The Ohio Athletic Conference pre-season polls have ranked the women’s basketball team as fifth in the OAC out of 10 teams and the men’s basketball team as ninth out of 10 teams.
According to the head women’s basketball coach Connie Richardson, the polls are right where she expected them to be.
“We lost two key players from last year’s squad, so that has to be taken into consideration and I think it was reflected in our placement. Once again, I think it is going to be a battle from top to bottom. That is the beauty of the OAC … competitive from one to 10,” said Richardson.
“It doesn’t surprise me that we got fifth place, they seem to underestimate us each year, this just gives us something to work harder for and use as motivation and we are looking forward to the challenge,” said senior Chelsea Cannon. “Every conference game will be a challenge for us, and we will have to focus on one game at a time and treat every team we face as our biggest competition.”
The men’s basketball team rankings seem to have come as more of a shock to some of the players. But they said they are not letting the polls discourage them.
“I don’t agree at all with the polls, but I’m glad they put us there because it adds fuel to the fire making it that much sweeter to prove pretty much the whole OAC how wrong they were about us; we know how good we are and how good we can be, so now it’s just time to perform,” said junior Jason Davis.
The men’s basketball team will have their home opener Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. against Wittenberg University.
The women’s basketball team will have their home opener Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. against Marietta College.
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