BG has 2 football early enrollees

Now that the semester has started, BG is able to talk publicly about their football early enrollees, both of which have been known for a while.

They are QB Jarrett Doege and WR Mike Wilcox.  You can get more info about them on the BGSU website, but my take would be that they both can have an impact by coming in early.  Doege will join Elijah Cunningham to provide BG with critical depth at the QB position and possibly push James Morgan, who you would expect to start.  Even more importantly, Wilcox and JUCO WR Datrin Guyton would have the chance to play immediately if they make progress during the spring.  BG had depth issues at WR and Ronnie Moore has graduated.  Scotty Miller is back (along with others), but you need a lot of WRs in today's football and these guys could be on the field right away.

Welcome to BG Jarrett and Mike.  Go to class.  Do your homework.

Falcons MBB Gets Road Win #1

Today was a fun day to follow the Men's basketball team.  I had a feeling in the preview that things we starting to come together... that the Akron loss presented an opportunity for BG to put 2 strong games together and get a road win in the MAC.

Ball State isn't a great team...and they aren't a bad team either.  And it was on the road.  There's still a long way to go, but the team that played out there today looked a lot different than the team that played, say, against Alabama A&M or during one of those stints where the starters all got benched.

BG got production from a number of different places and right now is looking a lot more competitive than we might have thought they would 3 weeks ago.

BG came out and had a 6 point lead about 7 minutes in.  Then, Ball State went on a 10-0 run to go up 4.  That's pretty much where it stayed until halftime--it was tied once more--but the Cardinals went into the locker room up 3.

In the 2nd half, BG took the lead with about 16 minutes and held it until the end of the game.  That is the kind of thing you like to see...just a consistent second half effort that had some runs, but never to the point where BG gave the lead up.  BG was up 12 midway through the half and up 10 with 5 minutes left.

By now, the major development in the game had occurred, which was that BG's PG Ish Ali had fouled out.  He picked up his 4th and then lost his cool in a resulting frakas and picked up a T and that was it.

So, BG played the last 6 minutes with Caldwell at point.  He has played extended minutes and he did a great job in this game...Coach praised him after the game for his play on both ends of the floor during the game's closing stretch.

Anyway, BSU combined baskets on 3 straight possessions with 3 straight stops and the lead was down to 3 with 4:05 left.  BG had one of those 1-minute possessions due to offensive rebounds, which killed clock but was ultimately not productive.

Ball State scored with 2 minutes left to cut the lead to 1.  At this point, the Falcons had to be having a sense of deja vu after similar occurrences throughout the year.

Except this time was different.  And mostly, Antwon Lillard was different.  With 1:47 Lillard hit a layup to put BG up 3.  BG got more or less 2 stops in a row due to a turnover.  One of those was a blocked shot by Lillard.  BSU carved the lead to 1 with about :30 left, but Lillard came back one more time with a layup and BG was up 3 with :25 left.

Even so, BSU had the ball and plenty of time to either tie the game or put the pressure onto BG with a 2-pointer.  They missed a shot, got the board and then lined up for a 3FG with :12 left when Zack Denny just made a huge play, blocking the shot without fouling.  The blocked shot went OB and Ball State got one more wild 3FG off and Denny rebounded the miss, they fouled him, he sunk both FTs and it was over.

So, no deja vu.  This time, BG closed the door.  They also ended up with a much more complete effort than we have seen in previous games.

BG had 1.06 points per possession in a 72-possession game.  That's an average tempo and a good offensive performance.  The key was on defense...BG allowed Ball State, a pretty good offensive team, only .99 points per possession, which is a total that is tough to win with.

This came from BG performing better in 3 of the 4 areas.  BG set itself apart with 3FG defense.  They held BSU to 16% from 3FG, by far their lowest total of the year.  They made 4 and have not won with fewer than 7 this year.  BG shot 46% and 36% and ended up with a better shooting day overall.

BG also took care of the ball better than Ball State.  Finally, BG had the big advantage at the free throw line.  The teams had the same number of fouls, but BG shot 19 of 26 from the line and the Cardinals were 11 of 15, leaving BG +8 at the line.

It is a good thing they had those 3 advantages, because for as well as BG did on the 3FG and turnovers and free throws, they had a dreadful day keeping Ball State off the offensive boards.  In fact, BSU got more than half of the available rebounds, which is BG's worst game since CMU in 2012.

Individually, BG had a few strong performances, which makes it much easier to win.

Zack Denny had a big game.  There was a time when he was mostly known as a long distance shooter, but today he showed a really complete game.  He scored 15 points and tried only 2 treys, missing them both.  However, he was 5 of 11 shooting overall, therefore 5 of 9 from 2FG to go with 5 of 6 FTs, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 4 steals and 2 assists.  In the last minute he had a block and nailed 2 FTs.  He reminded me of Scott Thomas out there.

Antwon Lillard also had a big game.  He has been in a little bit of a sophomore slump this year.  Going into the Akron game he hadn't been in double figures for six games and had been only in double figure 3 times all year.  In Muncie, he had 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting, 1-2 from 3 FG, 4-6 from the line along with 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Demajeo Wiggins also played well.  He scored 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting and 5-5 from the line.  He also had 8 rebounds.

And, while it didn't generate a lot of numbers, Rodrick Caldwell deserves credit for running the offense with a steady hand after Ali fouled out.  He ended with 8 points, 1 assist and only 1 turnover.

So, BG is 1-1 with a road win in the MAC.  They have their next 2 at home and if they can continue to play well are in a position to get a good start.  There's a long way to go and I'd advise enjoying this with nuanced expectations as we move forward, but I do believe things are trending up for the program.

After a lot of close losses, BG exceeded expectations today, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Welcome to Muncie

So, here we go.  Onto Muncie for game 2 of the MAC season.  I'm probably not being smart, but I am really looking forward to seeing this game.  BG put together a nice performance--albeit in defeat Tuesday--and I'm excited to see if they can string some of those together, because this game is one you could win with a similar effort.

Not that Ball State is a bad team or will be easy to beat.  They are 9-5.  However, according to kenpom they played the second weakest non-conference schedule in D1.  They beat no team ranked higher than 228 and six wins were over teams ranked 300+ and one was a non-D1 win.  So, I think it is safe to say that we don't know what we have here yet.  (BG played the #329 ranked schedule, so it isn't much different).

They are 0-1 in the MAC, dropping a crazy 100-90 game at Kent on Tuesday.  (Great quote from Coach Whitford: "I'm disappointed we lost, but I'm not losing my mind.") That was an 82 possession game in regulation, which is atypical of those two teams and, more or less, any two teams.  Anyway.  For the year, BSU is at 70 possessions per game, which is slightly above the national average.  This team is slightly above average on offense and slightly below average on defense. (National is 1.037 points per possession).  As you can see, that compares to a BG team that is a little above average defensively and below it on offense.  Still, all these stats are in the same range, and Ball State gave up 1.22 points per possession to Kent, an OK offensive team but not a juggernaut.  If BG can shoot like they did Tuesday, I think we have a shot to compete.

When BG has the ball, things are pretty predictable.  Most of these numbers are really close.  BG's offense has been about as productive as the offense of Ball's opponents this year.  So I think we know what to expect. (Note:  Kent made 31-31 from the line Tuesday).

Flipping it around, Ball State's offense is actually similar to Akron's, just not as good.  They are the #76 shooting team in the country, with 51% from 2FG and 38% from 3FG, both of which are pretty good.  They shoot 39% of the FGS from 3FG, which is about a percent or so above average, so they are nowhere near as 3-dependent as Akron and they don't have Isaiah Johnson, but still, this is a team that can shoot.  They are also good on the offensive boards, like Akron, and this is an area BG has to take care of.  Ball State is poor at taking care of the ball and doesn't get to the line a lot, and shutting off the boards would be a big help to keeping them off the scoreboard.

In what appears to be a MAC trend, their best player is a transfer.  Tayler Persons, a 6'4" G who transferred from Northern Kentucky where he was Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year, leads the team with 15.8 PPG on 47% and 42% shooting, both of which are solid.  He also averages 5.2 assists per game, although with 3.3 turnovers.

Our old friend Franko House, a 6'6" Sr, is scoring 11.5 PPG on 52% shooting and 6.1 rebounds per game. Sean Sellers, a 6'6" JR and former MAC Freshman of the Year, is scoring 10.5 PPG on 47% shooting.  Ball State is like Akron in that they play a very long rotation.  No player plays more than 29 minutes and 9 players play 14 or more.

So there you go.  I think it sets up as an interesting game and a good opportunity to BG, who has not really exceeded expectations at any point this year.  An early MAC road win--and then two home games next week--would be a good start.

MAC MBB Non-Conference Review

We've entered conference play and that means the MAC is done playing with the other boys in the other neighborhoods.

Let's see how it went.

The first big takeaway is that the MAC did not have any signature upsets.  No wins over P5 teams or even a team in the top 100, via kenpom.  Last year, the MAC had 4 wins in the top 100.  So for this year, here is how it shakes out.

1-25:  0-13
25-50:  0-4
51-100:  0-8
101-200:  18-27
201-351:  53-10

This is pretty much what you'd expect, I think.  The bottom one is a pretty good track record...beating teams you should beat.  I suspect you'd like to be closer to .500 in the 101-200 category, but who knows?  The MAC lost no games outside of D1.

As for the high and low points:

Biggest win is EMU against #101 Omaha.
Biggest away win is CMU @#139 Green Bay.
Worst loss is WMU to #344 UTEP.
Worst home loss is NIU to #249 Cal Poly

I think the scheduling is interesting.  One of the things you see when conferences upgrade their basketball is they stop playing games against the bigger conferences in return for home games and winnable games.  It is kind of a paradox.  You move your reputation up, but you never get to show anyone the big win.  This is partly an unfair game, since you never actually get to play any of those games at home.  This year, the MAC played only 2 games against the Big Ten.    A couple years ago it was 10.  (BG played no P5 games and, in fact, played only one major opponent and that was UC).

The MAC is the #13 ranked conference on kenpom.  #12 last year.  #11 the year before that.  #14 before that.

The story you might have missed....note the success of transfers in the MAC....

Marcus Keene....leads the nation in scoring with 30.1 PPG.  That 5 more than the #2 guy.  He's 5'9" and 175 pounds.  Youngstown State transfer.  Shooting 47% and 39%, which are really good for a G.  He's also averaging over 5 assists per game.

Jaaron Simmons is #3 in the nation in assists.  Transfer from Houston.

Steve Taylor is #2 in the nation in defensive rebounds.  (UT), transfer from Marquette

Isaiah Johnson #8 in FG%.

Rank so far this year (including 1 conference game, kenpom.com)

Akron (93)
OU (96)
EMU (97)
UT (114)
Kent (145)
UB (156)
NIU (175)
Ball State (178)
CMU (179)
BG (213)
WMU (232)
Miami (276)

Falcons play best game of year at JAR, lose

Yes, BG lost their 17th straight to the Akron Zips.  On the way, however, they played their best game of the season.  Their pre-conference season was pretty lackluster---there were some close losses and a couple decent wins, but overall a team that seemed to be about what they were projected to be, which would be a road team in the MAC tourney.

That's still probable.  But the Falcons did put together an effective performance on the court at Akron last night, and if that can be built on, then we might be seeing the start of a resurgence of Falcon men's basketball.

The final score was 89-84.  The game had a lot of streaks, but BG succeeded in never letting Akron get out of touch and therefore was able to keep the game as close as it was.  BG broke out to an 8-0 lead, but then Akron came back to lead 18-11.  BG had it back to 20-19 with about 8 minutes left in the first half and took a 31-30 lead with about 3 minutes left.  Akron finished the half only up 2.

The second half started with much of the same.  Four minutes in the game was tied.  The Zips went on a 13-2 run to go up by 11 points, but then BG went on an 11-1 run to get it back to 1 with about 9 minutes left.  The Zips then did what they do, which is to take advantage of 2 BG turnovers and get a little mini run to go up 7 with 6 minutes left.  They had the lead up to 10 with 4 minutes left, but the Falcons continued to battle.  Just inside 2 minutes, Matt Fox drilled a 3 to cut the lead to 4 and then Caldwell got a steal and BG had a chance to make it interesting.  Caldwell fired a transition 3 that didn't go down and from there Akron ground out the win.  BG never had the ball with a one-possession deficit in the last 2 minutes.

So, look.  Akron led for 32 minutes of the game and clearly is the better team.  But, it was BG's best performance to date and if that kind of thing can be strung together for more than one game, BG has a shot to poach some wins, starting Saturday.

The key thing above all else was the play of Demajeo Wiggins.  If he can continue to grow as a player--and he has shown growth--this is the type of player you can build on.  He had 21 points--shooting 10 of 17 from the field, which is 58%.  Coach said after the game that they challenge him to shoot 60%.  If he can get that kind of percentage and shot volume in the post, he changes our offense.  He has a really nice baby hook move using his body for space.  He also had 8 rebounds.

The second key was that BG's starters actually produced.  All were in double figures.  Denny was 16 on 6 of 10. Lillard had 16 on 5 of 7 and Ali had 16 on 6 of 9.  Alcegaire scored 10 on 4 of 7.  BG's freshmen were a little less productive, but Coach said they played hard with their minutes and he continues to be pleased with their progress.

From a team standpoint, the game was played at 71 possessions, which favors BG slightly.  Still, a lot of points were scored for a 71 possession game.  BG had 1.18 points per possession, their best offensive game of the year and it isn't really close.  Now, the problem is that Akron scored 1.25 points per possession.  BG only allowed more to UC.  The Zips are a really good offensive team, though, and well-coached.  Coach said BG had Johnson confused in the first half with double teams but the Zips adjusted better than BG and Johnson was able to pass the ball out of the post.

Here are the numbers for the BG.  With the exception of Norfolk State, this was BG's best shooting game of the year.  BG shot 54% overall.  They were weak on 3FGs, trying only 16 and making 4.  So, if you aren't going to be great on the 3FG, then you need to be good at your 2FG.  BG shot 64% from 2FG, which is the second-highest of the Huger era.

Now Akron shot even better.  That's the best any team has shot against us in the Huger era.  They shot 57% overall and 45% from 3.  However, they did a poor job taking care of the ball, and those extra possessions kept BG in the game.  As you can see, they had a big advantage on the boards and made 5 more FTs than BG did.  (The Falcons did convert 14 of 17 at the line).

So I guess if you want to look at this from the negative, BG had some issues playing defense.  Still, Akron is really good on offense.  Most of all, BG got a complete performance out of everyone on the floor, especially the starters.  If some of those players can string games together--especially Lillard, Ali and Denny--then I think the Falcons are at least competitive.  If Wiggins continues to grow, there are going to be open spaces on the floor.

BG to the JAR. Historic Trail of Tears.

Yeah, guys.  So, here's the opener.  We open with Akron.

It is hard to describe how dominant Akron has been over Bowling Green.  When the game tips off, it will have been 2,865 days since BG beat Akron, which was on March 1, 2009.  That's 16 straight wins.  Thing is, the 2009 win broke an 8-game losing streak.

I haven't thoroughly researched this, but I doubt if any team has a similar streak against any of our teams in the history of the school.  It is just ridiculous.

But there it is.

And Akron enters the game as, probably, the top team in the MAC.  They are the favorites to win this year and had the best pre-season.  They are 10-3, with a bad loss to Youngstown State in the opener, but the other losses are to Creighton and Gonzaga.  There's a nice home win over Marshall and no home losses.

This year's team is making its bones on offense.  With over 1.1 points per possession, they are the #43 best offense in D1.  On defense, they are slightly below average, but defending a BG team that is well below average on offense.  They play very slow...the #306 tempo is D1.  They succeed with huge efficiency, not with pace.

They do it the old-fashioned way.  When they project the ball in the direction of the basket, it has a strong tendency to go into the rim.  They are the #14 shooting team in the country.  They are two-dimensional.  The Zips take over half their FG attempts from 3FG (#6) and they making 38%, which is 58%.  However, they make 56% of their 2FGs, which is #17 in the country, which is a deadly combination.  They are just OK on turnovers, above average (#74) on offensive boards (which helps that 2FG%) and pretty good at getting to the line.

Defensively, Akron is average, which is plenty given how strong on offense they are.  They are average pretty much down the line, except for on the boards, where they are in the top 100.  In this case, though, that's not a great matchup for BG, since as you can see the Falcons are even less average on offense than Akron is on defense.

Nobody ever generates huge numbers for Dambrot because no one plays big minutes.  No Zip averages more than 28 minutes and 6 players average between 25 and 28 minutes.

Their leading scorer is 6'9" 290 giant Isaiah Johnson.  He scores 14.7 PPG on 65.8% FG shooting.  He also averages 6.8 RPG.  He's an absolute force.  (Also leads the team with 3.3 assists per game).

Antino Jacks is second in scoring at 12 PPG on 46%/42% shooting and 2.7 assists.  Noah Robotham scores 11.2 PPG on 45%/43% shooting.  Kwan Cheatham averages 6.4 RPG and Jimond Ivey scores 9.3 PPG on 53% shooting and 5.8 RPG.

So this is a tough opener.  Here's the deal.  You want to see how good you need to be?  It's on the other side of the court Tuesday.  That's how good we need to be.

Happy New Year to the Falcon Nation

Happy New Year to the Falcon Nation...this is a natural day for reflection and re-energizing.

Truthfully, nothing stops us from doing this every day, so maybe that's a good goal for 2017.  Let the success and failure of the past go...as St. Francis said, " Let us begin again for until now we have done nothing."