Editor's Desk

BLAKE NISSEN

02.15.18

Still left to be settled

Andrew Gillis / Sports Editor

The 2017-18 season was supposed to be a year in transition for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Only one season has gone according to plan.

The women’s team beat Kent State and Ball State recently, only losing to Mid-American Conference standout Central Michigan by two. With a young roster, the ceiling is as high as could be.

With multiple winnable games on the schedule ahead, the women’s team has a chance to turn what looked to be a re-tooling year after the loss of great seniors into a special one.

The men’s team, on the other hand, has been ravaged by injuries that have come at both ends of the roster.

After Jaaron Simmons left for Michigan in April, the Bobcats looked to be in trouble at the guard position — it was to be expected. But then Teyvion Kirk and Zach Butler looked to be competent enough to mitigate the loss of one of the MAC’s best players.

Then a wave of injuries that no one has ever seen before washed over the Bobcats.

First it was Jason Carter, who is presumably out for the season. Then it was Kevin Mickle, who tore his meniscus in his left knee. He’s still playing through the injury, as are Mike Laster with his shoulder, Jordan Dartis with his hip and Gavin Block with, well, everything. Freshmen Ben Vander Plas and A.J. Gareri have also been bitten by the injury bug, too.

All of the injuries have limited the Bobcats on the floor, who have had to rise above the injuries to do whatever they can to scrap together a healthy lineup.

Add that in with a few close losses and a few blowouts, and the men’s team hasn’t seen the season it’s wanted. There’s not much time to right the ship, but the signs are there.

But that’s what makes the end of college basketball season exciting. Both teams are up against the clock, and it’s time to figure out who can do what. There’s just a little over two weeks left in conference play, and there’s still so much to be decided. The women’s team looks primed for a bye to Cleveland, and the men’s team has work to do if it wants a home game in the first round of the MAC Tournament.

In the following pages, we’ve got stories about it all: Gabby Burris becoming a freshman standout, Kevin Mickle’s journey from a soccer player to a basketball player in Athens, a column on coach Saul Phillips and a story about James Gollon and his brother’s relationship that will touch anyone who reads it.

There have been good and bad storylines from both the men’s and women’s team this season, which has made for an interesting few months in The Convo. Our men’s and women’s basketball reporters have enjoyed covering the season thus far — I know I have.

This special edition of the tabloid was enjoyable to work on and enjoyable to produce. Our editors, designers, editorial staff and, of course, Assistant Sports Editor Spencer Holbrook, worked incredibly hard to produce this content which I know will be enjoyable and exciting to read through.

We’ve got plenty of season left, so please, continue to read The Post in the next few weeks. We won’t disappoint, I promise.

Thanks for reading,
Andrew Gillis

Development by: Taylor Johnston / Digital Production Editor