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Post by reevo on Jan 3, 2024 3:36:30 GMT -6
It all comes down to talent. Our talent level has to get better or this is the kinda crap we are going to see. We have to find guys who are athletic and physical. You gotta find guys who like to rebound and get after people defensively. We sure as hell don’t play like our coach. No tenacity with no ability to throw the first punch. I watched a couple of minutes and that was all I could stomach. Thinking about NIL, I wonder if anyone has contacted Bonzi about a major gift? He made around 40 million dollars over his career in the NBA.
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 3, 2024 6:32:48 GMT -6
Bonzi turned down 40 mil mid career and then never had another great year...in one of the classic contract blunders.
Supposedly has 18 mil net worth.
Not likely to be the answer however.
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Post by cardfan on Jan 3, 2024 7:00:00 GMT -6
Bonzi turned down 40 mil mid career and then never had another great year...in one of the classic contract blunders. Supposedly has 18 mil net worth. Not likely to be the answer however. Yeah, his agent at that time REALLY screwed the pooch |
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Post by universityjim on Jan 3, 2024 7:58:07 GMT -6
KenPom Rankings of BSU and Opponents after 1/2/2024 Games
Akron (9-4) 99
Kent State (8-5) 117 LOSS
Toledo (7-6) 146
Ohio (6-7) 173
Bowling Green (10-3) 204
Northern Illinois (6-7) 247
Ball State (8-5) 256
Miami (6-7) 268
Western Michigan (4-9) 293
Eastern Michigan (7-6) 296
Buffalo (2-11) 321
Central Michigan (5-8) 335
Indiana State (11-2) 57 LOSS
Minnesota (10-3) 82 LOSS
Evansville (10-3) 161 LOSS
Old Dominion (4-9) 243 WIN
Bellarmine (4-11) 254 WIN
Little Rock (7-8) 265 LOSS
Southern Illinois Edwardsville (8-7) 275 WIN
USC Upstate (5-8) 288 WIN
Arkansas Pine Bluff (5-8) 347 WIN
Detroit Mercy (0-15) 349 WIN
It seems obvious now that the weak non-conference schedule did NOT prepare us for the MAC season. Lets hope we can manage a win at home against one of if not the worst in the conference.
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Post by CallingBS on Jan 3, 2024 9:07:12 GMT -6
It all comes down to talent. Our talent level has to get better or this is the kinda crap we are going to see. We have to find guys who are athletic and physical. You gotta find guys who like to rebound and get after people defensively. We sure as hell don’t play like our coach. No tenacity with no ability to throw the first punch. I watched a couple of minutes and that was all I could stomach. Thinking about NIL, I wonder if anyone has contacted Bonzi about a major gift? He made around 40 million dollars over his career in the NBA. It's all about talent, and we don't have much. If the roster doesn't look significantly different next year Lewis is toast. Bonzi was an assistant at Georgia Tech this year. I doubt BSU will ever get much out of him. Heck, I'm not sure how liquid he is anyway. |
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Post by universityjim on Jan 3, 2024 9:21:10 GMT -6
It all comes down to talent. Our talent level has to get better or this is the kinda crap we are going to see. We have to find guys who are athletic and physical. You gotta find guys who like to rebound and get after people defensively. We sure as hell don’t play like our coach. No tenacity with no ability to throw the first punch. I watched a couple of minutes and that was all I could stomach. Thinking about NIL, I wonder if anyone has contacted Bonzi about a major gift? He made around 40 million dollars over his career in the NBA. If the roster doesn't look significantly different next year Lewis is toast. Somewhere around 2030 based on our past. |
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Post by williamtsherman on Jan 3, 2024 9:57:16 GMT -6
I dont think the strength of the non-conf schedule (although it was admittedly pathetic) has much to do with our readiness or lack of it. If you look at the Kenpom rankings through the years, they conveniently show teams' ncaa tourney seeds and strength of nonconf schedule. You'll see that teams achieve good ncaa seeds (indicating success in their conference) with brutally tough non conf schedules and ridiculously easy non conf schedules. This is why I never get too worked up about non conf strength of schedule. Except when a decent W/L record allowed by a weak non conf schedule is used to misleadingly support an underperforming coach....as it sometimes will be.
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Post by williamtsherman on Jan 3, 2024 9:59:11 GMT -6
It's all about talent, and we don't have much. If the roster doesn't look significantly different next year Lewis is toast. Based on two plus decades of history, Lewis has absolutely nothing to worry about. |
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Post by CallingBS on Jan 3, 2024 10:20:42 GMT -6
It's all about talent, and we don't have much. If the roster doesn't look significantly different next year Lewis is toast. Based on two plus decades of history, Lewis has absolutely nothing to worry about. Sadly, I'm sure you're right |
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 3, 2024 10:28:18 GMT -6
It seems obvious now that the weak non-conference schedule did NOT prepare us for the MAC season. Lets hope we can manage a win at home against one of if not the worst in the conference. Our best case was that conference play was going to be a rough go, with some chances of coming together later in the season. A harder schedule wouldn't have made much different in where we are now.
Not much to glean from non-conference. We learned Jihad is a good player with some weaknesses. That Hendrix is a bit better than anyone expected. That Anderson, Bailey, Jones, Middleton all were good additions. Only Anderson was really a replacement for better departed players, though.
Disappointing injury to Watts, Doughty.
Brown maybe a little better early than we expected, has some room to improve along with other freshmen. Injuries probably took away two most likely sources of improvement. We'd have better chance for strong finish with Watts for depth and Doughty potentially moving into a starters role.
Lewis after the game was spot on that we aren't a polished or smart team. He's probably optimistic to think he can greatly improve that except by painful experience for those freshmen. Reevo has a point about needing aggressive rebounding and D. To some extent Middleton has a body to provide more of what we need, but our size up front is not a problem we can overcome.
Jihad could get smarter about block out, position defense (and offensive turnovers) but he is average athletically at best. Pearson isn't really an inside player, average athleticism but below average strength and not in any way an aggressive physical player to make up for it. Jones is interesting as he is quicker than I expected, better on the perimeter with good hands, but not an inside player, and still getting lost on defense.
Only way I see us improving much is getting gradually smarter, and perhaps that will help us get better shots, I haven't seen anyone who is going to break out as a shooter, could always hope for that, I suppose.
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 3, 2024 10:34:03 GMT -6
Our outlook is still to be middle of the pack in a weaker than usual MAC conference. Lewis as we thought from the start has his hands full working with the freshmen. That could make the roster look better at the end of the season, but we surely need to add size up front. The two recruits announced do add athleticism.
Lewis wants defensive improvement, praises his progress as a late addition who has become our 6th man.
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Post by williamtsherman on Jan 3, 2024 11:21:50 GMT -6
I would say Lewis's 2023 freshman recruiting was decent, but not outstanding. Problem is that, these days, freshman recruiting is only a piece of the roster puzzle....and the smaller piece. The larger piece being the portal. The 2023 portal was a huge net negative for BSU and that's why the roster has been degraded from what Whtiford left. People want to avert their eyes from this and make excuses because...well, that's just what people do around here.
Lewis can probably continue to recruit freshman at pretty much the level he is and win a championship. But he is going to have to significantly improve his dealing with the portal. He is going to have to succeed in the portal more like Toledo, OU, Kent, and Akron have done or he will continue to get his ass kicked by Toledo, OU, Kent and Akron on the court.
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Post by universityjim on Jan 3, 2024 11:35:05 GMT -6
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Post by universityjim on Jan 3, 2024 11:47:05 GMT -6
I would say Lewis's 2023 freshman recruiting was decent, but not outstanding. Problem is that, these days, freshman recruiting is only a piece of the roster puzzle....and the smaller piece. The larger piece being the portal. The 2023 portal was a huge net negative for BSU and that's why the roster has been degraded from what Whtiford left. People want to avert their eyes from this and make excuses because...well, that's just what people do around here. Lewis can probably continue to recruit freshman at pretty much the level he is and win a championship. But he is going to have to significantly improve his dealing with the portal. He is going to have to succeed in the portal more like Toledo, OU, Kent, and Akron have done or he will continue to get his ass kicked by Toledo, OU, Kent and Akron on the court. I think most people thought he needed to bring in another veteran big if not two. He either couldn't or didn't want one. The same question we had for Whitford every freaking year. |
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Post by 00hmh on Jan 3, 2024 12:57:54 GMT -6
I would say Lewis's 2023 freshman recruiting was decent, but not outstanding. Problem is that, these days, freshman recruiting is only a piece of the roster puzzle....and the smaller piece. The larger piece being the portal. The 2023 portal was a huge net negative for BSU and that's why the roster has been degraded from what Whtiford left. People want to avert their eyes from this and make excuses because...well, that's just what people do around here. Lewis can probably continue to recruit freshman at pretty much the level he is and win a championship. But he is going to have to significantly improve his dealing with the portal. He is going to have to succeed in the portal more like Toledo, OU, Kent, and Akron have done or he will continue to get his ass kicked by Toledo, OU, Kent and Akron on the court.
The net negative in the portal is not due to the additions being so weak, although we had no home run acquisition. It was mostly that we lost more than most teams in most years.
We lost our two best for sure, including a very hard to replace big man loss. It may be par for the course in this new era to lose two. But then we lost a third...and very rarely will we pick up a projected all MAC big man. OU, Kent et al have held onto a few more players than we have in the last two years and their track record makes them more likely to pick up that key needed piece. That's so far the advantages they have had.
Freshman recruiting is no longer the big key, or the way we make a turn around, but it's still important and there we were strong although that just doesn't pay off right away.
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