MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Mount lost to Etta 82-75.  They dug another huge halftime hole.  45-26 Pios at the break last night.  They did battle back to tie the game with a minute to go so they showed a ton of fight.  That's impressive to mount a comeback like that against Etta.  And they did so without 2 starters (Kukura and Griffin) playing at all in the 2nd half.  Not sure what the story is there.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Does anyone have/know the tiebreaker criteria for the OAC tournament seeding process? 

[sac]

Does anyone have/know the tiebreaker criteria for the OAC tournament seeding process?

http://www.oac.org/information/Handbook/Sports_Guideline/BASKETBALL_TOURNAMENT-_1-25-17-.pdf

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Does anyone have/know the tiebreaker criteria for the OAC tournament seeding process?

http://www.oac.org/information/Handbook/Sports_Guideline/BASKETBALL_TOURNAMENT-_1-25-17-.pdf

Thanks, sac.  I spun my wheels on the OAC website for a bit but could not find that.  Much appreciated.

[Dr. Acula]

They don't have the shooters for that this year I'm afraid.  Other than Jackson I don't know that anyone is getting that hot.  Stenger has shown flashes of that so maybe him if I absolutely had to pick a 2nd guy.  They just have too many guys shooting in the 30's from the field.  We're deep enough into the season that it kind of is what it is at this point.

Fifth & Putnam, Stenger made my quote above look silly and had that game you feared against Etta today against Cap instead.  He hit 9-10 in the first half including 7-8 from deep.  Mount was up 20 at break and cruised to a 91-70 win.  Freshman D'Vontay Friga got his first start in place of the injured(?) Kukura and responded with 15 pts, 9 reb, 6 assists.  It looks like Mount was short 3 starters as Griffin and Bower-Malone also did not play today.  Good win, especially shorthanded. 

Also, I'm interested to see how Niamke develops.  He's a big kid (6-5, 230) and he's impressively efficient (69.6% FG).  His big game against JCU (11-14, 27 pts) raised an eyebrow for me after he had a solid game at Etta too (6-6, 13 pts).     

[EttaFan1]

Does anyone have/know the tiebreaker criteria for the OAC tournament seeding process?

So the top of league race with four to play....

12-2
Marietta:  Cap, @Wilm, Musk, ONU
ONU: Berg, @JCU, OTT, @Mar

ONU's game against JCU is not a deal breaker for them to be the top seed.  They can lose that one and beat Marietta and still claim the top spot. 
Marietta simply has to win out.  Losing one of their other three games and beating ONU doesn't look like a real positive scenario for the pioneers to be the top seed.

11-3
JCU:  @BW, ONU, @Berg, Cap.

JCU has to win one of four to clinch the 3rd seed in the tournament. 

If JCU wins out, they put themselves in an interesting spot to potentially be co-champs, with a lot riding on the ONU@MAR game.  If JCU finishes 15-3, Northern will have at least three losses.  In a three way tie (which means that ONU likely has to win @Marietta) ONU would still be the top seed as they would be 3-1 in the group, JCU would be the 2 as they are 2-2, and Marietta would be the three at 1-3. 

JCU's hope to be the top seed is to win out, have Marietta beat ONU (to give the bears four losses) and lose to someone who finishes below Muskingum (ie Wilmington).

It is basketball. Anything can happen on any given night.

[Dr. Acula]

Watching the 2nd half of this Mount game.  It's going to really sting if they drop this one in OT at Musky.  Up 3 with 29 sec left Musky got FOUR shots on their final possession finally hitting the tying 3. 

[Dr. Acula]

This game is fantastic!  Headed to a 3rd OT.  Mount had Musky dead and let them survive.  Up 3 they fouled on purpose.  Kid makes the first, leaves the 2nd short.  Musky somehow gets the board and lays it in to tie it!  Total par for the course in this game though.  So fun.

Also, Musky freshman guard Marcus Dempsey currently has 38.  Impressive stuff.

Mount survives 117-111 in 3 OT.  Really exciting game to watch.  Both teams were making big shots every time it seemed like they might be done.  Jackson scored 8 in the 3rd OT to finish with 36 and 10.  He's so good.  Clutch 3 point shooter, so physical for a guard too.  He made a huge play just being physical cutting without the ball and absorbing contact and finishing.  I'm going to miss watching him play next year.  And Musky has some good young guys.  They're going to be a handful going forward.

[EttaFan1]

DeAllen Jackson is one of the better players I have seen in the past four or five years.  Somehow Marietta was able to shut him down once and contain him in the other game.  He is deceptively strong and can get his shot any time he wants.  He is almost always one of the best players on the floor in any game Mount Union plays. 

Kukura has been a mystery this year.  Considering what he has done in past seasons, he did not live up to my expectations when I saw him against Marietta.  Perhaps he is not 100% healthy.  He looked heavy when they were here in Marietta.  I don't mean this to be disparaging towards him, but having seen him play the past couple of years, I was expecting much more. 

Mount lost a lot of young men to graduation in the past couple of years.  They are not as deep and dynamic this year as they were the past couple of seasons.

Capital decided they were going to let anyone else beat them other than AJ Edwards, and while the strategy had Marietta a little frustrated early on, the perimeter guys from Marietta got going in a big way and took control.  Dillon Young was 9-11 from the floor and 7-8 from behind the arc.  He had a lot of open looks as Capital continuously sagged off of him to keep the ball from entering the post.  And Young made them pay for it.   

Capital could be a real handful in the coming years.  They have three freshman bigs who are pretty decent players already.  If they can continue to develop, they will give some teams fits. They are also very young as a whole.

The top four all hold serve against opponents they should have defeated.  There will be some shake up on Saturday when ONU and JCU meet in University Heights. 

The biggest surprise, for me, this year has been Northern.  I didn't expect them to be in the hunt for the league crown.
The biggest disappointment for me has been BW.  They just don't have enough guys to make plays.  Cam Kuhn is still a tremendous player, and Fetherhoff is very good, but beyond those guys, it is a mixed bag. 

[Dr. Acula]

I was a little surprised at how young Mount has been going in crunch time.  It was Jackson and then all sophs/frosh outside of Mason.  Last night they were running with 2 freshmen guards (although Jackson had the ball in his hands off the inbound most of the time).

Kukura I believe has been battling back problems.  If I remember correctly he actually tweaked his back last year too.  It may be a chronic issue that he deals with.  He has always been a thick dude.  He likes to drive the ball and use his size so it helps him mostly.  I just wonder if the back thing is hurting his ability to practice/condition like normal.

[Dr. Acula]

Berg won an OT thriller against Mount 97-94.  Bower-Malone scored at the buzzer to force OT, but Mount couldn't pull it out.  Berg absolutely destroyed Mount on the glass 52-28 including 21-6 on the offensive glass.  Injuries have forced his hand a little, but Fuline seems to be getting a lot of minutes for his freshmen and sophomores now.  They're 8-8 so I'm certainly not opposed. 

[EttaFan1]

Two games to go in the regular season, the race for #1 seed and league title heats up. 


Marietta:  Musk, ONU:  Win out.  It is simple. It gets really murky if Marietta loses to Muskingum and beats ONU.  Marietta and JCU would potentially have identical records against the OAC, and the top seed would be determined by a coin toss.  Yuck.  If Marietta beats Musky and loses to ONU, Marietta potentially falls to the third seed depending on other outcomes.

ONU: OTT, @MAR:  Win out.  A loss to otterbein means chaos must ensue in Berea and Marietta for them to have a chance. Nothing is impossible in basketball, but some things are more likely than others.

JCU: @Berg, Cap:  Win out and hope for help.  JCU really needs Marietta to lose to Muskingum and beat Northern or Northern to lose to Otterbein and beat Marietta.  An ONU-JCU tie is won by ONU because ONU would be 2-0 against MAR.

The battle for 4th.

Contenders. Mount (8-8) Musk (7-9) BW, CAP, and Berg (all 6-10)

Mount: @BW, @ OTT:  Win one and they are the 4.  They are 2-0 against Musky which would break a tie.  Beating BW would also push BW out of the race for fourth.
Musky:  @MAR, @BERG: Win out and hope Mount loses two.  Might be a tall order to go to Marietta and win. 
BW, CAP and Berg: Win out, hope Mount loses two, and Muskingum loses at least one, then who knows.  I don't have the time to go through the combinations, as that would be total chaos.

The race for 8th....

Wilmington has a chance.  They play cap and BW.  They would need to win both.  Then they need CAP to also lose to JCU.  At that point Wilmington would be 2-0 against Capital and break the possible tie.  A tie with BW is also possible, but you have to start from the top down to figure out who did what against whom.....I'm not interested enough to figure that out for the 8 seed.

Out. 
Otterbein. 
Wilmington if they lose one.

[EttaFan1]

Today's most interesting match ups with playoff implications:

Mount @ BW:  Mount has battled injury problems of late.  BW is not as deep as they were the past few years.  This could be an interesting matchup.
Wilmington @ Cap:  If the quakers want in, they need to win this on and again on Saturday.  Cap is fighting to stay in the tourney.  Wilmington is an athletic team. 

The others...

JCU @ Berg:  Berg is athletic, but the Streaks are a very strong team.  JCU is still in the hunt for the top seed. 
OTT @ ONU: ONU hung 50 on the cardinals last time and lost.  Oh wait this isn't football, 50 is not that impressive.  ONU should roll big.
MUSK @ MAR:  Marietta is tough at home.  The last time these two rivals squared off Marietta hung 100 on the Muskies.  If Marietta is looking too far ahead, they should handle business.

[Fifth and Putnam]

I hate saying anything is 100% but Marietta can pretty much lock up an NCAA Tourney bid tonight with a win. Even a worse case scenario where they win tonight and lose Saturday to ONU and then again in the quarters of the OAC Tournament...20-6 should be good enough to secure an at-large.

Coach VanderWal and the Pioneers will be looking to keep the pedal to the medal and keep winning to lock up hosting duties the first weekend of the tournament.

[Pat Coleman]

Regional rankings: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2017/02/men-regional-rankings-second