Miami at Western Michigan Saturday at 2:30 on ESPN+

Do not forget who paid to build the great practice court facility at Xavier. It was Coach Steele’s wife’s family. Maybe they would be willing to build one for the new arena. Or, maybe someone at Miami has some foresight and it is already part of the plan for the new arena. That, or I could win a large lotto prize and take care of it myself. Name it after Coach Hedric.
Additionally, buy a 737 to fly the team to away games that are more than a couple hours away by bus.

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The fact that Travis blamed not being able to practice on not being prepared for the game is funny.

I have hosted events at Millett for years. We have always had to work around the basketball schedules and teams have always practiced during our events. Even when we requested, they not. Yes, they may have not had the main floor and had to use the auxiliary gym, but I HIGHLY doubt practices were cancelled.

I just was emailing back and forth with someone at Miami who knows the facts, and both the men’s and women’s teams had full access all week to the sub gym at Millett to practice. So while they may not have had full access to the main floor, the subfloor gym was completely available to them as usual. No practices were canceled.

listened to that again and I think he was actually talking about WMich not having 2 courts–mentioned having a double header and therefore not being able to have a practice/shootaround…that’s what I thought he was referencing…maybe both WMU and Millett were issues

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Offensive rebounding is part of offensive efficiency. 2 points in a possession is 2 points in a possession regardless of whether you get it on the first shot or the second shot.

Should we create a separate thread for GymGate? Geez…

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Yeah, yikes.

Wish I hadn’t expanded on it. Look, we played like shit. Whatever went down prior doesn’t matter. We got outcoached. Outhustled. Our three leading scorers combined for 8 points. Let’s rally and beat Eastern on Tuesday.

Side note, but it’s hard not laugh. If you had told me prior to the season we’d be 19-6 and 10-2 in the MAC at this point I would’ve done a goddamn back flip. Its amazing what elevated expectations can do to you.

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I was out of town and wasn’t able to watch. Bummer we lost but I agree, move on and let’s win the MAC. The Chips almost beat Akron. Toledo lost. Ohio/Kent must have been a dog fight. That’s the MAC.

Despite the box score, Byers didn’t play well either.

But we need to move on. EMU will be a challenge. They’ve been a different team since the Feds started watching their every move.

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When we lived in Fort Collins, we traveled with the FB team to Logan Utah for a game. We flew from FC to Logan Utah via a charter. The AD mentioned that the Mountain West Conference is basically a flying conference for away games, except for games at Wyoming and Air Force. Flying is eased by having an airport in FC that can accommodate jet charter flights. That airport is no more than10 minutes from campus

Compared to Miami where flights are usually originated out of Dayton…and getting to the Dayton airport from Oxford is an hour plus a few minutes. I suppose the Oxford airport could re enlarged to allow charter planes to use it making flights to distant MAC schools more logical…instead of the long and usually uncomfortable bus rides.

This should be made to work if Miami really wants to be a first class program…coach Steele as well as Chuck would be delighted, not to mention several of the women’s coaches who also have to endure the long bus rides…of course, money will always be used as an excuse.

The MHT International Airport. Let’s make it happen.

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I don’t know anything about aviation but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. A quick google says the Oxford airport is about 2000 ft short for charters to carry 30-50 people.

I’ve got bad news for the Knolls of Oxford

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You’re actually comparing conference travel in the MWC to that of the MAC? I’m guessing you weren’t a Geography major.

Let me type this once and slowly: Money is an excuse because we don’t have any. There is an upper limit to how much additional cost burden you should put on the general student population to subsidize athletics, and it’s hard to argue that we have a lot of head room left on that. People have talked about how rich our alums are and yadda yadda yadda for the nearly 30 years I’ve been associated with this site and its predecessors, but that money has never arrived. And even when it does, it’s better used on the academic side of the house.

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Related I kinda thought the charm of the MAC was that it was geographically close. Umass and Buffalo those are long trips but for work I drive anything 5 hours or less

I understand why UMass was attractive as a sports proposition, but I’m concerned that having them in the league will increase costs across all sports without much corresponding revenue benefit to offset them. MACTION has plenty of flaws, but in my view being able to offer a fairly robust athletic department as close to the top of Division I as we’re realistically going to get at a manageable cost outweighs those flaws.

It’s also why the current iteration has a limited ceiling. It will always be “that Ohio and Michigan conference with all the directionals” until it isn’t. That was charming in the old days of college athletics where things like geography mattered. Now it’s about brand building. And Buffalo and UMass are much better brands than EMU or CMU (or even NIU).

The Slant Walk site is available

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Too narrow for a 737.