MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

The Ohio band was noticeably absent from Thursday's MAC Tournament Quarterfinal game against BG.

Alright, time for me to take off my MAC hat, and put on my OU Alum hat for 5 minutes…

The Ohio University Band is always one of the bright spots of the week in Cleveland. They always sound superb and are very entertaining. They (along with the OU dance team who are also great at what they do) are often the talk of press row and the staff here at the Q who is here for about 10 hours of 4 games, and 8 sets of cheerleaders, dance teams and bands.

Ohio University’s band won’t be here today, or for any of the tournament. Apparently this decision was made due to a midseason budget cut and OU President Roderick McDavis’s refusal to cover the expenses of the band. I realize that the economy is in bad shape and that businesses, universities, and organizations across the country are tightening the belt wherever possible. Still, this really isn’t acceptable for a couple of reasons.

The OU band does a fantastic job representing the university. As I already mentioned, they get a lot of good buzz from the everyone at the Q for these games. The old saying is, “You can’t put a price on good publicity.” Really that’s not true. I work in marketing and I can tell you that you can put a price on good pub, because it’s my (real) job to measure that type of stuff. If OU’s band being here sways 1 or 2 young instrument players who might be in the crowd today to attend Ohio University does that outweigh the cost of getting the band up here for the university? I say it does.

It’s really unfair to the students in the band who work their butts off supporting the team, representing the university, and entertaining crowds to have this trip pulled on them with 24 hours notice. Not only do they deserve to travel to Cleveland to root for the team that they’ve been supporting all season, but if this decision was made at the beginning of the year, maybe students could have raised the money to make the trip, much like the OU Dance Team did.

It takes away from the game atmosphere to not have the band here. On Tuesday no bands made the trip to Cleveland and according to my counterparts the atmosphere in the Q really lacked. During the first game when the Ball State band was rocking out (they were very good) it was noticable, and enjoyable. A smattering of early quotes that I’ve heard from others on press row who are OU alums and those in the MAC office include, “It’s pathetic,” “Unacceptable,” and “Furious.”

Really, it is pathetic that President McDavis wouldn’t cough up the funds to get the band to Cleveland, and if I run into him at any Bobcat pregame festivities in Cleveland you can be sure that I’ll tell him exactly that. He can add this notch to his belt when he’s counting the reasons why he has been a less than successful President during his almost 5 year tenure at OU.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports (and a proud Ohio University grad). He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com

Cleveland, here we come.

So another edition of regular season MAC Basketball is in the books, and the MAC faithful is nearly ready to decend upon Cleveland (including the Vandelay crew who, like the past two years, will be running live blogs during the action). So what can we expect in Cleveland over the next two days? Let’s talk about it…

This Has Been a Season Full of Parity. How Did the Seeds Shape Up?

Say what you will about parity, I for one would prefer to see a dominant team or two at the top of the league, but this year could be exciting in a different way, with few teams able to put together consistent performances throughout the season and anyone beatable on any night. Here is how the seeding shook out after Sunday’s final regular season games.

2009 FirstEnergy MAC Men’s Basketball Tournament

Tuesday, March 10

No. 7 Central Michigan vs. No. 10 Eastern Michigan, Noon

No. 6 Kent State vs. No. 11 Northern Illinois, 2 p.m.*

No. 8 Western Michigan vs. No. 9 Ohio, 4 p.m.*

No. 5 Akron vs. No. 12 Toledo, 6 p.m.*

Thursday, March 12

No. 2 Ball State vs. No. 7/No. 10 Winner, Noon (FS Ohio)

No. 3 Buffalo vs. No. 6/No.11 Winner, 2:30 p.m.* (FS Ohio)

No. 1 Bowling Green vs. No. 8/No. 9 Winner, 7 p.m. (FS Ohio)

No. 4 Miami vs. No. 5/No. 12 Winner, 9:30 p.m.* (FS Ohio)

Friday, March 13

No. 2/7/10 vs. No. 3/6/11 Winner,7:30 p.m. (FS Ohio)

No. 1/8/9 vs. No. 4/5/12 Winner, 9:30 p.m.(FS Ohio)

Saturday, March 14

Championship Game (ESPN2), 8 p.m. EST

What Effects Will the Economy Have on the Week?

Nobody knows the answer to this, but it’s certainly a question looming in the back of a lot of people’s minds with the current recession effecting pretty much everyone across America. Two recent stories that should hit close to home are the news that FirstEnergy will be laying off 335 workers and this excellent NY Times piece about the effects of the foreclosure crisis in Cleveland.

Will the poor economy have an effect on attendance? Kent State and Akron generally travel the best since they’re the nearest schools (with Ohio University fans getting an honorable mention here). Will the divide be even more noticable this year? Stay tuned…

Will Chris Singletary Serve a Suspension for Any/All of the Tournament?

About a minute and a half into yesterday’s Kent State/Akron game, Singletary was ejected for what this blogger will define as a cheapshot to Nate Linhart’s spleen. If you read Mike Rasor on Ohio.com you probably saw a blog post from him yesterday where he reported that Singletary would be suspended for the entire MAC Tournament, sourcing MAC Director of Men’s Basketball Operations Rick Boyages. After a stir across some MAC fansites, Rasor retracted his earlier report, blaming the miscommunication on a University employee. Today Pat McManamon at the PD reports that Laing Kennedy and the Kent State staff are reviewing the incident. Chris Singletary has a history of offcourt incidents at Kent State and it sounds like this could be enough to sit him down for at least a game. Just not smart to take this kind of cheap shot, especially when the game is being televised, so there are a bunch of extra cameras there and a better chance of catching it on film. The Kent State staff really needs to sit this kid down and make sure his head is screwed on straight heading into next season.

So Who’s Going to Win The Tournament?

I fought the urge to just put a question mark under this heading and move on. It seems like every year I make a prediction here, end up way off, and anger a fan base by discounting their team. This year the choice is even harder with the parity of the conference and the inconsistency of every team. Is Central Michigan as good as their record, or did they load up on a weak MAC West? Can Ball State compete without Anthony Newell? Can Western Michigan or Ohio University remember what worked so well for them through the first 4 or 5 games of the Conference slate, and revert to that playing style?

My answer to all of those questions is “maybe” but “probably not”. If I’m handicapping the race for the Championship I break it into tiers with (alphabetically) Akron, Buffalo, BG, Kent, and Miami in the top tier. Ball State , Central Michigan, Ohio, and Western Michigan in tier two. And Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Toledo in the “thanks for making the trip” tier.

Now, I know Ball State is the second seed, yet I’ve got them in my second tier. Losing Newell kills them in my opinion… a real shame he got hurt in Ypsilanti this year, definitely a First-Team All-MAC performer if not. Speaking of injuries, let’s mention Carlos Medlock here, I loved Eastern Michigan’s team with Medlock heading into this season and had high expectations of what they could do in the MAC West. Really a shame that Medlock got hurt. I love the Dobbins/Bowdry tandem in the front court.

But back to picking a tournament winner, we’ve narrowed it down to Akron, Buffalo, BG, Kent, and Miami. Where do we go from there? In all honesty, I’d be flipping a coin. I guess if you have to pick you say that BG is the #1 seed and you’ve gotta go with that (knowing that Buffalo has an identical conference record and Akron/Kent/Miami are just one game behind them. It’s too unknown this season. There’s too much parity and far too much inconsistency. We’ll put it this way, if someone wanted to pick a winner at 5:1 odds, giving me the field, that’s a bet I’d make in a heartbeat, regardless of who they were chose.

And once again, say what you will about parity. I knocked parity at the beginning of this post, but it should make for quite an interesting week in Cleveland.

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

It’s the end of the MAC regular season, so it’s time for us to take a look around the conference and evaluate what we’ve seen and hand out some awards. Without further ado…

Defensive Player of the Year
Hands down, this award goes to Haminn Quaintance. The guy rebounds with the best of them and he averages 2 full blocks and nearly 2 full steals per game. Kent State has done a wonderful job of reloading over the past 10 years, but they’ll certainly miss Q next season.

Most Exciting Game of the Year
Dear Miami v Ohio,

Kent v Akron might be giving you a run for most heated rivalry in the MAC. Nothing was a better display than the most exciting game of the MAC regular season, which ironically doubled as the final game of the MAC regular season. With the high-octane ending to today’s game and the nearby location of both fan base’s to Cleveland a lot of people have to be rooting for another Kent vs Akron showdown in next week’s tournament.

MAC Freshman of the Year
Kind of a weak year for Freshman across the conference, but there was one player, Darion “Jake” Anderson who just played at a higher level than the rest of this season’s incoming class. While NIU had a lackluster season, they could have a bright future building around Anderson and Michael Patton in the backcourt. Anderson finished the regular season average 11.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and 2.8 apg, if he can cut down on his turnovers, Anderson could be a major player in this league.

MAC Player of the Year
In the running…

• Al Fisher - KSU
• Haminn Quaintance - KSU
• Joe Reitz - WMU
• Leon Williams - OU

It’s a close race, and really there are other guys who could be considered here (Pollitz, Kool, Wood…) but I’ve gotta give the nod to Leon Williams. Ohio stumbled down the stretch slightly this year, but Williams put up major numbers for the entire year. 15.8 ppg and 9.7 rpg with 14 double-doubles. Often the POTY vote goes to a player from the Regular Season Champs. With neither Fisher or Quaintance emerging as the alpha dog on KSU this year, they’ll probably split some votes and allow for Williams, who Ohio would have been lost this season without, to bring home the hardware.

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

This has the makings of another frustrating season for Ohio Bobcat fans. OU had put together a very solid OOC performance this season. Unfortunately they followed it up with a loss in the MAC season opener to a below-average Bowling Green team. A team of Ohio’s caliber should not be dropping games to a team ranked 270 in the RPI. I’m aware that Anderson Arena is a tough venue to play in, but the problems that this Ohio team has displayed executing on the road during the Tim O’Shea tenure have become epidemic.

The Bobcats turned the ball over 20 times. They shot 5-22 (22.7%) from 3-pt range (why they’re launching 3 after 3 when they’re that cold from long distance, I don’t know). They only got to the FT line 9 times as opposed to BG’s 22 free throws. Look at the bottom line, the Bobcats only scored 49 points against Bowling Green, a team that has lost to DI bottom feeders Furman and Northern Colorado already this season. Not good.

What’s more is Tim O’Shea’s continuing inability to get his young players on-court experience. As seasons go on O’Shea usually tightens up his rotation to only go 8-deep. The Bobcats have depth this season. Tommy Freeman and DeVaughn Washington are both good young players, but if they can’t get any on-court time, this is going to be a wasted year in their development.  Freeman and Washington are averaging less than 3 and 1 minutes respectively over the past 7 games, and the only reason that Freeman’s is that high is because he logged 13 minutes in the blowout against Kansas.

You’re telling me that Bubba Walther needs to play 31 minutes against BG while shooting 5-14 and turning the ball over 4 times? Three of those minutes couldn’t have gone to Freeman? Take an additional 2 from Allen Hester, and there’s 5 minutes for Freeman. Is Leon Williams really at his most effective when playing 35 minutes like he did against Bowling Green? I’m not saying that Freeman or Washington need to be key cogs in the rotation, but it really shouldn’t be that difficult to get them 5-8 minutes apiece.

My complaints about the rotation are beside the point for today though. Today all but puts the nail in the coffin of Ohio’s NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. Ohio’s execution needs to get much better, especially on the road, or they’re going to end up with a 9-7 MAC record and a 5-seed in the Tournament. Tim O’Shea definitely has some problems to solve with this team. He now has the rest of the MAC regular season to see if he can do it.

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.

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