Ohio’s fan contingent for this weekend’s Mid-American Conference Tournament will feature a fervent collection of Reggie Keely supporters, as he calls Cleveland — the site of the tournament — home.
Keely, a senior forward and MAC third-team honoree, played high school ball for Cleveland Heights High School, which is less than eight miles from Quicken Loans Arena, the host of the MAC Tournament.
He said coming home to play in front of his loved ones one last time will make for a lasting final impression of conference play.
“I owe a lot to the city of Cleveland, how I came up and the basketball I was brought up around,” he said. “It means a big deal to come finish my MAC career back in Cleveland.”
The rest of the Bobcats aren’t as lucky to play in close proximity to their old stomping grounds, as less than half the roster hails from Ohio. Nonetheless, Bobcat fans will be boarding planes and logging miles from across the country to make it to The Q in time for Friday’s game.
The biggest class of green-clad travelers will come from Missouri, where more than a dozen Travis Wilkins supporters are shipping up to Cleveland for the weekend festivities.
“My dad’s boss is a really big basketball fan and has followed me since I was pretty young,” said Wilkins, a junior guard. “He has his own jet, and he’s flying about 14 other people to the games, including several of my family members to have them there this weekend.”
Ohio senior forward Ivo Baltic’s father will also make the trip from Missouri for the tournament, but his appearances at the Bobcats’ games are much more common. Baltic said his father, a semitrailer driver, schedules his deliveries to correlate with the cities the Bobcats are competing in.
T.J. Hall, a junior forward, said his mom has seen him play in person only a handful of times since he graduated from Gainesville High School (Fla.) and has never been to a MAC Tournament until now.
He said nothing would feel better than soaking in a Saturday win with his mom.
“I want to celebrate with her, and I want here there,” he said. “It makes it just that much better.”
Ohio senior guard D.J. Cooper, who was named the MAC player of the year Wednesday, hardly travels with an entourage. He said he makes sure several of his loved ones are in attendance for the year-end showdown.
His father, a member of a party that will travel from Chicago to Cleveland this weekend, was the one who informed Cooper of his player-of-the-year nod over the phone Wednesday.
The honor was one, Cooper said, that he would trade in any day in exchange for an NCAA Tournament berth.
“I’ll be able to always say I got this award, but there’s nothing better than celebrating, getting on planes and just enjoying the whole experience with teammates,” he said.
Of his fellow active Bobcats, the only one who has not played in a MAC Tournament is Wilkins, who transferred to Ohio prior to the season.
Wilkins said several of his teammates have given him a heads up about what to expect this weekend.
“They’ve told me there’s nothing like it,” he said. “It’s something you’ll never forget, pretty much.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
