Interesting, thanks for the insight!
I’m glad the crowd was louder in-person than on the broadcast. The broadcast made it seem like the Mahaffey contingent was louder than anybody.
One note on the lack of offensive rebounding, not crashing the offensive glass hard puts us in better position in defensive transition.
In 3 point field goal percentage defense, we’ve improved from 168th to 73rd, especially important in a league where usually the best perimeter play wins.
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My son and I noticed that the first Miami three the crowd was super loud on tv and then after that you heard only Akron fans. Knowing Miami we probably thought that was unfair to Akron fans watching to have cheers for Miami
The broadcast was quiet except for after a 3 or the buzzer which it was way too loud
I’d agree with that, though the last few minutes had some energy. Attendance and atmosphere have been significantly better this season than it usually is through early January.
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That’s what I was going to say. Crowd noise/excitement was nothing to write home about until the Woolfolk 3 bringing them within 1 at about the 5 minute mark. Then it bumped up again (seriously probably another 20 dB) on the Skaljac 3 putting them ahead with 2:30 left. From then on, very into it and loud with constant noise on offense and defense… excepting for Miami free throws when it was super quiet with only 1 random Akron yahoo yelling as the free throw was released.
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Could be louder with more carbonation in the beverages.
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I wasn’t able to make it on Saturday, but I followed religiously on my phone. How did the crowd compare to the Ohio game last year?
=>Not as much. But OU had students.
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Great article from DDN with some quotes from Elmer and Steele that really demonstrate a culture can be built in college sports still. Archdeacon has really given us the coverage we deserve in the last couple years which has not been the case in decades past from local media.
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Honestly, I didn’t think Steele was out of line at all. The broadcast picked it up clear as can be, he said “That’s fucking bullshit!” twice and then said “Terrible” a couple of times. Pretty tame compared to other coaches.
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Also, Travis probably thinks he has to proactively be on the refs given how physical everyone tries to guard us. Yes, Akron had a bunch more fouls early, but that’s because they were fouling our ball handlers on essentially every possession. The foul count honestly could have been more lopsided. If there’s a tight whistle, it helps us.
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And I’m sure Woolfolk had some bruised ribs/sides the day after for the very thing Steele was upset about that was never called. Lyles was gaining space by throwing elbows offensively. And by throwing elbows, I mean MMA style. However, he did a great job of making each elbow look like part of his spin move and I don’t think the refs wanted to further the foul disparity.
Statistically, we’re an above average to pretty good team at both drawing fouls and not fouling. That’s a huge difference between this year’s team and last’s. Credit to Wolf who went from below average to elite foul efficiency this year. At the same time, Ipsaro was drawing over 4 fouls per game before he went down.
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I was sitting about 10 rows behind Miami’s bench and clearly saw that elbow as it extended far from Lyles’ body. It was an obvious offensive foul and bordered on flagrant. 4 point swing.
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Lyles is more subtle with the elbows than Suder! 
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Three options here (not mutually exclusive):
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Get better at working the refs without getting T’d up.
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Toughen up the guards so they can finish even after getting hacked.
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See if Rick Mahorn is available for a tutorial so we can hang in the sort of brick fight we’ll need to win at least once in three games in Cleveland.
After watching sports in 2025 I am convinced that the word “ fuck” needs to be taken off the naughty list. It’s pretty much become the standard response to everything that misfires.
Here’s our cinematic recap from Saturday:
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