MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

Back from Timken where I watched Ian Franks put on a POY performance with 30 points on 11 of 16 from the floor including 4 of 5 from the three point arc!  He also had 4 boards and 5 assists on the night.

ScotsFan is absolutely right that Wooster's offense dominated the game as Denison had no answer for Wooster's passing and shooting tonight.  Wooster also dominated the glass as well with a 44 to 28 advantage on rebounds.

Nathan Balch, Bryan Wickliffe and Matt Fegan all played well this evening and the two freshmen bigs, Claytor and Mays, are looking more comfortable with each game played.

Allegheny should give the Scots a tougher test next Wednesday as they had a nice win today vs. Witt.  Gators have won 4 in a row.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

1/30 NCAC Final Scores:

Wooster 97  Denison 73
Wabash 52  Kenyon 47
Allegheny 60  Wittenberg 56
Hiram 79  Ohio Wesleyan 71
Oberlin 71  Earlham 68


Current NCAC Standings with 1/30 Results:

1.  Wooster 10-0
2.  Wabash 7-3
2.  Allegheny 7-3
4.  Hiram 6-4
4.  Wittenberg 6-4
4.  Ohio Wesleyan 6-4
7.  Denison 4-6
8.  Kenyon 2-8
9.  Oberlin 1-9
9.  Earlham 1-9

[zander]

Witt has to play like inspired basketball like they did to start the season.  They have the offensive threats to beat any team in the NCAC-- Let's go Witt!!!  End the season strong!

[wally_wabash]

How important is that #2 seed?  There are five teams within a game of each other (and second place).  One of those teams will get to play Denison in the tournament.  The other four get to play each other.  This race for #2 should be fun to watch.

[pennstghs]

Yeah and if you can't get the 2 seed, the 3 seed may not be so bad. It's better than the 4/5/6 which gets you possibly a road game first round and a date with Wooster Friday night.

Big time week for Wittenberg ahead. A TOUGH venue for Wittenberg Wednesday at Ohio Wesleyan, a place they've struggled mightly as of late. A win would do wonders for their confidence. And then another tough one Saturday vs Hiram in Springfield, another team they've had issues with lately.

Go TIGERS!!!!

[smedindy]

Actually, the 6 may not be so bad since it's a roadie with the 3, but with the conference so close that may not be insurmountable.

If you can't get 2 or 3, you probably want to avoid 4 or 5 for the Wooster factor.

[wally_wabash]

I think there's a huge difference between #2 and #3.  Mostly because I think there's a huge difference between Denison and whoever winds up as #6.  Would you want to host Denison or OWU right now?  It's not even close. 

The secondary benefit is that you don't have to play Wooster on Friday night, but if you're going to win the tournament you probably have to beat Wooster anyway (unless you're OWU in 2008....you're welcome). 

[ScotsFan]

I'm actually hoping Denison ends up as the 8 seed with the way Wooster has struggled against Kenyon this season... 

[David Collinge]

Denison frosh Dimonde Hale, one of if not the leading contender for Newcomer of the Year, has been awarded the NCAC Player of the Week for the last week of January.  Hale's 25 points were instrumental in DU's thrashing of backyard rival Kenyon on Wednesday.  Congratulations, Dimonde!

[GoRed]

Go Dimonde.

Hey, Wally.  We hope Wabash ends up Number 2!!  I'd love to have a real shot at the semi's instead of having to play Wooster again.   Not saying we have a 7 locked up yet, though, so if we end up number 8, I hope there's a miracle and the LG's win the conference!   

[seinfeld]

I understand that on paper that Wooster is in a prime position right now, but I think it is a little premature to be crowning them regular season champs. I think you can realistically build a case that they could lose any of the next five games they play. Three of the teams (Allegheny, Witt and OWU) gave Wooster all they could handle the first time through, and Wabash and Hiram are games on the road, where they lost and nearly lost, respectively, last year. Now, if I had to predict, I would say that Wooster loses Sunday at Wabash, and possibly drops a game to either Witt or OWU. But lets not forget that just two weeks ago Wooster struggled to beat Oberlin, and just one week ago scored just 26 points in the first half against Hiram. I want to see a couple of more complete games from Wooster before I think they have this wrapped up.

As for the NCAC Tournament, obviously having the home court advantage is ideal, but it hasn't necessarily translated into titles for Wooster. In fact, Wooster has hosted the last five conference tournaments, yet has only won two of them, and both of those wins (2007 & 2009) came against teams that were not the No. 2 seed.

[wally_wabash]

If Wooster blows a three game lead with six to play, not only should they not host the conference tournament, they should probably go ahead and just withdraw entirely.  The race here is for #2. 

[Pat Coleman]

I don't know of any conference that doesn't base conference honors on conference-only performance.

I don't know of any conference that states exactly how a coach should consider players when voting for All-Conference.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I don't know of any conference that doesn't base conference honors on conference-only performance.

I don't know of any conference that states exactly how a coach should consider players when voting for All-Conference.

Nor do I, for stating it.  But c'mon - it is a conference honor.

Common sense says it is what you do in conference.

[Pat Coleman]

Which is fine -- but you don't know of any conference doing it that way because no conference actually talks about how it does it.