MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[pennstghs]

ok guys i just got back from salem and will attempt to offer another witt perspective. First, thanks to everyone for the support of witt during our tournament run, its very easy to root against rivals so they dont look better, but in this case the team played with heart and represented the NCAC well.

what a heartbreaker. i dont think i said a word for at least 2 hours after getting out of there. its almost like you expected it because it was too good to be true. i definitely dont think the better team won last night. unfortunately witt dominated the wrong half of the game and vwu did the right half. it just seemed like vwu stepped up their defense because literally in a flash of an eye our lead was gone and it was tied. the refs made several iffy calls, including one on russ that let them tie up the game but the travel call that set up the game winning shot was legit so dont blame it on that. all in all witt should be proud to say that there was only one team in the nation that was able to say that they finished higher and better than the wittenberg tigers.

this season has been a good one. what does it say that wittenberg dominated the crowd last night with vwu even being an in state school. how many people would have been there for witt if the final four was held in say cleveland. the school has rallied around this team and drawn everyone together.

[billy_pilgrim]

Hey Tiger fans,

It was a great effort and I was thoroughly enjoying watching Virginia Wesleyan struggling to score like so many NCAC teams did this year.

The D-3 final was easily the best game of Saturday that I watched, sorry it ended the way it did.

Oh, for the record, I cheered for Wittenberg twice this year while waching/listening to the game live. They were 0-2 in such efforts. Maybe I should have turned the game off at the half with the 10-point lead.

Still, congratulations Wittenberg on a fine year. Honestly, I didn't think Wittenberg had enough to win the NCAC tournament, much less make a run to Salem. And as usaul, I was wrong. Great game again and already I'm looking forward to getting this whole thing started again next year.

[Toph]

Congratulations to Witt on one hell of a run, and one hell of a team.

[David Collinge]

Congratulations also to Dan Russ for being named to the D3hoops.com All-America second team.  A fitting capstone to a great career for a fine young man.  I presume he'll have opportunities to play professionally overseas if he wants to; does anyone know if he wants to?

Congratulations also to Tom Port (4th team) and James Cooper (HM) for being named to the All-American teams, joining other Great Lakes honorees Brandon Crawford (Albion, 1st team), Tori Davis (B-WC, 2nd team), and Matt Drahos (Bethany, HM). 

[jscwittfan]

Just got back from Salem this afternoon, and just now getting to the boards now.

Man, did that hurt.

I probably had the closest seat out of most people in the arena (being at the media table) and it was something.  Wittenberg fans, I know how you feel - but try to see that shot and then try and do the radio broadcast for the rest of the game and the postgame show.  Honestly, I have never found it harder to find words to actually be able to speak and form coherent sentences.

I heard a lot of people say that they would rather have seen it coming the whole time (like, constantly being down instead of leading the whole way and losing at the last second), and I'm not quite sure if I agree, but losing the way we did was probably the most painful way it could have happened.

We can talk about all the little things - Russ getting poked in the eye at the end of the first half (if was clearly an accident, I hold noone at fault as he was just going for a block), the inability to hit free throws down the stretch, or the little push off on Balenga's game-winner, but the fact of the matter is that Wittenberg played the second half like they were only playing to protect the lead, and they didn't.  Kudos to Va Wesleyan for playing a stellar 2nd half and for using that pressure defense to really throw our offense for a loop, and to Balenga for hitting an amazing shot.  Even though I am Wittenberg through and through, you cannot deny the great story that Va. Wesleyan gave us - not being given a shot, first trip to the final four, reeling off 28 straight wins; just unbelievable.  I went to Salem expecting to watch some good basketball, and I left Salem having watched four GREAT games.

Congrats to Russ and Borchers for all their postseason accolades - they were all well deserved.  Just wish we could have sent them out with a little jewelry.

Congrats to the Tigers, the seniors, to Coach Brown, to all the fans who supported the team (both at home and especially in Salem), and thanks for a wonderful season.  For somebody who went to a high school that didn't have athletics, this was a really special ride to be a part of, even if I only was a fan/broadcaster.

[DenisonFan]

Congrats to Witt on a terrific year!!

It was an extremely hard loss but 30-4 is certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

I talked to with DR's Dad and he alluded to the fact that Dan was going to try and play in Europe if he can.

Again, way to make the NCAC proud!!

I am sure Denison will do the same next year!! :-)

[oldguy]

I was able to make it to Salem for the game and I just want to say how proud I am to be a Tiger.  Yes, the way the game turned out was tough to take, but they played hard and had a great season.  It was good to see the strong support at the game. 

I hope there is similar success next season.

[bishopsfan]

Congrats to the Tigers!!!  You guys have so much to be proud of.  As a player, back in the day, I had an extreme hatred for Wittenberg but, looking back, it was probably brought on by the fact that they kicked our butts alot.  Now, quite a few years removed, I have developed a high level of respect for the Tigers because of the continuous string of successfull seasons they have been able to put together.  You guys have made the entire conference proud.  Now the worst part of the year.......the off-season.  Thanks to everyone for a fun and exciting season of NCAC basketball.

[wally_wabash]

Noooo!  Run away from the light, bishopsfan!  It's not too late!   

[zosobob]

Congrats on being so high up on the pick 'em board Wally, I can tell you or Pennstghs (#20) didn't cheat off of me. As i was way on down the list.

[pennstghs]

zoso thanks for the props-if witt woulda pulled it out i woulda been a little higher

[David Collinge]

The NABC has also released its All-America teams.  It is clear at a glance that the process is to name one player from each region to each of three teams, meaning that there are just 3 GL players among the 24 All-Americans (as opposed to 6 of 25 on this site's teams).  It is a peculiar way to select All-Americans, and they have made some peculiar choices to boot (such as naming Lincoln's Kyle Myrick, the D3hoops.com national player of the year, to the third team).  Nevertheless, these awards claim to be nominated and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, so at a minimum it shows that these players have the respect of at least some of the coaches.  (Plus, since this same organization named Bryan Nelson its POY a few years back, I can't bad-mouth it too much! )

With that caveat, congratulations to Wooster's James Cooper, named to the NABC All-America 3rd team!  The other GL players were Brandon Crawford (1st team) and Tori Davis (2nd team). 

[wally_wabash]

Thanks zosobob.  I got lucky with Virginia Wesleyan winning it all.  They were hot going into the tournament, had a pretty favorable draw, and then had a virtual home court advantage in Salem.  That was my premise for picking them to win it all.  I had North Central, Va Wesleyan, Amherst, and Hope in my final four.  I had assumed Hope would host through the national quarterfinals...that they didn't torpedoed that pick. 

But anyway, it's all really a total crapshoot with the D-III bracket.  Without getting to actually see teams from other regions play and not knowing exactly where the sectional sites are going to be held, anybody's guess is as good as mine.  I'm just as likely to finish as close to the bottom as I am to the top. 

Now if I could only transfer some of my points here into my office pool for D-I tourney....

[David Collinge]

Just FYI, I don't think it's accurate to say that Va. Wesleyan had a "virtual home court advantage."  I anticipated that, too, but as it happens their crowd was no bigger (and less loud) than IWU's, and not substantially bigger than Witt's.  I think Hope would have also drawn at least as well as VWC had they been there.  It's an easier drive and a more familiar location for Marlin fans, but I don't think the passion runs as deep in the ODAC as it does for certain of the midwest teams.  Now, VWC probably did have an advantage in terms of familiarity with the arena (e.g., dead spots on the floor, sight lines, etc.), but I'm not sure how much that was worth.  I don't think the "home court advantage" played a significant role in the outcomes.

Nevertheless, you greatly outpicked me, so I bow before you! 

[ScotsFan]

For anyone interested, Wooster finished the season ranked #9 in the final D3hoops.com poll.  This keeps their streak of being ranked in the top 10 intact at least until next year. 8)  I'm not sure what that streak is, I just remember DC giving us some stats on current streaks involving the D3hoops Top 25.  I wasn't sure that they would be able to keep the streak alive after their loss in the 2nd round to Transy.  I figured they needed at least one more win to keep the streak going, but to my pleasant surprise, they snuck in just barely.  And with all that Wooster has returning, I would say it is a pretty safe bet Wooster will be fairly high in the top 10 when the pre-season rankings come out next year to keep the top 10 streak going for a while.   

ps,  DC, is there any chance we could get the final tallies on what streaks are going on with the poll at season's end?  ie, who's got the longest streak of receiving votes, who's got the longest top 10 streak going, etc?