CSNbbs

I see that St. Bonaventure is in and Pepperdine is out. From what was rumored earlier. This is an interesting schedule for a Bobcats team that is hard to predict after losing Green, Fears, Halbert. Expectation should be modest for this team. Last years team was 19-11, but fans and media expected more from the team. My gut feeling is a .500 season. The team has 6 seniors and 3 key juniors which should protect against a collaspe, but they don't have Green, Fears, or Halbert anymore . Rpi looks ok from the schedule as the breakdown by conference if Ohio draws ASU and Louisville in the tournament:
A-10: 2
Big East:2
CUSA:2
Pac Ten:1
Ivy:1
MAAC:1
Ohio Valley:1
plus bracketbuster.

i think it's great that we have taken the initiative to release our non-conference schedule already. if i remember correctly, we were the last school in the MAC to release our basketball schedule last year. Kirby made good on his word to release the schedule sooner this year. nice job, Kirby, and nice schedule too!

I don't like playing Marshall twice (Have we joined CUSA yet?), otherwise its a better schedule than we've played in years.

Ohio baskeball on average wins about 16 a year. I'm guessing that we willl be on the plus side of .500.

Its not clear if the graduation losses will hurt us much because it may just give other players more time to show what they can do. Didn't we play better WITHOUT fears? How good was Halbert anyway? Green is the only tough one to replace.

Green was our best player the last two years. When Mychal was healthy, he was by far the one that the other teams feared. He was the guy that helped a mediocre team win. All those combacks in 2004-2005 were mostly him bombing way. He was hampered by a bum knee last year and hurt his game a lot. Williams is a guy that needs help to do his work inside. Green played big minutes despite the injuries. O'Shea needed him because he was the guy that could get hot and get us back into any game. Davis is a energy guy that made big steps last year. He'll need to get even better to fill Green's shoes. Walther sounds like a great shooter, but slow on defense? If he's a Gus Johnson type that comes in and hits 40% plus from down town while teams mess around double teaming the post then he'll help.

Fears was a player who made one great play then made three dumb plays in a row. Chatman is more steady, but isn't gonna make the great play.

Halbert was a floor leader and great shooter. Need somebody to step up and lead. With Troutman a 4 year starter, its on him. Question is who picks up those Assist, rebounds, and points. Tillman could be the guy that does all that at the powerforward spot.

Impressive OOC schedule.. should face some good teams at that Kentucky tourney. Probably will travel down to see the team when they come play bonaventure.. about 1.5 hours from buffalo.

One question though, why would you play the same team twice OOC? Just b/c another couldnt be found or due to contractaul stuff?

Marshall and Ohio are close and they probably figured that attendance would be boosted by playing at both sites. With Marshall in CUSA, they should bring a bunch to Athens. I think the idea of 10,000 plus in the Convo for Marshall is what they are thinking. Ohio will bring a few for the game at Marshall. You get a good game most years from these two teams. Their might be football consideration in this that both teams are hoping to get a football series going and that a yearly hoops battles keeps the rivalry hot while they work on trying to get the football games going again. Having a border war isn't too bad when you want better attendance. 20,000 plus for Ohio-Marshall football every year in Peden under Knorr no-less. Think what Solich teams could draw for Marshall.