MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[pennstghs]

Interesting note:

I'm not sure if this is Oberlin's attempt at a cruel joke, but it shows on the boxscore for the game a Gregg Hill played 7 minutes for Wittenberg today......

I'm happy with Wittenberg's matchups. I'm much more comfortable with a matchup vs Hiram than Ohio Wesleyan as a rivalry matchup sometimes produces crazy results.

[billy_pilgrim]

Good knowing you guys.... have an enjoyable postseason and beyond.

By the way, I'll be back at Earlham next year as I enter one of the college's graduate programs...guess I'll be watching Heartland ball though.

[David Collinge]

Farewell, Billy.  Drop by anytime; you'll always be welcome.  Good luck in your studies.

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg, which hosted a quarterfinal doubleheader every year of their conference membership until last year, will be the only school to host one this year, and in both games the opponent will be Hiram.   The third-seeded men kick off the tournament Tuesday at 6pm against the Terriers, followed by the top-seeded women vs. #8 Hiram at 8.  All other quarterfinals, men and women, will be at 7:30: the men spread out far and wide (at Wooster, Wabash, and Allegheny), and the women tightly grouped (at OWU, Denison, and Kenyon.)

[ScotsFan]

Good knowing you guys.... have an enjoyable postseason and beyond.

By the way, I'll be back at Earlham next year as I enter one of the college's graduate programs...guess I'll be watching Heartland ball though.

Good knowing you too Billy.  Good luck to your Quakers in the HCAC.

[ScotsFan]

Glad to see that OWU result!     If the Scots can get past Kenyon on Tuesday, I'd much rather have the possibility on not having to face Witt until the finals than possibly in the semis on Friday night as would have been the case if Gheny would have beaten OWU.

How about not playing Witt at all? 

That'd be alright as well! 

Careful what you wish for, friend.   

OK, OK.  I'm not suggesting that playing Wabash is going to be any easier than playing Witt.  I'm just looking at if from a rivalry perspective and Witt seems to thrive on playing and beating Wooster in Timken.  Wabash on the other hand...  Not so much.

That said.  Playing either Witt or Wabash in the finals, should Wooster make it that far, will be more than a challenge for the Scots to bring home a win and both are more than capable of beating the Scots.

[wally_wabash]

I just think you're putting far too much stock in Witt's win last weekend.  Rivalry game or not, you simply can't ignore that 1) Wooster was without one of their top players, 2) Wooster had already clinched the #1 seed in the tournament, and 3) Wittenberg had to win that game to keep pace with Wabash and Allegheny in the race for #2.  Everything about that game's context favored Wittenberg. 

[David Collinge]

For me, the benefit to Wooster of OWU's win today was not so much that Witt could no longer be Wooster's semifinal opponent as that it means that Wooster will not have to beat both Witt and Wabash, on back-to-back nights no less, to win the title.  I don't want to disrespect either Allegheny or OWU, but Wooster matches up much more favorably against either than they do against the W's.  Plus whichever team emerges from the 2-3-6-7 half of the bracket will have been through the wars and might not have much left for Saturday night.

[pennstghs]

 Billy - hope everything goes better for Earlham in the Heartland! At least you have Penn State basketball to fall back on.....wait nevermind

A fellow Penn State fan is rare to find these days around Ohio, keep in touch!

[smedindy]

Good knowing you guys.... have an enjoyable postseason and beyond.

By the way, I'll be back at Earlham next year as I enter one of the college's graduate programs...guess I'll be watching Heartland ball though.

One more time for good measure...

"Oh, you know it's true!!!!!"

[David Collinge]

The final NCAC Player of the Week trophy will be delivered to one of the genuine good guys of the league, forward Dave Knapke of Kenyon.  Knapke, who quietly and amid much adversity has built an outstanding senior season, capped off his year by averaging a double-double against the Indiana members of the conference.  Dave finishes up ranking 10th in the league in scoring, second in rebounding, eighth in field goal percentage, and fourth in blocked shots, a resume that surely will result in his third All-Conference certificate.  Congratulations, Dave!

-----------

Here's the tale of the tape for the POTW:
Wooster, Wittenberg, and OWU each copped the award twice, while the other seven squads had one winner apiece.  Wooster's Ian Franks was the lone two-time winner this season, and Denison's Dimonde Hale was the only Newcomer to cop the hardware.  The award was won just three times in 13 weeks by seniors, two of them coming in the last two weeks.  (Those seniors were George Raftis in week 1, and David Nowicki and Knapke in weeks 12-13.) 
Read these tea leaves however you will.

[David Collinge]

Conference-only statistical leaders:

Scoring Champion: Wooster's Ian Franks, at 19.5 ppg and nearly two points per game clear of OWU's Tim Brady.  (Wes Smith finished third at 17.5.)
Leading Rebounder: Larry Farmer of Denison (who knew!) at 10.9 rpg, a full 1.6 rpg ahead of Kenyon's Dave Knapke.  (George Raftis finished fourth at 8.1.)  Farmer was the best on the defensive glass (7.56) and on the offensive glass (3.31).
Assists: OWU frosh Andy Winters at just under 5.4 per game, nearly two per game ahead of Oberlin's Josh Merritt.
Assist to Turnover Ratio: Wittenberg's David Nowicki at 2.84, a healthy margin over Wabash's Brian Shelbourne.
Steals: Donte Briscoe of Allegheny, at three steals per game, well clear of Andy Winters and Wabash's Wes Smith.
Shooting percentages: The best overall field goal percentage belongs to Donte Briscoe, who connected on 63.2% of his shots, slipping past Wooster's Bryan Wickliffe (62.8%).  Oberlin's Marcus Johnson led the loop in free throw shooting, hitting 88.6% to finish just ahead of the more-frequently-fouled Aaron Brock of Wabash.  The top long-range shooter, technically, was Wittenberg's Seth Hill, whose outrageous 75% shooting equated to making nine shots in twelve attempts in nine games.  The runner-up, Wooster's Mike Evans, also just cleared the 1.0 threes-per-game threshold.  Of the more frequent long-range shooters, the best percentage belonged to Ian Franks, whose 47.9% rate on 48 attempts was good for third place in this category. 
Three point baskets:  Hill's nine makes weren't enough to get it done in this category; his teammate Chris Sullivan, who buried 58 long-range jumpers, is the champ here. 
Blocked shots: Larry Farmer was a whole lot more dominant in the post than I realized.  His 1.81 blocks per game were half-again better than OWU's Pat Pellerite, the runner-up here.
Minutes per game: Farmer's teammate Chris Luther saw the most action, at 33.7 minutes per game, about 26 seconds per game better than Oberlin's Andrew Fox.
Scoring and rebounding: Just three players were in the league's top ten in both scoring and rebounding:
> Wabash's Wes Smith--3rd in scoring (17.5), T9th in rebounding (6.5)
> Kenyon's Dave Knapke--T10th in scoring (14.6), 2nd in rebounding (9.3)
> Wabash's Aaron Brock--7th in scoring (15.6), 7th in rebounding (6.9)

Congratulations to all of these outstanding performers!

[smedindy]

Is the part of Donte Brisco played by Johnny Depp?

[zander]

Wittenberg is ready to play and win---A conference tourney is just what they need to cap off a good season and get the program back on track!
Go Witt!

[ScotsFan]

So, now that the regular season is over, who is going to walk away with the conference awards?

COY has already been touched on briefly.  When is the voting done?  Before or after the conference tournament?

Based on regular season only, I was inclined to say Clune from Allegheny but then they went and lost to OWU in the season finale.  Now, my focus has shifted towards either Mac Petty or Steve Moore.  I know that many say that what Steve Moore did wasn't anything anyone didn't expect, but guiding your team to 6 straight conference championships is pretty freaking amazing if you ask me.  I just don't see anyone else that jumps out at me that would make me say, yes, that warrants coach of the year honors more than a coach who has now guided his team to an NCAC record 6 straight conference titles and counting! 

As far as POY, is there really any debate over this?  Ian Franks is among the top 10 in the league in scoring, fg percentage, assists, ft percentage, 3 pt. fg. percentage, assist/turnover ratio and minutes played.  I really think that Ian should win this award going away.

And I think David touched on NOY going to Dimonde Hale.  He'd get my vote as well.  Wooster's Josh Claytor has gotten a lot of minutes and played well for Wooster as a frosh, but Hale gets the nod from a statistical point of view.  Andy Winters from OWU and Allegheny's Devone McLeod could also warrant considerations.

Let the debates begin...