MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[GoRed]

Denison (6-6, 9-12) @ DePauw (7-5, 13-8) - Another hidden big game. Both teams are now scrambling for a #5 seed, but DPU can fall back into a tie for the #4 (and hosting rights) if they win and Witt beats Wabash. After the turmoil of the season, it could happen that the Big Red could find its way into the final weekend of the tourney if it gets a good seed and keeps playing well. How about that?

The Big Red are playing with more confidence.  The major difference has been that the seasoned players like Tiberi are playing looser and taking some of the offensive pressure off Hale and Farmer.  If they keep opening up the offense, Denison could get to the final weekend.  It will mean getting that 6 (or even 5) seed, though.  Tonight is important, but the next two against Allegheny and Kenyon have to be W's if they are going to be at least .500 in conference.

[WAlum]

Go Red - so Ghiloni's off your "hot seat?"   

[GoRed]

No.  We still need a change.  Over the long run, he hasn't demonstrated that he has the ability to coach at this level.     


 

[ScotsFan]

Wooster (9-3, 18-3) @ Ohio Wesleyan (8-4, 16-5) - A huge game and a rematch of a very close and tense game earlier in the year. A Bishops win means they are back into a tie for second and makes a Witt championship almost a foregone conclusion. A Scots win tightens the race up, and with a little help it makes Saturday's game even more intense than a regular Witt / Wooster game. Can OWU keep Wooster from getting the ball inside? Can the Scots contain Tim Brady?

What exactly is a 'regular' Witt/Wooster game?  I didn't realize there was such a thing...

[hotdawg]

I feel like making picks:

Woo @ OWU: Do or Die game IMO for the Bishops. I think the best player on the court T. Brady will respond with 25 plus and lead OWU to the win.

Witt @ Wabash: The hardest place for the Tigers to go play and win in the last 5-6 years - Harder than Wooster... I'm torn on this prediction but I like Witt to pull it out in a slugfest. I like Brandt to have a big game on the O glass and in the scoring column - playing second fiddle to Black.

Denison @ Depauw: ill go Depauw at home.

Allegheny @ Hiram: I was impressed by Allegheny vs Witt. Witt was lucky to survive with a win as they had no answer for Mccleod (until Coop checked him the last play) and recieved some fortunate calls down the stretch. Has nothing to do with this matchup but Ill go with Gheny.

Oberlin @ Kenyon: Kenyon in a must have.

Thoughts?

[ScotsFan]

I feel like making picks:

Woo @ OWU: Do or Die game IMO for the Bishops. I think the best player on the court T. Brady will respond with 25 plus and lead OWU to the win.


Thoughts?

Do or die game for 2nd place?

There was an article in the Daily Mistake yesterday where Coach Moore commented on how good Brady is and he made a statement I thought was key.  Moore basically conceded that Brady would get his points but he felt the key would be to not let any other Bishops go off for big games.  I won't mind seeing Brady get 25 as long as he has to work hard for those 25 and no one else is contributing.  Heck, Brady had 22 in the last game, but the thing that kept OWU in the game was the fact that Easley and White came off the bench to contribute 14 and 12 respectively.  OWU will need contributions like that to beat Wooster.

A key for Wooster will be whether or not they can establish an inside game again as smeds alluded to above.  Claytor was a force and OWU seemed to have no answer to try and stop him in the first matchup as he was 8-8 from the field and scored 20.

Should be an entertaining game as most of them are when these 2 teams meet up in Delaware...

[hotdawg]

Good Insight.

Do or Die for OWU - This game is huge for OWU's at-large bid resume. A win and they are sitting pretty - a loss and they are gonna be toeing the line.

BTW:

Great Lakes
1 Hope 12-0 20-1
2 Wittenberg 15-3 17-4
3 Wooster 16-3 18-3
4 Ohio Wesleyan 15-5 16-5
5 Wabash 13-6 15-6
6 Capital 13-6 14-7

[ScotsFan]

How about 4 NCAC teams representing in the GL Regional Rankings!   

Hypothetically speaking, I'm wondering how much ground Wooster could make up on Hope if they were to pick up 2 wins this week.  That would be 2 road wins vs. regionally ranked opponents.  And Wooster already has 2 wins vs. regionally ranked opponents on their resume, not to mention 2 of their 3 losses are to regionally ranked opponents.  That would be 4 wins total vs. regionally ranked opponents compared to Hope claiming just one win vs a regionally ranked opponent (Wheaton).

BTW, gotcha on the do or die for OWU.   

[kiltedbryan]

Great Lakes
1 Hope 12-0 20-1
2 Wittenberg 15-3 17-4
3 Wooster 16-3 18-3
4 Ohio Wesleyan 15-5 16-5
5 Wabash 13-6 15-6
6 Capital 13-6 14-7

Those are the first regional rankings for the 2011-12 season from the NCAA. At this stage, that's almost a perfect result for the NCAC in terms of hoping for Pool C bids down the line. Great to be slotted ahead of all the PrAC contenders...it looks like the committee gave significant weight to strength of schedule and results against regionally-ranked teams this year.

[smedindy]

This is excellent for the NCAC as any "C" contender will have 'results' against regionally ranked foes.

[ScotsFan]

This is excellent for the NCAC as any "C" contender will have 'results' against regionally ranked foes.

Yeah.  This is very good.  Not too many GL teams will have the all important 'wins vs. regionally ranked opponents' checked off in their column and certainly not to the extent that some NCAC teams will have at the end of the season.  Does this open the door to the possibility of the NCAC getting 3 teams into the tournament?

One question I have is, does the selection committee take into account wins vs. just final regionally ranked opponents or do they take into account wins vs. teams that may not be ranked in the final regional rankings, but were at one time?

kb, I too am happy to see no love being thrown the PrAC's way.  I'm so tired of seeing one dominant team coming from the PrAC or the AMCC and get a lofty regional ranking due to their gaudy win percentage vs. crap.  It is definitely refreshing to see the NCAA place more of an emphasis on SOS.

[Mr. Ypsi]

My understanding is that the policy is now 'once ranked, always ranked'.  And the criterion is 'results' vs. ranked teams - it appears that # of ranked opponents is important, even for losses (i.e., a 3-4 team against ranked opponents may still outshine a 2-1 team.

[fantastic50]

Does this open the door to the possibility of the NCAC getting 3 teams into the tournament?

I think this is definitely possible, especially if the NCAC continues to have 3 of the top 4 in the region.  Matt Snyder projects both Woo and OWU as Pool C teams right now, although with OWU on the (right side of the) bubble.
http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/2012/02/bracketology-262012.html

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wabash 26  Wittenberg 19

[kiltedbryan]

Does this open the door to the possibility of the NCAC getting 3 teams into the tournament?

I think this is definitely possible, especially if the NCAC continues to have 3 of the top 4 in the region.  Matt Snyder projects both Woo and OWU as Pool C teams right now, although with OWU on the (right side of the) bubble.
http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/2012/02/bracketology-262012.html

I'll be interested to see his updates after taking into account the "results vs. regionally ranked teams" plus his estimation of how the committee is treating the split between SOS and winning %.

Also, since it looks like SOS is playing a larger role, the top NCAC teams should have the advantage of playing each other, so even with another loss or two they may stay more static in the rankings and be able to keep a hold on the top spots "at the table" come Pool C time...it'll be very interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks.