MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[hoopsfan1111]

This Wittenberg team is looking pretty special.

Let's not forget our Wooster Scots have the potential to have a pretty special season as well...

Here's to looking forward to two good victories for Woo this week (Oberlin and Witt!) 

[bishopsfan]

I will be very interested to see how Wooster matches up with Wittenberg inside.  Annually, this matchup has been a thing of beauty with both team showcasing all-conference post players.  This year is a little different though.  Wittenberg has three big and talented post players while Wooster has a much smaller but quicker lineup.  Does anyone have any insight into how either team plans to match up on the frontline.

[pennstghs]

one thing i will say about our post players-cedarville had a very effective zone to shut out russ and borchers, but dont be misled by kenny brady's numbers from last night. he was mainly a wing player to try and open up the outside and the cedarville defense let him have open looks all night-if russ and borchers keep passing like last night and finding the open man for three's, watch out. i think the player to watch for wooster is cooper because it will be good to see how our young wings match up against his athleticism

[Coshocton Giant]

Wooster is a tuff team to call. Since Coach Moore has scheduled so many patsies ( 6 wins  against teams with a combined record of 11-30) stats and claims of world beating backcourts seem unfounded to the more than casual observer.  V.P.

[earlhamalum]

Hanover-  46
Earlham- 33

10 minutes to go in second half

[seinfeld]

Nice debut, Coshocton Giant. Why don't you try adding the wins again, since you are about six short.

[Coshocton Giant]

Math=OK KALAMAZOO 3, METHODIST 2, Emory+Henry 2, Denison 2, Earlham 2, and Oberlin 0, totals 11. In fairness I should mention Witt is also difficult to call because of their ten man rotation shorter PT leads to less big numbers but more experienced players and more wins at year end.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 112  Oberlin 53

Wooster notches the easy win tonight with 7 guys in double figures led by James Cooper and Devin Fulk each with 15 points.  Was that a real game or just a "glorified practice" as another poster recently suggested? 

Scots are now 7-0 with the big Witt home game up next on Saturday!

I agree with some of the other posters that rebounding edge, defensive intensity and guard play/matchups will be key factors in the outcome of this game.  Good point was also made that Wooster should not double down on Russ and Borchers in the post and leave Witt shooters wide open for 3 point shots.  Wooster did double down the last two years in home games at Timken and the Tigers made the open three point shots.

GO SCOTS!!

[waterboy]

Allegheny 100, Westminster 98

Gators win a "low-scoring" affair at the Wise Center, thanks to a last-second layup by Casey McCloskey.  Westminster put up 48 3's, making 15, while Allegheny made 44-of-81 field goal attempts (54.3).  Matt Majzlik led the way with 28, while Ryan Hollihan and Jimmy Savage each tallied 18.  McCloskey chipped in with 14 points as well as 10 assists.

Gators pretty much held the lead for the majority of the game and all of the second half, unitl Westminster made a run to tie it late.  

As for as the game I saw tonight, Wooster was pretty much playing a high school team in Oberlin.  I almost felt bad.  Outside of Spencer and Mike Loll, all of the Yeomen were seriously outmatched.  Kind of sucks to play a team like that before playing Witt though.  The Scots missed some peepers inside and let Oberlin's "big" man, Spelich, score 14 points and he might be the worst center I've seen in this league.  They definitely can't let that happen on Saturday.

BTW Coshocton Giant,

You might want to tack on Wis.-Stout to the list of teams Wooster has wins against.  They are 6-1 overall and currently leading the WIAC, arguably one of the top conferences in the nation, with a 3-0 mark.

[imderekpoe]

Coshocton Giant:

Records of the Scots opponents prior to tonight's games:

Kalamazoo 3 - 4
Wisconsin-Stout 5 - 1
Methodist 2 - 5
Emory & Henry 2 4
Denison 2 - 4
Earlham 2 - 3

By my math, that comes to 16 - 21.  If you don't include the games against Wooster, that means that the combined records are 16 - 15.  Maybe not the best, but also far from 'patsies', IMO.

[David Collinge]

Also, Methodist is the defending champion of their conference and did not look like a "patsy" when they were scheduled. 

[ScotsFan]

CG,

OOPS!  I guess you left out that one patsie that is currently #22 in the country right behind that other patsie (BW) that Wooster will be playing in the opening round of the Mose Hole Classic.  The overall record of Wooster's opponents may not be that impressive, but, keep in mind that Methodist's start has to be disappointing and unforeseen to say the least.  This is a team that has been to the NCAA tournament the last 2 years!  So their terrible start hasn't helped the win-loss record of Wooster's opponents.  

As for Saturday, even though the Scots are the higher ranked of the 2, and they are playing at home, I would hardly call them the favorites.  I'm sure that anyone with any knowlegde of DIII basketball would agree.  And I'm sure that the players for Wooster know this.  There's basically 2 scenarios that could play out.  One, the players come out tight, which seems to be the trend lately (at least at Timken) and let Witt take the crowd out of the game early, or they come out loose, with the "us against the world" attitude, which seems to have worked for Witt the last couple of match-ups, and get off to a hot start and ride the wave of emotion to a much needed home win over That School Down South!!!  

[wooscotsfan]

All the 12/7 NCAC Final Scores:

Allegheny 100  Westminster 98
Bluffton 88  Hiram 75
#13 Hanover 62  Earlham 53
D1 U. of Akron 123  Denison 52
Wooster 112  Oberlin 53


Coshoction Giant:

This season, Wooster scheduled these teams:

St. Thomas/Wisc-Stout in Al Van Wie tourney -- both are strong teams from strong conferences -- MIAC and WIAC -- that perform well in postseason play.  As noted, Wooster beat Wisc-Stout in the title game.

Methodist -- winner of the USA South the last two years and in the NCAA D3 tourney the last two years.

Baldwin-Wallace -- strong OAC team and a preseason favorite to win that conference this year.  In the NCAA D3 tourney last year.

College of New Jersey -- strong team from the NJAC, also one of the top D3 conferences.

Wooster also beat Kalamazoo earlier this year.  You can label them a "patsie" but that wouldn't be accurate since K-zoo took a nationally ranked #20 Elmhurst team to double overtime before losing this evening.

Wooster can't control how every team's win/loss record plays out but clearly, the Scots scheduled strong teams this year so the facts suggest that the only thing that is "patsie" is your post!  

[ScotsFan]

Hey CG,

I thought I would share these scores with you since they have some common interest with Wooster and the "patsies" they, or should I say "Coach Moore" (as you like to think) scheduled:

Kzoo lost to #20 Elmhurst tonight, but it took Elmhurst 2 OT's to get the victory as noted by WSF.

And St. Thomas, who lost to Stout in the Al Van Wie tournament in Wooster, pounded #11 Gustavus Adolphis 87-51 tonight!  Need I remind you that the Tommies only loss is to Stout, and Stout's only loss is to Wooster.  

Witt may have the superior oppenent record coming into the game on Saturday, but, you can throw all of that out the window when these teams hit the floor.  This rivalry may not have the history of a Hope-Calvin or a Williams-Amherst, but the intensity that it brings from the players and fans could put it right up there.  Wooster wants a win in the worst way.  I just hope Wooster's desire to defend Timken doesn't result in a cold start and another loss like 5 out of the last 6 contests have ended at Wooster since 2000-01!  Let's take back OUR HOUSE starting Saturday night!!!

[David Collinge]

Welcome aboard, Coshocton!  You sure found a way to get under the many Wooster skins in a hurry!    As a West Holmes grad, Coshocton has been getting under my skin for years. 

WSF, while I agree with the thrust of your post, and many of the specifics, I'm not sold on K'zoo.  I would hesitate to call any MIAA team a "patsy," especially one that beat Wooster in the Final Four season of '01-'02, but they are not a good team.  I watched Wooster easily beat K'zoo, then the next night watched St. Thomas just humiliate them.  K'zoo taking Elmhurst to 2 OTs says to me that Elmhurst was down, not that K'zoo is better than we thought.

Not that Wooster played them, but it may be of interest to note that U.St.Thomas beat #11 and previously unbeaten Gustavus Adolphus tonight, 87-51.  These same Tommies lost by 1 in OT to (now #23) Stout, who Wooster then beat by 8.  [Edit:  Rats! SF beat me to this one!  ]

I think the bottom line is that Wooster has scheduled a pretty good non-conference slate this year.  Not the best in the country (heck, not even as tough at Wittenberg's schedule), but by no means a cupcake festival.