The night the lights went out in Tampa

I will have a full recap tomorrow, but in the meantime, just a heartbreaking loss for the Falcons tonight at the Sun Dome.  This would have been a very big win for us, to beat a Big East team on the road...it would have built on the MSU game and given the team a big confidence boost heading into the Christmas break.

Instead, BG failed to close a 7 point lead in regulation and then probably had an even better shot to win in the 3rd overtime when Anthony Henderson had a breakaway with a 2 point lead in the final seconds....Coach Hopson said after the game he "went for a dunk when he could have pulled it back out" and the dunk was blocked and they came down and hit a hoop with a free throw and from there it was on the track for the Bulls to win.

On the breakaway, you had to feel it was over, but five seconds later it was not.

And that's just the 3rd over time...the last two minutes of regulation were just as frustrating.

To be fair, USF also had the game won at the end of the first overtime and lost the lead, so it wasn't all one way.

To their credit, the team kept battling on the road, but we absolutely had the game won more than once and didn't close it down and will fly back north tomorrow morning with a loss that should have been a signature win for our season.

This team is playing better than it did earlier...maybe we are on the right vector.

More tomorrow.

Falcon Defense, a look at the numbers

So, a quick note on BG's defensive performance in men's basketball.  The coaches have been talking up our defensive performance over the past few games, and I wanted to put it to the test a little.

Above is a chart showing the points per possession allowed for each BG game this year.  Remembering that the D1 average is about 1.01 points per possession, I think there's a very clear picture for looking at things as being different after-Detroit.

Before that game, BG had played four sub-par defensive games--in fact, BG had beaten Detroit on the strength of getting some baskets, not defending.  But, BG had four other games that were worse than average.  The only two games that were better than average were against non-D1 competition.

Since the Detroit game, BG has played above-average defense in every game, which is what we need to do do win.  MSU was almost average, but given who they are, I don't think that's a bad ouctome, and the WSU and Samford games had pretty decent results.

Unless BG starts finding ways to score more easily, I think it is clear that to win we need to be consistently under 1 or even .9 points per possession.  This is obviously a work in progress, but if this team's identity is going to be to defend like this, then we're going to need to see this trend remain consistent.

Men's Hoops...Welcome to Tampa

The Falcon Men's Basketball team now takes to the road to try and convert its strong performance against MSU into a road win against a team from the Big East, at least for now.

We talked a lot about how MSU and UM and OSU had only played one road game this year...Falcon fans might be surprised to know that as of right now BG has only played one road game, which was against Robert Morris in the pre-season NIT.  Some of those games were on neutral courts....but there has been only one road game.

This one comes against South Florida, one of the 3 remaining football-playing Big East schools that are either going to have to arrange a East-West "Conference America" or find a new home.

In men's basketball, the Bulls are coached by Stan Heath, a former assistant at BG who coached for one season at Kent State (getting them to the Elite 8), jumped to Arkansas, got fired and then ended up at USF, where he has a losing record, albeit in the toughest conference in basketball right now.

This season, they are off to a 6-3 start and a Kenpom.com rating of #85.  (BG is #193).  On the plus side, they have beaten Bradley (#114), Georgia (#120), and Youngstown State (#141).  (Note, the Penguins beat BG at the Stroh).  Each of those wins was on their home court.  They lost at home to UCF (#111) and WMU (#207), as well as @Oklahoma State (#19).

All that is a pretty decent start.  The two home losses keep it from being a great start, especially the WMU loss, but they have beaten some solid teams, one of whom beat BG.

This team will remind you a lot of Michigan State.  They are a defensively oriented team with effective big men...they play at a very slow pace (They play at 62 possessions a game, which is sloooooooooooow with a capital SLOOOOOOOOW), so their per game averages are a little distorted.  That is one difference with MSU, in fact...the Spartans like to get into transition, but this team plays a very slow and deliberate style.

Statistically, this team scores 1.05 points per possession, which is above average (1.01).  They take excellent care of the ball and shoot it pretty well (49.5% EFG), but are well below average in terms of offensive rebounding and free throw rate.  They get 31% of their scoring from the 3, which is in the top third of the country--they shoot almost 37% from beyond the arc.

So, not spectacular on offense, but with good ball control and some 3s, they are scoring pretty effectively.  (We will look at BG's defense a little more later today, but if BG is going to establish a true defensive identity this is an opportunity).

They allow only .94 points per possession on defense, which is good, though hardly lock down territory (#118).  They get there by being 48th in the nation in effective field goal defense and not letting teams get to the line (#46).  Their defensive rebounding is average and they are below average in forcing turnovers.

NCAA Basketball Stats

They have only two double figure scorers....6'9" Toarlyn Fitzpatrick (12.8) and 6'1" Anthony Collins (10.3).  Collins also contributes more than 7 assists per game (which is #5 in the nation and #2 when you figure in the low number of possessions).  For his part, Fitzpatrick is a 45% 3-point shooter and a tough outside matchup for anyone.

Two other players score 9 points a game.  Victor Rudd, 6'9", is one of them and he also averages 8 rebounds a game, which is #3 in the Big East.  (He is pretty inefficient, shooting only 38%, which is low for a big man).

The other is Jawanza Poland, who is 6'4" and gets those points in only 21 minutes.

Note, therefore, that they have two strong big men

This is not as good a team as MSU, but it is a road game, which obviously makes it harder, especially for a team that has not played much on the road yet....on the other hand, we have played plenty outside our arena.  Anyway, this is a tough assignment...BG has played better over its home stretch and this is a chance to translate that into a tougher venue.

BG needs additional players to emerge...I suspected Calhoun would struggle against MSU and I suspect he will struggle against USF, as they have good big men and will probably pack the inside.  Against MSU, Chauncey Orr was able to emerge...the Falcons need something like that--an efficient outside scoring threat. Also, Jordon Crawford was apparently benched for the final minutes of the MSU game, and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to that.

Reported Football Verbal and Signing....

ESPN.com is reporting a verbal commit and a signing for next year for the football team.

The first is a "Y" TE, Hunter Folkertsma, from Forest Hill Central HS, which is in Grand Rapids, MI.  (A Y TE is a more traditional blocking and receiving TE).  The scouting report on ESPN.com says this is a "greyshirt offer" which may or may not actually be true...but here is what that is, if you are unfamiliar.  Hunter is interviewed here by a local site and seems excited about coming to Bowling Green and being a Falcon.

He's 6'6" and 235, which is a pretty good sized fella.

The reported signing is JUCO transfer Paul Senn (see below).  He's a LB, 6'1" 230 and he averaged 5.7 tackles per game last year.

At some point, he was playing at New Mexico (correction New Mexico state.  We regret the error) and in HS he was all-league on what was a successful team. JUCO guys are hard to track down, but as far as Senn goes, there you are.  I would suspect that he was recruited to add depth to the LB Corps, which lost Dwayne Woods from this season.  The early signing is (again assuming) designed to get him enrolled for the January semester and in spring practice.



Welcome to the Falcons, Hunter and Paul.

Calhoun 40th Falcon to Hit 1,000 Points

Lost in the excitement of the MSU game Tuesday was that A'uston Calhoun went over 1,000 points, becoming the 40th player to do so.  He is currently 39th in our career scoring list.  I'd say he has a shot at ending up in the top 20 when all is said and done this year.  Anyway, A'uston is a very talented player and scorer whose numbers suffer a little because he doesn't have anyone relieving the pressure on him.  He is double and triple teamed when he gets the ball in the pain, and it makes it very difficult for him to get quality shots off.  He has made 18 straight free throws, however, and is shooting 82%.  Furthermore, I rarely even see a free throw hit the rim.  Obviously, this is huge for a player in the post.

Below is a list of our 1,000 point scorers.  Congrats to A'uston for this accomplishment and we look forward to seeing him climb up the list.

----------------------
1.  ANTHONY STACEY - 1,938 POINTS
2. KEITH MCLEOD - 1,895 POINTS
3. HOWARD KOMIVES - 1,834 POINTS
4. ANTONIO DANIELS - 1,789 POINTS
5. JAMES DARROW - 1,740 POINTS
6. CHARLES SHARE - 1,730 POINTS
7. WALT PIATKOWSKI - 1,577 POINTS
8. COLIN IRISH - 1,567 POINTS
9. LEN MATELA - 1,527 POINTS
10. DAVID JENKINS - 1,525 POINTS
11. MARCUS NEWBERN - 1,504 POINTS
12. JAMES GERBER - 1,495 POINTS
13. AL BIANCHI - 1,487 POINTS
14. SHANE KLINE-RUMINSKI - 1,427 POINTS
15. JOE FAINE - 1,409 POINTS
16. ANTHONY ROBINSON - 1,401 POINTS
17. JOHN REIMOLD - 1,380 POINTS
18. NATE THURMOND - 1,356 POINTS
19. DON OTTEN - 1,312 POINTS
20. KEITH TAYLOR - 1,283 POINTS

21. SCOTT THOMAS - 1,261 POINTS
22. JAY LARRANAGA - 1,249 POINTS
23. CORNELIUS CASH - 1,245 POINTS
24. JEFF MONTGOMERY - 1,238 POINTS
25. RON HAMMYE - 1,208 POINTS
26. JOE MOORE - 1,168 POINTS
27. RICH WALKER - 1,167 POINTS
28. MARTIN SAMARCO - 1,151 POINTS
29. TOMMY HARRIS - 1,137 POINTS
30.  JOSH ALMANSON - 1,136 POINTS
31.  NATE MILLER - 1,133 POINTS
32.  KEVIN NETTER - 1,114 POINTS
33.  DAVE ESTERKAMP - 1,080 POINTS
34. DEE BROWN - 1,065 POINTS
35. JOE GREGORY - 1,061 POINTS
36. BILL FAINE - 1,055 POINTS
T37. JIM CONNALLY - 1,036 POINTS
T37. STANLEY WEBER - 1,036 POINTS
39.   A'USTON CALHOUN - 1,007 POINTS
40. STEVE MARTENET - 1,000 POINTS

Falcons Fall Short to Spartans

In the post-game presser, Coach Izzo said that "behind closed doors he has been scared to death about this game."

He was in the house 22 years ago when BG took down the Spartans, and knows what can happen on the road.

It didn't happen last night, as the Spartans were able to eventually wear down the Falcons and win by 11 points in what was, overall, a very entertaining basketball game.

I give the Falcons a lot of credit.  They played with MSU for 31 minutes and it was an effort we can all be proud of, especially on the defensive end of the floor.  The Falcons went toe to toe with a very athletic, big and well coached team for most of the game (yes, it was at home) and certainly as a fan I am proud of the effort.

I remarked on the way out (and then heard Kirk Cowan say it on the radio) that the shame of it is that we bring this kind of energy and ability when we play Michigan State but not when we play Youngstown State.  Because we would have beaten Youngstown State if we had.

I do get it.  It was a sell out at the Stroh--and let there be no doubt, if and when this men's basketball program gets rolling again, the Stroh can roar--and it was an electric environment.  Lots of State fans, too, and a great student turn out even though school is on break now.  So, you get swept up and you play well.

Just means (and this is the point Cowan made) that you have the ability, so whether it comes out against Youngstown State is up to you.

The first half of the game was very closely played and MSU needed a buzzer beater to take a 5 point lead into the locker room.  The second was also very tightly contested, with MSU pushing out to modest leads and then BG battling back.  The game was tied at 40 and at 45.

Cue the foreboding music, because from there on in the Spartans dominated the Falcons, outscoring BG 19-8 coming home and taking the 11 point win.  Even within those 19, at one point, down 10, BG got 3 straight stops and had the chance to get the game back within reach but could not score.

NCAA Basketball Stats

The Falcons were hampered in the final minutes by the absence of their leading scorer, Chauncey Orr (more later), who had cramped up and could not play.  Also, BG played in the final minutes with Jordon Crawford on the bench.  I don't know if he was injured or if he was pulled, but Jehvon Clarke led the team in the final minutes.

What I do know is this...on the post-game show, Coach Stone said that BG had executed its game plan very effectively until the final minutes of the game and then got away from the offensive game plan.  Again, I don't know if that is connected with Crawford or not.

What I saw was a few bad shots in there...a very long, badly missed 3 by Kraus, a couple of weak drives by Kraus and Clarke (you can't drive to the basket with a scoop move against those guys, they just smack it away)...regardless, 8 points in 10 minutes is nothing to be proud of.  Furthermore, 6 of the 8 points were on free throws and the only FG in that span came with :29 left in the game.

Individually, the Falcon who had the most impressive game was Chauncey Orr who had 16 points in 20 minutes played....shooting 6 of 7 and making 3 threes.  He was strong around the rim as well, and it was far and away his best performance as a Falcon.  I know it was just one game, but if even one outside player emerges as a scorer, the dynamic changes for this team a lot.

Crawford did score 10 but on 4 of 14 shooting with 7 assists and 2 turnovers.  The assists are good but the shooting was a real struggle.  You had to expect Calhoun to have a tough night...some of the MSU guys are human aircraft carriers and they don't even need to double Calhoun.  He had 9 points on 3 of 10 shooting and a team high 5 rebounds.

I thought out big guys played really well.  Holmes had 4 rebounds and 4 blocks in 20 minutes and Black closed the lane down a number of times and bodied up the MSU bigs...yes, they got some baskets inside, that's what they do, but I thought Calhoun and Holmes had solid games.

I also thought they got a very solid 17 minutes out of James Erger.  If we had a weak point, our guard play was pretty poor up and down the line, except for Orr.

Statistically, BG actually won 3 of the 4 key factors.  They did a great job on the boards against one of the country's perennial rebounding powers, had fewer turnovers and got to the free throw line more often.

The deciding factor in the game was shooting.  MSU shot 48% and BG shot 32%.  MSU was only 3 of 9 from 3, so that was OK, but BG was 5 of 19.  I'm guessing that the difficulty of getting the ball inside spawned a lot of those 3s, but I doubt if BG wins too many games this year with 19 3-attempts.

NCAA Basketball Stats

I don't know...maybe that contradicts my observation that the inside guys played well.  MSU pounds the ball inside, they are going to get shots.

Anyway, for the game MSU had 1 point a possession (which is an above average night for a defense) and BG got .85, which is obviously less and not good enough to win.

Full credit to MSU and Izzo for taking his team on the road into a difficult enviornment.  In the post-game presser he said he was "just dumb" and might keep doing it, but obviously it is not that.  Good teams win on the road, and this was a good chance for his guys to get acclimated to it before they head into Big 10 play.

For comparison, OSU has played one road game (at Duke, FWIW) and Michigan has played @Bradley.

Anyway, thanks to the Spartans for playing here, because I don't think any other Big 10 team would have done it.

For the Falcons, the question is whether anything moves forward from this.  Does this boost confidence and create a team that can compete in the MAC, or was it a sugar high?

Clawson Presser, Rumor Edition

Coach Clawson held his first presser since before the Buffalo game, and there was a lot for him to talk about.  I recommend heading over to bgsufalcons.com to take  a listen.  He was relaxed and pretty interesting to listen to.

A couple of reactons/newsy items.

First, he was asked about the coaching rumors, if in a kind of backward way.  He said, first, that "he plans on being the coach at Bowling Green," a statement which most normally sends chills down the back of the average football fan.  Urban Meyer said it (more or less, let's not go through that agin) and Darrell Hazel said it just this year, and then, of course, plans change.  In the case of our Coach, I actually it is true, which is not to say he wouldn't leave for the right job.  The jobs are closing up and I think he might be one really good season from being very attractive.

He said he doesn't address rumors with the players because they are just rumors....he doesn't think it is appropriate.  I don't know why you can't say "Hey twitter says Wisconsin wants me but Alvarez was in town for a Packo's Hot Dog..."  Which, come to think of it, tells me that what he meant was that he didn't want to comment on rumors that were true.

Finally, he said every year he has been at BG he has been contacted by someone.  Love to know who contacted him after that 2-10 season....can't imagine the stock was very high.

He talked about our team, which has improved 3 wins each of the last two seasons.  He noted the number of guys we have coming back--which is high--and his satisfaction with the defense and the running game.  He acknowledged that the passing game was not great, but noted that as we play our young WRs, maybe we will get a dividend in the future, as we did when we played all the young guys on defense during that 2-10 season.

Which is an interesting thought...about the WRs.

He also talked about the San Jose team.  They are good...losses only to Stanford and Utah State (who beat Toledo), play great offense and have great defense.  He said you expect to play a good team in a bowl game, and we are.

He did talk about how many of their guys were all-conference, which is apparently everyone on the roster, but then again, it is the WAC, the conference which dies at the end of our game.

They are a very good team, however, and it is a big challenge for the team.

This is one of the few bowl games where the two teams have this many wins (18).  He also noted that two years ago the number would have been 4 or something.

He talked A LOT about the extra practices, if there was extra time to put some new stuff in, if you watched more film, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The most interesting thing is that the Military Bowl has a highly ranked gift bag.  It is ranked #10 by Bleacher Report.  The players--ALL the players--get an ipad mini, a timely watch (logo watch) and a beanie (which is a winter hat).   So, apparently the players are excited about that.

And why not?

Finally, he was asked if there was pride in the MAC in the bowl games.  He said he'd rather have the conference go 1-6 if the win was by BG then he would with the MAC going 5-2 and BG loses.

Which is honest....

Anyway that's the story of the presser for this week.