a culture and you have to admit that this is a good example that it exists, using actions not words. I can't wait to see them perform once more.