MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

This is a continuing feature where VanDelay Sports will post capsules on each team focusing on what we’ve seen so far, and what to expect through the rest of the season.

Ohio Bobcats

What We’ve Seen So Far
The Bobcats had some solid wins in the OOC season over Cornell, Maryland, and St. Johns. Unfortunately they also showed a frustrating tendency to play down to their competition, keeping almost every team they played in games late. This killed Ohio twice on the road against Holy Cross and Temple, two games that could have been marquee wins that the Bobcats instead lost on buzzer beaters.

Ohio likely has the most talented front-court in the league with Jerome Tillman and certain league POV-candidate Leon Williams. Can Williams and Tillman carry the Bobcats in a historically guard dominated league? That’s going to be the question.

What to Watch
Backcourt and Depth

We covered the Bobcats powerful frontcourt, but their backcourt is a concern. Michael Allen and Bert Whittington IV are the newcomers at the PG position. Both have been able to get the ball inside to Williams and Tillman, and both have shown flashes, but neither have shown a consistent improvement yet. The Bobcats can survive with Allen and Whittington just playing competently, but they’ll need more production out of Justin Orr and Bubba Walther. Both Orr and Walther are talented, and either one could go off for 25 points in a game, but neither wing player has been consistent this season.

The other concern on this Bobcats team is depth. It seems like the Bobcats do have some depth on this team, but Tim O’Shea has a tendency to only go about 8-deep as each season wears on. Lately that means that freshmen Tommy Freeman and DeVaughn Washington are getting very little playing time. Both Freeman and Washington can play, but they need to get off the bench and into games to develop. If O’Shea can’t find 5-10 minutes a game for each of those guys he could see his team’s chances fizzle out again in the MAC Tournament as the minutes add up and his team’s legs wear down.

Outlook
Leon Williams and Jerome Tillman give this team a puncher’s chance to win the conference. But the Bobcats will need a solid effort at the PG position and they’ll need Walther to be more consistent with his shooting, and for Orr to find his mojo creating and scoring. Defense and depth are additional major concerns. Right now Ohio looks like a solid team, but solid in the MAC East this year may not be enough with Akron, Kent State, Miami, Ohio, and the eventual West Division winner all fighting for byes in the first round of the MAC Tournament.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports. He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com

This is a continuing feature where VanDelay Sports will post capsules on each team focusing on what we’ve seen so far, and what to expect through the rest of the season.

Kent State Golden Flashes

What We’ve Seen So Far
A tenacious defense, balanced scoring attack, and a start that makes an unprecedented 10th straight 20-win season incredibly likely. Kent’s attack is led by their two athletic front-court players Mike Scott and Haminn Quaintance. Neither Scott nor Quaintance tower over the opposition, at 6-7 and 6-8 respectively, but both are quick enough to give bigger slower players fits trying to guard them. With the addition of combo-guard Al Fisher from JUCO powerhouse Redlands Community College, the Golden Flashes have three guys who can take over any given game.

What to Watch
The story with Kent is their depth. They go 10-deep with 9 players averaging 15 minutes a game. This allows them to keep up the pressure on the defensive end, their strength, while being able to consistently rotate in fresh legs. Going this deep hasn’t been a problem on the offensive end either with everyone in Kent’s top 9 averaging 5+ points per game. Jim Christian has to love how everyone can be a threat on offense.

To beat the Flashes teams must rely on excellent ball movement to counter their high-intensity, trapping style defense. If there is one chink in Kent’s armor it could be their perimeter game. Mike McKee is a real threat from the outside. After McKee the options get a little dodgier. Rashard Woods and Scott have been effective from 3 so far this season, but both are considered post-players and it’s hard to tell if their hot outside shooting will keep up.

Outlook
Kent’s the class of the MAC this year. With as much defense as they play, the post prowess of Quaintance and Scott, the spread attack that they feature on offense, and possibly the best coach in the conference manning their sideline, they’re going to be really tough to beat. I’ve got the Golden Flashes pegged as the team to beat in the MAC this year.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports. He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com

This is a continuing feature where VanDelay Sports will post capsules on each team focusing on what we’ve seen so far, and what to expect through the rest of the season.

Akron Zips

What We’ve Seen So Far
The Zips are 9-2, at face value, a very impressive record. Unfortunately, when you dig a little deeper than face value the 9-2 record isn’t quite as impressive anymore. Akron’s best win this season so far has been a 2-point home win against Temple. Outside of the Temple win, they haven’t beaten a team in the top 100 of the RPI.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that Akron is a bad team, or even that they’re not as good as their 9-2 record. What it does mean is that at this point, we’re not sure how good the Zips are. Really, they haven’t been tested yet.

What to Watch
The Zips will go as their big 3 seniors, Jeremiah Wood, Nick Dials, and Cedrick Middleton go. If you’re going to focus on one guy it has to be Wood. He’s averaging over 13 points and almost 10 rebounds per game. After Wood, there’s not a Zip averaging even 4 rebounds per game, so to say his presence on the glass is important doesn’t really do it justice.

One of the good sides of the easy schedule so far has been the chance that it’s given Keith Dambrot to develop his bench. Akron knew that they’d be able to rely on guys like Quade Milum, Nate Linhart, and Chris McNight to pick up the slack behind Wood, Dials, and Middleton. They’ve also been able to give some valuable playing time to new faces like Steve McNees and Mike Bardo, and guys without a ton of experience like Jimmy Conyers, Nick Goddard, and Darryl Roberts.

Outlook
Like I said, the Zips have yet to prove themselves. They’ll get that chance during the first week of January when they meet Dayton on the 2nd and Miami on the 5th.

I tend to believe that the Zips are slightly below the top tier of teams in the East, but it’s not out of the question to believe that they could contend for the Conference Championship. If they do rise to the top it will be on the strength of Wood, Dials, and Middleton, combined with how deep Dambrot can go on his bench.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports. He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com