MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bufordscot]

Back from Wooster where over 3,000 fans watched Wooster complete the sweep of Wittenberg and secure the outright NCAC season title.

GO SCOTS!

As it should be.

[ScotsFan]

ScotsFan - great point about Wooster needing to work on their offensive scheme against the zone. k+  Bill Brown's teams have played very little zone over the years but they did last night for a definite reason (I bet that he watched the Wooster-Wabash video ).  If Wooster goes scoreless for 7 minutes in a NCAA tourney game, there is a high probability of a loss.

Wooster needs to get a guy in the middle of the lane against the zone and then penetrate to the basket or kick back out for the open three pointer if the defense collapses.  Kenny DeBoer did a nice job of penetrating last night and Doug Thorpe did as well so they need to increase that and make accurate quick passes as well.

Yeah, Brown is like Moore in terms of sticking almost exclusively with man to man on the defensive end of the floor.  That is what worries me about Wooster figuring the zone out.  Because if Brown saw enough of what he needed to see in how affective Wabash was in shutting Wooster down with the zone to make him go to it against the Scots, and then to see Witt shut Wooster down for a 7 minute stretch of the game in the zone has to be a little cause for concern for the Scots moving forward...

[woosterbooster]

ScotsFan - great point about Wooster needing to work on their offensive scheme against the zone. k+  Bill Brown's teams have played very little zone over the years but they did last night for a definite reason (I bet that he watched the Wooster-Wabash video ).  If Wooster goes scoreless for 7 minutes in a NCAA tourney game, there is a high probability of a loss.

Wooster needs to get a guy in the middle of the lane against the zone and then penetrate to the basket or kick back out for the open three pointer if the defense collapses.  Kenny DeBoer did a nice job of penetrating last night and Doug Thorpe did as well so they need to increase that and make accurate quick passes as well.

Yeah, Brown is like Moore in terms of sticking almost exclusively with man to man on the defensive end of the floor.  That is what worries me about Wooster figuring the zone out.  Because if Brown saw enough of what he needed to see in how affective Wabash was in shutting Wooster down with the zone to make him go to it against the Scots, and then to see Witt shut Wooster down for a 7 minute stretch of the game in the zone has to be a little cause for concern for the Scots moving forward...

I think it's a major cause for concern.  Wooster pulled out the Witt game because of some clutch three-point shooting at the end.  By and large, though, they're only decent from that range, not good.  Their movement of the ball against Witt's zone was only marginally better than against Wabash.  And, I think at least some of that has to do with Wabash's zone being better.  The Scots need to quickly learn how to reverse ball, use the skip pass, work inside-outside, and all that stuff.  Otherwise, somebody is going to shock them hard in post-season play.

[WAlum]

What a mess in the middle muddle of the NCAC.  There could be lots of moving in the standings this week.

[ohiofan1954]

depauw at wittenberg sure looks like a good one this week. Wish I could go to the Denison-Kenyon game though.

[David Collinge]

Because Wooster has for many years relied exclusively on man-to-man, they probably do not have a zone defense in the playbook, and the players have no experience with it since high school (if then.) That makes it hard if not impossible to practice against zones. Do you quickly teach the zone to your jayvees for use in practice? How motivated will they be, knowing it's not a useful game skill?

[woosterbooster]

Because Wooster has for many years relied exclusively on man-to-man, they probably do not have a zone defense in the playbook, and the players have no experience with it since high school (if then.) That makes it hard if not impossible to practice against zones. Do you quickly teach the zone to your jayvees for use in practice? How motivated will they be, knowing it's not a useful game skill?

Bah, new guy.   Wooster teams have faced many zones over the years, usually with success.  It's hard for me to believe that they didn't spend a fair amount of practice time against them when they knew their opponent would be deploying one.

And, Wooster did utilize a 2-1-2 or 2-3 a couple of years ago with the 7-footer Gideon Mabeny in the game.  I vaguely remember him blocking eleven shots in a minute and a half.  So what if six were against his own team... 

[smedindy]

Tonight could either clear up the middle muddle a bit, or make it worse.

Wooster (13-1, 20-3) @ Allegheny (3-11, 9-14) - First place meets last place in a game that Wooster does not need (except for regional ranking and ultimately seeding purposes for the tourney) but Allegheny desperately does if they want any chance of playing beyond Saturday. Allegheny's dropped five in a row and may just be wanting to play out the string. Yet the Gators may want to show they can compete and give the Scots a game.

Hiram (5-9, 11-12) @ Oberlin (4-10, 6-17) - Wow, who would have thought it would come to this for these squads. A loss to the Yeomen and Hiram is cast out of the tourney, as Oberlin would have swept the Terriers on the year. Every time you think Oberlin's done for, they somehow steal a game. If they steal this one, they'll make the post-season unless Allegheny does the unthinkable and beats Wooster and Kenyon (and then it's subject to tiebreakers). I think the last time Oberlin was in the post-season bash was 2008.

Wabash (6-8, 8-15) @ Ohio Wesleyan (10-4, 17-5) - Big game for Wabash, of course. If they can sneak away with a win they have a chance at a .500 conference record and will be part of the mix gunning for the 4/5 piece of the bracket. The calculus there is crazy right now. But this is big for the Bishops too, as a loss will really hurt their "C" profile and their regional ranking chances. The Bishops throttled Wabash by 24 at Chadwick earlier in the year, but the LG's have really stepped up their game since then.

Denison (7-7, 9-14) @ Kenyon (7-7, 13-10) - Denison really needs this one, since they close out with OWU. A win clinches a .500 conference record which may be good enough for the 4/5 game depending on what else goes on around the league. Kenyon needs this as well, though, since a loss would mean the Big Red swept the Lords, which negates the Lords sweeping of DePauw in a three-way tie calculation for the H2H tiebreaker. This is one to watch if you can only watch one.

DePauw (7-7, 14-9) @ Wittenberg (8-6, 15-8) - Tigers, Old and New, battle for a possible #3 seed and the chance NOT to face Wooster until the NCAC final. For the Old Tigers, that's incentive enough. They no doubt want to have a Denison or Wabash come to town instead of the New Tigers. DPU beat Witt earlier in the year but now are fighting for their life. They could finish anywhere from #3 to #6 depending on what else happens.

[smedindy]

Kenyon's not leaving any doubt, leading Denison 46-25 at the half.

[GoRed]

Kenyon playing inspired and Denison totally unprepared and unreactive.  The Lords are up 46-25 at the half and the Big Red have a huge hole to dig out of.  Coming in, I would have thought the opportunity to host a first round tourney game, which has always been a huge goal for the Denison team, would have created some fire. 

No ball movement and no positioning for rebounds on the Denison side - very lazy ball.  In contrast, Kenyon is playing like this is the NCAA finals.  They are doing everything right and looking like a team that deserves to host.
Denison can close, but guards need to move the ball and big men need to get a LOT stronger underneath.   

[smedindy]

Wooster's only up 44-41 at the half over the Gators in 'Gheny land.

[GoRed]

Kenyon coming out of the half a little sloppy with a few fouls and turnovers.  Denison can creep back into this, but have to remember that DEFENSE is part of the game too.  Especially when your shots aren't dropping! 
50-32 Kenyon.

[woosterbooster]

PENN-el?  La-LOND-e?  C'mon, Allegheny broadcasters, do a little pregame work and get the pronunciations right.

[smedindy]

Surprise: DePauw's all over Wittenberg 32-20 at the half. New Tigers shooting well. Old Tigers are not.

Surprise: Oberlin's up 26-25 over Hiram at the half.

Not a surprise: OWU is leading Wabash 40-28 at the half.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 86  Allegheny 64

Wooster shot well tonight (56%) to notch the easy road win over Allegheny.  Scots were led by Josh Claytor with 16 points, Xavier Brown with 16 and Doug Thorpe with 13.

Wooster made 11 of 23 three point shots and outrebounded Allegheny 39 to 27.

Top scorers for the Gators were Ryan Stanko with 21 points and Devone McLeod with 11 points.

Wooster is now 21-3, 14-1 NCAC    Next game is at DePauw on Saturday afternoon.

GO SCOTS!