MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[EttaFan1]

Marietta needs to finish out games stronger. For the second game in a row, they squandered a comfortable lead by having far too many empty trips.  Marietta came away with ZERO points on 6 of their last 7 possessions (from the 3:27 mark and a 10 point lead).  Cap cut the lead to two, but two free throws by Garcia with under five seconds sealed the win for the Pioneers. 

Too much trying to burn clock and not enough running your offense to get good looks at the basket as well.  I'll take scoring points over running clock any time. 

[Dr. Acula]

JCU goes to half with a comfortable 52-38 lead over Mount.  The Streaks are shooting an even 50% from the floor and are killing the Raiders on the offensive glass 13-5.  Two key guys, Linane and Ruffin, have been quiet so far.  Kukura is pacing Mount with 12 pts. and 6 boards in only 7 minutes.  Jacubec and Moore have 9 each.  Mount is going to need to clamp down on D and hope that Dillon/Scelza/Jacubec gets hot from 3.

[Dr. Acula]

JCU runs Mount out of the gym 116-93.  Mount's D did not improve in the 2nd half...JCU put up 64 points.  In the half.  Linane had 8 assists in the 2nd half.  That's impressive.  Scelza did get hot for Mount hitting 4-5 from deep in the 2nd half, but obviously nowhere near enough.  Mount did a decent job with turnovers (13 to JCU's 10), but the Streaks continued beating them up on the offensive glass (26-7). 

Mount needs to regroup quickly with Etta coming to town Wednesday. 

[Onward on, John Carroll]

JCU played very well but I think the difference was down low . Carroll's post players received very little competition from Taylor Moore and his low post teammates. Mount's guards are good and played well but Carroll dominated the glass and the middle.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount is not good down low.  They have little depth.  Even Ruffin isn't a pure post player despite being big.  He's more of a skilled big (he can face up, shoot 3's).  They're much more perimeter driven and that's not a bad thing.  They've been that way the last few years and been successful because they can run and shoot.  But if you don't shoot the lights out you have to defend like crazy.  With Nate Jacubec, Stevie Griffin, etc. they were able to dial up the D big time when needed.  Nate was a tenacious perimeter defender in crunch time.

[sac]

The boxscore of the JCU/Mt Union game is kind of incredible.   90 FG attempts for JCU Which is a ton of shots in a non-system game.
http://oac.org/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160116_cvcv.xml

This game had 84-85 possessions, JCU was averaging more than 1 shot every time down the floor, that's incredibly odd.

[Dr. Acula]

Etta beats Mount 98-85.  Mount came out shooting ice cold and was down 23-3 out of the gate and 53-20 at half.  On a positive note they didn't quit and cut it to 12 in the 2nd half.  That doesn't sound that close, but when you're down 36 it's a great effort.  Scelza hit a school record 9 threes.  The other positive was the return of DeAllen Jackson.  He played 17 minutes in his debut. 

[EttaFan1]

I think Mount's early shooting woes got in their heads a bit until halftime.  They didn't necessarily light it up after intermission, either.  Marietta helped Mount's cause committing 13 second half turnovers, and that allowed the game to get a lot closer than it likely should have been.

But it was a conference win on the road against a quality team.  Margin matters little when all is said and done. 

Time for round two through the schedule.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

I think my Streaks will split the road games against Mount and Marietta and lose to either BW or Capital to finish the season with 2 losses and a trip to the tournament regardless of their performance in the OAC tournament . 

Etta is sitting pretty right now as well and they have the luxury of hosting JCU and Mount in the second half of the round robin and a 14-2 record.  Even if they drop two games going into the OAC tournament and finish with a 21-4 record, I would think they would in very good shape to bet an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.

Mount Union is coming dangerously close to needing to win or make the finals of the OAC tournament to be considered for the NCAA tournament.  If they repeat their 7-2 performance in the second half od the round robin, that will leave them at 18-7 heading into the OAC tournament.  You will remember that JCU was the third team in from the OAC last season with a 20-6 (19-5 regular season, 1-1 OAC tournament) record and a loss in the OAC semifinals to Mount. They won 8 of their last 9 in the OAC regular season.  In short, I don't think Mount can afford many more losses unless they are able to beat what-will-be regionally ranked teams in JCU and Etta 2 or 3 times in the next 5 or so weeks.

Just my thoughts . . . of course I have not analyzed the region as a whole so I could be off base.

[sac]

You're not off base, Mount U has a pretty small margin for error the rest of the way.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It isn't easy to coach at any level. It is a joy to coach Division III says many a coach. Some enjoy it on their way up the ladder, others on their way closer to retirement, and others as their passion.

Tonight on Hoopsville we talk to many coaches in different aspects of their careers with varying teams who are succeeding on the court and off of it because of what coaching has taught them including facing the challenges no one should face especially off the court.

Hoopsville hits the air tonight at 7:00 pm ET with a jam packed show. Talking to programs who are leading their conferences or in the hunt facing the challenge that not everyone expect them to be competitive. We also talk to a few coaches who are taking care of more than Xs and Os. They are taking care of their team after a horrific circumstance of a player's murder or looking out of their own battling cancer.

You can watch the show starting at 7pm ET tonight right here: http://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2015-16/jan21

Guests include (in order):
- Scott Hemer, SUNY Geneseo women's coach
- Chris Downs, St. Lawrence men's coach
- Dan Priest, Kenyon men's coach (NABC Coach's Corner) - talking about NCAC/OAC challenge in honor of Coach Goodwin next week
- Guy Rancourt, Lycoming men's coach
- Amanda Bailey, Luther women's coach
- Jacquie Hullah, Carngie Mellon women's coach

You can also tune into the podcast(s) after the show has aired:
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[Dr. Acula]

Watching Mount at Ott right now.  Mount is up 46-15 in the 1st half.  I'm not sure what's happened to Otterbein's program, but they don't seem to be improving at all.  They're heading to 1-9 in OAC play after today.   

[EttaFan1]

Bigger wonder is how they won the one.

Otterbein is really bad.  I mean I think a couple of the high school teams here in SE Ohio could take them. 

Ugly.

[Dr. Acula]

Hey now.  Saying HS teams is one thing.  Saying HS teams in SE Ohio is another! 

[JCUStreaks70]

Another tally in the W column for JCU last night.. This team is looking great, and I know that the Conference Schedule will definetly help them come Tournament time