Defense needs some work. Indiana State plays with a lot of effort and Neese is a hell of a player. Quise looked really good--we need him.

Let's go out and win the Red Line Classic.

Also...for a good laugh, go and read the Indiana State board. Never seen a fanbase cry and moan about refs like they are doing tonight.

Yes, the MVC refs are definitely going to favor the team that just announced they are leaving the MVC. Idiots. Tell your guys not to foul, problem solved.

Who were the television announcers. I know that voice!

Dave Kaplan and Andy Masur

Masur does a lot of Cubs pregames, and Dave Kaplan is a regular on CSN Chicago


They’re both Chicago guys.

Which one of you drunk Ramblermaniacs fell over the seats onto multiple fans in section 111?

Middling performance at best... both on players and coaching. I am chalking it up to post Bahamas letdown. Hope I’m correct...but my goodness the defense?

Guy in 111 was just training for $2 beers at Wintrust on Saturday. Got to be in peak physical condition for the rivalry game!

I think it’s crazy that I feel like we didn’t play well in the first half, yet we still finished the game with 88 points (defense problems aside).

One of the question marks outsiders were talking about pre-season was where would our offense come from when losing Krutwig? The ability to put up games in the 70s and 80s this year is a pleasant surprise.

I don’t want to criticize too hard only 8 games into his coaching career, but I’m really confused why Drew refuses to use Welch. He got one minute of garbage time against UIC, sat all of Atlantis (including garbage time against ASU), and never saw the floor tonight. Why???? I’m just not getting why Hall gets 20 minutes for 3 turnovers and 4 points, and we aren’t going to at least try to work Welch in on the rotation. I’m excited for this season, but when it’s done - Lucas, Aher, Hall, Knight, Schweiger will be gone, and what we will have is a ton of guard experience and Hutty when we go to the A-10. If we aren’t going to try to work Welch into the rotation (who I think has paid his dues), I really hope Drew’s got a good line on some JUCO forwards for next year. We are gonna be hurting.

Im also worried about Clemons. I suspect the knee is worse than we think, but I’m rooting for him to be able to contribute. When he is 100 percent or close, he is so much fun to watch.

I love Hutty, but I’d like to see us start Knight against teams that don’t have huge centers to see if we can get off to quicker start on offense. Maybe he gets too nerved up to take the jump and start off games, and he’d settle in better if he came in at the under 4 timeout or a little earlier. Knight’s field goal percentage seems to be pretty good, and maybe our offense would fire a little bit quicker with him out to start. He’s got the experience.

With the final four, the sweet 16, and the A-10 departure, it’s pretty clear we’ve got a Valley target on our backs and we are going to get everyone’s A game.

Reading the game thread on the sycamore board is a riot! It’s a great lesson on what kind of fans NOT to be. The way they talk about the refs — you would think they all watched a completely different game. In the past 5 years I can think of maybe 3 games out of 120+ where I felt the refs cost us the game (one being 2019 arch madness against Bradley, the other being the 1 game in his career Krutwig fouled out of). If these guys thought the officiating in this hame was horrendous for them, they are in for a long year in the valley. We got 30 free throws because they are undisciplined and commit “stupid” fouls constantly. Teams are gonna be killing them in free throws all year!

Every game from here on out as a learning experience, and tonight they learned that they are capable of playing a bad half, and still can go out and build a 14-point lead before the horn sounds. Would love to have seen a blowout, but I’ll take this! Go Blers’!

Great game by Knight. Fantastic. He was very steady. Agree with Toledo on getting Welch some more time. Knight will be gone next year, and nobody currently coming is is taller than 6'5". We really need Tom Welch in a prime spot to come in and play productive minutes.

Lucas Williamson showed why he's going to be the 2021-22 MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year. 20 points, fantastic leadership, clutch shots, amazing defense, nailed free throws, and another win for the Ramblers.

Of concern to me is the defense. How do we let a mostly inexperienced team like Indiana State score 76, dominate much of the first half, and shoot 45% or so from the perimeter? It was a bad look.

I want to see some consistency, some development of players we'll need next year (like Welch and Thomas), and a less complacent attitude in the players' body language.

My pet theory is that we are missing Krut moreso on the defensive side. He was a good individual defender with good hands, and he was a great communicator.

Drew was also somewhat critical of Kennedy's defense on the postgame radio show.

To be fair, we'd never seen Indiana State's offense before, and they ran a lot of stuff that just caused confusion like the double screens and cutters. Very hard to cover the cutters and rotate on shooters. We're obviously not quite there yet.

I never really know what to make of plus/minus, but it seems worth noting that in a game we won by 12, Tate was a -10. And despite scoring 13 points himself, Knight was only +1.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart