MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

Even acknowledging that the NCAC was never a powerful league, it's still not what it used to be, and that fact can not only be delved from the teams' records, but from the conversation about the player of the year.

Yelvinton?  Roberts?  Holiday?  These aren't bad players, but they don't match up with the stars of a few years ago: Daniel Russ, Dane Borchers, Tom Port, Dustin Rudegeair, Ben Chojnacki, James Cooper, Tim Vandervaart, Brandon Miller, even the injured Brandon Johnson.

[David Collinge]

Holliday, Yelvington, and Gregory may not be All-Americans like Russ, Port, or Cooper, but I think they could hang with some of those names.  But rather than argue that point, I'll instead mention another exalted group that they definitely can hang with, proudly.

All three seniors were named to the Academic All-District team today.  OWU's Kyle Holliday, an Accounting major sporting a 3.87 GPA, was named to the first team, college division, for District 4, making him eligible for Academic All-America consideration.  Kenyon's Bryan Yelvington, who has a 3.34 GPA and a double major in Economics and Political Science, was named to the second team in the same district.  Earlham's Tristian Gregory was named to the second team in District 5, college division, and has a 3.70 GPA in Business and Non-Profit Management. 

To be named Academic All-District, one must excel both on the court and in the classroom.  It is a great honor, and these outstanding young men deserve our congratulations.  Here's the announcement (pdf).

[wally_wabash]

[Witt4ever]

Wittenberg 68
Allegheny 58

Wooster 78
Wabash 58

OWU 70
Hiram 62  OT

[wally_wabash]

Wittenberg 68
Allegheny 58

Wooster 78
Wabash 58

OWU 70
Hiram 62  OT

Additionally...

Denison 73
Oberlin 64

Earlham 62
Kenyon 91

[wooscotsfan]

Current NCAC Standings thru 2/7 Games:

1.  Wooster 10-2, 15-6
1.  Ohio Wesleyan 10-2, 14-6
3.  Hiram 9-3, 14-7
4.  Wittenberg 8-4, 11-9
4.  Kenyon 8-4, 14-7
6.  Allegheny 4-8, 8-13
6.  Denison 4-8, 7-14
8.  Wabash 3-9, 8-12
8.  Earlham 3-9, 3-18
10. Oberlin 1-11, 4-17

Huge road win for the Bishops today as they have an easier remaining schedule than Wooster.  OWU plays Witt at home on Wednesday while Wooster has to play at Witt next Saturday.

It's another case of a Wooster fan cheering "Go Tigers!" on Wednesday.

[David Collinge]

Huge road win for the Bishops today as they have an easier remaining schedule than Wooster.  OWU plays Witt at home on Wednesday while Wooster has to play at Witt next Saturday.

Wooster, however, has a tie-breaker advantage with OWU, by virtue of their sweep of Hiram.  (Here's a link to the tiebreakers, courtesy of imderekpoe from about this time last season; it's a modified "best-win" tiebreaker.)  Wooster and OWU split their games, but Wooster swept Hiram while OWU split with the Terriers.  If Hiram were to fall below either Kenyon or Wittenberg, the situatuation would not likely change.  The results vs. Kenyon would not count, as they are not "like" games (OWU played the Lords at home, while Wooster played them at Gambier; and anyway, both Woo and OWU won those games.)  Both Wooster and OWU are currently 1-0 vs. Wittenberg with one game remaining.  If Wooster and OWU end up tied, it probably means that they both either beat or lost to Witt, so that wouldn't affect the tie-breaker.

OWU has a tie-breaker advantage over Hiram, by virtue of their split with the Scots, something Hiram couldn't accomplish in two tries.

When all is said and done, OWU has to play as if they are currently in second place, a game behind Wooster.  Wooster has home games with Denison and Earlham, and road games at Wittenberg and Allegheny remaining.  Anything is possible, especially this season, but Wooster looks like a good bet to finish 3-1 or 4-0 in those games.  If they finish 4-0, they earn the top seed.  If they finish 3-1, OWU needs to win all four of their remaining games (home vs. Witt, Earlham, and Allegheny, and at Oberlin) to earn the top seed.

Hiram's last four games are home vs. Allegheny and Oberlin, and road at Kenyon and Denison.  They pretty much have to win all four and get some help, probably from Wittenberg, to get the top seed.

[David Collinge]

Wanna know how OWU managed to pull out today's thriller?  Here two stats to consider:
Total rebounds:  OWU 47, Hiram 32.  Offensive rebounds: OWU 9, Hiram 8.  In fact, two of Hiram's 8 were recorded by Ian Pfouts on the last play of regulation; he scored on the second putback to send the game to OT.  It was a great, great sequence for the much-maligned senior, who really left it on the floor today.  But prior to that sequence, Hiram had been held to an almost unthinkable six offensive rebounds, and it really threw their offense out of synch.  It suddenly became clear, to my eyes at least, that a big part of their offense was to take the first reasonably good shot they had, knowing that if it missed, they'd have about a 50-50 chance at a rebound and putback.  When it became clear that that wasn't going to happen today (thanks largely to Pat Pellerite and Kyle Holliday, who combined for 17 defensive rebounds), their offense stagnated as they looked in vain for a better-than-reasonably good shot.  Which brings me to my second key stat:
Field goal shooting:  Hiram 25-65 (38.5%); 2-19 (10.5%) from the arc.  When the Terriers did get the better-than-reasonably good shot, they usually missed it, often badly.  Frosh Andrew Wiegand, usually fairly accurate from the arc (.345 prior to today), was a painful 0-7 and may not have even drawn iron on any of them.  Roberts was pretty much a non-factor, hitting just five of his 12 shots (10 points.)  They struggled with OWU's defense all afternoon, but they also struggled with their own shots, and it cost them. 

Chris Roberts certainly did nothing to enhance his POY credentials (although he did get lots of points toward the Lady Byng Trophy; he's a real class act and does Hiram much credit by his play), as we had discussed.  But Pat Pellerite certainly enhanced his NOY credentials.  He dominated most of the first half at both ends, ending up with 18 points (9 of 14 shooting), 11 rebounds, and three assists.  Of course, his main NOY competition also had a big game at Hiram this week, although for whatever it's worth Hallowell's big game was much more one-dimensional than Pellerite's.

It was a great game, marred only by rocky, nearly random, officiating, which had both cheering sections calling for blood by the time the overtime rolled around.  The players on both teams coped with the bizarre officiating with a level of composure I found inspiring.  Both of these teams are more than capable of winning the NCAC tournament, regardless of where it is held.

[wooscotsfan]

Huge road win for the Bishops today as they have an easier remaining schedule than Wooster.  OWU plays Witt at home on Wednesday while Wooster has to play at Witt next Saturday.

If they finish 3-1, OWU needs to win all four of their remaining games (home vs. Witt, Earlham, and Allegheny, and at Oberlin) to earn the top seed.

Hiram's last four games are home vs. Allegheny and Oberlin, and road at Kenyon and Denison.  They pretty much have to win all four and get some help, probably from Wittenberg, to get the top seed.

The first scenario where OWU wins their 4 remaining games and Wooster loses at Wittenberg is my primary concern as a Scots fan.  Wittenberg always get psyched up to play Wooster and Springfield is a tough place to get a win.  As David noted with an assist from Imderekpoe, it is great to know that Wooster owns the tiebreaker if they finish tied with OWU.

Hiram needs lots of help to host the NCAC tourney because they lose the tiebreaker scenarios with both Wooster (2 wins over the Terriers) and OWU (who split with the Scots).  So, Hiram needs to win all 4 remaining games and have both Wooster and OWU pick up two additional losses.  While that is possible, it seems highly unlikely.  I welcome corrections if that reasoning is faulty but it seems right to me.

One final point - the NCAC tourney championship looks like the only way into the big dance (NCAA tournament) this year as none of the conference teams will be selected as a Pool C bid.  So, hosting the NCAC tourney is an important advantage.

[David Collinge]

By the way, has anyone noticed that Hiram's roster has just one senior (Pfouts) and one junior (Jason Hebeisen) on it?  If all of the underclassmen come back next season, there's no reason to suppose they won't be tough again.  This may be the beginning of a Doggie Dynasty!

[wooscotsfan]

has anyone noticed that Hiram's roster has just one senior (Pfouts) and one junior (Jason Hebeisen) on it?

David, good point about the Doggie Dynasty! k+

Of course with Melick now off the team and Johnson injured, Wooster's roster has just one senior (Bidwell) and one junior (Geitgey) also on it.

I checked the numbers -- so far this season, 83% of Wooster's points have been scored by freshmen and sophomores.  So, the Scots Dynasty looks promising as well.

[David Collinge]

Witt is another team dominated by underclassmen; Kevin Murray is the only senior, with Gregg Hill set to come back next season.  OWU loses a lot (Holliday, Miller, Noggle), but they lost a lot last year (6 seniors, including Rudegeair, Jean, and Teeters) and look what happened.  Wabash loses only Brian Maloney and a bench player.  Allegheny will probably return their top 9 scorers.  And Kenyon will still have Dave Knapke and JT Knight, among others.   So next year should be another competitive one in our league.

[woosterbooster]

By the way, has anyone noticed that Hiram's roster has just one senior (Pfouts) and one junior (Jason Hebeisen) on it?  If all of the underclassmen come back next season, there's no reason to suppose they won't be tough again.  This may be the beginning of a Doggie Dynasty!

Could be.  But yesterday up at Hiram was not a Dog Day Afternoon.

[sac]

By the way, has anyone noticed that Hiram's roster has just one senior (Pfouts) and one junior (Jason Hebeisen) on it?  If all of the underclassmen come back next season, there's no reason to suppose they won't be tough again.  This may be the beginning of a Doggie Dynasty!

I've noticed quite a few rosters around D3 are generally Fr. and So dominated...........my only theory is that the current 20 and 21 year olds (born in 1988 and 1989 (egads)) were the last generation exposed to hair metal bands. 

[M.Knapke]

Interesting point.
I have been reading, and watching this board for a while; the water looked great, so I decided to jump in. 
Let's keep Smiling.

Lord Supporter.

Mark