#59 Ohio : College Basketball Countdown

College basketball is right around the corner. Games will be starting before you know it, and practices are just right around the corner.

Here at Roundballchat I will release my top 100 teams for the 2012-13 college basketball season. I will start at 100 and count my way down. I will rank all the 75 programs in the six major conferences, as well as 25 mid majors in my top 100 countdown.

Along with my top 100 countdown I will also feature a ton of previews. Like the top players at each position, All Conference teams, top players by class, top games, previewing the early season tournaments and much more.

Who will put at number 1? Louisville or Indiana or maybe a surprise stay tuned to Roundballchat for the next month to find out.

#59 Ohio

Coach: Jim Christian (1st season at Ohio) Overall 193-132, 10 years

2011-12: Record 29-8 overall, 11-5 in MAC (3rd)

Starters Returning (5) D.J. Cooper, Walter Offutt, Ivo Baltic, Nick Kellogg, Jon Smith

Preseason Tournament: None

Top Non-Conference Games: at Memphis, at Oklahoma

What a run Ohio had last season, they made it to the sweet 16 and then took the #1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels to overtime before losing. With the success they had John Groce left for Illinois. In comes Jim Christian, who coached at TCU last season. Before TCU, Christian was at Kent State where he took the Golden Flash too two NCAA tournaments. He couldn’t be walking into a better situation as the Bobcats return all 5 starters and most of the role players.

Leading the way for the Bobcats is point guard D.J. Cooper (14.7 ppg). Cooper, the MAC player of the year does it all for the Bobcats. He led the in assists (5.7) and steals (2.3). He also made about 2 threes per game, but he excels at driving to the hoop. Joining him in the backcourt is Nick Kellogg( 9 ppg) and Walter Offutt (12.4 ppg). Kellogg is a deadly shooter, while Offutt is a very tough player that likes to attack the rim. Offutt improved his three point shooting a lot last season. The two top options of the bench here will be Stevie Taylor (4.4 ppg) and Ricardo Johnson (3.1 ppg). Also watch out for freshman Travis Wilkins.

Holding down the frontcourt for the Bobcats will be Ivo Baltic (8.7 ppg), he led the team in rebounding last season. Joining him in the backcourt is Joh Smith (3. 6 ppg). He will need to increase his scoring output. Reggie Keely (9 ppg) came off the bench last season and produced big time for the Bobcats. He gives them that physical player. Providing depth here will be T.J. Hall (3. 8ppg)

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