Troop's Takes: Hate to say it, but I"m glad it"s over
By Caleb Troop
Athens NEWS Sports Columnist
March 27, 2008
Every once in a while comes a season of Ohio University athletics that you don’t want to see come to an end. The 2006 football squad was a team and program you just had to follow until the last snap. The magic of Frank Solich that year took everyone by storm. You could say the same about recent runs in volleyball, field hockey and women’s basketball.
But Ohio’s 2007-08 men’s basketball campaign was not one of those seasons.
As anti-Ohio as it might sound, I’m not exactly bent over bawling that the Bobcats (20-13) collapsed on Monday night in a season-ending 79-73 loss at Bradley in Peoria, Ill.
Imagine if the ’Cats had kept winning in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational. From a financial standpoint, we would hear more grumbling about possible future home games in the tournament (and the substantial cost of hosting these games). And what if the success continued on the hardwood and Ohio somehow won this thing? Would we have celebrated winning a mediocre tournament or would we have been left wondering what could have been if the ’Cats played like this when it really mattered in the conference tournament?
Thankfully, though, it’s over.
Whether it was that $60,000 debate or the Allen Hester Facebook of Hate, the drama has concluded. This season and everything that surrounded it were beginning to feel like fifth grade all over again.
Ohio let up 50 second-half points after outscoring the Braves by 13 in the first half. Ohio’s 20 turnovers translated into 23 points for the Missouri Valley Conference foe.
Surprisingly, however, I’m not even that upset with those figures. After all, 12 of the 13 losses this season came away from The Convocation Center. Why should we have expected things to change in Peoria?
C’mon now, you’ve heard it before. Say it with me — it’s tough to win on the road.
No, what’s maddening is looking at the box score and wondering what the game plan really was from head coach Tim O’Shea.
A few days ago, O’Shea claimed that ’Cats sophomore guard Asown Sayles was going to become a regular in the rotation after a pleasing performance against Brown. Instead, O’Shea played him for one minute in the Bradley game.
And while we saw freshman guard Tommy Freeman again as a starter, playing him for just seven minutes in the second half is not productive and beneficial for him.
Oh, and what about center Kenneth van Kempen, whom O’Shea has seemingly given a starting spot for next year? Seven minutes. Think KVK is ready to play 20 to 30 minutes next season after the CBI?
What was there to gain from participating in and paying for this tournament if you’re not going to play the student-athletes who need the experience heading into next season?
I understand the importance of playing your seniors, particularly Bubba Walther and Leon Williams, who deserve every second on the floor they can receive. But somewhere in between yelling at your players for not getting the ball to Leon, as a coach you have to look at the big picture. The CBI gave Ohio an extra week or two of practices that many Mid-American Conference programs didn’t receive. The ’Cats were given an opportunity to play competitive games and build toward the future all while letting Bubba and Leon step on the hardwood a little while longer.
The Bobcats and O’Shea did not make the most out their postseason opportunities in terms of this program moving forward.
So forget the second half collapse from the ’Cats. Who cares that Ohio led by 14 points after a Michael Allen jumper made it 63-49 with 9:11 left in the contest. We’ve seen bad losses before.
The frustrating part is not how Ohio lost its final game of the season. Instead, the annoying aspect of the season-ending loss is that it came so late.
Ohio’s season was revived with a first-round MAC Tournament bye, then deflated with a quarterfinal loss to Miami. The door was pushed open again with the CBI, then shut with the Bradley loss.
It was difficult keeping track of where the Bobcats were on their roller-coaster, considering the number of opportunities they had. At least now, there’s a sense of closure to this heart-pounding and misleading tail spin of a basketball season.
I could write about how fitting the season-ending loss was for Ohio. But I’m mainly just glad the season finally ended.
Caleb Troop is the sports columnist for The Athens NEWS and can be reached at ctroop@TroopSports.com. He co-hosts “The SportsFan” weeknights from 6-7 on 970 WATH-AM in Athens.
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