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Only FIVE WEEKS from today until the season opener at JLJ vs. Merrimack....TheEagleman is ready for some baseball....

Not sure what that ref was watching...at best its a double foul...Flagrant 2??..please...ORU gets no breaks even at home...

This team has played 2 solid games in a row against 2 decent Summit opponents. They have shot 53% and 57% from the field and only had 11 turnovers in each game even though they ran an up-tempo and at times a "fast break" offense. On the previous weekend, they lost 2 games on the road to 2 other decent Summit opponents after shooting 38% and 44%. In tonight's game, the 3 big men shot 11 of 14 for 79%. The guards combined to shoot for 51%. Because this team rebounds well, shoots free throws fairly well, and takes pretty good care of the ball, they will win most nights when the shots are falling. However, for the nights when the shots aren't falling, they will need to run the offense through their big men, or they will end up only about 8-8 in the Summit League, losing the games when the jump shots aren't falling. The problem with running the offense through the big men is that we only have 3 big men, and we cannot overly rely on them due to the risk of foul trouble. To offset that, you need some guards who can drive to the basket and get some easy buckets. We have some guards who can do that, and RJ coming back healthy has definitely contributed to some easy buckets on drives to the basket. That will work against most of the Summit League opponents, but against better opponents, I am not sure we can rely on consistent scoring from our guards driving to the basket. So my take is that this team has taken a step forward and has the talent to succeed in the Summit League this year. If they rely too much on jump shots and a guard-oriented offense, then they will end up about 8-8. If they walk the fine line of running a more big man oriented offense supplemented by guards who drive to the basket rather than shooting a bunch of jump shots, they could win 10-12 Summit League games this year. Then next year they need to replace Nzekwesi with 3 other big men so they have more depth in the post (a total of 5 forwards). I am not sure however that that will happen. If even one of our big men has a significant injury this year, we will be running a 4-guard offense, and that is not a recipe for success. I am encouraged however that the talent level has increased to the point that this team should be able to compete for a top 3 spot in the league this year and I am happy for Coach Mills because I would like to see him succeed here and this is an important year for him and for this team.

BTW, the ESPN3 coverage has been pretty good for those of us that couldn't make the game.