FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Closing the Loop

We started to review the Falcon hoops season a couple of weeks ago, and got distracted. But today, we close the job and, hopefully, look to a brighter future.

We've looked at the national rankings and what I had predicted to happen, game by game. Let's take what might be the most important measure---how do we stack up against the MAC. Because when it gets down to it, that's the measure that matters for us. Winning the MAC, and making the Big Dance, is the highest attainable goal this program really has.

First, let's not forget. There were two worse teams than us in the MAC--EMU and CMU. CMU was really bad, and kept their coach, and EMU was just bad, but could be rebuilding.

The picture here is much as we saw on the NCAA stats...we were poor shooting team that people shot well against, and we rebounded very poorly and gave up an absolute ton of free throws, and that's how you have your worse season in 20 years.

Our best ranking in the MAC was FT% and 3s made/game (3rd) and 6h in 3FG-D. In no other category did we rank in the top half of the MAC. Digest that for a minute. We were 7th in scoring offense and turnover margin (a mild surprise based on observation).

On the other hand, we were last in rebounding margin, and 11th in scoring defense, and three other rebouding categories. We were tenth in scoring margin, and and ninth in Fg%, FG% defense.

At one point, we were known as a team that defended. Coach preached tough, man to man defense, and we would sacrifice offensive firepower to get that done. We've seen that position steadily erode over time, and this year's 11th best performance is probably a new low.

There's not much more to be said, other than this team this year really struggled. I am mildly encouraged at some recent things, but I am not going to get my hopes up until we see it on the court. If Coach can develop all our young guys to their potential and the program remains intact, I do believe we have the building blocks to climb back into contention.