OAC MEN'S BASKETBALL John Carroll looks to build on success of last season

Mount Union has four starters returning.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Carroll won't be sneaking up on anyone this year in the Ohio Conference.
After being picked fourth in last year's preseason voting by the conference's coaches, the Blue Streaks (15-3, 22-7) tied with Capital for the conference title, won the tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament before losing to Wooster 77-75.
This year, the coaches have picked them first and they received six of the 10 first-place votes. Capital and Otterbein split the other four first-place votes and finished in second and third place, respectively, in the voting.
With so much parity in the conference, coach Mike Moran knows his team will have to play its best every time out this season to match last year's success.
"If you don't bring everything to the table, you're not going to win," he said.
High goals
Moran, though, isn't worried about a falloff in intensity, and the players have set high goals for this year.
He has five juniors and five seniors returning. He routinely uses 12 players in a game, which means players are competing for court time.
"There is a tremendous amount of competition within our whole program," he said.
"I don't think this is a team that will self-destruct."
Moran has lost starting point guard Jason Pecjak, but he does have Peter Koch to take his place. After missing the first eight games last year, Koch scored 123 points and handed out 53 assists.
Also back is leading scorer David Gibbons (12.6 ppg).
Beyond the wins and losses, this season figures to be special for another reason for Moran: He'll have sons Matthew and Pete on the team.
No OAC team has had a better record the past two seasons than Capital (15-3, 22-6).
Back is leading scorer Jake Beck (11.5 ppg) while the Crusaders have added junior transfers Sammy Smith (Dayton) and David Kalb (Akron) to go along with four seniors.
Otterbein, which won the Division III title in 2002, has all five starters back this year under coach Dick Reynolds, in his 32nd season with the Cardinals.
Leading the Cardinals are point guard Tony Borghese (14.7 ppg), forward/center Scott Hadley (14.1 ppg) and forward Aaron Minister (13.3 ppg).
Mount Union
Mount Union and Ohio Northern figure also figure to pose a threat to the top teams.
Mount Union, which finished third last year, has four starters back, including center Rob Paulauskas (13.9 ppg) and guard Brad Gerard (13.0 ppg).
The Polar Bears return four seniors, including guards Jim Conrad (17.3 ppg) and Chad Bostelman (11.7 ppg).
Thad Davis returns for Baldwin-Wallace this season after averaging 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He also blocked 40 shots last year.
All five starters will be back for Heidelberg, including Lucas Messer, who was just the second player in the last 16 years to lead the conference in scoring (22.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg) last year.
Marietta has four starters back this season, led by junior center Matt Hines (13.4 ppg).
Muskingum and Wilmington will put young teams on the floor.
The Muskies have just one senior, center Markkus Brown, among its top players and Wilmington has no seniors and only one junior on its roster for new coach Will Rey.