MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 31  Earlham 27

Wooster is being led by Bryan Wickliffe with 11 points, Ian Franks with 7 points and Nathan Balch with 5 points.

Earlham's top scorers are Ryan Taylor with 6 points and Marty Broderick with 6 points.

This was a ugly first half for Wooster as they shot only ~38% from the floor and they were a miserable 1 of 10 from the three point arc.  Scots did outrebound the Quakers by a 23-11 count in the half.

UPDATE:  Wooster now leads 55-38 with ~6 minutes left in the game.

GO SCOTS!

[wally_wabash]

As noted, there is no audio or video from Chadwick today, but I'll be tweeting throughout the game.  Hey, if you're looking for almost-instant commentary, it's better than nothing.   

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 63  Earlham 54

Wooster plays better in the 2nd half and secures the win by controlling the paint and the boards (45 to 24).  Wooster actually had a 19 point lead before the Quakers narrowed the margin during garbage time.

Scots were led by Ian Franks with 19 points, Bryan Wickliffe with 17 points, 8 boards, Jake Mays with 8 points, Nathan Balch with 7 points and Josh Claytor with 6 points, 8 boards.

Coach Moore's record vs. Earlham over 23 years is now 45-0.

Earlham's top scorers were Ryan Taylor with 11 points and AJ Sutherlin with 10 points.

Wooster is now 11-4, 6-0 NCAC.   Next up is a road game at Oberlin.

GO SCOTS!

[ScotsFan]

Well, that is one of those games where you just walk away saying a win is a win.  Ugly as it was, it was still a win... 

Wooster just can't seem to find a way to take the lid off of the basket from 3-point range.  As Breckenridge said in his broadcast, the Scots would struggle to shoot the ball in the ocean the way they've been going.  For the 2nd straight game, the Scots struggled from deep going a miserable 1-15 from beyond the arc.  Combined with the last game and Wooster is just 5-40 from deep!    That's just unreal!

Wooster did finally recognize they had a decided advantage inside and began to exploit that advantage in the 2nd half which helped push their overall fg% to over 40% and helped them stretch a 4 point halftime lead out to 17.  The EC then chipped away at the lead in garbage time to make the score a bit more respectable looking.

I'm just dumbfounded by how poorly this team is shooting from beyond the arc.  I mean, this team shot nearly 44% from deep as a team a year ago and they have all of the same shooters back.  After todays miserable shooting performance, the Scots are a full 10 percentage points lower than their 3-point percentage from last season!  You keep waiting for guys like Balch and Hallowell to break out of their slumps, but it just hasn't happened and I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will??? 

[David Collinge]

The other final scores:
Kenyon 78, Oberlin 64
Wabash 70, Denison 51
OWU 63, Hiram 51
Witt 85, Allegheny 73

Standings:
Wooster 6-0
Wittenberg 5-1
Hiram 4-2
Wabash 4-2
Denison 3-3
Allegheny 3-3
OWU 3-3
Kenyon 1-5
Earlham 1-5
Oberlin 0-6

[kiltedbryan]

I'm just dumbfounded by how poorly this team is shooting from beyond the arc.  I mean, this team shot nearly 44% from deep as a team a year ago and they have all of the same shooters back.  After todays miserable shooting performance, the Scots are a full 10 percentage points lower than their 3-point percentage from last season!  You keep waiting for guys like Balch and Hallowell to break out of their slumps, but it just hasn't happened and I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will??? 

I thought I'd look into this a bit, because you're right that it doesn't seem to make sense.  As you note, SF, last year the team shot approximately 44% from 3pt land, but that's not a direct apples-to-apples comparison of the leading shooters.  For example, Marty Bidwell (32-77, .416) and Dustin Geitgey (21-69, .304) both brought down the average of last year's team.

To try more of an apples-to-apples comparison, here's info on six shooters common to both teams (with Johnson's data from his full season in 2007-08):

Player         09-10 3pts (%)             08-09 3pts (%)            +/- % year-over-year

Franks               17-42 (40.5)                    31-82 (37.8)                           +2.7
Hallowell          37-103 (35.9)                  94-183 (51.4)                          -15.4
Balch                 25-69 (36.2)                  63-128 (49.2)                          -13.0
Fegan                20-48 (41.7)                    38-80 (47.5)                            -5.8
Johnson             11-36 (30.6)                    40-98 (40.8)                          -10.3
Evans                  3-14 (21.4)                    19-51 (37.3)                          -15.8

Summary:  113-312 (36.2)             285-622 (45.8)                         -9.6

Wow.  Five of these six are having a significantly worse shooting season than they have in previous years.  Four of them are shooting 10 or more percent below their pervious average, including both of the leading 3-pt shooters from the previous year.

Last year the Scots played 30 games, and the current year data above reflects the 15 games they have played so far this year.  Notice that this group of Scots is collectively shooting almost exactly the same number of 3 pointers as they did before (312 x 2=624 vs. 622), but they aren't making anywhere near as many of them.  If this group of current Scots were collectively shooting their (very good) historical average of nearly 46%, they would've made approximately 142 three-pointers this year at this point.  Those "missing" 29 three point buckets is basically the equivalent of 2 more made 3 point baskets per game.  Those extra six points could've come in handy at Albion, RMC, JCU, Kenyon and Allegheny.

Seeing 5 of 6 shooters posting significant shooting percentage declines seems to imply a non-random cause—like something team-wide.  Perhaps, even while taking the same number of three pointers, this group is taking more ill-advised three pointers, or are consistently being defended better at the perimeter, or perhaps they are simply practicing shooting less in practice.  I don't feel that I can really comment since I've barely been able to see the Scots in person this year, but you just wouldn't expect to see this many shooters having this much worse of a year without some sort of common cause.

Thoughts?

[wally_wabash]

Kind of a ho-hummer at Chadwick this afternoon.  Wabash jumped out to a 12-2 lead and was never challenged after that.  In the games that Wabash has lost to Denison recently, I don't believe Wabash matched DU's energy and it cost them.  Wabash came ready to play this afternoon and the result is what we'd probably expect from this matchup.  Kudos to Wabash for getting after it today and not letting Denison hang around and be confident in the second half. 

Aaron Brock (21 and 8) and Wes Smith (20 and 9) had strong games yet again for Wabash.  Chase Haltom was the only other Little Giant in double figures with 10 points today.  Dimonde Hale led Denison with 12 points. 

Wabash cooled off from the field today, shooting just 39.7%, well below their average percentage during this streak.  Denison actually outshot the Little Giants (42.3%), but that advantage was negated by Wabash's 43-28 rebounding edge. 

Next up for Wabash is a home contest against Wittenberg which will be a huge game for both teams.  Keep it going, LGs!   

[GoRed]

Wally,

Since you were at Chadwick yesterday, a couple of comments and questions for you:

According to the stats, most of the margin in the game came from the free throw line but the differential in 3-pointers made was 2:1.  Did the Big Red go zone or man-to-man on defense?   

The rebounding margin was huge, too, at 43-28.  I assume DU ran the same offense working the perimeter but being mainly out of position for rebounds?  (except for Larry Farmer, who does a nice job consistently)

Why didn't they play Mike Garabedian?  His stats were way down the last two outings but it would be out of character for Ghiloni to bench a guy completely.

And congrats on the win. I hope a season split of the matchup is the result we can expect next year too unless we take both.

[wally_wabash]

If memory serves, I think Denison was using a zone defense with an emphasis on doubling Wes Smith.  The last handful of games, Wes has been able to get the ball at about 20 feet from the basket and take his man on the dribble and get to the rim.  Yesterday, Denison was crashing on Wes whenever he put the ball on the floor and forcing him to pass out to other players.  Most of Smith's shots in the paint came in transition before Denison could get a defense set up. 

I don't know why Garabedian didn't play.  I'm assuming he was hurt and couldn't go, but I can't verify that.  I was surprised that he wasn't playing either as he flat out lit Wabash up in last year's game at Chadwick. 

Denison's offense, especially in the first half, was almost all on the perimeter.  Wabash did a good job of keeping the ball out of the painted area and forcing Denison take low percentage shots, hence the 17 first half points.  Denison did manage to get the ball down low in the second half and doubled their first half output.  Wabash certainly controlled the rebounds yesterday, but I think Wabash is a pretty good rebounding team.  Most of the time Wabash will have Brock, Burkett or Curosh, and Smith on the floor and those guys all do a good job on the glass. 

I think free throws have been a big key for Wabash's improvement this year.  I believe Wabash leads the league in FT%, and for as much as Wabash has concentrated on pounding the paint during their recent streak, converting those FT attempts is important and Wabash has been making the most of those chances. 

[GoRed]

Thanks for the view, Wally.  And you couldn't be more right on the free throws. 

[David Collinge]

Grabbing your team by the scruff of its neck and dragging it nearly single-handedly to a victory not only helps maintain the conference lead, more importantly it can nab you the coveted NCAC Player of the Week trophy, as Wooster junior Ian Franks found out this week.  Franks, the first two-time honoree this season, poured in 33 points as the Scots nipped Allegheny, then added another 19 in a victory over Earlham.  Congratulations, Ian!

[ScotsFan]

I have to say, I'm kind of surprised at how Witt has done without their conference POY candidate, Greg Hill.  I really thought that Allegheny would give Witt a better game in Meadville, especially considering how well the Gators played against the Scots.  Now, the Tigers will get an even tougher test when they travel to C'ville on Wednesday.

If Witt can find a way to beat Wabash (who is always tough to beat at home), I think it might be time to start giving Witt some serious consideration as favorites to win the NCAC.  Hill or no Hill, the Tigers have been playing some really good basketball.  What is it?  Four straight games where they've shot over 50% from the field?  Wooster, on the other hand is setting records they don't want to be setting.  Their sparkling 6.7% effort from beyond the arc on Saturday was their lowest 3-point percentage in the last 10 years and their 1 made trey was their lowest since they made only 1-5 vs Emory & Henry in 2005.  The catch there is that E&H runs the 'system' and Wooster still put up 150 points in that game despite only one made trey!  I think it's pretty easy to say that Witt is playing the best basketball right now in the conference.  And uless Wooster finds their shooting touch in a big way, I'm having a hard time trying to convince myself that they can actually find a way to win their 6th straight NCAC championship.

That said, I think the Wabash/Witt game on Wed. could have a pretty big impact on Saturday's Witt/Woo showdown.  If Witt were to lose on Wed.  at Wabash, that would mean that the Scots could potentially open up a 3 game lead over Witt in the conference standings with a win in Springfield on Saturday!  The prospect of facing a 3 game deficit with a loss to Wooster could add a bit more pressure on the Tigers than going into that game knowing a win would put you in a tie for first! 

Somehow, I have a feeling that Witt will get it done on Wed. and Saturday's game will once again be another classic Witt/Woo clash with first place in the conference on the line.

[wally_wabash]

Thanks for the view, Wally.  And you couldn't be more right on the free throws. 

I actually just now realized that Denison was only 3-12 on FTs Saturday.  Ouch!  That's leaving a lot of points on the table. 

I think it's pretty easy to say that Witt is playing the best basketball right now in the conference. 

I don't think it's that easy.  There's some pretty good hoops being played out West right now. 

[pennstghs]

good and hoops can't be put together in the same sentence when that said team lost to Denison.....sorry wally!

[wally_wabash]

good and hoops can't be put together in the same sentence when that said team lost to Denison.....sorry wally!

Sorry...I'll add emphasis where appropriate:

I don't think it's that easy.  There's some pretty good hoops being played out West right now. 

Hope that clears up the confusion.