MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

Yeomen   3rd place!
Go Yeo!

Excellent point - with Oberlin now at 2-1 in the NCAC and in sole possession of 3rd place, when was the last time that the Yeomen were this high in the conference standings?   I thought Oberlin also played a very solid game against Wooster (only lost by 8 points) and their talent level seems higher this year.

[wooscotsfan]

Who likes these 4 team tournaments with all 4 games prescheduled?  Wooster has set up the Mose Hole tourney this year so they will definitely play both John Carroll and Marietta which are the two strongest teams invited to this tourney.  Wooster is being smart to avoid playing Geneva (now 1-8) which would only hurt the Scots' strength of schedule.

On the other hand, the Transylvania tourney where Wooster plays this Tuesday/Wednesday has the two best teams on paper not meeting each other due to the prescheduled format.  Both #7 Franklin & Marshall (7-0) and #12 Wooster (7-1) will be at Transy this week but cannot play each other because there is no true championship game. 

Obviously, prescheduling occurs because teams often want more in-region games (for NCAA tourney selection) or because they either want to meet or avoid certain opponents (like not playing a conference team another time which is why Transy probably prescheduled their tourney).  Other thoughts?

[smedindy]

I always thought it was kind of 'phony' to call it a tournament and pre-schedule games, much like the mega-D1 tourneys that now invite scrubs to play at a major school site for the 'first round', advance the major automatically anyway, and then the scrubs play in their own little satellite tourney. FAU was 'in' the Maui Classic but were never, ever going to earn a trip to Maui.


I do think it's the regionality issue and the desire to improve SOS that is dictating these schedules. Used to be that a team like Geneva would be automatic first round fodder for a host.

[smedindy]

As expected, Hiram bests Waynesburg yesterday 74-62 and Wittenberg beats Ohio Christian 71-61. NCAC now 32-22 non-conference.

[dahlby]

wooscotsfan:
I think you answered your own question in your closing paragraph.
In Southern California, where all teams are members of the same conference,
as well as the northwest, where you have the same situation, these four team/game pods
are great. For example, this week Chapman and Redlands host Whitworth and Willamette.
These type of pods happen several times during pre-conference play. It gives all teams involved
extra in-region games against quality opponents. Additionally, when the games
are scheduled in the same location it cuts down on the costs. Mosts pods become home and home
contests for the following year. This eliminates having to play a fellow conference member in a non-conference game.
This works well for the NW and SOCAL, but maybe not for other geographical areas where you might
have one or more conferences within the same geographical areas, such as Illinois, Iowa and Wisc.

[smedindy]

We have non-conference games this week involving five of the ten squads. Let's get to them!

Tonight:

DePauw (4-3) @ Rose-Hulman (9-1) - It's really hard to score on the Engineers. I mean, really hard. The most points R-H has given up this season is 61, against a pretty decent Hanover team. Ask Wabash about the Engineers' defense. DePauw has some offensive weapons, but they've been inconsistent lately. It could be a long night for the New Tigers in Terre Haute. Wait, I've been to Terre Haute. Every night's a long night there (ba-dum-ching...)

Washington & Jefferson (3-6) @ Hiram (2-4) - The Terriers are in their 'pillowy soft PrAC' portion of their non-conference schedule. This is a game they should, nay, must win to keep up momentum they regained against Waynesburg. Odds are good they will.

Hanover (5-3) @ Wabash (2-5) - Speaking of Hanover, the Panthers are decent but not world-beating. A young Little Giants squad that probably has been duly taught a lesson by Wooster could find redemption in a home win. It's been a long time since Wabash won a game (December 1) and I'm sure they're hungry for a W.

Tomorrow (Dec. 18)

Wooster (7-1) @ Transylvania (5-3) - A Scots team that is rolling travels to beautiful (?) Lexington to face the Pioneers in the Don Lane Classic. It's not easy to play down there, historically, but Transy was upset by Manchester at home on the 8th. I do not think Wooster will be fazed in the slightest by the trip down there and hopefully will bring glory for the league against the HCAC.

Wednesday (Dec. 19)

Kalamazoo (2-6) @ DePauw (4-3) - This is a 1P start, a 'businessman's special' as it were for the good folks in Greendingle. Those hooky-playing suit wearers will see a Hornets team mired in a five-game slide. As we've seen, though, the New Tigers always keeps bad teams close at hand and sometimes it bites them. I think this will be a good rebound for DPU's offense after the R-H game, though.

Wooster (7-1) vs. Mt. St. Joseph (5-3) @ Transylvania - Game two of the Don Lane Classic is another NCAC / HCAC brawl. The Lions are undefeated in conference play but haven't played anyone worth much in their league (except they did beat the Manchester team that upset Transylvania). Look for the Scots to scoot out of Kentucky with the league's pride intact (and a 2-0 record to boot).

Westminster (PA) (2-4) @ Hiram (2-4) - Game three of the "Bang the PrAC Bums Slowly" tour finds Hiram facing woe-begone Westminster. The Titans started out 2-0 and have fallen on hard times and may be in the midst of a five-game slide if they can't beat LaRoche tonight. Hiram could get to .500, which will do wonders for its confidence as it tries to recover in the muddled middle on the NCAC.

UC-Clermont (4-12) @ Wittenberg (6-2) - The Old Tigers face the Cougars, who spent the weekend getting obliterated by Bellarmine and Southern Indiana in the Bellarmine tournament. Did Wittenberg have trouble scheduling games to play? I can imagine UC-Clermont may think this is a respite after acting as a tomato can for NAIA-I and D-2 squads recently. However, we know the caliber of ball the Old Tigers can play if they put their mind to it. This may be interesting to watch.

Wabash (2-5) @ Franklin (4-4) - Another HCAC foe for the league, this time the Grizzlies. On the gridiron, this would be a must-see game, but on the hardwood it's two teams searching for an identity. The LG's would like nothing but to prove that their recent woes are gone for good, and that means playing two good games in a row against the HCAC. As mediocre as Frankin is, Wabash will need a decent effort to win.

[smedindy]

Wabash really wanted to give it away. After leading by double digits in the second half the LGs kept missing crucial FTs down the stretch. Yet, Hanover missed a shot at the end and the Wabash prevailed 61-59. Daniel Purvlicis had a double double with 18 points and 11 boards.

More good news for the league - Hiram beat W & J 79-69 behind Alan Sheppard's 19.

The New Tigers fell to Rose-Hulman, as expected, 52-39. Barry Flynn led DPU with 11.

34-23 in non-conference!

[GoRed]

Pretty quiet on the board tonight.  Wasn't there a game?

[seinfeld]

Pretty quiet on the board tonight.  Wasn't there a game?

I'm not sure, I'm still celebrating making you look like a fool for saying Wooster was no good in 2011 when they went to the national title game, which you then followed up by more less dismissing as a fluke.

[kiltedbryan]

Pretty quiet on the board tonight.  Wasn't there a game?

For my part, I was working late and missed the game entirely, other than seeing that Wooster lost, which didn't surprise me that much. A quick look at the box indicates no single decisive factor, so I'm hoping a Scots fan that went or listened to it will provide more info. So far Wooster has managed to lose to the two best teams on its schedule, though both games could have gone either way.

The Beck Center at Transy has not been a kind location to the Scots.

[seinfeld]

I didn't see the game either, but the foul shooting differential really jumps off the page. Turnovers, which has been a problem for the Scots, wasn't really tonight. The big problem was the foul trouble of Claytor and Mays. Claytor especially has had a number of games where his minutes have been limited because of fouls. Mays took a goose egg on rebounds in over 20 minutes tonight, which is reminiscent of previous years efforts, not this year. So hopefully it was just an off night.

What matters now for Wooster is the next three games. They have a chance to play three in-region teams that will likely finish at or above .500. If they can win all three, tonight's loss will be small blip, as they will have some nice non-conference wins under their belt when the regional rankings start to come out. Lose one more, then you are starting to cut into the margin of error for an at large bid if one is necessary later in the season. I expect a nice bounce back effort tomorrow and at the Mose Hole, but let's see what happens and who steps up their game.

[ScotsFan]

Pretty quiet on the board tonight.  Wasn't there a game?

For my part, I was working late and missed the game entirely, other than seeing that Wooster lost, which didn't surprise me that much. A quick look at the box indicates no single decisive factor, so I'm hoping a Scots fan that went or listened to it will provide more info. So far Wooster has managed to lose to the two best teams on its schedule, though both games could have gone either way.

The Beck Center at Transy has not been a kind location to the Scots.

I'd say there was quite a big foul disparity which was a pretty decisive factor in the game.  Wooster was whistled for 26 fouls compared to just 15 on Transy.  That translated into 36 ft attempts for Transy.  They only made 21 but still, Wooster only had 15 ft attempts for the game.

You are right though in that the Beck Center has not been friendly confines for Wooster. 

[kiltedbryan]

Pretty quiet on the board tonight.  Wasn't there a game?

For my part, I was working late and missed the game entirely, other than seeing that Wooster lost, which didn't surprise me that much. A quick look at the box indicates no single decisive factor, so I'm hoping a Scots fan that went or listened to it will provide more info. So far Wooster has managed to lose to the two best teams on its schedule, though both games could have gone either way.

The Beck Center at Transy has not been a kind location to the Scots.

I'd say there was quite a big foul disparity which was a pretty decisive factor in the game.  Wooster was whistled for 26 fouls compared to just 15 on Transy.  That translated into 36 ft attempts for Transy.  They only made 21 but still, Wooster only had 15 ft attempts for the game.

You are right though in that the Beck Center has not been friendly confines for Wooster.

I missed the foul differential (it was a *really* quick look at the box...) Tough for the Scots to have Claytor and Mays both in trouble...and I see now that Thorpe actually led the Scots with 7 boards. Probably won't happen that often this year.

The '06 NCAA loss at Transy has always really stuck with me. That was a Salem-capable team that beat eventual national runner-up Wittenberg 2 out of 3 times. If I remember the bracket correctly, had Wooster beaten Transy, we would've had Woo-Witt game #4 that year in the Sweet Sixteen. That would've been something.

[seinfeld]

The '06 NCAA loss at Transy has always really stuck with me. That was a Salem-capable team that beat eventual national runner-up Wittenberg 2 out of 3 times. If I remember the bracket correctly, had Wooster beaten Transy, we would've had Woo-Witt game #4 that year in the Sweet Sixteen. That would've been something.

Actually, it would have been the Elite 8. That's when Transy lost to Witt. I can't remember who Transy beat in the Sweet 16 (maybe Maryville?), but they won fairly convincingly.

It's a little curious that Xavier Brown went a combined 7-for-8 from three-point range against Wittenberg and Wabash (and leads the NCAC in three-point percentage), including 5-for-5 against the Little Giants, but hasn't taken a single three-point shot in the last two games, a combined 68 minutes.

[sac]

The '06 NCAA loss at Transy has always really stuck with me. That was a Salem-capable team that beat eventual national runner-up Wittenberg 2 out of 3 times. If I remember the bracket correctly, had Wooster beaten Transy, we would've had Woo-Witt game #4 that year in the Sweet Sixteen. That would've been something.

Actually, it would have been the Elite 8. That's when Transy lost to Witt. I can't remember who Transy beat in the Sweet 16 (maybe Maryville?), but they won fairly convincingly.

Transylvania beat Mississippi College, Wittenberg beat Hope in other sweet 16 game in Springfield.