MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Mr. Ypsi]

I told Sandy Girl that the Terriers had let her down, but she replied WOO(f), WOO(f), so I guess all is forgiven.

[wooscotsfan]

Current NCAC Standings thru 2/4 Games:

1.  Wooster 9-2, 14-6
1.  Hiram 9-2, 14-6
1.  Ohio Wesleyan 9-2, 13-6
4.  Wittenberg 7-4, 10-9
4.  Kenyon 7-4, 13-7
6.  Allegheny 4-7, 8-12
7.  Wabash 3-8, 8-11
7.  Denison 3-8, 6-14
7.  Earlham 3-8, 3-17
10. Oberlin 1-10, 4-16

Biggest game this Saturday:  Ohio Wesleyan at Hiram

[David Collinge]

All of that lake effect snow diverted me south to Denison rather than northeast to Hiram tonight.  Sounds like I missed a great game, but it was a pretty good game in Livingston Gym.  On one end, Denison got outstanding ball movement, hustle, and shooting from their cadre of guards, but on the other end the Big Red could do nothing to stop or even slow down an utterly dominant performance from Bryan Yelvington.  Bryan missed a three-pointer early on, and had a floater rim out near the end of the game, but otherwise was 13 of 13, including two treys, and added six (of six) free throws for a total of 34 points.  You could tell from the start that he was playing with fire in his eyes, and was going to back down anyone assigned to him.  Kenyon's guards, who couldn't hit anything from outside tonight (collectively 1 for 13 from deep), got the ball into Bryan early and often, and he responded with a 9-for-10, 22 point first half.  Denison led by 1 at the break, having hit four of eight treys and paraded to the free throw line for 15 more points.  But whereas the Big Red couldn't keep up the hot shooting after the break, Yelvington was just as effective.  When DU finally decided to go for broke and double- or triple-team Bryan, that opened things up for Dave Knapke (20 points, 6/10 from the floor, 8/10 from the line) and JT Knight (16 points on 6/9 from inside the arc).  Denison hung tough, staying within a bucket or two for most of the second half, but Kenyon hit 14 of 16 free throws in the second half to secure the victory.  One telling stat from the game was that Kenyon's guards, when not heaving bricks in the general direction of the backboard, recorded 13 assists (chiefly feeding the posts) while committing just seven turnovers.  Denison's Mike Garabedian was shut down completely, recording just three free throws, but the Big Red got very good games from Pat Sullivan (12 points, five assists, and superb hustle all night, which is normal for him) and 5'7" frosh Jim Leffew, whose three three-pointers were all daggers.  But when your opponent gets the kind of game in the post that Yelvington and Knapke had, good games from a couple of sub-6' guards aren't going to get the job done.

[kiltedbryan]

Justin Hallowell led Wooster with 24 points (all on 8 three pointers),

Hallowell went 8-9 (.889) from three tonight.  I'm pretty sure (haven't seen a Wooster recap yet) that this ties him for second-most made three pointers in a game by a Scots player, with Tom Port (who made 8 against Wis. Stout a few years ago).  Port, however, was "only" 8-15 (.533) in that game from distance.  Hallowell almost assuredly set a new all-time individual mark for 3 point accuracy tonight.

Also, he now has 66 made three pointers on the season.  James Cooper and Tom Port share Wooster's single-season mark with 78 apiece, both during the 06-07 campaign.  Hallowell needs a couple threes per game from here on out to potentially set a new mark.

Any other NCAC players approaching milestones/records that anyone knows of out there?

[seinfeld]

I'm too tired to post too much, but I was at the Wooster-Hiram game, and it was one of the better regular season games. I've never been to Hiram, but I'm guessing the crowd was four or five times larger than normal. I would be half the student body was there, no exaggeration.

For the first time in memory, there is another team in the NCAC more athletic than Wooster -- Hiram. They were quicker, and as a result got a ton of offensive rebounds. If it wasn't for offensive rebounds, they would have been way behind in the first half.

For Wooster, if it wasn't for Hallowell just going off, they would have been in deep trouble. Franks was quiet for much of the game, then had a real strong spurt midway through the second half. Both teams were a little tight and rushed a couple of shots over the last couple of minutes. Hiram had the ball with about 25 seconds and down one point. Roberts had the ball on the wing, but Hallowell, who didn't have a very good defensive night, made a good play and left his man to help on Roberts. I think this threw Roberts off, as all of a sudden he had a much taller player covering him (than Bidwell). So Roberts quickly tried to pass it to Pfouts, who may have been fouled by Bidwell as Bidwell reached around to steal the ball. Pfouts fell to the floor, and may have traveled with the ball, but the refs, and probably rightly so, let both plays go as they were not blatant. Pfouts was then forced to drive the baseline and put up an off balance jumper that missed, and Wickliffe rebounded with 1.2 seconds left. He made one free throw, and that was that.

Wickliffe had the best game that I've seen him have this season. Maybe this will give him, and the coaching staff, the confidence to use him more. I'm sticking with my assessment from a couple of weeks ago, that unless Wooster's gets some sort of interior offensive presence, they aren't going to win the conference. You can't count on Hallowell draining threes from all over the place (although it would be nice if he kept doing it.)

[woosterbooster]

If Wooster were to win out, would they have the tiebreaker over either OWU or Hiram, providing one of those two also won out?  Wooster certainly should have it over Hiram, whom they've beaten twice.  In matching up with OWU, Wooster has split with them, but has beaten Hiram twice while OWU has only a split.  Is that what they would go by?

[imderekpoe]

If Wooster were to win out, would they have the tiebreaker over either OWU or Hiram, providing one of those two also won out?  Wooster certainly should have it over Hiram, whom they've beaten twice.  In matching up with OWU, Wooster has split with them, but has beaten Hiram twice while OWU has only a split.  Is that what they would go by?

I believe that OWU would win the tiebreaker over Wooster on the basis of worst loss (Wooster's loss to Wabash).  At one point I had the NCAC tiebreakers, but I couldn't find them last time that I looked.

So... Go Terriers!!!

[ScotsFan]

If Wooster were to win out, would they have the tiebreaker over either OWU or Hiram, providing one of those two also won out?  Wooster certainly should have it over Hiram, whom they've beaten twice.  In matching up with OWU, Wooster has split with them, but has beaten Hiram twice while OWU has only a split.  Is that what they would go by?

The Bishops need to win at Hiram on Saturday to gain a split with Hiram. 

And I think that derek is correct about the tie-breaker going by worst loss.  Hard for me to get my fingers around the fact that Wabash is a worse loss than Hiram... 

Looking at the 3 teams tied for first, OWU seems to me like the team to beat at the moment.  They are riding a 7 game win streak that includes wins at Witt and over Wooster at home.  They haven't lost since Hiram knocked them off at home almost a month ago.

I have to say, it was nice to see Wooster finally get over on a quality opponent away from the friendly confines.  Although Hiram didn't make it easy for them to do so having the ball with a chance for a last second basket to win it!  That's what you want when you have a guy like Roberts but Wooster stepped up big time defensively on Hiram's last possession and forced them into a shot they really didn't want and from a player other than Roberts!  Now it's time to take out some revenge on the Little Giants and try to put that little 2 game losing streak against Wabash to bed this Saturday!!!

[ScotsFan]

Hallowell went 8-9 (.889) from three tonight.  I'm pretty sure (haven't seen a Wooster recap yet) that this ties him for second-most made three pointers in a game by a Scots player, with Tom Port (who made 8 against Wis. Stout a few years ago).  Port, however, was "only" 8-15 (.533) in that game from distance.  Hallowell almost assuredly set a new all-time individual mark for 3 point accuracy tonight.

Also, he now has 66 made three pointers on the season.  James Cooper and Tom Port share Wooster's single-season mark with 78 apiece, both during the 06-07 campaign.  Hallowell needs a couple threes per game from here on out to potentially set a new mark.

Any other NCAC players approaching milestones/records that anyone knows of out there?

Justin Hallowell continues to amaze me with his daft touch from 3-point range!  I tried looking up the record for 3 point % for a game and they don't have that category in the record books that I could find.  But, not only is Hallowell closing in on the record for 3-pointers made for a season, he is doing that by flirting with the all-time best 3-point shooting percentage in Wooster history while he's at it!  He is currently TIED with Craig Bradley who shot 53.7% back in the 92-93 season!  But Bradley only made 44 treys that season.  Justin could come close to doubling that number by season's end!  Justin was also 4th in the nation in 3-point accuracy.  But using updated percentages, he would currently sit 3rd and less than 1% out of 2nd.  And this kid is only a freshman!!!  8)

[ScotsFan]

One question I have about last night's game is why Kaleb Reed was in the rotation over Drew Sawyer?  I have been wondering what happened to Reed all season, as I see last night was only his 4th game he's seen action in this year and it was a season high 9 minutes off the bench.

[wally_wabash]

And I think that derek is correct about the tie-breaker going by worst loss.  Hard for me to get my fingers around the fact that Wabash is a worse loss than Hiram... 

There are a lot of things about this season that I'm having a hard time figuring out.  It's tailspin city for the Little Giants...frustrating to watch because there's more talent on the team than the record would have one believe.  Hopefully Wabash can find a spark in the next couple of games, and get some confidence going into the tournament.  Hopefully. 

[David Collinge]

One question I have about last night's game is why Kaleb Reed was in the rotation over Drew Sawyer?  I have been wondering what happened to Reed all season, as I see last night was only his 4th game he's seen action in this year and it was a season high 9 minutes off the bench.

I assume Reed has shown the coaches something in practice the last week or two.  He played in the only JV game I saw (Witt), and I think the reason he's only played in 4 games is because he's not been high enough on the depth chart to see more action.  He played fairly well at OWU, and last night he was singled out for his efforts by Steve Moore in his postgame comments. 

[goscots]

Justin Hallowell led Wooster with 24 points (all on 8 three pointers),

Any other NCAC players approaching milestones/records that anyone knows of out there?

It's not an individual honor - but at 14 wins with 5 regular season games remaining, extending The Scot's string of twelve consecutive 20 win seasons is still well in doubt, (but in my opinion still highly probable)

More remote is extending the string of 6 consecutive senior classes that have won 100 games. Marty Bidwell has been a part of 92 wins.

An to extend that just a bit further, the Scots need to win 23 games in order for Coac h Moore to hit 600 career wins this season.

[username........]

hey everyone, Im a beginner on this so bare with me.....


What do you guys think of this newcomer out of nowhere, Chris Roberts.....and do you think he has a shot at winning player of the year in this conference?

[woosterbooster]

One question I have about last night's game is why Kaleb Reed was in the rotation over Drew Sawyer?  I have been wondering what happened to Reed all season, as I see last night was only his 4th game he's seen action in this year and it was a season high 9 minutes off the bench.

I assume Reed has shown the coaches something in practice the last week or two.  He played in the only JV game I saw (Witt), and I think the reason he's only played in 4 games is because he's not been high enough on the depth chart to see more action.  He played fairly well at OWU, and last night he was singled out for his efforts by Steve Moore in his postgame comments. 

Reed gives the Scots some much-needed muscle inside.  Little offense, but he fights on the boards and holds his ground underneath.  Greg Ross is just a bit undersized, although he offers more offense than Reed.  I keep waiting for Sawyer to get some more minutes, and to get some more touches when he's in there.  Hopefully it will happen, if not this season than next.