MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Gregory Sager]

Ah, yes. Should've figured that out from the late-morning time stamp on his first post. Thanks.

[woosterbooster]

Smeds, how did your alma mater manage to play both Hiram and Allegheny today?

The games were Friday night and today - Smeds just posted about both of them today. The NCAC always does one weekend where the two easternmost NCAC teams (Allegheny & Hiram) play the westernmost teams (Wabash & DePauw...used to be Earlham I believe) in one weekend in early January while school's out to minimize the travel impacts. Basically a weekend where those four teams do their best UAA "travel pair" impression. They alternate years on who travels to whom.

I think it should be noted here that the state of Ohio benevolently allows three of these four rather uncivilized teams to pass through its domain with neither the requirement of passports or any fees other than the normal tolls.  It's understood by most that the campus of the fourth school is actually within the Buckeye state, but the government seems to be fine with this, as the location is secluded and for the most part, ignored by the populace.

[pennstghs]

I am missing from posting about Wittenberg as I have only attended one game all year; I saw them lose to Taylor in thier championship of the holiday tournament last Saturday. My high school officiating schedule has me working every day they have a game. Otherwise I'd be throwing my two cents in.

My two cents so far is that they are a young team that is missing 4 seniors that graduated from an Elite Eight team. Wittenberg's main struggles have been rebounding and scoring this year.

[smedindy]

For those of you not caring about some football game thing deal bit, there are a couple of games going on tonight:

Non-Conference:

Denison (4-8) @ UC- Clermont (4-16)  - Wittenberg blasted the Cougars 89-47 back in December, but the Big Red isn't Wittenberg, obviously. However, since their last win (against Wright Patterson Air Force Base - well, OK) they've lost seven straight by an average of 35.6 points per game. This may be a great chance for Denison to right the ship after the past three tough games and get back to being a competitive player in the middle muddle of the NCAC.

Conference:

Wittenberg (1-2, 8-4) @ Oberlin (2-1, 4-7) - Yeah, the Yeomen are ahead of the Old Tigers in the standings, but that's just an anomaly. At times, Oberlin has played much better than one would have guessed coming in to the year, yet someone they lost to then winless Elmira over the break. I'm not seeing anything but a Wittenberg win, and this could be the typical Witt "we just lost and the next game is against a weak sister so we're going to crush them like Conan the Barbarian". I mean, they do that in football all the time, so why not hoops?

[woosterbooster]

Wittenberg (1-2, 8-4) @ Oberlin (2-1, 4-7) - Yeah, the Yeomen are ahead of the Old Tigers in the standings, but that's just an anomaly.

Anomaly, rah!  Anomaly, rah!  Rah!  Rah!  Rah!!

[smedindy]

Oberlin did keep it close (closer than ND did), losing only 59-47 to Witt.

Denison, however, lost to UC - Clermont 69-64. I'm kind of flabbergasted.

[GoRed]

Some interesting matchups tomorrow night.  Unfortunately, DU vs. OWU is not one of them.

Really bad loss for the Big Red vs UC-Clermont.  We've lost 7 out of the last 8.  At this point, the rest of the season is looking very bleak.  The next three (OWU, Witt and DPU) are certain losses.  After that, I see the possibility of a maximum of three wins.   

Year 11 of the current coaching regime, and by my estimation, last year's finish bought him another two after this.  Beleaguered Denison fans can only hope that 13 is a lucky number.     



     

   

[smedindy]

A full slate of conference games tonight:

Kenyon (1-3, 7-6) @ Wittenberg (2-2, 9-4) - It's interesting to look at the middle muddle of the NCAC. The teams at the bottom of the conference standings all have winning records, whilst, save Wittenberg, the teams at 2-2 are all stuck on four wins. Hmmm. I don't know why Kenyon's been as mercurial as they have been this season - I thought they'd be stronger. But they'll have to get stronger another day. Even though the Old Tigers have been a tad disappointing this year, it's still going to be really tough for anyone but the elite to knock them off.

Wooster (4-0, 10-2) @ Hiram (1-3, 7-6) - The Scots have been off for a while after they didn't quite whelm their fans against Marietta. Now they travel to Hiram to meet the Terriers in a contest that could be interesting. Hiram had a couple of bad losses early (it can be safely said that perhaps Denison is going to be a 'bad' loss, alas) and dropped one against DPU Saturday that could have really helped them in the conference battle. But the Indiana two-step is always tough on the travelers. It could be closer than the uninformed would believe.

Denison (2-2, 4-9) @ Ohio Wesleyan (4-0, 11-1) - Oof. The Big Red have lost four in a row and seven of eight. Last year's Cinderella story is now in the grim distance. And instead of an Oberlin to face after an inexcusable loss to a really bad Clermont team, they face #1A in the conference. The power rankings all love the Bishops, and with good reason. They've played a tough schedule and played it well. Denison should be a mere bump in the road.

Oberlin (2-2, 4-8) @ Allegheny (1-3, 7-6) - Both teams are better than everyone thought they would be at the start of the year, though in the end the Yeomen's W/L record won't be that stellar. This is a big game for Allegheny - the Gators can't afford to lose this one if they want to keep abreast in the race for the conference tournament and even an outside shot at hosting a first round game.

Wabash (2-2, 4-9) @ DePauw (1-3, 8-5) - Throw out the records, etc. Yeah, it's not the same on the hardwood as on the gridiron, but take it from me, the Wabash / DPU basketball matches have quite of bit of bile and antipathy. It's comprehensive exam week at Wabash, so the seniors will no doubt take a study break to trudge down to Greencastle for one of their last glimpses of the rivalry. What would really cheese off the New Tigers is a Wabash win, since that puts them in a big hole for the conference tourney and makes it really hard for them to claw back to host a game. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of kitties. 

[blindwatchmaker]

http://www.d3hoops.com/awards/tow/2012-13/week7   

Ross Sponsler from Wabash was named to the d3hoops team of the week.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 42  Hiram 27

Wooster is being led by Doug Thorpe with 13 points and Xavier Brown with 10 points.  Aaron Stefanov has 10 for Hiram.

[WAlum]

Great post and comments Smed.  You are on the money!

OWU and Wooster are far and away the elite.  Then its a huge mess.  As long as Woo or OWU win the conference tournament title, it looks like those 2 will be the only NCAA Tournament representatives for the NCAC.  Denison is the biggest disappointment in my eyes.  I also thought DePauw, Kenyon, and Wabash would be stronger than they have shown so far.

[wooscotsfan]

Final: Wittenberg 71  Kenyon 64

Witt gets the narrow home win as this was a 64-62 game with about 2 minutes left before Witt hit closing FT's.

Tigers were led by Scott Masin with 21 points and the Lords were led by Julian Pavlin with 16 points.

Witt is now 3-2 in the NCAC and Kenyon drops to 1-4.

[smedindy]

OWU shellacks Denison 94-68. Wow. The Big Red are stumbling.

Allegheny outlasted Oberlin 79-75. Once again the Yeomen are close but come up short.

Looks like the New Tigers are going to beat my LGs. Sigh.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 78  Hiram 62 

Wooster played sloppy defense in the 2nd half (giving up layups) and Hiram cut the lead to 6 points with 8 minutes left before the Scots stretched out the margin again to double digits.

Wooster was led tonight by Doug Thorpe with 19 points, Xavier Brown with 16 points (10 rebounds), Jake Mays with 8 points, Josh Claytor with 8 and DeVaughn Wingard also with 8.

Hiram's top scorers were Aaron Stefanov with 19 points, Alan Sheppard with 10 points and Steve Zivoder with 9 points.

Wooster is now 11-2, 5-0 NCAC.   4 of those 5 wins have been on the road.  Next game is DePauw at home on Sat.

GO SCOTS!

[smedindy]

Standings:

OWU 5-0
Wooster 5-0
Witt 3-2
DPU 2-3
Allegheny 2-3
Denison 2-3
Oberlin 2-3
Wabash 2-3
Hiram 1-4
Kenyon 1-4

Middle muddle, indeed...