MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

But he probably has access to my academic records, so he doesn't bother to ask me for money he knows I haven't got. 

Oh, now, c'mon, DC. You're a Tulane law grad. You don't expect me to fall for that now do you? 

[smedindy]

Billy -

I think it will be in either Joseph's or Medeiros' hands to at least make the offense go - and if Coffey gets free that's great. But one of the senior guards, I think, will at least be the trigger in crunch time.

[wally_wabash]

Billy-

Close losses against good teams has been Wabash's M.O. for the last few seasons.  Does Wabash have a designated go-to guy?  It doesn't appear so.  The no stars and/or interchangeable parts aspect of the Wabash team over the last couple of years gets touted as one of the team's biggest strengths (the theory being that teams can't gear up to stop just one guy), but I tend to think it's also one of the team's biggest weaknesses.  In almost every one of the close games against top competition that Wabash has played in recent memory, you can point to an offensive swoon that ultimately dooms the LGs.  For example already in 2005:

- vs. Bethany College: Wabash goes without a field goal for 5:50 in the second half during which time an 11-point Wabash lead turned into a 4-point Wabash deficit.  Wabash lost by 7 as Bethany salted the game away with free throws.  

- vs. Hanover: Wabash scores just one field goal in the first 6:45 of the game and digs an early hole.  Wabash did come back from 15 points down to make a game of it in the second half, but lost by three points.  

- vs. IWU: Wabash played IWU to a dead heat after 30 minutes of basketball.  Tied up with 10:05 to play, Wabash wouldn't get another field goal for the next 7:15, by which time the tie game had tuned into an 18-point rout.  

That's just this year.  If you go back to last year, you'll find similar stories in Wabash losses to Witt, Wooster, Hanover, etc. etc.  If Wabash had a guy, one guy, who could get the ball, isolate, and create a shot, draw a foul, etc. and get some points to stop the bleeding, Wabash could probably find themselves on the winning side of some of those close losses.  I'm not sure that Wabash really has the guy that can do that consistently, and it's been a problem...most notably when the offense stalls out against good teams.  

[ScotsFan]

David, good luck with your move to SoCal.  That will be quite a change frome the quiet streets of Millersburg.

BTW, in his pregame radio comments, Steve Moore talked at some length about Kyle Witucky's selfless and unsung contribution in the E&H game, and how he "did the dirty work" that didn't show up in his stat line. That's more than enough validation for me!

I heard Coach Moore bring that up as well and I was thinking about you when he brought it up!   Kyle did have a little better night last night as he didn't have to be quite as unselfish in dropping 16 points, making 4 treys.

One of the highlights for me last night was how well Wooster clamped down on defense after giving up the 1st 9 points of the game to Denison.  Steve Moore called a timeout and Wooster came out of that timeout a different team, outscoring the Big Red 52-27 the rest of the half.  Also, props to the effort made to shut down Denison's big two of Hern and Hodgkinson.  They entered the game averaging 19.25 and 17.5 ppg respectively and Wooster held them both well below their averages.  Hern went for 12 and Hodgkinson only tallied 7 points.  We know Wooster can light it up on the offensive end, I just wanted to give props for the nice job that was done on the defensive end as well!

[woosterbooster]

Billy Pilgrim -

If you don't mind listening to the Wooster feed, you should be able to pick up the Wooster-Earlham game from the Wooster Athletic webpage.  Go here:

http://www.wooster.edu/interactive/

Then choose the "Live Broadcast Feed (uses Quicktime)" link at the upper left side of the page.  Very good sound quality.  The Windows Media link seems to be broken.

[woosterbooster]

I'm looking forward to a fun road trip this weekend.  From Wooster to Columbus on Friday to catch first-round NCAA tournament volleyball (Ohio University vs Alabama followed by Marshall vs Ohio State) then to Richmond for Saturday afternoon's 1 PM Wooster-Earlham game.  It looks as if the Wooster women face Earlham immediately following that game, so I may even stay to see some of that.  Then, back to Columbus for more volleyball, Friday night's winners meeting at 7 PM.  Probably both Ohio teams.  Just wish I didn't have to miss Mt. Union football on Saturday...

[Ralph Turner]

Oh, did I mention that I'm in Malvern, Ark.?     I'm in the process of moving to Los Angeles.  No more Wooster games for me   , at least until they make their rumored Southland Snowbird trip next season.   8)

Mr Phelps, er, Mr Collinge, your mission, should you decide to accept it, to clean up the SCIAC message board. They seem to have a very bad case of "We don't get no respect-o-philia".

Your presence at a few games might give the rest of us a more accurate assessment of the quality of hoops that they really play, and in turn, soothe the savage beast!

Enjoy LA!

[bishopsfan]

Really nice win for the Bishops last night.  Currently the Bishops are 2-0 vs. the OAC with victories over Mount Union and Capital.  The Bishops should be very pleased with themselves because Capital was picked to finish 2nd in the OAC.  The Bishops are in a very good position to go into Christmas break 7-2.  That would be a really big confidence booster going into the heart of NCAC Play.  Go Bishops!!!

[David Collinge]

Thanks a lot, Ralph.  I read your post, and five seconds later my laptop exploded.   

[earlhamalum]

I think there will need to be a new stat in the Standings just for Denison

Team         W    L   Pct    Total # of points outscored by;
                                       Wooster,@Witt,@Akron                   

Denison...  2     6   .333            122pts           

Anyone else want to guess... we can see who was closest after the Akron game.

[waterboy]

Quaker fans,

Any predictions on how Earlham is going to stack up against Wooster tomorrow?

I'd like to see Earlham give Wooster a run and bring them back down to Earth a little bit, or at least keep them under 90 points.  It'll take Miller and Jewett having monster games and Port and Cooper not for it to happen though.

I'm going to give Denison a little credit and say they get outscored by just 101 points - 36 by Woo, 23 by Witt, and 42 by Akron.

[billy_pilgrim]

Well, I predicted Earlham would hold Wooster under 100....I'm inclined to say under 90 in Richmond, too.

Not sure how big a game Jewett can have...he sat out most of the 2nd half against Mt. St. Joseph the other night with flu/death.

The last few games in Richmond have been fairly competitive (2 years ago was an absolute war) and this is the most talented team Earlham's had in those years....of course, in my mind this Wooster team might be more balanced than '03 edition.

Earlham could easily be 4-0, but turnovers/foul shooting/not finding opponents perimeter shooters has left them at 2-2. If those three areas are bad tomorrow...it could be 100 again.

I'll have faith: Quakers keep it close and prove they belong in the NCAC's top half.

[imderekpoe]

I wouldn't be terribly surprised for Earlham to hang tough tomorrow.  Wooster has frequently had some relatively tough games in Richmond, and this looks to be a pretty good Quaker team. 

That being said, the Scots are obviously playing really well right now, and if they get off to a good start it could be a very long afternoon for Miller, Jewett, and friends.  In the games that I've seen, when things aren't going so well, Miller tries to do to much by himself, and one guy isn't going to beat this Wooster team.

I'll go with 128 in the Big Red pool, with Akron winning by 44 and Witt extracting a bit of revenge by 48.

[billy_pilgrim]

By the way, I'll take 104 in the Big Red blood pool......

[earlhamalum]

Waterboy- I really wish I could be there tomorrow in Richmond.  I was able to be there the last two years, but this year due to coaching obligation as a freshman high school coach my Saturdays are no longer an option.  

Earlham has forced opponents to shoot 38% from the field, which any team would love to have 4 games into the season. They are also shooting 49% from the field themselves.  Now they are getting out shot by 10 a game.  EC will need to take care of the ball, keep playing D, and play TOGETHER as a TEAM.

One thing that I have always liked about Coach Moore (besides working the Refs to Perfection...hmm not sure if this was a quality i liked about him when i was a player...*sorry back on track) is the way his TEAMS play TOGETHER.  Not only on the offensive end, but on the Defensive end as well.

Kyle W... if you read this I love the way you play ur a great player *(best in the country)
GO WOOSTER....
(for years i tried going for EC on this game... has yet to work... so i'm trying a new approach)