Saturday, January 02, 2016

Quick Oakland City Preview

BG has its final pre-MAC tuneup on Saturday against Oakland City...not the Oakland with Greg Kampe...this is a DII school in Indiana...the Mighty Oaks.

For what it is worth, they are 6-0 in their DII games.  They have lost 2 D1 games, which count as exhibitions on their schedule.  They lost by 28 to Austin Peay (RPI 195) and 27 to Lipscomb (RPI 293).

Anyway, these guys are on the schedule to be a win, and you'd hope to see that.  On the other hand, there was Ferris State last year.

Stats available on ncaa.com are a little behind, but they have four plays scoring in double figures.  Their leading scorer is Addison Wagler, a 6'5" FR who is shooting 55% from the field and 81% from the free throw line.  He also averages 8 rebounds per game.  He was the all-time leading scorer at his HS, where he was a post player...the question here is how much he translates to a "big man" in DII  and against the Falcons.

They have three other players who score in double figures, and a 6'6" SR named Byron Dulin who averages 11 rebounds per game.

One way a team like this can be dangerous is shooting the 3FG, but the Mighty Oaks shoot only 36% from the 3FG range.

So, that's a quick look.  This is a game BG should win in absolute terms and you hope to win it easy, get some guys off the bench, etc.  You start the MAC season with two home games next week and that's creates some pressure to be ready to go right away.

Oh, and you know who graduated from Oakland City?  Gil Freaking Hodges.  Who knew?  It was after the war and he actually played basketball.

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