MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Mount brought in a 10 person freshmen class this year.  Again, Fuline focused largely on NE Ohio.  I'm by no means a HS hoops expert, but based purely on name recognition it seems like a nice class again this year. 

Nate Armogast, 6'8" F (Brunswick)
James Burney, 6'4" F (Warren JFK) - #136 player on prephoopsohio.com
Alec Ferrari, 6'0" G (Chartiers-Houston PA)
Connor Formick, 6'4" F (Rootstown)
Andrew Francesoni, 6'5" F (Tallmadge) - #100 player on prephoopsohio.com
Jerry Leatherman, 6'2" G (Canton CC)
Zach Neuenschwander, 6'10" C (Fairless) - #51 player on prephoopsohio.com
Diallo Niamke, 6'5" F (Nordonia)
Tommy Stenger, 5'4" G (N. Canton Hoover)
Austin Weyandt, 5'10" G (Fairless)

Article on Ferrari
Vindy article on Burney's off the court story
Canton Rep article on Fairless guys

[Dr. Acula]

The other newcomer for Mount is senior G Jake Jacubec.  I totally missed him the first time because I'm so used to seeing "Jacubec" on the roster.  In this case it's Nate's brother, not Nate.

Jake played 3 years at D2 California (PA).  He was conference freshman of the year and then a key starter his soph and junior seasons (2nd and 3rd leading scorer, respectively).  He was first team All-Ohio in D2 in HS.  It looks like he's a good shooter too.  Must be in the genes.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Preseason Top 25 love for the OAC:
http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2015-16/preseason

Mount Union 7th and Marietta 11th in the first poll of the year. John Carroll outside the top 25 but receiving votes and checking in at 34th.  Looks about right but who outside of the new "Big 3" are most likely to crash the party this season?

[Dr. Acula]

I have high hopes for Mount this year, but I was anticipating a ranking of 12-15 range with Marietta somewhere around there too.  JCU seems about right but in real life they're much closer to the other two than the difference in ranking suggests, IMO. 

I don't know who steps up beyond them.  Berg was quietly competitive last year.  Wilm is usually tough too.  BW has been good, but I think Crowe is gone.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Coaches' Pre-season Poll is out and they picked Mount as the favorite.  Marietta and JCU  are two and three in the poll.  The OAC press release:
http://athletics.mountunion.edu/sports/mbkb/2015-16/releases/20151103it8pht

[Dr. Acula]

Not often you see a team picked 7th with a 1st place vote.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Might start becoming a trends... Landmark men had a voter (Catholic by default) select Goucher (who hasn't had an above .500 record in a decade) as their number one vote.

Some things needs to be changed with these polls.

[gordonmann]

Agree.

I don't know what happened with the OAC or Landmark polls, but coaches should be allowed to vote for their own program if they think it's the best. Take a look at the Freedom Conference poll on the women's side.

http://mascac.org/news/2015/10/28/WBB_1028150632.aspx

There are seven first place votes -- all for FDU-Florham who is the prohibitive favorite -- and eight teams. One coach didn't vote, which could just be a typo or an oversight. But it also could be that FDU's coach was told he can't vote his own team No. 1 so he didn't vote for anyone. He knows they're the best in the conference.  So does everyone else. Arbitrarily requiring him to vote for someone else out of false humility is silly.

Edit: I just realized the Commonwealth conference had the same thing in their poll. In that case someone could make a case for Stevenson or Lebanon Valley, but they shouldn't have to if they think their teams is best.

http://mascac.org/news/2015/10/28/WBB_1028150203.aspx

[David Collinge]

Some coaches, perhaps many, think these pre-season polls are silly and meaningless. Forcing the prohibitive favorite's coach to vote for someone else doesn't make it any sillier or less meaningful. I dimly recall one NCAC poll in the not-too-distant past where one coach made a completely absurd selection for #1, probably as a protest. No doubt that coach got an earful from the conference office, since I haven't seen it repeated, but I say more power to him (or her.)

[sac]

Capital's group of Freshmen look pretty good though and they picked up a D2 transfer.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Good luck to Capital's Coach Goodwin who will step aside this year to battle cancer. We hope to see him back on the sidelines next season.

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2015/11/capital-coach-takes-leave-of-absence

[David Collinge]

Good luck to Coach Goodwin, who I learned quickly in my very limited interaction with him is a very good and very genuine guy. Best wishes for a complete and complication-free course of treatment.

Good luck also to Coach Winters, OWU '13 and the newest member of the ever-growing Mike DeWitt coaching tree. He's getting his big chance sooner than he expected, and sooner than he wanted, given the circumstances, but I'm sure he will do a great job.

[Dr. Acula]

As I've mentioned on here more than once Goodwin is a very well liked and well respected guy in central Ohio.  I wish him well with his treatments and hope to see him back where he belongs on the Crusader bench this time next year.  And best wishes to his family as well.  It's tough on everyone.  Get well, Coach!

[Sir Battlescars]

I read about this over the weekend. You hate to hear things like this especially to one of the OAC's finest. The article I read did state that even though it is a rare form of leukemia it is very treatable. I don't know him personally, but I'm sure he'll put up a good fight. Let's keep Coach Goodwin in our prayers.

[David Collinge]

http://events.lls.org/pages/coh/honoringcoachgoodwin