MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Mr. Ypsi]

I believe that 'all bets are off' goes a bit beyond a paraphrase of Pete Rose!

A 'negation'?  A 'contradiction'?  'Something I would NEVER say?'

[smedindy]

Wabash looked young this week. They played pretty good defense in both games but could not hold onto the ball and rushed a lot of posessions. Hanover will be a stern test, but let's hope the kiddie corps rises up.

[wally_wabash]

I'm mildly encouraged by Wabash's opening weekend.  Simkus and Zimmer were pretty solid, and while the freshmen were a little erratic I think you have to be pleased with Haltom's first two starts (his shot will come) and Brock's minutes off the bench.  I think Wabash has found a couple of good players in these two. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from the Tipoff Classic in C'ville for Wabash:

The Good: Opponents shot just 31.1% against the LGs.  Nice D! 
The Bad: Wabash only shot 37.5% overall and just 20% on 3 point field goals. 
The Ugly: 46 turnovers for Wabash over the weekend.  Ouch. 

As mentioned Hanover comes to town tomorrow night followed by a road game at Depauw (insert boos here) on the 28th. 

[David Collinge]

As noted above, Kenyon is off to a 2-0 start, as both Kenyon and co-host Mt. Vernon Nazarene Univ. swept their games in the Food for the Hungry Invitational.  This is Kenyon's first 2-0 start in over a decade, and hopes appear to be high in Gambier.  A young team, Kenyon has just one senior on the roster (reserve Mike Cohen), and three sophomores join two juniors in the starting lineup.  However, these youngsters are not without experience, as the Lords return 10 lettermen and three starters.  Four more undercalssmen (Fr., So., So., Jr.) provide depth in the nine-man rotation (seven at 20+ mpg, two others at about 10 mins.)

On Friday, the Lords overcame poor shooting to defeat LaRoche 67-48 down in Mt. Vernon.  6'6" sophmore Bryan Yelvington dropped in 21 points, including 11 of 12 from the charity stripe, and grabbed 8 rebounds, leading both teams in both categories.  The Lords held the Redhawks to 41% shooting and forced 21 turnovers.  While Kenyon also shot just 41%, they got 14 more shots off, and also sank more free throws (14) than the Pittsburghers attempted (12, making just 5), allowing the Lords to extend a meagre 2-point halftime lead into an fairly comfortable 19-point final margin.

On Saturday, the teams moved up to Gambier, where Kenyon dispatched Myers Univ. by a score of 83-67.  Five Lords scored in double figures, led by 6'5" freshman Dave Knapke's 18 points and 7 boards.  Kenyon scorched the nets at a 55% clip while holding the Clevelanders to 41% and just one three-pointer.  The box score suggests a somewhat sloppy effort, as Kenyon committed 18 turnovers and 21 fouls, allowing Myers to score 22 of their points from the free throw line.  However, superior shooting and rebounding (38-24 edge to KC) was more than the 0-6 Mustangs could overcome. 

Joining Head Coach Matt Croci on the bench this season is assistant coach Travis Schwab, a name familiar to most who follow the NCAC.  I hope to be able to get down to Kenyon from time to time to follow the progress of this young but perhaps up-and-coming squad.

[David Collinge]

Speaking of Kenyon, the Lords will participate in the NCAC-OAC Challenge this coming weekend.  On Saturday in Granville, Kenyon takes on Capital at 2pm and Muskingum faces host Denison at 4pm.  Then on Sunday action moves to New Concord, with Capital facing Denison at 2 and Kenyon against the host Muskies at 4.  Neither the Crusaders not Muskies have started play yet; Capital hosts Wittenberg on Wednesday.  Muskingum and Capital are picked to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the OAC, so these should be some pretty tough games for the NCAC representatives.  I plan to attend at least the Sunday session, and perhaps the Saturday games as well.

[woosterbooster]

Dave -

Funny you should choose to write about Kenyon as I had already figured them to be a dangerous team.  They'll give the big boys in the NCAC all they can handle, if not this year than next year.  

One guy that you didn't mention is sophomore center Allen Bediako.  This guy is a serious leaping shot blocker (as opposed to frivolous leaping shot blockers) when he can stay out of foul trouble.  I saw him play last year when Kenyon hosted the Scots and he can jump out of the gym.  

Fouls are his Achille's heel, though, and in Kenyon's first game this year he picked up four, limiting him to 15 minutes on the floor.  He also had four fouls in the Lord's second contest, but must have gathered the last one late, as he managed 26 minutes on the court allowing him to put up 8 points and corral a game-high 8 boards.  He doesn't have a blocked shot this season, which really surprises me, but I'll still bet he ends up leading the league.

[ScotsFan]

I was perusing the homepages for both of Wooster's next 2 NAIA opponents (Walsh and Georgetown (KY) and they both look to have quite a bit of height.  Walsh returns all 5 starters from a team that reached the "Elite 8" last season as well as their top 6 scorers.  One thing I did notice is that they have only played 2 games (1-1) thus far this season which I found quite surprising because I always thought the NAIA started their seasons earlier.  They do have 2 more games they will get under their belts before they meet up with the Scots on Saturday, but I don't know if that will be an advantage or not.  When Walsh meets Wooster on Saturday it will be their 3rd game in 5 days.  Wooster will have not played in a week, so Wooster should be the fresher of the 2 teams.

Georgetown, on the other hand has gotten off to a 6-1 start to the season and has one more game before their trip to Wooster a week from tomorrow.  It was said earlier about how many NCAA Div. I  transfers are on their roster.  They look like they could cause a lot of mismatch problems inside for the Scots.

Both teams are ranked highly in the preseason NAIA top 25 with Georgetown checking in at #8 in NAIA Div. I with their only loss coming against Lambuth (TN) who is in the "recieving votes" category in the NAIA Div. I poll.  Walsh is checking in at #7 in the NAIA Div. II poll.  Their one loss was to NAIA unranked Daemen College quite handily, 88-71. 

One thing I did notice about Walsh was that they had a couple of players on their roster that aren't playing until later in the season.  One was their returning PG who won't be playing until the 2nd semester because he only has one semester of eligibility remaining.  Another is a transfer who isn't eligble until the first week of December.  I wonder if this will have any effects on thier depth and the fact that they will be playing 3 games in 5 days?

[woosterbooster]

The Walsh A.D. returned my call today, leaving a message in which he said that due to Thanksgiving break there will be plenty of available seats next Saturday when Wooster comes to North Canton.  Let's prove him wrong by bringing a large contingent of Scot fans, turning it into a home court for the black and gold!

One side of the Walsh gym has theatre-style seats, which is probably the home side and also probably away from the team benchs (that's how it is in volleyball, anyway).  The other side is bleacher-style seating, and hopefully we can fill the area behind the Wooster bench with partisans of the non-Walsh variety.

And, yep, they are big.  A legit Brazilian 7-footer that has to duck to get into the gym.

[imderekpoe]

Let's prove him wrong by bringing a large contingent of Scot fans, turning it into a home court for the black and gold!

I'll be making the trek up to N. Canton from here in Columbus! 

Arujo may be a good test for the Scots interior game, but it looks like he's got the build of a D-III 7-footer as opposed to the D-I type.  He's listed as only 245 lbs - the same as Elam for the Scots.  I think that its the wide-bodies (Tori Davis comes to mind) that tend play a more physical game that generally give the Scots problems, whereas they can usually handle the tall-skinnys pretty well (except for that Russ kid!).

[earlhamalum]

EC didn't get off to the start that I was hoping for going 0-2 in the Chicago this weekend losing a close one to Depauw 80-85, and then losing to the Coast Guard as David mentioned earlier.

They got outstanding play by Senior Markous Jewett in two games going 20-40 from the field, 26.5 Ppg, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and Center Nick Welsh played solid for them this weekend also. 

They need to work the ball around and get a little bit more team play tonight VS. Bluffton.  Coach Justus is still waiting for his 1st career when against the Beavers. (The Bluffton game has been hard for the Quakers over the years always playing them during Break.)  They need the guards to step up tonight after shooting a whopping 19-63 from the field this weekend.  Yeah that is right at .30%.  I'd say if you are a guard and you are shooting 30% from the field you might want to be a little more patient offensively. (Only an idea)

Well good luck tonight EC and Beat the heck out of that beaver

[woosterbooster]

I'd say if you are a guard and you are shooting 30% from the field you might want to be a little more patient offensively.

Or maybe consider passing the ball inside.  Otherwise, you might want to hang 'em up and begin selling insurance (or whatever retired guards do).

[wally_wabash]

In my experience, NAIA's will typically have a size advantage over most D-III's.  I'm sure I'll see plenty of this when Wabash hosts the NAIA Holiday Invitatational (aka the Pete Thorn Invitational) in a few weeks. 

I'm thinking Wooster will be able to handle Walsh.  Georgetown will be one of those games that sheds light on the annual debate about how good the top D-III's are compared to the top NAIA's.  Should be an entertaining matchup. 

[smedindy]

Hey, you know...we haven't heard word one about Denison this season. I wonder if all is well up there? Looks like the roster has just three freshmen, but plenty of sophomores and juniors.

[David Collinge]

Hey, you know...we haven't heard word one about Denison this season. I wonder if all is well up there? Looks like the roster has just three freshmen, but plenty of sophomores and juniors.

I'm headed down to Granville this evening to catch Denison's game with Lake Erie.  I'll provide a report later tonight or tomorrow.

[smedindy]

Just don't slam the rotation, OK? I know you just wanna rip their coach one. Heh....