MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[sac]

Brock Mealer, a man given a 1% chance of walking again.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZr-9NdOwY&feature=player_embedded

I've been to somewhere around 125+ games at Michigan Stadium, and this might be the best couple minutes of all of them.

[David Collinge]

The most beautiful college campus in the world?  Right here in the NCAC. 

I can't vouch for the whole world, but it's certainly the most beautiful campus I've ever visited.

[smedindy]

Well, Kenyon is certainly better than Indiana State or Purdue!

[wooscotsfan]

Here is some preseason information to generate a little discussion:

Sporting News 2010-2011 Division III Preview
National Top 10
1. Wisconsin Stevens Point
2. Franklin & Marshall (PA)
3. Randolph-Macon (VA)
4. Wooster (OH)
5. St. Norbert (WI)
6. Eastern Mennonite (VA)
7. Williams (MA)
8. Wisconsin Whitewater
9. St. Mary's (MD)
10. Virginia Wesleyan

Also Listed 33 Possible Breakthrough Teams which included Anderson, Baruch, Hope, John Carroll, Wittenberg

Wooster's nonconference schedule includes a road game at Anderson, hosting John Carroll in the Mose Hole Classic and playing Baruch in a neutral site game (Florida tourney).  Wittenberg and Hope were the only other teams from the Great Lakes region mentioned as possible breakthroughs.

[wooscotsfan]

Sporting News Division III Preview (continued)

All-America First Team
Steve Djurickovic - Carthage
Marcel Esonwune - York
Ian Franks - Wooster
James McNally - Franklin & Marshall
Todd Phillips - Eastern Mennonite

Congratulations to Ian Franks on some well deserved recognition!

No other Great Lakes region players listed on the Second Team.  One player from Hope and one player from Olivet were on the honorable mention list.

[GoRed]

Denison Assistant Muchnick heard to be leaving for USMMA as Assistant Coach.  Rumor of his return to Long Island popped up last month:

Merchant Marine rumors....
Posted by The DirtKing on Friday, September 17, 2010 at 9:11am.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is still without a coach since John Krikorian departed for Christopher Newport University in June. From what I've heard from great sources, current Towson assistant Danny Nee is the leading candidate here. Nee has a 410-381 record in 26 seasons as a DI head coach at Ohio University (1981-86), Nebraska (1986-2000), Robert Morris (2000-01) and Duquesne (2001-06). The 67-year old is a Brooklyn native and a Vietnam War veteran (good credentials to coach at a military academy). All indications are that USMMA wants to get this done before October 1st - still not a lot of time for a new guy to get adjusted before the season starts. If Nee turns this job down, others involved are believed to be Denison assistant coach David Muchnick (a Long Island native), St. Joseph's (LI) head coach John Mateyko, and a current DI assistant at another military academy (not getting too deep into this one). I'll keep you updated as this one progresses.

On a side note, Nee was a high school teammate of Kareem Abdul Jabbar at Power Memorial High School – pretty cool!


Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.

[wooscotsfan]

Wooster has added a challenging exhibition game to this year's schedule as they will play at Division I Ohio University on October 31st.

The Bobcats are picked by some preseason publications as the MAC East Division favorite this year.  Here is the link to the Ohio University schedule with the Scots logo showing as the next opponent!    http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/ohio-m-baskbl-sched.html

It is interesting to see Wooster listed on a schedule that also includes Kansas, Temple and some other college basketball heavyweights!

[ScotsFan]

It is interesting to see Wooster listed on a schedule that also includes Kansas, Temple and some other college basketball heavyweights!

Hey now.  Wooster is every bit the basketball heavyweight in D3 land as those big boys.   

[Gregory Sager]

It is interesting to see Wooster listed on a schedule that also includes Kansas, Temple and some other college basketball heavyweights!

Hey now.  Wooster is every bit the basketball heavyweight in D3 land as those big boys.   

Temple? Yep.
Kansas? Not so much.

[David Collinge]

There's only three NCAA-member schools who have had three coaches each win at least 300 games at the school.  Those three are Utah, Kansas, and Wooster.  The "big boys."

Utah:
V. Peterson 385
J. Gardner 339
R. Majerus 323

Kansas:
P. Allen 590
R. Williams 385
T. Owens 348

Wooster:
S. Moore 538 and counting
M. Hole 412
A. Van Wie 302

[Gregory Sager]

I'm thinking in terms of the NCAA tournament, David:

school	W-L (pct)	champs	FFs
Kansas	85-38 (.691)	3	13
Temple	31-28 (.525)	0	2
Wooster	20-24 (.455)	0	2

This includes the records of Kansas and Temple in both NCAA University Division and NCAA D1 tournaments, and Wooster's record in both NCAA College Division and NCAA D3 tournaments. (Wooster went 0-4 in College Division tourneys in the early 1970s.)

[David Collinge]

You have your metrics, and I have mine...

[wooscotsfan]

Received a hard copy of Wooster's 2010-2011 Pre-Season Roster which is not on the website yet.

Good news is that the top 10 returning players are all listed:
Ian Franks 6'4"
Nathan Balch 6'1"
Bryan Wickliffe 6"6"
Justin Hallowell 6'7"
Josh Claytor 6'7"
Matt Fegan 6'1"
Justin Warnes 6'3"
Mike Evans 6'4"
Jake Mays 6'8"
Kaleb Reed 6'4"

There is also a large freshmen class of 14 and some are impressive recruits.  Details in the next post.

[wooscotsfan]

On paper, here are Wooster's top 6 incoming freshmen recruits:

Jimmy Orie 6'2" Guard  Sacred Heart HS in PA
27 ppg, Pennsylvania Class A All-State Team

Sam Runner 6'8" Post/Forward  Morgantown HS in WV
15.4 ppg, West Virginia All State 2nd Team

Ryan Snyder 6'0" Guard  St. Thomas Aquinas HS in Louisville, OH
23 ppg, Division III All Ohio 2nd Team (gotta love that name , wonder if his nickname is Jimmy?)

Kyle Koski 6'0" Guard  Mayfield HS in Cleveland area
18 ppg, Division I All Northeast Lakes District 3rd Team

Scott Purcell 6'3" Wing  Hamilton Badin HS in Oxford, OH
16.8 ppg, Division III All-Ohio Honorable Mention, All Southwest District 2nd Team

Doug Thorpe 5'9" Guard  Columbus Eastmoor Academy
17.2 ppg, Division II All Central District 3rd Team

The rest of the freshmen class is Bryce Agler 5'10", Jack Counahan 6'0", Justin Erfurth 6'0", Collin Pfaff 5'8", Charlie Richardson 6'5" All Ohio Honorable Mention, Aaron Saunders 6'1", Sam Schopler 6'3", and John Thompson 6'4" from Clear Fork HS

[fantastic50]

I have two of those incoming Scot basketball players in class this fall, and they're both great kids, sharp yet humble.  With what Wooster has coming back, it's going to be tough for any of the new guys to contribute this year.