Mid-American Conference Basketball

As the seconds ticked away, Chauncey Gilliam raised his arms in excitement toward the Akron crowd in anticipation of victory. After all they had endured, step one was finally complete.

Playing without their starting point guard, Gilliam scored 13 points and Demetrius Treadwell added a double-double for the second consecutive night as the Zips earned their third Mid-American Conference Tournament title in five years with a 65-46 drubbing of Ohio to avenge last year's title-game loss to the Bobcats and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

“It feels great,” said Zeke Marshall, the MAC Defensive of the Player who scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. “We had a chip on our shoulder ever since.”

Treadwell was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player with 13 points and 10 rebounds, a night after going for 14 and 12 against Kent State, to help the Zips (26-6) sweep all three games from their bitter rivals.

“I’m just happy we won and we’re moving on to the NCAA tournament,” said Treadwell.

Reggie Keely was the only player in double figures for Ohio (24-9), finishing with 19 points. Walter Offutt chipped in nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

MAC Player of the Year D.J. Cooper was held without a field goal for just the second time in his illustrious career, finishing 0-of-8 from the field and scoring a season-low three points. Cooper came into the game averaging 20.3 points and 7.7 assists (six games) in Cleveland since scoring 23 in the 2010 Championship game vs. Akron.

“It was just one of those games, definitely unacceptable,” said Cooper who had six assists and five turnovers. “I apologize to my teammates…the ball didn’t fall how it usually does.”

"D.J. is such a great player, let's face it, when he doesn't play well it's hard for us to score," said Ohio coach Jim Christian.

After leading by three at the break, Ohio went ice-cold in the final 20 minutes, shooting a measly 18.5 percent (5-of-27) including 0-of-12 from long range. The Bobcats led the MAC in three-point makes (261) and were second in three-point percentage (35.7) coming into the game.

“It’s real disappointing,” said a melancholy Keely. “We came out here to win a championship. We came to cement our legacy and we couldn’t get it done.”

Ohio shot just 33.3 percent for the game in part because of its inability to break down the Akron defense. For the third time this season, the Zips primarily used the 6’7” Treadwell to guard the 5’11” Cooper and it again worked in the Zips' favor.

When Ohio ran its typical heavy dose of pick-n-roll, the seven-foot Marshall switched out onto the senior guard and kept him from driving into the lane.

“We matched up well enough that we could take away some of their strengths and our guys just showed tremendous toughness on the defensive end,” said Akron coach Keith Dambrot.

Despite the awful shooting performance, Ohio hung around and was down just six after a Cooper free throw with 7:49 remaining. But the Zips locked all windows and doors over the final seven minutes, using an 18-3 run to open up a 63-42 lead with two minutes remaining.

Ohio was held without a field goal from the 11:30 mark of the second half until the 1:37 mark, missing 10 straight shots during the stretch.

“It was a game of two halves,” said Christian. “We played hard, we just couldn’t make a shot. It’s unfortunate because we worked hard to get ourselves in this position.”

Like they did in the two regular-season matchups, Ohio jumped out to an early lead behind Keely. The senior forward scored Ohio’s first eight points, going right at Marshall for three layups before hitting a foul-line jumper.

He added a hook shot a minute later to spark a 10-0 Ohio run. Keely made his first five shots and scored 14 of Ohio’s 29 first-half points.

With Akron’s starting point guard Alex Abreu suspended from the team indefinitely, the Zips struggled to take care of the ball early on, and his absence was tangible during the 10-0 run by Ohio. The Zips committed four turnovers during the run, including three in a row from Nick Harney.

Offutt connected on Ohio’s only three of the game to put the Bobcats ahead 19-12, and they extended the lead to 25-16 with seven minutes left, thanks in part to eight points off the seven early turnovers by the Zips.

Akron, which led the MAC in offensive rebounding and total rebounding, began to attack the glass, grabbing six offensive rebounds, which led to five second-chance points as they climbed within a point with 35 seconds left in the half.

However, T.J. Hall’s driving layup rolled in at the halftime buzzer to restore a three-point Ohio lead. The Bobcats outscored the Zips 20-16 in the paint and shot 48.1 percent (13-27) from the floor in the half.

But it all came apart for Ohio in the second half.

Less than three minutes in, Treadwell was called for an over-the-back foul and slammed the floor with disgust, drawing a technical foul. Cooper made both technical free throws for his first two points of the game, but the sequence energized the Zips.

Moments after the incident, Treadwell gave Akron its first lead since the opening minutes of the game with a layup in traffic. Gilliam hit a wing three-pointer in transition, and Carmelo Betancourt stole Nick Kellogg’s wayward pass and scored a breakaway layup to give the Zips a 40-33 lead with 13:52 to play.

Akron outscored Ohio 14-4 to begin the second half as the Bobcats missed 11 of their first 12 second-half shots.

"I felt like it picked me up about four or five notches and it got our team cranked up, too," Treadwell said of his technical. "It got us all into the game."

In desperate need of a basket, Cooper finally found space in the lane and dished to Jon Smith for a layup to halt Akron’s run.

But the relentlessness of Treadwell and the Zips seemed to tire the Bobcats as the game wore on. Akron was quicker to loose balls on multiple occasions leading to extra possessions, which helped them pull away in the final eight minutes.

Cooper was called for a questionable charging foul on a fast-break layup attempt with Ohio down 42-37, then back-rimmed an open three near the top of the key and slapped his hands together in agony.

“We let our frustration and are inability to make shots or finish plays, affect the defensive end of the ball,” said Christian. "We didn't play the next play, we played the last play."

Hall airmailed an open three-pointer on Ohio’s next possession, which was indicative of Ohio’s second-half shooting woes.

The Zips then slowly began to pull away. Harney converted a three-point play to give the Zips their biggest lead of the game at 50-39 and Akron could sense the title after a beautiful reverse layup from Treadwell made it 56-42 with 4:40 to go.

From there, Akron coasted to victory.

Ohio is likely to continue postseason play and will learn what tournament they’ll play in on Sunday night.

“The NCAA Tournament was definitely the goal,” said Cooper when asked how the team would respond if its season was extended. “It’s a blessing to be out here to play ball, especially for us seniors. I’m going to cherish it regardless of wherever we’re playing in my last few games.”

Notes: Ohio is now 6-2 all-time in MAC Championship games…the Bobcats came into the evening having won 10 of their previous 11 MAC Tournament games...the 2013 All-MAC Tournament Team was announced after the game with Keely, Cooper, Treadwell, Marshall and Kent State's Chris Evans making the five-man squad...the crowd of 12,102 was the fifth largest crowd in MAC tournament history and fourth largest for a title game.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

After defeating Western Michigan last night, Ohio will face Akron in the Mid-American Conference Championship game for the right to advance to the NCAA tournament.

The Bobcats (24-8) and Zips (25-6) will be meeting in the MAC championship game for the third time in four years.

Akron is making its seventh straight appearance.

The two teams have combined to win the last four conference titles; Akron won in 2009 and 2011, and Ohio took the crown in 2010 and 2012. Both of the Bobcats’ championship game wins came against the Zips, including last year’s 64-63 bout.

“It’s only right,” said Ohio point guard D.J. Cooper. “We love playing Akron.”

The Zips and Bobcats shared the MAC regular-season title with records of 14-2; however, Akron won both meetings between the two teams, including a classic overtime battle in Athens 17 days ago.

“We feel like we gave the game away the first two times,” said Cooper. “If you’re a competitor, you love to play in those games.”

The significant difference between those two games and the championship game tonight will be the absence of Alex Abreu.

Akron suspended the starting point guard after he was a arrested on drug charges. He was a driving force behind the Zips’ nation-leading 19-game winning streak.

Although losing Abreu (10.3 points, 6 assists) surely weakens the Zips, Ohio head coach Jim Christian knows Akron still has plenty of other weapons.

“They play 11 guys,” said Christian. “They’re a good basketball team with him, they’re a good basketball team without him.”

Freshman Carmelo Betancourt has started the past two games at point guard for the Zips in lieu of Abreu’s suspension. He played 20 minutes in the Zips’ three-point semifinal win over Kent State last night, scoring just one point, while committing four turnovers.

Akron coach Keith Dambrot brought forward Nick Harney off the bench (he had started the previous 19 games) to handle ball-handling duties while Betancourt was off the floor. Harney responded with 11 points and tied his season high with four assists.

Akron will rely heavily on MAC Defensive Player of the Year Zeke Marshall (13.1 points, 7 rebounds, 3.7 blocks), the conference’s all-time leading shot blocker and hard-nosed forward Demetrius Treadwell (11.3 points, 7.9 boards).

The pair combined for 32 points, 22 rebounds and eight blocks (seven of which were by Marshall) last night.

“I think they have the best mid-major frontcourt in college basketball,” said Christian of the powerful duo. “There are not many teams that put seven-footers out there that control the paint, and they surround those guys with a lot of shooters.”

The undersized Bobcats know rebounding will be vital if they want to win their third conference title in four years.

“It’s no secret, we’re a small team,” said Walter Offutt, who led Ohio last night with 11 rebounds from his small forward position.

Cooper scored a game-high 21 points in yesterday’s win, hitting 6-of-8 shots from the field, including 4-of-6 from downtown. Cooper has averaged 20.3 points, 7.7 assists and two steals in Cleveland since his 23-point performance in the 2010 title clinching win over the Zips.

“I’m just trying to step up, make big plays and do whatever it takes to get the job done,” said Cooper.

“Seniors step up and make big-time plays,” said Offutt, when asked about Cooper’s heroics. “That’s what he’s known for in the past four years he’s been here at Ohio.”

Tipoff for the championship game is set for 6:30 p.m. from Quicken Loans Arena and will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.

This article first appeared on speakeasyohiou.com, a student-run online publication at Ohio University.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Mark Twain once said, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

Stevie Taylor may be the smallest player on the court and Jon Smith may be the skinniest, but the two came off the bench to fuel Ohio’s 58-54 comeback victory over rival Miami (OH) to earn a share of the Mid-American Conference regular season title.

“It feels good because it’s a goal accomplished, but we got more goals,” said Smith on winning the program’s first regular season title since 1994 and its 10th overall. Ohio also tied a program record with 14 MAC wins.

Ohio honored seniors Nick Goff, David McKinley, Walter Offutt, Ivo Baltic, Reggie Keely and D.J. Cooper in a short ceremony prior to the game. McKinley, a fan-favorite, made his first career start. With the win, the class has now won a program-record 93 games and has the most postseason victories of any class with 12. Stevie Taylor was more than happy to help out the seniors in their last game at the Convocation Center.

“I just wanted to send the seniors out on a good note and I wanted the championship so bad,” said Taylor, who finished with eight points and three steals. “I was going to have to do whatever I needed to do.”

Cooper led Ohio (23-8, 14-2) with 17 points, but it was Smith and Taylor who sparked a 15-0 run down the stretch to help turn a 12-point deficit into a three-point lead.

“We showed courage in the last 12 minutes of the game,” said Ohio head coach Jim Christian. “I was really proud of the way we fought to get a share of that championship on a night that we didn’t play well and had to find a way.”

Smith finished with nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds, helping Ohio’s bench outscore Miami’s 23-12.

“It meant everything,” said Cooper of the performance from Smith and Taylor. “Jon was doing the little stuff…Stevie came in and gave us the spark. He’s putting in extra work and it’s paying off. When you work hard, good things happen.”

Cooper drained his signature NBA-range three from the right wing to put Ohio on the board, but after jumping out to a 15-9 lead, the Bobcats struggled offensively.

Ohio committed four straight turnovers and had seven in the opening 12 minutes, allowing the RedHawks—who missed 14 of their first 17 shots—to hang around. Late in the half, the Bobcats missed four straight point-blank shots before T.J. Hall committed a foul out of frustration. A possession later, Smith was called for offensive basket interference to negate a score.

“(On) senior night, you just really never know how seniors are going to react,” said Christian. “I thought it kind of drained us, we came out a little bit flat and obviously in the first half didn’t play very well on the offensive end of the floor. We couldn’t make any shots, didn’t have any flow or rhythm.”

Miami (8-21, 3-13) finally found their rhythm and closed the half with a 9-1 run to take a 28-22 advantage into halftime. The RedHawks dominated the Bobcats in the paint, outscoring the Green and White 18-2 in the first 20 minutes.

Cooper carried the offense in the first half, scoring 10 of the Bobcats 22 points on 3-of-10 shooting. The rest of the team shot 3-of-22 from the floor.

Miami began to pull-away in the second half. After a Keely dunk, Quinten Rollins quieted the crowd with a layup on the other end and Reggie Johnson followed with a pull-up jumper in transition to give Miami its largest lead of the game, 41-29 with 14:03 to play.

A free throw from Geovonie McKnight gave Miami a 44-32 lead with 11:58 to play, before Ohio came roaring back.

Taylor kick-started the run with a long three-pointer from the left wing before Smith scored five straight points, including four on one possession. Smith scored a basket and was fouled but missed the free throw. Instead of sulking, he raced down the lane and tipped in the miss, bringing the crowd to its feet.

“I was really disappointed with what I did in the first half,” said Smith, who missed four put-backs in the opening 20 minutes. “Coach in the locker room was like ‘just play.’ I listened to him. I didn’t really think, I just went out and just tried to have a high motor.”

Offutt scored on a baseline drive and Smith connected on a free throw to cut the deficit to two. That’s when Taylor’s defense took over.

The pesky guard generously listed at 5'10", stole McKnight’s pass and laid in the game-tying layup, then he stripped McKnight once again and found Cooper open in front of the Ohio bench for a transition three to hand Ohio a 47-44 lead, sending the crowd of 8,428 into an absolute frenzy with 7:04 to play.

“I always analyze our team and analyze what can I do to help and coach called my number and I had to produce,” said Taylor, who was wearing a piece of the net the Bobcats cut down after the game.

“They got on a run,” said Miami head coach John Cooper. “They made some shots and they were able to force some turnovers. They were live-ball turnovers, and those lead to typically transition buckets.”

Will Sullivan stopped the bleeding momentarily with a layup as the shot clock expired, but Baltic canned just his ninth three-pointer of the season to extend the lead to four.

The teams traded points until Hall gathered Nick Kellogg’s missed three-point attempt and laid it in for a 56-52 lead with 1:18 to play.

Will Felder, who led the RedHawks with 20 points, hit a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left to trim Ohio’s lead back to two.

With the shot clock winding down, Cooper kicked to Kellogg in the corner. The junior guard was at that point 0-of-4 from the field, all on shots from beyond the arc. This time, he decided to try his luck inside the three-point line. His shot fake sent Sullivan flying by as he took one dribble and calmly sank an 18-footer for his only points of the game to give Ohio a four-point lead with 24 seconds remaining.

As they did all game long, Ohio sealed the victory with defense.

Smith swatted Rollins’ layup attempt out of bounds, and then Kellogg tied up McKnight for a jump ball, allowing Ohio to regain possession and run the clock out.

Ohio now heads to Cleveland for the MAC tournament, which begins Monday, with first round games being played at the higher seeds’ campus. As the No. 2 seed, the Bobcats earned a bye into the semifinal and won’t play until Friday (March 15).

“We celebrate tonight and then tomorrow it’s on to the tourney,” said Smith.

“We just got to have a strong week of preparation and just bring it,” added Cooper.

Friday’s game is scheduled to tip-off at 9 p.m. from Quicken Loans Arena.

Notes: The RedHawks dressed just nine players and were without leading scorer Allen Roberts (12.9 points) for the second straight game. Roberts will miss the rest of the season with a slight meniscus tear.

Here's the MAC Tournament bracket, via MAC-Sports:

This article first appeared on speakeasyohiou.com, a student-run online publication at Ohio University.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Akron Zips point guard Alex Abreu was suspended from the team on Thursday after being arrested and charged with marijuana trafficking, according to the Akron Beacon Journal’s Phil Trexler via Twitter:

UA Zips point guard Alex Abreu arrested on marijuana trafficking charges and suspended from team. Details on Ohio.con

— PHIL TREXLER (@PhilTrexler) March 7, 2013

Per Trexler, Abreu, a junior, was arrested after police officers attempted to purchase marijuana from Abreu during a controlled buy:

Narcotics agents with Akron PD arrested Abreu with a large amt of marijuana today during a controlled buy

— PHIL TREXLER (@PhilTrexler) March 7, 2013

At this time, there is no word on how long Abreu’s suspension will last. Though it seems beside the point at the moment, Abreu’s status will undoubtedly affect the Zips heading into tournament season.

Led by head coach Keith Dambrot, Akron was one of the nation’s most pleasant surprises this season. At 24-5, including a stellar 14-1 in-conference record, the Zips have spent most of their season in or around the Top 25. Expected to make the NCAA Tournament, they can clinch a regular-season crown in the Mid-American Conference with a win on Friday versus Kent State. 

However, Abreu’s absence could wind up costing Akron a tournament berth in the long run.

Though stars Zeke Marshall and Demetrius Treadwell get most of the recognition for Akron’s ascent, Abreu has been the lifeblood of the offense all season.

One of the nation’s best distributors, Abreu is averaging 6.0 assists per game to go along with his 10.3 points. He’s responsible for working the inside-out game with Marshall, setting up Treadwell in advantageous offensive positions and knocking down open three-pointers.

As a team that oftentimes struggles behind the arc, Abreu has been one of the Zips' most consistent shooters from distance.

Akron also doesn’t have much experience behind Abreu at the point guard spot. Freshman Carmelo Betancourt has been his backup throughout the season, but he has played only minimally. Without other top-tier shot-creators to get guys open looks, it’s very possible that Akron’s offense could crater without Abreu.

And if that happens, the young point guard’s arrest may cost his team the reward it had worked toward all season. 

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Very rarely does a game billed as one of the best matchups in conference history live up to the hype, but this game was everything and then some.

In a clash between the Mid-American Conference’s top two teams, it was No. 1 Akron who outlasted No. 2 Ohio 88-81 in overtime on Thursday night. The victory all but wrapped up a second consecutive MAC regular season title for the Zips.

“It was a battle of attrition at the end,” said Akron coach Keith Dambrot. “Both teams were dead tired. The fans got their money’s worth tonight.”

The Zips (23-4, 13-0) extended their nation-leading winning streak to 19 games, and became the first team in MAC history to start 13-0 in conference play. 

Akron overcame an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Ohio (20-8, 11-2) ending the Bobcats' 19-game conference home winning streak. In the process, the Zips also handed the Bobcats just their third home loss in their last 40 contests at the Convocation Center.

The Convocation Center held its second-largest crowd of the season, with 11,109 frenzied spectators on hand to watch the Green and White.

“This was probably the hardest environment that I’ve ever coached in, very difficult, the fans were great,” said Dambrot.

Demetrius Treadwell led No. 24 Akron with 21 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Jake Kretzer came off the bench to score 16 of his career-high 19 points in the second half and overtime, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field with five three-pointers. Center Zeke Marshall added 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks for the Zips.

D.J. Cooper scored a season-high 26 points for Ohio, while Walter Offutt posted his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the ‘Cats fell to 3-5 all-time at home against ranked opponents.

The Zips fought back from an 11-point halftime deficit and never trailed for the rest of the game, but were unable to put the Bobcats away, never leading by more than six points in regulation.

Akron held a 72-68 lead with under a minute to play, but Reggie Keely drew Marshall’s fifth foul and finished the baby hook shot to bring Ohio within two with 47 seconds remaining. Keely missed the free throw, but after Treadwell missed a foul-line jumper, the Bobcats had a chance to once again tie the game.

Offutt missed a go-ahead three-pointer from the left wing, but Jon Smith tipped in the miss with 0.7 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.

Even without their star center, the Zips controlled the extra session, scoring eight of the first nine points. They out-muscled the Bobcats for three key offensive rebounds, one of which led to a three-point play from Treadwell with 2:17 to play, giving Akron a six-point lead.

The Bobcats never came closer than five points the rest of the way. The Zips made 10 of 13 free throws in overtime.

“To come back in this building, I can’t tell you how impressed I am with our guys to do that,” said Dambrot. “I think that was a terrific performance.”

Ohio head coach Jim Christian was proud of his team’s effort, but was disappointed in the final minutes.

“We showed great courage to get the game into overtime,” said Christian, “they just out-toughed us in the last three minutes of the game and that’s a little disappointing,”

Akron shot 50 percent in the second half and the extra session, while Ohio mustered a meager 32.5 percent shooting performance over the same time frame.

“When we get them down like that we’ve just got to continue to get stops,” added Offutt.  “I don’t think it falls too much on our offense. Sometimes shots are not going to go in, but you’ve just got to tough it out on defense.”

The Zips landed the first punch when Alex Abreu quieted the rowdy Ohio fans with a three-pointer 10 seconds into the game, sparking a 9-0 lead just 2:16 into the game.

Ohio responded with nine points of its own, during which Cooper and Nick Harney were hit with double technicals after Cooper took exception to Harney’s foul on him at the top of the key.

With the game knotted at 13, the 'Cats went on a 21-3 tear capped by a monster dunk from Keely over Treadwell to give Ohio a 34-16 lead. Cooper, T.J. Hall and Travis Wilkins all scored five points during the run as the Bobcats held the Zips to just one field goal over seven-plus minutes.

“I thought the first half, we played probably as well as we’ve played in a month,” said Christian.

But just as they overcame an early 13-point deficit in winning the season’s first matchup, the Zips battled back in the second half, bolting out of halftime with a 19-4 run in the first 6:05 to reclaim the lead. Marshall was a force on both ends, stuffing Keely at the rim, leading to Harney’s breakaway dunk, before erasing Hall’s layup attempt to set up Kretzer’s corner trey.

“He dominated the game,” said Dambrot of his seven-foot senior center. “They couldn’t score over the top of him and offensively he scored.”

Kretzer added another triple to give Akron its first lead since leading 11-9 early in the game.

Cooper picked up his 900th career assist, finding Smith for a layup to stop the bleeding before tying the game with a driving layup. Cooper, who had four assists on the night, now ranks 13th in NCAA history with 901 dimes.

Akron took a six-point lead on an alley-oop dunk from Marshall and it appeared as if they might pull away; however, Cooper would not let his team go down without a fight.

As he has done throughout his illustrious career, Ohio’s star guard brought the packed house to its feet with back-to-back threes to even the score at 63.

Cooper was 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and with 257 career triples, needs just two more to set the record for most three-pointers made in Ohio history. He also is 16 points shy of becoming the first player in NCAA basketball history to collect at least 2,000 points, 900 assists, 600 rebounds and 300 steals.

But Kretzer had the better night shooting the basketball; he hit his fourth triple of the half to put the Zips ahead 66-63 with 4:46 to play.

“I had a lot of family and friends from home here to watch the game,” said Kretzer, a Waverly, Ohio native who said he played about eight games in the Convo during his high school days. “I was used to the gym, used to the feel of it.”

After trading baskets, Ohio tied the game at 68 when Offutt connected from deep at the top of the key, setting up the final frantic minutes of regulation.

With three games remaining, Akron stands just one win away from winning the regular-season conference title. Ohio can secure the 2-seed in the MAC Tournament and a double bye into the tournament’s semifinals with a win or a Western Michigan loss.

The Zips and Bobcats will be heavily favored to faceoff in the MAC Championship game for the third time in five years. The teams have traded wins in the finals the past four seasons, with Ohio getting the best of Akron in 2010 and 2012.

“It’s going to be a new game,” said Treadwell of a possible third matchup with Ohio. “The two games in the past have nothing to do with the game we’re playing that day. We got to come ready to play. It’s been a war every time we’ve played them and we’ve got to strap up and be ready for it.”

Ohio has some work to do before then and will look to bounce back against Bowling Green (12-16, 6-7) at noon on Saturday at the Stroh Center. Ohio won the teams’ first matchup 72-63 behind Keely’s 15 points and 10 rebounds.

This article first appeared on speakeasyohiou.com, a student-run online publication at Ohio University.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

Almost three years after Akron's most famous native son decamped for South Beach—leaving a trail of smoldering "witnesses" in his wake—the city has embraced yet another athletic giant.

His name is Zeke Marshall. He stands 7' with a wingspan that stretches to 7'5". He plays basketball for the the University of Akron Zips, and he plays it damn well.

These days you can find Marshall's hulking likeness plastered across a building at the center of campus, arms outstretched in Jamesian glory with a two-word motto tucked underneath his right arm:

 "Think Bigger"

Rarely has bravado sounded so prophetic.

Thanks to a towering front line, the Zips (22-4) have emerged as one of the nation's best mid-major teams, reeling off a nation-best 18-game winning streak and even drawing the attention of LeBron James himself, who told the Associated Press: ''I'm following them a lot. They're on top of the MAC and they're playing some really, really good ball right now."

It figures, then, that the King, a former pupil of Zips coach Keith Dambrot at St. Vincent-St. Mary, will have his eye on the hometown team when it travels to second-place conference rival Ohio on Wednesday for a game that should determine the regular-season MAC champion. Pass that test, and the Zips could be well on their way to March.

If you're trying to handicap this talented, rugged mid-major from there, I'd simply remind you to heed the billboard.

Why They're Dangerous

1. Akron Has High-Major Size

The David-Goliath parable gets plenty of mileage during the NCAA tournament, and with good reason. 

Time and again we've seen undersized double-digit seeds slay the proverbial giant with some combination of three-point shooting and perimeter defensive pressure, so much so that analysts try to target teams that specialize in those two areas when making bracket predictions.

Generally speaking, that logic is sound. Teams that use their relative brawn to beat up on mid-major competition usually find their strengths neutralized against even average-sized Power Six teams.

But every once in a while, we find a stone-thrower that truly can measure up to the big boys. Future NBA center Patrick O'Bryant and Bradley University paved the way in 2006, and Akron fits a similar mold.

The Zips rank 42nd nationally in effective height. And while that might sound modest, consider that teams in the Power Eight (includes the Mountain West, A-10 and Gonzaga) make up just 29 percent of all D1 schools but a full 64 percent of teams ranked among the nation's top 50 in effective height.

In other words, Akron is a rare bird among mid-majors. It's no surprise then that the Zips—who feature six rotation players listed at 6'7" or taller—dominate the painted area.

Dambrot's team has the nation's 20th-best two-point field-goal percentage and the third-best two-point field-goal defense. To give those figures some context, only Florida, Kentucky and Indiana fall among the top 20 nationally in both of those categories.

In a similar vein, Akron ranks 13th nationally in block percentage and 30th overall in block percentage against.

The result is a defense that ranks 37th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and first in conference play with 0.883 points-per-possession allowed.

In article by Bill Livingston of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Dambrot verbalized much of what the numbers show: "We have the size to play with anybody in the country. That's why Butler and Gonzaga are good. Mid-majors usually don't have that. We're big, strong and long everywhere."

2. Zeke Marshall

There's no prospect narrative more enticing to a mid-major coach than that of the coveted "late bloomer."

It's the reason you see tall, athletic-looking guys on the end of every bench in America—all of them there under the Powerball premise that one in 1,000 might someday turn into Zeke Marshall.

When the 7' senior arrived at Akron four years ago, he was still in pubescent flux. Former Akron assistant Jeff Boals likened him to a baby deer (via FoxSportsOhio.com):

The best comparison I can make for Zeke at 18 is Bambi—tries to walk but keeps falling down. He was still maturing physically and emotionally. We tried to sell him that at a place like Akron, he might have a little more time to find his stride.

Said stride has officially been found.

The reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year is having a headline season for the Zips, and it starts with his work in the paint. Marshall, the nation's seventh-best shot-blocker by percentage, has been such a sterling post defender that he's starting to draw the interest of NBA draftniks.

As Joe Treutlein at DraftExpress writes, "Seven-footers with [Marshall's] length and shot-blocking instincts aren't easy to come by,"

Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis also took note of Marshall's defensive prowess in a recent tweet:

Akron center Zeke Marshall. Great shot blocker RT @JaredK_17: under the radar mid major player people will need to know for March?

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) February 19, 2013

On the offensive end, Marshall remains an unfinished product, but his scoring average has increased each of his four years in Akron, topping out at a team-leading 12.6 per game this season.

So often we worry about dominant small-conference big men falling short against Power-Six athletes, but Marshall is the kind of specimen that can transcend those typecasts.

Here's how Marshall has fared over the last two seasons against what I would term significant nonconference competition:

Opponent	Points	Rebounds	Blocks	Result
Mississippi State	10	6	5	W
Detroit	11	6	1	W
West Virginia	10	3	2	L
VCU	10	3	6	L (OT)
Northwestern	17	7	1	L
Oklahoma State	10	12	2	L (OT)
Penn State	17	7	6	W
Creighton	12	2	2	L
Detroit	7	6	5	L
Aggregate	11.6	5.8	3.3	3-6

Now compare that to Marshall's overall dashboard statistics each of the last two years:

Points	Rebounds	Blocks	Year
10.4	5.4	2.8	2011-12
12.6	6.8	3.5	2012-13

Notice much difference? I don't.

Marshall is one of those rare small-college players who is just as effective against tournament-quality teams as he is against the denizens of the MAC.

Off the court, the self-described "nerd" may be more fascinating still, but I'll keep to the chalk and let Zeke do the talking on this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsCEfKmt5N4

3. They Aren't Afraid to Chuck It

All this pontificating about Akron's high-major physical profile obscures the fact that the Zips do share one key thing in common with the typical upset specialist: They love to shoot threes.

In fact, Akron ranks 62nd nationally in three-point field goals as a percentage of overall attempts. And although the Zips connect on only 34 percent of those attempts (165th in the nation), their pedestrian success rate is mitigated by the fact that they grab so many of their own misses.

To wit, only 22 teams in the entire country grab a greater percentage of available offensive rebounds than Akron.

Guards Alex Abreu and Brian Walsh are the leading beneficiaries of all that dirty work. Each has attempted over 100 three-pointers this year, with Abreu connecting on 38.9 percent of his attempts and Walsh converting at an even better 40.7-percent clip.

In Abreu's case, however, the shooting numbers alone sell him short.

On a team with tremendous depth—Akron ranks 40th nationally in bench minutes—the Puerto Rican-born point guard is one of the only players regularly asked to log more than 25 minutes in a game, and his 30 minute-per-game average is tops on the team.

It's Abreu's heady play on the perimeter that makes Marshall and forward Demetrius Treadwell so effective inside, and some, like Eastern Michigan head coach Rob Murphy, say it's Abreu who holds the keys to Akron's postseason fate (via The Cleveland Plain-Dealer): "Abreu is very important for them. He is their one steady point guard who has to be counted on to make sure they are going to be successful.'"

Inside and out, the Zips have pieces in place to beat high-major competition. Put it all together, and you get something along the lines of what ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas told the Associated Press in early February:

'They haven't been playing under my radar. I've been watching them all season. They're a really good basketball team. They do a really good job offensive rebounding. They can defend in the post, they've got really good guards and Marshall is only getting better.

Teams Akron Could Beat in the NCAA Tournament

1. La Salle

La Salle is a No. 11 seed in Joe Lunardi's latest bracket and Akron is a 13. If the two meet in the middle at 12, the Explorers could be in trouble. One of the nation's shorter teams in effective height, La Salle has been among the A-10's worst at defending the two-point shot.

2. Minnesota

Tubby Smith's Golden Gophers are plenty tall, but they've been a wreck on the defensive glass. Among Big Ten teams, only Illinois and Northwestern have corralled a lower percentage of opponent misses. That's surprising given the presence of forward Trevor Mbakwe, but the numbers say Zeke Marshall could feast on this Minnesota team.

Note: All statistics courtesy of KenPom.com unless otherwise noted.

Ivo Baltic glides up the floor and slams home a missed layup, sparking an affectionate “Ivo Baltic” chant from the O Zone, Ohio’s boisterous student section. Moments earlier, he had knocked down his patented jumper from the wing to ignite an 8-0 run, giving Ohio a 15-point lead over Kent State.

Unfortunately, the good feelings fade quickly as Baltic turns it over on Ohio’s next possession and immediately is sent to the bench.

This sequence from the Bobcats’ overtime win is one quite familiar to Ohio basketball followers. Fans, media members and coaches have been asking this question for nearly a season and a half: Why can’t Ivo Baltic find consistency?

“It’s real hard to figure out,” said Ohio coach Jim Christian before a practice last week. “Basketball is 90 percent mental; it’s a mental game. Some guys can handle the ups and downs better than others.”

These words are a far cry from what one would expect to hear about a player whose career is littered with both individual and team accomplishments.

While talking with current and former coaches who worked with Baltic, phrases like “tremendous athlete,” “offensively gifted,” “can score from all three levels” and “difficult to guard” are common in describing the senior forward’s game.

As the Bobcats have racked up wins and national recognition, the Bosnian native has struggled to find his niche on a team overflowing with talent.

To put Baltic’s inconsistent production into perspective, he averaged 15.8 points and 6.7 rebounds over the final 13 games of his sophomore season, shooting 56.2 percent from the field while converting 52 of 65 at the foul line (80 percent). He scored 16 or more seven times during the stretch, reaching double digits in all but two games.

He finished the season averaging 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds, shooting 53.5 percent from the floor, good for second in the MAC. It looked like Baltic was ready to explode and dominate the conference for years to come with his rare combination of size, athleticism, vision and quickness.

Yet Baltic’s highly anticipated junior year began just as his sophomore season did—slow and inconsistent.

He averaged a tick over eight points in the first nine games before finding his rhythm in blowout wins over Wright State (15 points in 19 minutes) and Northern Iowa (season-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting), setting off a streak in which he scored in double figures for 10 straight games, ending with a 20-point performance on “Gary Trent Day” in a thrilling comeback win over rival Miami.

Baltic was playing like everyone knew he could, attacking the rim and scoring from inside and out.

However, after the Miami game, his performance sharply declined, falling into a rut that has plagued him ever since. He shockingly never scored more than 10 points for the rest of the season (18 games) even as the Bobcats made school history with a program-record 29 wins and trip to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1964.

It was midway through this rough patch that Baltic began a mystifying streak of 622 minutes, spanning 20 games (including the first 11 of this season), without attempting a free throw.

According to sports-reference.com, of the 1,245 players with at least 200 points this season, only three (all of whom are guards) have attempted less free throws than Baltic’s 13.

“Sophomore year when I was in the post a lot, I was way more physical, so I would get to the line more,” Baltic said. “When you spend so much more time out on the perimeter shooting jump shots, the chances of you getting fouled are slim.”

Baltic’s lack of free-throw attempts renders him inefficient offensively because he must take a high volume of shots in order to score his points. He also doesn’t shoot many threes (8-of-22), instead opting to take long two-pointers, many of which are just a foot inside the arc, a shot that most coaches agree is the worst in basketball.

Baltic’s Player Efficiency Rating (PER), a popular advanced statistic developed by John Hollinger which attempts to quantify player performance on a per-minute basis, was a very respectable 20.1 (15 is average) during his sophomore season, good for 10th in the MAC. But his PER sunk all the way to 12.9 last season (64th in the conference) and sits at just 14.6 this season.

“When you limit yourself to being a jump shooter, then you give yourself the opportunity to have some off nights because sometimes those shots aren’t going to fall,” said Aaron Fuss, who was promoted to assistant coach this season after spending three years as Director of Basketball Operations for the Bobcats.

Finally, after back-to-back scoreless games against Kent State and Akron, Baltic was replaced in the starting lineup by T.J. Hall, a move that sparked Ohio’s current five-game winning streak.

“I don’t really care who starts, but I think it’s important to reward guys when they’re playing well,” said Christian of the lineup switch.

The coaches have done everything in their power to try to get Baltic to play with confidence and aggression, but it has not registered yet.

At this point, he is an unsolvable puzzle, an enigma. On the surface, his numbers aren’t far off from his sophomore season. He’s scoring 8.1 points per game, leads the team with 5.3 rebounds, and is second in assists. But for a guy who received ringing endorsements on his ability from former assistant coach Dustin Ford, Christian and Fuss, the numbers are hollow, a reflection of his inability to find consistency.

No one is questioning Baltic’s physical talent.

“He’s a matchup problem,” said Ford, who coached Baltic during his first three seasons, before leaving for Illinois with former Ohio head coach John Groce. “He’s capable of posting, he’s capable of catching and shooting and he’s capable of driving. I don’t think there’s anything in his offensive package that he can’t do. There’s no doubt he’s capable of doing whatever he wants offensively, when he wants to do it.”

How can a guy with so much offensive talent struggle so mightily? What’s the issue? What is holding Baltic back from producing like he did at the end of his sophomore season and for stretches last year?

The soft-spoken Baltic admitted the inconsistency is mental.

“It’s been a mental block for me,” he said candidly. “It’s something that as players develop, some go through it faster, some go through it slower. Unfortunately, I’ve been in a slump and I haven’t been getting through it as well as I’ve been wanting to.”

Christian believes Baltic’s issues are beyond his control at this point.

“Not one coach in the country can give a player confidence. No coach in the country can take your confidence away,” said Christian.

Amid the high-flying dunks and sweet-stroking jump shot, Baltic said he’s played tentative at times, pressing to make plays. In the Bobcats’ home game against the Golden Flashes, Baltic twice drove baseline, jumped in the air under the basket and floated passes toward the perimeter without even looking at the rim. One of the passes was easily intercepted, prompting Christian to spread his arms out wide with a confused expression on his face.

“It’s not by design,” said Christian of Baltic’s tendency to kick the ball out on his drives.

“I was just telling Coach, I’ve been playing a little too fast for my liking,” said Baltic. “When I’m out there, sometimes I feel like stuff is moving a little faster than it has been lately, and it’s me being a little tentative. I need to start being more aggressive and start scoring more.”

The coaches have made a concerted effort to stress to Baltic that even when he isn’t scoring in the half court, he can score in other ways.

“He’s got to be opportunistic. That’s why we need him to run the floor…that’s when he gets layups and dunks,” added Christian.

Arguably the biggest difference in Baltic’s game as a sophomore to now is that he’s played mostly on the perimeter in the half-court offense, as opposed to sitting on the block. The change is a combination of things, most notably scheme and personnel.

Although Christian did not change much when he took the reins from Groce, he did implement a “four out, one in” system that calls for senior forward Reggie Keely to play inside with four shooters surrounding him.

“You can’t have two post players right near each other,” said Christian. “Reggie does a lot of that stuff for us. He’s usually down there.”

That has forced Baltic to float around on the perimeter, and although he has greatly improved his outside shooting and ball-handling, he is clearly more comfortable on the block.

“I’d rather post,” he said before pausing to add, “It is what it is.”

However, even when Baltic has had the opportunity to play with his back to the basket, he hasn’t impressed, looking like a shell of the player who once put up 31 against Northern Illinois. He attributed his struggles in the post to a lack of practice.

“I’ve gotten away from it. You can’t just go out in a game and do stuff right away. You have to work on it out here (at practice). That’s partially on me. That’s something I have to work on.”

It’s astounding that a weapon Baltic used so frequently with such great success in 2010-11 and for parts of last season has all but disappeared from his repertoire.

“At the end of last season, he kind of morphed into and was successful at making jump shots,” said Fuss. “He’s been a stretch the floor guy.”

But no matter whether he is stretching the floor or battling inside, his coach just wants the enigmatic Baltic to make the right decisions.

“There is a time to pass, there is a time to be an aggressive scorer, to offensive rebound, to run your lane,” Christian said.

Since being relegated to the bench, Baltic has finally found some consistency, scoring eight, eight, eight, six and eight points while grabbing 5.4 rebounds. And even though his role has changed and his production has dipped, Baltic remains an integral player for the Bobcats and still has the skills to take over a game.

With the "do-or-die" games of March looming, it’s often those big games that hinge on the performances of role players, which is what Baltic has become. Bobcat Nation hopes Baltic can regain his confidence and produce at a level one would expect of a player with his immense talent.

“We need him,” said Christian.

Otherwise, Ohio will have a difficult time making another deep run in March.

This article first appeared on speakeasyohiou.com, a student-run online publication at Ohio University.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Just over one year ago, Ohio lost consecutive road games in Toledo and Eastern Michigan, falling to 7-4 in the MAC. Bobcat Nation was restless and frustrated—they would not remain that way for long.

The Bobcats went on to win 10 of their next 11 games en route to becoming the darlings of March Madness and winning a program record 29 games.

While the 2012-2013 team struggled mightily on the road early in the season, they have been phenomenal on the road in conference play, save for the tough loss to Akron on Feb. 2.

After plane troubles caused the team to take the seven-hour bus ride up to Mt. Pleasant, it was one of those games that the Bobcats might have lost a few years ago. But this time, the veteran Bobcats, led by their senior class, rose to the occasion.

Ohio (18-6, 9-1) overcame a sloppy start to run away from Central Michigan (9-15, 2-9) in the second half, winning 82-63.

With the victory, the senior class of D.J. Cooper, Reggie Keely, Ivo Baltic, Walter Offutt and David McKinley earned win number 88 at Ohio, becoming the winningest class in program history, surpassing the previous mark of 87 set by the 1982-1986 class.

“If you want to build programs that sustain legacies, this is where it starts, with these guys,” said a proud Jim Christian when asked about his seniors.

The win helped the Bobcats keep pace with MAC-leading Akron (20-4, 11-0), who extended the nation's longest winning streak to 16 games after defeating Eastern Michigan 70-62.

Offutt led Ohio with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Keely added 14 points and six boards. Keely is now just two points away from eclipsing 1,000 for his career. 

The Bobcats used a 12-4 run early in the second half to take control and held a double-digit lead for the rest of the game. Ohio led by as many as 21 to earn their tenth win in their last 11 games.

Ohio, which leads the MAC in shooting percentage at over 48 percent from the field, shot 51 percent (30-58) and made 10-21 from beyond the arc. The Bobcats held CMU to 40 percent shooting (22-55), including 4-21 from long range and forced 19 turnovers.  

But it wasn’t all rosy for the 'Cats. Ohio came out flat with six turnovers in the opening four minutes and looked to be out of sync offensively.

“We didn’t play focused in the first half. We were lethargic,” said Christian.

The Chippewas couldn’t capitalize on the Bobcats’ slow start, turning it over on three consecutive possessions leading to a layup by Offutt and dunk for Keely to put Ohio on the board.

Offutt knocked down three triples from the corners as the Bobcats shredded CMU’s 3-2 zone to take the lead. However, Ohio was never able to sustain any rhythm offensively in the first half, often playing too fast for its own good. But the Bobcats used the frenetic pace to their advantage, scoring 14 points on the fast break, thanks in large part to a stingy defense that forced nine first half turnovers.  

2 away from 1000 points in my career. Can't wait to get it in front of the best fans in the Mac #itsonlyright

— Reggie keely jr (@BiG_ReG30) February 14, 2013

But while they forced turnovers, Ohio was consistently one step behind Kyle Randall, who came into the game second in the MAC in scoring with 17.2 points. The transfer from UNC-Greensboro scored 15 of the Chippewas 31 first-half points and finished with a game-high 28 points.

Keely poured in 12 of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, including a buzzer-beating jumper to give Ohio a 35-31 halftime lead.

The Bobcats continued their hot shooting in the second half as three-pointers from Stevie Taylor, Cooper and Ricardo Johnson allowed the Bobcats to withstand three straight makes from CMU, before Ohio was finally able to pull away.

A three-point play from Johnson gave Ohio a 49-41 lead to start the Bobcats 12-4 run, and after Jon Smith slammed home Baltic's miss, Johnson swished his second trey from the right corner to put Ohio up by nine. Baltic knocked down a jumper from the top of the key and another Smith putback gave Ohio a 13-point lead with 12:15 remaining.

“I had to pick up the energy. That’s what I do best is bring energy and be able to produce when my number is called,” said Johnson, who came off the bench to fill the box score with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Ohio’s bench was terrific, outscoring the CMU bench 31-15.

“I thought we got really good contributions from everybody that came in. It’s one of those nights where energy’s not there and you need a bunch of different guys to supply it,” added Christian.

Later on, Cooper found the bottom of the net from NBA range to extend the lead to 68-49—Ohio cruised to yet another road victory.  Cooper scored eight points and added three assists, upping his career total to 877 helpings, tied for 18th all-time.

The seniors will try to add another win this Saturday when they return to the Convocation Center for an 11 a.m. matchup with Kent State (14-11, 5-6) on ESPNU. The Bobcats won the first meeting in classic fashion, 69-68, and are looking to sweep the Golden Flashes for the first time since the 2000-2001 season.

Marlowe Alter is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.