MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[diehardfan]

Wabash really has me interested right now. I feel like IWU can sometimes be a bit streaky, and I was thinking the Titans probably just weren't giving it their best opening weekend... but it has always seemed to me that Hanover pull it's success more from its consistancy, rather than sheer talent. Yeah, Wabash technically lost both games, which is no fun, but they sure have got me thinking.

I would love it if this league lost it's repuation for just being "Witt and Woo", since there are some great academic schools in this conference that tend to get a little overlooked. So good luck Wabash.

David...  last night, I was feeling vegetable deprived, and for dinner made a big bowl of raw carrots, sugar snap peas, and strawberry tomatos... while munching on this rather nutritious but admittedly somewhat low calorie dinner, I read your little signature and just started laughing and laughing!   

[wally_wabash]

After looking at the boxscore, the free throws weren't really all that bad.  15-21 is better than I thought.  Wabash shot poorly from the field (20-54), but Hanover wasn't much better (22-54) despite their sizzling start. 

I think what we learned is that it's just too hard to fall down by 15 to a good team and come back and win.  Wabash had their chances, but just couldn't get over the hump...again. 

Much is made about Wabash's balance and depth and how Wabash doesn't really have one guy that stands out.  There is some merit to that but, and I raised this point last season, without a go-to scorer Wabash inevitably goes through periods of offensive ineptitude.  There just isn't any consistency on offense and I can't help but wonder if part of that is due to the fact that when Wabash really needs a bucket, there isn't one guy to go to who is going to get it.  In the first half of the IWU game, Medeiros was the man.  He took the big shots, he got the ball with the shot clock running down, and he drilled almost all of them.  The result was, for 20 minutes, Wabash was better than the #1 team in the country.  In the second half Medeiros didn't score, nobody else stepped up, and Wabash scored one field goal in an 8-minute stretch in the second half.  This sort of lull seems to happen in nearly every game for Wabash (they started with this lull last night) and if the LGs can't find some consistency on offense, the league will continue to be Wooster and Witt, much to the chagrin of Wabash fans and, apparently, our friends from the CCIW. 

Take care of business in Colorado, Wabash.  Then it's time for the biggest game of the season...Nov. 30 vs. Depauw at Chadwick.  Wabash is WAY overdue for a win against those guys. 

[ScotsFan]

Here is a link to an article in today's Wooster Daily Record on the Scot's new style of play.  It's a good read:
http://www.the-daily-record.com/article.php?pathToFile=/articles//sports/&file=_sports3.txt&article=1&tD=

[iwumichigander]

diehard - Wabash is interesting; yet, i got to question the merit of their five man substitution pattern which seemed to interrupt their game flow.  Another observation, in the two tournament games Wabash seemed to 'run out of gas' late in the second period - even with using ten men. Still, this is a team with potential to do better as the season progresses.

On IWU - Definitely not their best effort particularly compared to their effort in the Illini Exhibition (yes, we did go down to see it).  Titans, as a team, did look particularly good in the second half against Wabash.  And, Adam Daukas showed why he is an All-American point guard in the tournament.

[diehardfan]

Larry! Hi! 

Wow, so you're saying you drove hundreds of miles to watch IWU play? I'm in total and complete shock! 

Thanks for the perspectives on Wabash!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Larry! Hi! 

Wow, so you're saying you drove hundreds of miles to watch IWU play? I'm in total and complete shock! 

Thanks for the perspectives on Wabash!

Compared with their treks to Bloomington, Champaign was a 'home' game!

[smedindy]

I think Mac is trying to get his team ready for the conference season. He can go 11 or 12 deep, and they all deserve some minutes. Plus, this is an interchangable team, for the most part.

[earlhamalum]

Halftime
Earlham 36
Bluffton 35

Reports from Billypilgram who is at the game...  earlham was up 20-4 and Bluffton went on a 16 point run...  Jewett with 11pts, Brandon Miller with 7pts and LaRon Henry with 8 pts.

[Darryl Nester]

Final from Bluffton: BU 72, EC 62

Lots of fouls -- not a pretty game. Four players fouled out (2 on each team).  Season opener for Bluffton.

For Earlham: Jewett 18pts, Miller 15pts (fouled out), Henry 12.
For Bluffton: Bergman 28pts, Sweet 20 (fouled out).

[David Collinge]

National scores of interest (both final):

#1 Illinois Wesleyan 87
Olivet Nazarene 68

Lawrence 82
#2 UW-Oshkosh 75
Overtime

All things being equal, Wooster stands to move up to #2 in the next poll.  There's plenty of work to do before that poll comes out, though!

[earlhamalum]

Not happy with the OUTCOME of that game.. BILLYPILGRAM will have an Update when he gets home from the Game.   O_FOUR EVer Vs BU.    I guess that kid that had 28 is an All-American...  But i feel like if you get a 20-4 lead to start the game you should be IN-CONTROL.   Sorry BILLY i was busy looking at game film and working on stats from my game today.  I think you know the out-come of it.

[wally_wabash]

Tonight's NCAC scores:

OWU 70
W&J 67

Capital 54
Witt 73

B-W 96
Oberlin 80

and the aforementioned Earlham/Bluffton score.  2-2 for the NCAC tonight, 1-1 vs. the OAC. 

[woosterbooster]

Just a quick question for anyone with some viewing experience: how does men's DIII basketball compare to that of the NAIA?  

As someone who's also a big volleyball fan, my opinion (derived over the last decade or so from watching the good, the bad, and the ugly from each organization) is that the level of play seems to be very even from top to bottom; that the top DIII teams are comparable to the top NAIA teams, and so on down the line.

I've never, though, seen any NAIA basketball.  I'm curious how the northeastern Ohio teams such as Walsh, Ohio Dominican, Mt. Vernon, Malone, et al. would do against the Woosters, BW's, John Carrolls, Hirams, etc., all of whom I've seen play many times.  And, how the best teams nationally would match up.  Anyone have any idea?  

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just a quick question for anyone with some viewing experience: how does men's DIII basketball compare to that of the NAIA?  

As someone who's also a big volleyball fan, my opinion (derived over the last decade or so from watching the good, the bad, and the ugly from each organization) is that the level of play seems to be very even from top to bottom; that the top DIII teams are comparable to the top NAIA teams, and so on down the line.

I've never, though, seen any NAIA basketball.  I'm curious how the northeastern Ohio teams such as Walsh, Ohio Dominican, Mt. Vernon, Malone, et al. would do against the Woosters, BW's, John Carrolls, Hirams, etc., all of whom I've seen play many times.  And, how the best teams nationally would match up.  Anyone have any idea?  

Go to multi-regional topics, and you'll find  several boards addressing the topic.

[waterboy]

From what I've seen of the NAIA dating back to my first experience of seeing Geneva vs. Mt. Vernon Nazarene in 2000, is that they run an uptempo style of play (men and women both) that can verge on chaotic at times, at least within the local region.  Wooster has a pretty good track record against the NAIA over the last several years, including wins last season over Ohio Dominican (82-75) and St. Francis-Ill. (73-39),  and of course we can't forget about Witt's big upset of top-ranked Cedarville (77-68) to start last season.  Oddly enough, Wooster has no NAIA teams on its schedule this season.  At least in this region, the NAIA teams such as Ohio Dominican, Walsh, and Mt. Vernon, may be able to hang with Witt, Woo, and JCU, but in the end DIII would rule the day, in my opinion of course.