Miami at Ball State Tuesday at 7 on ESPN3

Men's Sports Men's Basketball
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I am going to this game. I was going to the women’s game at BSU tonight as well, but it has been snowing all day in New Bremen and we had 3 inches yesterday, so I will wait until the roads are cleared tomorrow. Ball State is 7-10 ( 2-4). Miami is 9-8 ( 3-3). Ball State’s recent schedule was a loss at Akron by 10, a home loss to Buffalo by 6, and a loss at Toledo by 13. Saturday’s game with Central Michigan was postponed. This did not figure to be an easy year for Head Coach James Whitford. His top 3 scorers from last season all hit the transfer portal. His top assistant coach Jason Grunkemeyer quit to take a High school coaching position. They are usually in every game and it will likely be a tight MAC struggle.

Here are the 5 guys who have been stating most of the year:
6-1 soph Luke Bumbalough 12.5pg/3.5 as, shoots over 7 threes per game
6-2 soph Tyler Cochrane 12.2ppg/5.7rb, transfer from Northern Illinois
6-9 fr Payton Sparks 12.1ppg/7.5rb From nearby Winchester, seems like the type of big man we have been unable to recruit
6-8 RS Jr Myren Thomas 9.8ppg shoots 4.5 threes per game
6-2 Jr Demarius Jacobs 7.2ppg/ 2.7 as

We have played well in Muncie over the years, and this is the type of game we need to win if we want to be anything better than a .500 team. We lost a similar matchup to BG in OT. I think finishing as high as 4th is still a reasonable expectation for this team, but have to win a game like this to do that.

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Unwilling, from what I’ve been told.

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Could you expand on that comment?

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We offered and took Harrison in that class. Please do tell how offering him is unwilling to recruit. I know everyone wishes we had unlimited scholarships, but that’s not how the rules work (unless you’re a service academy).

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I think we prioritized Harrison over Sparks. Sparks loved Miami and Oxford and we were lukewarm on him, at best.

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Thank you.

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Fwiw, our NET ranking has plummeted lately, and currently sits at 199. BSU is 276. And just to annoy Skins, I’ll throw in that ESPN’s BPI predictor says we have a 57.4% chance to win this game.

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199 net is terrible for this veteran team

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Yes, it is. We were in the mid-100s, but recent losses and wins over bad teams have significantly dropped it.

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Miami favored by 2. This is certainly a winnable road game, but we need to play better than we have been.

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Looks like a pretty serious injury to Dalonte in the first minute of play. That was an ugly turned ankle.

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Down by two at the under 12. Really going deep into the bench now without Brown.

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We look real bad, what happened to the ball movement and good shots we saw in the first few games?

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Following gamecast, looks like just about everyone has been in.

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I hope the rumors about Sparks wanted come to Miami werent true. Impressive looking freshman

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Miami already with 11 threes. Made 3. So lazy.

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Which I’m sure is one reason why Ball State only has one foul 13 minutes into the game.

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18

I miss the disciplined offensive execution of Nike

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19

I know Brown is out, but wow we’re bad. When’s the last time we covered a spread?

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3-13 from three. Keep firing men, it’s gotta turn soon!

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