Wooster has played just one game so far in the 2018 season and yet has jumped 8 spots in the polls since the pre season rankings came out!

Wooster was ranked 14 in the pre-season poll and now finds itself #6 this week with one first place vote despite only playing 1 game... 

Wooster will open their Florida trip on Monday when the season finally gets into full swing.

FWIW, IWU is also one of the top programs in terms of fan followings.  I'd put them right up there with Hope and Wooster.  They were well represented each time they came to Wooster.  I wouldn't be surprised to see 200+ making the trek from Illinois...

The last time I traveled for a tournament game was back in the '08-'09 season when Wooster played at Cap.  We went to both nights and purchased tickets at the Cap gate.  I do remember for the Wooster-Cap game in the 2nd round it seemed close to capacity but the crowd was nearly a 50-50 split for Wooster and Cap fans.

My guess for Wooster would be they will easily use up their allotment on parents and also for their Downtown Rebounders Club which is basically their Boosters. 

Quote from: Onward on, John Carroll on February 27, 2018, 02:24:50 PM
I would think the logistics of keeping Wooster people from buying tickets would be nearly impossible.

Unless JCU sells out their allotment, is there is nothing to keep Wooster fans from showing up and purchasing tickets at the gate on game-day? 

Wooster fans travel very well and I would expect a large contingent of Wooster fans there on Friday considering many COW alums are already in the Cleveland area and it's also an easy trek from Wooster.

Quote from: kiltedbryan on February 26, 2018, 03:40:12 PM
The combined tournament resumes for Wooster and Illinois Wesleyan must be among the most substantial for any possible tournament pairing in terms of appearances, games, overall wins/record, etc.

Across all those games, though, the Scots and Titans have only mixed it up in March twice before, both times in the Sectional Semifinals (Sweet 16) at Wooster.

In 2012, a Titans team that entered the tournament at <checks notes, gulps> 19-7, got the best of the Scots in a 69-67 victory, denying a possible Wooster-Wittenberg Sectional Final.* IWU proceeded to blow out Wittenberg 70-49 the next night to claim a spot in the 2012 Final Four.

In 2004, host Wooster beat IWU 58-53 in the Sectional Semifinals in a pod that also included JCU - a very similar make-up to this year's pod. In the Sectional Final, JCU beat a Wooster team trying to make its second-consecutive Final Four run by a tally of 70-64.

*Notably, Wooster and Wittenberg have never played one another in the NCAA tournament, despite several bracket opportunities over the years.

Great stats KB!

I, for one, will be pulling for a Wooster-JCU rematch.  Wooster is only 2-3 vs. JCU in the tournament, but both of their wins were en route to Wooster reaching the Final 4!!!  Maybe history can repeat itself this year!!! 

Couple of things to add, Wooster is making their NCAA Division III record 16th straight NCAA Tournament appearance!  That is the 6th longest streak all time behind Kansas, Duke, MSU, Gonzaga and Wisconsin (whose streak will end at 18 straight this year btw).  Wooster is also 3rd in overall D3 Tournament appearances with 27 only trailing Wittenberg and Scranton with 28 each!

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on February 25, 2018, 08:01:31 AM

I tweeted this and mentioned it in the recap, but I think it's worth repeating.  Nate Axlerod went over 2,000 points and 650 assists in the game yesterday.  We don't have a searchable database, but I don't believe anyone who's had 650 assists has ever had 2,000 points before.  It's a truly remarkable accomplishment.

Well, it's easy to amass those stats when you've been playing for 10 years...  I kiiiiid, I kiiiiid!!! 

Seriously, it only seems like Axlreod has been there 10 years because he's been so good for them over his 4 years at OWU.  Sad he doesn't get to continue his career at least a week or two more by OWU not making the tournament...

Quote from: imderekpoe on February 14, 2018, 11:03:26 PM
Wooster's victory tonight gives them 20+ wins again!  I believe that is the 22nd season in a row.

That is correct.  Wooster is tied with Duke for the 2nd longest streak of 20 win seasons.  Kansas leads the way with 29 straight such seasons...

Does Witt have the NCAC locked up even if Wooster wins out?  I can never remember how the tie breaker works?!

If Wooster wins out and OWU finds a way to beat Witt tonight, both would sit at 15-3 with a season split between the two teams.  Does the tiebreaker go by best win or worst loss.  If it's best wins then Woo would win having swept OWU.  If it's worst loss, then Witt would win with Woo's loss to Wabash...

Quote from: sac on February 12, 2018, 05:51:48 PM
If Witt gets two wins over OWU and Wooster this week they'd be #1 next week by a pretty wide margin.

Could Wooster make a claim with two wins this week? 

I'm interested to see how Witt responds to their first loss of the season.  OWU at the Branch won't be an easy win and if they lose tonight, they'd be looking at a 2 game losing streak going into their showdown with Wooster in the season finale.

Quote from: woolax on January 06, 2018, 06:33:49 PM
Wooster takes down #9 OWU 73-70

Didn't see that coming.  Woo led wire to wire as well.  The Scots have now won 7 in a row with the last 2 coming over 12-1 Emory & Henry who are tied for the ODAC lead and now OWU.  Wooster's last loss was at home to Wabash which dropped them to 1-2 in the NCAC.  They're now 4-2 and right back in the mix for the NCAC with the big road win at the Branch yesterday!

One of the keys for Woo's turnaround this season is the continued improved health of Alex Baptiste who has been put back in the starting lineup right at the end of 2017 portion of the schedule.  In Woo's last 2 games, Baptiste has been dominating on the boards with 20 rebounds vs. E&H and 11 more yesterday including 9 offensive rebounds!

Wooster's win sets up a showdown with undefeated Witt this Saturday at Timken!

I felt like NC's first possession of the 2nd half set the tone for how this game finished.  NC had 4 offensive rebounds and it looked like Wooster's players were standing in cement as NC outhustled them to every one of those rebounds.  And then it culminated with a NC basket.  In the end, NC ended up with 14 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second chance points.  Credit to Wooster to keep it close, but you're not going to win many games when you're giving up that many offensive rebounds.   Oh and it didn't hurt that NC was 10-22 from deep compared to only 4-22 for the Scots. 

Quote from: sac on March 02, 2017, 11:33:28 AM
Hanover pod

Offensive efficiency or Points per possession
Hanover         1.12
Westminster  1.06
Wooster         1.12
North Cent.   1.06

Wooster and Hanover right in-line with tournament avg.  North Central maybe struggle a little, Westminster's come from a conference full of teams that really can't stop anyone.


Deffensive efficiency
Hanover              .997
Westminster     1.01
Wooster              .987
North Central      .929

North Central might actually be one of the strongest defensive teams in the field, they certainly have not played a soft schedule.


Pace or possessions per game
Hanover          69.65
Westminster   69.7
Wooster         69.95
North Cent     65.95

I've got the d3 avg right around 73, so all of these teams are a little slower than avg with North Central playing the slowest.


Four Factors

eFG%          Off             Def
Hanover           57.8                48.4
Westminster     51.9               48.5
Wooster           54.1                47.2
North Central    49.9               48.9

Hanover can really score.


Rebounding
          %Off rebounds   Opp%Off rebounds

Hanover                31.5                24.1
Westminster         35.3               31.4
Wooster                36.6               28.4
North Central        35.3               25.8

Hanover and North Central are really good on the defensive glass, while everyone but Hanover is above avg on their own.



FT Rate
Hanover             39.8          27.0
Westminster      33.9         26.8
Wooster             34.4         36.3
North Central     33.1         36.5

Wooster/No. Central is a rare match-up between teams who put their opponents on the line a lot while also being pretty good at getting to the line.  Uh, expect a lot of FT's maybe.   Hanover must be near the top in the field at getting to the line


Turnover Rate or Turnover per possession
                      TO rate          Opp TO rate
Hanover                 18.28                17.62
Westminster          18.13                20.48
Wooster                17.9                  19.34
North Central        17.78                15.65

Westminster comes in with a positive turnover rate, but I fear some of that might be SLIAC related.  North Central is very negative and despite looking like a pretty good defensive team they don't create much in the way of turnovers but also play in a low turnover league in the CCIW.  Hanover is surprisingly slightly negative here too.



This pod is full of history problems for Hanvoer and Westminster.  The SLIAC has generally not done well in the tournament and I would probably dial back some of Westminster's good looking stats based on SLIAC competition.   Hanover has a lot of good looking numbers but history is not on their side.  The HCAC reps have failed to advance past the first weekend every year since Transylvania in 2006.  Of course, Transylvania beat Wooster that year to advance.  Also of note an HCAC school hosting a pod is pretty rare thing, hosting advantages can't be discounted so maybe this is the year.

I think this Hanover team is good, I saw them play at Hope last year and its basically the same group a year older.  But getting by Wooster and North Central seems like a tall order, if I were leaning any direction in this pod I might pick Wooster to advance but could just as easily see North Central moving on. 

Saturday's game should end up being pretty good. 

Thanks for putting that together Sac! 

That year Transy advanced, they were the host site as well!  That said, Wooster's fans should be well represented though.  Last weekend at the NCAC championships at OWU, it looked as though at least 40% of the crowd were Wooster fans!  And that's counting a large student section of OWU students.

Quote from: BigRedFan on February 27, 2017, 02:33:58 PM
Thanks soooooooooo much for the reasons....

So why does Denison rank as high as 9th if we play nothing but
crap teams?  The ranking is only based on record alone?

So of those 21 at large bids they ALL played tougher schedules?

Go read thru the 'Great Lakes Region' thread and you might get a better understanding as to why Denison was left out.

Quote from: fantastic50 on February 27, 2017, 01:25:36 PM
North Central, then at Hanover if they win, and potentially vs Wash. U. or Hope (likely in Whitewater) if they advance. That's a favorable draw, compared to other possibilities.

I'll take that over going to 'Etta!