It's difficult to put into words how important Antonio Campbell was for the Bobcats.
He won Mid-American Conference Player of the Year last season, led Ohio in points and rebounds this year and was preparing for the NBA after his senior year ended. He was the player students — even students who didn't follow the program — could recognize with just a passing glance.
For the remainder of the season, Campbell won't be recognized throwing one down or pulling up for a corner 3. He'll be seen in a jumpsuit at the end of the bench.
It was announced Thursday that Campbell will miss the rest of the season with a broken right foot, a big blow to Ohio's (11-5, 3-2 MAC) eventual postseason goals. Ohio faces Northern Illinois on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in DeKalb, Ill.
“Tony gets pretty stoic in situations like this," coach Saul Phillips said. "I know it hurts him badly, he doesn’t show outward emotion that way. He took it like a man. We’ll get him fixed up, hopefully he can come back and make a lot of money playing basketball.”
Now, Phillips is faced with the unfortunate reality that he won't have his big man for the rest of this season. He'll have to rely on sophomore Doug Taylor and freshman Jason Carter to try and replace Campbell.
Campbell led the team in points and rebounds per game with 16.4 and 8.9 respectively.
“There’s a lot of season left to go, there’s a lot of room for development," Phillips said. "No one is even going to infer it isn’t a major blow. You don’t lose a Player of the Year without having some wind taken out of you ... I’d rather have him. We don’t. Live with it.”
Taylor currently averages 4.7 points per game; Carter, 5.7.
“Just keep doing what I’m doing, just do it better," Taylor said. "Step up, I’m gonna have to replace Tone’s points, his rebounds, along with Jason as well. Other than that, grinding, going hard every game we play.”
The Bobcats will have to fight through the loss of Campbell to salvage the season — Phillips said he expects teams to automatically count out Ohio.
That starts with Taylor and Carter, who will both have to mature faster than anyone in the program wanted them to.
“I knew their time would come, I just wish it was a year down the road, as soon as Tony stepped off this campus," Phillips said. "But I recruited them to be factors here, I believe they can be factors here, I believe we’re gonna throw a lot at them in a hurry and I believe that if you are a silver linings person, we’re gonna hit the floor ahead of where we were next year. They’ve gotta grow at some point.”
That growing process will start against the Huskies (12-6, 4-1 MAC) on the road. If Taylor and Carter can combine to replace Campbell then the Bobcats won't be as bad off as people might originally expect. But teams will almost assuredly guard Jaaron Simmons and Jordan Dartis with much more care than before.
That brings the focus back to the frontcourt.
The weight of Ohio's season, now more heavily distributed on Simmons and his fellow guards, might just end up being on the backs of Taylor and Carter. No pressure.
“It gives us an extra chip on our shoulder of course," Taylor said. "We’re still competing, we’re still gonna play as hard as we possibly can. Everybody’s counting us out, even with Tony in there. Losing two games in a row, everybody would count us out, of course.”
