Men's Basketball: OAC Playoff Potential

Take a look at the Ohio Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball standings.

Here, I’ll make it easier.

As you can see, the Pioneers sit in eighth.  Eighth is good though, from the standpoint that you get to make the OAC Tournament.  But the Pioneers need to be careful tonight against the Capital Crusaders.  The Crusaders, who are sixth in the standings, already lost to the Pioneers once this season.  However, Marietta is coming into tonight’s game riding a three-game losing streak against #2 John Caroll, #5 Baldwin Wallace, and #7 Mount Union.

With six conference games left, Marietta is one game ahead of #9 Otterbein.  Otterbein plays #1 Wilmington, and with a loss, could fall two games behind.  Further, if the Pioneers simply beat Capital, Otterbein and #10 Muskingum a second time, then the Cardinals would need to win all of their remaining games.  The Muskies would be eliminated from contention.

As far as the OAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament looks, it could go to either Wilmington or John Carroll, depending on how the conference tournament plays out.  One thing is for sure though:  Wilmington is ranked in the region (not nationally though), and could potentially receive an at-large bid to go dancing if they were to lose to John Carroll.  We’ll monitor the situation at the end of February to see what pans out.

The Pioneers Men’s Basketball team continues their quest for a second straight conference tournament bid tonight when they play Capital at 7:30 PM at Fenton Court in Ban Johnson Arena.  They will then face the #3 Heidelberg Student Princes at Fenton Court on Saturday, scheduled to start around 3 PM (The Women’s Basketball Team plays Saturday at Fenton Court at 1 PM).  For these dates and more, check out the Writing on the Mall Calendar.