If the season ended today, Ohio would travel to Cleveland as the No. 5 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. As the No. 5 seed, Ohio would face familiar foe Kent State in the first round, and if it were to advance, 13-0 Akron would likely await in the second.
Luckily for the Bobcats, the season isn't over. Five games remain on Ohio's regular season schedule and while the team has a great chance to make the tournament no matter what, it needs to succeed in its final stretch if it wants the best chance to win the conference.
If Ohio wants to be best prepared for the conference tournament, it needs to win four of its remaining five games. However, there are other ways for Ohio to succeed, and when the calendar flips to March, anything can happen.
Still, it’s time for the Bobcats to get hot.
Ohio will have to win three straight tournament games to win the MAC. The last time the team beat three straight MAC schools was in January, during its first three games of conference play. The Bobcats' inconsistency has been apparent.
While Ohio has gone through its fair share of injuries since conference play began, winning basketball games in March is all about who can get hot at the right time. If Ohio can steal a win against Akron this Saturday, there would be no better way to start a historic tournament run.
Looking more specifically at Ohio’s final three games before the tournament wins against Toledo, Miami and Eastern Michigan — all potential tournament teams — would be crucial for gaining momentum going into March.
The last thing Ohio needs is a heartbreaking rivalry loss to Miami and a second straight loss to Toledo before going into March expecting to win a title.
Outside of the phantom effects of momentum, Ohio should be worried about seeding going into the MAC. If the Bobcats want to win the conference, they need to prove that they are better than the rest of the field, but with a couple of key wins to end the year, Ohio can make its path to the championship significantly easier.
It’s almost guaranteed that Akron will end the season as the No. 1 seed, even if it loses one of its last five games. With how the bracket is laid out, Ohio will need to secure either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed to avoid Akron in the early rounds.
To secure one of the top three seeds in the tournament, Ohio will have to beat Miami and Toledo, which currently hold those spots. The Bobcats will take on Miami March 1 in The Convo and Toledo in the final game of the regular season March 7 in The Convo.
These two games can be treated as close to a tournament game as it gets.
With momentum-building games and games to increase seeding, Ohio also has a major measuring-stick game against Akron.
It’s not hard to see that Akron is the favorite to win the conference right now. Nobody has toppled the Zips since conference play began, as they boast the longest winning streak in all of college basketball at 15.
If Ohio can find a way to break the nation's hottest team, it will cement itself back to the form of Preseason MAC Tournament favorite. To win the MAC, someone has to beat Akron. If Ohio can get a taste of victory against the Zips in February, it will be much better set up to win in March.
Ohio has the talent to make a run in March, but that run needs to start now. The Bobcats need to find consistent success in their final five games.
