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Post by realitycheck on Dec 26, 2023 15:55:57 GMT -6
Well, you said "far better" and that is a sentiment I see around here fairly often, so I was curious what the evidence was. That happened to be the part of the post that perked my interest. Not to beat around the bush, I suspect the wish is the father of the thought that Lewis is a great bench coach. I haven't seen enough games to analyze this myself, but I've seen so much wishful thinking around here over the years that I'm very skeptical of this sort of claim. Also I don't see that the results of the games back it up. I further suspect people are overestimating the effectiveness of his coaching because they like his style. I have seen several specific instances of his bench game. Multiple examples of situational play calls, switches, etc. that completely eluded Whitford and Taylor. I think he's got a really keen in-game savvy we've lacked. I think his success is not going to be in-game strategy but whether he can convince enough kids to come play here given his hard-ass rep. |
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Post by Bearkitten on Dec 26, 2023 18:16:42 GMT -6
What is very disturbing is Kent State and Akron continue to be at the top of the MAC year after year and they play in the worst facilities in the MAC very comparable to a high school gym. BSU may have the nicest facilities in the MAC yet we continue to be a middle of the pack MAC team. The key may be keeping players at Ball State and if Lewis can do that he will get BSU to the top of the MAC!
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 28, 2023 14:01:39 GMT -6
Watched the Kent State-Oregon game and the Flashes competed well against the Ducks but did not have the size and inside presence to defeat Oregon. What did impress me about Kent State was their quickness and transition game. They can also shoot the 3. I would project Kent State to defeat BSU by 10 or more points in the MAC opener at Kent State next week.
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Post by universityjim on Dec 28, 2023 14:32:39 GMT -6
Watched the Toledo-Oregon game and the Flashes competed well against the Ducks but did not have the size and inside presence to defeat Oregon. What did impress me about Toledo was their quickness and transition game. They can also shoot the 3. I would project Toledo to defeat BSU by 10 or more points in the MAC opener at Kent next week. Oregon played the Kent State Golden Flashes not the Toledo Rockets. Ball State plays Kent State next week in the MAC opener. I too would expect BSU to lose by 10 points or more. Toledo last week got hammered by 26 points at home by Vermont and then followed it up with a 10 point loss on the road at West Virginia. Ball State doesn't play Toledo until January 13. |
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 28, 2023 23:29:03 GMT -6
Watched the Toledo-Oregon game and the Flashes competed well against the Ducks but did not have the size and inside presence to defeat Oregon. What did impress me about Toledo was their quickness and transition game. They can also shoot the 3. I would project Toledo to defeat BSU by 10 or more points in the MAC opener at Kent next week. Oregon played the Kent State Golden Flashes not the Toledo Rockets. Ball State plays Kent State next week in the MAC opener. I too would expect BSU to lose by 10 points or more. Toledo last week got hammered by 26 points at home by Vermont and then followed it up with a 10 point loss on the road at West Virginia. Ball State doesn't play Toledo until January 13. Thank you universityjim for correcting me. I made the corrections in my post. |
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Post by CallingBS on Jan 14, 2024 18:48:48 GMT -6
Shall we start revisiting this thread? Wins are gonna be hard to find the rest of the season. My 9-9 prediction is nearly impossible to reach now.
I'm having a hard time seeing things going anywhere with Lewis. Will he land a handful of portal studs? Nothing suggests so far that will happen.
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 14, 2024 20:17:33 GMT -6
Shall we start revisiting this thread? Wins are gonna be hard to find the rest of the season. My 9-9 prediction is nearly impossible to reach now. I'm having a hard time seeing things going anywhere with Lewis. Will he land a handful of portal studs? Nothing suggests so far that will happen. A little early to predict. His arrival as the portal upended college sports compounds the difficulty. The one thing that seems true is the rich get richer. That favors at least slightly the bigger budget MAC schools. Any coach we might have had would have had the same problem. It's easy to imagine a coach making a difference recruiting in the old era. Now it's coach plus NIL, using the freer labor market of the portal. I see us able to be in the top half, but see no path to advantage long term. This year we were gutted by departures. Judging success or failure in the new era on this year is premature. |
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Post by williamtsherman on Jan 15, 2024 7:21:32 GMT -6
Good summary of the prevailing low-expectations-and-excuses paradigm of Ball State basketball that has led to not winning a MAC title in 23 years and not even seriously competing for one during that same period while similarly disadvantaged MAC programs do it with regularity. If you've ever wondered how this statistically improbable streak has occurred, I believe it's because the Ball State administration shares this way of thinking.
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 15, 2024 9:20:01 GMT -6
Good summary of the prevailing low-expectations-and-excuses paradigm of Ball State basketball that has led to not winning a MAC title in 23 years and not even seriously competing for one during that same period while similarly disadvantaged MAC programs do it with regularity. If you've ever wondered how this statistically improbable streak has occurred, I believe it's because the Ball State administration shares this way of thinking. Did I miss NIL and the portal coming in 23 years ago? Is this the same administration? Was the AD when Majerus was hired genius?
What the hell does this year have to do with 22 previous years anyway?
Did Majerus or Hunsaker or Ray suffer the number of players leaving before their second year coaching? Is Lewis a close family friend with a Muncie Central grad who will come, become an AA and play 4 years for BSU, did he inherit from a previous coach an NCAA team with all key players returning?
As for the AD. What exactly did you want this administration to do this year? Fire the coach because of the transfers before the season? You want to fire him now and buy out 3 years?
Join the real world, where this year is this year, different than last and the year before that, and doesn't care things were like when you were an undergrad.
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Post by thebsukid on Jan 15, 2024 14:29:45 GMT -6
We will be lucky to win 7!
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 15, 2024 21:37:33 GMT -6
Good summary of the prevailing low-expectations-and-excuses paradigm of Ball State basketball that has led to not winning a MAC title in 23 years and not even seriously competing for one during that same period while similarly disadvantaged MAC programs do it with regularity. If you've ever wondered how this statistically improbable streak has occurred, I believe it's because the Ball State administration shares this way of thinking. What is the evidence that not “seriously competing” for a conference title in 23 years is statistically improbable? Without doing any research, my gut feeling is most conferences have a handful of teams that compete and then a bunch of other teams that just field programs. In our conference it feels like Akron, Kent, Ohio, and Toledo have been the dominant teams at least in the last decade. Shooting from the hip, I would guess at least half the conference has not won a championship in that same period. |
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Post by rmcalhoun on Jan 15, 2024 22:04:12 GMT -6
Mac championships since 2000
1 BSU
6 Kent
1 Cmu
2 Wmu
4 ohio
1 Miami
3 Akron
4 Buff
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Post by rmcalhoun on Jan 15, 2024 22:22:10 GMT -6
western is also off to a 4-0 start under a second year coach
Looks like they have 4 transfers and couple prep school kids on roster
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Post by reevo on Jan 15, 2024 22:44:45 GMT -6
western is also off to a 4-0 start under a second year coach Looks like they have 4 transfers and couple prep school kids on roster [ Lewis has to unload 4-5 current players on the roster. He needs to strike fast this spring/summer when all hell breaks loose in the transfer portal. |
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Jan 16, 2024 6:22:03 GMT -6
Mac championships since 2000 1 BSU 6 Kent 1 Cmu 2 Wmu 4 ohio 1 Miami 3 Akron 4 Buff What stands out to me is Toledo winning so many regular seasons yet having 0 tourney championships. That seems like a statistical improbability. |
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