Use this thread to talk about anything game-related. 

Date: March 11th, 2019 9:00 PM

Opponent: Northern Illinois  (15-16, 8-10 MAC)

Site: NIU Convocation Center

TV: None

Radio: Ohio Radio or TuneIn Radio

Webcast: ESPN+

NIU statistics, roster and media guide.

NIU Fan Site: The Dog Pound

 

Mid-American Conference. First round games at higher seed, remaining games at Cleveland. #log5 pic.twitter.com/6C78OoGT7d

— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) March 9, 2019

The right-hand side of the bracket is where you want to be.

If you were in battle and the choice was victory or defeat--past results mean little. You learn from the past but must play with the circumstances as they may then be. If you were planning the way forward you would be pleased at being in the right side bracket and convey the enthusiasm to your troops. Would you rather be Akron and Miami? The right side is the best of circumstances. Everyone knows you have to face one of the top four if you make it past the first one but this is the best spot(other than flipping with Ball State and facing EMU). In the semi's would you rather face BGSU where you are 1-1 or Buffs/Kent where you are 0-4? There has to be an upset for any of the non four to make it to the semi's--why not OHIO through Toledo?

At home against NIU, a miserable free throw shooting exhibit cost the Cats of winning the MAC opener and getting off to a good start. Certainly NIU could have had their two worst games of the season against the lowly Cats but as a planner you would have to say OHIO let two slip away and this is a very good draw for OHIO because the way we are playing now vs the way we were playing earlier should make you think we can take this team and move on to the Rockets.

From past viewing of years of MAC first games in Cleveland, it seems a number of teams struggle to score early. Perhaps it takes a while in a huge arena like the Q to really get a bearing. That plays into OHIO's strength because OHIO has often been off to a very slow shooting start this season. In these circumstances the game score against Toledo might be tight going into the second half. I think it was Larry Hunter who claimed that if a team is tied at the half and the game is shrunk to just 20 minutes that ANY team can beat any team over 20 minutes!

Go OHIO;
Beat NIU!

This is a much different team than the one that lost twice to NIU. Except for the WMU and BSU games, the most points Ohio scored in the first 11 games was 66, against NIU in an OT loss in the first MAC game of the season. In the last seven games, the FEWEST points Ohio has scored is 66. What happened earlier this season doesn't mean much now. Ohio can win this one.

I agree...very winnable game. Of all the possibilities in round one, I'd rather play at NIU than Akron or EMU.

We open as 4pt underdogs.

At least we don't have to play two games in one day as did one of Billy Hahn's squads.

I'm with you guys. Winnable game, for sure...but I'm not overly optimistic we come home and pack for Cleveland. We ended the season last year on a good roll and then went down to Oxford Tech and lost.

That was a terrible draw last year, having to beat Miami twice in four days both on the road, and Jordy had been playing well down the stretch but was hurting bad and had to leave the tournament game.

I hate Google. Google ruins incoherent speech.....

Fascinating read though. Never thought the stat was that absurd.....

KenPom predicts a 72-66 loss so a 29% chance of winning. The NIU offense is ranked 104th in efficiency at 107.9 opponent-adjusted points per 100 possessions. They shoot the three better than average (35.7% ranking 101st) and free throws pretty well (73.5% ranking 86th). They turn the ball over on only 17.3% of possessions (93rd). Ohio's offense still ranks poorly (ranking 273rd at 98.9 points per 100 possessions). The Bobcats problems this year have been turnovers (ranking 285th by turning the ball over on 20.1% of possessions), 3-point shooting (ranking 338th at 30.3%) and free throw shooting (ranking 344th at 63.0%). But over the last 5 games, Ohio has shot 34% from three, 71.8% from the line and turned the ball over on 16.9% of possessions. Over that span, Preston has 27 assists and 6 turnovers and TK has shown improvement to 15 assists and 11 turnovers.

Defensively, NIU ranks 190th allowing 105.0 per 100. The Bobcats have been in the Top 100 pretty much all season in defense allowing 99.9/100 (ranks 98th). 

For NIU, Levi Bradley has been playing very well. The Huskies have won 3 of 4 and Bradley was the KenPom MVP in all 3 wins.