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Meet the Ohio University Bobcats

Virginia’s First Opponent: Ohio University Bobcats

The Bobcats of Ohio University (OU) beat Buffalo to win the Mid-American Conference championship to make their first March Madness appearance since 2012. OU is a freight train running: they’ve won 9 of their last 10 games, including an impressive MAC Tournament run past Kent State, Toledo and Buffalo. MAC teams have a long history of NCAA upsets, and the Bobcats plan on adding their name to the list.

As they say in Athens, Ohio, "O-U, Oh, yeah!"

Virginia shares one opponent with the Bobcats: Kent State. In the MAC tournament, OU beat Kent State 85-63. Virginia needed overtime to beat Kent State 71-64 back in December. So OU is better than Virginia, right?

OU is a trendy pick for a first round upset over a wounded Virginia squad. The media is all-in on OU. Naturally, Virginia fans are nervous given both their struggles in first round games in the NCAA tournament and the uncertainty about their status for this one. But Virginia fans are always nervous. The media has this one all wrong.

Here’s what the media won’t tell you: OU also lost to Kent State in January. During the rematch in the tournament, Kent State was missing their two leading scorers. Something’s missing from the media narrative, eh?

And way back in November, OU played Illinois very close, ultimately losing 77-75. Those early-season matchups are the basis of some misplaced confidence among the Bobcat faithful.

OU Will Speed Virginia Up?

If you want to trigger true belly laughs from Virginia fans, tell them OU fans point out that the Bobcats average 80.9 points per game and the Hoos average 68.6. OU fans think this means Virginia will need to increase their average scoring by 13 points to keep pace. Virginia fans, of course, know that Virginia has a different plan: decrease OU’s scoring by about 20 points instead. Maybe 30.

But OU is experienced and they play well together. They’re 17th in the country in scoring and they want to play fast, but they’re also pretty efficient, averaging 1.1 points per possession (Virginia also averages 1.1). But they average 73 possessions per game and Virginia won’t allow them that many.

In their seven losses this season, they’ve given up an average of 86 points per game.

While they shoot well from deep, making 36% as a team, they only make about 8 per game, which is fewer than Virginia typically allows. OU is about 130th in the nation with 23 three point attempts per game. They’ll need to make more against Virginia, but the Bobcats also need to get to the rim to score. That’s not going to be easy against Virginia with Huff and team patrolling the paint.

Experienced Leadership

OU plays about seven players, led by superstar point guard Jason Preston whose likeable Cinderella backstory is sure to be repeated ad nauseum from now through Saturday. He’s gone from hardscrabble beginnings to recent appearance on some NBA draft boards.

Early in the season, Preston scored 31 points against Illinois. Preston also led the Bobcats in scoring in each of their MAC tournament games, scoring 19 against Kent State, 27 against Toledo, and 22 against Buffalo. He was named the tournament MVP.

Preston is a tall 6’4" point guard who doesn’t blow you away with speed or athleticism but really knows how to run an offense and control the pace of play. He’s a very crafty player with great ballhandling ability and a nice ability to use his big frame to shield the defender (or shove him off with a well-placed forearm) and get to his spots. Preston can score the ball and is a deadly three point shooter, averaging 40.8% from deep, but despite being their leading scorer, he’s very much a pure point guard who’s at his best facilitating and setting up his teammates, including some highlight-reel behind-the-back passes. Defensively, he makes up for his lack of speed by playing with great positioning and anticipation.

Best comparison this season? Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado (although there are no known incidences of air guitar from Preston).

Preston will play the entire game. He plays up to his competition: he averaged 16.9 points per game, but climbed to about 23 points per game in the MAC tournament and scored 31 points against Illinois early in the season. His coach says "when [Preston] comes out aggressive, he’s unstoppable."

He does have a few weaknesses: he averages about 3 turnovers per game and makes less than 60% of his free throws. As a team, the Bobcats are a disaster from the charity stripe, only making 70% as a team, which is about 200th in the nation.

The Bennett Connection

After Preston, Ben Vander Plas, OU’s 6’7" 230 pound forward, averages 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists per game. He can step out and shoot from deep. He passes well out of the post. Ben is named after -- wait for it – Virginia’s Tony Bennett's father, Dick Bennett. That’s right: Ben (full name: Bennett) Vander Plas’ father played basketball with Tony Bennett at Wisconsin-Green Bay under Dick Bennett. Ben Vander Plas is a coach’s kid, a gym rat, the son of Dean Vander Plas, who is a Wisconsin basketball celebrity.

It was the elder Vander Plas who played at Wisconsin-Green Bay alongside current Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, and for the former Phoenix head coach Dick Bennett. It was Dean Vander Plas who helped those Green Bay teams punch tickets into the NIT (1990) and the NCAA (1991) Tournaments, and then moved on to become a highly successful head coach for high school boys basketball in his home state.

Preston and Vander Plas are both juniors and play well together.

Balanced Scoring

With those two are five other players who all average double-digit minutes and can score:

• Dwight Wilson III, a 6’8" senior, scores 15 points and 8 rebounds per game.

• Lunden McDay, a 6’3" sophomore guard, chips in 10 points per game. He’s a streaky shooter who hits about 33% of his three point attempts.

• Ben Roderick, a 6’5" sophomore, scores 12 points per game and is a 40% three point shooter.

• Mark Sears, a 6’1" freshman guard, adds 9 points per game.

• Miles Brown, a 6’1" sophomore guard, adds another 5 points per game.

Doofus Coach

OU is coached by Jeff Boals, who made the tournament in his second season as OU’s coach. He’s good coach who took over a middling program and has seen instant success – but despite taking himself very seriously, he’s something of a goof. Back in January, the game clock malfunctioned during a game. The solution? Playing without the game and shot clocks, the PA announcer would begin a countdown as the shot clock wound down.

A few possessions after this scenario began, Boals’ Bobcats were locked into a good half-court defensive possession. Suddenly Boals started yelling from the OU bench: "3… 2… 1…"

The opposing guard threw up a hurried shot – well before the official countdown had begun.

"I must’ve read the wrong clock," Boals said with a grin.

How OU wins:

The Bobcats need to play fast and make their deep shots. Heard that one before? They have a playmaking point guard in Preston who can find the gaps in Virginia’s vaunted packline defense. OU can score quickly: they went on an NCAA-record 40-0 run against Cleveland State. As a team, they shoot a very respectable 36% from deep, which is poison to the packline.

And Virginia, reeling from a recent positive COVID test, won’t get to practice much – if at all – before the game. They don't even yet know who can definitively play, and even though they're isolated now, with all of their players previously in contact with the infected player, there could be another shoe to drop.

The combination of a poor start from a potentially off-balance Virginia squad and a confident, experienced OU team speeding up the game and making their deep shots is a recipe for an upset. In fact, this game is already a trendy upset pick. But OU would have been much better served to sneak up on Virginia.

How Virginia wins:

Defense, defense, defense. Virginia just needs to be Virginia: suffocating defense and patient, methodical offense.

Virginia can use their enormous size advantage to pound the Bobcats into submission. They can bomb them from outside with shooters like Huff, Murphy, and Huff who are just too tall for the Bobcats to defend.

But it's their defense that will make Preston, who is not very quick, very uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. Finally, they just won’t allow fast break points – and few points in the paint at all – and force OU to beat them from outside.

Remember, 13 seeds have only beaten 4 seeds 20.7% of the time since 1985. There is a huge disparity between these two squads. Virginia will win -- and win big.

Virginia historically suffered from massive disrespect. Now it’s back: Jay Bilas, a media clown who hates Virginia because they’ve eclipsed Duke, is among the many picking against Virginia. Virginia plays well with a chip on their shoulders. Forced out of the ACC tournament, unloved in the NCAA tournament – that’s a recipe for a hungry Virginia team taking a hammer to the poor Bobcats.

Hot takes from the media:

Cleveland.com: "This will not be an overwhelming draw for OU considering the Cavaliers struggled to beat Kent State in overtime earlier this season."

Jay Bilas: Picks OU to upset Virginia because Jason Preston is "the Lamelo Ball of this tournament."

Famous Bobcat:

DJ Cooper, a former Ohio University basketball player, who was suspended by the International Basketball Federation after a drug test revealed he was pregnant.

That’s right: pregnant.

Back in 2014, he was trying to land a spot on the Bosnian national basketball team, which required a urine test. The results came back indicating high levels of hCG, a hormone found in pregnant women. Most believe Cooper was using his girlfriend’s urine to cheat on his urine test, which was certainly a surprising way to find out you’re going to be a father.


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