Ohio U. Removes Names From Jerseys

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) â€” Judging from the uniforms, Ohio has a bunch of no-name players. <br><br>Incensed by a home loss to Bowling Green last week, Ohio coach Larry Hunter had white patches sewn over the

Wednesday, February 14th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) â€” Judging from the uniforms, Ohio has a bunch of no-name players.

Incensed by a home loss to Bowling Green last week, Ohio coach Larry Hunter had white patches sewn over the names of the players on the back of their jerseys. They responded with a 94-68 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

``The equipment people think I'm half-crazy,'' Hunter said. ``The players, I didn't let them know. Some of the fans, I heard them make the comment that, 'Coach, I had to look at my program to see who's who.'''

He hoped the white strips sent a message to the players.

``We have a chance to be a serious contender for the (Mid-American Conference) championship,'' Hunter said. ``But in order to do that you have to play for the name on the front of the jersey instead of the back of the jersey.''

Ohio (13-8, 8-4) is a game behind Kent State in the MAC's East Division heading into Wednesday night's game at Akron.

Hunter said he had covered the players' names once before, when he was the coach at Wittenberg.