MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[EttaFan1]

So the only thing remaining is seeding. We know this much. 1. Marietta, 2. JCU, 3. Mount Union.

BW and ONU are tied for fourth at 9-8. They have a one game lead on the next two. BW hosts Cap. Northern hosts Marietta.

Capital and Berg are tied at 8-9 in the sixth spot. Berg is at Ott.  Cap travels to BW.

All of these teams are in, it is simply a matter of where they are seeded.

Wilmington is currently 8th and can't move up they play Mount on Saturday. They have a one game lead over Muskingum.  Wilmington would lose a tiebreaker with the muskies. Muskingum plays JCU on Saturday. Wilmington is likely the 8th seed.

There are too many tie breaker scenarios to sort through.

Berg is 0-2 vs bw, 2-0 vs cap and 0-2 vs onu.
Cap is 1-0 vs bw, 1-1 vs onu and 0-2 vs berg.
Onu is 1-1 vs bw,2-0 vs berg and 1-1 vs cap.
Bw is 2-0 vs berg, 0-1 vs cap, and 1-1 vs onu.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount has a nice Senior Day with a 105-86 win over Wilm to wrap up the regular season.  17 guys played at least 3 min. for Mount which is great for the seniors.  Dillon was feeling it today going 7-13 from deep and scoring 25.  He was cold for a few games, but if he starts heating up it's going to make them a tough out in the OAC tournament.  If he heats up AND they get Kukura back?  Who knows.

[EttaFan1]

So it looks like the tourney will be.

8 wilm @ 1 mar
5 onu @ 4 bw
7 cap @ 2 jcu
6 berg @ 3 mount

My guess at the 1st team  all oac squad:

Kukura - mount
Linane - jcu
AJ Edwards - Marietta
Kuhn - BW
Minch -cap

POY - tough call here and you could make arguments for any number. The three best players I saw this season were Kuhn from BW, Kukura from mount and AJ Edwards from Marietta. Nobody was able to stop Edwards this year. Kuhn disappeared a few times. Kukura has missed a few games.  I would probably vote for Edwards. (I am slightly biased too, so take that for what it's worth)

[Dr. Acula]

I would agree with Edwards.  Kuhn would be my second choice based purely on the fact that he was unstoppable the one game against Mount and he did that to other teams too.  Kukura is only a sophomore so he'll have his chances in the future for POY.  It's going to be nice to have him around for another two years.  That kid can flat out score.  He's so tough for perimeter guys to guard because he's 215 and he uses that frame to get to the hoop.  If he stays healthy he's going to end up in the top 5 career scorers at Mount with a chance to catch the great Aaron Shipp for 1st.

[David Collinge]

Etta 93, Wilma 78
JCU 83, Capital 71
UMU 102, Berg 96
BW 86, ONU 83

[EttaFan1]

Marietta's game vs. Wilmington was somewhat ugly, and very much sloppy.  Way too many turnovers and mental miscue's from team who has been very solid this year.  Some credit goes to Wilmington though for bringing the fight to the arena when they could have easily laid down.  At one point late in the first half, Marietta had pushed the margin to 16 or 17.  At the half way point of the second stanza, Wilmington had cut the lead to two.  Marietta went on to score 30 points in the final 9:19 to put the game away.

Wilmington's leading scorer was saddled with foul trouble and an eventual early exit due to getting his fifth foul.  The impact of this was minimized in the first half when Marietta's top post player (Edwards) went to the bench with an early second foul (both of which were assessed for illegal screens).  Edwards had two points at intermission.  He finished the game with 20. 

Hopefully Marietta will have a stronger showing on Thursday when the Jackets come to town. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Final public regional rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2016/02/24/third-ncaa-regional-ranking/

[EttaFan1]

I have to say tonight's matchup between Mount Union and John Carroll is an intriguing one.  Mount upset JCU at home without one of the league's best players.  Kukura did play in the quarter final and was somewhat effective.  Earlier in the year JCU blew out the raiders at home.   This is a very intriguing matchup. 

[Dr. Acula]

I know I sound like a broken record here, but again Mount had a poor defensive game statistically in the quarters.  Berg shot 60% from the field and around that from 3 also.  Mount did do a really good job of forcing turnovers though and that proved to be the difference.  It was exciting to see Francesconi have his best game of his freshman year in the OAC tournament. 

It just worries me that they have to shoot well to win.  They just can't get away with off shooting nights, especially against teams like JCU.  They need to stay out of foul trouble tonight in the front court.  If they do that they definitely have a chance.  They did just beat JCU and JCU hasn't been playing great recently.

[EttaFan1]

Well it will be Marietta and JCU on Saturday.

[Dr. Acula]

Well it will be Marietta and JCU on Saturday.

I would think both are safely in and Mount is definitely out.  Mount had a rough 2nd half, that's for sure.  But I wouldn't call last night disappointing.  Tough game on the road against a very good team. 

I'm very appreciative of the seniors.  Just like last year's class, this year's class was instrumental in taking a middling program and turning it into an top tier program in the OAC.  They've created an expectation of success that wasn't there before and that's a great legacy to leave.  Thanks to all of them.  And thank you to Mike Fuline who continues to make Mount Union hoops fun to follow.  His passion is evident and it's contagious.  With Jackson and Kukura leading the returning guys it should be another fun season next year. 

[EttaFan1]

When tickets were made available to the general public this evening the game sold out in 13 minutes.

Who has two thumbs and has tickets?  This guy 

They did a student/college employee sale earlier in the day. I guess when the general public sale started there were only 225 tickets left.

JCU received an allotment, how many I don't know.

Capacity is just under 1600.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Another outstanding game between these two teams and another memorable game between these two teams. I was very surprised that JCU was able to lead the game, basically, for 40 minutes in a tough, tough environment. I said after the game two weeks ago that I wish they could play every week .... It's great basketball. I hope they can meet up again in 2 weeks.

This reminds me of 2009 when I desperately wanted to see JCU and Capital play a fourth time in the Sweet 16 but it was not to be. I hope I'm not wrong this time.

I think this pretty much locks up JCU as a first weekend host. They're numbers combined to how many tournament qualifiers are/will be within 500 miles of Cleveland and it's hard to imagine any another scenario. The real questions are how strong is JCU when looking at possible Sweet 16 hosts and will Marietta be hosting the first weekend? I say maybe and absolutely to those questions.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

When tickets were made available to the general public this evening the game sold out in 13 minutes.

Who has two thumbs and has tickets?  This guy 

They did a student/college employee sale earlier in the day. I guess when the general public sale started there were only 225 tickets left.

JCU received an allotment, how many I don't know.

Capacity is just under 1600.

Attendance listed at 1724. Wow! It looked jam packed.

[EttaFan1]

Packed it was.  It was a tremendous atmosphere.

Interestingly enough, there was a line outside the door to buy any tickets not sold from JCU's allotment.  As it so happened, Marietta was also hosting the OAC indoor track meet, and shortly before tip-off, JCU's track team came bursting in the door.  So much for any of those unsold tickets. 

The fact Marietta got this game to the point where they had a chance at the end was amazing in and of itself.

I love the way JCU plays.  They just keep coming at you over and over and over again.  Coach Moran has a terrific team. 

It was a great game, in a great atmosphere.  Congrats to both schools on a terrific season.