MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[blindwatchmaker]

Something interesting

Attendance at the Wooster game was 2321.  I looked up most of the other NCAC games today and don't think they would reach that if even you combined them all together! 

Witt/Gheny - 623
Earlham/Oberlin - 121
Wabash/Kenyon- 685
Denison/Hiram- 333
Total = 1762

[sac]

Its kind of funny but Hope students cheer USA USA for one of their own, Steve Cramer.

Cramer went to Unionville-Sebawaing Area Schools over in the thumb of Michigan.  U-S-A.

[wally_wabash]

That James Cooper is such an obvious choice for NCAC Player of the Week almost assures that he won't be. 

[WooMix]

Is there anyone (else) who bettered Cooper this week?

[Li'l Giant]

Its kind of funny but Hope students cheer USA USA for one of their own, Steve Cramer.

Cramer went to Unionville-Sebawaing Area Schools over in the thumb of Michigan.  U-S-A.

Now *that* is funny.

[smedindy]

If the way they handed out the football player of the week is any indication, it'll be given to Formato for a nice effort.

[David Collinge]

For those interested, here's today's minutes played for the Wooster players, compared to their averages prior to today:

Player: mins today [season avg.]
Kyle Witucky: 29 [28.4]
James Cooper: 32 [27.4]
Andy Van Horn: 22 [21.7]
Tim Vandervaart: 29 [24.2]
Evan Will: 26 [15.8]
Brandon Johnson: 19 [19.8]
Marty Bidwell: 21 [11.1]
Devin Fulk: 18 [19.2]
Jeff Stevens: 4 [4.6]
Tom Port: 0 [28.8]
Everyone else*: 0 [3.9]
*Jamie Yoder, Brad Chisnell, Cody Drake; all three got into today's game, but each recorded "0+" minutes.

Port's 29 minutes were more or less divided by Will (10), Bidwell (10), Vandervaart (5), and Cooper (5).

Edit:  I really hate that "cool guy" smiley!

[kiltedbryan]

What can you say about James Cooper?  He scored from everywhere, in every fashion, including a double-pump underhand fling shot from close in on the right side.  Had anyone else thrown that thing up I'd have been yelling and swearing, sure that it would never draw iron.  Cooper's attempt didn't draw iron, either.  It went straight through the hoop, just as I expected it to.

I've been trying to figure out who to compare him with, and still can't really put a finger on it.  Except that there's a little bit of Dick Barnett (going way back here) in him.  Barnett, from mid-range and in close, had a little fadeaway on his jumper, which enabled him to get it off in traffic.  Cooper does, also.  And you can almost imagine Cooper yelling "Fall back, baby!" after he drains those long threes.

Great commentary WooBooster.  Here's what I think on Cooper:  He already drives the lane as well or better than Rodney Mitchell did, who I consider the best Wooster penetration guard that I've seen––and with Mitchell on the bench as a coach, you know that he can only keep learning from him.

Cooper clearly has a full arsenal:  3-pointers from anywhere at any time and the ability to drive past any D-3 defender- but I think what seperates him from anyone else I've seen play in D-3 (and even in higher divisions), is his art of the pullup jump shot.

It's a shot you don't see anymore- Cooper shakes his man, drives, but holds up and shoots a clean shot from 10, 12, 15, 18 feet, and he's undefendable because he could drive the lane, so the defender is assuming he'll keep driving.  Think of his stats on his career night tonight- 4-6 from 3; that means he was 10-14 elsewhere, and a lot of those weren't layups, they were those 10-18 footers.

With Port out, Cooper is going to be a bonafide All-American canidate by the end of this year...

[woosterbooster]

Agreed about Rodney Mitchell.  But I think, already, that Cooper has gone well beyond him offensively.  It's not often that you see a guard who combines the ability to penetrate, and do it well, with an exceptional long-range shot.  And add to that the old school pull-up jumper, and you have one heck of a threat.

And while Cooper is certainly a very good athlete, there are better guards out there, athletically, even at the DIII level.  Brandon Johnson, for one, appears to be quicker and a better leaper.  Cooper is quick, but not exceptionally so.  He can jump, but he's not a real leaper.  He's just developed his scoring skills, all of them, to a incredible degree.

Lots of guards can beat their man and get into the paint area.  It's what he does from that point on that sets him apart.  He's all head fakes, arm pumps, and deception.  He's a three-card monte game on hardwood; now you see it, now you don't.  His game is so nuanced, no Bush-Republican could ever guard him. ;-)

I'd love to see he and Brandon Johnson play one-on-one.  I doubt that Coop could handle Johnson, who is bigger, quicker, etc.  But it's the other matchup that would be fun, when Cooper had the ball.  Could the excellent defense of Johnson bother him?  I'd like to be a fly on the wall if they ever went at it in practice. :-)

[kiltedbryan]

I agree with you that Cooper isn't the fastest or quickest guard even on Wooster's squad- but I think he's the most dangerous.

But since you mentioned Brandon Johnson, and in the interest of comparison, watching his defensive abilities tonight started to remind me of Wooster's all-time steals leader, Antwyan Reynolds.

You're right- Cooper/Johnson would be a marquee matchup in practice.  I'd also want to see how the Faulk/Van Horn matchup would play out. 

[earlhamalum]

NCAC Player of the Week has to be James Cooper!!
In 2 wins:  64 points, 25 of 38 shots made, 7 of 11 three pointers, 6 assists

Okay I kind of like that... But come on... once again Wooster fans you forgot basketball is more than scoring... wait let me help you out

Brandon Miller  21-31 from the field.   Cooper had 6 assists in 2 games.. Brandon Miller had 2.5 that equals 5 assists.  Oh wait lets not forget about Coopers 3 Rebounds.  Wait again I believe Brandon Miller had 22 Rebounds Cooper had 2 steals, ooopss once again B. Miller had 9 steals... that equals 4.5 Steals a game. I'm sorry but both teams went 2-0 but in a non-bias View anyone looking at these stats has to say Brandon MIller Player of the week.  A drunk'n Billy_pilgram right now says Brandon Miller  POY.  A sober EarlhamAlum says.. POY also.

[imderekpoe]

The verdict is in:  Port will only miss 2 - 3 weeks!  That timeframe means that he may be available for the game in Springfield on Feb 4!
http://www.the-daily-record.com/article.php?pathToFile=/articles//sports/&file=_sports2.txt&article=1&tD=

I don't really have anything to add on Cooper's exploits last night.  It wasn't just the number of shots that he made, but the variety of drives, pull-ups, mid-range jumpers, 3's and NBA 3's that he hit that was amazing. 

I thought that Marty Bidwell and Evan Will both did a great job last night.  Both play good all-around games, and it seemed that Bidwell did a good job keeping Chojnacki from being the domimant force like he was last year down at OWU against the Scots. 

On the OWU website, it notes that the last time that the Bishops gave up 100 points to a DIII team was Nov 21, 1993 to Geneseo St.

[DenisonFan]

Denison WINS AGAIN!!!

Good all around game by the Big Red.  They put up 51 pts in the first half which sealed the deal.

But look.........how many guys in double digit minutes.....EIGHT  not eleven, not twelve, EIGHT.  As I have said all year, Denison is not a deep team.  When they try and play eleven guys they lose.

Hodgkinson  37 minutes
Hern             32 minutes
++++++++++++++++
Put them together and they spell victory!!  I rest my case.

Cooper did have a great game.  But Miller does it on both ends.  I give my nod to him.

[gatorgrl]

The 'Gheny students keep chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A" which has the Witt announcer perplexed.  I assume it's aimed at Borchers, who is from Russia, after all.  Pretty clever.

Yes, Borchers is from Russia . . . but Russia, Ohio, not the country!  So either the Allegheny students were confused, misinformed, or felt like chanting USA anyway just because of the relation.

I was worried there for a while, thought Allegheny was gonna pull it out.  I'm from the same hometown as Casey McCloskey, and since he played for the "golden school" of our local media, he got a LOT of exposure.  He's a very good player, and Witt needs to find a way to shut him down when the Gators come to Springfield for the regular season finale.

Now we get to the next interesting game of the day.  Wooster - Port Game 1.

[gatorgrl]

The 'Gheny students keep chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A" which has the Witt announcer perplexed.  I assume it's aimed at Borchers, who is from Russia, after all.  Pretty clever.

Yes, Borchers is from Russia . . . but Russia, Ohio, not the country!  So either the Allegheny students were confused, misinformed, or felt like chanting USA anyway just because of the relation.

I was worried there for a while, thought Allegheny was gonna pull it out.  I'm from the same hometown as Casey McCloskey, and since he played for the "golden school" of our local media, he got a LOT of exposure.  He's a very good player, and Witt needs to find a way to shut him down when the Gators come to Springfield for the regular season finale.

Now we get to the next interesting game of the day.  Wooster - Port Game 1.