Monday Update: a preview of Ohio

The Hoyas hope to get past the first round this year, but they have to beat the Ohio Bobcats first.  A more in-depth preview of this year’s Bobs’ (can we call them that?) squad follows later in the week, but here are some fun facts to whet your appetite in the meantime.

Ohio has had the bad luck to draw our beloved Hoyas in the first round (luck they may have brought upon themselves by moving away from  this sweet logo).  The Bobcats appear to have been the ninth seed in their own conference (MAC) tournament, but rattled off a series of upsets culminating in an 81-75 overtime victory over Akron in the final.  Their schedule has been relatively light, featuring just two match-ups, both losses, against fellow tournament teams–#16 Robert Morris (81-79), and, a foe familiar to Georgetown, Pitt (a 74-49 thumping).  Still, the Bobs finished a respectable 21-14 and are riding a wave of confidence and momentum into Thursday’s game.  Before we get too bogged down in  Xs and Os for Thursday’s game, here are some things you might not have known:

• Last Tournament Appearance: The Bobs have made the  tournament 11 times before Thursday, last qualifying in 2005, an event so thrilling that it ranked among the top 10 moments in 100 years of Ohio (University, not state) basketball.  In fairness, the game looks to have been nearly as exciting as West Virginia-Georgetown last Saturday.  What, too soon?  Plus, they specifically noted their 12 scholarship players were cause for celebration at said centennial.  Before you scoff, count how many Hoyas are on scholarship now.
  
• Shaq of the MAC: Bobcat hoops history reads like the Hoyas’, except if neither John Thompson had ever happened.  They’ve retired the jerseys of three guys, named Frank Baumholtz, Walter Luckett, and Dave Jamerson, all of whom left campus before you were born.  Their most famous player in our lifetime was Gary Trent, who was known as the Shaq of the MAC, at least to his friends and family, and who went on to have a nice ten-year career in the Association.  No word on whether Trent stole any of Steve Nash’s ideas for reality TV shows.
  
• Biggest Moment in School History:  The Bobs once finished 2nd in the NIT back in 1941, before it stood for Not-Invited Tournament.  Twenty-three years later, Ohio went to the Elite Eight, only to get smashed by Kentucky.  They last one a tournament game in 1983.
  
• Reason for fear: Apparently they have something called the “O Zone” which appears at every Ohio basketball game.  No word on any deleterious effects on opponents of said zone.
• Background reading: Check out Bobcat Pride: Ohio University Basketball on Amazon.  It was adapted into the screen play that became Celtic Pride.
  

More on the Bobcats, and the Hoyas’ two possible second-round opponents, follows later in the week.