* November 11th

While switching the channels between FOX and CBS on Sunday watching some football, I could have sworn I had seen Ohio University men's basketball coach Tim O'Shea on a Without A Trace re-run.  Who knew O'Shea doubled as Daniel Von Bargen as Chief Patrick Finn on the hit show?  (Google Images)

(Daniel von Bargan)        (Tim O'Shea)     

* November 4^th

-  How about some hoops coverage?  Man, was it good to see some basketball be played at The Convo on Saturday night.

-  The official attendance was on 2,707, but what do you expect on a Saturday night exhibition game?

-  The ‘Cats defeated D-II Mercyhurst 72-45.  Tim O’Shea’s club let up just 15 second half points.  In fact, the game was pretty close there for a while.  A 3-pointer by Lakers guard Terry Smith with 6:06 left in the first half cut the Ohio lead to 27-24.  An NBA three by senior Bubba Walther at the buzzer made the lead at half 39-30 for the ‘Cats.

-  Ohio opened up in a zone last night.  They were moving and talking well in it, but you could tell that zone needs work.  Whenever Mercyhurst moved the ball to and fro the ‘Cats broke down.  Condition and quickness will help solve that problem.

-  Bert Whittington IV got the start at point guard for the ‘Cats.  Whittington IV is a community college transfer and is in the running for that starting PG not with Michael Allen.  Allen did not play on Saturday, but we will get to that later.

-  Breaking down the game a little bit: Ohio scored the game’s first nine points, and Mercyhurst didn’t score until the 16:08 mark.  Ohio started out very cold shooting wise.  Although they shot 42% in the first half, they were just 4-14 from beyond the arc.

-  Walther led all scorers at the break with 12 points in 17 minutes.  Forward Jerome Tillman finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, 7 coming in the first half.  Justin Orr, a transfer from Murray State who sat out last year due to transfer regulations, had 9 points and 5 boards in the first half.

-  The Lakers went 6-13 from beyond the arc in the first half, keeping them in the game.  When that long range shooting turned sour in the second half (3-15) the game got out of hand.

-  The ‘Cats ended up shooting 38% from the floor, but were an impressive 17-21 from the free throw line (81%).  Hopefully free throw shooting will be a strong suit this year.  The ‘Cats were pretty good from the line last year as well (72.4%).

- Ohio started the 2^nd half on a 10-3 run.  Whittington IV had 9 second half points to finish with 15, including 4-7 from downtown.

- I really liked what I saw from Walther.  He was a vocal leader on the floor for Ohio and his experience playing PG last year will only help him this year as he transitions back to his natural SG position.

-  The team’s motto this year is “Teamwork equals Dreamwork”.

- For Whittington IV, Orr, and Walther, it was just nice to get back to playing basketball.  “It felt good because, coming from where I’m from, we didn’t have a big arena like that,” said Whittington IV.   Added Walther, “It felt good."  They (Whittington IV and Orr) didn’t play last year against Miami (OH) but that was a tough loss for us.  Even though it was an exhibition, we won and we have a good feeling going into New Mexico State.”

-  Whittington IV reacted to his first game as a Bobcat.  “I’m very comfortable right now because obviously we won, we played as a team,” said Whittington IV.

-  Walther acknowledged the differences from last year to this year.  “I think once Mike Allen gets back and he can play it’ll be a lot different.  I think last year’s experience—even though I struggled last year at the point—I think tonight it helped me.  I knew what to do more often than last year.  Hopefully after New Mexico State and Mike gets back, I can just go back to the two and play that.”

-  Orr played well on offense, but he was particularly active with his long hands at the top of that zone on defense.  “I just try to play with high energy, and just get in there and do a lot of good things for the team.  Then, good things will happen.”

-  One reported commented that Orr looked bigger and stronger, to which the soft-spoken Orr quipped, “Oh, uh, thanks.”   Orr says he put on 10 pounds while sitting out last year.

- It seems that Whittington IV already understands his role as the PG.  Although he was tied for the team lead last night in points with 15, he knows he is not that number one option on offense.  “I’ve been playing for all my life.  I feel if I come here and just do my job, we can win.  They didn’t have a point guard last year.  If I distribute the ball to Bubba, Justin, Leon, Jerome, I can’t go wrong.”

-  Whittington’s quick hands on defense produced three steals.  He was a bit wild and apprehensive in his first go around, but that is what you come to expect in an exhibition.

-  Walther, who was hurt all summer, watched a lot of film on himself.  “The first week of practice was the first time I played.  I’ve been able to watch a lot of film and I realized how many shots I launched.  I realized, if I just play off Jerome and Leon, my job is a lot easier.  I don't want to stress myself out there taking 40-foot shots.  I’ll probably just keep it at 25.”

-  The chemistry for this team, despite the fact that there are nine new players, is high already. “We all hang out all the time.  It is an instant bond.  When I came here I felt like I was home.  The type of people that we are, we just mesh together,” said Whittington IV.  Adding Walther, “We all got along last year, but I just think there is more of a sense of urgency.  Last year, I don’t think we had it.  This year, everybody knows we have the talent to win, and we know what we have to do.”  Walther added, “Everybody’s happy…Last year we had a lot of talent from our 5 guys that played the majority, but we were all in our different worlds when we played.  This year, we are playing off of each other.”

-  The torturous non-conference schedule starts next Friday at The Convo when NMSU comes to town.  Walther understands that a schedule that includes Kansas, Maryland, Holy Cross, and Bucknell to name a few, is very tough.  “Every team we play has a chance to be in the tournament.  We could get beat by 30 every night if we don’t come out ready to play and if we don’t play together.”

-  The new jerseys that Russell made for both basketball programs were displayed for the first time last night.  They were highly regarded among the players, but to me, they looked huge.  They are light and flimsy, so much so that Kenneth Van Kempen’s shorts barely stayed on his waist.

-  O’Shea commented on the game.  “I thought in the first half we were almost being too aggressive.  We were pushing it up so much it created some guarding lanes…I thought in the second half we relaxed.  It was just typical for a first game especially when you have so many new guys.  They are nervous and so excited to play they sometimes are overly aggressive.”

-  O’Shea was careful not to overlook Mercyhurst. “I was worried about this team.  I saw what Grand Valley State did last night,” said O’Shea referring to the D-II team that beat Michigan State on the road.  “I thought it had the potential to be a very tight game.”

-  “He’s a proven player.  He was on an NCAA team in Murray State.  He was a very important part of their run in the NCAA Tournament,” said O’Shea about Justin Orr.  Orr started for 24-7 Murray State, which almost upset UNC in the 2006 March Madness Tournament.  A starter, Orr had 10 points and five boards in the 69-65 loss.  “With any guy sitting out for a year, there is going to be some rust, there is going to be some time to get back into the groove, but certainly he is going to be a very good player for us.”

-  O’Shea liked the different defensive looks that included man as well as a 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone.  “I thought the zone was pretty effective.  One time we went with a big lineup when we put (freshman) DeVaughn Washington with KVK and Leon.  I mean that was a big team on the floor playing together, and I thought that zone was pretty effective.”

-  O’Shea on Whittington IV.  “He’s a good shooter, obviously.  He’s got good ball handling skills.  He played well last week at Boston College against Tyrese Rice, who is a first team all-ACC guy.  So I’ve got to believe his confidence is growing.”

-  O’Shea on Walther.  “I thought he did fine.  You know, typical Bubba.  He can really shoot the ball.  He’s using better shot selection, and he’s been playing better defense this year with more energy.  I think he has a sense of urgency.” 

-  O’Shea on 6-5 freshman SG Tommy Freeman, who had seven points in 27 minutes last night.  “He’s so fundamentally sound.  He’s a good shooter.  He’s a really tough kid mentally.  He is a kid that is further along that I thought he would be, but he is a kid that absolutely works his butt off.”

-  O’Shea gave high praise of senior captain Jerome Tillman who had just 4 points (1-6 on FGs) in 24 minutes.  “He is in unbelievable shape.  He’s in the best physical condition of his life.  He has done all the things you can ask of a guy to set themselves up for a big year.  I just hope that he stays healthy because I think if he does, he is going to have an outstanding year.”

-  Two new faces we did not see were 6-9 freshman forward Maurice Pearson and 6-11 freshman center Zach Nagtzaam.  O’Shea said that Nagtzaam will have knee surgery to clean up his knee after Nagtzaam experienced some arthritis.  Pearson, who did dress out, will also redshirt, although O’Shea did say that early in the year Pearson will dress out and be ready to go in case injuries occur.  “Realistically Leon is not coming out of the game very much,” said O’Shea pointing out that between Williams, Tillman, KVK and Washington, there is not much front court time to be had.  “Right now there are no meaningful minutes in our rotation.  And both of those young men have a chance to be really good players, so it makes perfect sense to redshirt them both this year.”  O’Shea pointed out that Pearson, who averaged a double-double last year at his Maryland high school, is only 17 and age-wise should still be in high school.

-  “I think this team has more depth, more weapons.  When we do get Hester and Mike Allen back, it is a pretty formidable team,” said O’Shea.  “I think Mike Allen is an excellent point guard.  I think Allen Hester is probably the best athlete on the team.   He can really do some things athletically. The key and the challenge is going to be everybody…accepting their roles.  Obviously you want to play 8 or 9 guys with that kind of talent, so not everybody is going to play 30 minutes…They all have to buy into the team concept.”

-  The ‘Cats have an extremely tough schedule this year, something O’Shea isn’t concerned about.  “I think the schedule really got everybody’s attention, coaches and players.  I think that is one advantage to scheduling the way that we did.  Obviously anybody would look at it and say ‘you have got to be out of your mind to play that schedule.’  I just think if you’ve got a senior like Leon Williams—your kids want that challenge of playing some of these big schools.  If you’re going to be good you’ve got to be resilient.  And I also believe that with a great game plan and discipline we’ve got a shot to win all of these games.  I didn’t schedule any game I did not think that we could win,” said O’Shea adding, “Going to play Kansas on the road and Maryland on the road it speaks for itself.”

-  O’Shea also added, “The other thing is we have to get some home games here.  The only way we get home games at Ohio—we don’t have a big pot of money to go out and buy anybody, and even if we did not many people want to come here—we have to go on the road and start at difficult places and in exchange they return the games.  So what do you do?  You get schools like Holy Cross and Bucknell that nobody else wants to play either.” 

-  Staying with the topic of scheduling, “When you’re terrible it’s the easiest thing in the world because everybody wants to play you.  But when you’ve got a reputation of being pretty good and you’ve got a history like we do here…people kind of want to stay away from you.  They really don’t want to play you,” added O’Shea, also pointing out that he was excited to go to Williams’ hometown of Baltimore Maryland for a game.

-  “I have an A.D. and a President who I think understand that when you play a schedule like that, you might not have a glossy win total at the end of the year,” noted O’Shea.  “You will get rewarded for playing a tough schedule if you can have some success,” he said adding “I feel it is a good thing for the program.   It is good for recruiting.  It is good for our fans and alumni.”

-  The ‘Cats open up their season next Friday night against a fast paced NMSU team a rematch of last year’s Bracketbuster’s contest.  The Aggies won 77-72, despite 25 points from Walther and 18 from Tillman.  “They are absolutely huge.  I mean, we think we have got some bookends with Leon and Jerome.”  

-  Reggie Theus, who played under legendary head coach Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV from 1975-78, molded what has become a consistent top 40 program.  O’Shea pointed out that Theus, now the Sacramento Kings head coach, molded that program around the same style as Tarkanian’s teams before Theus left in 2005.   The Aggies are currently coached by Marvin Menzies.

-  The Aggies return four starters and have a strong recruiting class as well, headlined by Herb Pope and Wendell McKines.  Pope was the 31^st best prospect in the 2007 class according to Rivals.com.

-  After NMSU it does not get any easier as Cornell pays a visit on Nov. 17^th.  Cornell has been picked by many publications to win the Ivy League this season.  “We start out with two very very tough home games,” said O’Shea.  O’Shea pointed out that he would have like to have some easier early season game but he schedule NMSU now with the hopes of a strong atmosphere at The Convo before many students go home for winter break.

-  Michael Allen, a community college transfer, did not suit up last night.  He was caught drinking in his dorm in July, and as a result had to sit out the BC scrimmage, last night’s exhibition, and the first game of the year against NMSU.  Allen is 19 years old.

-  Allen Hester violated team rules and his status for the NMSU game, according to O’Shea, is uncertain.  Hester is another junior college transfer.