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Totally agree with you, Dave. If he can continue to manage the game, keep the turnovers to a minimum, and somehow find the correct moments to score a few baskets a game, he'll be everything we could have ever expected for the next 2-1/2 years. I actually continue to be more and more impressed with his defense too. That's something we certainly didn't get out of his predecessor. This is actually a pretty shocking turn of events. I was ready to give up on him about a month ago. Although, I said on several occasions that I believed he would work himself back into some kind of meaningful playing time this season. But, he's exceeding that prediction right now.

The game didn't need to slow down for him, he just needed to play within his capabilities. Just like the MAC title game last year, he's a non-star Quarterback on a team of stars, and just needs to be the steady guy managing the plays. When he does that, he's a real asset to us. If you caught his interview with Frenchy last night, he talked about how BB in Puerto Rico is closer to 5 guards vs. 5 guards. So, with that kind of background, the movement of players on the floor shouldn't be an issue for him. I think his mistakes are all mental.

There were plenty of bad calls, but maybe none worse than the guy coming over the top of Tree's back to get a jump ball call. The crowd was still booing the call even after the ensuing timeout ended. And the police had to go talk to some people down on the floor who were all over that official.

It's amazing how much can change in two weeks. Many people here felt as if the new starting lineup was the factor in the fast start at EMU two weeks ago. I'll say it again. The big difference that night was that we had a guy who came out and hit shots to start the game. We didn't do that last night. To me, the most interesting stat was that we were at 18 points at halftime and 31 points with 10 min. left in the game. Don't know if I have ever seen that in the JAR in 30+ years of watching Akron basketball. Frenchy made mention of one other stat that was interesting: We held EMU without a field goal in the last 7 minutes of the first half, and still trailed by 9 at halftime?? Just ridiculous. Thanks God we can play defense. That's the second game we have won this year when shooting 3-23 from 3-point range. Unbelievable.

Luckily, it looks like the weather is a non-issue now. For a change.

Emotional players, like Tree, tend to get emotional to both extremes. He's done that many times. It apparently nearly ended his career after the MTSU game. It may not be something that's ever going to change at this juncture of his career. In addition to Pat's botched pass to Evens, you may have missed his slow and telegraphed attempt at a two-step dunk? That's about the only two things I saw him do, and I never saw him on the floor again. As I said yesterday, there just wasn't really a place for him to contribute in a game that had a ton of athletes flying and jumping all over the court.

I think this is another great point about the way we were defended. They really did take away our 3-point opportunities. I think Kretzer and McAdams had something like 5 attempts collectively all night? That's a great job. And that probably explains why we were forcing things a little more in the paint. I have another thought this morning. I see some complaining about taking shots too early in the shot clock. With a team that turns the ball over as much as we do, wouldn't you rather see any open shot attempt as opposed to an empty possession more often?

From a defensive standpoint, this is my biggest concern going forward. And I'm much more bothered by the fact that they were beating our perimeter defenders off the dribble than the fact that their shots were uncontested at the rim. I know it might seem nitpicky that you and I are bringing this up when we held them to a pretty low point total, but it appeared as if they knew they were fast enough to dribble past us on many occasions, and they took advantage of that.

You are going to compare standing over a guy and taunting him as he's laying on the floor to football players running to the end zone to pick up a wheel??

I'd love to see it again. Frenchy wouldn't stop talking about it. I need some extra fuel to get me ready for the rematch in March, and some additional confirmation of the thugs that continue to play basketball at Can't State.

I'll answer that. We missed those 4 free throws, consecutively, at a point in the first half when we were separating ourselves from them. The first half took a real turn after all of those scoreless trips down the floor. The timing was horrible.

We shouldn't lose to anyone in MAC play when we hold them to 60 points. Geez. Now I have to sleep tonight with another awful bank shot nightmare that makes me have to think of the 2007 MAC title game all over again.

We let them off the hook in the first half with missed free throws, and now we're throwing bad passes. Ken+ is exposing our biggest defensive weakness, our inability to stop dribble penetration. Boy, how slow did Forsythe look in a game like this? Good thing he's not playing now.

Dave...very, very interesting. I only wonder if Majok was on the bench during these runs by our subs. Maybe we're all giving too much credit to the new starting lineup after that 3-point barrage by Kretzer the first game they all started together?

No kidding. How do you ignore this? I think the article definitely takes a tone that OU has it right, with no mention at all of the results of the recent games.

This will be a nice one to get past. After this, I'm seeing that stretch of BGSU and WMU on the road in a 3 day period as the real demanding part of the schedule left. I don't really like closing the season with 3 games in 6 days either, but ALL of those games are at home. That's really unusual, but that seems like our reward for playing so many road games early.

Actually, I think his greatest value is what we needed last night.....a guy big enough to defend Majok. He's pretty fundamentally sound, he's just a little slow and has suspect hands. But yes, we need to find more ways where he can help us, it's just not as a starter.

The key words being, "right now". We'll see how it plays out.

Who knows. It looks like even their great tournament runs didn't make them ready to play a season full of higher caliber teams. But, you have to think that the league affiliation and the name will help their recruiting over the next several years. Or, was Stevens that great of a coach?

Product of a balanced offense? Or, just the fact that we don't presently have a scorer who can put up 15-20 a night on any regular basis?

With 4 local, large universities involved, I wonder if it could be big enough to be played at the Q in Cleveland? A big, early season battle for NE Ohio D-1 supremacy?

No. They only gave out the standard tees with one color print. And there were plenty of extras if you wanted them, with the weather dampening attendance. I wonder if this could have been a more appropriate event if they had chosen to do this while Dan was still able to attend, before he went in for treatment? He surely would have been touched, and the crowd could have cheered him on. I bet it would have been an emotional night.

He's not "there" quite yet. But, I have talked since the beginning of the season that I think he can be really valuable to us because of his size, and his ability to hit the long jumper. I'll definitely be continuing to watch him.

I had friends who live in other parts of the country mention that they heard about it. That's terrific.

I wonder, from a legal standpoint, how this fits into the equation: They AGREE...BEFOREHAND.... to play sports for a particular school in exchange for paid tuition, room, and meals.