Brittany Bott / Staff Photographer / bb211605@ohiou.edu

Ohio forward Jerome Tillman, one of the team’s Ohio natives, goes up for a basket against Miami in The Convo. Ohio beat the RedHawks 72-63 in the Saturday game.

Editor’s note: This is the second in two-part series examining the aspects of the recruiting process for Ohio’s basketball teams.

Tim O’Shea is realistic when it comes to recruiting. He knows the Bobcats can’t afford to pigeonhole themselves in any way, whether it be by focusing solely on Ohio and Midwest recruits, or on traditional straight-out-of-high-school players.So the Bobcats take a less structured approach — one the coach admits is far from anything resembling an exact science — that is more about seizing opportunities than following a fail-safe plan.

“We cast a broad net,” O’Shea said. “Because you need to find kids that fit, academically, socially regardless and from a talent standpoint are good enough — regardless of where they’re from.”

Of the 15 players in the Ohio program, three went to junior college, three transferred from Division I schools and two came from outside the United States. And the melting pot of athletes seems to work just fine for the Bobcats.

One reason why the Ohio coaches look outside the region is there aren’t as many Division I prospects within a 50-mile radius of Athens, O’Shea said. Where as other Mid-American Conference teams are closer to cities like Toledo and Akron and can recruit locally.

But O’Shea doesn’t think Athens and Southeast Ohio are necessarily deal-breakers to potential players. Forward Jerome Tillman, one of five Bobcats who are Ohio natives, was recruited by schools closer to urban areas like Miami and Wright State and said the rural area wasn’t much of a factor.

“I don’t think it’s hard to convince guys to come here because once they get down here, it’s its own little town,” said Tillman, who joined the Bobcats right after high school. “It’s more important to have the basketball environment and the coaching environment that we have.”

The people in the Bobcats’ program were what really drew guard Bert Whittington IV to Athens. Whittington committed to Ohio without visiting the campus, partially because a fellow teammate at Ohlone College in California, Allen Hester, had already picked Ohio.

“I really trusted Allen’s decision to come out here,” Whittington said. “And I really clicked with (assistant) coach (Kevin) Kuwik because he was in the military and so was my dad.”

Former guard Mychal Green (2005-06) attended Ohlone as well, and his success as a Bobcat was a large reason the Ohio coaching staff didn’t hesitate to return there for recruits.

Ohio’s past also helped bring forward Justin Orr to the program as a transfer from Murray State. Orr attended the same high school as former guard Steve Esterkamp (2000-03), and when Orr wanted to move closer to home and play in the MAC, his high school coach called O’Shea.

“You never know when somebody’s going to fall in your lap,” said O’Shea, adding that guard Mike Harris, who is currently sitting out because of NCAA transfer regulations, was previously at Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y. and wanted to play closer to his home in Columbus.

But the trend of finding junior college and transfer players who fit well isn’t unique to Ohio. All but one of 12 MAC basketball programs have at least two non-traditional recruits — meaning that they weren’t brought in straight out of high school. Six of those schools have three or more.

And O’Shea believes the trend is simply reality for the conference.

“A lot of times the transfers are kids from a higher level who didn’t quite make it or for some reason were available,” he said. “And a lot of times the elite programs get the first shot at the blue-chip players, and a kid will go to junior college and will really develop over a two-year period. (Recruiting them) makes sense for a lot of schools in our league.”