MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Wooster's Sectional Website, which obviously will have more content as the week progresses.

I feel your pain, pennstghs. But one inescapable conclusion from the hosting decision is that, for whatever reasons, Wooster was higher-ranked than Wittenberg in the final, secret, Great Lakes regional ranking, so it's not like it was an arbitrary decision to send the Sectional teams up here. I guess we'll never see that final ranking.

Unlike at least one of my friends, I admit that I will be rooting for Wittenberg, at least on Friday. Tiger Up!
/ducks and runs from the room

[ScotsFan]

Pennstghs, I'll complain about the officials any goddamned time that I want, especially in a game that doesn't involve Wooster.  They were miserable, if unbiased, and should be put out of work as soon as possible.  Good choice going to the Big Ten tourney, because Wittenberg's going to get their ass handed to them by North Central.  And outside of anyone that makes the trip from Springfield, there won't be a person in the house offering them any sympathy.

I love how he complains about the hosting decision and then proceeds to call for people to stop complaining about the refs?! 

I have a couple of questions about the officiating this weekend.  First, regarding the NCAC refs up at Hope, I'm wondering if any of our MIAA contributors could tell us how they feel that crew compared to your own MIAA officials?  I know I've read plenty of unfavorable opinions regarding MIAA officiating on their board over the years and I've always been of the opinion that they can't possibly be any worse than some of the hacks we have to deal with in the NCAC.  And second, does anyone know where the officiating crews were for the Wooster Regional?  I thought they did a very good job overall and for the most part, let the players play and didn't make the games about the men in stripes like our NCAC officials seem to make a habit of doing... 

[imderekpoe]

Wooster's Sectional Website, which obviously will have more content as the week progresses.

I feel your pain, pennstghs. But one inescapable conclusion from the hosting decision is that, for whatever reasons, Wooster was higher-ranked than Wittenberg in the final, secret, Great Lakes regional ranking, so it's not like it was an arbitrary decision to send the Sectional teams up here. I guess we'll never see that final ranking.

Unlike at least one of my friends, I admit that I will be rooting for Wittenberg, at least on Friday. Tiger Up!
/ducks and runs from the room

I will also be rooting for Witt and Wooster Friday night. From a conference loyalty point of view, it would be great to guarantee that there would be an NCAC team in Salem.  And I'd love nothing better than for Wooster to beat Witt to get there. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

It seems you may be right.  In the past, it seems that a team could very rarely make it to Salem never having left home.  Assuming that home court is a distinct advantage, I'm not sure I approve of this seeming trend.  I approve of hosting being a reward for quality work, but vanishingly few teams have 'earned' playing ONLY home games prior to Salem (and, this year, Wooster ain't one of them; I don't think any team probably is this year).

Oh well, we already took out #1 Hope AT Hope; you're next on the list!

(Geez, Mr. Y, aren't you starting the trash talk a bit early in the week?! )

I totally agree that Wooster hasn't truly 'earned' the right to play at home for the chance to go to Salem, but as you said, I don't see any team left in the tournament that probably 'earned' that right.  Last year, I feel Wooster was totally deserving of hosting the first 2 rounds of the tournament, but this year...  Not so much.  An argument could have been made for Hope, but they didn't take care of their own business at home last weekend and they're not in the tournament anymore.  An argument could have been made for Amherst, but it's the Amherst girls' turn to host this year.  Witt could have 'earned' that right but they lost in the conference semis to a .500 basketball team at home.  IWU could have 'earned' that right but going 4-4 over your last 8 games doesn't help.  As you said, I don't see any team from this Sectional that clearly 'earned' the right to host over another team.  And it's not like Wooster just backed into being chosen for this.  They may have been swept by Witt, but they did find a way to finish second in a very competitive NCAC this year, they have gone 21-2 including winning the NCAC Tournament and last weekend's Regional since dropping back to back games to Wabash and Witt back before X-mas.

Hey, now, by the time they picked the sectional sites we were 6-2 in our last 8 games!

I wasn't really expecting IWU to host anyway (I don't know if the men's and women's committees collaborate at all, but the women have hosting priority for the sectional round and the Titan women seemed potential hosts).  But NCC has won 13 of their last 14 games.

Oh well, given what happened in Naperville, I like our chances better in Wooster than Naperville anyway!

[ScotsFan]

Unlike at least one of my friends, I admit that I will be rooting for Wittenberg, at least on Friday. Tiger Up!
/ducks and runs from the room

David, you might be the only non-Witt fan in the building rooting for Witt on Friday you and derek might be the only non-Witt fans in the buliding rooting for Witt on Friday  .  First of all, most Wooster just flat out don't like Witt so conference loyalties be damned!  Secondly, with Ian Franks on the bench for NCC as a GA, you can bet most of the Wooster fans in attendance will be pulling for Cardinals! 

[smedindy]

Again, I wonder where the heck the Wooster fans were during the season? You all just spoiled and waiting for March?? 

[ScotsFan]

Again, I wonder where the heck the Wooster fans were during the season? You all just spoiled and waiting for March?? 

POST season is the REAL season smeds!      

[sac]

I have a couple of questions about the officiating this weekend.  First, regarding the NCAC refs up at Hope, I'm wondering if any of our MIAA contributors could tell us how they feel that crew compared to your own MIAA officials?  I know I've read plenty of unfavorable opinions regarding MIAA officiating on their board over the years and I've always been of the opinion that they can't possibly be any worse than some of the hacks we have to deal with in the NCAC.

As a basketball fan I was generally disappointed in the quality of the officiating this weekend.   I'm not usually one that gripes too much about officiating anyway and the officiating of any game is usually reflective of the quality of play to me.  Unfortunately Saturday night I thought the quality of play was excellent and the officials kept getting in the way of what was really an incredible effort by two teams.

I also don't necessarily share the same views as others about the MIAA's officiating, I thought this year was some of the best and most consistent we've seen, but maybe that bar is low.  That doesn't make me or any of us immune to questioning an effort or two during the season however.    What people usually gripe about is seeing the same officials over and over but this year the MIAA used a pool of over 50 different officials throughout the season, and some of those guys bounce around between NCAA II and lower level D1 games.


I see from the boxscore of the the Wooster/Maryville game that the 3 man crew was Mike Kavulich, Mike Brya, and Kendall Smith.  All 3 are well known MIAA officials, Kavulich did our MIAA Tournament Championship game.  Kendall Smith has done some D1 games.

Way to difficult to compare and contrast officiating based on just one game, so I'll leave it at I was disappointed in the quality.  I should also add the Hope/IWU game was about as physical a game I can recall.  Those two teams were just hammering each other, many times the officials had no choice but to call a foul.

I mean just look at this photo, it was pretty much like that all night long at both ends.

[sac]

I've seen quite a few different posts about Wooster hosting and the different theories.  I think there is one very simple reason Wooster is hosting, they are the highest remaining seed.

I'm confident this sections seeding went

#1 Hope
#2 Washington
#3 Transylvania
#4 Wooster
#5 Randolph-Macon--RM was probably not a true #5 but moved into the bracket for geographical balance and to separate Witt and Wooster.
#6 Wittenberg
#7 North Central
#8 UW-Stevens Pt.
#9 Illinois Wesleyan

Wooster is the highest remaining seed and all 3 of the other teams could get there by bus.  I don't even think another host site could have been debated.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

More like regional ranking, despite losing two to Wittenberg and despite not seeing the final regional rankings, I am of the opinion that Wooster moved ahead of Witt in the final rankings giving them the chance to host the first weekend and now the second.

Another reason I am confident Wooster was ranked ahead of Wittenberg in the final regional ranking was because Wittenberg went to Transylvania... and they wouldn't have had two #2's in that pod (Transylvania apparently did finish 2 in the Midwest from what I was told).

FYI - if Wash U had WON and beaten NCC... then Wittenberg would have been hosting because Wooster and Wash U are more than 500 miles from one another and the NCAA wouldn't have paid for that flight. Thus, the game would have been moved to Witt, who is inside that 500 mile rule.

Just something to consider.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (21-7, 10-4 CCIW) @ Wooster (26-4, 12-4 NCAC)...

PG
(Wooster) Matt Fegan, 6-1/185 Sr - 7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.6 A/TO (57-125 3-point, .456)
(IWU) Eliud Gonzalez, 5-9/170 Sr - 6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.5 apg, 2.2 A/TO (55-131 FG, .420)

SG
(IWU) Jordan Zimmer, 6-5/190 Sr - 15.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.9 apg (96-229 3-point, .419)
(Wooster) Xavier Brown, 5-11/180 Fr - 13.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.6 apg (142-327 FG, .434)

G/F
(IWU) John Koschnitzky, 6-6/205 Sr - 9.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg (86-216 FG, .398)
(Wooster) Justin Warnes, 6-3/180 Sr - 5.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg (45-91 FG, .495)

F
(Wooster) Justin Hallowell, 6-7/210 Sr - 14.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg (74-182 3-point, .407)
(IWU) Victor Davis, 6-5/225 So - 10.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg (113-219 FG, .516)

F/C
(Wooster) Josh Claytor, 6-7/225 Jr - 11.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg (140-227 FG, .617)
(IWU) Kevin Reed, 6-7/225 Jr - 9.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg (112-183 FG, .612)

Bench
(Wooster) Jake Mays (F/C), 6-8/215 Jr - 6.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg
(Wooster) Doug Thorpe (G), 5-9/175 So - 6.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg
(Wooster) Evan Pannell (G), 6-2/175 Fr - 3.0 ppg, 0.9 rpg
(Wooster) Jalen Goodwin (G), 6-0/175 Fr - 2.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg

(IWU) Andrew Ziemnik (F), 6-5/225 So - 7.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg
(IWU) Stephen Rudnicki (G), 6-3/173 Sr - 6.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 2.2 apg
(IWU) Nick Anderson (C), 6-9/200 So - 4.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg
(IWU) Eric Dortch (F), 6-3/210 So - 3.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg


Team stats...

PPG
IWU - 77.0
Wooster - 75.2

Opp PPG
Wooster - 62.8
IWU - 66.8

FG
Wooster - .475
IWU - .467

Opp FG
Wooster - .390
IWU - .414

3-point
Wooster - .398
IWU - .360

Opp 3-point
Wooster - .282
IWU - .358

Reb. Margin
IWU - +6.2/game
Wooster - +5.8/game

FT
Wooster - .698
IWU - .678

A/TO
IWU - 1.1
Wooster - 1.0

Opp A/TO
IWU - 0.7
Wooster - 0.7

[woosterbooster]

As a basketball fan I was generally disappointed in the quality of the officiating this weekend.   I'm not usually one that gripes too much about officiating anyway and the officiating of any game is usually reflective of the quality of play to me.  Unfortunately Saturday night I thought the quality of play was excellent and the officials kept getting in the way of what was really an incredible effort by two teams.

Way too difficult to compare and contrast officiating based on just one game, so I'll leave it at I was disappointed in the quality.  I should also add the Hope/IWU game was about as physical a game I can recall.  Those two teams were just hammering each other, many times the officials had no choice but to call a foul.

If I had to choose one theme to describe the bulk of NCAC officials, it would be that their tendency is to allow too much physicality.  Certain teams come into a gym and, possibly lacking the necessary basketball skills to win the ballgame, attempt to overwhelm the officials with the quantity of their bumping, reaching, and grabbing.  Some fouls are called, but never enough to keep the game under control.  Pretty soon, the more physical team has an advantage over the more skilled team.  I always look forward to the NCAA tournament, because then the NCAC clowns are gone (to be someone else's problem  ), and we generally see much better officiated games, as we did this past weekend.

[smedindy]

For me, I think the difference between Witt and Wooster (and OWU and Wabash, really) were wafer thin most of the season and then Denison came in and started to play up to their potential. So I'm not shocked that Wooster is hosting because I think they moved ahead of Witt when Wooster won the NCAC tourney. I do think it came down to the NCAC tourney winner and that's why Witt went to Transylvania.

[woosterbooster]

Titan, somewhere around the middle of the season, Matt Fegan was returned to the point guard slot, moving X.B. to shooting guard.

[smedindy]

You know, WooBoo, I don't know how many fouls Nick Curosh received just for being big. So I think your analysis has a certain lens that may not be 100% in line with the perception of some of us. And this isn't a cotillion, it's hoops.