MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Though Brown has had a LOT more to work with than Ghiloni.

I think Wabash and Witt would play in the finals, so Scots fan you better not wish for that! Wabash will be #4 and on track for Wooster in the semis.


As for Witt's tempo - I don't think their guards could really handle an up-tempo game that well. And with Borchers and Russ being more low post players, it's best to grind it out. Borchers had five turnovers yesterday, and the Witt guards were really sloppy, especially against Wabash's press.

[woosterbooster]

While I agree that good teams in low-possession games stand some risk if they have an off night, I think that Wittenberg keeps the pace down, mostly, to play into their strengths, that of having two very good big men.   You need to let those guys get downcourt and set up, otherwise what good are they doing you offensively?

And, against Wooster, it's not as if Wittenberg is accelerating their offense.  They're just along for the ride.  There are more possessions, hence more scoring, when Wooster plays anyone because when they have the ball they often shoot so quickly.  I don't think that when Witt plays Wooster their average time of possession increases, they just get more possessions, therefore score more points.

Actually, those are basketball stats that I'd like to see.  Average possessions per game, and average time of possession.  I don't know if the latter could be delved from existing stat packages, but it would be interesting.

[smedindy]

I do know that on the site The Mid Majority - they use the system Ken Pomeroy has developed to track approximate posessions, and tempo, of a game.

As far as time of posession, that could be estimated, but there are enough clock shenannigans with the computer system that it may not be that accurate. I sometimes lose five to seven seconds or more when I think I hit the space bar to stop the time clock but I don't (or vise versa). Many times I don't fix it - I just hold the clock (or keep it running) to catch up. Only in the last three to four minutes of a really tight game do I make sure the clock is exactly accurate, as that PBP will probably be faxed to the news outlets.

[ScotsFan]

I think Wabash and Witt would play in the finals, so Scots fan you better not wish for that! Wabash will be #4 and on track for Wooster in the semis.

Oops, you're right smeds.  Guess I don't want to hope for a rematch of Witt and Wabash.

Also, thanks for the replies on Witt's tempo issues. 

[David Collinge]

kramer,

Look at Denison's turnovers and Earlham's points off turnovers.

Same as Witt last night.

Here's a proposition for you, I'll trade you Brown for Ghiloni and throw in Hemenway and Huelsman.   

I think the sarcasm meters of some of you are malfunctioning.  Did you think the "grinny face" means he's excited about making such a trade? 

[David Collinge]

One question I had regarding Witt is why don't they force the tempo a bit more?  By them slowing the game down to a crawl, it seems to allow decent teams like Wabash to stick around.  Sooner or later it'll bite you as it did last night.  I know Witt had an off night, but their talent level should be able to overcome off nights. 

Last night, Witt had practically nothing to play for, or as close to nothing as you can get in a conference game.  They were out of the race for the #1 seed, but had the #2 seed locked up.  Their position in the NCAA tournament is secure, either via Pool A or Pool C.  Another regional loss probably doesn't jeopardize their chances of hosting the regionals, while they weren't a good bet to host sectionals anyway.  They were playing in a hostile environment against a team with nothing to lose who had made this game a focal point of their season.  I'm not terribly surprised that they came out with a performance, the stats of which suggest that they played without much energy or focus.  It sounds to me like thay basically took the night off.  They'll be back; I'd expect the traditional Wittenberg post-loss hammer to fall heavily on the heads of the Gators on Friday, and then they'll probably play quite well in their run to the tourney final at Wooster.  At least, that's my prediction.

Now if they had only had Coach Ghiloni to motivate them last night....

[imderekpoe]

I've been out of the loop for the last week or so.  Are there any games of significance on Saturday?  Who wins a tiebreaker between Denison and 'Gheny??

[smedindy]

Denison would, based on their win against Earlham.

[Li'l Giant]

Thank God Wabash beat Witt, or who knows how far you would have fallen Wally?  My gosh, do you always have to be so critical???  Maybe angry is a better word to describe it.  Or maybe better yet, blowing things completely out of proportion and not letting things go.  You've become a little annoyed?  If this is a little annoyed, I'd hate to see you when you are totally annoyed.  Your problem is, you take things waaaaaay to seriously in here.  That's obvious by how you have brought up things that happened weeks ago.  Try letting go!  Another thing, why do you care so vehemently about Wooster's fans' opinions of things in here?  Maybe some of the things that come out are a bit far fetched, but Wooster is enjoying, arguably one of it's best regular seasons in the school's storied history, so if a few of us want to get excited, so be it.  Why don't you come down off of your high horse and try not to take everything so seriously.  I know I for one will start to take you less seriously the more you come out with your own annoying posts like the two I highlighted. 

I don't think any of that refutes Wally's description of the general perception of certain Wooster posters and their attitudes.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't dislike Wooster's team.  Quite the contrary.  I have become a little annoyed with some of the posts here concerning the all-encompassing greatness of Wooster Men's Basketball. 

Kind of reminds me of a certain NCAC football team on another set of pages nearby ...

[smedindy]

That's why I was staying out of that l'il fray...

[wally_wabash]

I don't dislike Wooster's team.  Quite the contrary.  I have become a little annoyed with some of the posts here concerning the all-encompassing greatness of Wooster Men's Basketball. 

Kind of reminds me of a certain NCAC football team on another set of pages nearby ...

Please don't think I haven't noticed the uncanny sameness of the two situations.  

[smedindy]

And the cold reality is the same that Witt is relatively silent on both ends. Hmmmm...you'd think they'd want to "Tiger Up" once in a while.

[Li'l Giant]

Kind of reminds me of a certain NCAC football team on another set of pages nearby ...

Wally and I have had that discussion recently. We noticed it.

[MoneyBallSTL]

An easy way to track team's "tempo" if you will, or how much time they have the ball on each possession would be to sit in the stands with 2 stopwatches and start and stop one for one team when they have the ball and the same for the other team, then take the total time at the end of the game for each time and divide it by the # of possessions which is a stat kept by at least Wooster on their Offensive & Defensive efficiency charts. I dont know how many other teams keep track of possessions though.