Indians Make Significant Roster Cuts as Opening Day Nears
March 26, 2017Why the Browns likely aren’t interested in Colin Kaepernick
March 27, 2017Back in 2002, a group of us decided to start what would be the Ashland University Men’s Club Basketball team. I’m unsure if it still exists, but it was a slew of us who were sick of dominating the intramural circuit1 and wanted something different. We’d practice a few times per week, implement a few plays, and then travel by van to play against Division III teams like John Carroll and Mount Union, oftentimes getting destroyed. We had uniforms and everything.
Back in the early 2000s, Ashland was mostly known for their student dining. Sure, there were several very good programs (including the business school which I attended) but ask any parent who took their kid to Ashland on a college visit and the universal takeaway was the food. One of the hidden secrets, however, is their sports were sneaky good. The baseball team made the College World Series twice during my four years. The women’s soccer team was always a national player at the Division II level. Football had yet to really get put over, but this would soon change.
One of our responsibilities as Mens’ Club Team—you know, outside of getting waxed by most of central Ohio—was to be scout team for the Women’s team as they would take on various GLIAC opponents. It was pretty fun, to be honest. Think back to when you were little and you were playing basketball in your driveway with friends and each of you “were” an actual player. At this level, if the shooting guard on their upcoming opponent had an itchy trigger finger, I’d be firing threes off screens.2 If they were more of the defensive mold, I’d facilitate and then lock down at the other end. Back then, the girls were pretty good, but they were typically middle-of-the-pack with one or two nods when it came to conference awards.
Which is why what happened on Friday night couldn’t have made me more proud.
If you had not been paying attention to Division II Women’s Basketball,3 you may have not noticed that Ashland had spent the entire regular season rampaging through their schedule, winning their games by an average of 30.2 points. As a team, they hit 41 percent of their threes, 78 percent of their free throws, and assisted, on average, 24.4 times per contest.
On Friday, the Lady Eagles finished their season an absolutely perfect 37-0—the best record ever by an NCAA Division II women’s team—defeating Virginina Union, 93-77, for the Division II National Championship. As they’d been wont to do, they rained threes like peak-form Cavaliers, and used a 14-6 run to end the third quarter, propelling them to the double-digit victory. There are a lot of impressive characteristics of this team, including the fact they’re all from Ohio. But the craziest part of all of this? It’s their second title in five years, and they were runner-up in 2012.
So this happened last night.. pic.twitter.com/eE4Rw2H9Sp
— Ashland University Eagles (@goashlandeagles) March 25, 2017
Little Ashland—tucked almost perfectly between Cleveland and Columbus, known mostly for the Route 250 exit and the pristine GoAsis that sits right off the highway—is quietly dominating the Women’s basketball circuit like the UCONN of Division II.
Some other stats to soak in:4
- The Eagles averaged 93.4 points per game. There had previously been three undefeated champions in Division II women’s history, but none of them averaged more than 85.5.
- Coach Robyn Fralick has a 62-2 career record at Ashland.
- Of the Eagles’ six NCAA postseason wins, their closest margin of victory was 12 points, their average margin of victory was 17.2 points and four of those wins were against teams which finished the season in the top 15 in the final Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 poll – No. 2 Virginia Union, No. 4 Harding, No. 6 Drury and No. 15 West Texas A&M.
- Ashland was the only D-II team this season with two first-team WBCA All-Americans.
- In averaging 96 points a game, no player averaged more than 20.
- Collectively, they carry a 3.7 Grade Point Average
It’s truly one of the more incredible, under-discussed stories in Ohio athletics. Ashland has always been a big landing spot of kids from Holmes County schools (one of my teammates on the Club Team was from Rittman), and the fact that these schools are producing quality athletes at the high school level certainly helps. But as high school women’s hoops in Ohio grows, it’s Ashland that continues to be in the middle of it all.
A good friend of mine, who played on men’s team at Ashland when we were both there, has stuck on in the school’s alumni department. When we (along with another friend who played) were discussing the old Scout Team days and how we would give the mid-2000s team a run for their money, he wasted no time telling me we wouldn’t stand a chance against this squad. “All I could tell you is ‘good luck,'” he quipped. I’m glad I got out when I did, but it’s been fun to watch from afar.
This Week in Sneaker Videos I made: #AirMaxDay
This Week in #ActualSportswriting:
- “The Tinderization of Today’s NBA” by Tom Haberstroh (ESPN The Magazine)
- “Shaq’s rivalries continue to soften over time” by J.A. Adande (ESPN)
- “The NBA’s secret addiction” by Baxter Holmes (ESPN The Magazine)
- “Five concerns about the Indians season” by Travis Sawchick (The Athletic)
- “Jerry Stackhouse’s D-League Experiment” by Sam Fortier (The Ringer)
- “The American Dream” by Carlos Carrasco (Player’s Tribune)
- “24 Hours with Adam Schefter” by Tim Rohan (MMQB)
This Week in #ActualNonSportsWriting:
- “Lessons from Biggie” by Shea Serrano (The Ringer)
- “Kendrick Lamar lays waste to the competition” by Jonah Bromwich (Pitchfork)
- “Inside the hunt for Russia’s most notorious hacker” by Garrett M. Graff (WIRED)
- “Inside the GOP’s healthcare debacle” by Tim Alberta (Politico)
And finally, This Week in Reminders:
- You can support WFNY in any way you feel comfortable. Head to our Patreon page to check it out.
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13 Comments
Congratulations!
Jackson Polar Bears! 2017 Div. 1 State Basketball Champions!
Oh and btw, NEO swept the basketball titles:
Jackson 39 – Moeller 38
Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 45 – Wauseon 30
Cle. Villa Angela-St. Joseph 54 – Roger Bacon 52
Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 43 – Columbus Wellington 38
Good on you for noting Alberta’s amazing piece in Politico. Fine journalism can happen when an embedded reporter who knows his subject matter cold can also really write.
Just a question – did the football scores end up higher than the basketball scores this year?
Congrats to Jackson, good to see the non-recruitment schools get a ‘ship.
Moeller slowed it waaaay down. We averaged 73.5 ppg this season.
Agreed. It is one of the biggest things I wonder about this WH Staff. Being rigid while appearing to be flexible is the ultimate goal, which they failed to do. Also, it was a terrible bill that didn’t fix things and left both sides frustrated, so there’s that end of it too.
Best for everyone that it failed and hopefully they learn from it (which again, would be best for everyone).
On a semi-related note, my brother-in-law is the pitching coach for Jackson’s baseball team. High hopes this year for them again. Last year was heart-breaking.
Ashland. Nice.
My only experience of Ashland is that the Ashland exit is where my parents made the regular exchange of kids, per the custody arrangement: One weekend a month, two weeks during the summer. Just like the National Guard.
#DiaryOfAGenXKid.
Yeah. What a FUBAR SNAFU.
All of our sports were pretty crappy when I went there.
I’m not exactly a fan of Paul Ryan, but I feel for him. Being Speaker is the political Kobayahsi Maru. Got Boehner, going to get Ryan.
#NOT MY MFWIC!
Great article…but I’m going to be *that* guy (apologies in advance).
Rittman’s partially in both Wayne and Medina Counties (mostly Wayne).
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