MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[waterboy]

Gators won their season opener against Grove City 73-64.  According to the write-up, 'Gheny opened the second half with a 10-4 run to take the lead for good.  Four starters were in double figures with Matt Majlik and Casey McCloskey leading the way with 20 and 13 points, respectively, while Ben Torsney contributed 10 tallies off the bench.  Next up is W&J on Sunday.

Should be an interesting game in Timken tomorrow.  One would assume that Stout would have the size advantage, however, they came out with a lineup averaging around 6'0", besides the 7-foot Nonemacher in the middle.  They have some big guys, but most of them are on the bench and the Nonemacher twins split playing time.  They played in a half court set 99% of the time tonight, which contrasts greatly from how the Scots played, as ScotsFan pointed out.  Port, Cooper, and Witucky should be able to take advantage of their match ups, and hopefully Vandervaart won't foul out.  He is vastly quicker than Stouts bigs, but I don't see him blocking as many shots tomorrow as he did tonight (4), though I could be wrong.  Anyways, I'm looking forward to the game and I hope everyone else is as well.  

[David Collinge]

Not much to say; the UST/Stout game was a much better game than the second one.  Wooster shot poorly and had what seemed to be long lapses of concentration/intensity.  The game was tied late in the first half, but Wooster finished strong to lead by 8 at the half, then came out strong to open up to a 16-18 point lead.  Then they went back on cruise control, and K'zoo closed to 10, but it was too little, too late.

I'm not sure where the new "up-tempo" offense was that I'd heard so much about.  They didn't seem to run any more than they have done in years past, and a surprising (to me) number of plays were designed to run through Vandervaart in the post.  Seems like old times...  

Vandervaart played great: 14 points, 11 boards, 4 blocks, 3 steals, and he got hacked whenever he got the ball underneath (just like last year, and also like last year, lost of non-calls.)  His relief was Evan Will, and he looked like he didn't know what to do in the paint.  Maybe he doesn't; I bet he hasn't played back-to-the-basket much in his life.  Tim needs to stay healthy and out of foul trouble (problematic, since he loves to slap at the ball at midcourt--he only got called once for this, but he got lucky in this regard) because right now the dropoff to an out-of-position Will or to Stevens seems huge.

The rotation was basically 8 men:  Will spelled Vandervaart, and Fulk and freshman Brandon Johnson spelled the other 4.  Freshman Marty Bidwell also saw time in both halves, and Jamie Yoder played 5 minutes in the second.  And the bench emptied at the very end.

If Wooster shoots better tomorrow, they should beat Stout.  Stout played a gambling defense, using their athleticism and pressing on every possession with almost no effect--except the tactic wore out the 6-man UST rotation, and that paid off in the end.  In the first half, UST's crisp passing led to a lot of open shots, and they knocked most of them down.  If Stout plays like that tomorrow, Wooster should win--if they hit the shots.  I doubt that Wooster will tire as quickly as St. Thomas did.

Oh and I almost forgot:  congratulations to Steve Moore, who reached two milestones tonight:
* 500th career win; now 500-164 in 25 years (or 24 + 1 game)
* 413th win at Wooster (413-99 in 17 seasons + 1 game), becoming the all-time win leader at Wooster (E.M. "Mose" Hole, 412-181 between 1927-58.)
Way to go Steve!

[earlhamalum]

Haverford 78, BISHOPS 66

[smedindy]

IWU seemed unfocused early on against UT-Dallas, but they got hot shooting the three in the second half. Dallas was scrappy and didn't quit, though.

[wally_wabash]

More NCAC scores...

Elms 80, Oberlin 60
Witt 69, Tufts 55
Lake Erie 69, Kenyon 46

And I thnk that's it....NCAC goes 5-3 on opening night.  Could be worse I suppose. 

[Drake Palmer]

Not much to say; the UST/Stout game was a much better game than the second one. ...
If Wooster shoots better tomorrow, they should beat Stout. Stout played a gambling defense, using their athleticism and pressing on every possession with almost no effect--except the tactic wore out the 6-man UST rotation, and that paid off in the end. In the first half, UST's crisp passing led to a lot of open shots, and they knocked most of them down. If Stout plays like that tomorrow, Wooster should win--if they hit the shots. I doubt that Wooster will tire as quickly as St. Thomas did...

David - Thanks for your detailed summary on the MIAC board.  As I pointed out in my earlier post,  Stout is noted for that pressing style of play, & Coach Andrist has several videos out on his run & jump press.   Detractors in the WIAC say the Stout style of play works well in the 1st half of the season but in the 2nd half, conference teams tend to adjust. 

Athough you said UST handled the press well, the other objective of a pressing style of defense like Stout's is not to merely create turnovers, but to mentally & then physically wear the opponent out.  This then makes it just a little tougher to get into your offense, suck it up, & play solid D as the game reaches the final, critical stages of a closely contested game.  Sounds like it worked.

And yes, UST typically plays a fairly short rotation.

Without seeing the game I got the sense that UST was hitting their shots from the outside fairly well in the first half & as a result, they never really established a strong inside game.   When they tried to go inside it wasn't there which might account for the "reverse layups" that you said Rosefelt attempted.  That's not really a money move for him.   

Last year when UST was firing on all cylinders, Shimek & Rosefelt were able to effectively work the hi-lo game with each other.  I still contend for this team, their best option is to pound the ball inside to the post first, drop step & score (Shimek) then kick it out to a sharpshooter (Schnettler, Sweeney) if a double team comes, or hit their partner for the dunk coming from the weakside post (Rosefelt).  IMO, Shimek is the best inside closer & passer they' ve got.

Last question. I'm still amazed that Stout so thoroughly out rebounded UST.  How did they do it & how did 6-1 Greg Chaisson end up 10 boards?  Also Stout's shooting % was fairly high, which leads me to believe that their press made the Tommy defenders just a half step slow in the 2nd half.   

Thanks & good luck  to Wooster the rest of the season!

[David Collinge]

Last question. I'm still amazed that Stout so thoroughly out rebounded UST.  How did they do it & how did 6-1 Greg Chaisson end up 10 boards?  Also Stout's shooting % was fairly high, which leads me to believe that their press made the Tommy defenders just a half step slow in the 2nd half.   

Thanks & good luck  to Wooster the rest of the season!

Never having seen either team before, I'd say that Stout's rebounding advantage was partly because they were more athletic than UST and partly because UST was gassed in the second half.  I'd guess that the rebounding was pretty even or maybe even a slight advantage to UST in the first half.  Their technique (positioning, blocking out, etc.) was much better than Stout's.  But in the 2nd, Stout played more aggressively and St. Thomas was flagging, so Stout got most of the boards and practically all of the loose balls.

I was actually a little surprised to see (numerically) how well Stout shot in the 2nd.  My reaction watching live wasn't "gee, they can't miss" (as it was for UST in the 1st), but rather that they just were more and more in control of the game.  Their outside shooting was better, and that's probably attributable to the tired legs of the UST defense.  They also got the ball inside much more effectively in the 2nd.

Thinking back on it, the press (which resulted in 0 turnovers, I believe) was the reason that Stout won, as it did wear out UST physically (and maybe mentally as well.)  But the downside is that it probably cost them from 6-10 points (in odd-man situations and possessions where UW-S never got set up on defense), and if the opponent has a deep enough rotation to stay reasonably fresh, those 3-5 baskets could be decisive.  Maybe we'll see proof of that tonight?

[earlhamalum]

Earlham starts off the season 2-0.  Nice win for the Quakers.  They beat Haverford by 14 points.  Haverford last night beat OWU by 12.  So that should give Earlham early season confidence. 

Good to see Markous Jewett scores 25 pts in the win giving him 21 points a game after not playing all of last year.

Brandon Miller chipped in 17 pts and Laron Henry has a 13 ppg average.

Nice win Quakers... can we get over the beaver HUMP? The Beavers, Bluffton has had Coach J's number for 8 years now and I think these group of guys are going to Ruff-up the Beaver... Plenty of PUN INTENDED

[Ryder16]

Steve Moore is a great coach and a great man. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. heres to hoping the wins keep on coming !

[gobash]

It was truly a tale of two halves at Chadwick today:

Halftime score: Wabash 35, Illinois Wesleyan 34

Wabash came out firing, and IWU was slow to pick up the Bash shooters all half.

Then in the second half IWU was on us like stink on poo, and their number 22 just couldn't miss threes...last time we were close was a 53-53 tie, and then IWU pulled away.

Final score: Illinois Wesleyan 79, Wabash 67

Still, though, not a bad showing against the number one ranked team in the nation?!  We'll get better as the season rolls...Wabash Always Fights!

[woolax]

With about 4 mins left in the Half Wooster has overcome an early Wisc-Stout lead and have pulled ahead 40-30

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 90  Wisconsin-Stout 82

Wooster gets a nice win in the championship game of the Al Van Wie tourney beating a team from the tough WIAC conference.

Tom Port led the Scots with a career high 29 points including 8 three pointers (no typo!).  James Cooper had a great night with 21 points, Devin Fulk chipped in 14 points and Kyle Witucky added 11 points.  Wooster ties a team record for three pointers in a game (17 made).

GO SCOTS!!

[ScotsFan]

Wooster ties a team record for three pointers in a game (17 made).

They also broke the team record for three pointers attempted.  I believe they had 36 attempts tonight.  I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this as the year progresses. 

Nice win for the Scots tonight over a solid UW-Stout team.  Wooster was able to build what I thought was a comfortable lead, but Stout came back like they did last night to over take the lead from Wooster.  But to the Scot's credit, they kept it together and regrouped to take control of the game to close it out down the stretch. 

Any survivors from Crawfordsville?  I would imagine they are pretty incapacitated by now.

[David Collinge]

Well, now we know that Wooster can play and beat a team that has a significant height advantage.  Stout outrebounded the Scots by a 38-27 count, and ripped down 16 offensive boards.  All those stickbacks meant that they shot 54%, but they were successful from outside as well (57% on 8-14 from the arc.)  The difference in the game came down to three areas:
* Three-point shooting:  As noted by wsf and sf, Wooster hit 17 treys in 36 attempts, and that was even with Kyle Witucky uncharacteristically cold (1/5).  Stout's defensive scheme allows open threes, and Wooster took advantage.
* Free throw shooting:  Stout was a frosty 10/20, while Wooster hit a sizzling 13 of 14.
* Turnovers:  Wooster forced 19 Blue Devil turnovers, while committing just 12 themselves.  That effectively countered the rebound margin, as Wooster ended up with two more field goal attempts despite being outrebounded by 11. 

There were a couple of personnel changes tonight.  Jeff Stevens was the first big man off the bench to spell Vandervaart, although he only played in the first half.  Last night, it was Evan Will in this role, and Will did play 13 minutes tonight, but some of that was at the 4 rather than the 5.  This might have been because of the big height disadvantage, or for some other reason; who am I to question the Master?    The other change was that frosh Marty Bidwell didn't play (he had 9 minutes against Kzoo.)  The Scots played 9 men in the first half (Fulk, Stevens, Will, Johnson) and 8 in the second (no Stevens.)

Port was named the tourney MVP; he's never failed to make the Van Wie All-Tournament team, and this is his second MVP.  Tim Vandervaart was the defensive MVP, and James Cooper was also named to the all-tourney team.

[Drake Palmer]

David - sounds like it was a nice win for the Scots over UW-Stout tonight.  It also seems you got a chance to witness for yourself the new high octane Wooster offense.  If I read the stats right, Wooster took twice as many 3 attempts (36) as Stout & was able to convert on 17 shots.  That's pretty impressive shooting!  

I think UST will be able to "right the ship" with a couple of minor adjustments, so it will be interesting to see how things play out between them & their conference rival, Gustavus.  In recent years their rivalry has been similar to Wooster & Wittenberg's. Lately though, Gustavus has had the upper hand over the Tommies in the battle for conference bragging rights.

It'll be fun to watch the how these teams, Wooster, Stout & UST do in their respective conferences this season. I'll pop in on your board periodically & see how things are going.  Best of luck to all.