MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Toph]

Four games left, this is going to be fun.

[ScotsFan]

Four games left, this is going to be fun.

You aren't kidding Toph.  Not only is there going to be a lot of jockeying for who gets home court in the 1st round of the OAC Tourney, MUC and Musky have quite a battle going on just to make the tournament.  So there's drama at both ends of the spectrum.

And then there's the tournament and ohhhhh what fun that should bring us!!!    If I were a betting man (which I am not), there's no way I would want to lay money down on anyone in this conference as to who will come away with the OAC Tournament crown and NCAA automatic bid?!?!

[onefan]

David, I agree, there probably aren't that many that care about the attendance figures...That being the case, why report them? In my experience you keep track of things like this for reference purposes. Years from now someone looking at Otterbein's figures are going to think Otterbein had one helluva fan base when in fact they draw pretty much the same crowds as the rest of the OAC. I would guess that perhaps the other OAC schools that make a good faith effort to estimate the size of their crowds do care about Otterbein's inflated numbers. That would take the fingers of both hands.

[Toph]

Unfortunately for Carroll tonight Capital has a virtual lock of a win over Mount.  A win over Heidelberg (who has fallen off since their hot start) is a more difficult task.  Should be a fun one to watch, though...two of the highest scoring teams in the OAC.  I'll be there for it.  I'm hoping to catch 3 of the Streaks' last four games.

[wooscotsfan]

All the OAC 2/7 Final Scores:

Capital 56  Mount Union 44
John Carroll 91  Heidelberg 86
Ohio Northern 75  Wilmington 53
Baldwin-Wallace 84  Otterbein 76
Muskingum 64  Marietta 58

So, the updated standings are:

CAP and JCU are tied for 1st place, both at 11-4
ONU alone in 3rd place at 10-5
Heide and B-W both at 9-6
Wilm and OTT both at 8-7
Musky at 5-10
Mount at 3-12
Marietta at 1-14

[kiltedbryan]

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this league, wooscotsfan.

I'm hoping to attend the ONU-Capital "OAC Marquee Matchup" game this weekend in Bexley.  Crucial game for both teams, with huge league and overall postseason implications.  Neither team can afford to lose this game.  ONU cannot pick up more in-region losses, and Capital already has too many.

I don't know much about Capital and their following.  Does Capital draw well?  Will a game like this sell out/be in danger of selling out?

[Toph]

A few thoughts...

About the JCU game last night:  JCU played pretty well for most of the game, defensively they could get burned come tourney time, but this isn't anything new.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?  The only thing that really concerned me was that Heidelberg kept climbing back into the game...I don't know whether to attribute it to a lack of focus on JCU's part or just great effort by the Student Prince-Bergs.  One thing is for sure, Heidelberg's ability to shoot the deep ball (and sometimes it was very deep) will make them dangerous in the tournament.  Of course, when they go cold (and they do) they struggle offensively.

The ONU-Capital game is setting up to be HUGE this weekend.  One thing that Capital has going for them against almost every opponent is their ability to slow down the game to their pace...both by being patient on the offensive end and the "delay tactics" they use inbounding the ball.  Until OAC referees start calling them for delay of game, which I have never seen happen (surprisingly), they can almost completely dominate the pace of a game.  For obvious reasons, I'm rooting for Da Bears in this one, but Carroll still needs to take care of business.

I don't know much about Capital and their following.  Does Capital draw well?  Will a game like this sell out/be in danger of selling out?

I've been to a couple of games down in Bexley, and while there was always a pretty good crowd, there was also plenty of seating.  I don't think (don't hold me to it, though) this is in danger of selling out...if you're planning to make the trip.

If you've never been to Capital before they have a beautiful campus and the Capital Center is one of the best facilities in the OAC.

[Basketball23]

I was at the JCU-Berg game last night as well. It was a pretty good game but it seemed like it took the Berg the 1st 5-7mins of each half to wake up. In the 1st half they waited to they got down 14 until they finally started putting something together. In the 2nd half JCU's lead got to as big as 19 (55-36) before they got as close as 76-74 when it seemed as if they ran out of gas. 1 or 2  questionable calls go the Berg's way however and it could have gotten real interesting. I was impressed with some of the long range shots they were hitting thats really what got them back in the game. Definetly not the same Heidelberg we have been used to in years past.

Unfortunately for Carroll tonight Capital has a virtual lock of a win over Mount.  A win over Heidelberg (who has fallen off since their hot start) is a more difficult task.

A reason for that as i was informed last night could be because Heidelberg has been without its starting 5 man for the whole 2nd half of the OAC schedule. He came down with mono and is out indefinetly. He was their 2nd leading scorer and leading rebounder when he went out.

[onefan]

I will be shocked if the Capital game is anywhere near a sellout. A good crowd will no doubt be there, but it seems these teams toil practically anonymously through each season. Bad news for the Bears....Badenhop went down last night with an ankle sprain late in the Wilmington game. Doesn't look good for him seeing any action Saturday. Tough time for it to happen...he means alot at both ends of the court for the Bears. His absence could be the difference between a W and a loss.

[David Collinge]

I will be shocked if the Capital game is anywhere near a sellout. A good crowd will no doubt be there, but it seems these teams toil practically anonymously through each season.

Otterbein is on the road Saturday (at Heidelberg), so as there's tens of thousands of Cardinal fans with nothing better to do, maybe they'll show up and fill the place. 

[onefan]

I wish I had the time to travel to that game and witness the huge Otterbein crowd that will undoubtedly be present...By the way ,their numbers also appear on the NCAA site where they are consistently in the top ten in D3 annual  national attendance figures. Damn...I had almost gotten over my annoyance of this and you had to go and bring it up again! David, you were absolutely right about no one caring about that stat. I e-mailed the OAC Commissioner's Office over a week ago regiistering my dismay over Otterbwin's obviously fictitous attendance numbers and never even got the courtesy of a reply...If the Commissioner's Office doesn't give a damn, I guess I shouldn't either.

[jcu_fan]

Hey... just wondering if anyone knew how tie-breakers work for the OAC finals... or if it's posted somewhere.

Just curious.

[kiltedbryan]

Hey... just wondering if anyone knew how tie-breakers work for the OAC finals... or if it's posted somewhere.

Just curious.

I'm not sure that it's posted anywhere, but I did a little searching at the OAC conference site and found last year's tournament preview.  Review it (it's a .pdf file) here.

From the third paragraph, it sounds like the OAC checks head-to-head records first, then they go by a "best win" tiebreaker.  From the PDF "Otterbein and John Carroll tied for sixth in the OAC regular season with 9-9 records, but Otterbein earned the sixth seed by defeating third seed Muskingum once during the regular-season."

Edit:  I think this contrasts with the NCAC, which I believe goes with a "worst loss" tiebreak.  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Gregory Sager]

Hey... just wondering if anyone knew how tie-breakers work for the OAC finals... or if it's posted somewhere.

Just curious.

In the OAC, tiebreakers are decided in favor of the school with the better home attendance average.

[Toph]

It is head to head records first, then they go to best win.  For example, if both Capital and JCU win out this year, the edge will go to Capital because they had two wins over Heidelberg (I think...I just glanced over the schedule quickly).  This has the potential to be a mess.  At the start of the season I was hoping either JCU, BW, or Mount would win because that would mean I could catch most of the games.  I can't make the trip down to Capital.


Oh, and +k DC.  Great stuff.