MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[earlhamalum]

Final:   OWU 82   EC 70

[kiltedbryan]

Final from Kenyon's website:

Oberlin 66, Kenyon 73

[David Collinge]

The edit feature has made reading the recaps of Wooster/Wabash a time-bending experience. 

Rather than make the long drive to C'ville, I settled for the short drive to Gambier to take in an afternoon of Kenyon sports.  I got to watch portions of a tennis match (men and women) with the University of Chicago, both the softball and baseball teams practicing, and two basketball games, both won by Kenyon (women 47, Earlham 39, and men 73, Oberlin 66), all within a few yards of one another inside the Kenyon Athletic Center.  (By the way, have I mentioned how nice that facility is? )  I don't really have much to say about the games, apart from the fact that the Lords always seem to play nailbiters at home, which makes me wonder what will happen when Wooster hits town on Wednesday.

But I do have a few comments about the fans.

First, the women's game had a pretty good crowd of students in attendance.  They all looked like athletes; maybe they were there between practices elsewhere in the building, I can't say.  But they all got up and left when the women's game was over, and they were replaced by a different crowd of students for the men's game.  I found that to be a little odd, but it's good that both teams get decent on-campus support.

Second, while I couldn't discern any Earlham fans in attendance (not surprising, since it's a long drive to watch a team lose it's 20th game), but there were a small number of Oberlin fans who drove down for the game.  I think that's great, especially since the only reason I was there was because I didn't want to make a long drive to an away game muself.  Kudos to Oberlin fans who came to Gambier.  However, I had the distinct displeasure of sitting in front of OC "fans" during the first half who, between them, had about 5 positive things to say about their team.  These two, however, scarcely let a single play go by without some complaint about the refereeing--many of them absurd.  I can't understand why people would travel all that way just to carp about the officials, non-stop, and virtually never cheer in a positive manner.  It was so annoying that I packed up and moved to another seat for the second half.  This was also in front of two Oberlin fans, but these two were all about support and encouragement ("rebound!"  "block out!"  "good hustle!"), and I was glad to have them there. 

Third, I was actually picked out of the crowd by a lurker, who turned out to be a player's parent--lucky for me, the lurker's son is a player I respect a lot.  I'm still not quite sure what clues led him to deduce that I was who I was, but I was glad he had the moxie to come up and introduce himself.  We had a nice conversation about his son and his team, and of course about the facility that evidently I can't stop talking about.  I wish we had people from his school that would post (since we have none from either KC or OC), and told him so, but I can understand the reticence of a player's father.  He said he might come online when his son has graduated.   

[ScotsFan]

Rounding out the NCAC scores:

Wtt - 78,  Hiram - 41

Allegheny - 94, Denison - 67

[Li'l Giant]

I can understand the reticence of a player's father.  He said he might come online when his son has graduated.   

What? A player's father posting would be a bad idea? That's never been a problem before. 

The potential problem would be worth the risk to get some Kenyon and Oberlin participation.

[wally_wabash]

Some first hand observations from the thriller at Chadwick....

- Wabash played really, really hard in this one.  They never backed down or gave an inch to a far superior team. To have this kind of effort on the heels of a loss that pretty much dooms Wabash from hosting a tournament game says a lot. 

- On the other side of the coin, Wooster looked pretty uninterested to me.  For a stretch in the second half Port woke up and dominated the game then later in the second half Cooper woke up and took over for a bit.  I imagine Wooster is a lot better when those guys are in games that don't bore them. 

- If Zimmer isn't a first team NCAC selection, there needs to be an investigation. 

Coach Moore even says it in the post game interview - "If Marty (Bidwell) doesn't make that shot we probably lose the game".

No doubt about it.  The three by itself was ok.  The foul on the shot is what was the killer.  The foul shot put Wooster up by three and Wabash got trigger happy on three point field goals trying to make up the deficit with one shot.  This took Zimmer out of the game in the last minute and while I love that our freshman are willing to take these kinds of shots, they got a little quick on shooting the 3.  Had the foul on Bidwell's shot not happened, it would have been a two point game and Wabash may have run the offense through Zimmer down the stretch at which point anything could have happened.

Wabash really has improved since that low point trip to Hiram and Alleghany. And they are doing it with youth. Does Wabash get Simkus back next year? If they do they could really challenge for the league title next year.

I can't say for sure, but I'm assuming that Simkus comes back and plays next year.  He'll lend some much needed height to the lineup (particularly with the graduation of Stephens at the end of this year).  League title?  I'm not ready to go that far.  Wooster and Witt are head and shoulders above the rest of this league.  I don't think that one year of experience rockets Wabash up into that echelon.  I do think that it's reasonable for Wabash to be a clear cut #3 in the league next year with the ability to steal a win from one of the other W's. 

All in all it was a very fun game to watch.  I'm hoping Wabash can bring a similar effort to Springfield on Wednesday and steal one at the HPER. 

[smedindy]

Simkus will be back next year I feel. This is all about his educational opportunities.

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 2/10 Final Scores:

Kenyon 73  Oberlin 66
Allegheny 94  Denison 67
Ohio Wesleyan 82  Earlham 70
Wittenberg 78  Hiram 41
Wooster 68  Wabash 63

....and the Current NCAC Standings:

Wooster 13-1 (20-3)
Wittenberg 12-2 (20-3)
Ohio Wesleyan 9-5 (15-8)
Allegheny 6-8 (10-12)
Kenyon 6-8 (10-13)
Wabash 6-8 (9-14)
Earlham 6-8 (8-15)
Hiram 6-8 (7-16)
Denison 3-11 (4-18)
Oberlin 3-11 (4-19)

5 Way Tie for 4th Place and the Home Game in First Round of NCAC Tourney

[wooscotsfan]

With Wooster's record now at 20-3, it is time to offer.....

Congratulations to Wooster Coach Steve Moore on his 11th Consecutive Season of 20 Wins or More!  

This is an impressive streak and the last time Wooster failed to win 20 games was in 1995-1996 when the Scots finished 19-7.

GO SCOTS!

[ScotsFan]

Also, congratulations are in order for Tom Port as he moved into 3rd on the all-time scoring list at Wooster with 1,607 points.  He now only trails Wooster greats Tom Dinger and Bryan Nelson.

[goscots]

Another milestone with the 20th win is that Wooster is now 200-31 in the 200's. Their program highlights the Scots as the winningest Division III men's team in this decade.  For the Seniors, they are 99-14 and woud go for win #100 on Wednesday.

[David Collinge]

....and the Current NCAC Standings:

Wooster 13-1 (20-3)
Wittenberg 12-2 (20-3)
Ohio Wesleyan 9-5 (15-8)
Allegheny 6-8 (10-12)
Kenyon 6-8 (10-13)
Wabash 6-8 (9-14)
Earlham 6-8 (8-15)
Hiram 6-8 (7-16)
Denison 3-11 (4-18)
Oberlin 3-11 (4-19)

5 Way Tie for 4th Place and the Home Game in First Round of NCAC Tourney

And, with just 2 games left, Denison and Oberlin are eliminated.  The top 8 teams have all clinched playoff berths, and the top 3 have all clinched 1st round home games, opponents TBD. 

[sac]

The edit feature has made reading the recaps of Wooster/Wabash a time-bending experience. 

I had to go back and read it all.............I couldn't figure out how Lil' Giant knew the score so much earlier than everyone else.............I was going to invite him to Vegas.

[wooscotsfan]

2/10 Regional Scores of Interest:

Lake Erie 109  Mt. Aloysius 93 (a mountain of a cupcake )
Hope 84  Adrian 71
Capital 74  Ohio Northern 70
John Carroll 85  Marietta 58

All teams in the NCAA GL Regional Rankings won except Ohio Northern

[wooscotsfan]

I had to go back and read it all.............I couldn't figure out how Lil' Giant knew the score so much earlier than everyone else.............I was going to invite him to Vegas.

Yea....you have to watch those clever Wabash guys who "modify" their earlier posts with the updated scores!  

All kidding aside, I always appreciate the updates from Lil Giant and Wally because often it is the only quick way to get an update/final score from games played in Indiana.