FanPost

Déjà vu all over again

At the end of the BG game, the déjà vu I was feeling surprised me. It was not blowing a lead, shooting sub 50% from the line or all the other things about the game that should have upset me. I was kind of happy. The same feeling of happiness I had after the football team lost to Ohio in overtime last season, which prompted me to post a positive article. Over the last three games we have played three of the better teams in the MAC (Kent Akron and BG) and competed in all three, winning one. I know competing is not the goal, winning is, but in a retooling year we can still play with anyone.

The Ohio lose launched a very good second half of the football season (only interrupted by a nightmarish 8 min vs Kent). Prior to the Ohio game, the football team had been very inconsistent. So so vs an FCS team, leading Penn St at half, terrible again Liberty, very good against Temple and finally just beaten by Miami. Doesn’t this sound like the basketball season so far? Beating Harvard, DePaul and Akron and losing to Dartmouth and Army.

The turn around for the football team was too late to win the MAC East and it may be too late for the basketball team to win the MAC regular season but unlike football, basketball comes down to a week in March. To stay happy, they need to continue to play at the level, or better, we have seen in the last three games. This means just blowing Eastern out of the gym in the next game, not playing down to our opponents’ level as this team so often has done. Both the football team and the basketball team lost a large percentage of their starters from the prior year and it is reasonable to expect it to take some time for the new starters to settle in and get consistent results.

I do not think at least 10 wins in the MAC this year and a win or two in the tournament is asking too much. With the youthful talent on this team and all the drama of the off season, I will take that in a retooling year. I am seeing at least the next two years should be better than this year. They can beat anyone in the MAC, who know, if it all comes together in Mach, maybe they win the four in a row that may need.




Trending Discussions