Miami men at Central Michigan Tuesday at 7:00on ESPN+

Tonight we played without Potter. Cam Craft continued his recent shooting slump. For the second game in a row Coop was very poor shooting the ball and they kind of let him have 3’s. So really 6 guys had to carry most of the production tonight. Skaljac is back to playing the way he did before his injury and probably deserves even more minutes now with Cooper and Craft struggling with their shots. They just have to shoot their way out of it. If they don’t make them, we do have others who will.

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It was supposed to be Minions night. Where was Kevin? Maybe a failed promotion.

AJ Clayton was back tonight and hit 4 threes on the way to 18 points and Ohio blew out Western.

Given the situation, at Mt. Pleasant in front of a sparse crowd on a cold Tuesday night without Potter after a win against OU, this was a great win. We didn’t make the mistake of guarding them too tightly on the perimeter like we have in the past. We guarded them smartly, with the exception of Bonds as he heated up. But we shut down Pritchard and made life as difficult as we could for their big guy. I thought we competed on the glass and that’s all you can ask for. We were only -2 in 2nd chance points. The only part of the game I was unhappy with was the start of the 2nd half. We didn’t match their intensity to start, which led to their 5 point lead, but our response was impressive.

Skaljac turned the game in our favor tonight with his shooting. He could’ve been discouraged after coming into the game and immediately turning it over with his foot on the line. But he played great after that.

I liked how we got the ball to Woolfolk in the 2nd half and gave him room to operate against their big guy. I’d like to see us do that more. He’s so good with his footwork and getting to his left hand that he should be used as a valuable run stopper when we get into tournament play. He also may have won the game with his challenge on Bonds that got us a key stop. Cooper was late (again) getting through the screen, but Woolfolk stepped out and bothered Bonds just enough that he missed.

I also like that Suder seems to be realizing that he can’t get trapped in the baseline/short corner like he has in recent games. He needs a change of pace when coming off that high screen so he gives himself more options. He did that more often and that helped keep his turnovers down.

Elmer was great on the boards. I thought he played very good defense as well.

Craft had some good looks but the rhythm on his shot looks off. I know the camera angles aren’t the best but he may not be going straight up and down on his jumper, which is a problem for him given the elevation he gets on his shot.

A great win. The only thing I’d have an issue with besides our foul shooting was if Potter’s back is bothering him, I’d be curious why he made the trip and sat on a bus that long instead of keeping him home. Let’s hope he’s available for Toledo. Hopefully it’s a happy and safe bus ride home.

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Excellent analysis- Skaljac has earned a starting role - not only is Cooper not shooting well his playmaking and D lacking. Letts get Woolfolk 20 + touched in space and find via the portal one more big- 25 victories clearly in reach

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Based on what for all of the above

A question and observations.

One, do we continue to rest Potter instead of playing him against Troy? Does that game matter for this season?
two, Skaljac is getting hot, hopefully he continues to progress and earn more playing time
third, Craft is a great shooter, but I think he needs to be coached to just move without the ball to get open shots, he doesn’t appear to be the best ball handler over the several games I’ve watched. He just needs to make cuts to the basket and move along the perimeter.

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It’s a cliche, but it seems like Craft needs to let the game come to him more. Maybe he feels the need to be the go to guy, but when he initiates moves to the hoop or shoots too quickly, bad things happen.

He needs to pick his spot, make a couple shots and get his confidence back. Other guys can carry the scoring too.

It’s a good thing that we have great depth.

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Craft only played eleven minutes. Hope he gets off the schneid. We’re going to need him for the stretch run coming up.

The problem is if he’s not scoring, he’s not really impacting the game. Suder and Elmer can have off scoring nights, but still affect the game with their defense, rebounding and in Suder’s case, playmaking. Craft just isn’t that type of player.

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Still some rust and to be expected.

He gave his reasons for Skaljac to start. Personally I would say Ipsaro is our best guard at this point. When Cooper was getting 10 or12 points he was great for us and was our best guard. This shooting slump seems to be effecting his whole game.

Coach has stayed with the same starting lineup all year, may not want to change that. He has however, been cutting down on Craft and Cooper’s playing time, hoping they will play their way out of the slump.

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That bus ride……suuuuuucks

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I’m not sure saying he’s playing well is an explanation.

He’s hardly played PG. Most of his time has been spent at the 2. So why should he start at PG now? He’ll be there long term, but I’m not sure it makes sense to throw him there right now.

That’s ignoring that Cooper’s impact on the defensive side is significant. The stats are pretty clear that Cooper has the strongest defensive impact on the court than any other guard and it’s not close. He’s actually the only one who grades out as above average.

So @CalOHawk gave an opinion on what the lineup should be, but none of the reasoning aligns with what’s going on. So I’m curious what he sees that the numbers are missing.

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Just curious. Are you counting Suder as a guard? On basketball reference he is top 15 in the MAC in defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus.

As are Woolfolk and Elmer.

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Careful, @CBusHawk is going to call you a nerd, tell you how you don’t know basketball because your kid doesn’t play lacrosse like his, and then send you a weird DM about how he has more experiences than you (and imply he took @YellowNumber5 ’s comment that MHT is 50k/mo seriously)

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WS and +/- have some flaws. They’re tied to playing time and who you’re playing with. The Bethany game alone is enough to cause an outlier.

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The only thing I’ve ever been serious about on this board is comedy. And, I could put in a little more work there if I’m being honest.

Actually, I was serious about The Havinghurst treasure map. I wonder if that gold will ever be found…

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You’re not serious about your wagering tips? Now you tell me.

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Oooooooooh I can’t wait. It’s worked out well in the past when non-ball knowers have DM’ed me with their incorrect garbage takes!

Dude don’t know ball. He never will. Stick to LAX.

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