MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[seinfeld]

I guess someone has to start the conversation about the Wooster pod. The Scots should get plenty of tape of Grove City, since they played Hiram, Kenyon and OWU. Lost to Hiram but beat Kenyon and OWU. Wooster also found a team that actually turns the ball over more than they do, which is hard to do. They also block a ton of shots. Looks like they are a solid defensive team.

The key for Wooster in this game, and really every game, is the two T's -- tempo and turnovers. When they are controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball, like they did in the NCAC Tournament, they are going to be hard to beat. With Johnson getting his speed back and Balch seemingly everywhere, the Scots are likely to be more athletic than most opponents they play. And if they can get as many shots at the basket as their opponents, they have enough hot shooters right now that their likely to shoot a higher percentage. When they have failed in these two areas (Witt a couple of weeks ago and early in the season), the results can be ugly.

On paper, Whitewater should be better than Defiance, and probably better than Wooster. The question is how sharp will they be after flying in (I assume) and playing an early game on Friday in front of a small crowd? Then if they happen to get past Defiance and Wooster can get by Grove City, can Wooster's home court advantage make up the difference for what might be a slightly more talented team?

While spring break starts Friday, hopefully some students will stick around. The crowd this weekend wasn't great, but then again the NCAC was charging NBA prices. They need to seriously rethink those prices. There was probably 1,000 more people for the Wittenberg regular season game that took place just two weeks earlier than there was for the title game.

[wooscotsfan]

Final NCAA Rankings for the Great Lakes Region - released today:

   Team, In-Region Record, Overall Record
1. Wooster 23-4 23-5  
2. Hope 16-3 21-7
3. Wilmington (Ohio) 20-6 21-7
4. John Carroll 18-6 20-6
5. Calvin 15-4 19-9
6. Wittenberg 17-7 21-7


Other teams in Wooster's Pod:

Grove City was not ranked
Defiance was ranked 5th in the Midwest Region
Wisconsin Whitewater was ranked 3rd in the West Region

[Gregory Sager]

On paper, Whitewater should be better than Defiance, and probably better than Wooster. The question is how sharp will they be after flying in (I assume) and playing an early game on Friday in front of a small crowd?

UWW is not going to fly in for this weekend's games, I can guarantee that. The NCAA won't pay for it, since the distance from Whitewater, WI to Wooster, OH is just under 500 miles. In fact, that's the whole reason why the Warhawks will be in Wooster in the first place; according to the NCAA's rules, any distance over 500 miles has to be by plane, and the NCAA pays for it. And the UWW administration certainly isn't going to pay for the team to fly to eastern Ohio when they don't have to.

[seinfeld]

John Carroll wasn't even close to Wooster, which is interesting. Wittenberg sneaking into the top 6 probably helped Wooster stay ahead of Hope, as it gave the Scots two wins against a regionally ranked team, if I'm understanding this right. Seems like winning percentage trumped everything else, so that is something to keep in mind next year.

[smedindy]

On paper, Whitewater should be better than Defiance, and probably better than Wooster. The question is how sharp will they be after flying in (I assume) and playing an early game on Friday in front of a small crowd?

UWW is not going to fly in for this weekend's games, I can guarantee that. The NCAA won't pay for it, since the distance from Whitewater, WI to Wooster, OH is just under 500 miles. In fact, that's the whole reason why the Warhawks will be in Wooster in the first place; according to the NCAA's rules, any distance over 500 miles has to be by plane, and the NCAA pays for it. And the UWW administration certainly isn't going to pay for the team to fly to eastern Ohio when they don't have to.

My advice for Whitewater is to go down I-39 to I-74 to Indy, then swing around I-465 to hit I-70 to get to Wooster. You'll miss Chicago that way.

[wooscotsfan]

Wooster should have the advantage vs. Grove City based on common opponents as Seinfeld noted.  Grove City's top scorer is their 6'7" post Andy O'Keefe and they have two other guys who are 6'6" but Wooster clearly has more size available in this matchup.  Scots are probably the quicker team as well.

IF Wooster wins on Friday, they will likely face UW Whitewater and the Warhawks will be a major challenge in the 2nd round.  They were ranked #8 nationally in the latest D3Hoops poll and they won the tough Wisconsin conference (WIAC) regular season title with a 13-3 record.  They lost to a very tough UW Stevens Point team in their tourney final so they got an at-large bid and a trip to Ohio from the NCAA.

The Warhawks shoot over 50% from the floor as a team and their leading scorer is their 6'9" senior center Dustin Mitchell who is a big man literally and figuratively at 18.2 ppg.  Their #2 scorer is their senior guard Dupree Fletcher who averages 13.4 ppg coming off the bench as the 6th man.  They run a 9 man rotation and have two other players averaging 11.0 ppg (Dantzler) and 10.3 ppg (Bendall).  If Wooster can get the 6'9" Mitchell in foul trouble, they will have a size advantage because the Warhawks next two tallest players are 6'6" and 6'5".

[ScotsFan]

Thanks for the break-downs of the Wooster pod wsf and seinfeld. Definitely glad to see Wooster hosting, but it's kind of mixed feelings seeing Whitewater being shipped in as a possible 2nd round matchup.

I guess someone has to start the conversation about the Wooster pod. The Scots should get plenty of tape of Grove City, since they played Hiram, Kenyon and OWU. Lost to Hiram but beat Kenyon and OWU. Wooster also found a team that actually turns the ball over more than they do, which is hard to do. They also block a ton of shots. Looks like they are a solid defensive team.

The key for Wooster in this game, and really every game, is the two T's -- tempo and turnovers. When they are controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball, like they did in the NCAC Tournament, they are going to be hard to beat. With Johnson getting his speed back and Balch seemingly everywhere, the Scots are likely to be more athletic than most opponents they play. And if they can get as many shots at the basket as their opponents, they have enough hot shooters right now that their likely to shoot a higher percentage. When they have failed in these two areas (Witt a couple of weeks ago and early in the season), the results can be ugly.

To take it a step further, GCC doesn't appear to be a great 3-point shooting team.  Wooster has made over 100 more treys this season than the Wolverines.  GCC does shoot the ball well overall at over 48%, but I would guess that is because they like to attack the basket and pound the ball inside to their big man whose averaging almost 18 ppg while shooting at 68%.  Is it just me, or does this O'Keefe remind anyone of a George Raftis type player.  He's a little bigger than Raftis though.

As for the other first round game between Defiance and Whitewater, I'm expecting Whitewater to win this one.  But, I don't think it's a given.  Remember the last time an HCAC school came to Wooster, Transy knocked off then #1 WashU.  Defiance has beaten OWU twice and they've beaten Anderson 2 of 3 times including the HCAC championship game.  They split with Transy and they lost 2 of 3 to Hanover, but their one win over Hanover came in the HCAC semis so the Yellow Jackets picked a good time to notch their first win of the season over Hanover.

Another thing about Defiance is they have a veteran team with 6 seniors on the roster.  So, while I'm not expecting a Defiance win, I will certainly be cheering for one.

[fantastic50]

While spring break starts Friday, hopefully some students will stick around. The crowd this weekend wasn't great, but then again the NCAC was charging NBA prices. They need to seriously rethink those prices. There was probably 1,000 more people for the Wittenberg regular season game that took place just two weeks earlier than there was for the title game.

I agree that the NCAC overcharged for the tournament games, especially when the NCAA charges only $6 for 1st/2nd-round games and $7 for regional contests.  However, I think that the crowds would have been smaller either way, because regular-season games, with dates known far in advance, tend to bring out more of the community here.

[ArmingtonCave]

I was actually pretty disappointed with the lack of student attendance at the NCAC games.  In fact I have been disappointed all year at the lack of students attendance at both football and basketball games and mentioned this to a few people the other night.  In fact I ran into Dr. Cornwell in the restroom and was going to say something put passed.

[ScotsFan]

I was actually pretty disappointed with the lack of student attendance at the NCAC games.  In fact I have been disappointed all year at the lack of students attendance at both football and basketball games and mentioned this to a few people the other night.  In fact I ran into Dr. Cornwell in the restroom and was going to say something put passed.

I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary wrt student attendance at basketball games.  Really, the only games I ever notice the students show up at all are the Witt games and the students did turn out in force for the first home game vs. Witt.  I'm sure charging students $5 definitely had something to do with the low turnout from the students in the NCAC championship game vs. Witt.  There was also a dance that night as well so when you combine the two, I think it's pretty understandable why student attendance might have been a bit low on Saturday night.  I know I sure as hell wouldn't have been too happy to find out that games that are normally free for students are now going to cost $5.  That was a case of Natty Light back in my college days!   

[fantastic50]

I was actually pretty disappointed with the lack of student attendance at the NCAC games.  In fact I have been disappointed all year at the lack of students attendance at both football and basketball games and mentioned this to a few people the other night.  In fact I ran into Dr. Cornwell in the restroom and was going to say something put passed.

I think that the combination of the only formal dance of the year, the admission charge, and I.S. full drafts being due on Monday for most seniors kept student attendance down.  However, most Wooster students don't attend athletic events, unless they're either athletes themselves, or sports fans.  The two big exceptions are the black-out game with Witt, and football games in nice weather (the latter having more to do with the marching band than the team).  Athletics are one of many good things happening on campus; even as a sports fan, I like it that way, although I wish there were more students at the games.

[ArmingtonCave]

This has been an ongoing complaint of mine though.  I have been attending Wooster sporting events for 21 years now and the lack of student attendance has always irked me.  The two most attended football games I have seen were the first night game and the Wittenberg game in 2004.  One of the only basketball sellouts I can remember was the Witt game in 2006.    Hopefully there will be a decent crowd this Friday and Saturday.

[ArmingtonCave]

Make that  the 2007 Witt game.

[wally_wabash]

Hopefully there will be a decent crowd this Friday and Saturday.

Good luck with that.  Spring break trumps a basketball game ten times out of ten for non-participating college students. 

[wally_wabash]

NCAC awards have been released.  The .pdf link goes to the women's teams so I have no idea who is on the second and HM teams.  Congrats to those awarded!