MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

Started by Scots Hoops Fan, March 14, 2005, 09:32:28 AM

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kiltedbryan

Quote from: onefan on January 12, 2008, 08:07:49 PM
KB, sorry this post is late...went out to dinner after the game.

Not a problem at all, onefan.  I was at the Heidelberg-Otterbein game, anyway (summary to follow in another post).

Capital is a good team, and will probably finish first or second in the OAC. But they don't really look that much better this season than last season's team that finished the regular season strongly and then lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

onefan

David, Thanks for the guidance. I sometimes find it challenging just to get to this site, let alone navigating around it. Thanks for your patience!

onefan

KB, I couldn't agree more, it would appear to me that whomever?....whoever?....(My Mother told me I should pay closer attention in English class) wins the conference tournament  won't be going far in the NCAA tournament, but there is still time for improvement. I hate to sell the OAC short, but it appears to be a slight bit on the.. weak side this year . No one is very impressive thus far.

kiltedbryan

Final from Westerville:

Heidelberg 82
Otterbein  72

That score lies.  This game wasn't that close, but Otterbein picked up several baskets in garbage time at the end to make it look respectable, when in fact this one was over approximately 10 minutes into the game, when Heidelberg had pushed it to 21-7.

For awhile in the first half, I wasn't sure that Otterbein was going to crack 20.  Heidelberg's defense was stifling, forcing turnovers and awkward shots. Otterbein had maybe––maybe!––one good clean look in the first 10 mintues, a three pointer that was good.  The other two field goals to get them to 7 points came on two uncontested offensive putbacks, which seemed to be the only way Otterbein could crack the Princes' armor.

Frankly, I knew the outcome of this game after about 3 minutes.  By that time it was 6-0 and Heidelberg already had 2 or 3 steals.  The 'Berg got after every loose ball, looked more composed on the court, and after applying the intense pressure in the first few minutes, settled for playing very good defense and cruising with its 15 or so point lead intact for the remainder of the game.

When it was 21-7 early, you knew Otterbein wasn't coming back.  They couldn't play enough defense to contain the 'Berg's offense, especially the dominating duo of Andrew Lemmon and Brian Schmidt.  What did they do, you ask? Lemmon easily posted his third straight double-double, with 17 points (8-12 shooting) and an incredible 19 rebounds, while his teammate dropped 24 points (12-17 shooting) and chipped in 7 boards.  Schmidt in particular has an excellent touch around the hoop, with a deadly little jump hook.

Otterbein finally started to shoot better, and by the end its leading scorer, Ross Banazak, finished nearly at his average with 19.  Frankly, though, the fact that Ross Banazak is your leading scoring option explains what you need to know about Otterbein's offense.  That's not meant to demean Banazak, as he's a good player, but he's asked to do too much.  Otterbein hasn't found an inside presence to replace Tyler Ousley (sp?) and it shows.

A few other notes- Heidelberg was only 3-15 from 3 point land.  Subtracting those shots from their overall FGs and you see that they were an impressive 31-49 (63 percent) on all their shots taken inside the line. They made their living, and a pretty good one at that, usually no more than 5 feet from the hoop.

kiltedbryan

#799
Quote from: onefan on January 12, 2008, 09:52:26 PM
KB, I couldn't agree more, it would appear to me that whomever?....whoever?....(My Mother told me I should pay closer attention in English class) wins the conference tournament  won't be going far in the NCAA tournament, but there is still time for improvement. I hate to sell the OAC short, but it appears to be a slight bit on the.. weak side this year . No one is very impressive thus far.

Haha, in that instance I believe it's whoever.  But, I'm not here to be a grammar snob- I get paid to do that at my job!   :)

Your comment reminds me, though, that one thing I didn't get to in the post above is a comparison between Heidelberg and Capital. 

Heidelberg is good.  Maybe very good, and I think very likely better than Capital.  They play on Wednesday in Tiffin in what I think is clearly the showdown of the best teams in this year's OAC.

I've seen Capital twice and Heidelberg once and I can tell you that Capital has yet to impress me and Heidelberg definitely did.  This may not be a reference that works for you, but the NCAC readers will understand when I say that Heidelberg plays like the Wooster teams of a few years ago, before Wooster switched to play a more "up-tempo" style.  Those teams were generally characterized by a strong inside post play complimented with a few good shooting guards who made you respect the three.  Mix in a few deadly shooters like Wooster's current Devin Fulk or James Cooper, or former player Matt Smith (to keep the historical analogy), and the 'Berg would probably be a favorite in the OAC if not the Great Lakes.  Lemmon and Schmidt inside should give Capital fits, as it can counter with Steve Kyser but then generally ineffective Ben Gunn and good but not incredible Quintin Mitchell.

We'll see how it plays out, but I see the 'Berg as probably 3-5 point favorites at home against Capital on Wednesday.

onefan

The Cap/Heidelberg game should be a good one. I see the Student Princes winning this one also. I give Heideiberg a slight edge on the boards, but statistically these two teams are practically in a dead heat. I think the home court advantge is worth at least a bucket, therefore I'm picking Heidelberg in a close one....Besides, Cap is just not good enough to run the table in the OAC  this year and Heidelberg is the team I'm picking to hang their first loss on them.

kiltedbryan

The Heidelberg press release on the Berg-Otterbein game notes that Andrew Lemmon's 19 rebounds was a new career high for him.

I went to the site to look for any live stats/broadcast options so that I could follow Wednesday's game...but apparently no luck. Maybe they put up links closer to game time?  Capital's website does note some away from home broadcasts of men's games, but the Heidelberg game isn't among them.

Any chance d3hoops will be able to have any coverage of the OAC leaders meeting in Tiffin?

kiltedbryan

For those with interest:

http://www.capital.edu/166/

Link on that page to a live broadcast for tonight's Capital at Heidelberg game.

kiltedbryan

#803
Final:
Capital 99
Heidelberg 90

Capital was basically in control of this game throughout, and staved off a desperation comeback in the last 5 minutes that never really got the Berg closer than 7, I believe.

Story of the game/stat of the night: Rebounds.  I thought the Berg would shine here, but instead they were dominated on the glass.  Capital had 43 rebounds, including a crushing 14 offensive rebounds, to Heidelberg's 25 total.

My apologies to anyone I lead astray in the pick'ems- I did not expect this result at all.

Box Score


ScotsFan

Quote from: kiltedbryan on January 16, 2008, 08:16:30 PM

My apologies to anyone I lead astray in the pick'ems- I did not expect this result at all.


Apology accepted KB.  ;)  ;D

Looks as though Cap might finally be playing up to their expectations.  I know anything can happen in the unpredictable OAC, but Cap's now 2 game lead over the rest of the pack looks to be pretty safe.  They have built that lead winning on the road at JCU, at ONU and now at Heide.  With most of Cap's more difficult games remaining at the Cap Center, to say they now have a pretty tight grasp on the conference is a bit of an understatement.

But, as I said.  This is the OAC and you should always expect the unexpected. :P  There's still a lot of basketball to be played and I'm sure this race is anything but over.

Basketball23

I was able to see the Cap Heid game last night and i definetly encourage anyone who thinks CAP is overrated to check them out again. They definetly saw a different team then i did.  CAP is huge/physical can rebound ,defend, and shoot the 3. The only real weakness i see is a huge lack of team athleticism.  I've seen Heidelberg several times this year and they are a good team but it was obvious from the start they did not have their best stuff. If CAP is not a top 20 team i'd hate to play anyone who is because i was definetly impressed.
Good Players practice until they get it right, Great Players practice until they can't get it wrong.

kiltedbryan

Quote from: ScotsFan on January 17, 2008, 09:23:39 AM
Quote from: kiltedbryan on January 16, 2008, 08:16:30 PM

My apologies to anyone I lead astray in the pick'ems- I did not expect this result at all.


Apology accepted KB.  ;)  ;D

Looks as though Cap might finally be playing up to their expectations.  I know anything can happen in the unpredictable OAC, but Cap's now 2 game lead over the rest of the pack looks to be pretty safe.  They have built that lead winning on the road at JCU, at ONU and now at Heide.  With most of Cap's more difficult games remaining at the Cap Center, to say they now have a pretty tight grasp on the conference is a bit of an understatement.

But, as I said.  This is the OAC and you should always expect the unexpected. :P  There's still a lot of basketball to be played and I'm sure this race is anything but over.

SF,

Yeah, the fact that they have the three wins on the road is very impressive.  The same type of impressive that Wooster will be going for if it can pull off a win at Wittenberg this weekend (though that would only give Woo a 1 game NCAC lead.)

Basketball23-

As I read over the stats and the game story, it seems clear that Capital did three things that led to the win yesterday that were decidedly above its season averages: One, the huge (+18) rebounding advantage- they average about a +8 rebounding margin.  Two, Capital shot 33-41 from the line, just a hair above 80%, while its season average is a bit under 70&.  Three, Ryan Wood had a career day, and simply couldn't miss.  4-4 on three, 9-10 from the field overall with a career-high 28 points in only 23 minutes.

That's an impressive performance, and an example of a very good team raising their level of play and executing in a big game.

Pat Coleman

A two-game lead in the OAC is already unexpected enough.
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David Collinge

I was all prepared to jump on the Cap bandwagon, then I went and saw Muskingum play Ohio Northern last night (Musky won 61-60 on a Brandon Todd free throw in the waning seconds.)  I was left terribly underimpressed with Ohio Northern.  They have a handful of very tall, very skinny post players who are fairly good rebounders but don't seem to know how to establish offensive position.  Nevertheless, ONU forced the ball in to them as often as possible, which resulted in some baskets but too many turnovers and poor shots due to the posts being out of position.  When Musky was able to deny the entry pass, ONU looked like it had no backup plan. 

I had been impressed by Cap's victory in Ada, but now, having seen the PBs in action, I am less impressed.  I'm also impressed with Cap's win in Tiffin, but part of me has to wonder how good the Princes really are (not having seen them.)  I guess I just can't give Capital a break!  :D

Basketball23

David just curious to know if you happened to see if Kyle Gehle got hurt or was sick during that game. I noticed he only played about 15mins which is way under average for him. He is easily there best player and that might of had something to do with the loss.

KB-
I agree with your analysis those were definetly the 3 biggest keys to the game. If you told me Heid would hold Kyser to 10 and Stahl to 7 and CAP would win going away i would of told you you were nuts. However with the rebounding margin being what it was and CAP shooting in the high 60's in the 2nd half CAP was able to overcome that. It also seemed to me that Heid was very up tight. I dont know it was the big game atmosphere or they just didnt play well. CAP has had a lot of big game experiance over the last few years while Heid has had very little.
Good Players practice until they get it right, Great Players practice until they can't get it wrong.