MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[D3fanboy]

Big news in the OAC...per his twitter account, Collen Gurley is transferring back to Mount from YSU.  Things just got very interesting in Alliance as the Raiders went from having some holes to fill with young guys to now having 4 experienced All-OAC players starting.

not a bad "transfer" pickup  I wonder if he has one year of eligibility left or two?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Big news in the OAC...per his twitter account, Collen Gurley is transferring back to Mount from YSU.  Things just got very interesting in Alliance as the Raiders went from having some holes to fill with young guys to now having 4 experienced All-OAC players starting.

not a bad "transfer" pickup  I wonder if he has one year of eligibility left or two?

Well, he played two years that counted at UMU and didn't get in a game for Youngstown, so I think he'll still be eligible the next two years.

[Dr. Acula]

I'm not sure when it happened, but it was news to me that ONU has a new HC.  That makes 3 new HC's in the OAC for this season (ONU, Wilm, Musky). 

I'm excited for hoops to get going.  Mount is less than a month away from the home opener against Whitworth.

[Greek Tragedy]

https://www.news-herald.com/2022/10/30/john-carroll-mens-basketball-loses-to-case-in-scrimmage/

[Dr. Acula]

https://www.news-herald.com/2022/10/30/john-carroll-mens-basketball-loses-to-case-in-scrimmage/

The thing that jumped out to me in this article was the mention that JCU brought in 7 transfers including all 5 starters in the scrimmage.  Both guards and a forward are D1 guys (YSU, The Citadel, Dayton).  Not a bad haul for the Streaks to jumpstart things.

[Dr. Acula]

The OAC preseason coaches poll is out.  After learning about the influx of JCU transfers I think this is not surprising at all with Mount/Etta/JCU receiving 1st place votes. 

1. Mount (5)
2. Etta (4)
3. JCU (1)
4. Berg
5. Ott
6. BW
7. Cap
8. ONU
9. Wilm
10. Musky

[BillyRayJimBob]

Interested in your thoughts...
Collen Gurley as a 5th Team Pre-Season D3Hoops.com All American selection (no doubts; love his return), but no mention of Christian Parker ... who had accolades and who carried/led the (final #25) Purple Raiders team last year, and who actually played for UMU the full previous season.
Granted, the pre-season selections mean little.
Go Raiders!

[Greek Tragedy]

Interested in your thoughts...
Collen Gurley as a 5th Team Pre-Season D3Hoops.com All American selection (no doubts; love his return), but no mention of Christian Parker ... who had accolades and who carried/led the (final #25) Purple Raiders team last year, and who actually played for UMU the full previous season.
Granted, the pre-season selections mean little.
Go Raiders!

An obvious omission. Parker was 2nd team all region last year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Interested in your thoughts...
Collen Gurley as a 5th Team Pre-Season D3Hoops.com All American selection (no doubts; love his return), but no mention of Christian Parker ... who had accolades and who carried/led the (final #25) Purple Raiders team last year, and who actually played for UMU the full previous season.
Granted, the pre-season selections mean little.
Go Raiders!

An obvious omission. Parker was 2nd team all region last year.

We had a number of 1st team All-Region guys we couldn't squeeze in there.  Josh Talbert was the only second team guard who made the list.  It's pretty stiff competition.

[Dr. Acula]

In looking at the Mount roster I noticed several guys back for their extra year including Poole, Newsom and Hill.   

At one point last year I heard on a broadcast that Stanislawski was coming back, but that does not appear to be the case as he is not on the roster.  I was also surprised to see Skeriotis missing from the roster.  He was one of their first guys off the bench as a freshman last year and gave them solid minutes as backup PG who could knock down 3's.  He hit some key shots in OAC games last year.

Overall it's a lot of familiar names and by my count 8 experienced players that I'm guessing will be in the rotation.

Painter
Gurley
Newsom
Mansfield
Poole
Hill
Parker
Chaney

[BillyRayJimBob]

When I first saw the team group picture, I was comparing faces to the 2021-22 roster that was still on the web site and noted S & S appeared to be missing (could have gotten new hairdoos or something and didn't look the same).  True, just the same here, Skeriotis' absence is a surprise.  I remember that game where he came off the bench and poured in 21 points against ONU.  I thought this guy to be a gem that is only going to get shinier and more valuable.

Did not realize that B-W played Kent State so early.  I sat down to dial it up while watching the Buckeyes and it was already over.  Well, one could say that it was already over at tip-off.  Now seeing that they also played Cleveland State in another "exhibition" game.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount opens with an 84-74 win over a solid Whitworth team in Alliance.  Casual takeaways were that Mount is really athletic and it's going to be an issue for most teams they play...Gurley and Parker are going to score a ton...Mansfield is a key addition with his versatility not just scoring but ball handling.  Defensively they got beat on a lot of back door cuts last night, but I think a lot of that was just being amped up and over aggressive in the opener trying to go for steals.  That and Whitworth is pretty good.  They executed very well. 

As with any opener I was curious to see the rotation coming out of the gate.  Unsurprisingly the starters were Painter, Gurley, Newsom, Poole and Parker aka the veteran core.  Mansfield and Hill came off the bench with Mansfield logging nearly starter minutes including a lot of minutes in crunch time. 

The first surprise of the season was freshman backup PG Corey Hudson playing 18 minutes off the bench (Painter played 16) while putting up 10 pts (5-9 FG) and playing good defense.  Fuline subbed very early on and continued to sub liberally all game I'm sure in an effort to get his guys into game feel quickly so I'll be interested to see how the rotation settles over the next few weeks.  Hudson certainly looked like he's going to play key minutes though.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount coasted to an easy 99-74 win yesterday over Maryville.  I believe every player dressed got in the game as they were up 24 at half.  Maryville beat a solid Roanoke team Friday and had some decent players with some size, but it was nowhere near enough to keep up.  Mount's length defensively seemed to bother the Scots.  Parker had 4 blocks again yesterday.  Gurley had 20 pts to lead Mount.  Whitworth, Roanoke and Maryville were all pretty good teams hence all 3 receiving top 25 votes.  I watched the non-Mount games as well and they were good ball games especially the Whitworth/Roanoke game yesterday.  Nice opening invitational.  Now on to Behrend for a couple games.

[D3fanboy]

7 might be the low for Mount's ranking this year, bunch of dawgs

[Dr. Acula]

7 might be the low for Mount's ranking this year, bunch of dawgs

I'm pumped to watch this team.  Mansfield and Hudson are exciting additions.  Gurley looks like he never left.  One thing I admit I forgot and didn't give its due is the impact Newsom has defensively on the perimeter.  Poole is a well known disruptor defensively so I was happy to see him back, but it slipped my mind how much of a factor Newsom can be also.  With Parker protecting the rim like he has they're really tough defensively when they're locked in.