MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Onward on, John Carroll]

John Carroll attempted 30 more shots than Muskingum.  Muskies shot with an eFG% rate of 68%

I was told it was a quite a display.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Anyone want to venture a guess as to how the season wraps up. 

I think that JCU goes 3-1 down the stretch but loses in the conference semifinals. At that point, they will be desperate for Marietta to win the conference tourney as the OAC will not be a three big league this year.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Men's first regional rankings this season: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[Onward on, John Carroll]

The OAC conference standings through Wednesday's games (overall record in ()):
John Carroll 12-3 (18-4)
Marietta 11-4 (17-5)
Ohio Northern 11-4 (16-6)
Baldwin Wallace 9-6 (15-7)
Capital 7-8 (11-11)
Mount Union 7-8 (11-11)
Wilmington 6-9 (10-11)
Muskingum 6-9 (8-14)
Heidelberg 5-10 (9-13)
Otterbein 1-14 1-21

Saturday's OAC games:
Capital at Baldwin Wallace
Wilmington at Marietta
John Carroll at Ohio Northern
Mount Union at Heidelberg
Muskingum at Otterbein

With Marietta at home against a dangerous but still lonely .500 Wilmington and BW out of both the Pool C conversation and the OAC race, the big match-up would appear to be JCU at ONU.  The Streaks make the long trip to Ada with a chance to take a 2 game lead on Northern and maintain its one game lead over Marietta. 

My assumption is that ONU would hold a tiebreaker with JCU should they beat JCU as they would have the 2-0 lead in the season series.  The same would hold true for JCU over Etta if it came down to that.  However, if there is a three way tie (unlikely since ONU plays Etta) come next Saturday, I am unsure of the process followed by the league.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Men's first regional rankings this season: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-first

It sure would be helpful to ONU if BW won their last three to remain in the regional rankings.  While I do not think BW could play their way into a Pool C bid even if they rattled off 5 in a row and lost in the OAC Finals, it would be helpful to ONU's resume if they remain a regionally ranked opponent as ONU went 2-0 against BW. Etta and JCU were 1-1 so am I not sure of if that helps, hurts or is indifferent to their cause(s). 

[bluestreak66]

The OAC conference standings through Wednesday's games (overall record in ()):
John Carroll 12-3 (18-4)
Marietta 11-4 (17-5)
Ohio Northern 11-4 (16-6)
Baldwin Wallace 9-6 (15-7)
Capital 7-8 (11-11)
Mount Union 7-8 (11-11)
Wilmington 6-9 (10-11)
Muskingum 6-9 (8-14)
Heidelberg 5-10 (9-13)
Otterbein 1-14 1-21

Saturday's OAC games:
Capital at Baldwin Wallace
Wilmington at Marietta
John Carroll at Ohio Northern
Mount Union at Heidelberg
Muskingum at Otterbein

With Marietta at home against a dangerous but still lonely .500 Wilmington and BW out of both the Pool C conversation and the OAC race, the big match-up would appear to be JCU at ONU.  The Streaks make the long trip to Ada with a chance to take a 2 game lead on Northern and maintain its one game lead over Marietta. 

My assumption is that ONU would hold a tiebreaker with JCU should they beat JCU as they would have the 2-0 lead in the season series.  The same would hold true for JCU over Etta if it came down to that.  However, if there is a three way tie (unlikely since ONU plays Etta) come next Saturday, I am unsure of the process followed by the league.

John Carroll beat Northern the first go-round! 

[Onward on, John Carroll]

The OAC conference standings through Wednesday's games (overall record in ()):
John Carroll 12-3 (18-4)
Marietta 11-4 (17-5)
Ohio Northern 11-4 (16-6)
Baldwin Wallace 9-6 (15-7)
Capital 7-8 (11-11)
Mount Union 7-8 (11-11)
Wilmington 6-9 (10-11)
Muskingum 6-9 (8-14)
Heidelberg 5-10 (9-13)
Otterbein 1-14 1-21

Saturday's OAC games:
Capital at Baldwin Wallace
Wilmington at Marietta
John Carroll at Ohio Northern
Mount Union at Heidelberg
Muskingum at Otterbein

With Marietta at home against a dangerous but still lonely .500 Wilmington and BW out of both the Pool C conversation and the OAC race, the big match-up would appear to be JCU at ONU.  The Streaks make the long trip to Ada with a chance to take a 2 game lead on Northern and maintain its one game lead over Marietta. 

My assumption is that ONU would hold a tiebreaker with JCU should they beat JCU as they would have the 2-0 lead in the season series.  The same would hold true for JCU over Etta if it came down to that.  However, if there is a three way tie (unlikely since ONU plays Etta) come next Saturday, I am unsure of the process followed by the league.

John Carroll beat Northern the first go-round! 

My mistake.  Thanks for the correction.  I got confused trying to look at he head-to-head for all three teams and BW, too.

So, it would appear that JCU is in great shape to host unless they drop two of the last three.  If they win out, they clinch an outright title.  If they drop one and are tied with Etta, they win the tiebreaker with a 2-0 head to head advantage.  If they are tied with ONU, they will either have the head-to-head with a win Saturday or they will be 1-1 with a loss Saturday and I would assume the next level tiebreaker would be record against the next team in the standings which would be Etta.  JCU would be 2-0, Northern would be either 0-2 or 1-1. 

[Onward on, John Carroll]

OAC Standings
John Carroll 13-3 19-4
Marietta 12-4 18-5
Ohio Northern 11-5 16-7
Baldwin Wallace 10-6 16-7
Capital 7-9 11-12
Mount Union 7-9 11-12
Muskingum 7-9 9-14
Wilmington 6-10 10-12
Heidelberg 6-10 10-13
Otterbein 1-15 1-22


Wednesday's OAC Schedule
Heidelberg at John Carroll
Baldwin Wallace at Mount Union
Capital at Wilmington
Marietta at Muskingum
Ohio Northern at Otterbein

Saturday's OAC Schedule
John Carroll at Capital
Otterbein at Mount Union
Heidelberg at Muskingum
Wilmington at Baldwin Wallace
Marietta at Ohio Northern 

[Onward on, John Carroll]

It looks like we have our 4 hosts for first round games in JCU, Etta, BW and ONU.  The remaining question is what order will those top seeds fall after the dust settles on Saturday.  It seems unlikely that JCU would drop two and hand the one seed to Etta but it is possible.  If Etta wins out and JCU drops its last two, Etta is the one seed.  I believe that is the only scenario in which JCU is not the #1 seed.

Etta, ONU and BW could all swap places based on various scenarios. Of course, there are typically some first round upsets and JCU has been the victim of many of those upsets in the last 20 years, including last season.  Also concerning is the fact that two of their four losses came to teams in the bottom half of the conference -- Mount Union and Muskingum (the other two losses to BW and two an average to good Hope). 

It is presumably always better to be at home but, at the end of the day, upsets happen.  In my opinion, there may be an upset but the top four teams in the OAC are just better than the rest of the league this year.  It is more likely that one of those top four teams will have to win two tough games to claim the title and the Pool A. 

[Fifth and Putnam]

Another thing I am thinking of in addition to how the top 4 shake out is who is the most dangerous of 5-8 that you would rather not see in the 1st round. If Heidelberg can take the #8 seed over Wilmington...they are a super dangerous #1-#8 match up in Game 1. They've played a close game against JCU and 3 of their 6 conference wins are against...BW, ONU, and Etta.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Another thing I am thinking of in addition to how the top 4 shake out is who is the most dangerous of 5-8 that you would rather not see in the 1st round. If Heidelberg can take the #8 seed over Wilmington...they are a super dangerous #1-#8 match up in Game 1. They've played a close game against JCU and 3 of their 6 conference wins are against...BW, ONU, and Etta.

I agree that the Berg is a dangerous #8 but Wilma also gave us fits down there. To extend it further,  two of our losses are to Mount Union and Muskingum so winning three games in five days, including two against the top 4, will be a tall order.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 2 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-second

[Onward on, John Carroll]

OAC Standings
John Carroll 14-3 20-4
Marietta 13-4 19-5
Ohio Northern 12-5 17-7
Baldwin Wallace 10-7 16-8
Mount Union 8-9 12-12
Wilmington 7-10 11-12
Capital 7-10 11-13
Muskingum 7-10 9-15
Heidelberg 6-11 10-14
Otterbein 1-16 1-23

Saturday's OAC Schedule
John Carroll at Capital
Otterbein at Mount Union
Heidelberg at Muskingum
Wilmington at Baldwin Wallace
Marietta at Ohio Northern 

So, what is at stake on Saturday? A lot for the teams at the bottom but it does not appear much is up for grabs at the top of the bracket. 


*John Carroll has the one seed wrapped up and I think BW has the 4 seed wrapped up. 

*Etta and Northern may be able to flop the two and three seed if ONU beats Etta but I have not run the tiebreaker scenarios. I will do that later if I have time because making that long road trip on Thursday will be big IF JCU wins their first two and they have turn around and go on the road on Saturday for their 3rd game in 5 days.

*Mount Union seems to be locked into the 5 seed but again I have not run all of the scenarios. 

*At the bottom, Otterbein is out.

*The Berg needs to beat Musky to be in the conversation.  If the Berg loses, they, too, will sit out the OAC Tournament.  If the Berg wins, they will both by 7-11.  In fact, we could have four teams at 7-11 . . .again, I am not doing the advanced math on that one.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

As the regular season draws ever closer to the end, the intensity of conference races increases. There are very few teams in both the men's and women's side of Division III basketball that seem comfortable at the top. With conference tournaments starting, being at the top is important, but it also comes with a big target.

This Thursday's Hoopsville is a special podcast edition - not live.

On the show, Dave talks to several coaches who teams seem like they have wrapped up their conferences races and one who may not be able to take the top spot, but is in great position to win it all their first time in the league.

We also talk to a coach who has more time than it seems anyone else. How she is using that time to help her school's SAAC in many ways and how that help is allowing the student-athletes at Southern Maine to give back to the school, the community, and many more.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can listen to this week's podcast here: http://bit.ly/2EtvKH0

If you have questions, be sure to email them to hoopsville@d3hoops.com or interact with the show via the social media avenues.

A reminder, Hoopsville will return to live shows on Sunday, February 18, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Pete Moran, No. 18 John Carroll men's coach
- Allison Coleman, Sage women's coach
- Samantha Allen, Southern Maine women's coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Trevor Woodruff, No. 13 Scranton women's coach

To get access to all the podcasts during the season, there are three ways (click on the images when necessary):
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville



Don't forget you can always interact with us:
Website: www.d3hoopsville.com
Twitter: @d3hoopsville or #Hoopsville
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hoopsville
Email: hoopsville@d3hoops.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/d3hoopsville

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Carroll loses ... three losses to bottom half (or close to) of the league. Not good. Two wins over Etta. Two wins over Northern. Split with BW. But losses to Capital, Mount and Musky. Regardless they are the one seed and can host IF they can win.

http://www.oac.org/sports/mbkb/2017-18/releases/2018Tournament

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, February 20

No. 8 Heidelberg (7-11) at No. 1 John Carroll (14-4)-7:30

No. 7 Wilmington (7-11) at No. 2 Marietta (14-4)-TBD

No. 6 Capital (8-10) at No. 3 Ohio Northern (12-6)-7:30

No. 5 Mount Union (9-9) at No. 4 Baldwin Wallace (11-7)-7:30