MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

I don't think its parity - yet - Wooster demolished 4th place Wabash handily this year.

[blindwatchmaker]

Web addy for the Internet Broadcast of the big games.  There's some more info at Wooster's Bball site.


http://www.teamline.cc/sportpages.html?teamcode=1061&eventcode=0021

[DenisonFan]

Good luck to all four teams.

I just hope that these refs call a fair game.  Too many times have I seen these guys favor the "expected" winner.  That makes it sooooooooooo much harder especially playing on Wooster's floor. 

I just hope it is not an NCAC rule that Witt must play Wooster.

I think both Witt and Wooster will win, but I also think they don't need any help.  Let's play these games 5 on 5.

Should be a couple of great games.

[bishopsfan]

DenisonFan:   Greak point about the officials.  I have seen the bishops on the wrong end of a few questionable calls in past NCAC tourneys.  I think the fact that it is at Wooster this year instead of Witt will be a benefit of OWU.  The officiating will hopefully remain nuetral and OWU usually shoots the ball well in Timken.

[wally_wabash]

Tomorrow (my time) we have two semifinal games.  In the second, most feel that Wooster will win, but most give Earlham a decent chance to pull the upset.  In the first, Witt is a slight favorite over OWU at best.  In other words, we have two potentially competitive games, and it really wouldn't be a shock if Earlham and OWU came out on top.

Now couple that with the fact that neither Wooster nor Wittenberg has spent one minute outside the national top 10 this year (in fact, Wooster has not been lower than 3rd, and Witt has not been lower than 6th since the preseason poll,) and one or the other was ranked number one in exactly half of the polls during this regular season.

Does anyone besides me this this is important?  Isn't this the beginnings of the parity so many of us have hoped for so long? 

If there is parity in this league, I'm not seeing it.  We have Wooster and Witt who are head and shoulders better than the rest of the league.  OWU has been strong lately, but I'd not be too quick to read much into their win over Wooster.  The game was meaningless for Wooster and was played on senior day in Delaware.  That sort of matchup sets off all sorts of red flags for an upset.  Ditto Witt's game vs. Wabash.  I just don't think you can read too much into Wooster or Witt from those games. 

As far as the semis go...I would be extrememly shocked if both Earlham and OWU won their games.  I mean extremely shocked.  In D-IA hoops if the #3 and #6 teams lost on the same day to unranked opponents, it would be the lead college hoops story of the day and the media would try to label the whole day in college hoops with some lame catch phrase like "Shocker Sunday".  It's hard to say we have parity in the NCAC until we can start talking about more than just Wooster and Witt as potential league champions when the season starts.  You have to go all the way back to 1993 before somebody other than Wooster or Witt won our league title outright.  You have to go back to 1988 to find the last time Witt or Wooster didn't win at least a share of the title.  Perhaps our ideas of parity are different, but IMHO, this isn't it. 

[smedindy]

It's still the "Big Two" - "Middling Three" - "Tourney Filling Three" - "Terrible Two"...

Hey, don't forget to post about Artie's suit tonight! I am covering a game at Covington (oh, it's senior night and that's a 1/2 hour right there) and can't watch the cast.

[pennstghs]

guys one point worth mentioning is that the losses by witt and wooster late in the season have made them that more dangerous because instaed of like last year with witt possibly looking ahead to wooster, they skated barely by wabash.
this year they know both teams that they'll be playing can potentially be dangerous, so that aspect of looking ahead to opponents can be avoided.

[scott_leo]

Here is the link to tonight's broadcast:

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/news/athletics/broadcast.html

Complete with the Artie Taylor fashion update!

[WoosterFAN]

Unfortunately DC, I have to agree with everyone else.  We do not have parity...yet  However, you might be able to say that we are more competitive league. 
Can EARLHAM, OWU, WABASH, or  beat WITT/WOO on any given night?  The answer is still NO. 
Can WITT/WOO afford to look past those teams, especially when on the road?  Answer: NOPE. 
Can WITT/WOO expect blow wins in the semis and look forward to battling each other on SAT.  ANSWER: NOPE.
But everyone in the gym and on this board expects them to win and therefore we do not have parity. But the fact that this discussion is happening means that the league is competitive now and if DENISON and ALLEGHENY can step up next year with maturing, improving teams maybe we can add competitiveness.  Only when we have 5-6 teams can beat each on any given night will we have parity in the NCAC!!

[smedindy]

That would mean the NCAC would be just like the WIAC or CCIW, which ain't bad!

[woosterbooster]

I don't really see the parity in the league, either, except for the fact that OWU might be a closer third than I'd previously thought.  I'd give them about a 1 in 3 shot against Wittenberg tonight.  But Earlham, I think, is in for a long night.

And it seems to get worse next year.  With Wooster returning everyone except Witucky, I'd have to make them a heavy favorite to win the league.  Wittenberg not only loses Russ, but Brady and Steffes.  OWU, it seems to me, has a genuine shot at second place next season.  Earlham losing Miller, who might be the best player in the league, will hurt them big-time.  Wabash looks to be losing a lot of players who got minutes.

[WoosterFAN]

NEW TOPIC!! NEW TOPIC!! And this is multi-regional but I'll put it here.
Without the benefit of a "CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND" preview release somewhere, what is going to be the most contested League Tourney this weekend? 

Of course we are following the NCAC but the OAC, MIAA in our region could have some upsets as well. And what about the other regions?  It is supposed to be cold and rainy in TN so I might as well tune in on the computer and watch the fireworks in the other regions and leagues. 

Where do you guys think the fireworks will be going off?

[smedindy]

The fireworks have already gone off in some places. Gordon and York (PA) lost early and there go two "C" bids.

[ScotsFan]

Sorry, but I'm not going to buy the whole parity thing just yet either.  Let's wait and see the final results of tonight's games before we start serioulsly talking about that P word in association with the NCAC.  Believe it or not, I'm agreeing with Wally in his takes on Wooster and Witt both losing to the 3rd and 4th place teams in the last week of the season.  Like Wally said, both of those games showed all the signs of being upset specials, and I just don't see the red flags for tonight's games.  

As far as the 2 games go, I would say, given that OWU has been playing some really solid basketball of late, I would give them the best chance of knocking off Wittenberg.  But, like pennstghs stated, those late losses for Witt and Woo could only make them all the more focused to get the job done and get on through to the finals.  And, concerning the Wooster/EC matchup, the EC is going to need someone other than Miller to show up tonight.  That was their problem a month ago.  Miller ended up with over half of the Quaker's total points and no one else cracked double figures in the scoring column.  Miller is good, but he isn't good enough to carry the EC past Wooster by himself, and if he tries to again, the result will be similar to the one back in January.  If Miller can get some help, we could be looking at a much closer game, just like the one back in December.  It will just depend on which Earlham team shows up tonight in Timken.

Good luck to all, and hopefully everyone making the trip has safe travels and an enjoyable weekend in Woo-town.  But not too enjoyable...

[Li'l Giant]

It must have been one heckuva post Bar Exam party to be posting at that time of night, DC.