-  Bobcat Athletics photographer Joel Hawksley has been hired by Icon Sports Media as a freelance photographer.  That means the sophomore at Ohio University will work NFL games next fall.

-  In case you missed it (because I know I did), Logan H.S. quarterback Patrick Angle has signed to play with Youngstown State.

-  Seeing the photo of Ohio University President Roderick McDavis cheering on the ‘Cats up in Cleveland at the MAC Tournament had me wondering.   How many other MAC presidents are as involved and devoted to athletics as McDavis?  It’s pretty neat.

-  Did You Know?  The NCAA reimburses all 65 March Madness teams for travel, unlike the situation for College Football Bowl games.  A bit of a better deal than hosting a College Basketball Invitational Tournament game, I’d say.

-  Could not be happier for new Missouri S&T coach David Brown.  A class act, I don’t think there is much doubt he will be successful in Rolla, Missouri.

-  Congrats to Brian Boesch, the new summer voice of the Burlington Royals, a rookie league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.  The question is not if Boesch will one day be a major league baseball broadcaster, it’s when.

-  More to come.

Akron and Kent State are just too tough.  Rebounding will be an issue.

Head coach John Groce is still learning in-game management.  He can’t win the close games.

Boy, was I wrong.

Let me spell it out for you: W-R-O-N-G.

From relevant people like ESPN’s Andy Katz all the way down the line to myself, I gave Ohio men’s hoops no chance; not this season, not this MAC tournament season, not this post-season.  Repeatedly, I proclaimed 2010-2011 as the year Green and White fans should look forward to.

Nope.

Out of character, I even attacked Groce’s recruiting class in a senseless Twitter post, in essence claiming that maybe the future of this program isn’t as bright as we all assume.  Shoot, on January 14th after watching a then 9-7 Bobcats team lose to Akron, I said on the radio that a lack of leadership is the reason “Ohio University is not an NCAA tournament team this year.  This is why Ohio will not win the MAC Tournament.”

Never have I been so wrong, and never has it felt so good to be so wrong.

This team was so motivated by doubters, and that, folks, is why Ohio excelled late in the year.  Don’t spout out all these X’s and O’s to explain the incredible run.  Throw that away—we always knew the pure talent was there, anyway.  No, instead it’s quite simple.  Day in and day out this team just came to ball.  Off the court issues were there, sure, but this was a team of guys who had been pushed around before, and they found a way to come together.

For how many years has KVK heard the snickering from Bobcat fans at home games when he touches the ball at the head of the key?  For how many years has D.J. Cooper been told he is too small?  How many coaches have passed on the “troubled” ex-Hoosier Armon Bassett?  Tommy Freeman’s spot in the rotation was supposed to be lost with this influx of guard talent, right?  Weren’t the wheels falling off from the departures of freshmen Marquis Horne and Jay Kinney?  Wasn’t DeVaughn Washington’s inconsistency going to doom the ‘Cats?

The bench too narrow, the post-play too inconsistent, the late-game playing calling too hit or miss.  Um, read ‘em and weep:

Ohio-85 Ball State-77 OT

Ohio-81  Kent State-64

Ohio-54 Miami-42

Ohio-81 Akron-75 OT

Ohio-97 Georgetown-83

There is no other way to cut it—I was wrong about this team on and off the floor.  I labeled them a team that just didn’t ‘Get it.’  My evaluation of coach Groce and his staff was so far off base it’s hard to even put into words.

But you know what, my consistent misread of the program feels great right now, not embarrassing.  Because, for as objective as I am supposed to be as a member of the media, at heart I still decided to travel 500 miles from my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri to be a Bobcat.

Forget being a member of the media.  I was a ticket-paying Bobcat supporter sitting in high atop Quicken Loans Arena amongst the rest of fans on Mar. 13 when Ohio toppled Akron.  I was a Bobcat taking over Court Street on Mar. 18, minutes after the defeat of the Hoyas.

It felt great then, and it feels great now.

This is a group that,  for so many years, had been told no, you are not good enough.  What we saw was that negative passion channeled in the right direction beginning Mar. 7.

What. A. Ride.