MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Posted on the Wittenberg Athletics Facebook page today, having been sent via email to the campus community:

To all Students and other Wittenberg campus community members who were a part of the great environment of enthusiasm in Pam Smith Arena last evening:

THANK YOU for the turnout and "over the top" show of ENTHUSIASM and SUPPORT shown the men's basketball program.

YOU literally PUT US "on your backs" in providing the energy and a never give up mindset which enabled players to make the long trek back in the second half to make it a game going into the final minute.

Thanks to all again!

Sincerely,

Wittenberg Mens' Basketball Program members

Pretty cool.

[hotdawg]

Everything about Wooster Booster is old and senile.

[scott_leo]

Hi all,

I was told there was a discussion about our broadcast on here and I guess curiosity got the best of me.

Thanks David for your kind words, hopefully most folks enjoy the coverage. I wouldn't expect many Wooster fans to be glowing about it, considering it's a Wittenberg broadcast intended primarily for Tigers fans. I do plenty of "network" assignments (i.e. high school state championships for the OHSAA Radio Network) that are intended to be completely impartial and focus on the storylines/perspective of both teams equally. This is a different scenario.

Although, even when I'm broadcasting for a specific team, I'd like to think I stay fairly low on the "homer-meter". 

However, I have to agree that Scott Leo's counterpart on Witt's broadcasts is atrocious. Based on his commentary, I seriously question whether he has spent much time around basketball. Leo's not great, but he would be better served covering the game on his own.

My broadcast partner is "The Coach" Jim Scoby. He's been an assistant coach at the University of Dayton, Wittenberg, and spent 25+ years in high school coaching. Say what you will about his broadcasting style/ability, but his basketball resume speaks for itself.

Anyway, thanks to all that tuned in and congrats to the Scots on another win in the series.

[GoRed]

Scott,

You and Jim have to consider the source of the comments.  No broadcaster can ever hope to please everyone, so most hope to offend the fewest.  I think you do as good a job as any I listen to and are certainly more tolerable to me than the Wooster broadcasters. 

[ScotsFan]

Scott,

You and Jim have to consider the source of the comments.  No broadcaster can ever hope to please everyone, so most hope to offend the fewest.  I think you do as good a job as any I listen to and are certainly more tolerable to me than the Wooster broadcasters.

I hope you're referring to Wooster's video play by play guys and not their radio guy.  Wooster's video play by play broadcasters leave MUCH to be desired and I mute them as well.   That said,  I think Mike Breckenridge is 2nd to none in D3 doing the radio broadcasts...

[GoRed]

Yes, I was referring to the video broadcasts.  I can't recall ever tuning into any radio Wooster radio broadcasts.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 73  Allegheny 68

Just got home from a work related evening meeting so I can't provide much context.  Heard the last 5 minutes on the radio and Wooster actually led by 12 points then allowed the Gators to close the gap in the last 2 minutes of the game.

Wooster is now 15-1, 9-0 NCAC    Next game is AT DePauw on Saturday afternoon where Wooster has lost games in the last 2 seasons.

GO SCOTS!

[kiltedbryan]

Yes, I was referring to the video broadcasts.  I can't recall ever tuning into any radio Wooster radio broadcasts.

If you get the opportunity, you should. WQKT.com --> Listen Live (active during games) with Mike Breckenridge on the call is a true pleasure. Heck, usually the student crews on the college's Woo91 station are better than the local cable broadcasts.

The extreme homerism of the Wooster TV/video broadcasts (has any Scot ever committed a justified foul?!? or traveled?) bothers me, as does the lack of play-by-play quality especially when talking about the visitors. Sometimes entire possessions go by without any mention of opposing players by name - "he passes to the wing, he passes down low, turns, shoots, he missed it, rebound by Brown of Wooster". Sometimes they don't announce substitutions. All of which makes it really, really hard as a viewer to learn who's who on the visiting side, and suggests a lack of prep work by the broadcasters.

Breckenridge, by comparison, is simply excellent. For years my strategy for watching Wooster games has been to stream the video on mute and listen to Breck's call over top of it. Unfortunately this season the lag between the two has been 30+ seconds and it's simply untenable to watch the video be a full possession ahead of the radio call.

In these cases, I generally nix the video and listen to Breckenridge. He's just that much better and more pleasant.

Also, Scott - I have nothing to add to this debate (I was unable to listen or watch the broadcast Saturday) but I've listened to the Witt feed in the past and always found it to be a pretty good broadcast. I'll also say that I think those of us (like me) who have never broadcast anything forget that broadcasting is *hard*. Mostly I simply try to appreciate that I can regularly watch the Scots now from wherever I am, which is nearly always a couple hundred miles away from the state of Ohio, much less the Wooster or Wittenberg campuses. So kudos to you for the work you guys do to provide these broadcasts!

[kiltedbryan]

Final:  Wooster 73  Allegheny 68

Just got home from a work related evening meeting so I can't provide much context.  Heard the last 5 minutes on the radio and Wooster actually led by 12 points then allowed the Gators to close the gap in the last 2 minutes of the game.

Wooster is now 15-1, 9-0 NCAC    Next game is AT DePauw on Saturday afternoon where Wooster has lost games in the last 2 seasons.

GO SCOTS!

I can't provide much context either, as I could only watch live stats, but Wooster was down 7 at half and I was told that they were lucky it wasn't more. Allegheny hit everything (58%) while the Scots missed everything (35%) during the first 20.

In the second half the Scots held the Gators scoreless for nearly 8 minutes (from 14:56 to 7:43) and the resulting 10-0 run moved the Scots from down 2 to up 8, and then they held off the Gators at the end, as WSF indicates.

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 1/22 Final Scores:

Wooster 73  Allegheny 68
Wittenberg 66  Kenyon 54
Ohio Wesleyan 81  Oberlin 72
DePauw 70  Wabash 60
Denison 83  Hiram 77

Current NCAC Standings with 1/22 Results:

1. Wooster 9-0 (15-1)
2. Wittenberg 7-2 (13-3)
3. Ohio Wesleyan 7-2 (13-3)
4. DePauw 7-2 (12-4)
5. Kenyon 4-5 (7-9)
5. Denison 4-5 (8-8)
7. Wabash 3-6 (4-11)
8. Hiram 2-7 (4-12)
8. Oberlin 2-7 (5-11)
10. Allegheny 0-9 (3-13)

[kiltedbryan]

All the NCAC 1/22 Final Scores:

Wooster 73  Allegheny 68
Wittenberg 66  Kenyon 54
Ohio Wesleyan 81  Oberlin 72
DePauw 70  Wabash 60
Denison 83  Hiram 77  note:  appears to be the final score with live stats stuck on 4 seconds left

So the top four make it through the first half of the conference schedule at a perfect 6-0 apiece, 24-0 overall against the bottom six. Odds are that someone will get a W against those four in the second round-robin, but they really do seem to be a solid step above this season.

[ScotsFan]

Could this have been a bit of a trap game for the Scots last night?  Coming off a huge road win over arch rival Witt and looking ahead to Saturday's big roadie at DePauw?  Wooster may have been caught looking ahead just a bit...

[bufordscot]

Could this have been a bit of a trap game for the Scots last night?  Coming off a huge road win over arch rival Witt and looking ahead to Saturday's big roadie at DePauw?  Wooster may have been caught looking ahead just a bit...

Not sure it was a trap but in the first half they were just plain lazy in the paint.  No weak side defense and no effort on the boards.  I'm sure there was an old fashioned arse chewing at halftime.

[kiltedbryan]

Updated offense and defense efficiency ratings for the NCAC, through games of 1/22:

Team	Offense	Defense	Margin	SOS Rank (Massey)
Wooster	111.2	90.5	20.7	4
Wittenberg	112.9	96.6	16.2	31
DePauw	105.9	93.4	12.6	40
OWU	106.2	95.2	10.9	41
Kenyon	99.2	104.4	-5.2	130
Oberlin	99.2	103.4	-4.2	164
Hiram	102.8	108.5	-5.7	185
Allegheny	98.4	106.0	-7.6	182
Denison	100.1	107.0	-6.9	71
Wabash	95.1	108.5	-13.3	42

I have to say that Massey *really* likes the schedule strength of the OAC, CCIW and WIAC this year. The three leagues have 12 of the 20 highest ranking schedules on Massey right now:

Massey Schedule Rank Top 20:

1. Wilmington
2. Hope
3. Wheaton - played Wooster, Wittenberg
4. Wooster
5. Heidelberg
6. Augustana
7. UW - Stevens Point
8. Salisbury St
9. Illinois Wesleyan
10. UW - Whitewater
11. UW-LaCrosse
12. Carthage
13. Marietta - played Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster
14. Southwestern (TX)
15. Wash U - played DePauw
16. Pacific Lutheran
17. Manchester
18. UW - Platteville
19. Baldwin Wallace - played Wooster
20 Louisiana College

Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg also played Capital, rated 29th. OWU also played Trinity (TX), rated 27th. DePauw played Mount St. Joseph, rated 24th.

It's pretty clear that the top four NCAC teams are benefiting from having some of these teams on their non-conference schedules. Good for the league and good for our tournament prospects.

[David Collinge]

Got curious about how Arizona Christian is doing. They are currently 15-3 and ranked 13th in the latest NAIA-1 coaches poll. They were ranked #7, but dropped their first two GSAC games, at 8th ranked Concordia and in double OT at The Master's College (13-4). Massey has the Eagles ranked 9th in NAIA-1 and #523 overall (Wooster is #309). (Disclaimer: I'm never sure I'm reading the Massey stuff right. If I am, I guess Massey really doesn't like the NAIA.)