It was a good night for the OAC in the NCAA tourney. Three entries and 3 wins on the first night. Three OAC teams into the round of 32. I don't remember the last time 3 teams from our league got invited into the tourney. Very often it is just the AQ or maybe one at large. So way to represent Cap, BW, and Etta. I do agree with others on this site that have stated they thought Mount should have gotten invited in place of either Cap or Etta. I believe it should have been Mount instead of Etta but what do I know? The committee has their criteria and they usually do a good job. I just hope they sit up and take notice that it is okay to choose more than 2 teams and especially more than one team from the rugged OAC in the future. Best of luck to the Crusaders, Yellow Jackets, and Pios on Saturday.

Just some thoughts on early season topics. JCU job will have many applicants. Also not sure if Pete Moran is best man for the job. Maybe things have changed but he was really a loose cannon when he played. Maybe that is just "passion for the game."  Mike Moran was the best thing that ever happened for JCU hoops. Great guy with a great ability to bring in quality players. Took their program from mediocrity to top of the league and nationally known. On other fronts, good to see Damon back at Capital. Another good guy who is good for college hoops. Coach Schwab at Musky must be doing a good job. It is early but has them going in the right direction. Also as a long time follower of the OAC, it is difficult to fathom that Otterbein has been so bad since the end of the Reynold's days. Quality program that has been really on hard times. Not surprising but Marietta has a couple quality wins nationally early on in the season. They lost some good players but have just reloaded. Good test this Saturday travelling to play BW. Another OAC season is underway and it will probably be full of great games and surprises as always.

If Bischof went to Miami, that's fine but 2 things: I don't think you have to sit out a year when transferring from D3 to D1 and he is not good enough to play at Miami. If he is, then Miami is in trouble.

Trying to get some conversation going on this site. How about a discussion of possible POY candidates for this season in OAC. I think all talk begins with Kyle Payne from BW. He must be considered the pre-season front-runner. Other possible candidates that I will throw out there include Tyler Hammond of Marietta, Nate Jacubec from Mount, Branden Rushton from ONU, Malcolm Heard from Wilmington, and Kevin Krakowiak from BW. All are seniors except Jacubec. Any thoughts on those possibilities or others to throw in the discussion??

I agree with the thought process of sac about Mount maybe not being able to leapfrog over Capital and Marietta but the bottom line is--look at the players returning for all 3 programs. Mount has some of the best young players in the league that gained valuable experience playing last year. Both Capital and Marietta lost key players to graduation last year. Both coaches do tremendous jobs with the players they have but I think that talent comes to the top this year. I was a little surprised that Northern was picked that low by the coaches. They have some nice talent coming back also. Should be another interesting year in the OAC. BW will get a measuring bar test early when they play in Wooster's tourney. All 4 teams ranked in the top 26 of d3hoops pre-season

Have the coaches and media's picks come out for the new hoops season? What are some thoughts about the rankings? I will go with BW, Wilm, Mount, ONU, Marietta, Cap, Ott, JCU, Berg, and Musky in that order.  Thoughts???

Wanted to see if I could create some discussion about POY candidates. With 3 games to be played in the regular season, in my opinion, there are a possible 4 prospects: JJ Martin from Marietta, Kyle Payne from BW, and either Michael Sommer or Spencer Niekamp from Capital. Any thoughts or additional deserving candidates in anyone's opinion. It appears Capital is in the driver's seat for the regular season title. BW and Marietta square off Saturday with the loser all but out of the race. Capital has one road game, at Otterbein, in a rivalry game, and then closes the season at home. They control their own destiny. Stranger things have happened with 3 games remaining in the OAC

I disagree with Dr. Acula. Right now it's all BW has to play for, a regular season title. It does suck that they can not go to post-season because they should have a very good team. But now they have to set their goal at what they can achieve and that is to win the OAC regular season. Had a chance to take in BW vs Wooster game. Very good game between 2 very good teams. Rebounding was the difference in the game especially at the offensive end and Goodwin came up big for Wooster all night. Both teams should be fun to watch all season.

Impressive opening night win by BW over Bethany. Looks like the Jackets were up big during the game but hung on for a 5 point win against a very good Bethany team with a lot of returners from an NCAA qualifier last year. Another big test comes Tuesday night against Wooster.

Good point. Probably wouldn't want Davis too far from the basket. Seems to me there were two other Davis brothers that didn't wander too far from the hoop and they both had rather good careers in the OAC. My attempt was to create some discussion about who might be the better post player all-around but it seems that not too many people wish to chime in on this site. (by the way, would you rather have Tori Davis or Jeff Gibbs as your post player--to me, tough choice but can't go wrong with either one) Gotta love the match-ups this week. In my opinion, the Otters take two on the chin.

I respect one man's opinion and that is why I said "arguably".  I think there are 3 premier post players in the OAC this year (less than other years).  Knab from Marietta, Davis from Ott., and Schnelle from ONU. There are other good ones but these are the premier ones.  Block to block, with your back to the basket, Davis might be the best but that is only a portion of post play. Can you step out and make a 15 ft. jumper? Can you face up and put the ball on the floor? Can you pass out of double teams and make your teammates better? Can you rebound in traffic? If we consider all aspects, then I think we can create an argument over who is the best "5" man. All 3 are seniors and all are expected to carry a major portion of the load on their backs. (Especially at Etta until Halter is back.) Let's see what happens when more games are played and they also have chances to go head to head. There should be some great battles.

Not so sure that WAlum might be jumping on the bandwagon so early. We are only 1 game in and he has BW as part of the "big" 3. The coaches picked them 7th in pre-season and Marietta was without Halter and on the road. I think for now it is still JCU and Etta and let the rest prove themselves.  I also disagree with ste24vie that Etta is middle of the pack without Etta. They still have arguably the best post player in Knab and have some great shooters in Puch, Owens, Kimney, and McKean. And their pt. gd. is one of the better ones around. They have a lot of players and will only get better playing without Halter for awhile.  Also not such a big surprise from Wilmington. Look at their pre-conference schedule and as always when you go on the road in the OAC, anything can and usually does happen.  If you are not ready to play, you lose. All in all, another exciting conference schedule is underway.  Probably a month before things will start to separate themselves.

As long as we are correcting the spelling of coaches' names----there is no t in Bankson.  Just thought I would throw that in.

Ed Householder out of Tallmadge HS left BW to go to Kent State for reasons other than basketball. 

JCU does seem to have come out of the gate strong.  Impressive wins so far. Also Wilmington is 3-0.  What other teams seem to be doing well? Etta has had some impressive wins with their big 3 providing plenty of firepower especially Knab.