MAC Tournament Preview

March 9, 2009 at 13:33 by Matt Pentz

As the focus of the conference descends on Quicken Loans Arena, the MAC’s finest prepare to battle it out for the golden ticket to the NCAA Tournament. After one of the most unpredictable- and arguably low quality- regular seasons in recent memory, this year’s tournament promises to be a wild one. Who will be the lone dance member at the end of the week? I’ll break it down one game at a time.

First Round:

(7) Central Michigan over (10) Eastern Michigan. Marcus Van, the leading rebounder in the league, is too much to handle inside as the Chippewas pull out an easy one in the Battle of Michigan.

(6) Kent State over (11) Northern Illinois. The Golden Flashes rest their starters for the later rounds most of the second half as Kent rolls into the quarters by a wide margin.

(9) Ohio over (8) Western Michigan. In the faceoff between the 2 top scorers in the league, Jerome Tillman and David Kool, the good side of the Jekyll and Hyde Bobcats allows them to squeak out a minor upset of the Broncos.

(5) Akron over (12) Toledo. The storied career of UT’s Tyrone Kent ends with a whimper as the Zips roll over the overmatched Rockets, scoring in the triple digits.

Quarterfinals:

(7) Central Michigan over (2) Ball State. In the surprise of the tournament, Central denies Ball State the chance to make up for the football title game loss. The upstart Chippewas channel the spirit of the Chris Kaman era to stun the Cardinals on a last second tip in by Van.

(3) Buffalo over (6) Kent State. In the strongest quarterfinal matchup, the Bulls knock off the underachieving Flashes. The last day of the season suspension of big man Chris Singletary haunts Kent as Buffalo dominates the paint.

(1) Bowling Green over (9) Ohio. Though OU hangs around much longer than Sunday’s blowout loss indicates, the stingy Falcons punch their semifinal ticket by a tight margin. Jerome Tillman is the only Bobcat in double figures.

(5) Akron over (4) Miami. Nate Linhart outduels senior Michael Bramos throughout in a battle of shooters, dropping in a season high 27 points as the Zips cruise into the semis. Akron finally gets revenge for the Doug Penno game that denied them a dance ticket 2 years ago.

Semifinals:

(3) Buffalo over (7) Central Michigan. The balanced Bulls attack pulls ahead early and never looks back; the magic that carried Central this far deserts them, and they are harshly dumped from the tournament by experienced Buffalo.

(5) Akron over (1) Bowling Green. Top seeded Bowling Green drops a heartbreaker in double overtime to the underrated Zips. The lead exchanges hands throughout, but Akron gains control late to end the season of Louis Orr’s Falcons.

Final:

(3) Buffalo over (5) Akron. Rodney Pierce announces his arrival on the ESPN stage, putting the exclamation point on a 30 point effort with a late dagger 3. The senior-laden Bulls finally get the chance to play in the NCAAs, and put a scare in 3^rd seeded UCLA, making everyone forget the low-RPI non-conference and conference seasons.

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Picture-Perfect Senior Sendoff

March 8, 2009 at 22:05 by Mark Cunningham

Well, that is the headline I was going to use with a tad over three minutes left in the Convocation Center careers of Michael Allen, Justin Orr, and Jerome Tillman. The Bobcats, up 65-55, have had everything go there way over the last three days and there was no reason to believe things were going to change now. But then the Green Fever magic transformed into an unwanted disease. The Bulls from Buffalo scored 13 of the final 14 points. The home team had their chances, but couldn’t convert.

Luckily, ESPNU’s feed went off the air early in the second half, so as to not show the nation OUr inability to close games. It would’ve been fine if they came on the air late because I witnessed a 0-0 score at the first media timeout for the first time ever.

Hopefully, the bitter taste of this loss will propel the Bobcats to make a run in the MAC tournament. This is not how I wanted to see the seniors go out. If the basketball gods have any good will, Ohio will be playing on LeBron’s home court in on March 14….preferably beating Miami — at least we are good at doing that.

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Tillman deserves to go out on a good note

March 1, 2009 at 16:01 by Matt Pentz

In the aftermath of Ohio’s come from ahead defeat to MAC leading Buffalo on senior night, it seemed to be time to come to some conclusions that have become more evident in the last few weeks.  The inconsistent results and .500 record in conference have made it clear that the Bobcats probably will not take advantage of a down year in the MAC and steal a spot in the NCAA Tournament.  They are just about incapable of winning on the road and have trouble finishing games.  This year’s edition of the Ohio basketball team is a fun team to watch with a lot of talent, but they seem to be missing that killer instinct required to win in March.

A sequence at the end of Sunday’s home loss seemed to encapsulate the entire season.  After allowing a 10 point lead to slip away, senior guard Michael Allen missed both foul shots, either one of which would have potentially won the game.  As the ball bounced towards Buffalo possession, Jerome Tillman made a diving save to keep the ball in OU’s hands.  After a failed inbounds pass and 1 Bulls foul shot, Tillman drove past seemingly the entire defense to create space for a desperation heave for the win, but his shot was just off the mark.  The image of him giving every ounce of effort while the rest of the squad failed to seal the deal is a good summary of why the Cats sit low in the MAC standings.

When Jerome Tillman signed his letter of intent to play for OU, he was joining a squad that was coming off of an NCAA Tournament appearance and a near upset of Florida.  Though Jerome has been a great player for 4 years and ranks high in school history in both points and rebounds, he has yet to reach the ultimate goal of the NCAAs.  He is one of only 2 players in the nation this year to lead his conference in both points and rebounds, at 18.6 and 8.3 respectively.  Though hopes for a miracle run and MAC title in a few weeks seem low, it would only be right if the team raised their game enough to make this happen and gave Tillman his long awaited place in the national spotlight.  After all that he has done for Bobcat basketball, it’s the least he deserves.

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Bob Bradley representing Ohio University on a National Stage

February 18, 2009 at 17:01 by Matt Pentz

In some countries, being the manager of the national team makes you a rock star, and coaches can’t even go out in public without drawing a crowd.  I am a big fan of the USA National men’s soccer team, but I had no idea the connections the existed between its head coach and our school until last week; it shows what a gap exists in the coverage of the sport here.  That does not make Bob Bradley’s rise to the top job in USA soccer any less remarkable, however.

His unlikely road began right here in Athens, Ohio, where he recieved his first managing job, coaching the Bobcats from 1981-1983.  He also was a graduate student here during his tenure as manager, and earned his M. A. in Sports Admistration.  In an interview with Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe in an article from 2007, Bradley talked about his experiences as a Bobcat: “There were probably five guys on the team older than me,” Bradley said. “Ohio University had international students, so I had an Algerian assistant coach, some players from Lebanon, two from Iran. I had a chance to basically take my ideas on soccer and try them all out and get a sense of what coaching is all about. I found out I loved it.”

He took the love of managing that he found in Athens with him to numerous places over the years, becoming the all-time leader in coaching wins in Major League Soccer.  His surprising choice as interim manager of the national team over the highly publicized Jurgen Klinsmann, the former Germany manager, was initially bashed by critics, but Bradley has since won most of them over.  His low key coaching style has placed the Americans in front running position for qualifying for next year’s World Cup in South Africa after a resounding 2 goal win over hated rival Mexico last week, and the squad was #24 in the latest FIFA rankings.

When one thinks of Ohio University athletics, it is rarely of the soccer program that has been gone for many years now.  It is amazing to think that this program launched a manager to the highest ranking soccer job in the nation.  When the USA takes the field in South Africa next year on possibly the biggest stage in sports, it will be led by a former Ohio Bobcat, and no matter how our country finishes, the class act that is Bob Bradley will represent us well.

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Young Coaches = The Way to Go

February 13, 2009 at 15:10 by Grant Burkhardt
Buffalo, Football, Ohio, Turner Gill

With all the recent firings of college football head coaches (minus good ol’ Frank Solich, that is), I got to thinking: what is the “correct” formula for hiring a coach? How should college athletic directors conduct searches for new head coaches who will bring longevity to the team? What factors should go into the process?

Here is my (slightly unorthodox) coach success rubric:

1. Youth

Take it from Buffalo with head coach Turner Gill, youth means quite a lot to the success of a team of YOUNG athletes. Young coaches, especially ones who have recently played the game, can relate to exactly what each player is going through. That is a quality that cannot be overestimated

2. Excitability

Yes, I believe I made up a word, but everything else can be made into a “-ability” word, so I felt entitled to take my turn. Excitability goes along with the youth characteristic. I would think Frank Solich would have a tough time exciting his players, or his recruits for that matter. A coach who can excite his players, and also his fan base, are golden to a University’s football program.

That’s all I have. I understand how lacking this list is, but I think youth and excitability go vastly overlooked in favor of age and experience. Coaches need to be fired when they deserve to be fired. New, young coaches need to be hired when the position is available. I say throw that old rubric out the window. Start over. All MAC teams need to embrace my new style and they have the chance to be successful and revive their programs (I’m speaking directly to you, Ohio).

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