usually I like to make a post a while after a big game as the in game thread gets pretty emotional and all.

I consider the Bradley game a good marking stick for the team. first game, lots of new faces on the team, we played them last year, they are good-won the past 2 valley conference tournaments.

are we better? looks like it. bradley handled us by 12 last year and this game went down to the last shot in the last second. both teams lost a couple important players and had a couple good ones coming back. both seem to have more depth. wardle thinks this will be his best bradley team. their guard play was terrible in the first half but good in the second. they are big ten big inside. they got an offensively limited but agile 7-1 guy and a go to senior 6-7 power forward. both are built like MMA fighters. AJ was solid on defense and the boards but struggled with the rust against those 2 guys inside. UT led more of the game and had the biggest leads but seemed to fade a bit down the stretch. interestingly, or of note, coach k took out AJ and rollins with about 4 1/2 minutes to go. komagum and saunders came in and we got a stop gave the two most winded guys a minute, plus the tv timeout. last year and most years past we've had little to so crunch time bench play and it has hurt us. i was glad to see tk make that move and it helped us. the big play late was the 5 second call on the inbounds. we were trying to run something to get a look and their d was great, but marreon has to have a better count. we made more of the hustle plays all game, which was good, but they got the last one crashing the glass on the miss with 15 seconds to go. AJ played great d on the shooter but it took him out of rebounding position and the bradley guy was able to deflect it off him. not a bad loss, but it stings cuz we had a chance to take the lead in the last minute.

are the new guys really that good? yeah, millner was great. got a bit of that willie jackson, jordan lauf, keonte howell type swingman game. a swingman who is physical enough to defend forwards and outhustles guys. i don't think he will shoot like this every game. it was good night for him. but he's a good all around player who has some leadership personality. millner would have been our team mvp today if we'd won. rollins started and was horrible for 3 minutes-turnovers, fouls, missed shots, fumbles. but he'd got himself together and had a pretty good game. love his size as an outside shooter, defender and ballhandler. has a chance to be very good. acunzo looked like he hadn't played much in 2 1/2 years. very rusty but moving well and looks healthy. i think he'll be a good role player for us by the end of the season if he stays healthy. love hill. he's the one guy i'd like to see play more. dynamic defender. has some pg feel. he has a chance to be good too. don't know why maranka didn't play other than him maybe being the 10th best player on the team. if he's healthy i'd imagine we see him vs xavier. we'll need all the help we can get. komagum was everything you could want out of a mac backup big man. he rebounded. he defended. he seems to have strong hands. i like that he may be around 3 years. may never score much but could be very solid on the glass and defensive end. i could also see playing him w AJ vs xavier.

who got better? littleson got more hair. marreon got jerkier. saunders played better, more relaxed. AJ looks good on defense but wasn't looking to be a threat on offense. may need some games to get his full speed coordination back in that knee. this question is unclear.

outlook? oakland got unpackaged, balled up, and thrown out by xavier. are they that bad or xavier that good? we need to come back and play like winners and get to 1-1. score isn't that important, but the W is. then, on friday we get a chance for a signature win. it'll be a longshot but if we make shots we'll hang around. this team can defend and they hustle.

Interesting take on the game. I don’t live in Toledo so I don’t get the. Opportunity to see the Rockets play on a regular basis. Occasionally I have throw backs on what Rocket basketball used to be like before Coach K and I think, in its better days it was a lot different....especially in recruiting. Guys that were recruited eventually played...aka M. Jackson. I can’t really figure out Coach K recruiting strategy. Milner, Littleton, Komagum, are all transfers. What kind of strategy was involved in recruiting Maranka, Saunders, Acunzo, etc. and having them just become role players.... which. a lot of his recruits eventually become, or they transfer,

(11-26-2020 12:44 PM)Somersetco Wrote:  Interesting take on the game. I don’t live in Toledo so I don’t get the. Opportunity to see the Rockets play on a regular basis. Occasionally I have throw backs on what Rocket basketball used to be like before Coach K and I think, in its better days it was a lot different....especially in recruiting. Guys that were recruited eventually played...aka M. Jackson. I can’t really figure out Coach K recruiting strategy. Milner, Littleton, Komagum, are all transfers. What kind of strategy was involved in recruiting Maranka, Saunders, Acunzo, etc. and having them just become role players.... which. a lot of his recruits eventually become, or they transfer,

I don't fully understand your point but will try and respond. Recruiting back in the old days was generally going hard after a couple high school aged mid major level guys within a regional or local recruiting radius and trying to sneak a high level guy who for whatever reason wasn't a priority for OSU, Michigan, Kentuck, etc... Players mostly stuck around for their whole career, some played, some not so much. In the 80s and 90s juco recruiting picked up and some schools leaned into that. UT coaches like Gipson, Eck and Joplin usually recruited jucos on rebuilding years or to fill a need at a specific position. Meanwhile, the overall recruiting picture got more national. Bigger programs from outside the Midwest moved in on those talented local guys who OSU or Michigan wasn't recruiting and made it harder on the MAC schools, so, we starting doing a version of that and looking at good mid major guys farther from home. TK has been pretty consistent in his approach. He usually tries to get a couple real good mid major guys from the region through a long term recruiting approach and make them key players for the program. think juice brown, nathan boothe, jordan lauf, marreon jackson, etc... He also likes high level transfers who are mature and want to develop their game with a RS year- Pearson, Weatherspoon, Fletcher, taylor, etc...He has struggled to developed bench players who stick around help for a few years. If anything, I think he could do a better job developing role players. As far as power forwards, they are in short supply at the MAC recruiting level. Not an easy recruit to land.

(11-26-2020 04:14 PM)pono Wrote:  

(11-26-2020 12:44 PM)Somersetco Wrote:  Interesting take on the game. I don’t live in Toledo so I don’t get the. Opportunity to see the Rockets play on a regular basis. Occasionally I have throw backs on what Rocket basketball used to be like before Coach K and I think, in its better days it was a lot different....especially in recruiting. Guys that were recruited eventually played...aka M. Jackson. I can’t really figure out Coach K recruiting strategy. Milner, Littleton, Komagum, are all transfers. What kind of strategy was involved in recruiting Maranka, Saunders, Acunzo, etc. and having them just become role players.... which. a lot of his recruits eventually become, or they transfer,

I don't fully understand your point but will try and respond. Recruiting back in the old days was generally going hard after a couple high school aged mid major level guys within a regional or local recruiting radius and trying to sneak a high level guy who for whatever reason wasn't a priority for OSU, Michigan, Kentuck, etc... Players mostly stuck around for their whole career, some played, some not so much. In the 80s and 90s juco recruiting picked up and some schools leaned into that. UT coaches like Gipson, Eck and Joplin usually recruited jucos on rebuilding years or to fill a need at a specific position. Meanwhile, the overall recruiting picture got more national. Bigger programs from outside the Midwest moved in on those talented local guys who OSU or Michigan wasn't recruiting and made it harder on the MAC schools, so, we starting doing a version of that and looking at good mid major guys farther from home. TK has been pretty consistent in his approach. He usually tries to get a couple real good mid major guys from the region through a long term recruiting approach and make them key players for the program. think juice brown, nathan boothe, jordan lauf, marreon jackson, etc... He also likes high level transfers who are mature and want to develop their game with a RS year- Pearson, Weatherspoon, Fletcher, taylor, etc...He has struggled to developed bench players who stick around help for a few years. If anything, I think he could do a better job developing role players. As far as power forwards, they are in short supply at the MAC recruiting level. Not an easy recruit to land.

To add to pono's post, in todays game kids don't want to sit and develop for 3 years on the bench an would rather travel to a lower D1 program or a D2 school. Also, as Pono stated recruiting has changed and is no longer regional nor HS only. If you look at OSu or UM rosters or at Xavier, Bradley or Oakland transfers and Juco's dot the lineups. OSU has 3 transfers playing major minutes this year. With the new transfer rules coming into play if instituted for basketball and not just football this will make transfers even more important. TK has had some really nice transfers and has hit at a high average on their development. Komagum and Millner have already played and contributed major minutes as has Littleson. Acunzo has hardly played the last 2 years including practice time last year as a redshirt. Maranka is someone who if he contributes his third or fourth year in the rotation is a good story. Maranka didn't even play on a high school team per say and was a known project. Saunders was someone who has been very talented but up until now didn't make good decisions or have good shot selection. I love the length and athleticism TK has added the last couple years and feel good about the roster moving forward. I'm not saying this team is MAC championship caliber, but after losing some major talent off last years team has a chance to compete for a top four finish in the league.

People are hungry for a title, anything short of that, TK will face criticism.