Falcon FB JUCO Verbal

COMMITTED!!!! 🔶🏈🔶 pic.twitter.com/OpHUkAJ7No

— Luke Sowa (@Luke_Sowa35) December 3, 2017

BG has a JUCO Commit announced above a little while ago.  Luke Sowa is a TE who is 6'3" and 245.  According to his profile on Twitter, he went to UConn as a preferred walk on, earned a scholarship which he then lost during a Coaching change.  His bio at UConn indicates he was a LB there.  He went to Butler Community College, which is in Kansas and played one year.  He played in 7 games and caught 3 passes.  It could very well be that he is slated to be the Skattebo/Folkerstma TE/H-back type guy.

By the way, his last HS in NJ was The Gunnery, which sounds totally bad ass but is actually just founded by a dude named Gunn in 1850.  (Alumni include Edsel Ford II and recently-in-the-news NBC Chief Andrew Lack).

Based on the timing, I'm expecting him to be in for January and spring ball.

Welcome to the Falcons, Luke.

BG Parts Ways from Eliano--UPDATE on Assistants

Bowling Green announces that it has fired defensive coordinator Perry Eliano. pic.twitter.com/jwvLqSJTFw

— Thomas Schmeltz (@Thomas_Schmeltz) December 3, 2017

The news that was expected here, at least, has been officially announced by BGSU.  Defensive coordinator and associate head coach Perry Eliano will not return to BG next year.  I support the move...BG did need to move in another direction.  I'm not going to go through the whole argument again, just to say that even recognizing that the talent was not the best on defense, they should have been better and should have improved over time, which they did not.  Here's hoping that Coach Jinks finds someone with a proven track record as a college DC.

Wish Eliano the best.  It didn't work out.  Has happened to us all.

No idea what the next steps are for the staff....if the rest are all staying or if there's an opportunity for a new DC to shape the defense in his image or what.

Update from Jordan Strack:

I just talked to Mike Jinks. There may some more shifting in the coaching staff, but I expect all the other assistants to remain with BG.

The new defensive coordinator will be able to bring one of his own guys with him because of the new 10th assistant coach.

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) December 3, 2017

MBB Wins #7

On this blog, I have made a lot of BG's lack of success since the ill-fated WVU days with Coach Dakich.  Not that there's a cause and effect, just that things have gone very poorly since then, with something like 3 winning seasons in that time.

So, when BG goes 7-2 for only the third time in the last 16 years, you pay attention.

Now, I do recommend some caution.  BG has not played the world's most demanding non-conference schedule, ranked #305 to date by kenpom.  (Note:  6 MAC teams have played worse schedules).

Anyway, we will take it.  BG beat Norfolk State 92-77.

BG started the game with incredible shooting, making everything in sight and leading 23-3 6 minutes into the game.  The lead got as close as 15 but with 3:30 left in the first half, BG had extended the lead to 23 points.

Then, something familiar happened.  BG's opponent proceeded to score at will.  For the remainder of the half and the first 5 minutes of the second half, the Spartans, they went on a 29-7 run to convert the blowout into a one-point game, something Coach talked about as recently as the win over San jose State.

The good news here is that it was close for a couple minutes, but BG had it up to 7 with 12:30 left and 9 with 11 minutes left and then pushed the lead into double digits with 7 minutes left and the game was never closer than 10 again.  Except for that 8 minutes period, BG dominated the game as they frankly should have.

The stats reflect the same thing.  BG had 1.22 points per possession, their best against a D1 opponent this year.  BG had a great shooting game.   In fact, the only game in the last two years where they have shot better was the UT win at the Stroh last year.  BG made 14 3FGs, their most in a D1 game since the Morehead State game in 2012.

BG has been excellent at taking care of the ball so far this year, and they fell off the wagon a little in that respect, but they had a big day on the offensive boards and getting to the line and making them.  BG was 18 of 21 at the line, as they continue to show improved FT shooting.

Defensively, there are minor concerns.  Yes, Norfolk State was held to 1.02 points per possession, which is below the national average, but they came in at .86, meaning that even they were able to get healthy on offense against our defense.  It was their best offensive game of the season.

That will be exploited in MAC play.  The Spartans had a good shooting night and were average taking care of the ball.  BG was effective on the defensive glass and NSU only got to the line 12 times, making 9, leaving BG +9 in that area.

Dylan Frye had a career high 28 points on 9 of 13 and 5 of 7 shooting, along with making all five of his FTs.  He also had 5 rebounds.

Wiggins also had a good night with 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting to go with 7 rebounds.  He did have 5 turnovers.

Matt Fox also had a career high 18 points on 5 of 7 and 4 of 6 shooting.  Turner had 16 on 4 of 11 and 4 of 7 shooting.  Rod Caldwell struggled with his shot but had 7 assists over 3 turnovers.

So BG goes to 7-2.  They have Evansville on Tuesday--an excellent test--before heading back to the same town they just left to play Old Dominion, an even tougher test.  Loving this team and watching them develop.

Interesting email from BGSU

Got an interesting email from BGSU yesterday.  They were seeking season ticket holder input on an idea that they are considering, which is to move the band and the students to the east side of the stadium, along with the team.  The idea is that when the game is on TV, this would put more people in the stands facing the cameras and create a better image on television.  They say no season ticket holder would have to move their seats, but don't specify where on the East side all this might happen.

First, I want to say that it is great to see some creative thinking.  The game day experience has gotten a lot better over the years and I am glad to see them keep trying to move it forward.  I am also glad to see them asking for input.  In past years, something like this might have just been announced.  For example, they might have surveyed season ticket holders before announcing they were moving a home game to Columbus.

That sounds like I'm going to say I don't like the idea, but I do.

I'm a west side guy.  It is better for the sun and the wind and we know all the people in our section.  We like watching what's going on with our bench, but that's not a huge thing.  I think we'd enjoy the game just as much, possibly more, who knows.

You might disagree.  If you got the survey, make sure you send it back.  It is important we stay involved.

Spartans, Spartans, Spartans

Having beat USC-Upstate and San Jose State, BG has an opportunity to go 3-0 in Spartanland Saturday in Norfolk, VA.

The Norfolk State Spartans are in the MEAC, where they are very successful.  Over the last four years, they have won 73% of their conference games and they have played in the CIT every year.  They have 19 winning seasons in the conference.  And Blue Ribbon picked them to win it this year.

Problem is, the MEAC is a play-in conference, one of the two lowest ranked conferences in D1.   The highest ranked team is #286 on kenpom.

Now, things don't always go as planned.  Last year at the Stroh, the Spartans led by as much as 7 in the second half and led as late as 8 minutes to go before BG closed strong to win by 9.  If I recall correctly, the game caused significant angst inside the Falcon nation last year.

And we're a team that went to OT against Lake Erie College because Coach said we took them lightly.

Anyhow, the storyline is pretty similar this year.  They come in 0-7 and ranked #324 out of 351 in the nation.  To my point, they lost by 9 to Kent just last week in Norfolk.  They also lost to a D-III school in Norfolk.  Other losses are to Auburn, San Diego, Grand Canyon, Robert Morris and Little Rock, with the last two being the only ones that were on the negative side as losses go.  Only Lynchburg and Kent were at home, Robert Morris was neutral.

So we are well aware of BG's struggles on defense this year, but if these Spartans start scoring on us at will, then we will know the struggle is real.  Norfolk scores .86 points per possession, which is among the 15 worst in the country.  That's just a really low amount.  Very difficult to win when you only score that much....the lowest offensive output which was resulted in a BG win over the past 5 years was .91 points per possession.  If you are going to succeed, you will need to play lockdown D, which they also do not.

So, what is the cause of the offensive woes?  Both the shooting and turnover numbers are just awful...both in the bottom 25 in the country.  If you turn the ball over and miss a lot of shots, it is tough to score and being below average on the boards doesn't help.  They are making 38.8% of the 2FGs, which is just astounding, especially given that their FGA mix is more 2-heavy than average.  They are also below average making 3s.  Remember, much of this was true (if not AS true) for San Jose State and they had one guy turn into Steph Curry against us, but this is a team that really struggles to score.

Flipping this around, you can also see that Norfolk State isn't great defensively either.  Mostly, they have been easy to shoot against, #306 in the conference.  They are good at forcing turnovers, although this has been BG's strength this year.  They aren't great on the defensive boards or at preventing free throws. 

Their leading scorer is 6'3" G Stephen Whitley, scoring 12 PPG on 38% shooting, which is a tough way to go.  He adds 6 rebounds with 3.3 assists and turnovers at a 1:1 ratio.

Their only other double-figure scorer is Mastadi Pitt, who is a FR G, scoring 10.3 PPG on 42% shooting.

So, look, on paper this is a game BG should win.  Now last year it was tougher than expected and BG has a couple young players who seem much more comfortable at home than on the road.  This should be a win, but with a team this young, every game is interesting.

Falcon MBB get sixth win

The Falcon MBB moved to 6-2 last night with a very entertaining win over San Jose State at the Stroh, with BG pulling away in the last 2 minutes to win by 6.

Last year's sixth win came on December 30.

One thing about this team.  They are fun to watch.  For all the years that we watched teams for BG be unable to score baskets for eras at a time, this team has five guys who can legit score and maybe more.  It is much more entertaining and less frustrating.

The thing that isn't great about this team is that they don't play defense all the time.  And when they don't, they play awful defense...they just get shredded with penetration and ball movement every time.  BG had a 19 point lead 4 minutes into the second half and a 3-point lead with 12:30 left.  That 3 and a half minutes was characterized by the Spartans have nothing but layups and very open 3-looks from a chasing BG defense.  It was just completely one-sided.

San Jose State never took the lead, but they did get it to 2 as last as inside 2 minutes.  Caldwell missed a three, but Derek Koch battled on the boards and got fouled on the way back up and made both of his FTs.  San Jose State had the ball then and finally missed a shot, but got the offensive board and a foul.  They missed both FTs and BG had a chance to put it away.  Less than a minute now, Frye missed a 3 but Wiggins got the board and was fouled and he split the pair.  BG up 5, the Spartans chipped it back to 3 inside of :30, but Caldwell was fouled and made both FTs and BG was back up 5 and then Wellage stepped on the sideline on the other end and BG had the win.

Note that while BG got abused on the boards for the night, they had two key offensive rebounds in the last minute to help put the game away.

It is nice to win close games, but as Coach said after the game, it would be nice to turn a 14 point lead into a 20 point lead and not into a 1 point lead.

BG scored 1.13 points per possession, which is their sixth straight game over 1.1.  The D1 average is 1.03.  Last year they were over 1.1 five times for the whole year.  San Jose State scored 1.05 PPP and made 43% of their 3FGs, and we had identified their lack of success in doing that so far this year.

This is the second straight win for BG when they have been outshot by their opponents (if only by a little).  They made it up in two places.  First, BG did much better taking care of the ball and had 9 steals.  Second, BG got to the line more and when they did they were much more effective.  BG shot 23 of 28 from the line while SJSU was 14-23.  All that counterbalanced the rebounding, which was ridiculously in San Jose State's favor on both ends.  We had noted that rebounding was a priority for their new coach.

78 of BG's 85 points came from the starters.  Justin Turner had a big game, scoring 27 points on 8 of 17 and 5 of 7 3FG shooting to go with 6-6 from the line, 3 assists and 1 turnover.  Wiggins also had a huge night, with a 17/12 line.  He shot 6 of 12 from the field and 5 of 7 from the line.  He also had 4 steals.

Derek Koch had 14 on 4 of 8 shooting.  Caldwell scored a tough 11 on 3 of 9 shooting but had 5 assists over 1 turnover and Dylan Frye had a tough 9 on 2 of 10 shooting but added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Trivia.  Kenpom ranks San Jose as the second tallest team in the country.

So, BG is up to 6-2.  Next up is 0-7 Norfolk State.  They lost to Kent by 9 last night in Virginia and last year actually led BG by 7 in the second half at the Stroh.  If you get a chance, check out Coach's comments about a lack of defensive energy from last December.  Kind of interesting.

By my count, Antwon Lillard should be back on the court.  It will be interesting to see how he will be introduced into the mix, given the current team chemistry.

Two More Football Players Announce Departure

Using twitter, two more Falcons have announced their intention to "re-open" their recruiting.

One of them has seen some playing time.  Terrance Stephens, a RB from Pittsburgh.  He was a true sophomore who played in 20 games over the past two years.  He played in 20 games over his years at BG, running the ball and catching some passes and returning some kicks.  As someone who didn't redshirt, he's a natural candidate to use his redshirt year for the transfer and then play two more years.

The other is Jared Wyatt, who was a R-FR.  He is from Texas and a WR who caught four passes in the Northwestern game.  He didn't catch another pass all year.

Both players were Jinks recruits, which is not a good sign.    Correction, Wyatt was a Jinks recruit and Stephens committed under Babers and stayed when Jinks came on board.

That makes it four players who have announced they were leaving on social media.  We will keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile, Coach has an opportunity to expand this recruiting class.  In the meantime, though, things aren't getting any better.