How many league losses will the MAC East winner have this season?  Last year Buffalo and BG both had five losses.

-  Ohio offensive lineman Vincent Carlotta one of four Ohio University students assaulted on campus earlier this month .

-  Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Elton Alexander is spot on with this assessment after watching the Akron-Kent State contest on Saturday:  “I think the rest of the MAC better start loading up on post players as Saturday showed two of the best in the league might be young ones playing in Northeast Ohio. Akron’s 7-0 Zeke Marshall measured up to his hype with six rebounds, three blocked shots and four points in 21 minutes against Kent State. But KSU’s 6-8 sophomore Justin Greene had 23 points and 13 rebounds in 34 minutes. If Marshall improves in one year as much as Greene has, the sky is the limit.”

-  More to come.

- Here’s another interesting football bowl change that could hamper the MAC, according to Schaus:  “I think there is going to be a change in the way bowls are selected beginning next year.  And that is that there is probably going to be a vote as to whether a six-win team will be treated the same as a seven-win team.  Right now, you cannot take a six-win team if there has not been all the seven-win teams placed.  Well, I think that is going to be reviewed.  That is going to be discussed and voted on by the bowl committee, and I think there is a good chance that that is going to be changed. That is not a good change for the MAC if that happens.”

-  John Groce joined Dave Palmer and Ray Wagner for nearly an hour on “The Partyline” Thursday morning on 970 WATH-AM.  Click here to listen to a very interesting interview.

-  One excerpt from the interview is below.

Palmer:  The leaders on the team, I’d like to know from your point of view, are who?

Groce: (pause) Me.

-  Groce’s father fought in Vietnam, and both of his grandfathers fought in World War II.  Groce himself almost went to West Point, and looked at Air Force as well, before deciding to stay close to home and attend Taylor University.

-  Among the four incoming recruits next year for Ohio men’s hoops, Ricardo Johnson (Ky.) and Nick Kellogg (Oh.) have the best chances of playing right away.

-  Don’t be surprised if incoming center Ethan Jacobs redshirts next fall.

-  Departed Bobcat Marquis Horne recently took a visit to Georgia State out of the Colonial Athletic Association.  Horne has looked at Columbus State J.C. and Tennessee State out of the Ohio Valley Conference as well.  His mother relocated from Cincinnati to Atlanta in December, which played a major role in why Horne left the program.

-  The biggest disappointment of the 09-10 season for the ‘Cats is the lack of development from Ohio’s post players, most notably DeVaughn Washington.  Devo is a walking highlight reel, sure, but we’ve been waiting for some back-to-the-basket moves for three seasons now.

-  Meanwhile, KVK is in better shape and is rebounding well, but his offensive game starts and ends with mid-range jumpers.  Ohio’s inability to do damage down low keeps the opponents’ bigs out of foul trouble, too.

-  The ‘Cats have been out-toughed in all three MAC games.  Period.

-  Expect that to change next year when Alex Kellogg enters the mix.  His 6-8, 240-pound frame is much needed right now.  Kellogg does not have a great post game, but I’m told he will be by far the ‘Cats best rebounder next year, with a Jerome Tillman-like knack on the glass.  Kellogg’s post game needs improvement, and he lacks a bit of touch around the hoop.  But the ‘Cats will have a banger inside, something that cannot be said right now.

-  Freshman D.J. Cooper is third in the MAC in minutes played.  Will he break down if he keeps up his average of 33.8 minutes per game?  I don’t think so.  Remember, kids these days play so much AAU ball in high school.

-  Ohio will have to hit open threes versus Bowling Green on Wednesday night as the Falcons implement their zone all game long, keeping 285-pound big man Otis Polk down low.  BG is awful at the foul line, too.

-  If you are not following me on Twitter (@CalebTroop) here’s just some of what you have missed the last few days:

-  Jan. 15 (9:29 p.m.): “Got torched by Coach Randall in game of Uno tonight on the bus. I won 2 hands out of probably 20 played.”

-  Jan. 15 (11 am):  “CNBC’s Larry Kudlow is the best dressed male anchor on TV, hands down.”

-  Jan. 14 (4:22 p.m.):  “Ohio AD Jim Schaus talks MAC bowl games on radio show tonight. Changes on the way?”

-  Jan. 13 (8:59 p.m.):  “First 3 game home MAC losing streak for Ohio since 2003. Over/Under hours of sleep John Groce gets tonight? I’ll put line at 4.”

-  Jan. 13(7:36 p.m.):  “Clark Kellogg in The Convo watching OU-Akron tonight.”

-  Jan. 13 (2:31 p.m.):  “Only 14 more players in the country have taken a higher % of his team’s shots this year than Akron’s Brett McKnight (35% of Zips shots).”

-  Jan. 13 (1:47 p.m.):  “Have a feeling the 5-7K fans at the convo tonight will enjoy the pump up video for Ohio-Akron. Goosebumps.”

-  More to come.

-  How many points would Kent State’s Chris Singletary have scored if Steven Coleman was available to man up?

-  Ohio Athletics Director of Multimedia Marketing Evan Shaw tells me there will be a new lights out video introduction before each Ohio men’s hoops MAC East contest inside The Convo this season.  Outstanding.

-  Had a chance to interview Ohio transfers Armon Bassett and Alex Kellogg today, who have struck up a close friendship since they came to Athens this season.

-  Ohio defensive lineman Ernie Hodge recently had knee surgery, which will keep him out of spring practice.  Hodge said he played the whole season with a micro fracture in his knee—which makes his solid season that much more impressive.  He is expected to be ready to go come week one this fall.

-  Former Akron Offensive Coordinator and Miami (OH) head coach Shane Montgomery is the new offensive coordinator at Youngstown State.

-  Follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/CalebTroop.  Many of these same comments were posted hours ago on my feed.

-  It took D.J. Cooper 19 shots to get to his 21 points.

-  Chris Singletary was just unstoppable Saturday.  Good idea of putting DeVaughn Washington on him late in the game, but Washington’s size advantage was worthless in a one-on-one match-up given Singletary’s speed and strength.  Like Jerome Tillman, Singletary is a nightmare to mismatch.

-  I feel much more confident in my pre-season pick for Kent State to win the MAC East now.

-  You could really tell Kent State’s early road games at the likes of South Florida, Xavier and Pittsburgh are paying off, something Coach Ford touched on after the game.  KSU was not deterred by the crowd.

-  Ohio has been too three-point reliant all season long, and that showed no more than yesterday’s first half when 14 of the ‘Cats 30 shots were three pointers.

-  John Groce is right—you have to be impressed with the way Ohio fought with a really physical team in KSU.  For the first time this year Ohio lost despite out rebounding an opponent (7-1).

-  Loved the atmosphere at The Convo Saturday.  The marketing/game operations department did a great job pumping up the game, and the in-game replays on the baseline video screens were a nice new addition as well.

-  Miami’s Kenny Hayes went 1-10 from the floor in a blowout loss at Buffalo yesterday.  Speaking of the Bulls, I don’t think anyone knows if UB is good or bad right now.

-  Akron’s Zeke Marshall has just two double-digit games thus far.

-  Freshman Colt Ryan, once recruited by Ohio under Tim O’Shea, is averaging a team best 14.4 ppg for the lowly Evansville Purple Aces.

-  The Ohio men took on Kent State at 2 p.m. while the Ohio women battled Bowling Green right after yesterday.  On the surface, it seems having the women’s game lead in to a more crowded men’s contest would make more sense.  But that’s not the case, says Ohio A.D. Jim Schaus.  “Marketing feels that 2 is the best start for attendance for men’s hoops.  This was a weekend to focus on that for a big MAC game.  We have done and will continue to have some weekends when the women are first and then the men’s for a tight doubleheader.”

-  OK, makes sense to me.  The men’s game is the bigger revenue producer, so the start time needs to be ideal for that game.  No worries either way.  The bottom line is if the product between the lines is good, people will show up.

-  As I tweeted a few days ago, Ohio middle blocker Jane Sytsma will not be granted a redshirt after injuring her knee 12 matches in to the season.  She played in 41% of the schedule, and the rule is no more than 30%.

-  Ryan Theis and company will host a two-day tournament inside The Convo next fall that will include Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Northwestern.

-  You can follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/CalebTroop