MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[kiltedbryan]

I think we should all get together on this now, before it gets out of hand:
The fellow's name is Bryan Wickliffe.
Just like Bryan Nelson...I hope! 

.......or kiltedbryan

I really can't believe I missed that!  I went back and modified the post to fix it, because it drives me up a wall personally when people assume that my name is spelled with an 'i" in the middle.

[ScotsFan]

Well, kinda a boring Friday night for me, and I simply keep thinking of the game, so I thought I'd do some more pre-game analysis:

Well, I'm just sitting hear watching one hell of a tennis match at the Aussie Open between one of my favorite players James Blake forcing a 5th set with a little Frenchy so I thought I'd take some time to add to the discussion as well:

Now a follow-up post:

Keys to the game:



4) Outside shooting.  Can Wooster turn this into the advantage it looks like on paper?
Wooster has Fulk and Cooper at better than 50%, Geitgey at 50%, and Johnson and Bidwell above 40% from behind the arc and they average 9 makes per game at a team 46%.
Wittenberg has no one above 40% and only Hill and Murray seem to be threats. Witt makes 6 per game, and shoots fewer threes, but only averages 32% as a team.

Great job of analysis KB, even if you got Wick's name wrong.   I thought that your last point was a definate key.  If we look back at the Wabash game, I'm sure that we could have said pretty much the same thing.  But, all it takes is for Witt to catch a hot hand shooting like Wabash did against Wooster.  Let's not forget that Wabash was 10-15 from behind the arc at one point in that game while Wooster had only one make and ended the game with just TWO total from beyond the arc!   I think this was a result of Wabash defending hard against the outside shot.  But, I also think that the LG's were a bit surprised and at how BrYan Wickliffe was able to take advantage on the inside.

While I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see Witt force Wooster into a similar type of shooting performance, I just don't see anyone on Witt's roster that can try to slow down James Cooper like Wes Smith seemed to be able to do for Wabash.

I could see Witt coming out with a Wabash type performance from beyond the arc, but I don't see Wooster shooting so poorly yet again as they did a week ago in C'ville. 

All of this should add up to a Wooster win, but in this rivalry, it has become the norm to expect the unexpected which is what I am bracing for tomorrow evening...

And as I type, James Blake completed coming back from 2 sets to love to beat that Frenchy in five sets!!! 8)

[ScotsFan]

Upset Alert!!!

At the half in Oberlin, the LG's are clinging to a slim 5 point lead:

Wabash - 48
Oberlin  - 43

According to the Live Stats, Wabash led by as many as 16 but Oberlin is shooting over 70% to keep them in this one.


And Wabash has taken over this one in the 2nd half.  They have pushed their lead to 21 with just over 5 minutes to play. 

[smedindy]

Whew. Wabash always loses to a bottom feeder at some point during the season, and many times it has been at Oberlin.

[wally_wabash]

Whew. Wabash always loses to a bottom feeder at some point during the season, and many times it has been at Oberlin.

I think the 1-point loss to Kenyon in December qualifies here.  Wabash has already paid their tax this season.   

[smedindy]

Not this Kenyon team. They just waxed Gheny by 21 AT Gheny and are 4-2 in the NCAC. They took Capital to OT as well.

Earlham still is to follow. That's the one I'm nervous about.

[ScotsFan]

In other NCAC action, Denison keeps the 0-fer going losing at home to Hiram.

Hiram    - 78
Denison - 55

Many thought that game would be Denison's best chance of not going winless on the season.  The Big Red still have home tilts vs. Oberlin and what I would consider now their best chance at a 'W' vs. The EC in their 2nd to last game of the season.

In the only other final this afternoon, OWU took care of The EC in Delaware to extend the Quakers losing streak to 13 games as they remain winless in conference play:

OWU    - 79
The EC - 53

[BigRedGrad]

0-fer continues............ouch.
I really thought we could get a win. 
Having Sullivan out just adds insult to injury. (no pun intended)

If this doesn't suck the air out of the balloon I don't know what would.

Regardless of playing good "D" you still have to score and the Big Red seems
to have an very hard time doing it.

Wooster next.........maybe they will play the JV team and give the varsity a rest.

[Mr. Ypsi]

0-fer continues............ouch.
I really thought we could get a win. 
Having Sullivan out just adds insult to injury. (no pun intended)

If this doesn't suck the air out of the balloon I don't know what would.

Regardless of playing good "D" you still have to score and the Big Red seems
to have an very hard time doing it.

Wooster next.........maybe they will play the JV team and give the varsity a rest.

In this case, I believe the correct phrasing would be "adding injury to insult".

More seriously, good luck the rest of the way.

[wally_wabash]

Denison needs a Sven.   

[BigRedGrad]

You are correct sir!!!

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 44   Wittenberg 39

Wooster is being led by James Cooper with 16 points, Marty Bidwell with 9 points and Evan Will with 7 points.  Cooper hit a big three pointer just before the halftime buzzer.  Witt is being led by Brandan Barabino with 17 points and Mark Snyder with 10 points.

Wooster shot 56% from the floor in the half with 6 three pointers compared to 48% for Witt with 1 three pointer.  Rebounds were even at 14-14.

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

Well, it was just a disaster at Denison today.  Denison has been suffering all season from the lack of offense due to all the losses to graduation and attrition.  Now they've also lost point guard and leading scorer Pat Sullivan, who watched the game from the bench with a boot on his ankle and a dejected look on his face.  Without Pat, the Big Red had nobody to handle the ball, nobody to defend Mike Staley, and nobody to score.  Add to it that DU doesn't have the athletes to keep up with a fast-paced team like Hiram, and it spells, well, disaster.  Hiram took control of the game at about the 10:00 mark, and led comfortably throughout the second half, cruising to the win.

I don't know how badly Sullivan is hurt, but I can say with great confidence that DU will not win while he is wearing a dress shirt.  Then again, maybe this is a good time for him to be out, considering that their next two games are at Wooster and at Wabash.

[wally_wabash]

Wow.  Up by three points, Wooster's Brandon Johnson fouls Vinny Barbarino with one second left.  The Sweathog makes all three shots and ties the game.  Now Wooster is going to have to survive an overtime.  The Scots are playing with fire here. 

[wooscotsfan]

Wow - going to overtime in Springfield.  Tied at 76-76

Brandan Barabino of Witt was fouled on a three pointer by Brandon Johnson with less than 2 seconds left.  Barabino made all three free throws to force the OT.