In the following weeks, The Post will analyze Ohio men’s basketball roster and its potential impact in 2016-17.
This week, The Post will look at forward Jason Carter.
The Bobcats will be competitive this season. There’s almost no denying it.
Ohio coach Saul Phillips knows it. The team does, too.
But according to Phillips, Ohio needs to get “tougher” interiorly if it wants to seriously compete for a Mid-American Conference championship.
Carter, a bruising young forward from central Ohio may be the answer to that need — and for a while.
“Jason doesn’t need to be told his role,” Phillips said. “Be physical. Make it hurt to play against ya, for Jason I guess is the best way I can put it and he does that on a daily basis.”
Phillips added that some players grimace when going up against Carter on the low block because of his solid stature/tenacity.
Phillips is not wrong about Carter.
During preseason practices, Carter has defended Antonio Campbell, last year’s MAC Player of the Year, and sophomore Doug Taylor on the block. That’s no easy task, especially for a thin statured freshman forward still learning the ropes.
“This is a tough group to integrate into,” Phillips said. “You get some groups where freshman comes in and looks good but, yeah, that’s because you don’t have any players on the floor. This group, he’s coming in playing with a group of high-level players, both (freshmen) are. For (Carter and Rodney Culver) to blend in with this group is a real good sign for them.”
Carter has looked solid in the first few weeks of preseason basketball — scrapping for “50-50” balls and finessing the low block as a stretch four.
He’s still green, you could tell by miscalculating formation setups in the half court. But the potential is definitely there, redshirt senior Kenny Kaminski said Monday.
Carter averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game as a junior at Johnstown-Monroe, a suburban high school 30 minutes away from downtown Columbus.
“He’s extremely solid,” Kaminski said. “Both him and (Culver) are both very solid in what they do.”
Kaminski added that Carter has yet to truly find his role yet in the frontcourt, but his name one Bobcat fans should get used to.
