Could Ohio's reign be at the mercy of Blackburn's class schedule?

The Ohio Bobcats have had a stranglehold on the Mid-American Conference for four years now. And they've enjoyed a level of success in the NCAA tournament heretofore unknown by their conference compatriots.

This has resulted in Miami, Ball State, Western / Eastern / Central Michigan, et al, scrambling to overthrow the Carlston Empire by such unconventional methods as "recruiting" and "working hard in the gym."

But a solution may have just presented itself. And it comes from within the Bobcat program.

"I just figured out what I'm going to be taking next year," senior co-captain Stephanie Blackburn said in Ohio's Post newspaper, "and it's going to be really tough to get all my classes in."

A-ha! The light at the end of the tunnel is Blackburn's nagging drive to succeed! Seems she's a pre-med major with an eye to be a professional mole wrangler one day (i.e. dermatologist).

That means, as top Bobcat Geoff Carlston said, that Blackburn is "taking very hard classes, and always taking physics or calculus or chemistry. She just does things right."

As opposed to KFC which only does chicken right. THAT's how hard Blackburn works. It's gotta be hard enough to do chicken right, but Blackburn goes above and beyond to do "things" right. "THINGS!"

Blackburn's heavy class load could be just the distraction needed to knock the Bobcat Express off its rails and leave it a smoking pile of twisted metal enabling another MAC team to navigate NCAA Tournament waters for a change! (There's a lot going on in that sentence...feel free to take your time.)

So, fair warning, Akron, Kent State, Bowling Green, and Ray Gooden University: Your shot at the title could very well come this fall. Be prepared, y'all!