To the Q we go

So, it's off to the Q.  As we know, because we say it every year, everything in the regular-season is rendered meaningless by these next 3 days.  You have to win 3 games in a row against the best teams in the MAC.  With all 8 teams making the Q, the regular season even means less.  Yeah, seeding matters but not that much.  BG has to beat Akron in the quarters, which isn't great but we'd have had to beat them anyway.  Basically, land in the top 8 and go to work.

BG split with Akron this year.  Akron won by 12 at the Stroh and BG won by 12 at the JAR, breaking a long-standing curse in that venue for BG.  The difference between the games isn't hard to tease out. BG shot 39% in the first game and 52% in the second game.  Akron shot 44% in the first game and 40% in the second game.

In fact, BG has played decent defense against the Zips in both games and made the difference with the shooting in the second game.

Akron is a very well-rounded team. They were 12-6 in MAC play and lost their last 3, one of which was the BG game.  They are 4th in the MAC in offense and defense.  BG is 7th and 5th.

The first thing about the Zips is they are a 3FG focused team.  They lead the MAC and are #15 in the nation in % of 3s taken.  They are only 5th at making them and overall are the #4 shooting team in the MAC.  They are 5th in turnovers, 5th in offensive rebounds and 2nd in getting to the line.  They are 7th in FT shooting.

On defense, they don't force turnovers, but they are #4 defending the shot, 4th on the defensive boards and #5 at preventing FTs.  

As we know, BG's offense is built on low turnovers.  Since Akron doesn't force turnovers, you'd think that looks good.  BG is not a good shooting team...#10 in the MAC and #11 from 3FG.

So, things to look for starts with BG making some shots, as they did at the JAR.

If Akron is making 3s, that's a bad sign.  They were at 25% in each game in their 3-game losing streak.  In fact, they have shot 32% or below in each loss this year.

Their top player is first-team All-MAC and last year's POY Loren Cristian Jackson.  He scored 21 PPG this year, top in the MAC.  Last year he shot 49% on 2FG and 46% on 3FG--which is really good--but this year it was 45% and 34%, which is less efficient.  He was 2nd in assists and #7 in A/T ratio.  He's also #6 in FT%.

He's the only Akron player on the All-MAC teams.  (Enrique Freeman made all-defense.)  

Their only other double-figure scorer was Bryan Trimble, who scored 13 PPG shooting mostly 3FGs at 43%.  Freeman averaged 8.7 RPG which is the #3 total in the MAC.

The first one will be tough.  But all 3 will be.

Last note.  Justin Turner actually left the Miami game at the end with an injury.  We haven't heard anything about his status (no surprise there) but obviously if he can't go or is limited, the odds get much longer for the Falcons.

BGSU MBB Players Honored, Turner first-team All-MAC for third straight year

 The Men's All-MAC teams are out today.  Some very strong honors for BG MBB today.

First, Justin Turner was named first-team All-MAC for the third time.  He joins Howard Komives, Nate Thurmond, Cornelius Cash and Jim Darrow as the only Falcons to be first-team All-MAC three years in a row.

Congrats to Justin, it was well earned.  What an incredible career at BG for him.  It has been a blessing to watch him play.

Marreon Jackson was the MAC Player of the Year.  It's hard to argue with that choice.  He had a great season, especially in MAC play.  He scored big points at a highly efficient rate and led the MAC in assists and steals.  Turner had a POY quality year, just not as good as Jackson's.

In other news, Trey Diggs was named the 6th Man of the Year.  This is also well deserved.  I think we had the idea he was mostly a shooter, but he was a key part of BG's rotation in a variety of different facets of the game, which he is being recognized for.

Daeqwon Plowden was third-team All-MAC.  He was second-team last year and for my money he was this year as well.  Still a huge honor for him.  Watching him development has been great--and a part of college basketball that I fear we are about to lose (watching a player develop over 4 years).

BG had two players on the All-Freshman team as well.  You'd certainly have expected Matheny to be on the team and I was pleasantly surprised to see Josiah Fulcher recognized.  He certainly earned it.  Also, I feel like this shows we have a foundation for the program for the future.

Congrats to all these young men for their great seasons and for Turner, Diggs and Plowden, for great Falcon careers.  Onward to the Q.

Loeffler Spring Presser

Scot Loeffler did his presser yesterday for the start of spring practice.  Wearing a suit coat and a very open collar shirt, he looked a little bit like a guy running a disco in Paris.

Here's what he had to say:

The big news--though I swear he mentioned it on a podcast during the winter--was that Matt McDonald had surgery on his shoulder in January.  Loeffler says it "probably" should have been done before the season but he gutted it out.

Loeffler said he has had "candid" conversations with McDonald that he has to play better.  Yes, there were issues--like the supporting cast, the injury--but he has to play better.

Just to illustrate, McDonald's QB rating was 85.  Grant Loy, the year before, was 104.  Doege the year before that was 139.  Knapke in 2014 was 114.

McDonald won't be in spring practice.  So Loeffler saw this coming...Keller, Melton, Guenther and Davis will get the reps this spring.  The top of those would battle McDonald over the summer for the starting job.  Coach envisions a competition.

Other news.

We did have some training interruptions with COVID.  Even so, Coach says our strength and size gains were "exceptional."  He said they were very tough on the players this winter, but the team stuck together and made it through.

He predicts a healthy roster by 2022

There was a little talk about the portal.  Loeffler reiterated his concern that there are thousands of players in the portal but only about 150 open scholarships.  Also, if a young man transfers it shouldn't count against your initial counters.

Coach said that if a young man transfers for a lateral move, he doesn't think that makes sense, but if there's an opportunity to play at a bigger football school, he can support that.  Most of the BG players who have left (he said) have graduated and been here through some tough years.

In other news, Caleb Biggers has landed at Boise, Jerry Roberts at Arizona and Andrew Clair at Northwestern.  Wishing them all well.  Who knew we had P5 guys on last year's team?  (OK, Boise isn't P5).

If a kid wants to transfer to a same type of school, he disagrees.  If he can play at a larger school, that's a different subject.

Football Verbal

 BG has an interesting 2021 commit...his name is Denver Warren.  He certainly is bringing some credentials with him.  He is a 6'3" and 310 pound DT...filling a role BG is desperately in need of.  Warren is also a year older, having gone to a prep school in Connecticut last year.

He is originally from Chicago, where he attended West Aurora HS (with Wayne and Garth) and then Brother Rice.  He had all kinds of Big 10 offers and ended up accepting an offer to Michigan.  At this point, he was a 4-star recruit.

He didn't go to Michigan and instead went to CT for prep school.  Based on this post, he was a welcome addition.  The article makes reference to "bumps" in the road.  At the time, he said that UM didn't have room on the D-line for him.

His defensive coach said he was a multi-position player on the line, which BG could certainly use.  He's physical and has great "get off."

Denver says he matured a lot at prep school.

Welcome to the Falcons, Denver.

BG MBB Regular Season Finale Cancelled

Tomorrow's @MiamiOH_BBall at @ZipsMBB AND @OhioMBasketball at @BGSUMHoops games have been canceled. pic.twitter.com/Ri2Ycu6VZa

— #MACtion (@MACSports) March 4, 2021

So, that's how the regular seasons ends.  BG's game with OU was cancelled due to COVID, which I assume was on the OU end, because they were already having issues.  We expected to have 20 MAC games and ended up playing 18.  EMU played 13, that's the lowest number.  Anyway, a very different year, hopefully never to be repeated.  Next up is a trip to Cleveland.  Win 3 games and we will have done something we haven't done since 1968 in the very oddest of years.  Wouldn't that just figure.  The conference tournament is still in flux, with at least two teams with COVID issues.  If they can't go, everything will get scrambled.

Time will tell.  In the meantime, the regular season ends at 14-10 and 10-8.  Disappointing, but can still be redeemed. 

Crazy Night Yields OT Defeat for MBB

So, last night was one for the books, unless you are factoring in that the opponent was Miami and you have a life time of star-crossed, bizarre, full moon events, almost all of which resulting in heartbreak for the Falcon fans.  It's never been good--the game my senior year with the two recovered onside kicks (by us) is one of the few positive examples.

BG was down 5 with 1:15 left.  They scored the next 7 points, including Daeqwon Plowden hitting both ends of a 1-1 and BG led by 2 with :15 left.  A defensive stand wins the game but instead Miami drives right down the court and hits a layup.

Game tied again, BG has :05 left.  They have their normal play set up with Turner isolated up high.  He went to find a screen and slipped.  The ball spilled to Trey Diggs who fired up a wild 3FG that was not close.  However, Caleb Fields was in position and he quick-tapped the ball into the basket before the buzzer and it appeared BG had a thrilling win.

The refs went to the replay...which at first seemed weird because it was clearly before the buzzer.  Than it became clear that the clock actually stopped briefly at .7 seconds, before Fields tipped it.  The more I watched it, the more it was clear that if clock had kept running there was no way Fields got the tip off in time.

Then, the refs appeared to indicate the basket would count.  Much excitement and then the refs went back and looked again at the exact same thing and made the opposite conclusion and it was off to overtime.

Terry Wymer told the announcers that had the clock kept running, it would have expired before the tip, which is how it looked.  

Why was the clock stopped?  Hard to know because the shot clock was off--no need to reset to 20--and it didn't go in.  And no way to know why they changed their ruling twice.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.  It was off to OT.

Miami was up 5 with 2:30 left in OT.  Miami turned it over and Matheny converted with a basketball to cut it to 3.  Then another Miami turnover and Plowden cut the lead to 1.  Then, BG forced a shot clock violation and had a chance to re-steal the win, but Diggs missed a 3FG and that was the game.

And BG lost.  It wasn't really consequential.  The 8 in Cleveland are decided and you're going to need to win 3 there against good teams, it doesn't really matter if you end up 6th or 7th.  Yeah, if you are 6th you avoid UT and Akron, but we also lost to Kent twice.  We're going to need to hit a peak to win those three and what happens in this game and the next one (if it is played) will not be important.

Still.  That's a season sweep for the Redhawks...as the team picked to win the MAC.

When you look at this, it is surprising the game got to overtime at all.  BG was badly outshot.  It was tough to watch.  BG spent most of the night jacking up 3 FGs.  They shot 48% of the FGAs from 3FG which is the second-highest of the season.  Unfortunately, unlike the last similar game (EMU) where BG shot 48% from 3FG...the Falcons shot 25%.  That's going to be tough and then when you only make 44% of your 2FGs, you're going to have a long night.  Meanwhile, Miami shot 50% from 2FG and 40% from 3FG.  It's hard to think of a game like that going to OT.  Miami was also 16 of 18 at the line and BG was 11 of 16.  However, turnovers and offensive rebounds were enough to make this one close.

Daeqwon Plowden had quite a night.  He had 19 points, 18 rebounds and 2 assists.  Like everyone else, the shooting was rough, at 3 of 10 and 2 of 7.  Diggs also had 19, but it took him 16 shots--14 3FGs--to get there.  Turner had 16, 6 of 12 from 2FG, which is not bad, but 1-7 from 3FG.  Metheny had a rough 10.

It was disappointing.  BG has formerly been next to impossible to beat at the Stroh.  Hasn't been that was in COVID times.  Anyway, it will all be forgotten in a week.  As always, you either win it at the Q or it's all for naught.

Redhawk Redux

The Falcons had two particularly low points in the six-game losing streak.  One was losing to Toledo--they've had a chance to even that one out.  The other was a 19-point drubbing at the hands of Miami.  That one they get the chance to even out tomorrow.

BG played what Coach Huger referred to as "horrendous."  Miami scored 1.4 points per possession, their best in 18 years.  They made 65% of their 2FG and 48% from 3FG.  It was BG's worst defensive game of the season and for a couple years going back.  It was a night to be forgotten.

Overall, they are 11-10 and 8-8.  In a COVID-oddity, six of their wins are NIU (twice), WMU (twice), EMU and CMU, a romp through the MAC's worst teams.

If you don't adjust for their games, they aren't terrible.  They are 6th in offense and 8th in defense in the MAC.

On offense, they aren't great or terrible at anything.  They are the 6th best shooting team and 4th in turnovers.  They are also 4th in making FTs.  On the defensive side, they are very good on the defensive boards and pretty much average at nothing else...but again, they are a middle-of-the-road defensive team.

They have 3 double-figure scorers.  Dae Dae Grant, who is scoring 14.3 on 41% 2FG shooting and 44% 3FG.  He's the 6th best 3FG shooter in the MAC and the #1 FT shooter (92%).  He had 27 against BG, on 5 of 9 3FGS and 5 assists.

Mekhi Lairy is scoring 13.4 PPG on 49% and 40% shooting.  He had a very efficient 16 in the first game.  Dalonte Brown is scoring 13 PPG and had 17 in the first game.

Beyond righting the wrong of the first game, BG is looking to re-establish some street cred at home.  BG has been much better on the road than at home.  Riding a four-game winning streak, they have the chance to pick up two home wins and go to Cleveland on a six-game winning streak.

This is a game they should win this time as they should have last time.  Let's hope the Falcons end up on the right side.