MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

I just got home from work...did I miss anything interesting in here?

Just a little back and fourth, followed by the irrelevant "Did you ever even play a collegiate sport?" line.    

How about to the games this weekend fellas?

How about:  Is it a lock that the NCAC gets two teams into the NCAA Tourney this year?  What are the scenarios that would have us only sending 1.  

[Mr. Ypsi]

Only one scenario needed: if Woo wins, you are probably a one-team conference.

[seinfeld]

Both questions are extremely relevant. I'll take it from Wally's answer that he has never been to a Wooster-Witt game, yet he is commenting on it like an expert. Pretty silly if you ask me. The second question is also legitimate in that Wally has taken a position that he is the expert on the subject, telling others how they should view this topic. But I know he has never played a sport at any sort of high level. So he is failing to understand the game at a players level, and no, doing student radio doesn't count. Ask Wooster or Wittenberg players who their rival is? It wouldn't take them two seconds to tell you each other. If Wally wants to get on his high horse all the time, I think it is completely fair to point out he is passing judgment on how someone should view a rivalry even though he has never experienced one as a player. Note, I'm not saying that you have to play a sport to comment on that sport. In fact, it really irks me when you get that line from football coaches and players. But when you talking about something like this, I think having a perspective as someone who played in a rivalry game matters.

Of course, this is the same Wally who also felt the need to tell Wooster fans how to react to the controversial call at the end of the Albion-Wooster NCAA Tournament game in 2005 when a foul was called on a loose ball after a missed shot with under a second left to play and the score tied. Even though he wasn't even in the state, he felt he could better judge the call and how Wooster should feel than those of us at the game.

Oh, and I suppose these articles are full of crap too? He hasn't come in a while, but Terry Pluto, who is one of the most recognized sports columnists in Ohio, used to cover this game at Wooster on a yearly basis when he was the Akron Beacon Journal. The only Div. III game he would do. I wonder why he did that?

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wittenberg/2008/02/16/sns021608spwitthoops.html

http://www.d3hoops.com/nation/06/dec08.htm

http://www.athleticmanagement.com/2009/08/14/qa_with_garnett_purnell/index.php

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2006/12/05/tour-de-tejas-one-night-in-abilene/

http://www.mittensportsreport.com/2010/02/d-iii-basketball-great-lakes-regional_17.html

http://www.mascotfaceoff.com/

[David Collinge]

I could regale you all with my insights gleaned from being in the pep band for numerous Wooster/Wittenberg games, but I don't really remember any of them, since Wittenberg wasn't our big rival in those days*; Mt. Union was (Squash The Grapes!). 

FWIW, I was kind of hoping that Wooster would face Denison in the finals.

So, yeah, who else thinks Ohio Wesleyan is looking pretty solid right about now?  (You knew that was coming, surely.)


(*There's other reasons I don't remember many games from my college days, but we won't get into that right now.)

[wally_wabash]

I just got home from work...did I miss anything interesting in here?

Just a little back and fourth, followed by the irrelevant "Did you ever even play a collegiate sport?" line.    

How about to the games this weekend fellas?

How about:  Is it a lock that the NCAC gets two teams into the NCAA Tourney this year?  What are the scenarios that would have us only sending 1.  

I think the NCAC can only get two teams if Witt beats Wooster on Saturday Wooster loses sometime this weekend.  Witt and even less likely Wabash might be in Pool C, but neither can really afford to lose another game...ergo they'll need to win the tournament. 

Ok, really?  2005?  Turn the page already. 

So people write about Wooster/Witt...that means what exactly to the other teams chasing the bid?

Wooster/Witt is a great rivalry.  I didn't say otherwise and I certainly don't think otherwise.  But Wooster/Witt gets two scheduled games every year.  Beyond that, and especially in the conference tournament, the rest of the league actually gets to matter.  Everybody else gets to play for the same bid that Wooster and Witt do. 

[David Collinge]

You said that Coach Moore should be COY because he's won six straight league championships (this is on the record...I can pull the quote again if you'd like).  I said previous results can not (or at least should not) play any role in a single year award.  That's not jumping on you, that's debate.  As is the discussion about whether or not the entire season should count for an "of the Year" award.  If you're reading animosity, you probably need to relax and not take everything so personally.  This is sport...fans debate things like this all of the time.  It's ok to do so and not get all tweaked out of shape about it. 

Debating technique in action:

[wally_wabash]

Oh come on.  That was funny. 

[sac]

I just got home from work...did I miss anything interesting in here?

Just a little back and fourth, followed by the irrelevant "Did you ever even play a collegiate sport?" line.    

How about to the games this weekend fellas?

How about:  Is it a lock that the NCAC gets two teams into the NCAA Tourney this year?  What are the scenarios that would have us only sending 1.  

I think the NCAC can only get two teams if Witt beats Wooster on Saturday Wooster loses sometime this weekend.  Witt and even less likely Wabash might be in Pool C, but neither can really afford to lose another game...ergo they'll need to win the tournament. 

The latest Great Lakes Region rankings suggest thats the only way the NCAC gets two, and the only way Wabash gets in is by the AQ

1. JCU
2. Wooster
3. Hope
4. Calvin
5. Thomas More
6. Wilmington

.........best advice for Wooster is to get to the Championship game, teams that lose in the semi's very rarely gain Pool C bids.

[wooscotsfan]

Wooster/Witt is a great rivalry.  I didn't say otherwise and I certainly don't think otherwise. 

Wally - I finally found two sentences in one of your posts that I could agree with!


Here is one key fact that explains why people talk so much about the Wooster and Wittenberg basketball teams:

Either Wooster or Wittenberg has won the NCAC regular season basketball title for 17 seasons in a row!

With respect to the NCAC tournament, IMO it is a great thing that 8 teams (including Wabash ) all get an equal shot at winning the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.  Other NCAC teams have taken advantage of this opportunity with the latest being Ohio Wesleyan who won the bid during the 2007-2008 season.

I agree with Sac that only Wooster could get a Pool C bid based on the latest NCAA rankings.  I also think that Wooster needs to win the NCAC tourney if they want a shot at hosting any games in the NCAA tourney.

Should be a great NCAC tourney this weekend with 2 excellent matchups on Friday night!

[fantastic50]

Speaking of Friday night, tickets are $10, and will go on sale at 4:30 (no pre-sale).  Tip-off for the first game will be at 6:00.

[seinfeld]

When I came to the Board earlier, I actually had intended to agree with Wally on a couple of things, but felt the need to set the record straight on the rivalry thing. I do think the awards should take into account the tournament. I know they don't do it that way in the pros either, and I think it is wrong there. The most important games of the season aren't taking into account when selecting awards? Makes no sense.

Anyway, for things that actually matter. While Wooster is the favorite to win the tournament, I think the margin of difference between the four teams still left is about as small as I can remember. I can't speak for anyone else, but Wabash crushing Wooster in the semis two years ago is fresh in my mind, as I'm sure it is for Brandon Johnson (who got hurt early in the game), Wickliffe and Franks.

While Franks and Wes Smith are the two best players in the conference (by the way, I think Smith on his best day is better than Franks on his, it's just that Franks is more consistent; is probably the best player in the conference at two positions (point and wing); and means more to his team), Tim Brady may be the most explosive offensive player. He has scored 27 points in two of the last three games, and had the best half of offensive basketball I've seen in a while against Wooster last week. Without oversimplifying, the Scots defensively need to be in Brady's hip pocket the entire game. Start with Johnson and then bring Warnes off the bench. If they can suffocate him, Wooster will be fine. If not, who knows. Will be interesting to see how Hallowell fits back in. Maybe watching the Scots shoot the lights from three-point range while he was gone will help him regain his stroke.

As for Wabash-Wittenberg, I don't really know what is going to happen. I'm going to pick Wittenberg, just because they've been close twice and maybe they get it done this time. But Smith and Aaron Brock are the best players in this matchup, and if they play well, Wabash will probably win.

[ScotsFan]

I agree that any of these 4 semi-final teams is more than capable of punching their ticket to the NCAA's.  I can remember many times when I felt that 3 of the 4 teams had legitimate shots, but rarely have I felt that way about all 4 teams.

As for the Woo/OWU matchup, I too feel that slowing down Tim Brady is going to be a key for Wooster defensively.  However, I think just as important for Wooster is going to be making sure that Brady doesn't have much help.  Looking at last weeks game, yes Brady went off for 21 points in the first half vs. Wooster, but the Scots still led at halftime by 16!  That tells me that Brady didn't have much help from the rest of his team.  And when you look at the 2nd half, Brady only scores 6 points, yet the Bishops played the Scots even.  So, to me, the more balanced OWU is, the more dangerous they are.

I still expect Wooster to win this game, but as seinfeld pointed out, if that beat-down that Wabash delivered to the Scots in the semis two years ago is still fresh in our minds, it should very well be fresh in the minds of the leaders of this team.  If Wooster doesn't come out ready to play from the opening tip, OWU could very easily pull the upset.

As for the Wabash/Witt game, I'm going to choose to obstain from making any comments on this game as to not unintentionally offend any of our friends from Indiana.  Heaven forbid I say something that gets misconstrued as me lacking respect or something towards Wabash so it's best to just say nothing at all... 

[pennstghs]

On to the discussion of the games tomorrow night....who will all be in attendance. I think its best that I stay home tomorrow night because Wabash will "easily" win both matchups like the first two......jk

First of all, David, I don't think OWU will matchup well once again with Wooster. They are a matchup heaven for Wooster. OWU relies on their post game as their perimeter game isn't up to the level of say Wooster or Wittenberg. Because of that Wooster can compact their defense into the paint and counteract that battle. In the two matchups vs Witt this year and the matchup home vs Wooster, OWU's inability to hit outside shots is their kryptonite.
Also, this is the exact reason that Wittenberg matches up well w/ Wooster at times because by them pounding the ball inside possession after possession, Wooster has to collapse their defense, which opens up outside shots.

For the Wooster fans, what's the status on Hallowell. Him being in the game is a big changer in the strategy for teams in their defense gameplans/sets.

Can I expect a rowdy crowd this weekend?

[smedindy]

"I'm not gonna sit here and debate..."

Lest I be put through the woodchipper! 

Look, all I was doing was bringing up a semantic, and it became the US Senate all of a sudden. 

Yeesh. Play ball!

[zander]

Exactly--"play ball"......let's enjoy the games---all 4 teams have had great seasons and as fans we're lucky for the chance our teams (and especially our seniors) have to extend their seasons for another night!!!

Go WITT