I won the MAC Tournament in my very first year with the school(not with my own recruits obviously). After 3 years of building back up and stumbling in the quarters or semis of the conference tournament, we hit our stride and have now rolled off 4 straight 20 win seasons and 4 straight conference regular season titles. Sadly, Ball State has won the last 3 conference tournaments in a row. So in my 7 seasons at Ohio, I only have 1 conference tournament championship.
And actually, I never won one in my 3 years at NC A&T either, so in 10 seasons, I have only managed to win my conference tournament one time. So it seems a formality that I've built a dominant team in the MAC and this title should be a foregone conclusion, I'm still quite nervous about it and want this win rather badly.
March 10, 2018 – MAC Finals
(1) #22 Ohio (28-4, 15-1) vs (7) Akron (16-15, 9-7 MAC)
Akron is rated 77 OVR (79 off/77 def/79 sht/78 reb/86 coach). They average 63.7 ppg, so look for them to try to slow things down against us. They beat us in a simmed game in the middle of the season. We're projected as a 5 seed, and we need this win to stay there probably. The last time we lost our RPI dropped by 20 and we went from a potential 3 seed to potential 7 seed...
Scouting
PG Raphael Cobb – SO – 70 OVR – 83 speed/82 quickness. 78 defense/71 steals. 81 close/75 med/59 3. B- hands and passing for a SG... he's a natural SG, not a PG. 7.4 ppg this year. Cobb is a weak link in their back court. Too slow and too poor a defender to hang with us.
SG Godwin Washburn – SO – 77 OVR – 87 speed/81 quickness/84 vert/83 hustle (only 55 str, not strong). Good athlete. 87 defense/81 steals, great defender. 93 close/78 med/71 3/84 off the dribble/77 in traffic. He's got a good clutch rating, 75, which fits for their go to guy down the stretch. Just 10 ppg this year though, as younger guards often have lower shooting tendencies.
SF Tamal Coulibaly – FR – 70 OVR – 6'8” - 80 speed/75 quicknes. Terrible defender, 71 def/63 steals. Decent shot blocker(71/B+). 87 close/73 med/77 3/81 in traffic. He'll develop into a great scorer and will be a threat today, he'll kill us if we leave him open. Just 6.5 ppg.
PF Shema Day – SR – 73 OVR – 6'8” natural PF – 76 orb/72 drb. 73 post off/74 post def. 90 close/83 in traffic. He has great awareness at this level (74 off/78 def). 11.5 ppg/4.9 rpg. His post numbers are a little above average for a PF, but he's a poor rebounder.
C Esmond Jolly – JR – 70 OVR – 6'8”, natural PF. 69 orb/82 drb. 77 post off/80 post def. 83 close/80 in traffic. Jolly is a much better rebounder and post defender than Day, but he doesn't look like a scorer. 7.9 ppg/5.1 rpg.
They have 3 backups rated 65+. A 67” PF and two small forwards. No guards rated above 57. There is certainly the chance that Washburn and Day have career days against us, but we really ought to have a big edge here.
Half
| Time
| OHIO
| AKR
| Notes
|
1
| 11:55
| 12
| 12
| They run a 2-3 zone every play, which we struggle against at times. Jimenez is 2-4 from 3, Santiago 0-2. Grundy has 4 points inside, Bright struggling again. Washburn is their star for sure, he scored their first 8 and sat recently and they are having a hard time scoring without him. Backups are in.
|
1
| 5:40
| 19
| 22
| This 3 point Akron lead is the biggest that either team has had. I call a timeout to get my starters back in, except for Jimenez, who apparently tired himself out taking 3's. He'll get back in in another minute.
|
1
| 3:40
| 25
| 26
| Jimenez back in
|
| HALF
| 35
| 30
| We finally pull out to a small lead in the last 2 minutes of the half. We shoot 48%, they 46%. Both of us are taking a lot of 3's wihtout huge success. 4-12 for us, 2-10 for them.
SG Washburn leads them with 10, 4-8 overall and 2-2 from 3. Their big men, Day and Jolly have 10 between them(4 and 6). They also have a 17-12 edge on the boards. That is offset by the fact that they commit 5 turnovers while we only commit 1.Jimenez leads us with 13 points. 5-7 from the floor/3-5 from 3. Santiago finally made a 3 later in the half and has 5 total. Grundy is doing ok inside with 6 points/5 boards. Bright a bit less, but i've gone to him less.
I think all I need to do in the second half is not settle for long jumpers so easily. 3's are great and we shoot the 3 well but no passing to the wing and launching until I at least try a drive or post pass.
One final note... the semifinal game with Miami each team had 4 or 5 6th man boosts in the first half and 8-10 total by the time the game was done. There hasn't been a single one today.
|
2
| 18:45
| 35
| 30
| A blocked shot gets them their first 6th man boost of the day.
|
2
| 15:00
| 42
| 36
| They get it down to 3 and have a chance to tie, missing a 3. On our next trip Jimenez hits his 4th three and we're up 6.
|
2
| 11:20
| 49
| 44
| We've led by as much as 8. I get a timeout to get my backups in though, no 6th man help for us at all yet and our starters are exhausted.
|
2
| 6:10
| 55
| 52
| We hold the lead at 5-7 most of this stretch with the backups, Withers gets us two good looks inside for some points. They score on two straight trips though, cutting it to 3, and I get a timeout to get the starters in. They're not fully rested but I've got 3 timeouts, and assuming the fans get excited about the game at some point we'll be fine.
|
2
| 4:25
| 63
| 54
| There we go, Jimenez hits two straight 3's(he's 6-9 from 3 now, 22 points). Next trip down Jimenez misses a 3 but Bright with the board and putback. We're up 9 and get our first 6th man bonus of the game.
|
2
| 3:00
| 66
| 57
| Santiago joins the party with a 3 and its time for us to run out the clock.
|
2
| 1:10
| 66
| 59
| Akron with a timeout, 7 point game, their ball with 1:10 left.
|
2
| 1:00
| 66
| 61
| They score quickly, 5 point game, our ball.
|
2
| 0:15
| 66
| 64
| We run the clock to 15 and start our offense. Santiago misses an open 3. They get it to Washburn on their end who drains a contested 3. I call a timeout. They have only committed 3 or 4 fouls so its going to take a bit to get me to the FT line. I intend to have McCully be the guy that shoots for us.
|
Hah, McCully is so fast. I've never seen a guy be able to just outrun their defense before. They do get 2 fouls but needed 3 to send me to the line, McCully dribbles through the defense and runs the clock out.
Ohio 66
Akron 64
Too close for comfort, but Ohio has won the MAC Tournament!!!!
Jimenez is the obvious player of the game, scoring 22 on 6-10 3 point shooting. Washburn kept right up with 21 points. Their center, Jolly, scored 11 in support.
McCully: 6 points/5 assists
Jimenez: 22 points
Santiago: 11 points
Bright: 6 points/6 boards
Grundy: 8 points/7 boards
Withers: 7 points
We shoot 9-22 from 3 as a team. Santiago is 3-8. Time to see where we are seeded!