MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

Pictures of the arch filling:

http://www.wooster.edu/photography/files/2006-07/arch_snow/index.html

[sac]

The question is why?

did I miss a link somewhere?

[WoosterFAN]

First sandwiches and now snowing filling arches...is this a basketball board or what..

I wonder what the original and true origin of the story...As a loud, proud, tatooed member of Sixth Section, Phi Sigma Alpha, I am hear to tell you that the Sixth Section, The Sigs were the first to successfully fill the arch with snow in a secret clandestine operation that was not discovered by authorities until sun up.

Does anyone else have similiar claims...I am betting everyone does.

[ScotsFan]

Something to keep in mind...

Since the beginning of the '03-'04 season Wooster has lost 14 games.  9 of those games were at Timken.  This suggests that Wooster's home court isn't quite as advantageous as we might otherwise believe.  As long as Transylvania manages to not soil themselves when the pipers come out, I think this could be a good game.  And really, all the pressure is on Wooster here...#2 in the country, getting the grudge match at home...it's a done deal, right?  Transy is playing with house money Friday night. 

I had been meaning to comment on this, but I kept forgetting to do so.  While you are correct, Wally, in that Timken doesn't seem to be quite the home court advantage that it once was, I think you are overstating those home losses a bit too much. 

First of all, 5 of the 9 losses have come at the hands of one team and we all know who that is?! 

Second, only 2 of the 9 losses have been by double digits and they were both at the hands of you know who?!  In fact the average margin of defeat in all 9 losses is only 6 ppg. and that includes those double digit (18 & 11) losses to Witt.   

And lastly, Wooster's NCAA tournament record isn't exactly stellar when they travel away from the friendly confines of Timken Gym.  The  Scots' all-time record in the NCAA Tournament is 13-15.  They are 9-5 in games played at Timken Gym including a 3-1 mark since the '03-'04 season, and they are only 1-8 in true road games.  Wooster is also 3-2 in neutral-site games.  Last year's win over R-MC @ Transy would be considered one of those neutral site games.  They are 0-2 in true road tournament games since '03-'04.  To further illustrate Wooster's road struggles in the tournament, they have lost their last 5 tournament road games.  Their last tournament road win came way back in the '96-'97 season at ONU.

So, it's not really hard to guess that, even though visiting teams can have success at Timken, given the Scots' performance on the road in NCAA Tournament games over the years, and I'd say they would much much rather be playing at home.

[David Collinge]

Here’s how our teams and players fared in the final NCAA statistical rankings:

Team rankings:
Scoring (team): Wooster 89.4 ppg (#6 nationally) [Redlands, 117.1 ppg]
Team defense: Wittenberg 58.8 ppg (#7); Ohio Wesleyan 64.2 ppg (#46) [Miss. College, 56.4 ppg]
Scoring margin: Wooster +18.9 ppg (#2); Wittenberg +12.1 ppg (#23); Ohio Wesleyan +11.4 ppg (#26) [Amherst, 21.8 ppg]
Team FG %: Wooster 52.0% (#3) [Whitworth, 52.8%]
FG % defense: Wittenberg 38.5% (#12) [NYU, 35.5%]
Three-point FGs per game: Wooster 10.0 (#10); Ohio Wesleyan 8.2 (#43) [Redlands, 18.3]
Three-point FG %: Wooster 41.7% (#6) [Augustana, 44.1%]
Free throw %: Hiram 78.9% (#3); Wooster 76.6% (#12); Oberlin 76.5% (#14); Wittenberg 73.2% (#44); Earlham 73.2% (#47) [UW-Stevens Point, 81.8%]
Rebound margin: Wooster +7.1 (#16); Wittenberg +4.9 (#48) [NYU, +10.1]
Assists per game: Wooster 18.6 (#8) [Emory & Henry, 20.9]
Blocked shots per game: Ohio Wesleyan 3.8 (#48) [Christopher Newport, 6.7]
Turnovers per game: Ohio Wesleyan 11.2 (#5); Earlham 11.8 (#9); Wittenberg 11.8 (#10); Wooster 12.9 (#31) [UW-Stevens Point, 8.4]
Personal fouls per game: Earlham 15.2 (#12); Wittenberg 16.0 (#34) [Carleton, 13.2]

Individual rankings:
Scoring (individual): Dan Hodgkinson, Denison 20.8 ppg (#26); Andrew Zimmer, Wabash 19.6 ppg (#49) [Mike Hoyt, Mt. St. Mary 34.5 ppg]
Field goal %: Ben Chojnacki, Ohio Wesleyan 60.9% (#20); Dan Hodgkinson, Denison 60.5% (#22) [Michael Romes, Mt. St. Joseph 68.4%]
Free throw %: Jordan Beard, Oberlin 88.9% (#12); Mike Staley, Hiram 88.3% (#13) [Joseph Chatham, Lesley 94.7%]
Rebounding: Dane Borchers, Wittenberg 10.1 rpg (#24) [Nick Harrington, So. Vermont 13.4 rpg]
Assists: Mike Staley, Hiram 6.5 apg (#9) [Davd Arseneault, Grinnell 8.5 apg]
Blocked Shots per game: Dane Borchers, Wittenberg 1.9 (#41) [Kerry Gibson, UW-Oshkosh 3.8]

Congratulations to all of these players; you make us fans all proud. 

[diehardfan]

The question is why?

Are college students supposed to need a logical reason to do something very emphatically? 

[earlhamalum]

This would be my line up for POY,1st-2nd Team All NCAC.
There has been a few times where the NCAC had 6 players on 1st team and 6 players on 2nd team.  This is kind of a stretch... 7 guys on 1st team and 6 guys on 2nd team, but here it goes....

Player of the Year : 
#33 Thomas Port        *Wooster

1st Team:
#23 James Cooper       *Wooster
#41 Dan Hodgkinson  *Denison
#45 Dane Borchers     *Wittenberg
#40 Markous Jewett    *Earlham
#52 Andrew Zimmer   *Wabash
#33 Ben Chojnacki      *OWU

2nd Team:

#42Ryan Hollihan         *Gheny
#10 Brandon Johnson   *Wooster
#34 Tim Vandervaart    *Wooster
#50 Dustin Rudegeair   *OWU
#11 Greg Hill                *Wittenberg
#32 Quinton Spencer    *Oberlin   


Honorable Mention:
Earlhamalum

Yes I'm giving myself credit!!!

Okay so I didn't get the Kenyon player.. who would of thunk they would of put 7 guys on both 1st team and 2nd team...  I thought 7 and 6 was kind of a stretch.  I am a little curious why they would now go to a 7 and 7 format and then have the same amount of people on H.M.  as a former H.M. player I'm thinking do I move myself up to 2nd team...  I just think if you are going to do HONORs like that year in year out keep it the same.  I like 6 1st team (with one POY), 5 2nd team, and 7 H.M... then again whocares what I think 

P.S.  Good Luck WOOSTER!!!

[wooscotsfan]

Actually, there is a reason to fill the arch with snow according to the Wooster tradition.  As the Wooster newspaper noted in its article about this years event:

In keeping with College of Wooster tradition, hundreds of students gathered on campus Tuesday night, February 13th to fill the arch with snow.

"Legend has it that if the arch can be filled to the top with snow during the night, blocking the main doors, classes will be canceled the next day," according to the college's Web site.

While no one is certain of the true origin, John Finn, the college's director of public information, said he believes the rumor originated in an edict issued years ago by school administration, a member of which once reportedly said "classes would be canceled only after snow reached a height to fill the arch."

In past years, filling the arch has not always resulted in the cancellation of classes.  This year however, classes were cancelled because the heavy snow clogged Wooster's streets and prevented some members of the college staff from getting to campus on Wednesday morning.

Anyone want to bet if Wooster students will fill the arch next winter?  

[David Collinge]

Yes I'm giving myself credit!!!

Okay so I didn't get the Kenyon player.. who would of thunk they would of put 7 guys on both 1st team and 2nd team... 

You might want to stop patting yourself on the back long enough to note that there were eight second teamers; besides Kenyon's Bryan Yelvington, you also missed Hiram's Mike McDevitt.

Still, that's a pretty excellent ballot you filled out.  You may resume patting now.

[earlhamalum]

8.... ooopppsss... gzzz 4 years later I might of even had a chance at 1st team....... NOW that was funny... but 8... gzzz I wish Earlham would of had 8 guys that could of played basketball on their RosteR this year!!!

[diehardfan]

Wooscotsfan: too funny! Thanks for the inside look. I would be way in favor of participating if I had been a student.

It was, of course, upper 60's and sunny out here in Cali today, blue sky (air pollution washed away by rain last night), white puffy clouds, palm trees (aka overzealous grass) swaying in the breeze... can we trade... for a day or two?

[sac]

Wooscotsfan: too funny! Thanks for the inside look. I would be way in favor of participating if I had been a student.

It was, of course, upper 60's and sunny out here in Cali today, blue sky (air pollution washed away by rain last night), white puffy clouds, palm trees (aka overzealous grass) swaying in the breeze... can we trade... for a day or two?

Today I scraped ice encrusted snow off a driveway........it was overcast, gray, and cold.  None of our trees have leaves on them and there are no palm trees (aka overzealous grass) in Michigan.  There was no pollution because all of our polluting jobs are in Mexico now.

I am now looking forward to an mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain tonight and tommorrow.  I'm actually giddy with delight that it may turn to all rain in the afternoon with a high of 41.........another chance to scrape the ice encrusted compacted snow off the driveway. 

[pennstghs]

yes 5 of the 9 are to wittenberg but the other 4 include OAC teams such as Ohio NOrthern this year, John Carroll 2 years ago, and Baldwin-WAllace last year, so caution Wooster fans don't count Capital if the matchup arises with them as a shoo-in victory.

[billy_pilgrim]

How about a hand for our buddy Aaron Dorksen of the Wooster Daily Record.

He received second place in the Associated Press Sports Editors annual awards.

Dorksen took second in the Under 40,000 circulation feature story category.

Advice from a fellow journalist: Play to your strengths. Hide all the pens in the house when you get the urge to write another column.

[woosterbooster]

I don't think that either the Wooster coaching staff, the team, or any of the fans, at least those who pay some attention, are taking any of the teams that will be visiting this weekend lightly.  My advice, though, should Wooster get matched up with Capital on Saturday, would be to follow Jack Nicholson's motto in A Few Good Men.  Walk softly and have an armored marine division covering your back.