MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

How about this streak btw.  Wooster has now reached the conference tournament final in 15 of the last 16 years.  Wabash beat them in the semis at Timken for the only time that Wooster failed to reach the final of the NCAC tournament in the last 16 years! 

Also, with Denison reaching the finals as a 5 seed, I can't recall in recent memory of a team outside of the top 4 seeds reaching the conference tournament final.  Outside of OWU's tournament championship in 2008 (they were either a 2 or 3 seed that year I believe) you have to go back to the 97-98 season to find a non-Witt or non-Woo tournament champion and that was Allegheny.   I'm pretty sure Denison would be the lowest seeded tournament champion if they won tonight.  I just don't know if there have been any lower seeds to play for the tournament championship.

[GoRed]

 

Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

I thought that attendance was a little low (for Wooster) last night, but its hard to get from Wooster to Springfield for a 6:00 game.  I'd expect a larger Wooster crowd tonight.

If they can get their tractors started in this cold weather!

[ohiofan1954]

Love it, nothing like a little old fashioned trash talking. It is a great day for the NCAC.

[woosterbooster]

So, what's the consensus, now, on the NCAA situation?  If Wooster wins, I'm thinking that they have a good chance to host the first round.  Wittenberg is almost surely in.  Would there be a third team?  If Denison wins, Wooster is still in and Witt likely also, but who hosts from the NCAC, if anyone?  Can OWU sneak in as a fourth team?

As for tonight's game.  If Denison shoots lights out from the perimeter as they did last night, they'll likely win the game.  Heck, any team that can do that can pretty much beat anyone.  But it's probably not going to happen, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed with their ball movement or penetration ability.  If they're not hitting, they'll need to be all over the offensive glass, which they're very capable of doing.  Wooster, with Claytor dinged up and DeBoer just getting his game legs again, is just, well...short.

Denison is also a shot-blocking team now, so Wooster's offense might just have to come, again, from behind the arc along with Brown's pull-up jumpers.  They'll need to make their free throws, as they did last night.  I'm happy to be playing Denison over Wittenberg; not so much that I feel they're a weaker team, but I really prefer the idea of a neutral floor.

[smedindy]

The number crunching wags have OWU pretty safely in, barring other carnage.

[pennstghs]

Disappointing loss last night, Witt didn't start the game with intensity that Denison did and ultimately a 20 point deficit was too much to overcome. Witt should be safely in, but will have to travel to probably either Hope or Transylvania.

For NCAC purposes and obviously the fact that I can't bring myself to root for Wooster, hopefully Denison will come through with the win tonight. Would it bring the NCAC participants up to 4 then? Wooster and Wittenberg are certainly in, but would a Denison win knock OWU out? Who knows with the NCAA committee. As Coach Brown said, he's not revolving his day around their decisions (he didn't say that but I surmised that).

A couple of points:

1-not sure who he is, but the gentleman that sits right behind Wooster's bench needs to refer to ncaa.com and read the actual rule of 3 seconds and the rule of verticality and then maybe he'll be a little quiet for once during the game.......jk!

2-the technical I disagree was a good call I thought. Denison's player didn't hang on the rim to prevent contact but to show boat as he was screaming the entire time he was doing that. I'm sure he wasn't too concerned with making contact with anyone, thus by interpretation of the rule it was justified.

3-Wittenberg couldn't hit free throws if their life depended on it. Which is ironic as that's how they have been successful, getting to the free throw line.

4-I was really impressed with Denison and know how Wabash fans feel concerning Farmer. He has the ability to go on a shooting streak.  At least Wittenberg had a moral victory as their assistant Chris Sullivan is a Witt grad.

[wooscotsfan]

Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

I thought that attendance was a little low (for Wooster) last night, but its hard to get from Wooster to Springfield for a 6:00 game.  I'd expect a larger Wooster crowd tonight.

If they can get their tractors started in this cold weather!

The only "Farmer" that I know of plays for Denison! 

[ScotsFan]

Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

I thought that attendance was a little low (for Wooster) last night, but its hard to get from Wooster to Springfield for a 6:00 game.  I'd expect a larger Wooster crowd tonight.

If they can get their tractors started in this cold weather!

The only "Farmer" that I know of plays for Denison! 

Not to mention, we all know what a thriving metropolis Granville is...     

[woosterbooster]

2-the technical I disagree was a good call I thought. Denison's player didn't hang on the rim to prevent contact but to show boat as he was screaming the entire time he was doing that. I'm sure he wasn't too concerned with making contact with anyone, thus by interpretation of the rule it was justified.

I just watched a replay of the dunk and technical.  It happened with the score 44-30, directly off an in-bounds play.  Hale took the cross-court alley-oop off of a backdoor cut from the left side, totally unguarded.  Clayton Black, who was guarding someone else, came back to him, from underneath on the right side, but was too late to contest the shot.  He was, however, standing just off to the right of underneath the basket as Hale dunked the ball.  Had Hale not grabbed the rim, he'd have flown into Black on the way down.  He swung forward, then back, not quite to vertical, before dropping to the floor.  By doing so, he avoided any possible contact.  I don't know what he said, or yelled, if anything, but from looking at the video, there was absolutely no way he deserved a technical from his physical action.  If you don't believe me, go back and look at it yourself.

[David Collinge]

I'm wondering how many Wooster fans will be in the stands for tonight's game.  It will be a weird and rare home court atmosphere for Wooster at the a Pam tonight.  Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

Denison is offering a free bus ride for any students who want to attend. It'll be interesting to see how many take them up on it. In my day (at least), there was ALWAYS something better to do at DU on a Saturday night.

[kiltedbryan]

Weird situation just before the start of the Denison-Wooster game. There are light malfunctions at the arena, and they just sent the teams back to the locker room.

No word yet on when this game will get underway...

[imderekpoe]

Weird situation just before the start of the Denison-Wooster game. There are light malfunctions at the arena, and they just sent the teams back to the locker room.

No word yet on when this game will get underway...

Pretty sure its a human malfunction. They usually turn off the lights over the stands here during the game. But looks like someone hit the wrong switch. Maybe the same guy that had so much trouble operating the clock last night? 

Looks like the teams are coming back on the court. Should be getting started in a few minutes.

[kiltedbryan]

Weird situation just before the start of the Denison-Wooster game. There are light malfunctions at the arena, and they just sent the teams back to the locker room.

No word yet on when this game will get underway...

Pretty sure its a human malfunction. They usually turn off the lights over the stands here during the game. But looks like someone hit the wrong switch. Maybe the same guy that had so much trouble operating the clock last night? 

Looks like the teams are coming back on the court. Should be getting started in a few minutes.

Yup, looks like we're about to go live from Springfield...Let's Go Scots!

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half: Wooster 28  Denison 26

Wooster is being led by Justin Hallowell with 9 points and Josh Claytor with 8.

Denison's top scorers are Dimonde Hale with 9 points and Mike Garabedian with 5.

[smedindy]

Denison was down nine with 2:15 left in the first half. It seems this Big Red squad is not intimidated and does not roll over for anyone.