When Ohio laces up for its season opener with Xavier in The Convo on Sunday, it will be a battle between a pair of first-year coaches with young teams.
For the Bobcats, coach Bob Boldon is ready to turn around the program after their worst season in school history with new coaches, new schemes and new players.
“We need to get better at everything,” Boldon said. “We’ve got a game because our schedule says we have a game. We’ve got a thousand things we’ve got to get better at. Sunday is just part of the process of what we don’t do well and try to fix it.”
The Bobcats have six incoming freshmen on their roster, making it the youngest team Boldon said he’s ever coached.“We’ve been hit with a lot of information,” Boldon said. “It’s a clean slate and (there are) no preconceived notions.”
Two key Bobcats to keep an eye on are a pair of sophomores, Kiyanna Black and Lexie Baldwin.
As a freshman, Black averaged 9.6 points per game and was named to the All-Mid-American Conference’s Freshman Team honoree as a guard.
Lexie Baldwin, a forward, averaged 5.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season.
But despite Ohio’s youth, Xavier has even more new players with eight freshmen.
Thursday during a news conference, the Musketeers announced Brian Neal as the seventh coach in program history. He was previously named Xavier interim head coach Oct. 9 after working as an assistant.
This past year, senior guard Shatyra Hawkes put up 9.2 points per game, along with four rebounds and 3.7 assists. Hawkes received preseason Fourth Team All-Big East honors in October.
Another solid Musketeer is Ashley Wanninger, a senior forward that averaged 9.3 points and 3.4 boards per contest. Wanninger is a preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention.
It’s no secret that Ohio plans to run a more up-tempo style of offense, but it will take time to install.
“It’s going slowly,” Boldon said. “The kids are trying but there’s a lot going on. I think they’ve done a great job of being open to it and trying, but it takes time.”
Defensively, all NCAA teams will be forced to adjust to the new hand-checking rule, which could result in more fouls and trips to the charity strip.
“You’ve got to be able to play defense,” Boldon said. “That’s all it comes down to… For us to be able to guard them effectively without fouling is number one for us.”
Boldon questioned the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee, which made the rules and said games would be ugly to watch.
“Whether we win or lose Sunday, we’ve got a lot of things to get better at,” Boldin said. “We’ll try like crazy to win but that’s not going to define us the first couple weeks.”
Ohio won the past two meetings between the schools. Sunday’s tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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@charliehatch
