Hoops Awards

Well, the Falcons hoops team gave out its awards recently. In a slow off-season, this starts to make news, actually. So, here's a look at the team release, with the occasional smart ass comment tossed in. (see Orange comments).

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball program capped the 2007-08 season by holding the team banquet Sunday night (March 30). The event was held at Olscamp Hall on the BGSU campus.

Banquet emcee Larry Whatley, along with Falcon head coach Louis Orr and his staff -- assistant coaches LaMonta Stone, George Jackson and Andy Moore and director of operations Rick Palmer -- reflected upon the 2007-08 campaign and handed out various awards before a crowd of several hundred Falcon fans. (Sadly, this is unlikely since that was generally our attendance at the games).

Redshirt freshman Chris Knight picked up the team's rebounding award, while junior Darryl Clements earned the Falcons' free-throw percentage award. Knight led the team in boards, with 7.3 per game, while Clements made 87 percent of his free-throw tries, going 40-for-46 from the line.

This is like fourth-grade soccer. Everyone gets an award!

Sophomore Otis Polk and junior Brian Moten received shooting awards as well. Polk was recognized for leading the team in field-goal percentage, making 54.1 percent of his shots from the field on the year. (Wow, having seen some games, this is hard to believe. Otis must have had some really good games, because he certainly dragged down his percentage with some 1-7s too. He always looks to me like he's trying to thread a needle when he shoots, so I was relieved to see this). Moten led the team with 41 three-point field goals made, and shot a team-leading 42.7% from beyond the arc.

Freshman Joe Jakubowski garnered the team's assists award, after pacing the team in that category with 3.0 per game. (Ponder that for a moment....3! Of course, we don't make very many baskets) Junior Nate Miller earned the Falcons' Play Maker award. Miller led the Falcons in scoring (13.2 ppg) and steals (1.5 spg), and was second in both rebounding (6.5 rpg) and assists (2.7 apg). (I guess we don't believe in giving an MVP award).

Sophomore Marc Larson picked up the Mr. Hustle award. Larson started all 30 games for the Falcons, averaging 4.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Additionatlly, according to his coach, Larson led the team in charges taken. (He probably took something in the neighborhood of 3).

Scholar Athlete awards were bestowed for each class. Jakubowski picked up the award for the freshman class, while Larson was the sophomore award winner. Clements and Moten shared the honor for the junior class.

In addition to the aforementioned awards, four first-year letterwinners -- Jakubowski, Knight, freshman Cameron Madlock and sophomore Matt Karaffa -- were given their letterwinner jackets Sunday night.

The Falcons finished 13-17 overall in the 2007-08 season. The Brown and Orange, picked to finish last in the East Division, posted a 7-9 conference record, more than doubling the program's league win total from the previous year. Orr and the Falcons had no seniors on the roster that ended the '07-08 season. (And this is a good thing. Smart alecking aside, let's keep building the program. I think that these awards highlight what we are...a team with hard working players who played as a team, but who lack high-production individually and collectively.)

Football Note--ALL Mac games will now count, apparently

As the next chapter in the MAC's ongoing efforts to balance the fact we have divisions with different numbers of teams in them, the MAC has apparently decided to count ALL games in the MAC standings. This, via a post in ay-ziggy-zoomba.com.

We don't play Temple this year, but they are in our division. So, things had to be fixed. I assume that everyone will scurry to the schedules to see WHO each team plays in their cross over games, which will make a huge difference to the standings.

I don't have the energy to analyze the whole league, but it will not be easy for BG. We have Eastern at home (OK, that's not what I am talking about), but our other cross-over games are at NIU and at UT. And even though both of those programs were down last year, and NIU is getting a new coach, those games are still on the road in places that are typically tough to win in.

But, you know, you want to win a championship, you gotta meet some challenges.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought Freddie

Happy Easter to the Falcon Nation

Another Big Dance Note

Billy Packer is a tool. He is a patronizing, droning, nattering idiot.

Please resume your daily activities.

A couple notes from the big dance

Whew. Kent State dropped a big-old egg against UNLV. What a shame after the year they had. At halftime they had only 10 points, and the record keepers were digging into the pre-shot clock era for comparison. How do you do that? Shoot 21% and make 17 freaking turnovers--in the first half. Ouch.

It is a bigger problem for the conference. We used to be a common pick to win a game in the tourney. Kent, EMU and Ball State made exciting runs. However, now we are one and out for five straight years---the last win was a Chris Kamen-led CMU team beating Creighton in 2003. Yes, 2003.

On another note, Falcon fans had special reason to root for Belmont as they battled Duke yesterday, since we played and beat Belmont (by nine) in Cincy early this season. That would have been cool.....

Hey, its Spring football time

Its spring practice time, and Ryan at the Blade has a few words with the Coach.

As always, this is an excellent summary of what is going on with the program, as things gear up for Spring practice. This is an important time in our program, because this team is stocked well enough to win the MAC. Every Falcon fan wants to see the killer instinct---Git 'er done!

The lead story is, without doubt, the O-line. Since the beginning of the Meyer/Brandon era, the O-line has been a consistent strength. Coached for most of that time by one of our best coaches (Stud), and with consistent, high quality players, our line has been the true and less glamorous building block of our team.

Well, with Lichtenteiger (last year's MVP), Drew Nystrom and Kevin Huselman all graduate after great Falcon careers. The skill players are back for us, but football begins on the line, and our coaches know we have to rebuild the O-line.

Here's what Ryan writes on this:

Senior Aaron Kent is the favorite to replace Drew Nystrom at left tackle, and sophomore Tyler Donahue is the likely heir to Kevin Huelsman at right tackle. Junior college transfer Casey McHugh will also be considered as will D.J. Young, who was previously a defensive tackle.
Brandon Curtis, a starter at guard last year, will practice at center and seems to be the top candidate to replace Kory Lichtensteiger. Curtis saw reps at center last spring when Lichtensteiger was injured. In the mix at guard are Brady Minturn, Jeff Fink, Scott Albert, Scott Lewis, and Ben Bojicic, who can play anywhere on the line. Minturn started the bowl game in place of Shane Steffy, who is still recovering from a broken leg.

So, no doubt, that's job one. Here are some other nuggetty tidbits....

Those being held out of practices due to injuries are Steffy, Josh Scheidler, Nick Davis, and John Haneline. Eric Ransom and Calvin Wiley will participate on a limited basis.

Fr. Linebacker Gary Wright has left the program.
Fr. Linebacker Glen Stanley, who made great plays filling in for John Haneline and looks to be a true stud, missed the bowl game with academic problems and is not in Spring Practice. He is still with the program, and we all hope to see him back on the field with his academic issues under control.

With that, our linebacking depth in the spring is not at all good.

We are still toying with playing Corey Partridge both ways.

PJ Mahone, who was very productive last year in our multi-back sets and as an injury replacement is starting the spring as #1 on the safety depth chart. Sanderson will now be the nickel back, "which is really an outside linebacker," according to the coach.

AT is number 1 tailback, but they also plan on using him in the slot (where he is a deadly slash threat), allowing our other backs to get some carries, too.

Related to nothing.....

This is high quality humor....

Non-Falcon Note

Well, Mike O'Brien finally got his wish, and fired Stan Joplin as basketball coach, based on this report at The Blade.

He had one year left on his deal. I'm surprised, frankly. I don't think he's the greatest coach who ever lived...but I think he's better than he has been treated. Last year, he twisted in the wind most of the season before the AD had no choice but to keep him.

Far be it from me to feel sorry for a Rocket. But, I have actually met Coach Joplin, and he's good people.

Gulp.....Taking my Medicine

OK, so back on November 5, I endeavored to pick every Falcon hoops game, before the season, without a net, like Daedulus flying near the sun.

Yup. Like that.

Anyway, time to smell the glove. Let's see how I did.

Big picture, I had us 14-14 (remember, no bracket buster or tournament....the actual record was 12-16. So, I was two games off. I didn't expect us to go 2-1 in Cincy to start the year, but then again, I thought we'd beat Buffalo, etc. Game by Game, I did not do so well, picking 16 games right and 12 games wrong--pretty remarkable in a world where home court is so important. So, anyway, there you go. More post-mortem later.

1/09/07	vs. Western Carolina	RIGHT	L
11/10/07	vs. Belmont	WRONG	L
11/11/07	at Cincinnati	WRONG	L
11/17/07	vs. Morehead State	RIGHT	W
11/24/07	vs. Temple	WRONG	W
11/27/07	at Furman	RIGHT	W
12/01/07	at Oakland	RIGHT	L
12/06/07	at Northern Colorado	WRONG	W
12/16/07	vs. Illinois State	RIGHT	L
12/22/07	at Indiana State	WRONG	W
12/29/07	vs. Eastern Illinois	RIGHT	W
01/02/08	vs. Duquesne	WRONG	W
01/05/08	vs. Ohio	WRONG	L
01/12/08	at Kent State	RIGHT	L
01/17/08	vs. Buffalo	RIGHT	W
01/20/08	at Akron	RIGHT	L
01/23/08	vs. Miami	WRONG	L
01/27/08	vs. Northern Illinois	RIGHT	W
01/30/08	at Ball State	RIGHT	W
02/02/08	at Western Michigan	RIGHT	L
02/06/08	vs. Central Michigan	WRONG	W
02/10/08	vs. Toledo	RIGHT	W
02/13/08	at Eastern Michigan	RIGHT	L
02/16/08	vs. Akron	WRONG	W
02/19/08	at Ohio	RIGHT	L
02/23/08	TBD (Bracket Buster Road Game)	TBA	TBA
03/01/08	vs. Kent State	WRONG	L
03/04/08	at Buffalo	WRONG	W
03/09/08	at Miami	RIGHT	L

Rick Chryst Interview and two other tidbits

This Q&A with Chryst is burning up the MAC wires. Suffice it to say, that Chryst is falling somewhere between crabs and chlamdyia....or something like that. I have avoided blogging it until now, but I guess there's time and space available now, LOL. Fans are mostly pissed about football scheduling, most particularly, weekday games. I'm going to post an excerpt of it, and then comment in orange, football presser style.

DC: Looking at the recently released football schedule and all of the Tuesday and Wednesday games on it, is that the main way for this conference to get national recognition?

RC: This past year we developed an extremely successful relationship with ESPN and filling in the syndicated package that the Big Ten used to be in. So you can't write about our football schedule without writing about the syndicated football package. There's a strong affiliate in Chicago, 20 percent of the country. Last year I don't think Northern played a midweek game.

I don't know why he didn't just say yes. But, hey, he is the commissioner. No one doubts that the midweek games are necessary to be on TV, and everyone says that the exposure is important to our conference.

Let me ask some inconvenient questions.

• Even accepting the premise that being on ESPN is good for the MAC, an increasing number of these games are on ESPNU. Is this still a benefit to our conference that outweighs the benefits of Saturday games to actual MAC fans, (not those who watch when there is nothing else on)?
• The quality of MAC football has tanked in the same period of time that these midweek games have begun to proliferate. Can you explain precisely the benefit of these midweek games in the face of this? (Note: The MAC was ranked behind the Sun Belt in Sagarin ratings last year).
  
• Could it possibly be that being on ESPNU and playing in the middle of the week merely identifies us as being in the college football ghetto?
• If the Big East and ACC really wanted those TV slots, don't you think they would have already snagged them--or will when our contract expires?
• Follow up: What is our exact relationship with ESPN? Are they paying to show these games? Is the MAC paying them?

DC: This year Northern has four.

RC: And all of them are in November. That's part of the strategy.

OK. So, the strategy is to play Saturdays in September and October and weekdays in November. The Maginot Line was a strategy, too, so just using the word doesn't justify it. I do see the rationale, but let me add one thing....from the perspective of a fan, I'd like to play in the afternoon in November because it would be a lot more comfortable. Or do you always sit inside?

DC: Is it fair to ask teams to do that, when they're used to playing on Saturday's and then all of a sudden have to adjust to this?

RC: What's the difference?

Well, on Saturdays no one has class. And on Friday nights no one has class. As opposed to playing on Tuesday, and you have class on Monday and maybe Tuesday. Maybe they don't go to class on gameday anyway. Maybe there is no difference. I know this.... as fan, I'm all lot happier on a Saturday than I am getting home from work and running down to a game.

DC: It has to be an adjustment with how teams approach things.

RC: You transition. You're not on five days. You don't have a single five-day week (in this schedule). I think it's something that our people continue to look at. I can tell you that if we vacate any of our space it's not going to be there.

I think this is right--you do transition. Coach Brandon has said that you treat Wednesay like Monday, whatever. And in between a range of snarky and wiseass comments, I would make this point....no five-day weeks is a huge step forward for the MAC, and is an important scheduling goal for the MAC. A short week is terribly unfair to college athletes. Good for that.

DC: Because somebody will swallow it up?

RC: Not just somebody. ACC, Big East, those conferences. You look at every conference has some games played mid-week. If you look at who is in those midweek games, it's not just the Mid-American Conference. I really strongly believe that our schedule is far more structured for when those mid-week's happen. You've got the league races playing out, the Navy game (for Northern) is an exception but that's a great opportunity. I think we're in a much better place in that regard. There was a time when this league played only on Saturdays.

OK. See above re: ACC and Big East. If they really want those slots, they will get them.

But, the statement that the schedule is far more structured (far more, he said far more) than playing every Saturday is just ridiculous. Really, fun, even, in its delusion. The best structure is every Saturday, all year. We may need to accomodate another structure to meet only goals, but let's not pretend that its far more structured.

Finally, there was a time when this league played only on Saturdays. We had better football then--certainly no worse.

DC: But in order to not only survive, but also even thrive you need those mid-week games

RC: I don't think you can stop the world. You're either in it or your not. Like I said, no five-day turnarounds. We're able to offer some pick-'em selections so our games can play on. In September and October it's really Saturday football. That's not to say you can't stop refining, but that's been a big part of this league's growth.

There has to be a lot of flexibility. Starting with your coaches, moving to your administrators and you hope you can keep it in balance.

OK. Look, I don't want to discount that we have three bowls now, and there was a day when this league was lucky to have one. In fact, there was a time when we had none. So, that is important. Other evidence of growth is less apparent.

And, Rick? You forgot to mention THE FANS showing flexibility. OK?

Final note on this. MAC football is at least a moderate success in the Chryst administration. What has been unconscionable is the tragic decline of the MAC in men's basketball during his tenure. Enough.

Our other tidbits?

First, take American U off the list. They are in the tourney. Only thirteen more remain.
Second, I went on (and on) about Chris Knight. Apparently, he was not eligible for any freshmen awards because he was redshirted due to academics. There is, apparently, a stupid rule for everything, but then again, who cares about the all-freshmen team anyway? Really?

40 years of Futility

Even though we have had some very good basketball teams in the past 40 years, we have not, in that entire time, been to the NCAA Tournament. As most Falcon fans know, the last time was when a guy named Bill Fitch roamed the sidelines during his one season at BG. Anyway, courtesy of AZZ.com, here is the list as it stands today of teams that have longer dry spells than ours. Note--many teams have never been in the tourney, but joined D1 after 1968....they aren't counted. Further, American has a shot at coming off the list.

So, 15 teams including us, on a list that gets a little shorter every year.

Columbia: Last appeared in 1968
American: Division I since 1967
Tennessee Tech: Last appeared in 1963
Yale: Last appeared in 1962
Maine: Division I since 1962
New Hampshire: Division I since 1962
Centenary (La.): Division I since 1960
Dartmouth: Last appeared in 1959
Harvard: Last appeared in 1946
Army: Division I since 1948
Citadel: Division I since 1948
Northwestern: Division I since 1948
St. Francis (N.Y.): Division I since 1948
William & Mary: Division I since 1948

13-17

So, the season finishes for the Falcons, with another first round loss in the MAC Tourney. We'll do a retrospective sometime in the coming days, now that the Long Awful Summer has begun. I think that for this team to do as well as it did, coming off a bad season and losing 3 of the top 4 players off that team, well, that's something.

The story was much the same. Our team lacks consistent scoring, especially at guard. (We failed to score 60 points in 5 of our last 7 games). We shot 38% and had 17 turnovers, and you give away that many possessions and you are going to lose. Clements, Jakubowski and Moten were a collective 2-19 from the field, and Larson and Miller were 5-17 collectively, and its hard to win games like that.

Otis tied his career high with 17 points. I think that our hope for Otis is that Louis Orr, former NBA big man, finds a way to teach Otis to be the player he clearly can be, because it will improve our prospects immensely.

Chris Knight did play, and had 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Again, more retrospective to come, but I don't think it was too surprising a season.

And that is that....

Rockets defeat Falcons, exit stage left. Strike the set. More later.

Congratulations to Brian Moten...

...who was named the MAC's sixth man of the year. This is a very nice honor for Brian, who did contribute to our team, and who we all look forward to seeing during his senior year.

“Brian has given us a huge lift off the bench, and has energized us,” said BGSU Head Coach Louis Orr. “He was perhaps our most consistent scorer in MAC play this year, and has been invaluable. Brian embraced the role of sixth man for us this year, and I am excited for him to receive this award.”

Further, Joe Jakubowski made the All-Freshmen team. Congrats to him, too.

Here's the All-MAC lineup.....

The All-MAC First, Second, and Honorable Mention teams were also announced as MAC Player of the Year Al Fisher (Kent State) was joined by Miami’s Tim Pollitz, Ohio’s Leon Williams and Western Michigan’s Joe Reitz and David Kool on the All-MAC First Team.

Defensive Player of the Year Haminn Quaintance (Kent State) was joined on the All-MAC second team by teammate Mike Scott, Miami’s Michael Bramos, Central Michigan’s Giordan Watson and Akron’s Jeremiah Wood.

Honorable mention recognition went Akron’s Nick Dials, Ohio’s Jerome Tillman, Bowling Green’s Nate Miller, Toledo’s Tyrone Kent, Ball State’s Anthony Newell and Peyton Stovall, Eastern Michigan’s Carlos Medlock, Miami’s Kenny Hayes, Kent State’s Chris Singletary and Buffalo’s Andy Robinson.

Football Schedule Out

Well, here it is. The Falcon Football slate for 2008. Let the Nation rest.

In general, I think the reaction will be positive. This is, to start with, a 100% DI-A schedule, something fans have been demanding. Second, it contains no guarantee games--where we go on the road and fight big odds for money, something else our AD has promised. The only downside was that we only have five home games, and while we have been promised six, we can assume that is a work in progress.

We only play five games against the East (we don't play Temple, which I do not understand since they are, in theory, full MAC members). We play now three cross over games that won't count--EMU, UT, and NIU.

The out of conference schedule has to be considered pretty good. Pitt is a good and travelable opponent, and Minnesota is the first Big 10 team to play at the Doyt. Even Boise and Wyoming are solid non-BCS opponents that we would hope to be able to compete with. No absolute deathtraps are on the schedule. The Toledo game being after Thanksgiving is a typical source of agina, but since it is at the Glass Bowl, who the f*** cares?

The Falcon Nation appears to be responding positively, as opposed to last year's primal scream.

2008 BGSU Football Schedule

Sat., Aug. 30 --- at Pittsburgh
Sat., Sept. 6 --- MINNESOTA
Sat., Sept. 13 -- at Boise State
Sat., Sept. 27 -- at Wyoming
Sat., Oct. 4 ---- EASTERN MICHIGAN * (Homecoming)
Sat., Oct. 11 --- at Akron *
Sat., Oct. 18 --- MIAMI *
Sat., Oct. 25 --- at Northern Illinois *
Sat., Nov. 1 ---- KENT STATE *
Sat., Nov. 8 ---- at Ohio *
Fri., Nov. 21 --- BUFFALO *
Fri., Nov. 28 --- at Toledo *
* Mid-American Conference game

Miami Wins Regular Season Finale.....

Maybe we should have prayed for more snow....anyhow, not our day in Oxford. We didn't score our 10th point until there were 6 minutes left in the first half, capping our third straight half of putrid offensive basketball. The spread was 11 at that point, never got within 10 and was as high as 21 in the second half. This was simply never a game (75-59).

On top of struggling to score points, Coach Orr had benched Chris Knight for missing "some" practices. He says Chris will play in the tourney, and has hopefully learned a lesson. Amen to that. Anyhow, all that adds up to real trouble, and even though Nate Miller matched his career high with 21, the rest of the effort was poor. Otis fouled out in 19 minutes, Larson contributed little statistically in 27 minutes, Clements shot 1-8 (0-5 from 3), and we were smoked on the boards. And other stuff....a better team smoked us on their floor. What are you gonna do?

So, we finish the regular season 13-16 and 7-9, and in 9th place in the 12 team conference. More post-mortem later, but suffice it to say it was going to be a tough year, early optimism notwithstanding. With Samarco, Marschall and Hamblet eventually gone from last year's already bad team, doing this well was an accomplishment.

Now we go to the Gund, where we play....The Rockets....at 5:30 on Tuesday. Bad medicine here, my friends, given that we beat them the first time, they just got their first road win since W was popular, and well, its just a feeling I have. It would be great to get a win....and then the winner plays Kent.

Anyway, more players will continue to come in next year, and I hope the program continues to grow. Right now, its the kind of season you expected, but its a third straight losing season, too.

Terrible snow in Southern Ohio, but game should go on

Word is that the Falcons made it there early to beat the storm....

Two things on tomorrow's game

First, Charlie Coles has been off the bench for the Miami Redhawks during the month of March. He has already survived one heart attack, and now Jermaine Henderson has been named as interim coach for the remainder of the season.

With that in mind, let me say this:

• I love Charlie Coles.
• In a business of copycats, he is an original.
• The MAC is better with him here, and I wish him only the best for a speedy recovery.

Now, as for the MAC standings, right now they look like this:

1. KSU 12-3 @Akron
2. WMU 11-4 Ball State
Akron 11-4 Kent
4. CMU 8-7 UT
OU 8-7 Buffalo
Miami 8-7 BG
7. BG 7-8 @Miami
EMU 7-8 NIU
9. UT 6-8 @CMU
10. Ball State 5-10 @WMU
11. NIU 3-11 @EMU
12. Buffalo 3-12 @OU

So, what does this mean. Well, we're in a tie for seventh right now, and could in theory, without worrying about tie breakers, finish in a tie for fourth. The reason I don't worry about the tie-breaker is that we're the only team playing on the road in this little cluster. I think we will be hard pressed to win @Miami....always have been. In fact, the most likely scenario is that we will finish eight, and play, well, UT at the Gund.

Finishing anywhere near the middle of the pack in this conference is a victory for our team (don't forget, we are playng now without three of our top four scorers from last season), and I would love us to beat UT again, and at least get a win against the Rockets. And then, who knows. We could finish higher, but I think that's the most likely outcome.

And then, Coach Orr can come back and continue to build this program.

Pretty funny Stuff about Coach Brandon....apparently he is "sly, sly"

Here's some funny stuff. Its an interview with the former video coordinator at Northwestern, and he has some specific things that he seems to remember about Coach Brandon....read on....

Another favorite was Gregg Brandon, now the head coach at Bowling Green, but back then, the WR's coach for NU. I had a lot of fun working with Brando. Brando was, and still is, a sly, sly coach. I used to make coverage tapes for his receivers. One week, out of sheer boredom (and knowing I could get away with this with Brandon), I decided to tack on a couple of 'extra plays'. These 'extra plays' were from a tape that a producer friend of mine over at Fox Sports had given me. These 'extra plays' were, in a nutshell, scantily-clad women. So I give the tapes to Brando, and he comes up to me a couple of hours later saying how much he liked the tape. He also tells me to keep tacking on the 'extra plays', and not to tell his WR's. He wants to see how many of his players watch the tapes all the way through. Sure enough, a day or two later, a couple of the WR's come up to me saying how much they enjoyed the coverage tapes...although 'uncoverage' is probably a better term. After a week or two, I figured that the players would get wise and just start fast-forwarding to the end of the tape, so I decided to drop in these 'extra plays' throughout the tape....just to make sure they watched.

I wonder if he still uses this technique to get his players to watch film to the end?

Go Falcons.....

Hard to win on the road in the MAC----how hard?

According to this on the MAC Report Online, the MAC is the hardest conference in the nation to win on the road in. So there...

Oh, the Humanity

Well, showing true young team tendencies, after an upset over a ranked opponent, the Falcons are now at halftime against an awful Buffalo team, and we are down 52-26, and, in fact, trailed by 32 points at one point. 10 turnovers, lousy shooting.....not our night on Lake Erie.

Final: UB 96, BGSU 50. For their second MAC win, the Bulls beat us by 46. We did hold them to the high two figures. Tomorrow is another day.

Jakubowski Player of the Week

Falcon PG Joe Jakubowski, pictured here in his 6th grade class picture (just kidding....I think), was the MAC East Player of the Week for this week. I wonder if he's got a shot at the freshmen of the year in the MAC. He is certainly a productive player who gets better all the time, and I'm proud he came back from Rice to play for our team.

Falcon Review of Yesterday

Well, its a good day in the Falcon Nation.

First, we continue to bask in the victory over Kent at Anderson, where the difference was never within one possession for the last 14 minutes of the game. Very impressive performance by our guys. Here's what Ryan said in The Blade:

It's time to admit that getting an accurate read on the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team might never happen.
Trying to figure out the Falcons is senseless. But counting them out is downright silly.

And, though we don't write much about it, our remarkable women's program, after graduating an incredible senior class that led the team to a Sweet 16, came back to win the MAC again. Four straight times, and a remarkable tribute to the people who have build that program with skill and sweat.

Enjoy the memories of March 1, Falcon Nation!

Falcons Beat Kent 89-83

More later, but the Falcons played their best game in some time--maybe years--at Anderson Arena, and beat the #23 Golden Flashes 89-83. It is our fourth straight home win against a ranked opponent, FWIW. We will be hard to beat if we shoot 50.8% from the field, make 11-21 3s, 76% from the line, and get play from our guards like we did today (Jakubowski 21 points, 12 assists and Moten 24 point).

Anybody would be hard to beat, like that.

We also won the rebounding, had only 14 turnovers, and beat a seasoned Kent team that is simply a win machine.

So, celebrate today. A very, very nice win for our team as they make progress in re-building the program. Our guys deserve credit, because I do think they are persevering against some long odds this year. Hopefully, they are getting a little shorter--the odds, that is.

Bringing a game like this at the Gund would be sweet, too. But that's a question for later.

Welcome to the Stroh Center....the Next House that Roars

And here, my friends, it is. The next home of the Falcon basketball team, to be known as the Stroh Center. Why, you might ask? Because Kermit Stroh and his wife Mary Lu announced yesterday that they will donate $8M to the facility, according to this article in The Blade.

Mr. Stroh is not an alum, however, many of his family members attended BGSU, and he has served on the Board of Trustees and led fundraising efforts at the University. He is from Wapakoneta and made his way in the natural gas industry.

From all Falcon fans, a sincere thank you to this family for their support of our University. In today's day and age, it is essential, and a grateful Falcon Nation salutes him.