MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

The parts of the Kenyon/Wabash game I saw with the live video made it clear that Wabash was the better team tonight. Nice, complete win for the LGs tonight.

What's with Wabash showing up for some games and disappearing for others?  (re. 'Bash/OWU a few weeks ago compared to tonight, etc...)

I think you've got to just throw out that game at OWU.  That's the only game Wabash hasn't been competitive in this season.  Over the course of 25 or so games, everybody is bound to have one lousy night.

[imderekpoe]

Finals in the NCAC tonight:

#6 Allegheny 65
#3 Wittenberg 63

(Notably, Witt's website is saying that this is the first time Wittenberg has ever lost in the NCAC quarterfinals.)

I wonder when the last time was that Witt lost 4 out of 5 games in any stretch...

[wally_wabash]

Finals in the NCAC tonight:

#6 Allegheny 65
#3 Wittenberg 63

(Notably, Witt's website is saying that this is the first time Wittenberg has ever lost in the NCAC quarterfinals.)

I wonder when the last time was that Witt lost 4 out of 5 games in any stretch...

You'd have to go all the way back to the start of this season...Witt started 1-5.   

[pennstghs]

thanks for the refresher-just kidding-disappointing way to end the season-i wasn't in attendance so i can't say much but from what i could gain from text messages witt looked terrible

[jscwittfan]

If there's anything good about Witt's loss, it's that it was only seen by another less-than-stellar Springfield crowd of 376 people (a number that includes both teams, coaching staffs, and workers).  For comparison, Wooster tonight had 717 as the listed attendance, Kenyon-Wabash drew 400, while the Kenyon-Earlham women's game drew 300.

[David Collinge]

A couple of quick notes before I embark on a night of scoreboard-chasing:
*The crowd at Kenyon may have looked small, but it was actually pretty large compared to normal.  I wonder which side you were looking at, as there were cameras on both sides.  The weather was HORRIBLE and I was surprised how many folks turned out.
*Wabash played the best game I've ever seen them play, and this is the 5th time I've seen them this year.  Yes, their performance at OWU was an outlier, but so was this.  The couldn't miss from outside in the first half, and that really opened up the inside for the bigs and the lane-drivers.  Everything worked.  Kenyon didn't play poorly, but they had no answer.  If Wabash can repeat this performance Friday, Wooster will be in trouble.
*I don't think that the road for OWU or Hiram got significantly easier tonight; Allegheny is a decent team who has been improving down the stretch.  George Raftis is a stud, and their outside shooting (Sharp, Jaicks, Babe, Price, Devinney) can be deadly.  Plus remember tomorrow's winner gets the Gators on short rest on a neutral court.  Warning--Warning--Danger--Danger!

[David Collinge]

Tonight's rescheduled Hiram/OWU doubleheader will be available in free live streaming video.  Click here for details and access.  The men's game is scheduled to tip off at 6pm, with the women's game to follow.

[NCAC_alum55]

Great win by Allegheny- as we all know, regardless of Witt's talent- it takes a lot to go into the HPER Center and come away with a victory. 

Also... Congrats to James Cooper- wow! Truly a special player. Should be a fun game to watch Friday against Wabash.

[smedindy]

So much for only inviting the top 4 to the tourney! Also, Salisbury won a game in their league as a #8 seed with a 6-19 record!

Can OWU be the surprise team to win it all? Can Wabash hang with Wooster? Will this give Gheny confidence?

[ScotsFan]

Finals in the NCAC tonight:

#6 Allegheny 65
#3 Wittenberg 63

Oh my.  Our Witt fans expressed concern, but I wasn't really buying it.  I guess that concern was well founded.  How fired up are OWU and Hiram right now?   The road to the finals just got a little easier. 

I was thinking the same thing, especially concerning OWU.  If the Bishops can avoid the upset bug and get past Hiram, the prospect of having to beat Witt for a 3rd time this season seemed like a tall order.  After all, it had been 50+ years since OWU had even swept Witt in the regular season.  Now the Bishops were facing the prospect of beating Witt 3 times in a season!  But, Allegheny took care of that problem for the Bishops by pulling off the upset last night in Springfield! 

With that said, I have to echo the following sentiments expressed by David:

*I don't think that the road for OWU or Hiram got significantly easier tonight; Allegheny is a decent team who has been improving down the stretch.  George Raftis is a stud, and their outside shooting (Sharp, Jaicks, Babe, Price, Devinney) can be deadly.  Plus remember tomorrow's winner gets the Gators on short rest on a neutral court.  Warning--Warning--Danger--Danger!

Allegheny seems to have been playing their best basketball of late.  Their record might not reflect that as they had lost 4 of 5 and their last 3 games of the season before last night's upset. 

Despite the Gators ending up on the short end of their last few games, they have been in postition to win almost every one of them.  Their first game at Witt the Gators led by as many as 10 and they led by 4 at the half before falling by 12.  And at Wooster last week, Allegheny was very much in that game as the game was tied at 69 with seven minutes to go, but the Scots closed out the game on a 15-5 run.  And in their season finale with OWU, the Gators were only down 2 with just over 9 minutes to play, but the Bishops used a 12-4 run to build a comfortable lead and iced it at the ft line down the stretch.

I think one thing that is overlooked about Alleghey is that they are a good shooting team.  They are one of the best shooting teams in the conference (4th overall and 2nd in 3-pointers) and they have been shooting the ball well over 50% (52.6%) over their last 6 games.  And they've been equally impressive from deep as they've shot 50.1% over that same span from 3 point range.  If Allegheny can keep shooting, they have the potential to knock off anyone.

One thing is for sure.  If OWU wins tonight, they had better not come into Friday's game taking the Gators lightly or they will be sent packing just like Witt.

[ScotsFan]

So much for only inviting the top 4 to the tourney! Also, Salisbury won a game in their league as a #8 seed with a 6-19 record!

It didn't take too long for that arguemt to be thrown back at him did it? 

Can OWU be the surprise team to win it all? Can Wabash hang with Wooster? Will this give Gheny confidence?

Would you really call it that much of a surprise if OWU were to win it all?  After all, they are the #2 seed and they did beat Witt twice and they were in postition to beat Wooster in both games.  I just wouldn't call it that much of a surprise if OWU came up here and won it all.  Wabash and Allegheny winning it all, on the other hand...  Now that would be a surprise.

[DanTHEman67]

It's only truly a home game if the home team's crowd shows up  and cheers.

I grew up in Springfield and the crowded games I attended with my grandfather in the old field house were borderline rowdy at times, especially during important matches. Even when I went to Witt. after the move to the HPERC there was spirit at least, even if the arena was and is not conductive to intimacy. Now, it sounds like few are interested so I guess we got the result we deserved. I'd like to know WHY? Maybe a few losing seasons like others often experience would cure the complacency.

[old scot]

Smeds, I never said upsets would not happen. Low seeds go into the game with the "nothing to lose" attitude and makes them dangerous.
My point is other than tournament seeding and home court advantage, it makes the season conference play meaningless.
If less teams were invited to the tourney we would see play elevated during the regular season.
Anyways, the way Witt finished their season they were ripe for the taking.

[smedindy]

I don't think we'd see that much difference in play, at all. I have rarely seen teams just go through the motions, no matter if they are Oberlin or Wooster.

In fact, I think we'd see more teams 'throwing in the towel' if there was no 7 or 8 seed to play for.

You only have so many college games to play in, but I think the instinct of some players, beaten down over time by losing so many games, would slack off if their game against Hiram was for nothing but a place in the schedule.

[ScotsFan]

If there's anything good about Witt's loss, it's that it was only seen by another less-than-stellar Springfield crowd of 376 people (a number that includes both teams, coaching staffs, and workers).  For comparison, Wooster tonight had 717 as the listed attendance, Kenyon-Wabash drew 400, while the Kenyon-Earlham women's game drew 300.

It's only truly a home game if the home team's crowd shows up  and cheers.

I grew up in Springfield and the crowded games I attended with my grandfather in the old field house were borderline rowdy at times, especially during important matches. Even when I went to Witt. after the move to the HPERC there was spirit at least, even if the arena was and is not conductive to intimacy. Now, it sounds like few are interested so I guess we got the result we deserved. I'd like to know WHY? Maybe a few losing seasons like others often experience would cure the complacency.

Wooster never seems to draw very well either for their 1st round tournament games.  Last night might have been the first time all season the Scots didn't crack the 1,000 mark.  Too bad that more people couldn't have been there to honor James Cooper on such a historic night for him and the program.  I'm sure that the weather had a factor as well as the opponent.  I was contemplating on whether I would go or not and then I thought to myself, how many more times am I going to be able to see James Cooper do his thing?  I wasn't even counting on him breaking the milestone last night as I figured it would happen Friday.  Turned out to be an added bonus for the few of us that braved the elements last night!  8)


It was really fun to see Cooper's last sequence of shots when he was trying to get 2,000.  After his first miss, Wooter garnered the offensive rebound and immediately got the ball back to Cooper.  As he put up his 2nd attempt at the milestone, everyone thought he had to make that shot and clang...  Miss #2!  But again Wooster corralled yet another offensive rebound and again found Cooper with a big grin on his face.  And almost mercifully, Oberlin fouled Cooper where he made both ft's to finally reach 2,000!  Congrats on such a great accomplishment in becoming only the 2nd Wooster player to break the 2,000 point plateau!

And Cooper's accomplishment really puts into perspective just how good Tom Dinger was!  And Dinger's 2,370 points came without the 3-point line!