MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

He definitely has not played in their first 5 games.  I'm not sure of the reason.

His old team in Alliance jumped up 9 spots to #12 in the new top 25.  Etta dropped from #3 to #13 after a pair of losses so far.  Both losses are to top 10 teams including and 8 point loss to #3 Randolph Macon so I wouldn't read anything into their ranking currently.  They'll be moving back up shortly.

[Dr. Acula]

Berg has something cooking in Tiffin.  They put a 19 pt loss on Mount in Alliance yesterday after going to Berea and blowing BW's doors off by 30+.  Berg is 6-1 and clearly making a push to be Etta's biggest competitor so far. 

[Dr. Acula]

Berg notched a nice 72-67 road win at #16 Trine last night.  At 7-1 with two wins over current top 20 teams I'd think Berg would be making an appearance in next week's top 25. 

Mount (6-1) bounced back picking up a big road win at JCU 93-83.  UH is always a tough place to win so that's a good W to nail down early on.  Newsom shot a blistering 11-14 from the floor putting up 29.  Poole stuffed the stat sheet with 18 pts, 9 reb, 7 stl, 4 ast, 3 blk.  Mount dodged your biggest fear playing JCU...Sartain was fortunately limited to 6-19 shooting by the Mount D.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

For some programs, the start to the 2021-22 season has been better than expected. For others, it has been recording breaking.

On Sunday's edition of Hoopsville, we chat with coaches of programs whose teams are off to strong starts. Some of those starts might have been expected, but not all of them.

We chat with Heidelberg and RPI men's basketball program plus York (Pa.) and No. 7 Trine women's programs.

You can watch the show LIVE (or on demand) here: https://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2021-22/dec9

We are also simulcasting on our Facebook Live page (www.facebook.com/Hoopsville)

Guests List (order subject to change):
- Heidelberg men's coach Andy Bucheit
- York (Pa.) women's coach Betsy Witman
- #7 Trine women's coach Andy Rang
- RPI men's coach Mark Gilbride

Hoopsville is hosted by Dave McHugh from the NABC Studios. It is presented by D3hoops.com and thanks to our partners at the WBCA and BlueFrame Technology.

If you have questions, ideas, or want to interact with the show, feel free to send them to hoopsville@d3sports.com or use any of the social media options available.

If you enjoy the show via the podcasts, choose your favorite avenue to listen and/or subscribe via the the following four avenues (click on the images when necessary):
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville


 
   
We also have the podcast now on Tune-In and others coming. We will update them once we have better abilities to do so.

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[Dr. Acula]

Had the first half of the Mount game at Wilm on at the office this afternoon.  That one was over early on with Mount pushing it out to nearly a 30 point lead midway thru the 1st half.  The Quakers had no answer for Parker inside or Stanislawski outside.  Wilm evidently played much better in the 2nd half and battled back to an 89-71 final.  I'm assuming Fuline was subbing liberally.  Mount is 8-1, 3-1 now.

[Dr. Acula]

2 of the 3 OAC games today were forfeits Bc of Covid.  This sucks.

[Dr. Acula]

Covid issues continue...Geneva was forced to pull out of the Mount Union event this week and BW has already scrapped their game at Mount on Jan. 5.  From what I read the official OAC policy is that the game is declared a no contest, but it counts as a Mount win and BW loss in the standings.

[deiscanton]

Marietta defeated Chicago, 78-65, in Las Vegas this afternoon.  Marietta led throughout the contest, and led by as much as 20 points in the second half.  The Pioneers only made 8 of 17 from the foul line, but when the defense of the Pioneers forces Chicago to commit 20 turnovers which got converted to 22 Marietta points, Marietta did not need their best game today to win this one.

[Dr. Acula]

Just browsing the current Massey ratings and the OAC has 3 teams in the top 10 nationally at the moment.  Mount (#6), Marietta (#8) and Heidelberg (#10).  Otterbein is checking in at a very respectable #64 also thanks to their solid start.  It's great to see the Cards back in the mix.  They were down for far too long.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount got the jump on the weekend games and hosted Cap last night.  Raiders are now 11-1 after the 72-45 win.  I watched some of it, but it wasn't really in question from pretty early on so I was in and out.  Parker had 26 and 13 boards.  He's put up 20+ in 5 of the last 6 games (exception being the JCU game where he only played 12 minutes before fouling out).  Incredibly he is still shooting north of 70% from the floor and understandably leading the OAC in that stat.

Next up is Etta next week.  That will be a big challenge to put it kindly.  I'm also eagerly awaiting the Etta/Berg face off.

[rscl70]

Mount could not buy a basket in the second half.  Much credit to the Pio defense.  This Marrietta team is for real.  Looking forward to Feb. 9 rematch.  Things could be a little different in Alliance.

[Dr. Acula]

Yeah, it's not gonna go well when you shoot 28% against a team as good as Etta.  That's how 22-1 runs happen evidently.  The other thing the Pios did a great job of was taking care of the ball.  Only 5 TO last night.

p.s. I have to say that when watching OAC hoops online Ban Johnson is my favorite venue to watch games.  I like the way it looks with the seating/fans standing up above plus it seems like it's very well lit.  Sometimes I feel like the MAAC looks slightly dark on the video feed?

[Dr. Acula]

I watched the Mount wins at Berg and then again last night hosting JCU.  When they lock in defensively they're really tough.  They put the clamps on Berg from the tip and that game was over at half (42-20).  Another enjoyable thing has been the emergence of Keller off the bench.  It seems normally with Fuline his bench depth is his best young kids with this year's example being freshman backup PG Skeriotis who gets solid minutes every game off the bench.  Keller is a junior though so I'm happy to see he's kept working and he's giving them solid production off the bench lately.

Also, Parker is such a skilled finisher anywhere near the paint it's almost unfair.  He had 28 and 11 last night on 10-15 shooting.  He's averaging 19 ppg now so his next two seasons could be scary as he continues to get stronger and refine his skill set.  I found myself thinking last night "Man, if he works his way to being a 75% FT shooter he could score 25 a game next yr."

[BillyRayJimBob]

A nice Purple Raider win over ONU moments ago ... 4th win in eight (8) days.
Skeriotis couldn't miss ... high point man off the bench for UMU with 21.
I enjoy watching this team ... too many names too mention.
Would love to have Collen Gurley back in Purple & White for his senior year, but wonder what current team players would not be having their chance to shine in filling the void.

[Dr. Acula]

A nice Purple Raider win over ONU moments ago ... 4th win in eight (8) days.
Skeriotis couldn't miss ... high point man off the bench for UMU with 21.
I enjoy watching this team ... too many names too mention.
Would love to have Collen Gurley back in Purple & White for his senior year, but wonder what current team players would not be having their chance to shine in filling the void.

Skeriotis deserves a lot of credit because he basically blew that game open single handedly knocking down 3's in quick succession to open up a comfortable lead in the first half.  I think he's shown good maturity all year not trying to do too much.  He's very under control.  He isn't afraid to shoot it, but he also isn't forcing anything.  At 42% he's the 2nd best 3 pt shooter on the team so I'm sure Fuline wouldn't mind him triggering a few more. 

I think if Gurley was still around it would be costing Skeriotis minutes most of all.  Because if CG was in Alliance he's playing 30 min a game and so is Stanislawski so that eats up a ton of your backcourt minutes.  Painter would still be playing a lot in the backcourt too which would leave Skeriotis out of luck.

The other thing to mention is that Chaney hasn't played in a about a month.  I assume he is injured and hopefully healing up.  That's another 6'5" wing that gives them even more depth and versatility when he is healthy.

Sitting at 16-2 with their only losses being Etta and Berg I don't think you could ask for more at this point.  They're taking care of business.  I'm sure they'd like a do over on the Berg loss at home, but it happens in the OAC.  Grinding out a split against Etta would be big for their confidence.