MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Witt's original schedule, therefore, had three games in four days, and three games in three days is only slightly worse.  It's also not unheard of; I think some of the 8-team holiday tournaments like those in Phoenix, San Diego, and Daytona, are set up that way.  Last season's NAIA-1 national champs, Oklahoma City, played five games in six days to win that tournament.

Exactly!  The original schedule had 3 games in 4 days which isn't exactly a cake walk in the middle of the conference schedule.  So now they will more than likely have to play 3 games in 3 nights.  As David noted, while it may be more difficult, it is only slightly more than what Witt's original schedule entailed.  And besides, that's what you get when you schedule a non-conference tilt smack dab in the middle of the conference schedule... 

[David Collinge]

I have now found out that the Witt/Transy game was originally scheduled for Nov. 19 but had to be rescheduled, and it landed on Jan. 30 because no other suitable date could be found.  It's a tough break that the resulting three game stretch ended up being right after the year's biggest snowstorm.

[woosterbooster]

No word yet of a cancellation at Wooster despite there being eleven feet of snow on the ground here.  I'm going to try to get some of the visiting Alegheny players to shovel my walk...

[wally_wabash]

Let the postponements begin....as predicted by DC, tonight's Wabash/Witt game has been pushed back to tomorrow evening. 

[David Collinge]

The Denison doubleheader (Wittenberg women, Earlham men) is off; the women's game will be held tomorrow, while the men's game is still up in the air.
Kenyon's games with Hiram (men at Hiram, women at Gambier) are off until tomorrow; the women will tip at 7:30 while the men's tip is TBA.
Wabash's game at Wittenberg has been postponed until (tentatively) tomorrow, as Wally noted.  It's so bad in Springfield today that the University is closed.
The Oberlin/OWU games (men at Delaware, women at Oberlin) and the Wooster/Allegheny games (men at Wooster, women at Meadville) are still on at the moment, or at least none of the websites have announced a postponement.  If the Allegheny players are indeed shoveling Wooster Booster's snow, then the game will surely be played, but I doubt it.  Allegheny makes a fair number of overnight trips competing in this mostly distant conference, but I don't think Wooster is one of them.

[woosterbooster]

I shovelled a bit of my driveway about half an hour ago, then came in to get warm and have some breakfast.  Magically, when I looked out the window, the whole front sidewalk and driveway was clear.  Honest.  I don't know who did it, and doubt that it was anyone from Alegheny, but it happened.  Probably just some wayward Wittenberg students with nothing to do.

[David Collinge]

All men's and women's games are now off for tonight and rescheduled for tomorrow night.

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg's scheduled game vs. Transylvania, originally set for Nov. 19 then moved to Jan. 30, has now been canceled.  It will not be rescheduled again; Witt will play a 24-game schedule.

[pennstghs]

As per DC already stating, the Witt game vs Transylvania has been cancelled. As alos pointed out it was supposed to be scheduled in the preseason and Wittenberg actually had NCAA permission to schedule the game 2 days prior to the "official" season starting because of scheduling difficulties, however the NCAC wouldn't give Wittenberg permission.......don't know the politics there either guys.

Coach Brown gave his players the option to cancel it or play it as originally scheduled and the players chose to go on and play it as they are competitors. It's all moot now though.

This is all from the Springfield News Sun blog page, but also personal references inside the Wittenberg community.

[Pat Coleman]

... Wittenberg actually had NCAA permission to schedule the game 2 days prior to the "official" season starting because of scheduling difficulties, however the NCAC wouldn't give Wittenberg permission.......don't know the politics there either guys.

I didn't realize the NCAC didn't adopt the Division III start date of Nov. 15. Is that the case? Nov. 19 is a playing date every year now.

[David Collinge]

... Wittenberg actually had NCAA permission to schedule the game 2 days prior to the "official" season starting because of scheduling difficulties, however the NCAC wouldn't give Wittenberg permission.......don't know the politics there either guys.

I didn't realize the NCAC didn't adopt the Division III start date of Nov. 15. Is that the case? Nov. 19 is a playing date every year now.

Two teams started earlier, Allegheny and Kenyon's men's teams.  Both were locked into tournaments (at Rutgers-Newark and Chicago, respectively).  My understanding is that the NCAC Presidents were reluctant (or even unwilling) to agree to the new, earlier start date (a predictable position for the NCAC Presidents), but they made exceptions so that Rutgers-Newark's and Chicago's tournaments weren't sabotaged.  They did not make an exception for Wittenberg's one-off game with Transylvania, with the result that it had to be rescheduled.  Witt and Transy had no usable off dates in common until January, and Witt's attempts to shift their conference slate around to make room for a Transy game were fruitless.

Factoring into that, I think, is the fact that Wittenberg had no significant downtime in their schedule, with games scheduled every week in November (starting on the 19th) and December.  Their longest stretch with no scheduled games was Dec. 14-21 inclusive (hosted Hiram 12/13, played at Otterbein 12/22).  I recall, but can't find the documentation to prove, that the earlier start date included an NCAA-mandated provision that the overall season length not be extended.  Teams that chose to play in that first week (Nov. 15-21) had to have a week with no games or practices later in the schedule to compensate.  Both Allegheny (idle in Dec. after 12/11) and Kenyon (no games between 12/23 and 1/2 inclusive) met that criterion, but Wittenberg couldn't.  This is just my educated guess, and would appreciate any corrections or amplifications.

[Pat Coleman]

So the NCAC will continue with the previous date of "Friday before Thanksgiving?"

Little conference-level differences like these are vastly superior to splitting up the entire division.

[pennstghs]

31-20 Witt with about 4 minutes to go in the first half

Murray has 9 and Witt in general can't miss from outside.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 56  Allegheny 30

This game is over at the half as Wooster has a commanding lead.  Scots are being led by Justin Hallowell with 14 points and Marty Bidwell with 13 points.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 93  Allegheny 76

Wooster was led tonight by Justin Hallowell with 21 points, Nathan Balch with 18 points and Marty Bidwell with 18 points.  Mike Evan chipped in 12 points.  Wooster shot 50% from the floor and made 11 three pointers.  Let's hope that Ian Franks recovers quickly from his sprained ankle.

Wooster is now 13-5, 8-1 NCAC   Big game on Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan

GO SCOTS!