MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Cap getting a lot of social media attention for their 1 point loss at Cleveland State.  Sounds like the Comets shot the lights out from 3

They should've won.  Took some less than ideal shots down the stretch.  I thought they were the better team throughout.

[Dr. Acula]

I watched both Mount games over the weekend.  The second was a little more difficult to watch with no live stats or audio, but I still watched. 

First thing I noticed was that Taylor did not play.  I assume he is hurt.  Hopefully nothing serious.

The starters both games were Farrington, Laurich, Moore, Casenhiser and Kevin Hamilton (former STVM PG by way of a D2 in AR).  Hamilton is listed at 5'7" so he is strictly a PG.  Collier was the 6th man with Dunbar and Vaden playing decent minutes off the bench.  Knight and Weekly were the freshmen who got contested game minutes.

The good news:  They went 2-0.  They shot FT at 80% (55-69) powered by Casenhiser (16-19) and Farrington (22-27).  Farrington is going to be a double double machine.  He went 26 and 11 followed by 16, 12, 5 assists.  Casenhiser led them in scoring both games with 28 and 24, respectively.  Those two look like studs early on.

The bad news:  They didn't get consistent offense from anyone else.  Hamilton was the next leading scorer with 10 and then 7.  Casenhiser didn't come off the floor in the opener until there were maybe 5-6 minutes to go in the game.  Farrington got a couple short breaks, but both were on the floor pretty much all the time.  The offense should improve as all the new guys get comfortable playing together and inexperienced guys get comfortable playing period, but early on they're going to lean heavily on those two for scoring.

First weekend in the post Parker era I'll take 2-0 on the road.  As expected they're going to grow up as the season progresses but you'd always rather learn during wins.

[Dr. Acula]

The OAC is off to a good start OOC.  BW is the outlier at 0-3, but they have been without Ellington so far which makes a massive difference for them.  When I checked their stats to see if Ellington had played I couldn't help but notice they have 18 assists and 44 turnovers so far.  Not a great recipe. 

The rest of the OAC is a combined 12-1 with the lone defeat being ONU's late 1 point loss at Trine.  11 games in total for the 7 teams in action this weekend so hopefully the trend continues.   

[Dr. Acula]

Mount suffocated Muhlenberg today at Waynesburg 76-40.  They led by as many as 42 midway through the 2nd half.  It was a rock fight early on with both teams struggling shooting.  Mount went to half up 36-23 then blitzed them to start the 2nd half pushing the lead out to 30 in roughly 5 minutes time.  17 guys got playing time with no one playing more than 22 minutes.  That sets up well to play tomorrow.  Casenhiser paced them again with 16 pts, 7 reb, 3 stl.

One other observation...for years now Fuline's teams have defended well.  A game like today is an example of the culture.  They're up 25, 30, 40 and no matter who is playing they're in their stance defending all the time, getting their hands in passing lanes, going hard for rebounds, etc.  Watching their effort was the only reason I watched to the end since it was long since decided. 

[Dr. Acula]

Congrats to Shaun Vaden who broke the Mount single game record for blocks with 8 blocks in the 82-72 win against CWRU yesterday.  Setting the record is awesome, but setting it in only THIRTEEN MINUTES played is insane! 

CWRU was 3-0 coming in so that was a solid neutral site W.  It's becoming a broken record, but it was Farrington with 21 and 12, Casenhiser with 20, Hamilton with 17 and 5 ast leading them.  And don't look now, but they're shooting 79% from the line as a team in large part because those 3 guys have the ball a lot of the time and all 3 have been excellent.  Hamilton (92%), Casenhiser (88%), Farrington (85%).  Your two primary ball handlers and your big guy who draws a lot of fouls.  Couldn't pick three better positions.  So far my sneaky favorite stat aside from the FT shooting is that Casenhiser leads the team in minutes played, handles the ball a lot and has turned it over a total of 2 times in 4 games.

[D3 Poster]

Early OAC looking improved overall from last year.  Capital with a nice win over Denison, like their two 6'5" ish transfers. Mount, Muskies, Otterbein, Capital and Marietta all undefeated.

[Dr. Acula]

Agreed, the OAC looks solid so far.  Mount, Muskie and Ott are all still undefeated after the weekend.  Cap dropped one to Witt.  Not sure what to make of that with Witt picked to finish near the bottom of the NCAC, but it's OOC so my hunch is "not much." 

Etta got blown out 86-55 on a neutral court by what I'm certain was a VERY motivated Trine team.  Trine was up 19 at half so they dominated the game.  Again, it's pre-OAC OOC.  Not ideal for Etta, but playing good teams early only helps you.

Even BW at 0-5 if you look game by game they're not bad, they're very competitive.  They've just lost some close games to solid teams.  The OAC schedule is gonna be a grind this year for sure as it still appears there is no dominant team.

[Dr. Acula]

Our first in-season D3hoops top 25 is out.  Mount jumps from ORV to #18 this week.  Muskie joins the ORV with 10 pts.

Expanding out to region 7 Calvin stayed put at #12.  Trine (32 pts), Wabash (21) and JCU (13) all entered the ORV ahead of Muskie.

[BillyRayJimBob]

"Doctor, doctor, give me the news!"
LOL!
Watched, and I do like the outcome, but did not like watching how the sausage was made.
Good out-of-conference win, so learn and get better.
Hamilton and Harrington's play stuck out to me, but I love to watch Vaden mix it up on both ends. Based on background, I think he is developing on what will be a dominant league player next year ... or so I hope.

Impressed with how all their away games, against ... what we might call "mid-level" opponents ... rocketed them to #18 in the latest poll ... And then, almost blew it tonight?
I think that this Purple Raider team is going to "gel" (I dislike that term, but it is from my teen years and beyond).

BREAK/BREAK

I have also been watching the Lady Raiders (Different board ... with NO action for years ... I know, but cut a Senior Citizen some slack, please ... LOL!)
Other than W&J (one point loss) they have been destroying opposition. Not getting votes in the rankings, but W&J is in the "Other Teams Receiving Votes" category, so maybe we ain't that good ... yet? Next game is #15 @B-W on Tuesday. First test as to how how far the Purple Raider Ladies have progressed against OAC competition. We assume that they received B-W's first place vote?

[Dr. Acula]

Wooster is a tough match up because they're tall and Mount's backcourt is not big.  They weathered the storm and put them away.  A lot of new pieces so I think it's positive to be 7-0 when my expectation was to be ascending in Jan/Feb.

Fuline mentioned postgame that Vaden has filled out physically and is gaining confidence.  It's clear that he impacts the game on the defensive ends with blocks, altered shots and boards.  He's improving offensively including them starting to just lob balls up to him.  I think by next year he can be a legit starter.

I'm not sure what to make of the conference.  It feels like a year where 15-3/14-4 might win the conference.

As for the ladies, they're off to a great start.  The other coaches think they're gonna be pretty good based on the preseason poll.  I've watched a few of their games.  Mason is a nice player.  Evanich will be a good player too.  But at this point with Suzy I'm waiting to see it in OAC play.  She plays a TON of players early so I'll be curious to see what the slimmed down rotation will be.  Their weakness seems to be in the backcourt which isn't ideal.

[D3 Poster]

Nice (comeback) win for Heidi over Trine.  Interesting team with experienced transfers. 

Muskies have several good players, interesting match up with Mount soon. Routed Capital tonight.

Rough start to the year for BW dropping to 1-6 with loss to Etta today.

[Dr. Acula]

That was impressive from Berg.  Down 10 at half on the road and outscore Trine by 22 after the break?  Nice win.  Side note: I love Trine's gym.  They always seem to get a nice crowd.

Muskie blew Cap's doors off in the first half and never looked back.  The fish have talent for sure.  Davis might be the best player in the OAC so that's always a good starting point.  And Emig is a nice player too.  I'm still sore about Barrino going there after he flipped away from Etta.  He had 20 and 8 last night. 

ONU has Hope tomorrow at home.  Not sure what to make of ONU early on.