MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

With yesterday's results, there are only 3 undefeated teams left in the NCAC - Wooster, Allegheny and Denison which are all currently at 3-0 records.

Both Allegheny and Denison have tough road games today.  As a Wooster fan, let's hope that the Scots have the right focus today vs. Kenyon since they narrowly escaped Gambier with a win a few weeks ago.  I hope to see a Wooster victory this afternoon when I make the snowy trek to Timken!

GO SCOTS!

[GoRed]

I know you all will get a chuckle out of what I'm going to say given the Big Red's record and history, but I think Denison matches up pretty well against OWU this year and there might be a surprise result in this one. 

If we extend the defense out and keep an eye on back door cuts, we can contain the OWU offense.  Maybe even zone up since OWU's shooting percentage from long range isn't particularly stellar so far.  If they start hitting from the outside, though, we would have to man-up quickly.  Also have to continue doing a good job of preventing the inside passes.

The biggest issue for the Big Red, is whether we can put points on the board with the offense it runs.  We have athletes, and if this team is allowed to run more, as it has in the early phases of many of the games, we can get leads.  Unfortunately, after the opening game adrenaline wears off, the offense is usually forced into long, patient searches for openings that don't come, shots are forced as the clock expires and opponents are allowed to close the gap.  If the current team can keep running, wins will come against the tougher conference opponents. 

Can't wait to get to Delaware - hope there will still be 3 unblemished at the end of the day!! 

[David Collinge]

Wabash drops Allegheny out of first place, 86-65, behind double-sawbucks from Chase Haltom and Aaron Brock.  Wabash was 51% from the field and 61% (11/18) from the arc--that's tough to beat.

Wooster leads Kenyon by 5 at the half, 40-35.  WQKT's Mike Breckenridge, usually a pro at such things, is butchering some of the more uncommon Kenyon names, giving me a good chuckle now and then.
UPDATE:  Wooster 71, Kenyon 59.   I don't know if Kenyon just matches up well with Wooster, or if they get up for this game better than others, but once again they gave the Scots fits all afternoon.  Two big threes by Fegan inside the last 4 minutes gave Wooster the margin, but it was a battle against a team that has looked downright awful since the break.

[wally_wabash]

You said it, DC.  Wabash was hot today and it's tough to beat anybody when they are shooting that well. 

Wabash started slow this afternoon and fell behind by 7 early, but then the shots started falling in bunches.  Aaron Brock again lit the fuse for Wabash offensively.  Brock had a monster weekend for the LGs...and if this is the Aaron Brock that we can expect to see for the duration of the season, Wabash should be a strong team throughout conference play.  Also noted was Chase Haltom's fine game.  Chase was 4-5 on 3 point FGs...a couple of which were very deep shots in the second half.  When he's taking those shots, he's usually having a fine game.  Wes Smith had just 15 for Wabash today, but did a lot of disruptive work on defense for Wabash today. 

These were two enormous wins for Wabash this weekend.  Wabash is back to 2-2 in league play and playing with a lot of confidence.  The re-emergence of Aaron Brock as an offensive threat has been critical.  Brock and Smith will be a handful for most teams the rest of the way.  Wabash is probably one more consistent scoring threat away from being really, really good.  We'll see if the LGs can find that third consistent option in the coming weeks. 

Wabash next heads over to Earlham on Wednesday before coming back home to see if they can finally shake the Denison curse.

[David Collinge]

Speaking of hot, Wittenberg drains another 16 threes (in 26 att., 62%) and cruises past Oberlin, 82-56.  Seven different Tigers connected from the arc; McKee was 5/5.  Jeebus.

Hiram and Earlham are in a back-and-forth dandy; Pups up 51-43 with 8:11 left.
UPDATE: Not so dandy in the end, as Hiram pulls away for the 69-52 victory.

[David Collinge]

OWU "upsets" first-place Denison, 70-67; Larry Farmer nails a half-court shot but it was a nanosecond after the buzzer and is waved off.  A great game, if not expertly played--lots of missed free throws, poor shot selection, etc.  Denison's pressure defense brought them back into the game.

Wooster is now alone in first place. 

[wally_wabash]

Wooster is now alone in first place. 

You're welcome.   

[wooscotsfan]

NCAC Standings with 1/9 Results:

1.  Wooster 4-0, 9-4
2.  Wittenberg 3-1, 11-2
2.  Allegheny 3-1, 6-6
2.  Hiram 3-1, 6-7
2.  Denison 3-1, 3-10
6.  Wabash 2-2, 7-5
7.  Ohio Wesleyan 1-3, 4-9
7.  Earlham 1-3, 3-10
9.  Oberlin 0-4, 4-9
9.  Kenyon 0-4, 3-9

[wooscotsfan]

Back from Wooster where I saw the Scots play ugly basketball for 35 minutes today:

With only 5 minutes left in the game, it was Wooster clinging to a 57-56 lead due to some poor shooting and sloppy basketball up to that point.

Wooster then went on a 11-0 run and the game was effectively over.  Scots did not shoot the ball well today hitting only 43% from the floor.  Combined, Nathan Balch and Josh Claytor were 0 of 14 from the field which explains the low overall team shooting percentage.  On the bright side, Justin Hallowell and Matt Fegan each made 5 three pointers and Fegan hit 3 of those at key points in the 2nd half.   Nice career scoring high for Matt Fegan with 19 points.  The Scots also outrebounded the Lords by a 39-31 margin.

It seems to me that Wooster quite often plays to the level of their competition this season.    They never demonstrated any killer instinct today until the very end of the game.

Wooster is now 9-4, 4-0 NCAC.   Next up is a key road game at Allegheny, 3-1 NCAC.

[seinfeld]

A whole bunch of observations about Wooster, most of which are not positive.

-- Today's game was one of the worst games I've seen Wooster play in a long time. Uninspired; poorly executed on offense -- just ugly. Even more so considering they should have been better prepared after nearly losing to Kenyon a month ago. It seems that almost every game Steve Moore has to be the one that fires up the team. Where is the emotional leadership? This is definitely one area where they miss Marty Bidwell, but this shouldn't be that hard. I think Brandon Johnson might fill this role, but I think his knee injury lessening his skills may make him feel less confident to do that. Plus, he hasn't played with most of the guys on the team before this year. To top it off, the bench not only can't play (with the exception of Matt Fegan), but they are lifeless on the bench. They miss Dustin Geitgey both coming off the bench and his energy while on the bench.

-- Wooster's bench is not very good. Claytor looks good some games, then others he looks lost. Mays has regressed since I saw him in the preseason and can't stay out of foul trouble.

-- One of the biggest mysteries to me has been the minutes Justin Warnes has been getting, many at the expense of Fegan. Warnes is useless on offense. You don't even have to guard him. A little birdie told me that at halftime Kenyon's coach told his players that #24 isn't very good. That is bad when the opposing coach is telling his players to ignore one of Wooster's players. And while he is a good defender, he isn't great, maybe marginally better than Fegan. Fegan even has more steals (7-2). Wooster's defense isn't their problem. In fact, their defense is better this year than it has been in a while. Get Fegan's offense on the floor, please?

-- But the biggest surprise has been the play of Nathan Balch. I don't like to single out players, especially at the Div. III, but man, he is shadow of the player he was last year. Obviously going 0-9 today makes this more obvious, but this has been the story all season long. He is shooting only 38 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range. A number of his shots today weren't even close. Last year he shot 51 percent from the field and 49 percent from three. He led Wooster in scoring in both NCAA Tournament games last year. I figured he would be better this year, considering last season was his first at Wooster. It hasn't worked out that way.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Wooster this year. They just aren't clicking like they should with the players they have back. Balch has to find his game and the bench needs to start producing. Wooster can't keep any kind of offensive momentum because when they have more than a couple of starters out of the game, their offense struggles.

On a good note, Brandon Johnson is looking better. Today was the first game where Wooster tried to push the ball up the floor. The problem is some guys didn't look very comfortable running the floor.

[GoRed]

I look at a win as being a win.  Wooster put another win in the win column, regardless of how they may have played.  So did OWU. 

Thank heavens that at the Div III level, student athletes are just that - student athletes.  Maybe if they were being forced to be in the gym 10 hours a day, being paid/bribed by alumni, etc. you could expect them to post the numbers every day.  They are entitled to go cold or totally disappear sometimes, because athletics are not necessarily their main focus.  If they are ballplayers and you viewed them as being talented before, you'll see them come back. 

Case in point - Chris Luther.  Went stone cold for a couple games then came back for 25 points.  Balch is a solid player, and I'd take him any day.  The Big Red just don't need another player that size - we need a big man (oh, Danny boy!).

On the OWU - DU game yesterday, it was as I thought.  We generally contained the OWU offense except for a few back door cuts in the first half and the inside passes.  Thankfully, when the game started to slip away, the coaches put on a press that got us back into it.  Shooting was not pretty on either side of the court. 
We were totally outsized by Morris, Pellerite & Co., but athleticism kept us close.  We should have run more, but in the end, it was size that mattered.  Foul trouble trying to contain the bulk inside kept two of our main guys out of play for too long.
Great job stepping up by the freshmen and Farmer with another double.  Overtime was just a nanosecond away. 

Don't turn your backs, NCAC, the Big Red are moving up! 

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg's recent success from long distance makes me wonder....how do you think they'll play against Wooster this season. In year's past, Wittenberg did everything they could to minimize the number of possessions Wooster got and pound the ball inside every single time. It could be a couple of very entertaining games this season.

Of course, Wittenberg has to survive a mildly tough 3 game road stretch in conference play starting Wednesday at Denison, Saturday at Allegheny and then next Wednesday at Wabash (probably their second toughest road test of the season)

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg's recent success from long distance makes me wonder....how do you think they'll play against Wooster this season. In year's past, Wittenberg did everything they could to minimize the number of possessions Wooster got and pound the ball inside every single time. It could be a couple of very entertaining games this season.

What little I've seen of Witt lately suggests to me that some portion of their success is because they see a lot of zone defense, teams trying to minimize a height/bulk disadvantage.  A lot of those three-pointers are wide open, even uncontested to a degree.  Wooster never plays zone, so the question to me is how far out will they cover the Witt shooters?  It seems that the shooters are all willing to let fly from anywhere within 24 feet, kind of like Hallowell last season, and if Wooster defends out that far, it's going to be hard for Wickliffe et al. to control the paint.  This is exactly what Capital did to Wooster in the tournament last year, staying on Hallowell and Balch where ever they went.  Wooster got a lot accomplished in the paint, but not enough to win the game.  I expect the Scots would try something similar on Witt, and hope that Witt's guards can't compensate and that Wickliffe doesn't foul out. 

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg's Chris Sullivan is this week's NCAC Player of the Week.  Sullivan was deadly from the arc, nailing a sprightly 10 of 15 three-pointers, accounting for 36 points in two Tiger victories this week.  Congratulations, Chris!

[wally_wabash]

Something very rare could go down in Richmond tomorrow night.  Wabash's Wes Smith (991) and Aaron Brock (992) are very much within range of 1,000 career points and both could reach that milestone in the same game tomorrow evening.  Good luck to Wes and Aaron tomorrow night!