MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[ste24vie]

Well, this looks to be upset Saturday in the OAC...All the tops teams play the lower teams. Someone will score an upset....just who will it be?

Look for JCU and Marietta to aim for the century mark in ez wins......
Cap easily over Mount.
Heidelberg over the Muskies....

Can the team picked #2 in the preseason get their first win or start the season 0-3? Look for this to be the best game of the day.  BW @ Wilmington. I got the Quakes in a squeaker.

[wooscotsfan]

12/11 OAC Final Scores:

Ohio Northern 68  John Carroll 66  Big road win for the Polar Bears
Capital 74  Mount Union 70
Marietta 72  Otterbein 54
Baldwin Wallace 92  Wilmington 82
Heidelberg 81  Muskingum 77 OT

Marietta leads with a 3-0 record
JCU, ONU, Cap, BW and Heide are all 2-1 in the conference

[ste24vie]

Otterbein coach once again rides his horses to complete exhaustion while Marietta subs freely. Fatigue once again kills any hope of a win.  The 'Etta running game just blew the game open in the last 10 minutes of the game, especially with the Cards unable to get back on defense. Once again, which game plan seemed to work?

[ScotsFan]

12/11 OAC Final Scores:

Baldwin Wallace 92  Wilmington 82

Ouch! Wilmington is now 0-3 in OAC play to start the season???    This is almost more surprising than Marrietta storming out of the gates as the lone unbeaten team remaining in the OAC!

[ste24vie]

While they still have probably their best athlete, Wilmington lost their 3 best players to graduation. Post play has been a problem. T White must adapt to being the "GO TO" guy. Could be a long season....

Marietta just gets it done right now, continuous subbing wore Otterbein into submission. The last 10 minutes of their game on Saturday, time and time again, 'Etta got break away lawups and even a couple monster dunks with fatigued defenders walking up the floor.  Otterbeins starters player a minimum 28 minutes and no other player hit double figure PT. 

What happened in the ONU-JCU game?

[WAlum]

D3 fan here and happy to have heard about this board.  I love the OAC and NCAC. 

Marietta is off to a great start.  Disappointing start for Wilmington.  Otterbein must have some major issues.

[WAlum]

I am new to the boards so my apologies if these topics have already been discussed. 
Best game in the last 5 years.
Best team in the last 5 years.
Rank the coaches.
Rank the program.  (Not just this years team)
Toughest arena to win in as an opposing team.

[ste24vie]

Toughest arena must be JCU.....good team brings in lots of rowdy and enthusiastic fans.....Wilmington is pretty tough also ..the students in the first row stand seemingly on the floor.

Usually you rank the program and coach together.....Cap and JCU must be at the top..........

JCU must be the top recent team

The best game  is a toughie

[David Collinge]

It doesn't fit your timeframe, but far and away the best team in recent years is the utterly dominant 2001-02 national championship Otterbein squad (30-3).

[ste24vie]

Nine years doesnt seem to be recent to me. WAlum seemed to be hittin on the last 5 years. Every team in the OAC is just a Jeff Gibbs away from being National Champs. Definitely a great year for the Cards.

[Gregory Sager]

"Just a Jeff Gibbs away"? You make it sound as though there's more than one. And, based upon what he did while at Otterbein and the insane numbers that he posted despite being severely undersized for his position, I'm pretty sure that there isn't.

[ste24vie]

Well, the point I was trying to make was that.....If any team in the OAC was fortunate to have a Jeff Gibbs, then a National Championship would be their goal. The last 2 years, Otterbein hasnt been able to make the OAC tourney and starting off 0-3 this year.

[ste24vie]

WOW !!! .

Saturday was a great day for basketball in the OAC. Four of the 5 games decided by 3 points or less. Wilmington enters the desperate mode(0-4), now alone in last place. Otterbein shocks the conference with a stunning defeat of the Blue Streaks in an offensive battle. Cap comes out big in a double digit win. Marietta sneaks by with another tight win to remain unbeaten. Preseason basement pick Muskies now in the middle of the pack at 2-2.

[kiltedbryan]

And Wilmington could easily end up 0-5 as they go on the road to the surging Pioneers next Wednesday.

This is Marietta's best start ever in the basketball program's 110-year history.  If they defeat Wilmington on Wednesday, they would be favored to be undefeated into 2011, as they should be considered the likely winner in the games at Redlands and La Verne.

John Carroll will be leaving the Top 25 when it's next released.  Marietta had 3 points in the most recent poll; JCU had 55.  The OAC is generally seen as a conference that produces one or two Top 25-worthy teams each season...it'll be interesting to see how quickly Marietta will move into the poll, since it does not have the history of recent success that a JCU, Bald-Wally, ONU, Capitol or H'Berg does.  It may not be all that quick as voters can argue (probably rightfully) that Marietta, while unbeaten, has generally not played quality competition yet.  But perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to discredit the 4-0 start in the conference, which includes 2 road victories, and two easy, blowout home wins.

FWIW, Massey's rankings seem to agree with that Marietta is for real.  Massey now has Marietta ranked 13th!!      (JCU fell hard with the loss to Otterbein, down 24 spots to 49th)

[kiltedbryan]

WOW !!! .

Saturday was a great day for basketball in the OAC. Four of the 5 games decided by 3 points or less. Wilmington enters the desperate mode(0-4), now alone in last place. Otterbein shocks the conference with a stunning defeat of the Blue Streaks in an offensive battle. Cap comes out big in a double digit win. Marietta sneaks by with another tight win to remain unbeaten. Preseason basement pick Muskies now in the middle of the pack at 2-2.

As ste24vie touched on above...

12/18 OAC final scores (home teams listed second):

Muskingum 71, Baldwin-Wallace 68   
Mount Union 75,   Wilmington 73       
Marietta 79, Ohio Northern 77
Heidelberg 64, Capital 73      
John Carroll 83, Otterbein 86

Current Standings

Team	Conference	Overall
Marietta	4-0	9-0
Capital	3-1	7-3
Ohio Northern	3-2	5-4
John Carroll	2-2	6-3
Heidelberg	2-2	4-5
Muskingum	2-2	3-5
Mount Union	2-2	3-6
Baldwin-Wallace	2-3	3-6
Otterbein	1-3	3-5
Wilmington	0-4	3-5

(Sorry about formatting; never have figured out how to do tables on here)



Table formatting added; kiltedbryan: click 'modify' to see the code if interested!...dc
Thanks!  +k