March 4rd, 2015 MAC Semifinals
(1) Ohio (22-7, 13-3 MAC) vs (5) Ball State (18-12, 9-7 MAC)
Well, we just played these guys about 3 hours ago. There's been no change to their lineup over the past week in game. Edelin and Kapono are their most talented players, with Rowe, Minoff and Wheeler all very capable.
Their class is updated in this post, the last post up a little ways I copied and pasted in their lineup from last year and modified it, but forgot to update Rowe and Kapono to Seniors and Minoff to a soph.
Scouting
PG Rod Rowe SR 74 OVR 86 speed/84 quickness. Above average handling and passing (88/81). 84 defense, quite good, and 81 steals, outstanding. 84 close/84 med/67 3. 84 off the dribble/77 in traffic. Looks like a very dangerous player on both ends of the floor. 10.2 ppg,
SG Gary Edelin JR 82 OVR Edelin is a JC transfer so this is his second year. 88 speed/87 quickness, 83 defense, 87 steals(A-, very very good). 83 close/84 med/84 3. 84 off the dribble, an outstanding shooter and can create his own shot. He's only averaging 9.1 ppg so far this year. I noticed last year his shot tendencies are very low. I'm not sure if they develop, but only the drive tendency seems noteworthy at all.
SF Fab Minoff SO 76 OVR 6'9 - 81 defense, good for a SF, a solid post defender. 84 close/81 med/64 3(thank goodness). 82 in traffic and a decent dunker. Solid athletic skills, B- vert/B- str, B- hustle. 5.9 ppg/4.3 rpg, which is lower than last year and a bit of a surprise.
PF Herman Wheeler JR 70 OVR Not terribly experienced, average/above average most everywhere on defense. 78/83 on the boards(off/def). 77 post offense/72 defense. Good hustle/vertical/strength so he loks like a pretty good athlete. Only a 76 close range shot/85 in traffic. He doesn't seem like a scoring threat. Not a shot blocker either. 5.3 ppg/5 rpg
C Russell Kapono SR 80 OVR 7 feet tall with some talent, very scary. 81 on the boards(both off and def), 91post offense, 78 post defense. 92in close/85 in traffic, and he's a good dunker. Strength is 91, average shot blocker... an absolute monster inside. He leads the team with 20.1 ppg so far this year. This is well up from a 15 point average last season.
There's no specific plan. We got a lot of offense out of House and Cooper last game, and we'd like to do the same. We have a very hard time scoring inside as long as Kapono is down there, so
Half
| Time
| OHIO
| BSU
| Notes
|
1
| 15:30
| 12
| 18
| We're calling the first timeout today. We get out to a 12-8 lead but allow 10 straight to Ball State, two 3's by their backup SF Massey, a midrange jumper and then a layup after a steal on the inbounds. Before that little rally we were going at each other pretty evenly.
|
1
| 10:35
| 16
| 25
| Damn. We are dying out there against their 3-2 zone. We can't take it to the rack because we just miss against Kapono, and we are missing threes. We get the backups in(the starters played a little longer thanks to a 6th man boost). Cooper has 7 thanks to 4 free throws... no one has made more than 1 FG. Massey on their end is killing us, 3-4 from 3 now, and Kapono is 3-4 inside.
|
1
| 5:50
| 20
| 36
| We're dying out there. Grundy has the size to attack their big men, and he scores 4 points for us, but that's all we can manage, Grundy falls over going into the middle once and misses another shot and no one else can make anything, no matter how wide open. Starters are back.
|
1
| 4:40
| 20
| 42
| We miss two open shots on our end, they hit two ridiculous 3 point plays on their end. We trail now by 22. I call another time out.
|
1
| 4:15
| 23
| 42
| I bring Grundy in to play with the starters, Bright has been incredibly ineffective lately, I need the size out there with the starters.
|
| HALF
| 34
| 53
| Well, we had it down to 15, they score the final four points of the half to make it a 19 point game. They are 22-40. They are 6-11 from the line, drawing 8 fouls on us, and only committing 5 themselves. They have a 20-14 edge on the boards, and have forced 8 turnovers while only committing 2 themselves. Every factor is heavily in their direction.
We are 11-28 from the field, 4-14 from 3. Every single one of those 3 pointers was wide wide open. Their SF Minoff has 10, Kapono 8, Wheeler 7, Massey 9. Their big men are owning us.
House has 11 for us, Cooper 9, Murphy 6. Grundy 6 as well, no other backups have any points at all. We can win this, but we have to get off to a good start to the second half.
|
2
| 19:15
| 36
| 56
| We score first, but they come back with a 3 point play on their end. The big problem is that it is House's 3rd foul of the game. I get him out and bring in Lufkin.
|
2
| 13:30
| 53
| 63
| THERE we go. We're even for a bit, and its 61-41 Ball State. Cooper gets two buckets blowing by his man. Murphy gets a 3. Lufkin gets a 3 point play. Cooper gets a layup in transition. We score 12 in a row and make it 61-53. They just scored to get the lead back up to 10 again, but we've just made it a game.
|
2
| 11:40
| 58
| 65
| We actually scored another 5 straight, Murphy got Edelin leaping by him on a pump fake and went up for a 3 point shot, Edelin fouled him from behind. All 3 free throws good, and then Watson scored on an offensive board. Backups are in now finally. Backup squad is Mendoza, Lamkin, House, Bright and Keller. Yup, we put on that huge run without House on the floor.
|
2
| 9:40
| 62
| 66
| They hit a free throw, we get a dunk by house, a stop, and a dunk by Lamkin. Lamkin's dunk gives us a 6th man boost and cuts the lead down to 4!! Ball State with the timeout.
|
2
| 7:00
| 67
| 73
| They stretch it back out to as much as 7. Its 6 as the starters come back in. House is going to sit for a minute or two though and finish out the final 5 minutes.
|
2
| 6:05
| 67
| 75
| Kapono hits a shot to put them back up 8. He blocks Watson on the other end, and draws a foul on Watson back on offense. Luckily he misses both free throws... our ball down 8.
|
2
| 4:20
| 75
| 77
| We get a couple stops and its all Cooper til the end. Cooper with 5 straight to cut the lead to 5. Then we get an offensive board by Watson, a putback and a foul for a 3 point play opportunity! He makes the free throw and we trail by only 2. House is back in the game. Cooper has 21 and has been awesome.
|
2
| 2:30
| 75
| 82
| Ugh, 5 straight on their end. Stupid mistakes on my part too. I threw a dumb pass out to House on the wing, I thought it was safe but Edeline lunged for it and caugh it . There was no reason to throw it where I did though, lazy. Then Watson tries to challenge Kapono inside which is a recipe for failure. I saw the lane and took it but we've missed that shot repeatedly. I call a timeout after they score a 3 on the 2nd basket.
|
2
| 2:15
| 78
| 82
| Murphy comes up clutch hitting an open 3. They call a timeout.
|
2
| 2:00
| 78
| 85
| Grundy with a foul, 3 point play Ball State.
|
2
| 1:12
| 80
| 85
| We turn it over, but get a stop on the other end. House scores in transition after the defensive rebound, but we're down 5 with 1:12 left, gonna be tough.
|
2
| 0:40
| 83
| 85
| They take a quick shot, its a decent look for Kapono but it doesn't fall. We run a play on our end and Murphy goes off a screen and hits a wide open 3 pointer. 2 point game! Just 40 seconds left though, gotta foul I think.
|
They make their free throws and we miss our shots.
Ball State 90
Ohio 83
I don't know how the hell we beat Ball State so badly the first time we played them. I don't know how the hell this team only went 9-7 in this conference. They beat us solidly twice and we are by most accounts the best team in the league.
Now we get to wait and see if we've done enough for a tournament invite.
Their inside game dominates us again. 19 for Kapono, 17 for Wheeler. The problem is that if we go to a zone they have the 3 point shooters to murder us, so I have to take my chances there. 13 for Minoff, 10 for Rowe, 11 for Massey. Edelin was in foul trouble and ineffective.
Murphy: 18 points (5-10 from 3)
Cooper: 21 points
House: 20 points
Bright: 0 points/6 boards
Watson: 9 points/14 boards
Grundy: 8 points/5 boards
Lufkin: 5 points
We could have won if we'd gotten more out of our backups. Mendoza and Lamkin were terrible today.