And there is much sadness....

Well, there is goes.  Again.  Just a very sad morning in our program.  One of the points I have always made is that winning this tournament is really hard and not just because of the competitive level.  You also need good timing and then everything to break your way.  There's no time to make up for an injury or other bad break.  Remember the year UT seemed to have it won and Fletcher was injured in the semi-final.

BG certainly saw that last night.  Make no doubt, even at full-strength the Akron game is 50/50 on a neutral floor.  They're a very good team.  Take Justin Turner, essentially, out of the mix and it's a lot worse.  BG gave themselves a chance, but in the end Akron made the plays, especially in a very short but decisive segment in the late second half.  Compare that with how Kent did without Pippen.

We all remembered that Turner was injured at the end of the Miami game.  We hadn't heard anything since then, obviously.  Coach said after the game that the coaches were going to have him not dress, but Turner insisted on playing and they felt he had earned it.  But, you could see he couldn't move the way he needed to.  

We had guys step up...Plowden, Chandler Turner.  Akron had a guy do that too (more later) and made the plays down the stretch to win the game.

So disappointing.  I feel so bad for the entire team...Justin and Daeqwon in particular.  They have sweated blood for this program and it ended like that.  (Quick caveat:  no one loses a year of eligibility for this season, so anyone could be back.  Just making a guess.)  We had three really good years and the tumblers just didn't fall into place.

After a slow start, the game was very competitive most of the way.  BG took the lead with just under 6 minutes left to play in the game.  With 4 left, it was tied.  BG missed a 3FG and then LCJ came down and put AK ahead by 2.  BG missed a layup and Akron came down and Jermaine Marshall canned a 3FG, Akron up 5.  Turner hit a jumper and then Marshall hit ANOTHER 3FG to put Akron up 6 with 2:36 left.

And that was it.  Akron made 3-4 from the line coming home and the game was over.  Win probability goes from 59% to 86% in that span.

It was a high leverage moment and Akron did what they have historically done...made the plays.

We can stop and look at Jermaine Marshall, a JUCO transfer who had played 10 minutes or less in the last 10 games.  He made 2 3FGs against Cedarville in the opener and hadn't made one since.  Hehad missed 9 straight.  And then he drained two in this game at the game's most decisive moment.

What a thing sports are.  Give the young man credit, he wasn't afraid and when his chance came he came through for his team.  And the kind of thing tournament runs seem to be built on.  BG never seems to catch that little bolt of lightning and seems to usually be struck by it.

Daeqwon Plowden did his part to rally the team.  He took 18 shots, 16 of them from 2FG.  He was 10 of 16 from 3FG and 1 of 2 from 3FG.  That's 26 points.  That's his season-high.  If that's the last time we see him in orange and brown, it will be with the team on his back.

BG had only one other double figure scorer--Chandler Turner, who had 12 on 3 of 4 and 1 of 3 shooting and all 3 FTs to go with 8 rebounds.  That's a Jermaine Marshall like moment.  He played 26 minutes, his most by 8 this year.

BG had a rough night offensively.  They ended up at 1.03 points per possession, which is just below the MAC average.  They shot 53% from 2FG and made only 2 turnovers, which allowed them to mostly salvage a 3-23 night from 3FG.  That's the worst since the Kent game at the beginning of last year.  BG has not won a game under 15% from 3FG since that New Year's Day win over St. Louis with Majerus in the house.  BG was 0-4 that day.

And Akron won their shares of battles on offense, with 1.14 points per possession.  That's pretty good....they followed the usual BG formula of OK shooting and they only turned the ball over 6 times.  They also ended up +7 at the FT, 3 of which came in the last minute.

So, that's how it ends.  So disappointing.  You just feel like a window is closing.  The program is still in decent shape, but you finally had a critical mass of players and you saw the results except where we all really want to see it happen.

More on the state of the program coming.