MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jscwittfan]

jsc,  was that a little too close for comfort?

Yeah, just a little bit, ha ha.  Even moreso when I saw the stats posted by W4E.  Witt doesn't have a good enough team this year to be letting people drop 40+ on them.  Games like the Wooster and Wabash games show me this is a tough, resilient team that has the chance to do something postseason-wise (nowhere near a national title, but maybe an NCAC tourney title and 1 or 2 wins in the NCAAs), but then showings like today make me feel prepared for another NCAC semifinal bounce.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 73  Ohio Wesleyan 65

Wooster gets the big win over the Bishops. Scots were led by Evan Will who had a career high 27 points, Brandon Johnson with 17 points and James Cooper with 13 points.  Cooper and Johnson both hit huge three pointers with less than 2 minutes to go in the game.

Ohio Wesleyan was led by Jesse Jean with 15 points, Kyle Holliday with 13 points and Dustin Rudegair with 9 points.

Wooster won this game despite being outrebounded 44-32 and despite their poor free throw shooting (only 12 of 22).  Good shooting by the Scots was the difference as they made 53% from the floor and they were 9 of 15 on three pointers (60%).

Wooster is now 16-3, 9-1 NCAC   Next up is Hiram on 2/6

[DanTHEman67]

As Bill Brown said after the game, "McDevitt scored 43 pts!!! Wow!! We were 20/20 from the line?". 

If he really knew what was going on during the game Witt could be a dangerous team. If you have ever heard the Maryville(TN) coach in a post game interview, you would understand that statement completely.

Since I am sure I am not alone in failing to follow Maryville, TN's team, would you please elaborate so we can understand the context of your remarks? Thanks!

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 2/2 Final Scores:

Oberlin 65  Earlham 64
Wittenberg 91  Hiram 85
Wabash 58  Kenyon 49
Allegheny 83  Denison 54
Wooster 73  Ohio Wesleyan 65

So, the top 5 in the standings are:

Wooster 9-1
Wittenberg 9-1
Ohio Wesleyan 7-3
Wabash 7-3
Kenyon 6-4

[Witt4ever]

So, the top 5 in the standings are:


Wittenberg 9-1
Wooster 9-1
Wabash 7-3
Ohio Wesleyan 7-3
Kenyon 6-4

[ScotsFan]

Final:  Wooster 73  Ohio Wesleyan 65

Cooper and Johnson both hit huge three pointers with less than 2 minutes to go in the game.

This game seemed to be a hard one for the home crowd to get into.  Wooster seemed to be on the verge of taking control of the game for most of the contest, but to OWU's credit, they wouldn't go away.  They always made the defensive stop when they needed to or they got a key offensive board when they needed it.

The key point of the game came late in the 2nd half.  OWU got a turnover.  But the only problem is that they had the wrong player running the floor.  Their big man, Jesse Jean lumbered down the court for what looked like an uncontested layup that would have made it a one point game.  Then, out of nowhere, Brandon Johnson streaked down the floor and made a spectacular block on the OWU big man.  That really seemed to awaken the crowd for the 1st time all night.  Wooster controlled the rebound and on their ensuing possession, James Cooper hit the shot of the game.  One of his trademark NBA 3's!  And that really got the fans going!  I don't believe the Bishops ever got within 5 the rest of the way.

Final:  Wooster 73  Ohio Wesleyan 65

Wooster won this game despite being outrebounded 44-32 and despite their poor free throw shooting (only 12 of 22).  Good shooting by the Scots was the difference as they made 53% from the floor and they were 9 of 15 on three pointers (60%).

The stat that jumped out at me was offensive rebounds.  OWU had 17 offensive boards compared to just 3 for Wooster!   If you would have told me before the game that OWU would have dominated the boards and had that many 2nd chance points and still lost, I would have probably thought you were crazy.  I will say, some of their rebounding tactics are questionable at best...

As far as ft shooting for Wooster, the main culprit in that statistic was Marty Bidwell who accounted for 5 of Wooster's 10 missed ft's.  At one point, he missed 4 in a row.  I'm really surprised by his struggles at the line this season.  After last night's dreadful performance from the line, Bidwell is just a percentage point ahead of Robert Melick for the team low!  I'm guessing he'll be logging some time at the line in practice this week...

Overall, a good win for the Scots.  OWU was coming into this game playing some pretty good basketball.  As tight as this race has been, it is crucial to defend the home floor.  Especially since Wooster already took care of 2 of their 3 chief rivals on the road.

[woosterbooster]

I think the problem with the crowd is that many of them are just not that informed.  They don't seem to understand that these aren't the OWUs, Kenyons, and Wabashes of yesteryear, that they are now pretty darned good basketball teams, and that when the Scots play them they're going to be serious tussles.

Brandon Johnson's block was probably the best play that I've seen by a Scot in the dozen or so years that I've been watching them.  Totally surprising in how he got up so high to get it - well above the rim - but also that one of those absolutely incompetent referees didn't blow the whistle.

I think you've got it backwards about Cooper's long threes.  They're not NBA threes.  In the NBA, when somebody makes an especially long three, word up is that he made a "James Cooper three".

OWU was allowed to crash the boards, literally, the whole game.  Not once were they called for shoving, holding, or any of the other blatantly illegal tactics that they employed.  NCAC referees really, really eat it.

Unfortunately, Marty Bidwell now seems to have lost confidence in his free throw shooting.  He's not a great shooter, but he's a good one, and should be at LEAST at 70%, and probably 75% or above.  But now he's not following through, obviously worried about missing, etc.  He'll work through it, but it might take a little bit.  As for the rest of his game last night, it looked a little like early last year when every time he touched anyone, or even didn't, he got a whistle blown on him.  That hasn't happened in a long time, and hopefully it was just a one-game blip.

Honestly, though, the only reason the game was close in the first half was that OWU got every call.  Every one.  Otherwise Wooster has a 10-15 point lead.  What's the point of boxing someone out when they're allowed to run over you?  How is anyone supposed to defend Jesse Jean when he can get away with just bumping and elbowing his way to the basket?  OWU is guilty of nothing.  They did what they did because they were allowed to do it, but that's to the detriment of the NCAC and DIII hoops in general. 

PS - I hope you boys enjoyed those cookies, and maybe showed just a LITTLE class and saved ONE for Elaine.

[jscwittfan]

17-0 lives on!!

[Mr. Ypsi]

17-0 lives on!!

Not really - the Pats were, afterall, 18-0.

To the '72 Fish - shut up, already!

[ScotsFan]

17-0 lives on!!

Not really - the Pats were, afterall, 18-0.

To the '72 Fish - shut up, already!

While I agree with the fact that the '72 Fish need to just go away and shut up, the bottom line is that the Pats didn't finish.  They could have been 20-0 and that still doesn't change the fact that they didn't end the season with a '0' in the loss column...

[pennstghs]

regardless of the patriots losing, that was probably one of the most well-played super bowls of all time. like the giants said after the game everyone saying the patriots were going to win based on their previous meeting gave them some confidence but it also gave the giants more confidence

[ScotsFan]

regardless of the patriots losing, that was probably one of the most well-played super bowls of all time. like the giants said after the game everyone saying the patriots were going to win based on their previous meeting gave them some confidence but it also gave the giants more confidence

Yeah.  That was a great game to watch!

I also agree about what everyone was saying with regards to the Giants gaining a 'false' sense of confidence based on their competitive game with the Pats in their final game of the regular season.  It was like the Pats were the only team holding back in that game.  I think it was pretty clear by how the Giants defense dominated the Pats (especially up front) that the Giants may have been holding some things back as well...

You have to admit, that was one hell of a run by the Giants this post-season.  They win 3 road playoff wins where they were pretty overwhelming underdogs in each of those games only to get to the Super Bowl and find themselves as even more overwhelming underdogs agaisnt the undefeated and history chasing Patriots and they overcame those odds yet again!

[woosterbooster]

The play where Manning miraculously escaped the burning fort, threw up a hope and a prayer, and then had Tyree make that amazing catch was unbelievable.  The Giants were dead in the water, ballgame, and then that!  Tyree got two hands on it, then one hand plus a defender's hand pinning it against the top of his helmet, and then, finally, before hitting the ground, he got his second hand back on it!  A good game, and a spectacular fourth quarter, especially if you were rooting for the Giants.

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to Oberlin's Mike Loll, the NCAC Player of the Week and probably the best player nobody talks about.  Loll was recognized for his 48-point week which led directly to a win over Earlham that kept the Yeomen squarely in playoff contention.  Congratulations, Mike!

Honorable mention surely must go to Hiram's Mike McDevitt, whose 43-point effort Saturday failed to garner him this award most likely because a) it was in a losing effort and b) his teammate Mike Staley was last week's PotW.

[kiltedbryan]

Honorable mention surely must go to Hiram's Mike McDevitt, whose 43-point effort Saturday failed to garner him this award most likely because a) it was in a losing effort and b) his teammate Mike Staley was last week's PotW.

Additional honorable mention must go to Wooster's Evan Will, who set career highs in blocks (5 in Wednesday's tilt against the Gators), points (27 in the victory over OWU), and 3 pointers (4 against OWU) during the last week.

His stat line for the week was  41 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, five blocks and three steals, and he shot very well: 17-24 (.708) overall and 6-11 (.545) from three-point range.