With last Saturday's lost to Kent State, the Bobcats almost waved goodbye to their chances at a first round bye in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
A win would have kept the Bobcats in close contention for the fourth bye in the conference tournament, but coach Tim O'Shea didn't sound like his team had any hope at a bye following Ohio's fifth straight loss to Kent State.
Obviously we are going to be playing a Wednesday night game in the MAC Tournament
that is a given O'Shea after the 73-71 loss. This loss hurts a bit but by Tuesday we'll be regrouped and ready to bounce back.
The 'Cats (17-11, 8-6 MAC) will look to bounce back against the Miami RedHawks (15-12, 10-4), who are currently a spot ahead of Ohio in the MAC East and are in position for the fourth bye in the tournament.
The Bobcats do have a long shot
at tying Miami in the East if they defeat the RedHawks Thursday night, win at Buffalo on Sunday and get help with a Miami loss to Bowling Green on the same day. That would put both teams at 10-6 in the conference and leave the bye to whoever holds the tiebreaker.
If the Ohio and Miami do end the season even at 10-6, the tiebreaker would be which team did better against the MAC regular season champion, which could still be three different teams, leaving multiple variations depending on whether Toledo, Akron or Kent State wins the conference outright.
If Toledo wins the MAC then Ohio would win the tiebreaker because the 'Cats defeated the Rockets and the RedHawks did not. If Akron wins the MAC and Toledo takes second overall, Ohio would still have the advantage because both Miami and Ohio split with Akron and Ohio holds the edge with the Toledo victory.
But if Akron wins outright and Kent State takes second, Miami holds the tiebreaker, because Ohio dropped both games to Kent State this season and Miami split. Finally, if Kent State won the MAC outright, Miami would again get the bye with the advantage having split against Kent State.
Even with all the possibilities, the Bobcats didn't consider themselves able to get a bye after their second straight home loss last weekend.
Now we have to win four games in four days in Cleveland
guard Bubba Walther said Saturday. We need to get together and find our identity or there will be a disappointing end to the season.
Forward Leon Williams scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Bobcats loss Saturday and echoed Walther's comments. Williams had a last second shot attempt to tie the game against Kent State and following the game frustration was apparent.
I feel like we know what weneed to (do)
just at times we stray away from it
Williams said. When the tournament comes up we need to come together and not think of the games we lost.
MAC STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION
Team
MAC record
Overall
Akron
11-3
21-6
Kent State
11-3
19-9
Miami
10-4
15-12
Ohio
8-6
17-11
Buffalo
3-11
11-17
Bowling Green
2-12
12-16
WEST DIVISION
Toledo
12-2
16-11
Western Michigan
7-7
13-15
Central Michigan
7-7
12-15
Eastern Michigan
5-9
11-17
Ball State
5-9
9-19
Northern Illinois
3-11
6-21
17
Archives
Nick Miller
200702274034midsize.jpg
