Ohio Dominican feels on rise with starters back
Confetti didn’t fly when Ohio Dominican put the wraps on last season, but there was a lot of satisfaction and hope after the team finished 14-12, its first winning season in nine years.
The best part is that fifth-year coach Dan Evans, who patiently has constructed a team primarily from local players, has his starting five back.
“It was another step in our development, and the great part is we come back with so much experience, with guys who have bought into what we’re trying to do,’’ Evans said. “This is the first senior class this staff has recruited, and now it’s their turn to lead the younger guys. I do think we have some validation on the floor.”
The top players are senior guards Ronnie Williams of Brookhaven (13.7) and Shemar Waugh of Northland (8.5), sophomore forward Hasan Varence of Linden (13.3) and sophomore guard Sam Hickey (12.5).
Coaches in Division II’s Great Midwest Athletic Conference have predicted Ohio Dominican to finish fifth.
“I do think our players thought we were on the verge of playing better than we did,” Evans said. “We want to look back five months from now and be excited about what we’ve done.”
Ohio Wesleyan won 21 games and a thirdstraight North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship, but the Battling Bishops did not receive an at-large bid to the Division III tournament after failing to win the tournament championship. That ended a run of five-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Second-team AllAmerica point guard Nate Axelrod of Dublin Coffman (17.6 points, 4.6 assists) and wings Seth Clark of Olentangy (14.8) and Will Orr of Johnstown (9.2) are back.
“The guys we have back give us a chance to win every game,” coach Mike DeWitt said. “We revolved around Nate’s skill set. I think there is just a little bit of motivation from not making the NCAA Tournament. What we have to do is develop depth. We don’t have that at this point. We’ve got some talented players, but they just aren’t ready to play. We’re counting on that changing.”
Capital coach Damon Goodwin thinks his team has what it takes to compete with anyone in Division III’s Ohio Athletic Conference. The Crusaders have finished 12-14, 8-18, 12-14 and 13-13 since winning the conference in 2012-13.
Reason for optimism starts with guards Dan Auble (6.1), Joey Weingartner (11.9) and Austin Schreck (11.3), forwards Nate Boone of Watterson (7.3) and Tyler Jamison (6.5) and wing Ganiyu Yahaya (6.8).
“We’re going to get back to the point where we were, but I can’t tell you when it will happen,” Goodwin said. “It could take two weeks or two months. We believe we have the players to compete for championships again. Players are buying in to what we’re doing in the program. These guys, I enjoy being around them. The last few years have been tough on our program.”
It will take longer for second-year coach Brian Oilar to turn Otterbein into a challenger in the OAC, as he has nine freshmen, six sophomores, two juniors and four seniors on the roster. The Cardinals finished 4-21 overall and 2-16 in the conference last year.
“In the past, there hasn’t been a lot of heat on guys playing for their spots, but that is changing with competition during practices,” Oilar said. “There is a good mix of some sophomores who played a lot of minutes as freshmen, and freshmen who could help us right away. We’ve got juniors and seniors bringing experience.”
Players to watch are senior forward Matt Hughes of Watterson (9.4), sophomore guard Austin Springer of Mount Vernon (7.0) and senior guard Corey Howard of Gahanna (6.9).
“You do have to be patient, especially with us being Division III and not giving athletic scholarships,” Oilar said. “It’s a year-byyear process.”