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More Sayles, please. A lot more Sayles.

He's had 1 winning season in 7 years and as another poster mentioned ~35% winning percentage against FBS schools. I can't remember who it was, but someone said the buy out is only $300k. Someone start a gofundme, I'll kick in some money.

Maybe with all these money games, we can use part of the cash to get an OC in here that can get this offense going and pay other good coaches a little more to stay. I think our talent on the offense next year would look appealing to a good OC. Stroud will have a job next year rebuilding the defense. I would not like to see a wholesale firing of this staff. No need to worry about Milwee as he might surprise everyone and pick up a job at a lower level.

The Facebook stream was really nice.

It's too early for me to cast judgement, but I trust Larry Williams to make the right choice.

Linky:

The @GoZips Prophecy would be fulfilled!

St. Bonnie at 11AM

Pretty sure I heard either Frenchy or the Facebook broadcast mention that they have several (maybe 3?) Preseason 1st-Team MVC players. Illinois State is no slouch, and is a couple years removed from an At-Large snub IIRC. That was a very respectable loss yesterday, just stinks we couldn't make a few more shots these past two days. St. Bonnie is an A10 team that has been a Giant Killer of sorts in recent years. They were a First Four team last year in the NCAAT, and beat UCLA before losing to Florida in the next round. This is yet another good test to see where this program is at. We reduced the turnovers from the Clemson game to the Illinois State game. Maybe we can reduce our missed shots from the Illinois State game to this game? Regardless, this is a fun team to watch with a lot of room left to grow, and a lot of season left to do so.

Not a P6 conference (Big East is a major basketball power), but the MVC still sent a team to the final 4 last year. When's the last time the MAC did that? It's a game I would have liked to win, but certainly not a loss I'm going to lose sleep over. I was more impressed with us playing with Clemson for 40 minutes. I have Akron finishing 2nd in the MAC East behind Buffalo. Time will tell whose forecast is more accurate.

Jimmy Ivey and Dan Riak will improve. Utomi is a shooter. Keep him shooting.

I did not see the game. Darn work. Looks like a letdown game. I hope the players use this to fuel their hate fire for losing. March is what counts in college basketball and getting there is a process. There are a lot of things to build on and a lot to work on. I think the coaching staff will have the right messaging for the guys. So long as they buy in and trust the process they will be in a good place in March. OH, and fire Milwee.

There are certain steps you can't leapfrog on the road to becoming a great basketball team. The coach-speak statements of "trusting your teammates" and "making the right basketball play" are true. If you want to play hero-ball, you'll lose more often than not. Especially against a team that plays smarter than you. I saw a fair amount of hero-ball today, and not making the right basketball plays. These players are talented, but until they learn to play together we'll only be mediocre. We grew and improved over the course of last season with our ragamuffin 2017-18 team . I think we'll do the same this year. It's just a process...

I hate when the coach shoots 7-41 from beyond the arc.

As I watched the game it seemed to me coach Groce needs to address two things: 1) better shot selection on our 3's and, 2) better play out of the center. If we want to shoot 3's I don't have a problem if we don't force it and we get a good look at the basket. I thought Riak was going to be the answer for us in the paint, but today raised more questions than it answered. He looked lost at both ends. Poke is limited and Klac is still a work in progress. I hope Sayles responds to whatever coach Groce wants. He's looking like the post player with the best potential. This team is going to be good yet this season. They just need time.

That was a poor 3 point by Jackson on the last possession. I also don't like that we wasted 10 seconds already in this possession.

Can't complain too much only being down 5 considering how bad we shot.

It was like helping him, getting back in sync, understand the plays they were running, not an attitude issue. It was very positive, kinda reminding him of where he should have been, what set they were in, stuff like that, but the leash was short and his PT I think was more determined by in sync issues rather than fitness issues. Just my take from where I sat.

Home.

Toles has only practiced a handful of times in the last 5 weeks. Once he getsp his legs back and gets some chemistry going he will be a welcome addition.

Very happy to read these comments from others. Our team has had its difficulties, but I know everyone has worked hard to continue our successful program. So happy to see that hard work paying off for our players, coaches, staff, and fans. So sweet!!!

Reports are the Browns are interested in Condoleezza Rice ?