MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

Dr. Acula · January 17, 2009, 02:50:15 PM

Oh how my outlook has changed...

My Raiders were off to a solid start and looked to be capable of playing with everyone in the OAC. After recent losses to Cap and Wilm I still wasn't totally discouraged given those teams quality this year. But losing to Etta at home? And doing so 3 days before hitting the road to Ada today? Basically I looked at the remaining schedule and I think .500 would be a good finish for them at this point. So basically, the same as every other year. The good news is I'm only a couple months away from talking myself into the baseball team being better this year. I love early season optimism.

Dr. Acula · January 17, 2009, 03:02:48 PM

At the half...JCU 45, Wilm 25. Looks like the Quakers have dug themselves quite a hole.

p.s. That Sidearm Stats thing that JCU uses is cool. Better than the Presto thing some of the OAC schools use.

oacplayer · January 17, 2009, 05:45:22 PM

JCU destroyed Wilmington today. Wilmington really miss the presents of their all conference player Brandon Rogers. They game was over when it started JCU jump out to a 17-0 run to win the game and wilmington never threatended to comeback. I guess its back to the drawing board for Wilmington. JCU is really playing really good ball right now

Dr. Acula · January 18, 2009, 01:24:36 PM

Yeah, you fall down 17-0 and you're going to have trouble beating anyone, let alone a good squad like JCU.

Really no upsets in the OAC yesterday in my mind. I was surprised by the score of the JCU/Wilm game, but other than that the only one I found mildly surprising was Etta beating BW. Of course, that's probably fueled by me thinking by default that BW is decent (which apparently they aren't this year).

Wow, is Bein bad this year. What's going on there? Have they had injuries? Are they just young? No talent? Every time I look at the OAC standings I can't help but shake my head at that.

onefan · January 19, 2009, 05:25:52 PM

Dr. A,

In answer to your question regarding Otterbein, the answer is yes they are relatively young, and yes they are not very talented. Looks like a tough couple of years lie ahead for the Cardinals. Cap keeps rolling along, but i still can't get by the buttwhipping they took at the hands of Wilmington. I realize Wilmington had one of those hot nights of shooting, but where was the Cap defense? I think they are of course one of the top two or three teams in the OAC, but I think their number 8 ranking nationally is a bit charitable. Time will tell. As to the OAC race, Wilmington took a major hit with Rogers out for what I have heard is for the season. The race would appear to be between Cap, John Carroll and ONU. No bets on who comes out on top, any of the three could beat the other on any given day in my opinion. Cap beat ONU in overtime and Northern slipped by John Carroll at home. John Carroll has seemed to pick up the pace lately and the John Carroll/ Cap match up will be interesting.

Dr. Acula · January 19, 2009, 06:41:18 PM

Thanks for the OC info onefan. I guess I'm living in the past, but I just always expect the Cards to be tough. Hopefully they get it back on track.

The only time I saw Cap was the game at BW on STO a few weeks ago. I believe it went to OT and to be honest I wasn't overly impressed by Cap. Obviously that's only one game and they did still win on the road, so I'm not saying they're not a top OAC team or anything. I guess I was just expecting more given what I had heard.

If Rogers is out for the season that is a huge blow to the Quakers. He's a very nice player. Hopefully the depth that oacplayer mentioned allows them to still make a run in the end.

Basketball23 · January 22, 2009, 12:57:03 AM

I've become more of a lurker this season as Heidelberg has been struggling through the first time through the OAC. However, I have to comment on a very interesting series of events that happened tonite in Berea during the BW and Berg game. As we all know Duane Sheldon left Tiffin to return to his alma mater at BW this summer and this was the first meeting between the two schools. At around the 13min mark of the second half with BW ahead by 11 Heidelberg's new head coach, Anthony Gholson, was given his 1st and 2nd technical foul in 1 minutes span and ejected from the game. At that point Sheldon's former player and only assistant remaining from last seasons staff, Ron Higgins, took over. Heidelberg managed to comeback from the deficit and send the game into overtime where they eventaully won despite their top two guards and their coach "fouling out". I thought this was an interesting story or maybe I'm just trying to find a positive in a rough season. Either way congrats to the Berg' on a great win tonite!

onefan · January 23, 2009, 09:03:43 PM

Gotta know what brought on the Gholson double T's...Rare in the OAC and having watched Tony as an assistant at ONU and observing his demeanor over the years, I would like to know what you think caused the double T's and ejection....

Basketball23 · January 24, 2009, 01:47:23 AM

As you may or may not know the stands at BW are very far away from the floor so there was no way to hear what he was saying. Especially from where I was sitting. However from my observation it seemed as if the first one was accessed rather quickly and without warning. The second one may have been deserved. Anthony continualy hounded the officials and ignored the pleas of his assistants who were trying to restrain him. At one point the ball rolled over to him and he threw it toward an official but in a manner that it was impossible for him to catch and the ball rolled away. Shortly after that a magic word was said and that was that. I forgot to mention that Heidelberg is the only school in the OAC with no Full Time assistants. It was two GA's (Ron and Brian Alge who i believe played at Capital a few years ago) and a volunteer assistant leading the Berg in the final 13 mins and overtime!

Dr. Acula · January 24, 2009, 05:23:44 PM

Well, the big news so far today is that Etta knocked off ONU in Ada 69-67. The Pios broke a 67 all tie w/ 22 seconds left and held on. It was 65-64 w/ 5:30 left, so it sounds like neither team was executing well down the stretch. Other than that everything else went pretty much as expected:

Cap and JCU cruised to easy wins over BW and Bein, respectively.

And the Fightin' Fish went up to Alliance and beat MUC 78-62. I will now revise my previous post from saying a .500 season would be a good finish to now saying that a .500 season will be a minor miracle. They have some winnable games left, but at 3-7 it's going to be next to impossible.

No word on Wilm/Berg.

onefan · January 24, 2009, 07:56:24 PM

B23...Thanks for the word on Tony G's ousting at BW. It is appreciated.....Took in the ONU/Marietta game today. Got to hand it to the Pioneers,they shut down much of ONU"s guard penetration and when the Bears managed to get inside they had numerous shots swatted away or just outright blocked. The pioneers hit the boards hard and outrebounded ONU significantly in the first half. Overall the offensive and defensive rebounds were abot even but Northern is usually on top in that category due to their size advantage, but not today. This is a real setback for the Bears with Cap cruising and John Carroll and Wilmington taking care of business. Three losses is probably not going to get a sniff of the regular season title. Oh well, ther's always the OAC tournament.....And there 'sstill alot of basketball left to watch....

David Collinge · January 28, 2009, 10:12:43 AM

I don't expect that many, if any, of tonight's scheduled games will take place. So far the JCU/Muskingum games (men at New Concord, women at University Hts.) have been postponed until tomorrow. Stay tuned to OAC.org for more updates.

UPDATE:
All men's and women's games scheduled for tonight have been postponed until Thursday, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

privacy · January 29, 2009, 01:13:16 PM

That's funny a head coach out coached by a grad student. BW might be in a long tenure with Sheldon there.

sac · January 29, 2009, 09:26:56 PM

Capital 74 Wilmington 71

with JCU's win tonight, it sets up a 1st vs 2nd showdown in the OAC at John Carroll Saturday. HUGE game for JCU and at large NCAA bid chances.

OAC Fan · February 01, 2009, 12:47:22 AM

Watched JCU-Capital tonight on STO....looks like Cap could have used Quintin Mitchell off the bench. His energy usually helps them out. JCU laid the press on them and caused a lot of turnovers. Didnt look like the normal Cap today in the 2nd half. BTW, #23 on JCU is a punk. Several times during the game you can see him throw his shoulder/bump into guys just walking around floor. And he has yet to commit a foul this season (in his mind). I think JCU has a chance to win the league this year based on games left and where they play them.

Privacy: I am not sure how much the grad coach had to do with the BW-Berg outcome. Looking at the running score BW controlled that game until about 2 minutes to go. Golhston was tossed at about the 13 minute mark. 11 minute diff from when he was thrown out and when they took the lead. Given the fact that Sheldon turned the Berg around I am sure he will do fine at BW if you give it some time.