MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[fantastic50]

I was also proud of the Scots effort (especially the toughness to come back from a big deficit) against a taller, more physical team.  What a season in a "rebuilding year"! 

IWU was very impressive (and classy after the game, as well).  How in the world were they a bubble team?

Good luck to Witt tonight, representing the NCAC.

[NCF]

You're not the OAC!!

Actually, I'd consider the CCIW more chaotic neutral than anything else.

I think I'd rather be considered semi-evil than chaotic neutral.During football season, however, we are all out evil! LOL:)

[NCF]

Congrats to Witt on a nice win. It was a great game to watch.

[NCF]

I was also proud of the Scots effort (especially the toughness to come back from a big deficit) against a taller, more physical team.  What a season in a "rebuilding year"! 

IWU was very impressive (and classy after the game, as well).  How in the world were they a bubble team?

Good luck to Witt tonight, representing the NCAC.

I wondered the same thing after watching that game.

[ScotsFan]

I was also proud of the Scots effort (especially the toughness to come back from a big deficit) against a taller, more physical team.  What a season in a "rebuilding year"! 

IWU was very impressive (and classy after the game, as well).  How in the world were they a bubble team?

Good luck to Witt tonight, representing the NCAC.

That is a good question.  If you look at their losses, while they had 7 L's on the season, 2 were to NCC (lost in the Sweet 16), 2 were to Wheaton (lost in the Sweet 16), one was to Augie (pre-season top 5) and one was to UW-Whitewater (advanced to the Elite 8 by beating Wheaton).  Hardly any losses to make you question how good of a team they are.  Couple that with the fact that they seem to be peaking at just the right time of the season and they are going to be a tough out. 

[sac]

I think a lot of the bubble talk about IWU was speculation around IWU being ranked behind Lake Forest in the last poll.  Obviously that didn't happen.  Had they been behind Lake Forest in the last poll then they would certainly have been a bubble team whether deserving or not.

And I think any Titan fan will tell you they've played their best basketball in the last two weeks.  They've kept their turnovers to a minimum, or at least below their season avg in the tournament.  That alone can be enough to make a team 10 points better through the course a game.

[woosterbooster]

As I'd suspected after seeing the last fifteen minutes of their win at Hope, IWU proved to be a very good team.  Watching them warm up, and then play in the first half, they reminded me of last season's version of Whitworth.  Size and athleticism.  A team with those skills, when their shots are dropping as they did in the first twenty minutes, is not going to lose to anyone in DIII.

Still, after intermission, Wooster got after them.  In the first half, it was the Scots' second unit that stemmed the IWU tide.  In the second half, Coach Moore and his staff came up with a mix-and-match six-person rotation that, with the help of the media timeouts, could compete.

Claytor and Hallowell remained in the game from the starting group and never came out.  Goodwin at the point had the quickness to force Gonzalez to back off a step, allowing him to run the offense.  Doug Thorpe, who has really become a player this season, gave Wooster another offensive weapon and showed his heart on defense.  Brown and Warnes were moved in and out, when possible, offensively and defensively.

It worked.  The first half hole was deep, and it took nearly the whole second stanza to fill in, but they did it.  With a couple of minutes to go, it was anyone's game, and not one that those in attendance will soon forget.

IWU had a lot of good performances, but in my mind, Gonzalez was the key.  His in-your-face defense in the first half disrupted the Wooster offense.  When IWU had the ball, he was poised and in control.  He won several battles for loose balls with his hustle.  He and Thorpe going at it on the floor was something to see.  And then he buried the pump-fake dagger to win the ballgame.

This Wooster club went further than I had ever expected.  Losing Franks, Wickliffe, and Balch appeared to me to be more than they'd be able to overcome.  But, after a mid-season repositioning, the team began to gel.  Their team play became better than the parts, just as it did last year.  I should have known that it would.

Looking forward to next year, once again three players will be lost.  This year's senior leadership will be missed.  But I see the program in good hands, as many of the younger players were able to play substantial minutes and will go into 2012-13 as experienced veterans.  Look out next year, NCAC, Wooster will be ready.

[David Collinge]

Well, that was a great NCAC season. Parity from top to bottom, almost. Three teams in the dance, a fourth on the bubble and a fifth just a few seconds from a surprise ticket. New blood from DePauw, while the old blood in Springfield gets active again. Wooster far exceeding expectations. Denison giving us all a thrill ride. Just too bad that we won't be represented in Salem. Heck, everywhere west of Pennsylvania it was a thrilling year. Congratulations to all!

[smedindy]

It was a great year for the NCAC!

[ScotsFan]

Tough night for Witt last night as IWU continued it's hot streak in a convincing win over the Tigers.  Here are a couple of links to articles in the Springfield fish wrap:

Tigers' dream fades in Final 8

Illinois Wesleyan's size gave Witt fits


As I said with Wooster, Witt has nothing to hang their heads about in what will overall be viewed as a very successful season for Witt and their 7 seniors.  As was said in one of those articles, those 7 seniors went from being 13-13 as freshmen to getting to within a game of going to Salem for the first time since 2006.  Damn fine job by those 7 Witt seniors in leading their team to a great season.

And I echo David's comments on what a great season this was.  I LOVE the parity in the league.  It's because of that parity that allowed the NCAC to place 3 teams into the NCAA Tournament and nearly pulled off getting 4 or even 5 teams in?!     The addition of DePauw definitely strengthened this league especially considering who they replaced in the EC. 

Is it too early to start looking ahead to next year yet?    I'm just going out on a limb and will predict Wooster will be the pre-season favorite heading into next season... 

Now it's time to turn my attention to the diamond where hopefully this spring will be more kind to the Scots than it was last spring in both playing and weather.  Looks like it should be a pretty competitive conference season as Wabash and Wooster were nearly in a dead heat at the top of the conference pre-season coaches' poll and OWU not far behind in 3rd.  Wooster will hope to rebound from a disappointing season that saw a streak of seventeen straight 30 win seasons come to an end...

[pennstghs]

Great season for Witt and congratulations on Wooster as well. I wasn't able to make it to Wooster but am proud to be an alum and see the accomplishments this team put together. Although we lose a lot (7 seniors) Witt will return some key components from this year ready to take on larger roles and will have some impact freshman to fill in as well.

[NCF]

Those were some great games between the NCAC and CCIW. Any chance for non-conference match ups in the future?

[woosterbooster]

I'm sure this isn't the right place to ask this, but what the heck.  Can anyone tell me who gets the gate receipts for DIII games?  Does the home team get it all?  Does the visitor get a percentage?  Does the visiting team get travel expenses?  Is nothing set in stone and it's worked out between the two schools beforehand on a case by case basis?  Are the answers to these questions the same for regular season games and during the NCAA tournament?  Anybody know?  Just curious.

[ScotsFan]

Nice final article on the 2011-12 Hoops season in the Wooster DR:

COW tradition never graduates

Loved hearing Fegan and Warnes giving props not only to the 3 departed seniors from a year ago, but gave the real props to the players that have passed down those leadership skills over the years from one class to the next.

[sac]

I'm sure this isn't the right place to ask this, but what the heck.  Can anyone tell me who gets the gate receipts for DIII games?  Does the home team get it all?  Does the visitor get a percentage?  Does the visiting team get travel expenses?  Is nothing set in stone and it's worked out between the two schools beforehand on a case by case basis?  Are the answers to these questions the same for regular season games and during the NCAA tournament?  Anybody know?  Just curious.

I'm sure these answers are in the tournament manual.  I have no idea where to find that anymore.