MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woolax]

After getting over the shock of hearing that Washington Univ fell, I am now turning to determining how Wooster matches up with Transy. Any thoughts?

[Titan Q]

After getting over the shock of hearing that Washington Univ fell, I am now turning to determining how Wooster matches up with Transy. Any thoughts?

I have no idea what to make of Transylvania.  They got absolutely blown out of the gym by #23 Carthage (down 25 at half)...

http://www.transy.edu/athletics/go/m_basketball/111509mb.htm


Got blown out by #10 Wilmington...

http://www.transy.edu/athletics/go/m_basketball/112409mb.htm


Lost by 15 to Thomas Moore...

http://www.transy.edu/athletics/go/m_basketball/112809mb.htm


Lost in 2OT to 5-6 Rose-Hulman...

http://www.transy.edu/athletics/go/m_basketball/121209mb.htm


And of course last night, they took down the machine that is the #1 Wash U Bears.  

On the surface, the result yesterday seems to be a big anomaly, but who knows really.  (I do think Wash U was hurt to some degree by the absence of starting center Zack Kelley.  Kelley isn't very productive, but he is a big body and plays an important role for the Bears.  Without him, I don't think Wash U's starting lineup is hurt that much, but the depth takes a big hit.)

Thanks for me allowing me NCAC board space to ramble about Transy and Wash U!

[David Collinge]

Of course, there's still a good measure of "I don't know what to make of them" floating around Wooster, too, so it's an intriguing game.  Maybe we should apply the Wally Analysis: Good Wooster vs. Good Transy, Good Wooster vs. Bad Transy, etc.

I did watch Transy play Mt. Union (via videocast) the other day, and they looked capable.  Beating MUC isn't as easy as it once was (just 5-7, but beat JCU, ONU, and Hiram and lost to Wilma in OT), but winning that game at home by 9 should probably be considered something of a minimum threshold for a decent team.  I admit, however, that I was very distracted by the play-by-play broadcaster, who was munching on a bag of potato chips throughout the game, so I don't remember much of the actual action.

The new poll is out, by the way, and Wooster slips off the back end and into the would-be #26 slot.  It is interesting (to me) to note that five of the top nine teams have played either Wooster or OWU, and although the NCAC team lost all five game, three-and-a-half of them were real battles.  (OWU led WashU at halftime of the season opener.)

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg gets a matchup with Marian (IND) today in the championship game of their tournament.

Wabash fans, I saw that they did beat you guys by 3 earlier in the year....any thoughts?

[ScotsFan]

After getting over the shock of hearing that Washington Univ fell, I am now turning to determining how Wooster matches up with Transy. Any thoughts?

I was thinking this very same thing.  I hadn't really even been paying too much attention to Transy as I thought it was highly unlikely that they pulled the upset.  Well, as it turned out, the highly unlikely came true.

Looking over Transy's results, I too would say they remind me a lot of Wabash.  David, you beat me to it in borrowing Wally's analysis for this game wrt good or bad Transy vs. good or bad Wooster.    It seems as though there is good Transy (the one that beat WashU last night) and bad Transy (the one that lost to RHIT and got smoked by Carthage and Wilmington).  Personally, from the looks of things, I would say that bad Wooster should beat bad Transy if that is who decides to show up tonight.  I mean, bad Wooster almost beat then #2 JCU and current #4 R-MC.  Personally, I'm wondering how much Transy has left both physically and mentally one night after beating the 2-time defending national champs and the #1 team in all the land.  I think the Pios are going to have a tough time duplicating the performance and effort they put forth last night.

Looking at the box score from last night's game and I would be hard pressed to know that Transy won the game.  WashU shot 50% from the floor to Transy's 44% and WashU outrebounded Transy by eight (35-27).  Transy won this game from beyond the arc where they made 6 more treys than WashU.  Transy actually shot the ball at a higher percentage from outside the 3-point circle than from inside of it.

All in all, Transy looks very similar to Wooster.  Tim Tierny looks like he runs the point and he is their leading scorer at over 15 ppg.  He must like to penetrate as he's been to the line 66 times this season.  He's made more ft's than Ian Franks (Wooster's leader in trips to the line) has in attempts!    This is where a healthy Brandon Johnson would be nice to try and slow him down.

Transy also likes to shoot the three ball as they have 86 made treys on the season compared to Wooster with 96.  Both teams dialed it up 11 times from long distance (that's for you David  ) last night.

Transy doesn't look very big and I think that Wooster could take advantage of this.  It looks as though WashU did as their big went off for a double/double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.  And I would look for Wooster to win the rebounding battle as well seeing as the Scots come into this game out rebounding their opponents by almost 6 rpg  and Transy is being outrebounded by over 2 rpg so far this season.

And then there's the dreaded T word.  Wooster was again very sloppy with the basketball last night.  Of course, there's always the excuse that you let your guard down a bit playing with such a big lead, but I'm just getting tired of seeing so much carelessness with the basketball from the Scots.  Wooster has got to keep the turnovers under 15 tonight and if they can do that, I think they will be sitting pretty at the end of the night.

All in all, it's not the match-up we Wooster fans were anticipating, but it is now a crucial in-region game.  A win over Transy would bolster Wooster's diminished Pool C hopes a tad.  So, at least this game has that going for it.  Transy and Wooster have also become quite familiar with each other as this is their 4th meeting in the last 6 years which include squaring off in back to back NCAA tournaments so a bit of a rivalry is developing between these 2 programs.  Should be an entertaining affair up on the hill and Wooster will definitely have to be on top of it's game if they want to bring home another Mose Hole trophy!

[wooscotsfan]

How does Transylvania win ball games?

Washington University lost last night's game despite:
1.  Outshooting Transy 50% to 42%
2.  Outrebounding Transy 35 to 27
3.  Having 12 Assists vs. only 9 Assists for Transy

Transy wins games by playing well in three phases of their games:
1.  Transy averages nearly 8 three pointers made/game.  Last night they made 11 vs. 5 for Wash Univ.
On the season, Transy has made 86 three pointers while only giving up 63 to opponents

2.  Transy minimizes turnovers with only 149 on the season vs. forcing 171 by opponents

3.  Transy makes a high percentage of Free Throws at 74%  Last night, 18 FT points vs. only 12 for Wash Univ.

So, Wooster needs to defend the three point line tonight and minimize their turnovers to get a victory....something the Scots have had trouble with this season.

I plan on watching a great game tonight at Timken.

GO SCOTS!

[wally_wabash]

Wittenberg gets a matchup with Marian (IND) today in the championship game of their tournament.

Wabash fans, I saw that they did beat you guys by 3 earlier in the year....any thoughts?

That was Wabash's season opener...Wabash let Marian get out to a huge lead in the first half, then spent the second half chipping away but ran out of time before they could get all the way back (stop me if you've seen this one before).  Sylvester is a very good distance shooter for Marian....their leading scorer (Tucker) only had four points against Wabash so they've got a little more than what Wabash got from them.  I think Marian will be a pretty good test for Witt. 

[ScotsFan]

Hiram had a 75-70 lead with 0:27 left and blew it, losing at Muskingum 89-86 in OT.  With 0:08 remaining in regulation and Hiram up 3, MU's Nick Hershberger (a transfer from Wooster, who had a career-best 34 tonight) fouled Hiram's Chris Meyer, sending him to the line with a chance to ice the game.  Instead, the sophomore missed the front end, and then compounded his error by fouling Musky's Colin Bass with 0:01 left...in the act of shooting...a trey.  Bass hit all three free throws to force the OT, five minutes in which the Fish never trailed.  Ugh.  Chris Roberts had 30 to lead the Pups.

Is this a broken record for Hiram?  I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day when it comes to the endings of Hiram basketball games.  Only difference is the opponents and the results.  Some go Hiram's way, some don't...   

One things for sure, Hiram knows how to keep the crowd into a game until the very end!  Furthermore, you wouldn't want to go to a Hiram game if you have a heart condition! 

[David Collinge]

Allegheny's basketball teams went to Florida, and all they got was this lousy t-shirt...

Carroll upends the Gator men in Daytona Beach, 80-67.  Big George had a double-double, 17 & 11, but Carroll's 10 three-pointers and +7 rebound advantage were too much for the Pennsylvanians.  The Gator men and women went a combined 0-4 in the Land of Magic Classic, but at least they got a break from the sub-Arctic conditions of Meadville for a few days.  And a t-shirt.

--------------------

So much for OWU figuring it out.  They lose tonight to Grove City, 61-53, to finish out of the medals at Marietta's tournament.  OWU led 41-29 with 12:45 left, then watched the Wolverines go on a 22-5 run.  OWU never got closer than 3 the rest of the way.

[David Collinge]

Trailing 66-60 with 5:23 left, Wittenberg held Marian scoreless the rest of the way and throughout the OT period, scoring the game's last 15 points en route, and recorded a 75-66 (OT) win.  Gregg Hill had 23 points to lead the Tiger attack.

Similarly, Wooster ends their game on a 17-5 run over the last 4:21, with the five Transy points all coming after the outcome was decided (by a 14-0 run).  Wooster prevails, 75-65.  Ian Franks had 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, and was named the tournament MVP.

[pennstghs]

David and others:

Wittenberg had a very good win tonight vs Marian. As wally noted, Marian has a player and really all their guards that if you give them an inch they're firing from 3 point range. Between the two teams, 15 three's were made in the first half.

Great to see Witt bear down and play some great defense in the last 5 minutes to close an 8 point gap down to a tie and then some great offensive possessions in overtime.

Micheal Cooper saw some extended minutes for the first time this season. His athleticism gives this team something that will give NCAC teams fits.

On to Ohio Wesleyan a week from today. They've given Witt problems the last two seasons really, so a win would be big.

Not sure if anyone cares but i'll throw it out there. Witt's women's team lost a heartbreaker tonight by 3 in the championship of their tournament. Great game all around and actually it shouldntn't ahve been a loss for Witt. Earlier on in the game, the official scorebook on accident granted a  2 point shot to CWR when in fact Wittenberg made the shot. By the time the officials realized what happened, too much time had gone by in the allowable period to change an error, so thus it counted and had an impact on the game.......unfortunate but really when we think of officiating sometimes not too surprising

[David Collinge]

Not sure if anyone cares but i'll throw it out there. Witt's women's team lost a heartbreaker tonight [...]

Someone cares.  See also: my footer.

NCAC men's hoops are done for 2009.  Have a good time this weekend...

...but we have five games on Saturday, so don't have too good a time.

Happy New Year, everybody!

[WooHoopsntrack01]

GREAT WAY FOR THE SCOTS TO CLOSE OUT 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[David Collinge]

I imagine there's a fair number of readers of this page (members and lurkers alike) that rarely, if ever, venture out to other threads.  You good folks may be unaware of the fact that Washington U. came into the Mose Hole Classic with the D3 Championship Belt^TM in their possession.  (Think of a prizefighter entering the ring with his championship belt being carried behind him ; for more information, please see this thread.)  The Belt^TM changed hands twice in the tournament, and is now displayed proudly in Wooster's trophy case.  Since Wooster is done with non-conference play altogether, and since they're off now until Jan. 9, that means that the Belt^TM will stay in NCAC hands up to and into the NCAA tournament.*  The Belt^TM has never before belonged to an NCAC team (not since the first rhinestone bangles were sewn on its alpaca-suede surface approximately three years ago), so the tour of the Belt^TM through our conference over the next two months should be a thing to behold.  Come out and see the Belt^TM when it comes to an arena near you! 

*There is one chance for it to slip away; that's if it somehow comes into Allegheny's possession on or before Feb. 6, and then the Gators somehow lose it to Penn St.-New Kensington on Feb. 8.**   But that's not going to happen, even if we have to mandate Olympic-style blood tests as a way of postponing that PSUNK match.

**Actually, that can't happen, as PSUNK is a non-D3 institution (they're USCAA), and as such are ineligible to rumble for the Belt^TM.***  That 'Gheny/PSUNK battle will be a non-sanctioned bout.  So, barring a very unfortunate set of circumstances, the NCAC tournament champion will enter the NCAA tournament with the Belt^TM tightly cinched to their waistline.

***So you can just ignore all this stuff in italics.

[wooscotsfan]

Back from Timken where I watched Wooster play a great 2nd half to win the Mose Hole Tourney over Transylvania.

The Scots played great defense tonight as they "held" Transy to 8 three pointers while hitting 10 three pointers of their own.  Wooster also kept their turnovers to 15 (vs. 13 for Transylvania) and they won the battle of the boards.  Wooster's defense challenged shots all night and held Transy to only 41% shooting for the game.

The key juncture of the game occurred with just over 4 minutes left and Transy leading 60-58.  Wooster made a three pointer on each of their next 3 possessions (Johnson, Franks, Hallowell) and suddenly it was 67-60 with just over 2 minutes remaining and the game was over.

Wooster's top 3 players delivered tonight as Ian Franks with 24 points, Nathan Balch with 17 points (3 three pointers) and Justin Hallowell with 13 points (3 three pointers) had most of the scoring for the Scots.

Nice win for the Scots as they move to 8-4, 3-0 NCAC.  Next up is Kenyon at home on January 9th.

GO SCOTS!