MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

New poll is out.
Wooster solidifies its #1 ranking, now with 19 first place votes and 617 points (gain of 16 points; unanimous would be 625).  Wabash stays put at #7; they passed nobody, and nobody passed them, but the LGs did lose 20 poll points.

[woosterbooster]

The new Massey ratings are out, too.  Wooster moves up two spots to 4th, Wabash drops three places to 10th.  According to Massey, Wooster now has a 70% chance of beating Wabash at home and a 46% chance of running the regular season table.

[David Collinge]

Back in action tomorrow, except for Wabash:

Denison at OWU, 7:30pm -- audio/video and live stats
Oberlin at Wooster, 7:30pm -- audio and live stats
Allegheny at Hiram, ~8pm -- live stats -- Game 2 of W/M doubleheader
Wittenberg at Kenyon, ~8pm -- audio/video and live stats -- follows immediately after Wooster/Kenyon women's game (6pm)

Reminder of the current standings:
1.  Wittenberg 5-0, 9-4
1.  Wooster 5-0, 14-0
3.  Wabash 5-1, 13-1
4.  Kenyon 2-3, 6-8
4.  Ohio Wesleyan 2-3, 6-8
6.  Allegheny 2-4, 5-9
6.  Denison 2-4, 5-9
8.  Hiram 1-4, 7-7
9.  Oberlin 0-5, 1-12

Oberlin's men play undefeated and #1-ranked Wooster, while Oberlin's women play undefeated and #21-ranked Denison at the same time.  Could be a long night for the Yeo--or maybe the greatest night in Yeo athletics in many years?

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 46  Oberlin 22

Wooster is being led in scoring by Nathan Balch 11 and Ian Franks 7

Geofff Simpson is top scorer for the Yeomen with 8 points.

Wooster shot 64% in the half compared to only 32% for Oberlin

[imderekpoe]

At the Half:  Wooster 46  Oberlin 22

Wooster is being led in scoring by Nathan Balch 11 and Ian Franks 7

Geofff Simpson is top scorer for the Yeomen with 8 points.

Wooster shot 64% in the half compared to only 32% for Oberlin

Not too much to say about this one. Oberlin made their only 2-pt FG with only 44 seconds left in the half. Massey had the Scots winning by about 45 with 100% chance of victory. Looks like they might be pretty close.

[David Collinge]

Other halftime scores:
OWU 39, Denison 32 -- but Denison has come back, and the game is tied at 51 with 10:12 left
Wittenberg 42, Kenyon 33
Hiram 50, Allegheny 31 -- Allegheny shot 50% in the half and trails by 19.    Hiram is on fire in every phase of this game.

[David Collinge]

Here's a great video about the Scots' penchant for solving Rubik's Cube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2KHqkwfFoE&feature=player_profilepage

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 82  Oberlin 55  

Wooster's top scorers:  Nathan Balch 23, Ian Franks 11.   Balch was 9 of 12 from the floor with 5 three pointers.
Oberlin's top scorers:  Andrew Fox 13, Josh Merritt 13, Geoff Simpson 11

Scots shot 56% from the floor and easily outrebounded the Yeomen 32 to 23.

Wooster is now 15-0, 6-0 NCAC  Congratulations to Coach Moore and the entire team on setting a new Wooster record for the best start ever 15-0 to a basketball season.

Next game at Denison on 1/15.

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

OWU pulls away again, and holds off Denison at home, 71-62.  Tim Brady with 23 and Greg White with 19 provided about two-thirds of the Bishops' offense.  

Watching Kenyon/Witt, and it looks like Kenyon only has 10 players dressed.  Wonder what's up with that.  Witt leads by 4 with 10+ left.

Hiram continues to blast away at 'Gheny, 69-45 wih 12:29 left. 

[kiltedbryan]

Hiram continues to blast away at 'Gheny, 69-45 wih 12:29 left. 

Getting rid of some frustration after the 1-4 start?

[David Collinge]

Hiram 93, Allegheny 68 -- 'Gheny hit 50% of their shots in each half, had 6 threes, recorded 18 assists on 29 hoops, and got drilled.  "It doesn't matter whether the pitcher hits the stone, or the stone hits the pitcher; it's going to be bad for the pitcher."  Hiram's stats look like this:  58% FG, 55% 3PFG (12/22), +8 rebound margin, +9 turnover margin (17 vs. 9), largest lead was 30 with under 2 minutes left.  Five Terriers in double figures, led by Hassan Muhammad's double-double (19 & 11).  Seth Eisner had 19 for 'Gheny, and Devone McLeod had a nice 14 point, 7 assist evening.

Wittenberg 90, Kenyon 82 -- Kenyon and Witt traded the lead back and forth until there were something like 6 minutes left, and then Witt used a 9-0 run beginning at 4:18 to secure the win, holding off a late KC charge.  Sullivan was unconscious from NBA depths, hitting 7 of twelve for 21 points.  Four other Tigers reached double figures in scoring.  Kodey Haddox had 28 to lead all scorers; he's always been unconscious.

Updated standings:
1.  Wittenberg 6-0, 10-4
1.  Wooster 6-0, 15-0
3.  Wabash 5-1, 13-1
4.  Ohio Wesleyan 3-3, 7-8
5.  Kenyon 2-4, 6-9
5.  Hiram 2-4, 8-7
7.  Allegheny 2-5, 5-10
7.  Denison 2-5, 5-10
9.  Oberlin 0-6, 1-13

[David Collinge]

Oberlin's men play undefeated and #1-ranked Wooster, while Oberlin's women play undefeated and #21-ranked Denison at the same time.  Could be a long night for the Yeo--or maybe the greatest night in Yeo athletics in many years?

The Yeopeople combined to go 0-2 by a combined score of 147-90. 

[GoRed]

I watched the video of the OWU vs DU game.  Denison put up a good fight.  Greg White had a killer game and Brady knocked down the threes when they were needed.  OWU played the game they needed to win.

For DU, offense continues to be the main problem.  The defense played well in the second half and held the points down to keep them in the game.  The Big Red just can't get their offense going, though.  Perimeter ball movement as they try to get the ball into the post is sluggish.  As a result, any shots - inside or outside - are usually under pressure.   

Three pt. pct (OWU 62% vs DU 22%) and FT pct (OWU 62% vs DU 36%) were the big difference from a stats perspective, but DU's ability to move the ball against a zone defense seemed the real killer.  For a while, when DU brought in big freshman Ted Vernon to spell a foul-plagued Hale, they moved the ball into the high post and worked against the zone the way you're supposed to.  Even though it was working, they didn't stay with it and Vernon wasn't seen at all in the second half.  They stayed for too long with a small, three guard perimeter offense that wasn't getting good open looks or hitting their shots. 

The Big Red need to use whatever size they have whenever they can, but seem to spend more time with a small, three guard attack.  I'm hoping we can get Farmer back some time soon.  If he comes back, we can get a two guard, three wing offense back, use Dimonde and Larry from perimeter positions in a motion to slash to the basket and maybe get some scoring from a stagnant offense. 
 

[WoostAr]

Interesting spotlight video on 6 wooster basketball players and the rubiks cube of all things on wooster athletics website.

http://www.woosterathletics.com/landing/index

[WAlum]

I had a great conversation last weekend with some former division III players.  It was fun to listen to their opinions on coaches they played for, coaches they played against, and current coaches they watch today.  They classified teams that win in three ways:
1)  teams who win because of their coach (equal or worse talent yet the coach finds a way to win the majority of those games)
2) teams who win WITH their coach (teams who play hard and the coach uses the talent he has in the best way - everyone has bought in to the system and their roles- these are the most successful teams yearly and have an established program.  they compete for a league championship almost every year)
3)  teams who win despite of their coach (coaches who usually have the best talent on the floor most nights.  these teams end up only average to good almost every year as they underachieve with the talent they have.  these coaches/teams usually beat the bad teams but cant beat the best teams even though they have the talent to compete with them.  occasionally, they get hot and place in the top 2 in the league but are normally a 3rd-5th place team).