Football picked #3

Almost time to get some #MACtion ⏳

The 2024 MAC Football Head Coaches Preseason Poll is LIVE! 👀 pic.twitter.com/jJAj5BwhcP

— #MACtion (@MACSports) July 19, 2024

Well, here we go.  BG football starts the season with more anticipation than any time since Mike Jinks took a team picked #1 in the East down to Columbus.  It has been a long road....that was 8 years ago.  It has also been the worst period of football in program history and it isn't close.

There will be more opportunities to preview the season in the coming weeks.  BG's road will not be easy...we will have to beat good teams, but we are supposed to be building a program that beats good teams...where other teams wince when we are on their schedule.

Miami is the overwhelming favorite.  BG finishes with them at the Doyt the day after Thanksgiving. If all goes well, that could be a huge game.

Football Roster News

Some roster news for the football team.

First is the commitment of KJ Brown of Winton Woods.  He is a 3-star 6’4 225 OLB/EDGE.

They were a very good team last year, going 8-4 and losing to Withrow in the second round of the state playoffs.  Brown is the 4th player from Woods to commit--one to Bama, one to UT and one to Indiana.

He had 8 D1 offers--BG, UT, Kentucky, Akron, EKU, Marshall, UMass and WVU.

There's not a lot out there on him, but he must have caught attention in some way.  You need strength on the edge in today's game.  You have to get to the QB in phase so a running QB can't get out of the pocket.

Also, h/t to Rhys Patrykus and Nick Golden, who did some roster research on the football roster.

Here is what they found.

First, there's a new QB in town.  Baron May is his name.  He started at EMU and then went to East TN State.  He is from New Philadelphia, OH, originally. 

He's an interesting guy.  From his bio at ETSU:

Is the school’s [New Philadelphia] all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, all-purpose yards and touchdowns responsible for...Was a finalist for Ohio’s Mr. Football in 2019...Selected Ohio Division III co-Offensive Player of the Year while garnering first team All-Ohio accolades...Passed for more than 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns and collected 775 rush yards and nine more scores in nine and a half games as a senior...

He threw 54 passes for ETSU. Anyway, he's been recruited and had success in HS and will be joining the BG QB room.

Henry Reifschneider is what I assume is a PWO from Archbishop Alter in Dayton. He committed to Findlay originally, and now is on our roster.  

He was a highly productive player with Alter.

• Notched 160 tackles in 2023 as Archbishop Alter went 12-4
• Two-time first-team All-GCL
• Two-time first-team All-Southwest Ohio
• Named 2023 GCU Defensive Player of the Year
• First-team all-state
• Set a single-season school record with 160 tackles
• Owns a single-season school record for solo tackles with 89 in 2023
• Recorded 118 tackles in 2022 as a junior
• Helped Archbishop Alter to a state-runner up finish and two regional championships (2022, 2023)

He is also believed to be the first player in program history to have missed a full season of football in HS by being impaled on the mascot's sword.

Josira is another player who went to Erasmus HS in Brooklyn, perhaps the high school with more famous alum than any other.  He is a S and FR. He was 2-time all-state in New York.

Also added is Devin Taborn, who is a ILB who played in Sidney and red-shirted at Mt. Union. 

One departure.  Griffin Little, at TE who was an early Loeffler recruit from Ft. Wayne and who played sparingly.

Best of luck to Griffin and welcome to the new arrivals.

BG MBB Nabs High-Level Verbal

Excited to announce my commitment to @BGSUMBB !! pic.twitter.com/0wJ7fjtvMt

— Camden Karel (Karmel) (@CamdenKarel) July 4, 2024

BG MBB landed a high-level verbal for the program.  His name is Camden Karel, he's 6'9" and is listed as the top PF in Michigan and the #4 player overall.

He is from Byron Center, MI, which is south of Grand Rapids in the western part of the state. Here is a graphic with his offers and interest, plus Detroit Mercy.

Karel is probably the most sought after player recruited to BG since we moved to the Stroh Center. (Note that Justin Turner was hardly recruited at all). Reports are that he is a multi-level shooter with the ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket.  From what I have seen, he can play 3 and present big matchup problems and can guard multiple positions on the defensive end.

Welcome to the Falcons, Camden.  I will say this.  Our guys seem to be able to recruit.  It's more important than ever, when you might need 6-8 guys every year.  I have written over the years that our biggest consistent problem has been a lack of a critical mass of talent at any one time.  Really, just that one Huger team seemed to have it. 

Until now.  Of course, results will tell the eventual story.  But, I'm really pumped for the arrival of MBB season.

BG Nabs two more football verbals

@BG_Football @CoachLoefflerBG@CoachRobArmand @Coach_Jackson @PCAFootball @FOOTBALLDAD@NewLevelPerform @Coach_J_Fowler@HPCA_Athletics @247Sports @MohrRecruiting @On3sports @RivalsFriedman @BrandonHuffman @adamgorney @BrianDohn247 @Andrew_Ivins pic.twitter.com/ZgLhjWBN0a

— Gavin Harris (@Gavin_Harris5) June 28, 2024

COMMITED! IM HOME! LETS GO FALCONS! 🟠🟤⚪️ @CoachGregNosal @CoachLoefflerBG @BG_Football @CamdenDietz @Coach_Jackson @ScottStolz3 @CoachSLawanson @AllenTrieu @Jocko1114 @DanLaRocco @DanZolkowski @SwisherTodd @jlyons_17 @BMHSTitanFB pic.twitter.com/Lzq2146KQJ

— Masyn Zahursky 3🌟 (@ZahurskyMasyn) June 28, 2024

BG football has two new verbal commits. The first is Gavin Harris, a DB/S from High Point, NC.  He had offers from Miami (the real one), Maine and Elon, based on his twitter feed.  

He's 6'1" and 175.  He was a productive player in HS, Harris had 46 tackles (19 solo), 2 sacks, 9 passes defended, 3 fumble recoveries, and two interceptions and 4 defensive touchdowns last year.

He ran a 4.5 laser timed 40, has a 37-inch vertical and was on a state championship 4x1 relay team.  And was all-conference and all-state.

The other young man is Masyn Zahursky of Berea Midpark.  He's a 3-star OL going at 6'4" and 265.  247 says he is a DL, but he was all-state on the OL (3rd team) in D1. He was actively recruited, with offers from CMU, Marshall (offer from Seth Doege), UMass, Ohio, Toledo, WMU, Akron, Army, Navy and some eastern smarty-pants FCS schools.

He also was a very effective basketball player.  Love the athleticism and versatility--played both ways in HS.

Gavin and Masyn...welcome to the Falcons.

Falcon DB Verbal Harnesses Power of Siblings

BG has a new verbal, this one a DB from Berkeley Prep in Tampa.  This young man is Rico Garcia...his Brother is a WR transfer from K-State getting ready to play for the Falcons.

Rico had 6 INT his sophomore year.  Last year he played QB for Berkeley.

Their father is the basketball coach at their HS and played for the Florida Gators.

He's 5'10" and 170 pounds.

Berekely is the HS of Nelson Agholor, and Marty Baron (Spotlight), among others.

He had offers from Kent and Army. (At least.  I searched his X feed until the beginning of 24).

Welcome to the Falcons, Rico.  

Football Verbal At TE

Commited. #AyZiggy #GoFalcons@CoachBayer_ @CoachLoefflerBG @NoblesvilleFB pic.twitter.com/nwHcKg1rOM

— aiden brewer (@aidenbrewer_2) June 23, 2024

BG has another verbal, ranked 3 star with multiple offers.  This is Aiden Brewer, a 6'3" and 215 pound TE from Noblesville, IN. He had offers from BSU, IU, Kent, UT, Kent and WMU.  He had 22 catches for 399 and 2 scores last year as a junior.

He was named to the top 50 All-State team in December.  Also a basketball player.

Welcome to the Falcons, Aiden.

Football Verbal for DL

Commited. #AyZiggy #GoFalcons 🦅 pic.twitter.com/5xTem28o7J

— Dior Garner (@DiorGarner) June 19, 2024

BG has a recruit for the DLine...it seems mostly he is a DT or NG. His name is Dior Garner from Canton McKinley, one of the legendary programs in Ohio.  Also, brought Harold Fannin, Cynecir McNeal, Ryan Henry and Keith McLeod to BG (among countless others, I am sure).  Don Nehlen was also a head coach there.

Garner is a 3-star recruit with 18 offers.  They include Ball State, UB, CMU, EMU, Miami, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, James Madison and Temple, along with 9 FCS offers.

At 6'4" and 285, he was Honorable Mention All-District.  He played both ways as a junior. On defense, Garner recorded 52 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, two sacks and three pass breakups. 

His coach, Antonio Hall, said that “Dior has a tremendous gift, He is a skilled big man. He has amazing feet, great hands, great football I.Q. and student of the game, and always constantly working on his crafts as an overall football player, I’m very pleased with his progression.”

When you google him, you get a bunch of pictures of Jennifer Garner wearing Dior, in addition to posts about him.

BG's recruiting seems to be off to a really good start.  It will be interesting to see if it can be sustained, but we are off to our best recruiting start in quite a while.

Welcome to the Falcons, Dior.

New Football Verbal at WR

#AGTG Commited. 🙏🏾@BG_Football @ErikCampbell @CoachLoefflerBG @coachjsam @CoachJ_O @CoachC_Osunde @CKennedy247 @GPowersScout @SWiltfong_ @adamgorney @Jason_Howell @MikeRoach247 @bowievolfb pic.twitter.com/MJq13EJose

— Dilon Tallie (@DilonTallie) June 17, 2024

BG has its newest verbal recruit, another three-star recruit...this one a 6'2" and 185 WR from Arlington, TX.  Arlington is the home of the Dallas Cowboys.  Prominent alums include a significant portion of the band Pantera and Cade Cunningham, who currently is underemployed as a member of the Detroit Pistons.\

He's a 3-star player.  I think you know by now that these ratings can be unreliable.  I like to include them just as a point of interest, but we've had plenty of busts at the higher rankings.  If you look at our top 9 on 247, more than half of them did not contribute at BG....meanwhile Matt Johnson and Travis Greene were 2-stars.

It is more telling, to me, that they have other offers.  In fact, that probably is what creates the overall ranking. 

And sometimes you get guys with no offers who become good players.

Anyway, Tallie is 3-stars.  He had offers from UB and UT, along with Colorado, Arkansas State, Charlotte, LA Tech, North Texas, SD State, Texas State and Washington State, along with FCS offers.

As a junior, caught 37 passes for 559 yards and 2 TDs on 15.1 yards per reception in 10 games. He plays in 6A, the largest classification in TX HS football.

Welcome to the Falcons, Dilon.

BG Nabs QB Verbal

When he came here, Coach Loeffler said we would recruit one HS QB a year.  We have, except for last year.  Nonetheless, a QB recruited out of HS has yet to start a game for the Falcons during the Loeffler years. And, notwithstanding the Loeffler-QB-guru narrative, BG's HS QBs have mostly been known for transferring.

It remains the most important position on the field.  BG will have Bazelek/Orth combo this year and would expect Lucian Anderson to start next year.  And then, you look at the next guy...who is or could be Carsen Melvin.

He's 6'4" and 195 pounds from Westfield, IN.  Westfield is right smack dab in the middle of the state. As "fresh" as today's headlines, Joey Chesnut, the Meaty Apostate, is from Westfield. Also, serial killer Herb Baumeister is from Westfield.

For a D1 quarterback, there is a real lack of information online about Melvin.  Maxpreps showed him with big numbers as a FR, DNP as a SO and playing 4 games last year.

Hard to say what really happened. Maybe he played and they didn't get the numbers in.  But, let's just follow the narrative a little bit.  Maybe there were injury issues that kept him off the field, but also kept him from being a recruiting target.  He had one other offer, from WMU.

It is my understanding that there is way more behind this guy than you can see on the surface.  Which makes sense, given the early offer and commit.  

Looking forward to seeing more.  Welcome to the Falcons, Carsen.

From the Indy Star:

Westfield quarterback Carsen Melvin committed to Bowling Green. The 6-4, 205-pound Melvin was a backup last season to senior Jackson Gilbert, completing 8-for-16 passing for 78 yards and rushing for 57 yards in four games. But Melvin, who also plays basketball, is a talented player who should plug into the starting role as a senior. He also had an offer from Western Michigan. As a freshman at Plainfield, Melvin completed 61.3% of his passes for 1,638 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushed for 104 yards and three TDs.

Gilbert has headed to DIII Wabash to play college ball. 

Football Verbal

Honored and blessed to say I am 1000% committed to @BG_Football #AyZiggy 🟠🟤Bowling Green State University! pic.twitter.com/OwG4Uf1h2j

— Jeremiah Scoby 3⭐️ (@jeremiah_scoby) June 11, 2024

BG has a third '25 football verbal.  This young man is Jeremiah Scoby, from Dickinson, TX.  Dickinson is near Galveston, WAY down there. Home of Andre Ware and Tracey Scroggins.

He's 6'2" and 205 and is a TE, though he made All-State as a FB. He had offers from Air Force, Arkansas State, Army, Colorado (!!), Colorado State, Marshall, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Texas State and UTEP and a couple of Ivy League schools.

He's a 3-star on 247. He was all-state as a SO (FB), and in the meantime there were all-county and all-district recognitions.  He is sometimes listed as a WR, too, meaning he might be able to play both kinds of TE.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jeremiah.

Falcon Men's Basketball Verbal: Big News

So, for those who told me there was one men's basketball scholarship still available...that was correct.  And the Simon Crew has landed an interesting one for what presumably is now the final scholarship guy.

His name is Alijah Adem, and he is from Nevada.  He is from Spring Valley, which is just a couple miles from the Strip.  And he has some prolific numbers.  He put up huge numbers as a sophomore....averaging 26.4 points, 7.8 assists and three steals per game.  Then, he was injured for his junior season, with a knee injury that kept him out for the entire year.  He rehabbed, went back to work...and then put up basically as good or better numbers for his senior year.  He was a player of the year in Southern Utah, 

Here is a Twitter summary of his senior year.

"This season Alijah Adem averaged 26 pts, 7.8 Assist, and 5 Rebounds per game. He led the State of Nevada in Assist and he led 5A in scoring. He also shot 89% free throw and 53% from the 3-point FG %. This year he was nominated for McDonald American and Gatorade Player of the Year. He was also selected to Super 7 for 2nd year in a row."

Those are some huge numbers.  He's a G, 6'2".  The only thing I found was that he had interest from high majors including Houston...not sure if that was before or after the injury.  Anyway, it's hard to see what recruiting activity he had this year--and this is obviously a late commit--but he would certainly appear to be someone who can contribute in the MAC and possibly do more than that.

The team is very interesting.  I think you will see BG score points by the bucketful.  I cannot wait for the season to start.

Welcome to the Falcons, Aliah.

BG Has 2nd '25 Verbal for football.

I’m Home ! 110 % Committed 🧡🤎 #AyZiggy #TalonsUp25 @BG_Football @CoachLoefflerBG @CoachGregNosal @cobrown58 @Coach_Jackson @BGCoachMo @CoachSLawanson @CoachMaxWarner @CoachBayer_ @ErikCampbell @CamdenDietz @ScottStolz3 @JackBilek @Birm pic.twitter.com/MO3wyTjh34

— Vincent Giordano (@VincentG83) June 6, 2024

His name is Vincent Giordano, an OT from Lakota West High School, which is in the Cincy metro. 247 has him as a 2-star recruit with offers from Army, Ball State, EMU, Kent, Marshall and Toledo, as well as FCS offers.  His x says he is 6'6" and 270.  His college position is projected all over the place, but here is what he said that led me to think he's going to be an OT.

Amen . Hundred percent . More athletic Tight Ends and Defensive Ends are getting moved to Offensive Tackle in college . It’s a blessing to be in this scenario to play Offensive Line . Same thing happened with @ndavenport25 🤞 https://t.co/Ix3aKUu1O6

— Vincent Giordano (@VincentG83) June 6, 2024

He has a teammate headed to the other Miami.

Welcome to the Falcons, Vincent.

 

BG has '25 Verbal for Football

110% COMMITTED!! @BG_Football @CoachGregNosal @CoachLoefflerBG pic.twitter.com/c0Nuj7Fz1Y

— Ethan Kraatz (@KraatzEthan) June 4, 2024

BG has a '25 commit for football.

His name is Ethan Kraatz, and he's from Saginaw Heritage High School.  He's a good-sized young man at 6'4" and 280 pounds, and was all-state, all-region and all-conference last season.  He was highly recruited.  A 3-star on 247 and #55 in Michigan, he had offers from Army, CMU, EMU, UMass, Navy and Toledo, along with 4 FCS schools, 2 of them Ivy League.

He plays on the line both ways, but 247 projects him to be on the interior offensive line.   

Love to see this. You may not be able to win a championship up front, but you can certainly ensure you won't win one.

Welcome to Bowling Green, Ethan.

Football Coaching Change

Never a quiet moment in the football program.  The portal quiets down and now we have a coach on the move.  DB Coach Beyah Rasool has moved on to Florida, where he will be an analyst.  (It's another symbol of the haves and have-nots.  Also, if you read down in the story, the NCAA is talking about removing the limits on on-field coaches, which would unleash legions of P4 analysts on the field to the tune of about one for every two players).

Rasool was at BG for one year.  BG had a great year while he was there--finished #12 in pass defense in the nation. He's the second defensive coach to leave in the off-season for a P4 destination--Julian Campeni on the DL went to Rutgers, but he is on-field.

BG moved immediately to replace Rasool, naming Robert Armand to replace him.  Armand went to Stetson (Hatters!) and then was a graduate assistant at BG in the early Loeffler years.  He went to an off-field role at Vanderbilt for a couple years (under former BG assistant Clark Lea) and then his position was eliminated (according to LinkedIn) and he was going to coach LBs at Maine, but the Falcons snapped him up before he could get started there.

Falcons Announce 7 new portal players, and two players leave

It would appear that the football transfer window has closed at BG.  The Falcons announced 7 transfers, in addition to the 8 they announced in the previous window.  We are told that all of them are in summer classes right now.

The players are tight end Elijah Boyd (UTEP), cornerback Todd Bumphis (Cincinnati), tight end Blane Cleaver (Army), cornerback Darius McClendon (FAU), RB Justin Pegues (Tennessee Tech), wide receiver Rahkeem Smith (Delaware St.) and inside linebacker Donovan Stephens (Oklahoma State).

Players with a link were known and have something written here on them.  The official BG write up is here.

So there were two new ones.

Elijah Boyd is a TE coming from UTEP.  He is 6'4" and 250 pounds.  He played in JUCO ball and had 6 catches.  He transferred to UTEP, where he played 9 games, 120 snaps or so, and caught no passes.  He was a decent to average run blocker, according to pff.  He could end up as a blocking TE for us, or possible in the backfield as a hybrid fullback.  He visited Middle Tennessee and had a PWO offer from Bama.  Also FCS offers--and practiced at OL this Spring.

The other is Rahkeem Smith, from Delaware State. Comes to BGSU with 34 career receptions for 560 yards and six touchdowns. Also finished 2023 No. 3 I the nation for FCS with two kick returns for touchdowns and No. 5 in the nation for FCS with 30.1 yards per kick return.

In High School, he competed in football, baseball and track & field … had 38 catches for 752 yards and 22 touchdowns, in addition to a kickoff return touchdown, during senior season … set school 100-meter track and field record and captured state 55-meter dash championship (6.42 sec.) as a senior … ranked No. 8 nationally in the 60-meter dash during junior year … member of state indoor and outdoor state championship team as a senior

He had a 74 grade as a FR and 67 as a SO.  Was very effective in the deep middle his first year.  He played mostly in the slot.

With the incoming players, there are also outgoing players.  

Maurice Brown, a WR in this year's FR class, announced that there were personal issues and it was not a good time to be away from home.  His tweet was apologetic to BG, but indicated this was the right thing for him.  I wish him well-being.

Bryce Boyer, a TE who has been on the roster for a couple of years, has disappeared from the roster and presumably has left the team.  A rare fourth-generation Falcon, he went to Anthony Wayne.  No idea what went into the decision, but you hope to move up the depth chart and when two TEs come in the portal, it has to change your perspective.

Welcome to the transfers and best wishes to Maurice and Bryce.

BG Adds DBack transfer

BG football has added another football transfer, this one also in the d-backfield.  His name is Todd Bumphis, who went to Toledo St. Francis and attended UC.  

He was a highly-decorated and highly-recruited player out of HS:

Consensus three-star prospect…Tabbed for 2019 All-Ohio First-Team honors and First-Team All Three Rivers Athletic Conference at defensive back…Helped 4x100m and 4x200m relays to the state meet (OHSAA DI) in 2019 where they placed 13th and 4th, respectively…2x conference sprint champion winning the 200m in 2018 and the 100m in 2019.

He never really caught on.  He played 35 games in 4 years (including the COVID year) and had 16 tackles over that time. He played 120 snaps last year, 75% of them on special teams.  It was 61 the year before and 119 before that, with a similar ratio of special teams.   He graded at 65 (PFF) on special teams and 70 in defensive sets, in low snap counts.

We are clearly building depth in the defensive backfield.  If he can help out wide in certain sets and on special teams, he's helping us fill out what we hope is a team that takes the next step in the conference.

MBB Roster as it stands today.....

G:  Green, Campbell, Exacte, Humphrey, Pardon, Thomas, Butler

F:  Johnson, Felt, Towns, Spurgin, Khayat

C:  Squire

MBB Rounds Out Roster with Derrick Butler

The roster is complete for the BG MBB team...as Derrick Butler has been signed.  Butler played at 2 JUCO schools before transferring to CMU and playing one season there before entering the portal and ending up at BG.  The word is he had significant P5 interest and offers...and then one by one those teams fell away and BG's coaches stayed with it and ended up with a guy who could be a key piece.

I believe we have a staff that can really recruit.

Butler started the last 26 games for CMU at off-guard.  He's 6'2". He handles the ball well (#8 in MAC in TO ratio) and made 41% of his 3FG, #6 in the MAC (both MAC games only).  He scored 10.7 PPG, 11.6 in MAC play. 

All remains to be seen.  But I think you will see BG play much more of the style we expected when Simon got here.  Fast and shooting 3FGs.  Big point totals. Cannot wait to see it on the court.  Would love to see the town get behind these guys.

Welcome to the Falcons, Derrick.

Two More Football Transfers

Football has two more transfers coming in.  Some of the bat signals from the coaches would indicate at least one or two more might be committed and out there....I will keep a watchful eye.

The first is Darius McClendon, a DB who played at Middle Tennessee and then at Florida Atlantic.  At 6'2" and 190, he's got nice size.  He played both ways in HS (QB) and was third-team 7A All-State in Florida as a defensive ATH.  The third-team offensive ATH--Camden Orth.

He played 500 snaps last year for the Owls, grading out in the 60s on PFF.  The interesting thing is that he was versatile...he played more than 100 snaps in the slot, box and at free safety.  With that ability, he has the potential to be a valuable piece in a backfield that suffered losses.  At worst, I think he's valuable depth...you need a ton of guys back there.

The other is Justin Pegues.  He's a RB, 5'9 and 169 pounds. 

In HS, Pegues helped lead his school in Alabama to its third-straight AHSAA Class 7A state championship, hauling in a 26-yard receiving touchdown in the contest. He was also named to the Alabama All-State team in his senior campaign after rushing for 625 yards and five touchdowns, catching passes for 629 yards and eight touchdowns and returning kicks for 424 yards and three touchdowns.

At Tennessee Tech, he played for two years.  He had 90 carries (4 per carry) and 23 receptions.  PFF graded him a 78 as a pass catcher.  It would seem like he is a candidate for the Keith role in the offense.

You can never tell, but it appears to me we are doing a good job filling holes with guys who meet a need.  Time will tell, because the program's expectations haven't been met yet.

Welcome to the Falcons Darius and Justin.

Football Nets Additional Transfer

 BG has another player transferring in....this one is Blane Cleaver....transferring from the US Military Academy.  He is expected to find a somewhat more laid back atmosphere than he did at the Point.  He is listed as a TE.

Blane didn't play much at West Point.  He played 75 snaps in the last two years, most of them on special teams.

It was a different story coming out of HS.  He attending Berwick HS in NE PA, a legendry HS football with multiple state titles, "national" titles and hundreds of D1 players, including Ron Powlus. 

According to this story, Cleaver had 20 offers out of HS. He was a TE/LB and seemed to project to a side-sideline LB.

We may have gotten a leg up on Blane with the arrival of Sheetz here in NWO.  Here was what he said his favorite pre-game meal was in HS.

Pre-game trip to Sheetz for a 3 piece chicken nugget, bucket of fries, and and an orange Body Armor

Welcome to the Falcons, Blane.

BG Adds LB in Portal

The portal was quiet for BG football.  A couple guys going out, and now one coming in.

This is Donnie Stephens from Oklahoma State.

He played 2 years at OK State and also red-shirted, playing 23 games over the two years.  He appeared to be mostly in a reserve and special teams role.  According to PFF, last season he played 60 snaps in the regular defense and 54 on special teams.  Of course, there are a lot fewer special teams snaps overall.  He played mostly kick coverage and punt return.  In small samples, he graded in the 70s.

He is from Oklahoma.  He was a top recruit and had significant FBS offers.  From his OK St. Bio...

Rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports and Rivals … A four-star prospect and the No. 7 player in the state of Oklahoma according to ESPN … The No. 46 outside linebacker in the class of 2021 by 247Sports Composite … No. 14 on The Oklahoman’s 2021 Super 30 rankings ... Chose Oklahoma State over offers from Baylor, Texas Tech and Boise State.

LB is certainly a position of need and it would seem like he can play more than special teams at BG.

In HS, he also competed in track (running 400 and 200, like that) along with powerlifting.

Welcome to the Falcons, Donovan!

MBB Gets Latest Player

 This one is from the P4...Utah to be specific.

Wilguens Jr. Exacte is his name.  He grew up in Montreal, played at the NBA Latin American Academy in Mexico and then was recruited to Utah.

He's 6'6" and 236 pounds and was listed as a guard at Utah.  He played his FR year there and was in every game with 2 starts, played like 12 MPG.  Obviously, not much in the way of numbers. They were counting on him being in the rotation last year, but he had some injuries and missed the entire season.  There was surgery in there somewhere.

Here's the exciting part:

He is an elite defensive player who can guard just about anybody on the floor. He is tenacious. He is just one of those guys — I was talking to his coach recently — the dude will never stop. Every single drill in practice, every single rep, he goes a thousand miles an hour.” — Utah basketball coach Craig Smith on freshman guard Wilguens Exacte Jr.

Two things.  One, that thousand miles an hour is perfect for what Simon wants to do.  And, being able to guard anyone on the floor is key as you fit into the guys we have around him.  In today's position-less game, this is a key skill.  Also, in the MAC, when you can put a guy this long on a PG, it can be really disruptive.

By my count, we have one slot left.  I am getting very excited to see what happens next year.

Welcome to the Falcons, Wilguens. 

As the Portal Turns...MBB Incoming!

Well, this is interesting. 

Earlier Saturday, Coach Simon put the bat signal into the air that a new verbal had been acquired.  A couple hours later, it was revealed.  And it is a very interesting young man.

His name is Marcus Johnson, a 6'7", 265 forward who was playing DII ball for Wheeling.  So, that's a pretty big guy, especially when you see that he shot 44.7% from 3FG.  At that size and that ability to shoot the ball, he represents an immediate matchup challenge for an opposing defenses.  He averaged 21.7 PPG and 7.6 RPG.  That's #14 in the nation in scoring.  His 3FG would have been top 10, but he missed the minimum by .5 made 3FGs.   He also made 91% of his FTs, which is #6 in the nation.

He made 49.5% of his 2FGs.

You can check the photo gallery out here...he's a full-grown man.

Yes, that's in DII.  I would point you to JT Shumate from that other school as an example of a player making the jump and there have to be others.

He went to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, high school of MAC greats Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce. 

So, right now, this is what we have:

1. Trey Thomas, holdover
2. Sam Towns, holdover
3. Da'Jion Humphrey, holdover
4. Greg Spurgin, holdover
5. Jamai Felt, holdover, injured for 2 years
6. Marcus Johnson, F (Wheeling)
7. Youseff Khayat, F (UM)
8. Javontae Campbell, G (JUCO #67)
9. Braelon Green, G (AZ State)
10. Brandon Jaxon Pardon, HS
11. Preston Squire, C (JUCO #40 JUCO Player)

A couple of observations.  First, we are still out working the portal and JUCO ranks (and who knows what else) to bring in players.  If all the players listed above are on scholarship, than we have 2 more to give.  More if one of them is not.

Second, I think we are starting to see the outlines of a roster that is more in line with what we were expecting from the new regime.  Simon says we want to space the floor and attack the gaps.  Khayat, Squire, Johnson and Pardon look to up the 3FG game, while Campbell and Green are likely to get to the rim.  You have Thomas to help distribute...and FWIW, he made 40% from 3FG as a FR in the SEC, but 32% last year.  Towns supports the inside.  Felt has real ability if he is healthy.

And there could be two more players.

Stay tuned!

As the Portal Turns: Incoming!!

MBB has its 3rd player--technically,  JUCO player, so not technically from the portal, but he's a new player.

His name is Javontae Campbell.  Nickname is "Soup."  As I have said before, if your last name is Campbell, your nickname will be "Soup."  Ask Erik Campbell on the football staff.  "Soup."

Javontae is currently attending Northern Oklahoma Community College-Tonkawa.  It's between Oklahoma City and Wichita.  He's from Muskogee, as is Carrie Underwood.

He had a productive career in JUCO.  He scored 26.5 PPG last year and was efficient. (He was 2nd in JUCO ball for points per game.) He shot mostly 2FGs and made 56%.  He made 31% from 3FG and 77% from the line.  Also, 5.5 RPG and 2.6 APG. 

He was the #67 JUCO recruit, according to JUCOrecruiting.com.

He's 6'2".

I think it would appear he is going to fill the Marcus Hill role.

Welcome to the Falcons, Javonate.

As the portal turns, non-portal edition

Jason Spurgin has signed a 3-year deal to play pro ball in Australia.  The first year will be a developmental year and then he will play two years on the full roster.   He is the 8th player who will not be returning from last year, seven of them who had eligibility remaining.

We will miss his infectious enthusiasm.  He is the program's career leader in fist bumps.  Best of luck to him.

His brother has been practicing with the team.

As the portal turns, April 26

Agee is at USC.  Hill is at NC State.  We'll see how much they play, but I believe they are both getting paid.  Nothing but the best to them.

DJ Smith has entered the portal.  He played only a few games before getting injured and missing the remainder of the season.

That gives BG six players into the portal and then two who have come in via the portal, one via JUCO and one via HS.

Based on reports on Twitter, we are actively looking to build a team for next year.

This is like pro sports with no long-term contracts.

As the Portal Turns, April 20

 Armon Bethea and Davian Mayo are in the portal.  Both were transfers who played one year at BG.

Bethea is an o-lineman from Arizona.  He played 41 snaps, mostly against Michigan and Akron.

Mayo is a LB who transferred from Memphis. He had 14 tackles in 12 games....played 114 snaps in total.

Best of luck to them both.  I'm guessing that they didn't like where they finished the spring on the depth chart and they want to go somewhere where they can play.  Bethea has already been offered by Austin Peay. 

As the Portal Turns

 On and on it goes....

Portal updates.

First, for MBB, Anthony McComb III has entered the portal.  A big scorer in HS and prep ball, he played in 33 games and made 2 starts for BG, logging a total of 250 minutes and scoring 1.9 PPG.

That's five Falcons in the portal--Hill, Agee, Edwards, Greer and McComb, plus Jason Spurgin, who possibly could return home to play pro.  And Phillip was out of eligibility.

So far only two in...

For football, the post-Spring practice portal is humming, too. 

DL Bam Booker.  A highly decorated HS player in Ohio, he went to Maryland then came to BG.  He appeared in 11 games for BG last year, but made only 3 tackles.

LB Marquette Harris ...a JUCO transfer played only 3 games for BG.

DB Justin Lynch....JUCO transfer, made only 2 appearances for the Falcons.

WR Tae’Shaun Johnson..highly recruited player out of Toledo Central Catholic.  He was the #66 player in Ohio.  Has not played for BG in 2 years. Missed 2022 with injury. 

Defensive back/Linebacker Canaan Williams, who did not appear for BG in two years.

And Diego Neri, who entered the portal before Spring practice.

Best of luck to all of these young men.  BG brought some guys in during this window last year, so we will keep our eyes open.

MBB Roster Update

work starts now #FlyAroundandFindOut x #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/BGEDy7v2zm

— BGSU Men's Basketball (@BGSUMBB) April 10, 2024

Forensics from photos on Twitter...they are having some workouts and Sam Towns, Trey Thomas and Jamai Felt are shown.  Also, I understand that DJ Smith is back and practicing.  

As we know, Edwards, Greer, Agee and Hill are in the portal, and Phillip was out of eligibility.

And four players coming in....so far.  BG continues to work the recruiting wires.

New Falcon MBB Verbal

So, BG has a new verbal for MBB, this young man is a transfer from UM.  He's 6'9" and originally from Lebanon.  His name is Youssef Khayat, although his bio at Michigan says he prefers "Yo-Yo" on first reference.  (More here from Michigan Daily on the origin of Yo-Yo, etc).

He's not the normal background.  He lived in Lebanon and then they moved to France so he could play ball.  His HS years were spent playing on a U21 Club affiliated with Limoges, which is a pro team at the top level.  He had some success there his last year, playing in 32 games and averaging 16.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists in 28.2 minutes

He has played internationally for Lebanon at the youth and senior level.

He went to UM where he played two years.  He signed late and kind of got a slow start his FR year. He played 26 games in two injury-plagued years, ending up 154 minutes played.  He did not generate a lot of numbers.  Even so, this article indicates he was making progress behind the scenes.

He has two years left.  I think our coaches have shown (in only one year, true) to be good talent evaluators, so I look forward to seeing Yo-Yo in action.

Welcome to the Falcons, Yo-Yo.

Enjoy the day everyone!!

 

Terrible News from Football

Oof.  Terrible news from Spring Practice.  PaSean Wimberly said he was injured and will miss the season as a result of a "tragic accident" in practice.

It's heartbreaking.  PaSean is one of the best liked players we have had for years.  He is from Whitmer, and is a grad student in Architecture with a high GPA.  He excelled on special teams and, from what I hear, was making a strong case to be Taron Keith in this year's offense.  He is three-time Academic All-MAC and National Special Teams Player of the Year. 

Best of luck for a return to health for PaSean.

BG MBB Transfer IN

So, BG has their first player out of the portal for MBB.  His name is Braelon Green.  He visited UT and BG over the weekend, and chose BG over UT to play for at least the next year.  He has the potential to be a really good player in the MAC.

He's from Southfield, MI, the home of Juice Turner and Da'Jion Humphrey.  He played a prep year at Southern California Academy.   He had a large number of power conference offers.

Out of HS, he would have been among the highest-rated players we ever landed. 

One of two Top-100 rated prospects by Rivals, as they tabbed him as the No. 65 overall prospect and the No. 21 shooting guard in the nation...ESPN rated him as a four-star prospect and the No. 2 overall player in the state of Michigan...Four-star prospect according to 247 Sports consensus rankings, which rates him as the No. 127 overall prospect and No. 22 shooting guard in the nation...No. 114 overall prospect and No. 25 shooting guard prospect in the country according to On3.

He went to Arizona State, where he played 122 minutes in his first season.  And into the portal he went.

Of special note is that he is normally mentioned as a combo guard.  Not much is available from HS and there isn't a big enough sample to tell much from ASU.

We are thrilled to have him.  He has the potential to be a top MAC player.

In other news, JZ Zaher announced he would be entering the NBA draft.  His Uncle does own an NBA team...

MAC Portal Review

 The Portal is cutting a swath through the MAC.  The game has truly changed for us.

Akron:

No players in portal...had an old team

Ball State:

Quincy Adams (transferred to DII)

Jalin Anderson---15.8 PPG

Micah Bell--Averaged 6 minutes

Joey Brown--Averaged 9 minutes

Trent Middleton, JR--6.2 PPG

    Preston Sparks returning from Indiana

Buffalo:

Isaiah Adams--12.8 PPG

James Graham--Played 11 games

Kanye Jones--played 9 games, 8 PPG

Jonnivius Smith--8 PPG

    Noah Batchelor in from Maryland--highly recruited, averaged 7 minutes in two years

Central Michigan:

Noah Adamczyk--DNP

Derrick Butler--10.7 PPG

Jemal Davis--5.5 PPG

Markus Harding--10.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG

Max Majerle--4 PPG

Paul McMillan IV--8.3 PPG

Anthony Pritchard--MAC Co-defensive player of year, 1st team All-MAC

Aidan Rubio--40% 3FG shooter.

Eastern Michigan:

Tyson Acuff--MAC leading scorer, 3rd team All-MAC

Julius Ellerbe--2.5 PPG

Cyril Martynov--7-footer, played 12 minutes a game

John McGriff--15 minutes a game

Derik Pranger--9 GP

Javante Randle--6 minutes a game

Connor Serven--18 minutes a game

Andrew Wells--5 GP

Kent State:

Reggie Bass--former MAC FR of Yr at CMU

VonCameron Davis--13.8 PPG, MAC HM

LA Hayes--14 GP

Jalen Sullinger--Third team All-MAC

Miami:

Ryan Mabrey: 6.8 PPG

Jacquel Morris--13 starts

    Kam Craft, Xavier coming in. DNP this year.

Northern Illinois

Xavier Amos--14 PPG

Will Loving-Watts--MAC All FR, 7 PPG

Yanic Konan Niederhauser--7.3 PPG

Zarique Nutter--15.4 PPG

Zion Russell--4 PPG

Ohio

Quinn Corna--7 GP

Toledo

Tyler Cochran--2nd team All-MAC

Dante Maddox--2nd team All-MAC

Re'Heim Moss--2nd team All-MAC

Ben Wight--9 MPG

Western Michigan

B. Artis-White--All-MAC HM, 10.4 PPG

Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro, 9 PPG

Seth Hubbard--14.1 PPG, leading scorer

Hill in Portal, Simon Staying

In this week's edition of As the Hoop Turns, there are two significant updates.

The first one, chronologically, was that Marcus Hill entered the portal.  He said that he was open to returning.  Online reports show that he has received a large number of offers from high-major schools.  As I noted on twitter, the Detroit News is reporting that Tyson Acuff, the MAC's leading scorer from EMU, is getting $200,000 NIL offers. If Hill is in that range, you cannot blame him for taking a look.  Love to have him back.   Wish him the best no matter what.

Speaking of taking a look, we went through a few days where it looked like Tod Kowalczyk and Todd Simon were dueling for the Utah State job.  It would be a big raise and in a six-bid conference.  Last night, they both "withdrew" a few hours before Utah State named Jerrod Calhoun of Youngstown State.

Anyway, that bullet was dodged.  BG has had two prominent one-and-dones in the modern era--Bill Fitch and Chris Jans--and each led to the wilderness.  It will be interesting to see if that impacts recruiting--it seems like less, since the players aren't looking at a four year commitment anymore.

That puts Agee, Hill, Edwards and Greer in the portal, with Pardon and JUCO Preston Squire known to be incoming.  We don't know about the other players, but anyone can, assuming the Senior Night guys.  One commented has said that Jason Spurgin is considering playing at BG or as a pro, presumable in the NBL in Australia.

More on the portal later.....

MBB Portal Update

Latest portal update for Men's Basketball....PJ Edwards has entered.

PJ was a 3-star recruit when he went to UCF.  He was there for one year and came to BG.  He made 5 starts early and consistently got minutes in the upper teens until the Louisiana game.  No idea if he was battling an injury, but in BG's last 10 games he played only 4 times for a total of 24 minutes.

Wish him the best as he moves along.

I saw one post on X that I thought was revealing.  It was from a Detroit News reporter who said that Tyson Acuff, the MAC's leading scorer who is leaving EMU, was expecting to make $200,000 next year.  Trey Townsend from Oakland is at $500,000.

Anyway, BG has only lost 3 guys and one major contributor.  (As of 11:10 on Wednesday). UT's top 3 scorers are now in the portal.

It's a new world.

BG MBB Update--two in portal

So, a quick update.  BG played a tough game against Purdue Fort Wayne and had a shot at the end but couldn't get the shot to fall.  They played without Rashaun Agee, who was on the sideline, and it showed.

The season ends at 20-14.

The portal opened on Monday.  As of 8:30 AM on Friday, two players are in the portal from BG:  Rashaun Agee and EJay Greer.

In today's world, Agee is no surprise.  A hugely improved player who was second-team All-MAC and called an "elite" offensive rebounder by Tod Kowalczyk,  he will see what fortune holds for him.  He carried this team in many ways this year....you saw on Wednesday what it looks like without him.  Best of luck to him.  He gave us everything he had and stuck the coaching transition out.

The other is EJay Greer, who played sparingly as a FR.  I saw on Twitter that someone was saying that EJay had told them he wants to play a guard and BG had him at F.  He's 6'8" and 170.  In the MAC, he had the potential to present match-up issues at G or F.  He had a typical FR season, but I thought he showed promise.  In the old days, it would have been a pleasure to watch him develop.  Best of luck to him as well.

Of the 15 players on the 3 All-MAC teams, five (Agee, Moss, Sullinger, Acuff, Cochran) have all entered the portal.  Four of the remainder were seniors or grad students, though I don't know what that means for their eligibility.

I believe BG is not done with players going to the portal.  I don't have any inside info....but you had those guys on senior night, and Agee and Spurgin said they had made no decisions at a presser in Cleveland, and our staff is showing up as offering a lot of guys.

FWIW:  Preston Squire, a BG signee from Salt Lake Community College, is the #40 JUCO player in the country based on jucorecruiting.com.

BG MBB With At Least One More Game

So, the Falcons get one more home game, at least.  Who knows what happens after the first round.  Having said that, this opponent is what we used to know as IPFW, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.  The Mastadons. They are now just Purdue Fort Wayne.

We have played them four times, but not in 10 years.  They are, after all, a D1 program that we can easily travel to.  The 'Dons have won 3 of 4, including 1-1 at BG.

They had a similar season to BG, actually.  They ended 2023 at 13-2 and 4-0.  They played 2 non-D1 games and played the #358 non-conference schedule in the country, among the 4 worst.  BG's, which was not tough, was #324.

And they had more problems in the conference schedule.  They ended up 7-9 in 2024, finished 11-9 and lost to Oakland in the Horizon Tournament.

The Horizon is the #20 ranked conference and the MAC is #25.

They are an efficient offensive team.  They play at a high pace and shoot a lot of 3FGs. They make 37% from 3FG and 54% from 2FG, both of which are really good.  They also take excellent care of the ball.  They are poor on the offensive boards and average at getting to the line, along with #10 in their league at making FTs.

They are also an efficient defensive team.  They are average at everything except forcing turnovers, which they are really good at.  That's going to be a test for BG's ballhandlers.

Their leading scorer is Jalen Jackson, #10 in the Horizon at 16 PPG.  He makes 53% from 2FG and 41% from 3FG, which is really good.  He was third-team all-conference.

Also, third-team All-Conference was Rasheed Bello. He scores 14.9 PPG on 49% and 34% shooting. He also leads the team with 4 assists per game. Quinton Morton-Robinson and Anthony Roberts also score 13 PPG---remember that there are a lot of possessions here.

Eric Mulder leads them with 7.2 RPG. 

Kenpom gives them a 54% chance of winning the game.  I will be there.  It has the potential to be a nice game.

Now there are 8

 

Now 56 elapsed years since BG has been in the NCAA tournament.  Here is the company we live with now.  There are 8 now, as St. Francis (NY) left this list by eliminating their athletics program. They are the 2nd to voluntarily and permanently exit...Centenary dropped to DIII a while back.

Columbia: Last appeared in 1968
Tennessee Tech: Last appeared in 1963
Maine: Division I since 1962
New Hampshire: Division I since 1962
Dartmouth: Last appeared in 1959
Army: Division I since 1948
Citadel: Division I since 1948
William & Mary: Division I since 1948

Sadness Accrues

I said in the preview that Kent was unlikely to hit 50% from 3FG again, like they did in the first game between the two teams.

Sadly, I was right. They made 67% and that was largely the difference.

Since 1999, the kenpom era, BG has only allowed a higher 3FG% once, and that was an early Huger game against Evansville in 2017 when the Purple Aces made 80%.  The most BG has allowed and won was 64% vs UT in 2012 at the Stroh.

So, that's a problem.  Even worse, the 3FGs were just daggers, late in shot clocks, stopping BG runs.

As Coach said, "it was their night."

Kent led for 30 minutes.  BG never led by more than 5 and that was early.  Kent was in control of the game most of the way.  They showed in both of the games in Cleveland that they are very difficult to come back against.

BG battled foul trouble in the first half, with Thomas and Agee both with 2. Agee played 8 first half minutes and had 0 rebounds.  Yet, BG was only down 6, so going into the locker room you had to believe we had a shot.  And Kent can't keep making 3s like that, can they?

The lead stayed in the 6-8 range for the first 7 minutes of the second half.  BG made a little mini-run to get it to 3, but Rollins converted an offensive rebound, BG missed a shot and a second chance, and Davis came down for an old-school 3-point play and it was back to 8.  BG knocked it back to 6 and then Santiago nailed a 3FG to make it 9 with 11 left. 

BG got it to 6 with 7 left, but Kent scored the next 5 to go up 11, and the fat lady was singing.

Kent ended up at 1.19 points per possession, BG's 4th worst MAC game.  BG ended up at .98 points per possession, their 5th worst MAC game.

BG shot 49% from 2FG and 20% from 3FG, which is really tough.  Kent also kept BG off the offensive boards--partly with Agee on the bench and partly with Hornbeak getting 8 defensive boards.  BG made 16 of 17 at the line, ended up +7, but it wasn't enough to make up for the shooting disparity.

Marcus Hill had a solid 22 for BG, shooting 7 of 13 and 2 of 5. He added 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers.  Agee and 15 and 7 in 28 minutes. Made all 7 FTs.

So, from here.  First, BG could end up in one of those ancillary post-season tournaments. Beyond that, it's the next steps for modern college basketball....roster retention and construction.  

People were focused on the senior day guys, but anyone can leave.  Last year, of the 15 guys on the top 3 All-MAC teams, only 3 came back.

SUU's AD said that Todd Simon's players don't leave...we shall see.  But even people who have already transferred can now do so.

I'll do a season review.  In total, it was a good season.  As they used to say on midmajority.com, it always ends with a loss.  I'm optimistic about the coaches.  What we need is clear (shooters), but I'm on board and counting the days to when we are back at The Stroh.

CMU Recap/KS Preview (MBB)

Well, now.  What a time that was.  I'm telling you...you follow a team...there are good times, they are bad times.  And then a night like today.  So proud of our guys.  I know.  One game.  A quarterfinal.  A big win in a hard fought game.  CANNOT WAIT for the next one.

And Toledo....we WON'T see you at the game.

It was a competitive, if low-scoring game.  CMU led for 18 minutes, but never by more than 6.  BG's biggest lead was at the end.  Neither team had a scoring run more than 8 and there were 9 lead changes and 10 ties.  Both teams were in touch the entire way.

Fittingly, it was tied with 3:35 left.

Then, BG closed with the run that decided the game and sent their fans home happy.  BG finished the game on a 11-1 streak.  Actually, that's not exactly right.  It was Trey Thomas 11....CMU 1.

And 3 rebounds.

It started with 3:01 left when he pulled an offensive rebound down and BG reset before Thomas hit a floater in the paint.  2:50 left, BG took :45 off the clock and scored and were up 2.

BG gets a stop on a missed 3FG, Thomas clears the board. BG runs offense, and with 2:01 left Thomas nails a 3FG to put the Falcons up 5.

CMU calls time.  Butler gets to the rim, Spurgin fouls him and Butler, a 76% FT shooter, splits the pair.  BG up 4 with 1:55 left.  BG ran the shot clock all the way down before Thomas was fouled going to the rim.  He made both free throws, BG up 6 with 1:25 left.

The teams traded empty possessions and with :52 left Markus Harding was barelling to the rim, but Agee blocked his shot--one of the plays of the game--and Hill grabbed the board.  BG was not in the bonus yet, so it took CMU 3 fouls to get BG to the line with :37 left.  Everyone in our section remembered the game at Mt. Pleasant where BG was up 4 with :19 left and lost in OT, so we were all riding it out.  

BG got two more stops, and Thomas added 2 more FTs and 1 more rebound and it was over.

Sweet victory.

Here's how it worked out.  Yes, BG struggled to shoot against CMU again.  As noted, they are hard to shoot against.  BG was 38% from 2FG....but 35% from 3FG, which was enough to make the difference.  Just as importantly, BG held CMU to just 44% overall, 40% on 2FG and 33% on 3FG.  BG lost the turnover battle, too.

But, like the games in which BG has succeeded, they won on the boards and got to the line. That rebound number is impressive.  It was BG's 2nd best offensive rebounding game of the year and their 4th best defensive rebounding game.   Finally, BG won the FT battle.  BG held CMU to 40% on 2FG and committed only 10 fouls and only 4 in the second half. BG made 79% from the line, with 15 of 19 while CMU was 4 of 6.  Yes, sir.

Trey Thomas started the season injured and hasn't always seemed to be on track.  But he was all of it in this one.  He scored 20, shooting 1 of 2 from 2FG, 4 of 8 from 3FG, 6-6 at the line, all in crunch time, 6 rebounds and 1 steal.  If something like that interests you.

Rashaun Agee.  What can you say? A career high 17 rebounds.  He's as good a rebounder we have had since Nate.  He has 320 rebounds this year. Wiggins had 362 in his senior year and then you're back to Cornelius Cash before you get a higher number.  He added 13 points and a monster crunch time block.

They held Marcus Hill to 11 on 3 of 14 and 1 or 2 shooting.  He also had 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 turnovers.  Coach said after the game that he does more for us than score.  He never left the floor.

So, Kent is next.  BG played them once and lost in OT at the Stroh.  Here's the way it looked for that game.  Look familiar?  The only difference was that BG can't let Kent shoot like that.  They were 50% on 2FG and 47% on 3FG.

In fact, there's a good chance they don't shoot that well tonight, even as the #2 3FG shooting team in the conference. 

They are big and physical.  For my money, the most consistently physical team in the MAC.  They seem to be willing to commit 10 fouls on every possession and dare the ref to call them.  Also, they blocked 5 shots against UT and held them to 44% on 2FG. 

In general, they have not been great on defense....#10 in the MAC, which is what had them in 8th place.  They are good on turnovers and defensive rebounding, but give up a ton of FTs and have been easy to make 2FGs against.  They certainly were not last night. (Not to rag on UT, which I already did, but they just seemed flat the entire time.)

I kind of see a similar game to last night and the first meeting.  Kent is favored, 58% chance of winning on kempom, 64% on ESPN and 1.5 points in Vegas.  

Kent is also tournament tough.  They are used to playing in the tournament and succeeding.  For me, the key will be for BG to get more stops than we did the first time.  Here we go!!!!!

BG/CM MBB Preview

 OK, here we go.

BG makes their first MAC tourney appearance since 2021, when they played with a badly hobbled Justin Turner and still had a shot to win until Jermaine Marshall, logging less than 10 minutes a game, nailed 2 of his 4 career 3FGs in the closing minutes to beat the Falcons.  At the time, I said you could kind of feel a window closing and that was, in fact, what happened.

This year's team is facing CMU...a team BG lost at home in 2OT and in Mt. Pleasant in OT.  BG struggled to shoot against them in both games...2 of their 4 worst shooting games for the season.  (Worst and 4th worst).  The fact that either game went into OT was a miracle. BG shot 35% and 43% from 2FG and 6% and 21% from 3FG.

So, there's a reason for that.  To start with, BG is the #10 shooting team in the MAC.  Add to it that CMU is the hardest team in the MAC to shoot against.  (They are the best defensive team overall, as well).

So why were those games close?  In the first game, BG was +11 at the line and had 3 turnovers to CMU's 16. Also, note that CMU played without Anthony Pritchard and Markus Harding in this one.

In the second game, BG was +17 at the line, double the offensive rebounding while having 6 more turnovers.  BG was up 4 with :19 left to play in this one.

CMU doesn't usually foul as much as they did to BG in the first two games--two of their 5 worst MAC games in free throw rate.  That can also impact BG's FG%, because you are getting fouled every time you have an open shot.  While struggling much of the year, BG finished #7 in the MAC in FT%,

So, look, BG nearly beat these guys both times...but didn't.  In a sense, the road OT game against a fully stocked CMU lineup is actually the bigger accomplishment.

BG's game plan is normally below average shooting, low turnovers, good offensive rebounding and getting to the line.  Based on the first two games, they have a long way to go to get to below average.  That's also going to include making some 3FGs, because I expect CMU to pack it in and guard the paint, which is the percentage play against the Falcons.

Even so, this is an entirely winnable game for BG.  Kenpom gives BG a 56% chance of winning, though their formula penalizes CMU for a dreadful 2023 portion of the schedule.  They are better than that now. Vegas has BG -2.5 and a 67% chance of winning.

I'm really looking forward to this game.  Somebody is going to win 3 games this weekend.  Maybe it's us. With a win, based on UT's history, we get Kent in the final and who knows?

Two Falcons Make All-MAC

Below are the All-MAC awards as selected by the coaches---they can't vote for their own guys.  As you can see, Freeman and Simmons were unanimous choices.  I don't have any problem with the guys you see here...Barbee's team was picked last and finished #4.

BG has two guys honored.  Marcus Hill is first-team All-MAC, certainly well deserved.  And Rashaun Agee was second-team, also well deserved.  In fact, he had a first-team All-MAC season, but you can't argue with any of the guys who made it ahead of him.  You could say the same for Jihad. That's how it goes sometimes.  

Really proud of these guys.  Marcus and Rashaun carried this team on their shoulders most of the way.  Rashaun might have shown more improvement in one year than any player since Richaun Holmes.  Both of them play unbelievably hard on every possession.  I thank them for helping to make this an enjoyable year and for being Falcons.

---------------------------------------

2023-24 MAC Men’s Basketball All-MAC Teams & Specialty Award Winners

Coach of the Year: Tony Barbee, Central Michigan

Player of the Year: Enrique Freeman, Senior, Forward, Akron*

Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Pritchard, Junior, Guard, Central Michigan

Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Tyler Cochran, Junior, Guard, Toledo

Freshman of the Year: Javan Simmons, Forward, Toledo*

Sixth Man of the Year: JaVaughn Hannah, Sophomore, Guard, Western Michigan

* - unanimous selection by 11 opposing head coaches

All-MAC First Team 

Ali Ali, Senior, Guard, Akron

Enrique Freeman, Senior, Forward, Akron

Marcus Hill, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green

Anthony Pritchard, Junior, Guard, Central Michigan

Ra’Heim Moss, Junior, Guard, Toledo

 

All-MAC Second Team 

Basheer Jihad, Junior, Forward, Ball State

Rashaun Agee, Senior, Forward, Bowling Green

Jaylin Hunter, Senior, Guard, Ohio

Dante Maddox Jr., Junior, Guard, Toledo

Tyler Cochran, Junior, Guard, Toledo

All-MAC Third Team 

Brian Taylor, Graduate Student, Guard, Central Michigan

Tyson Acuff, Junior, Guard, Eastern Michigan

Jalen Sullinger, Junior, Guard, Kent State

David Coit, Junior, Guard, Northern Illinois

AJ Clayton, Junior, Forward, Ohio

All-MAC Honorable Mention

Greg Tribble, Senior, Guard, Akron

VonCameron Davis, R-Junior, Forward, Kent State

Anderson Mirambeaux, Senior, Center, Miami

Darweshi Hunter, Graduate Student, Guard, Miami

B. Artis White, R-Junior, Guard, Western Michigan

 

MAC All-Freshman Team

Arne Osojnik, Guard, Eastern Michigan

Eian Elmer, Wing, Miami

Will Lovings-Watts, Guard, Northern Illinois

Javan Simmons, Forward, Toledo

Sonny Wilson, Guard, Toledo

 

MAC All-Defensive Team

Greg Tribble, Senior, Guard, Akron

Enrique Freeman, Senior, Forward, Akron

Anthony Pritchard, Junior, Guard, Central Michigan

Tyler Cochran, Junior, Guard, Toledo

Ra’Heim Moss, Junior, Guard, Toledo

BG Adds Cornell Brown to Staff

 BG lined up a new defensive line coach, and this guy has a long history of coaching and playing at the highest levels.  His name is familiar--Cornell Brown.

He is still from the Loeffler-verse.  He was an assistant at Virginia Tech with Scot.  He also graduated from Virginia Tech, was a two-time  All-American, and played for 7-years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Ravens.

Last year he was with the New Orleans Breakers and the year before that the Calgary Stampeders. In college, it was Tarleton State, Marshall, Virginia Tech and Norfolk State.

You can see the details about the record at all these places here.

This was a key hire. The D-line is critical to any team's success and I think BG has done an excellent job developing talent at that position.  It might be the area that most contributed to our 10-6 record in MAC play the last two years.  Certainly, Brown has the credentials...love to see the results this year.

Falcons Close With Home Win, Finish #5

BG beat Ball State last night and finished 5th in the MAC.  The Falcons were picked 8th and with the new guys and the new staff, this was a favorable result.  In the 22 years since WVU, this is only our 8th winning record in MAC play.

The Falcons will play CMU at 1:30 on Thursday.  This is a much more favorable matchup than one of the top 3...BG took CMU to overtime twice and you have to believe we have a shot in this one.  And some motivation?

The sobering news of the night was senior night.  Jason Spurgin, Trey Thomas, DJ Phillips, Rashaun Agee and Sam Towns each were honored, received their commemorative framed jersey, etc. 

That's sobering because, with the exception of Phillips, all of these guys have eligibility remaining.

This is a space to watch.  We've had guys go through senior day and decide to return, and that's always a possibility. As far as that goes, anyone on the roster could leave.  BG has two players signed...Preston Squire and Jaxon Pardon.

On the bigger picture, this is the world we live in now.  Last season, of the 15 players on the All-MAC team, only 2 returned.  Eight were out of eligibility and the remainder transferred.

Last year, we had to recruit ten new guys...this year, maybe five or more.  Every one of those guys played significant minutes.

The actual game was a solid performance for BG.  Coach says guys are healthy again, the energy is back, and the shot making is coming back.

BG led by 9 at the half and had the lead up to 12 with 10 minutes left to play in the game.

Ball State played hard, cut the lead to 3 with about 7 left and to 1 with 4:29 left.  

What happened next is what makes basketball such a great sport.  With 4 left, Hill was under pressure and found Humphrey, who nailed a 3FG dagger and was fouled.  Missed the FT, but BG up 4.  BSU threw the ball away on the fast break, BG came up and--after replay--it was determined the Jihad had flagrantly fouled Spurgin.

Jason hit both FTs and then on the possession took an absolute dime from Hill and nailed the 3FG, giving BG a 9-point lead.  Two possessions, less than one minute, and the game went from in the balance to over.  Humphrey nailed another key 3FG with 1:15 left.

BG led for 36 minutes of the game, which is a good sign you are on the right track.  They outshot BSU, and only were -2 at the line after making 15 of 18.

So, onto Cleveland we go.  Proud of our guys. It has been a very good season.  See everyone in Cleveland.

This is it. It's the last game (MBB)

 So, here we go.  The last game of the regular season....hard to believe, seems like yesterday we were tracking whether the Bewley twins were going to play.

If BG wins and Miami loses, the Falcons finish 5th.

If BG wins and Miami wins, then it depends on who wins the #1 spot.  If it is UT, than BG is 5th.  If it is UA, then Miami is #5.  UT wins the tiebreaker over Akron.  Also applies to a two-way tie at 9-9 with BG and Miami.

If BG, Miami and Kent tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

If BG, Miami, and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 5th.

If BG, Kent and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

If BG, Kent, Miami and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

At 5th, BG plays CMU.  At 6th it is OU.

The opponent is Ball State, who are trying to get into the tournament.

BG and Ball State played earlier this year, with the Falcons picking up the road win.  The Falcons had a multi-possession lead for the last 8 minutes of the game.  Ball State got the lead to 4 with 3 minutes left, but BG blasted the lead back out again and won by 9.

It was BG's best shooting game of the MAC season.  They made 53% on 2G and 50% on 3FGs.  They had an OK day with turnovers but was great on the offensive boards. BG was 15 of 20 at the line, but -3 for the game.  BG had 1.21 points per possession, their second best MAC game.  Ball State had 1.08.

Hill had 28 in his best offensive game of the season. He was 11 of 16 from 2FG and 2-2 from 3FG. Spurgin had 17 and 7, Agee had 14 and 10.

Ball State leads the MAC in getting to the line, FT% and the percentage of points coming from FTs. Beyond that they are average in FG shooting and turnovers, and slightly less than average on the offensive boards. They are #5 with the 3FG.

On defense, they are pretty much average across the board, although they are #3 in keeping their opponents off the line.  They are somewhat vulnerable to the 2FG.

They are led by Basheer Jihad, who is #4 in the MAC in scoring. He makes 40% on 3FGs. He also leads the team with 8.4 RPG, which is #3 in the MAC.  He's clearly first-team material. 

Jalin Anderson scores 15 PPG and is #4 in the MAC in assists, Davion Bailey and Mickey Pearson score 13 PPG. 

They have 4 MAC wins on the road.

Last chance to see BG at home...and a chance to finish strong and head to Cleveland looking to shock the world.

BG MBB....onto Cleveland.

 Well, you have a team picked to finish 8th....with a shot at 5th or 6th.  It has been a good season.  A ways to go, and more needed in future years, but this was a a good start.  After two years not even in the top 8, the Falcons will play for the title in Cleveland.

The game with WMU was entertaining.  There were 8 ties and it remained close most of the way, even though BG did not trail in the 2nd half.  It was tied once.

With 5:35 left, BG led by 6.  WMU rallied and had it down to 1 with 2:36 to play.  The game remains afoot.  BG ran the clock down and then Jason Spurgin drained a 3FG to put BG up 4. The hated Lobsinger bricked a jumper (schadenfreude) and BG came down, missed a shot, but Agee had the glass, which he followed up with a basket and a foul, which he converted.  BG up 7 with 1:11 to play, and the game was over.

That's what games come down to.  And BG's bigs made the plays that were needed to secure a nice road victory.

BG had 1.11 points per possession, which has been a winning number--if rare--over the last few games.  They held WMU to .99.

To start with, BG outshot WMU.  That's usually led to a win, which it should.  Neither team shot great.  BG was 54% and 29% and WMU was 51% and 29%.  BG tried BG tried 28% of their shots from 3FG, a typical number for them. When they beat WMU the first time, BG got outshot. 

BG also led on turnovers, kept a board-crashing WMU team off the boards, got offensive boards themselves and made 12 of 16 at the line, for +3.

Rashaun Agee had another big game.  He had 17 on 6 of 11 shooting, 5 of 6 at the line, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers.  If that might be something that is of interest to you

Spurgin, who Coach says is healthy for the first time in weeks, had 16 on 5 of 7 shooting and 2 of 5 3FG shooting.  With 5 rebounds a 3 turnovers.  He was running the floor and making shots like he was earlier, and did it in 28 minutes.

Marcus Hill only had 13, but it was on 6 of 10 and 0 of 1 shooting.  He appeared to press the issue less.  That's not a lot of points, but an efficient night.  Also, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers. Trey Thomas had 10 on 10 shots and 6-6 at the line.  Greer had 15 in 12 minutes, making 2 of 4 from the field and 1 of 2 from 3FG.

The last game is at home against Ball State, which can still make the tournament with a win. BG will play CMU or OU....CMU would be interesting given the OT games we played previously.  Anyway, a good year and more to go.

The Football Schedule is Out!

 Finally!

First, you are going to want to watch this....pretty funny....

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 🗓️ 🅳🅴🆃ⓐⓘ🅻🆂 ⬇️#ToTheMoon 🟠🟤 pic.twitter.com/1JCtLSe7S6

— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) March 5, 2024

Here's another ChatGPT prompt for Scott

Write a plan to hold a 28-10 halftime lead against your rival.

 I kid.  I kid.

So here it is.  This is a much different picture than last year.

Let's start.  First, we have a bye week between our P4 games, and we follow the second one with a home G5 game.  Much better than what we had last year.

Toledo--while away--is on Saturday, as it should be and will be two of every four years.

Out non-pod games worked out OK...we keep Kent and Akron and add Ball State (who we beat last year) and WMU, who we beat last year in Kzo0.  There's @CMU as well.  

If we are playing like we hope, the key games will be on 10/12 and 10/26 in our pod.  I have no idea how good the other teams are, but we don't face OU, a top MAC team last year and usually a good team.

Here are the number of P4 games played by MAC teams.

• Akron 3
• BSU 2
• BG 2
• UB 1
• CMU 1
• EMU 1
• Kent 3
• Miami 3
• NIU 2
• OU 2
• UT 1
• WM 2

Anyway, there it is.  Plan your life now.  Love to see us make a run this year...we have a lot of guys who are finishing their eligibility....and this schedule seems a little more workable.

Rematch: MBB vs. WMU.

Two games left.

A win or Ball State loss, and BG is going to Cleveland after 2 years away.  It could happen with two losses...but not under all circumstances. They can also finish 5th or 6th, which would place them against CMU or OU (probably) as opposed to UT or Akron.

WMU has had a weird season.  Picked to finish near the bottom of the MAC (10th), they burst out to a 4-0 start in the MAC.  They were 4-1 when they played BG and the game looked like an important battle in the top of the standings.  Both teams have found some reality since then.  BG won the game.  WMU at one point lost 5 straight games in the MAC.  They have rebounded and won 3 of 4, beating Miami and UB in Kzoo, lost @EMU and then won @BSU in the most improbable fashion.

You have undoubtedly heard.

Both teams are 8-8 and tied for the last playoff spot (also including Kent).

WMU is 5-2 at home in MAC play.  BG has won 3 of the last 5 in Kzoo, but there have some pretty rough years for the Broncos.

This is a kind of typical BG win.  BG was outshot, as WMU made 53% from 3FG and BG actually made 37%,  BG won the turnover battle, had an incredible game on the offensive boards and made 23 of 27 at the line.

BG led by 16 in the second half.  WMU rallied and BG had a 1-point lead inside of 2 minutes.  BG got a basket and then three stops in the last minute and BG hung on to get the win.

Overall, WMU is #8 in the MAC in offensive efficiency. They are average at shooting and getting to the free throw line....they are #1 in offensive rebounding and #12 in turnovers.  As you can see above, those trends played out in the first game.  They are the worst FT shooting team in the conference.

They are 4th in defensive efficiency.  That's #4 defending the 2FG and 3FG. They don't force turnovers and give up free throws, but are #4 on the defensive boards.

Owen Lobsinger (I did not make that up, though it sounds like the name you give your Mom when you don't want her to know who you were really out with) had 25 on 7 of 7 from 3FG. He has made 20 in the 11 games that followed.

Marcus Hill had 28, although it took 26 shots.

WMU has a transfer C, a 7'0" who does not start and usually plays less than 20 minutes.  He's a force when out there.

So here we go.  On the road, this is a tough matchup.  Hopefully, the Falcons break out of their slump and don't leave it all to the final game.

So, on paper this would appear to be a tough matchup, as a scoring challenged team against one of the better defensive teams.

Some football updates

 Just a few things from football...no the schedules are not out yet but people are waiting impatiently.  Should be any time.

Spring practice is underway.  BG has a lot of injuries.  This includes Conner Bazelak, who has surgery in January, and Orth, neither of whom will be ready until June.  Coach has them in intensive, Loeffler-led film study.  Better them than me.

Meanwhile, Lucian Anderson will get the reps for spring and Loeffler has advised him to practice like he is the guy.  This isn't bad...Anderson is in line to compete for the top job next year, along with anyone else who might arrive by them.  BG is offering QBs all over the place and there's always the portal.  But this is a chance for Anderson to position himself for that role. He is a redshirt FR this season.

Running backs are also thin.  We expect Stewart back by camp, but the role Keith played is open.  No help was found in the portal but Coach hinted that there could be a player or players in the freshman class who get snaps this year.

Diego Neri is in the portal. He was Academic All-MAC and played in all the games last year, mostly on special teams.  I suspect he got to spring practice, wasn't where he hoped to be on the charts and wants to look elsewhere.  Wish him nothing but the best.

One factor might be that BG has moved Trent Simms to LB.

This is a pretty big season.  BG has gone from awful to decent.  Last year, we lost to the better teams in the MAC and ran wild through an extremely weak part of the schedule.  We were better.  But we need to go from decent to contending for the title, which is just as hard if not harder.

Hopefully, the schedule is slightly more favorable--though it will remain challenging so long as we have to go to two P5 games like Penn State and Texas A&M.  There will be a conference game in the week between those two games, so we can hope it won't be against a top team.  Our G5 game is at home and not against a team likely to go undefeated.

I think continuity was the way to go.  I am not convinced that we will break the 5-3 MAC ceiling...but it would certainly be great to see it happen.