MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

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

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Dr. Acula

I don't know why, but I looked at VanderWal's run at Etta.  It's really impressive to state the obvious.  He had three losing seasons to start as he built things up, but in the nine seasons since?  Good grief.  His "worst" season was 17-9, 12-6 in 2011-12.

206-55 (.789) avg. season 22.9-6.1
132-30 OAC (.814) avg. season 14.7-3.3
6 OAC regular season titles, 3 OAC tourney titles
7 NCAA appearances in 9 seasons including five straight with two elite 8 and two sweet 16 finishes

It's hard to pick the most impressive stat, but given the grind that the OAC is I think his current streak of 7 straight seasons at 14-4 or better in the OAC might be it.  And it'll be 8 straight after this season.  That's remarkable consistency especially in this conference.



Dr. Acula

Mount now sits alone atop the OAC standings after taking care of their road game at ONU Saturday.  This news surprised me because I'll admit that when I saw Etta up 12 at half at JCU I didn't really think to check back again.  I assumed Etta was in control.  So I was definitely surprised when I saw JCU outscored them by 25 in the second half.  It looks like Etta was stone cold from the floor in the second half while JCU heated up big time.

I watched the Mount game.  They played well rattling off their 8th straight win.  The first half was kind of back and forth with neither team really jumping out too much.  IMO the game had that feel where Mount wasn't up big, but I also wasn't really concerned that they weren't going to win ever.  Bottom line was I didn't think ONU could string together enough defensive stops at any point to go on any big run.  I said something to this effect earlier and I'll say it again...freshman CJ Napier is going to be a really nice player for ONU.  He's already a nice player to be fair to him.  He's just so effective scoring in different ways.  Nice mid-range stroke, good confidence pulling up, soft touch with either hand around the basket.  Never seems out of control, just works his moves.

bluestreak66

How many OAC teams do we think will be in the tournament this year? I'd say Marietta and Mount Union are pretty safe bets. Short of a surprise team winning the tournament, I think it will only be those two. It looks like it will be a fun last two weeks seeing where the top two sort out, where 3-7 sort out, and who will sneak in as the last team in the conference tournament!
A.M.D.G.
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Fifth and Putnam

Quote from: bluestreak66 on February 12, 2020, 09:50:30 AM
How many OAC teams do we think will be in the tournament this year? I'd say Marietta and Mount Union are pretty safe bets. Short of a surprise team winning the tournament, I think it will only be those two. It looks like it will be a fun last two weeks seeing where the top two sort out, where 3-7 sort out, and who will sneak in as the last team in the conference tournament!

Unless the wheels fall off of either Marietta or Mount, I believe they will be the only two who are Pool C worthy this year. That said, a surprise conference tournament winner could get 3 OAC teams into the field.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Host of Hoopsville. USBWA Executive Board member. Broadcast Director for D3sports.com. Broadcaster for NCAA.com & several colleges. PA Announcer for Gophers & Brigade. Follow me on Twitter: @davemchugh or @d3hoopsville.

hsbsballcoach7

Wow... What a game from the purple raiders!!! You have to give credit to Marietta for sure because they were down 20 at one point and they had the momentum until Bowers-Malone got that and one late. I can understand the technical on Bowers-Malone, but why the one on Carroll? He fought the defender for the ball, the defender falls away from him and he hangs on the rim for a second... He even turned his head to look towards the defender. Oh well, this has been a very entertaining season to follow so far and I hope Mount Union continues to improve! I also hope they can host the tourney and my wife allows me to go watch...😁

Dr. Acula

Mount clinched at least a share of the OAC title as well as the #1 seed with their win over Berg on Saturday.  12 straight wins now.  It's their first back-to-back regular season titles since 1942!

Non-basketball related, but I saw a couple things that are part of what make D3 great.  Tip of the cap to the Berg players for wearing the #PapaStrong shirts during warm ups supporting Coach Fuline's dad and his battle with cancer.  Very classy move.  Secondly, when Fuline put in an injured senior at the very end of the game to dribble it out Berg walked over and fouled him so he could try to score from the line.  Not only did he get his first minute of his senior year, but he also cracked the box score knocking down the second FT.  Good sportsmanship on display.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Host of Hoopsville. USBWA Executive Board member. Broadcast Director for D3sports.com. Broadcaster for NCAA.com & several colleges. PA Announcer for Gophers & Brigade. Follow me on Twitter: @davemchugh or @d3hoopsville.

Dr. Acula

Congratulations to Mount as they nailed down the outright OAC title last night beating BW 83-73.  They ran their win streak to 13 games.  Aside from that early head scratching weekend on the road this has been one magical regular season.  I'm old enough to remember the great Aaron Shipp/Neal Richards team from the mid 90's.  This team has the ability to end up in the discussion of best Mount team ever if they play like they can the next few weeks.

raiderpa

Mount Union appears to have many weapons, a strong bench, good chemistry and excellent coaching.  They have, however, lost some big leads and this is troubling.  Their balance is a real tough match-up, although BW appears to match up well with them and I would fear seeing them again in the OAC tourney.
This is a team that could go far in the NCAA, they have shown a great ability to come from behind and catch fire when necessary.  Will be fun to watch.
I cannot remember seeing a better all-around team at Mount Union in many years.  Fuline deserves all the credit for putting Raider basketball on the map. The best thing is he is as fine a person as he is a coach.

Dr. Acula

With the regular season officially wrapped up I found myself a little surprised that I didn't think Dempsey was the slam dunk POY I thought he was originally.  I know I'm biased, but Bower-Malone has to be in that discussion.  Aside from being the floor general of the 17-1 conference champs his statistical resume is excellent headlined by being top 4 in scoring and assists:

17.6 PPG (#4 in the OAC)
5.6 APG (#1)
49.7% FG (#10)
39.2% 3FG (#16)
87.9% FT (#1)
4.3 RPG

If you're scoring that much and still putting up damn near 50/40/90 slash lines that's incredible efficiency.


Dr. Acula

I was watching the Cap game at work yesterday and caught Coach Goodwin's pregame comments.  He seemed to think that Bower-Malone is the front runner for POY.  He also had high praise for the team overall mentioning that it was the best Mount team he had seen in 25 years and had the capability of winning a national title.

Fifth and Putnam

Quote from: Dr. Acula on February 24, 2020, 10:09:07 AM
I was watching the Cap game at work yesterday and caught Coach Goodwin's pregame comments.  He seemed to think that Bower-Malone is the front runner for POY.  He also had high praise for the team overall mentioning that it was the best Mount team he had seen in 25 years and had the capability of winning a national title.

A quick look at Massey's computer rankings agree....Mount Union is #1 in the country this morning.

https://www.masseyratings.com/cb2020/ncaa-d3/ratings

I've been watching OAC basketball a long time and this year's Mount team is as good as I've seen. In a league this deep, to go 17-1 and be just a basket away from a perfect 18-0 is incredibly impressive. I am hoping they (and Marietta, and a possible third upset conference tournament winner) represent the conference well again on the national stage.

Dr. Acula

Quote from: Fifth and Putnam on February 24, 2020, 10:30:52 AM
Quote from: Dr. Acula on February 24, 2020, 10:09:07 AM
I was watching the Cap game at work yesterday and caught Coach Goodwin's pregame comments.  He seemed to think that Bower-Malone is the front runner for POY.  He also had high praise for the team overall mentioning that it was the best Mount team he had seen in 25 years and had the capability of winning a national title.

A quick look at Massey's computer rankings agree....Mount Union is #1 in the country this morning.

https://www.masseyratings.com/cb2020/ncaa-d3/ratings

I've been watching OAC basketball a long time and this year's Mount team is as good as I've seen. In a league this deep, to go 17-1 and be just a basket away from a perfect 18-0 is incredibly impressive. I am hoping they (and Marietta, and a possible third upset conference tournament winner) represent the conference well again on the national stage.

I was just telling my buddy yesterday that they very easily could be 25-0.  Not saying they should have won any of their 3 losses because they just didn't make the plays to win, but meaning that they absolutely had a good chance at the end to win all 3 of those games.  The flip side of course is that they had a couple games they easily could have lost if not for making big plays at the end.  It evens out.

The thing that gives me the most hope going forward is that they have depth and versatility for match ups game to game.  They have guys like Poole (6'5"), Slack (6'4") and Hill (6'7") if they need athletic length to defend smaller teams.  Carroll at 6'11" 250 is just a moose if you need to match up with a big center.  And in crunch time you're probably going to have Bower-Malone, Gurley and Friga on the floor giving you your 3 best scorers who also handle the ball, shoot the 3 well and all shoot 80%+ from the line. 

The knit pick items that have worried me have been taking their foot off the gas with a big lead, vulnerable to guys who can penetrate from the perimeter, sporadic trouble with full court pressure and sideline inbound issues leading to burning timeouts.  And yes, I realize I'm putting a microscope on things but I've watched almost all of their games so I've noticed more than a normal season!

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Host of Hoopsville. USBWA Executive Board member. Broadcast Director for D3sports.com. Broadcaster for NCAA.com & several colleges. PA Announcer for Gophers & Brigade. Follow me on Twitter: @davemchugh or @d3hoopsville.