After tweeting a picture from an on-field appearance at Ohio’s football game
Wednesday, Stevie Taylor, a sophomore guard, posted a simple message: “We up next.”
As Ohio’s season opener Saturday against Portland draws closer, the feeling at The Convo echoes Taylor — that the Bobcats are poised and ready to begin their season.
“I can’t wait,” Taylor said. “We got our feet wet last Saturday, and we’re ready to tighten the screws up and get after Portland Saturday.”
The facts are laid in front of them: The Bobcats have an overhauled staff led by the Mid-American Conference’s winningest coach, will return all five starters from the most successful squad in recent memory, and have enough expectations to drive them up the wall.
Speculation is fine, but quite frankly, they’re tired of talking about it; they prefer to let their game speak instead.
“All the preseason stuff is off our chests,” said Ohio redshirt senior guard Walter Offutt. “It came out, and we saw all of it. We shouldn’t worry about that right now. The ball is about to tip, and everybody’s 0-0 and trying to get to 1-0.”
Putting the hoopla behind them won’t be easy, as the game is dubbed a “Sweet 16 Celebration.” The Bobcats’ tournament banner will be raised to the rafters before tipoff, yet another reminder of what’s expected of this year’s team.
However, Offutt said the banner raising will be especially sweet, because the Bobcats didn’t have much time to soak in their tournament run due to their coaching change soon thereafter.
Coach Jim Christian safeguarded his team against the commotion, welcoming the celebration, which he called “a good distraction.”
“The opening game is hard anyway, so when you add that type of stuff, it piles on,” he said. “You have to be mature enough to handle it and take care of business.”
Going to work will mean trying to slow Portland junior guard Tanner Riley, who has racked up almost an hour of gameplay in the Pilots’ pair of exhibition games — wins against Concordia-Portland and Concordia-Irvine.
Riley had 27 points in the latter victory and posted 10 points in 26 minutes in a loss to Ohio last season.
Aside from making sure they don’t relinquish open shots to Riley, the Bobcats will also key in on Portland’s post presence.
Ryan Nicholas, a junior forward, scored double figures in each of the Pilots’ preseason games.
“They have a great interior game,” Christian said. “They score on top of the rim as well as anybody we’re going to see all year.”
And Saturday, as the team’s banner is revealed, the opening jump ball is tossed up and the crowd comes to a crescendo, the layer of anticipation that has accompanied Ohio since the Sweet 16 will begin to melt away.
“These guys are no more excited than anybody in the country,” Christian said. “If you went to 300 and whatever number schools today, their guys are excited. This is the opening week of basketball.”
For Ohio, it’s about time.
FAST FACTS:
— Fewer than 600 tickets remain for the season opener.
— Three thousand eight-hundred tickets have been reserved for students and their dads.
— The largest crowd in The Convo’s history was 14,102 against Bowling Green in 1970.
— Last season’s “Gary Trent Day” attendance was 13,011.
— The Convo’s capacity is listed as 13,080.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
