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[Chris R]

Persons for Ball State abused us like a corpse in the last 3-4 minutes. BSU basically said 'we're gonna run the same play every time down the court until you prove you can stop it.'

We couldn't stop it, nor did we attempt to defend it differently. Persons just drove on us for layup after layup -- layups so open it was like Moses parting the sea. He's a good player -- ASun Frosh of Year, MAC 2nd Teamer last year averaging 15ppg 4apg -- but he took advantage of us in a big way and the Flyers didn't make him work nearly hard enough.

Part of the problem is there is no Charles Cooke on the court to throw on a guy like Persons and negate him with bigger size, better athleticism, and more strength. Archie had that luxury of moving Cooke around to cause a mismatch and bottle a hot guy up.

Grant doesnt have that this year. With Crosby, Crutcher, Davis, Davis, etc, they are all a bit undersized against beefy guards. Persons was like a poor man's Jack Gibbs. We will struggle defensively at times just because of a lack of size, experience, strength, and numbers.

Crutcher, Svoboda, Davis, Kostas have never played college ball. Crosby had never started(?) before last night. Half the team is being asked to do something they've never been asked before.

I suspect we will see some ups and downs. Highs and lows. Not a ton of consistency. We are not last year's team. Team and coaching staff needs time. Some nights are gonna be hair-pulling. Self-inflicted damage is gonna pop up more than we've been used to in the last 3-4 seasons. Other nights we might look pretty polished.

For me the bullet points are seeing the young guys getting better and us becoming a better defensive team and learning from our mistakes.

Case in point -- do we learn how to defend dribble penetration better for Charleston? We have 3-4 days to work on it. If we see the exact same mistakes, or the same number, that's not great. If we at least see some positive progress -- win or lose -- probably good news long-term. We know Hofstra and everyone else in Charleston is watching the BSU tape and instructing their guys to dribble-drive us big time. Are we ready for that?