MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Ohigy]

Mount needs to finish really strong (beat Marietta and JCU) or win the OAC tournament to make the tournament.  The 3 non-conference losses to Wooster, St. Vincent, and Hope hurt.  It's a great schedule but one win in those three would have been huge for the Purple Raiders at-large resume.  JCU has a signature non-conference win vs. a 16-1 St. Norbert team.  It should be a fun last month of the season.

[ohiofan1954]

Great game at Capital today. #'s 20 and 32 for Cap had huge days and help make it a exciting game.

[Ohigy]

Great to see some "life" from the Crusaders as they battled Mount to a four point game.  JCU loses a game they needed to win at ONU when looking at the at-large race.   Marietta wins a tight one to stay perfect.  Heidelberg beats Wilmington by 3.  At the bottom, Muskingum drills Otterbein by 16 to move out of the cellar. 

[EttaFan1]

Marietta's game with BW was an outstanding matchup between two quality programs.

Kudos to the Marietta College students and the local community for filling the arena.  There were signs on the exterior doors saying it was a sellout.  If they defeat Capital on Wednesday, they may have to presell the tickets for the Wilmington game on Saturday.  I can say this, there were a few times the noise was deafening.  You can tell the kids feed off of this type of atmosphere.  There was an electricity in the building.

BW seemed to have the upper hand for a good portion of the game until late in the second half.  The "crowd factor" seemed to come to life when one of the officials cracked his whistle and warned both benches for their excess commentary on the officiating.  It really fired the fans and the team up.  (At one point after that, I really thought BW's coach was going to draw the T.  He and one of the officials spent the better part of a timeout jawing at each other pretty intensely.  One of BW's assistants was trying to get between the two, but both parties were intent on having the last word.)

Marietta did a fairly good job of containing BW's Roth.  Roth got into foul trouble on a couple of charges in the first half and took himself out of the game.  He came to life in the second half though and put up 13 of his 17 points.  BW did a few things which gave the Pioneer d some difficulties.  They created some matchups and situations which took advantage of Marietta's aggressive man to man, allowing layups on several early possessions. 

For Marietta, Ewing and Richardson seemed to take over in the second half.  Really all of Marietta's perimeter players had little trouble turning the corner and driving to the basket.  Garcia probably had his best game in the last four on Saturday. 

It sounds like Capital may give the Pioneers some trouble on Wednesday if they can build on their effort against Mount Union.  Marietta handled the crusaders a few weeks ago by 24 points. 

There really seems to be a lacking number of quality big men in the OAC this year.  From what I've seen thus far, Marietta probably has the three best post players in the conference.  Most people already know about Eddie Grenert and Garrett Stephenson.  Nobody has really had an answer for them yet.  However, this AJ Edwards kid is really impressing as the season moves forward.  His effort on both ends is tremendous. He is a good shot blocker.  He is a strong rebounder. He has good hands, and finishes very well at the basket.  He has been a very pleasant surprise coming off the bench this year. 

[EttaFan1]

No big surprises last night, I guess, at the top of the standings anyhow. 

Marietta, Mount, JCU and BW all win.  Wilmington holds on to the 5th spot in the standings with a victory at Northern. 

1.  MAR 13-0 (20-0)
2.  MOUNT 11-2 (15-5)
3.  JCU 10-3 (14-5)
4.  BW 8-5 (14-6)
5.  WILM 6-7 (9-10)
6.  ONU 5-8 (10-10)
7.  BERG 4-9 (8-12)
8.  MUSK 3-10 (6-14)
8.  CAP 3-10 (5-15)
9. OTT 2-11 (3-17)

5 conference games remain.

If the tourney started today...

8. Musk/Cap @ 5. Wilm.  Winner would play @ 4. BW,  Winner would play @1. MAR
7. Berg @ 6. ONU.  Winner would play @3. JCU, Winner would play@ 2. Mount.

(unless of course they have revamped the tourney back into a different format than last year. I can't find anything on the OAC website to indicate otherwise). 

Saturday's slate:

WILM @ MAR (get there early, the locals know about them now. Marietta won the first one by 2)
CAP @ JCU (JCU won the first matchup by 18)
MOUNT @ ONU (Mount won the first one by 7)
BERG @ MUSK (Berg won the first one by 27)
BW @ OTT (BW won the first matchup by 17)

Remaining games for the top 4 teams....

MAR - 5. Wilm, @2. Mount, @3 JCU, OTT and ONU. (My prediction the pios go 4-1 in their last 5)
MOUNT -  @ONU, 1. MAR, Berg, @3. JCU, @WILM. (My prediction, the Raiders go 4-1 in their last 5)
JCU - CAP, @3. BW, 1. MAR, 2. Mount, @MUSK (My prediction, the streaks go 3-2 in their last 5)
BW- @OTT, 3. JCU, WILM, @ONU, @CAP. (My prediction, the jackets go 4-1 in their last 5)

[sac]

Marietta chasing some history.

The OAC has not had an unbeaten champion since Otterbein (16-0) in 1986
The OAC has not has a one loss champion since Ohio Northern (17-1) in 2001

[Ohigy]

I think Marietta makes history and goes undefeated!

[sac]

The OAC is returning to an 8-team traditional format tournament on the men's side this year according to Mt Union SID Lenny Reich.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount keeps their slim hopes alive beating ONU in Ada 86-79.  Raiders are 12-2 in OAC play.  They really, REALLY need DeAllen Jackson to be back Wednesday for Etta.  Jackson did not play today after playing only 5 minutes early on Wednesday.  Hopefully it's nothing serious and he can go Wednesday. 

[ettaexpress]

Would be a shame if he couldn't go.

[EttaFan1]

Dr. A, do you know the extent of his injury?

Marietta looked impressive at times today and then at times looked really ugly. Every time they pushed to to a big lead they got careless with the ball and had too many turnovers.

AJ Edwards had a very good game today. He just continues to get better. He is the most improved player for the pioneers this year.

RaNeal Ewing continues to make impressive play after impressive play.

It was another near sellout today. The townies know about it and are coming out in force. I guess the Marietta faithful outnumbered the capital fans in belly last Wednesday.

The matchup on Alliance on Wednesday is the marquee game.

I liked the format with the bye and double bye. Too bad they are going back tot the traditional format.  But it is (hopefully) three more games to watch at the banjo. 

[ettaexpress]

Wilmington's not a bad team and they really played pretty well, made some tough shots. And Marietta was still up 15 while subbing liberally within their rotation in the second half (extended minutes for their 5th post guy).

Wilmington's coach is on the regional advisory committee. I imagine he'll waste no time naming his top team in the region.

[Dr. Acula]

Dr. A, do you know the extent of his injury?

RaNeal Ewing continues to make impressive play after impressive play.

Honestly, I don't even know that he's injured.  I'm guessing he is from the box scores.  He started and played 4-5 minutes Wed, came out, went back in a few minutes later for 1 min and then was done.  He didn't play at all yesterday.  Given those facts and the fact that they're in must win mode on the road yesterday I assumed there was a physical reason he didn't play.   

Obviously Ewing would surely rather be on an undefeated team, but imagine the stats he could be putting up if he was still at Ott??  Good lord.  He'd probably be playing 38 min/gm!

[Ohigy]

The top four are essentially set for the tournament.  They have been the best teams all year and have distanced themselves from the rest.  The battle for the #5 seed will be interesting to watch between Wilmington, ONU and the Berg.  The #8 spot and sacrificial lamb in the opening round vs. Marietta will be either Muskingum, Capital, or Otterbein.  Capital is playing much better the last few weeks.  The Crusaders would have the best chance to give Marietta a game. 

[ohiofan1954]

BW-Otterbein was exciting last night. Too bad it had too end the way it did. If it hadn't been for those floor seats underneath a basket at the EMU-Ohio game I had yesterday it would have been the best game I saw. Otterbein gave them a great game.