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MAC Basketball 2006 Season Review

It’s time for the VanDelay Sports’ MAC Basketball season review. With Kent State’s loss to the Pitt Panthers Friday night, the MAC Basketball season is officially finished. It was a long year for a lot of teams, in what was a “down year” across the conference in 05/06.

If you follow the Mid-American Conference you know basically what each team did over the season. Rather than going through each team, detailing their ups and downs over the 2005-06 season, we’ll do a quick season review for each team, and focus more on what they lose, what they need to add through recruiting, and how well they can expect to compete next season. Without further ado, the 05/06 VanDelay MAC Basketball Season Review.

Ohio Bobcats

Record: 19-11
Conference Record: 10-8
How far did they go: MAC Tournament - Semifinal loss to Kent State

Overview
It was a tumultuous year in Athens, Ohio this season. The Bobcats were the pre-season favorites to repeat as MAC Champions. Ohio got out of the gate fast going 6-2 in OOC play. The Bobcats’ only losses were a blowout at Cincinnati and a nail-biter at a very pro-Kentucky neutral site. The conference season started pretty well for Ohio too as they jumped out to a 6-1 conference record.

That’s when the wheels started to fall off for Ohio. They got blown out on the road versus Buffalo and at home to Miami and Kent. After that they played very inconsistently as a team, sometimes failing to bring their best efforts. In the meantime, highly touted sophomore PG Jeremy Fears decided it would be in his best interests to transfer out of the program due to a combination of personal, family, and basketball issues. Not a banner year for the Ohio Bobcats.

Who’s Gone?

• G - Mychal Green
• F - Jeff Halbert

Looking at the sheer numbers, it doesn’t look like Ohio lost a whole lot, but realistically you should add Jeremy Fears to that list too. Mychal Green is a big loss for this Bobcats team. A major scorer who repeatedly was clutch in big games, Green had two great years at Ohio. Green stepped up when it mattered, and the Bobcats are going to need to find someone else who can consistently score for them next season

Ask those close to the Bobcats’ program, and they’ll tell you how much Jeff Halbert meant to the Ohio Bobcats. Not the best scorer, not the best shooter, not the most athletic player and not the best rebounder, Halbert was probably the smartest, headiest player on the court. In Halbert the Bobcats lose their other 3pt shooter, a guy who was always telling his teammates where to be on the court, and a guy who was adept at doing the little things like taking a charge, and making the pass into the post. If anybody was every equipped to go into coaching after his playing career, this is the kid.

Who’s Back?
This is the section where we look at significant contributors to the rotation who will be returning next season.

• F – Leon Williams (Jr)
• G/F – Sonny Troutman (Sr)
• PG – Antonio Chatman (Jr)
• F – Jerome Tillman (So)
• G – Whitney Davis (Sr)
• F – Johnnie Jackson (Sr)

The Bobcats were pretty deep last season, and they definitely do have some talent returning next year. The list is headed by Leon Williams who has the raw talent to be one of the premier big men in the conference and a possible POTY candidate. Williams however, struggled putting it all together in his sophomore campaign as he experienced major problems with foul trouble and dealing with double teams. Leon might have one of the best touches around the hoop of anyone in this conference, but he really needs some advanced instruction to help him know how to deal with double teams and other defenses designed to stop him.

If the Bobcats are going to succeed next season they’re going to count on Sonny Troutman to do a lot. Troutman is one of the most electric players on the Bobcats with his knack for stealing the basketball and breaking down his man one-on-one. Troutman however disappeared too often in important games last season. Troutman needs to constantly exert himself and take his game to the next level.

Antonio Chatman helped ease the departure of Jeremy Fears this season. He isn’t the talent that Fears was, but he’s more adept at making the everyday play, and controls the ball very well. If you haven’t seen Chatman play you owe it to yourself to catch a Bobcats game next season. With all the glitches and funny moves he has when dribbling the ball or crouching down on defense he’s an interesting guy to watch.

Jerome Tillman was named to the MAC All-Freshman team this past season. If mono hadn’t kept him sidelined for the first month of the season, Tillman probably would have done even more. Tillman is listed at 6’6” 237, but he’s realistically about 2 inches shorter than that. Still, Tillman plays above his size and would give the Bobcats a scary option next to Leon Williams if Tim O’Shea had the sense to play these two together more often.

Whitney Davis was a major surprise for this Bobcats team last season. A candidate for 6th man of the year, Davis kept the Bobcats in many games towards the beginning of conference play when the entire team was struggling. Davis will be a solid option as a starting 2-guard, or top backup off the bench next season.

Johnnie Jackson was another surprise for the Bobcats last season, but in a different direction. Ohio expected a lot more out of the Boston College transfer, who got off to a slow start before picking it up as the season went along. Jackson hadn been described as players and coaches as “the most talented player on the team” before the season started. You’ve got to wonder if Jackson can deliver on that hype with more playing time next season.

Outlook
Ohio’s biggest need going into 2006-07 is something that they didn’t even lose after this season, a big man. Coach O’Shea would like nothing more than to add a big-bodied center or forward who can help Williams and Tillman bang inside. Ohio seemed to lose a lot of toughness in the post this season, which they have to get back, even if it means bringing in a JUCO.

Other than that Ohio almost has to recruit a point guard to backup Chatman and serve as injury insurance. Remember that some of the Bobcats’ shooting concerns will be solved when Akron transfer Bubba Walther becomes eligible in early December. At this point I see the Bobcats finishing in the middle of the division next season, although this outlook could change if O’Shea pulls another rabbit out of his hat with a dynamite recruit who can contribute immediately at power forward or center.

Miami RedHawks

Record: 18-11
Conference Record: 14-4
How far did they go: National Invitational Tournament – 1st Round loss @ Butler

Overview
Who would have picked the Miami RedHawks to put together such a solid season after losing two first-team All-MAC performers, Chet Mason and Danny Horace, to graduation after the 2004-05 season? Well I guess I did, picking the RedHawks to finish second in the East and to approach 20-wins in my MAC East Preseason Preview, but Miami fans had to be proud of the solid performance put together by the Redhawks in 2005-06.

Miami looked to be in trouble, hitting a wall halfway through the Mid-American Conference season with three straight losses to Western Michigan, Kent State, and Akron. The RedHawks responded however, running off seven straight wins to regain their momentum heading into the end of the MAC season.

All too often in the MAC however, a season’s success is judged by a team’s performance in the tournament. What was really a strong season for Miami turned out to appear as a failure to some. For the third time in the past four years, Ohio University ended Miami’s season, or regular season anyways, defeating the RedHawks in the MAC Tournament, sending them home earlier than predicted once again.

Who’s Gone?

• PG – William Hatcher
• SG – Josh Hausfeld
• C – Nate Vandersluis

The RedHawks are going to miss William Hatcher a lot next year. This All-MAC first team performer did a great job running the offense for Charlie Coles’ crew this year. Hatcher averaged 14.3 ppg, 4.3 apg, and 1.2 spg. The RedHawks were a different team when Hatcher wasn’t in the game. To remedy this Coach Coles barely sat his senior leader. Hatcher averaged more than 37.5 minutes per game, an especially Herculean effort for a point guard.

Josh Hausfeld and Nate Vandersluis are more replaceable players for Miami heading into 2006-07. The streaky shooting Hausfeld never totally bounced back from an array of injuries that slowed his career after his sophomore campaign. Hausfeld never lived up to the promise that he showed after averaging more than 7 points a game and shooting 40% from 3-point land in his freshman season.

Nate Vandersluis became an enormous presence in the post at a listed 6’11” and a modest 295 lbs. However, much like I wrote about Matt Futch, while you can’t teach size Big Nate didn’t have a whole lot of talent to piece together with his size. Vandersluis was at least a step slow in the post and whether it was poor conditioning or foul trouble he had trouble staying on the court for more than 20 minutes a night. A player that big should have been unstoppable on the glass, however Vandersluis only led his own team in rebounds in 3 of the 28 games that he played in, only managing a meager average of 3.9 rebounds on the year.

Who’s Back?
This is the section where we look at significant contributors to the rotation who will be returning next season.

• F - Nathan Peavy (Sr)
• F – Tim Pollitz (Jr)
• F – Michael Bramos (So)
• C – Monty St.Clair (Sr)
• G – Doug Penno (Sr)
• G – Chad Troyer (Jr)

Miami’s frontcourt will certainly be its strong-suit next season with All-MAC Honorable Mention performers Nathan Peavy and Tim Pollitz returning. Even with Hatcher leading the charge this season, the Miami offense seemed at its best when Pollitz and Peavy got lots of touches and the offense could flow through them. Hopefully for the RedHawks they can find someone to get these two electric offensive players the ball.

The strength of Miami’s frontcourt only improves as you move down the depth chart to see Michael Bramos and Monty St. Clair. Bramos did a commendable job adding depth off the bench in his freshman season, playing 19 mpg, adding 5 ppg, and 3 rpg, and he’s got the talent to improve steadily over the next three seasons.

The RedHawks are going to be counting on Monty St. Clair to be far more productive than he was this past season. St. Clair came into the year shooting over 40% from 3-pt distance, but this year fell in love with the long shot far too much, and shot only 23% on 71 triple tries. St. Clair’s outside game made him extremely difficult to guard for his first two seasons in the MAC, but his miserable outside game last season only seemed to eat away at his focus. The RedHawks are either going to need Monty to buckle down and forget about the 3-pt shot, or put in some work to rediscover his long-range shooting touch this offseason.

On any other team Doug Penno wouldn’t be much of a threat, but on this Miami RedHawk team he is dangerous. Penno can stroke open shots from outside all day long, and Charlie Coles’ take on the Princeton Offense finds Penno plenty of open looks. Penno certainly isn’t a threat to average 20 ppg, but he’s always a threat to drop 20 on any given night, when he’s feeling the touch.

Chad Troyer is the other significant returnee for Miami at guard next season. While I think Troyer can serve as an adept back-up at either guard spot, I don’t think he’s the answer to take over Hatcher’s spot at starting point guard next season. Troyer is a nice player who could serve as the 8th or 9th player in a top MAC team’s rotation, but he hasn’t shown the ability to do much more in his first two seasons as a RedHawk.

Overview
Miami has another very good nucleus returning, but if they can’t find a point guard, not to mention another shooter, they could be in for a long season. I don’t think anyone currently in the Miami program has the ability to run the point, if they did Coles would not have run Hatcher ragged, playing him more than 37 minutes a night. If Miami can’t recruit a top-flight point guard they’re going to have to find new, interesting ways to get Peavy and Pollitz the ball.

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Head Basketball Writer

published 03.22.06

MAC Basketball Season Reviews: Kent State & Arkon

MAC Tourney Semifinal Recap: #7 Toledo 77, #3 Akron 69

MAC Tourney Semifinal Recap: #1 Kent 72, #5 Ohio 59

MAC Tourney Quarterfinal Recap: #5 Ohio 73, #4 Miami 58

MAC Tourney Quarterfinal Recap: #1 Kent 76, #8 Buffalo 67

MAC Tourney Quarterfinal Recap: #3 Akron 72, #6 WMU 57

MAC Tourney Quarterfinal Recap: #7 Toledo 78, #2 NIU 77