After a respectable yet frankly underwhelming campaign last season, the Ohio University men’s basketball team lost quite a bit of top-end scoring and valuable production this offseason. Very early this season, those losses are showing their worth, and a paper-thin defense that can’t stop a nose bleed is only the tip of the iceberg among glaring issues plaguing the Bobcats.
Good teams need identities. Whether it’s the defensive stalwarts that suffocate opponents to win games or the teams filled with future NBA stars, every winning team has a clear identity.
Even Ohio’s Mid-American Conference rivals have shown their identities. Akron University has mastered the small-ball system and earned national respect last season during its NCAA tournament berth, and Kent State University’s electric offense is now keeping pace with that of Power 5 teams within the Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, ACC and SEC conferences.
This year’s OU team lacks an identity and needs to capitalize on its strengths sooner or later before this season goes down the drain.
Struggles on defense and in the rebounding department have headlined the Bobcats’ slow start, and those issues have been present since game one against Arkansas State University. The home loss on opening night exposed OU’s deficiencies, as they let up 89 points and were out-rebounded 41-25, giving up 13 offensive rebounds to the Red Wolves.
The versatile threat, AJ Brown, who was last season’s third-leading scorer and seemingly the future of the program, decided over the summer to transfer to the defending national champion, the University of Florida Gators. This action threw a wrench into the team’s plans and ceiling for success this season, but also losing both the big man AJ Clayton and all-around guard Shereef Mitchell to graduation made the offseason even tougher.
Head coach Jeff Boals tried to compensate for the offseason losses and rebuild a competitive roster by hitting the transfer portal and acquiring four new players, three of whom have played meaningful roles on the team thus far.
Transfer guard Dior Conners from Appalachian State University has been an efficient three-point shooter off the bench, and forward Jalen Breath from the University of North Carolina Greensboro has been a reliable scorer. However, no transfer has been able to replicate the services of Brown or Mitchell.
Javan Simmons from the University of Toledo was brought in by Boals and his staff with high hopes he could provide a low-post presence and be an effective rebounder with Clayton out the door. He has provided an impressive scoring punch, but averaging just three rebounds per game does not align with that offseason vision. From the beginning, though, Boals was wrong to think a 6-foot-7-inch forward could play center full-time.
The rebounding issues do not fall solely on Simmons; however, the team as a whole lacks size and simply can not clear rebounds effectively. Throughout four games, Aidan Hadaway led the team in that category with only just under six rebounds per game.
OU is the fifth-worst rebounding team in the entire country right now, and for a team with hopes to compete in and maybe even win the MAC, that is unacceptable. As a team, it pulls down south of 30 rebounds per game, and opponents are out-rebounding it by nine on average. The Bobcats simply lack size down low and have no one to control the paint and lead as a rebounder.
Although they bounced back from the opening night loss with an encouraging win over Illinois State University, the lack of defensive fight put on display by the Bobcats against both Saint Mary’s College and Louisville University was discouraging.
Saint Mary’s is an NCAA tournament-caliber team and highly respected program, and Louisville will be a serious contender to win the national championship this season. OU was certainly the heavy underdog and not expected to win in either game. Giving up 90 and 106 points in back-to-back games; however, clearly displays this team’s defensive inability.
KenPom, a reliable college basketball analytics site, ranks OU as the 177th overall team in the country. Its 109 defensive rating falls 223rd in the country, below very low-major teams like Bucknell University and Merrimack College, among others. For context, this rating shows OU allows 109 points for every 100 of its opponents’ offensive possessions, and there are upwards of 80 teams whose defensive ratings sit below 100.
OU’s opponent points per game is also near the bottom of the entire country, ranking 301of 350 Division I teams in that statistic. It’s still early, but being that awful defensively is not a positive sign of things to come in conference play and beyond.
Rebounding and defense are two staples of team success in the game of basketball, and if OU isn’t able to mend its deficiencies in those categories, it must find a niche elsewhere and commit to that. This team has loads of talent and is capable of winning, but the glaring issues need to be addressed early and often if the Bobcats want to even compete in the MAC this season.
Jack Muldowney is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Jack Muldowney about their column? Email/tweet them at jm760224@ohio.edu or @JackMuldowney1.
