Miami 50 Bowling Green 45 OT

Men's Basketball
Home Team: Miami RedHawks
Visiting Team: BGSU Falcons
Venue: Millett Hall (Oxford, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

First off, win or lose, I have to give the Falcons a lot of credit. Like so many other games this season, they were behind for a good portion of this game, sometimes by a significant amount. Like so many other games this season, they battled back to put themselves in a position to win at the end. Especially with one of the team's best players (Chris Knight) out and frontcourt depth at a premium due to injury (Marc Larson), the way BG has been playing of late has been very, very impressive. Alas, this time around, they just couldn't get the ball in the hole when they really needed to, but they gave it a hell of a run.

Going to sporting events by myself has good and bad points, sometimes wrapped up all in one thing. Since I'm the rare bird that just needs one ticket, I can often find a singleton in what seems like a really good spot. For this game I found myself in the first row right behind the Miami bench. That sounds pretty good, but really, it's not optimal. Once the game starts, players are jumping up and down, coaches and trainers are roaming around, and plenty of game personnel and event staff are in the vicinity as well. Frankly, it's often hard to see what's going on. I was extremely grateful to one ref who eventually made it a point to tell Miami's bench to sit down pretty much each time down the floor (I think at some point they should have earned a technical foul, but I'm biased). Of course, that didn't keep ol' Charlie from getting in my way from time to time, but it made it easier to see more of the game.

And it goes without saying that I was surrounded by Miami fans. One guy, on his way into the section, saw me decked out in orange and tried to tell me I was in his seat. When I assured him I had a ticket for my seat and actually started to get it out to show it to him, he remembered that he was actually in the row behind me. In the middle of the section I might have bought it, but I was in the first row - dude, you know I'm not in your seat. I think he just assumed I was trying to bogart the seat and wanted to keep a Falcon fan from occupying such a "prime" spot. Unfortunately for him, he had to listen to me yelling encouragement to the Falcons all night long. I don't think I was too obnoxious, except when Scott Thomas hit the 3-ball at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. I went a little bit out of my mind at that point. My throat is still a little raw from that outburst, actually.

My observations on the game itself are a little spotty, due to my odd perspective, but here's what I've got. First, I'd love to see Scott Thomas get some more minutes. His absolutely clutch trey aside, he's the only player we have that looks confident and consistently competent when passing into the post. I think Otis could provide at least some scoring punch if we could get him the ball more often, and we know that Marschall can score. With the offensive droughts these guys go through sometimes, that could be huge. And what was Otis doing on his last foul? He fouled a guy shooting a 3 - bad enough when anyone does it, but why was the center out there? We could have used him in OT. I also wasn't crazy about Nate driving for the layup with about 10 seconds left in overtime, down by 3. The defense cleared out and was pretty much giving it to him, but with that little time on the clock, I think it was time to shoot for 3. It didn't help that he missed the layup, but I think it was the wrong decision either way. And I'm not criticizing Nate - that could have been a coaching call as much as his own initiative. And without him we're not in that situation anyway. He's been huge for us.

So now the Falcons go into their final regular-season game in a four-way tie for first in the MAC with Miami, Buffalo, and Akron. There's a bunch of different ways this can play out, but the only thing the Falcons can do at this point is take care of OU at home and let the whole mess sort itself out. I'll be at the House That Roars (and hopefully it will) on Sunday to cheer the Falcons on, and hopefully we can send B-Mo, DC, and Nate out in style.

Miami 80 Buffalo 68

Men's Basketball
Home Team: Miami RedHawks
Visiting Team: Buffalo Bulls
Venue: Millett Hall (Oxford, Ohio)
Game Time: 2:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Mom

Brandi had to teach a class at a fitness conference at Miami University's campus on Saturday. I was originally planning to spend the day at my parents' house, which is about midway between Bowling Green and Oxford, but Brandi talked me into doing the driving for her. So I asked my mom if she wanted to tag along, and we went to the basketball game while Brandi taught her class. I had no dog in this fight; I just love MAC basketball.

This was my first visit to Millett Hall. I've now been to every MAC arena in the state of Ohio. I thought it was a pretty cool arena, but not necessarily for basketball. It's a big place, with 9,200 seats, so even with a decent crowd (there were 4,327 there on Saturday), it seems empty. The seats are well back from the floor, which I think hurts the atmosphere. It's a multipurpose arena, not configured specifically for basketball, so not all of the seats are fantastic. Other than that, though, it's a good facility. There's plenty of parking, it's easy to get to, and it's easy to get around once you get inside--the lobby and the concourses are really wide.

The game itself really wasn't all that exciting. Miami jumped out to a lead early and never looked back. Tim Pollitz and Nate Peavy had great games. Pollitz, a chunky white kid, doesn't look much like a basketball player, but he's very impressive. BG was one of the teams recruiting him (and his twin brother Eric, who's decent in his own right) out of high school, and I wish we would have landed him/them. I just hope he doesn't have a good game when Miami comes to visit BG next Sunday to close out the regular season.