MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

Back from Timken where I watched Wooster play probably their best game of the season against a very talented UW Whitewater team.

Kudos to Wooster for beating the first place team from the WIAC ...usually considered one of the top 2 conferences in D3 basketball!  Always nice to knock off a higher ranked team (#8) in the D3Hoops poll.

Congratulations to the Wooster coaching staff on making the Sweet Sixteen again!

Wooster's defense tonight was terrific as they gave the Warhawks very few open looks until the final 2 minutes when the Scots were trying to avoid fouls.  Brandon Johnson played great defense on Dupree Fletcher and Bryan Wickliffe effectively neutralized 6'9" Dustin Mitchell (held him below his average) even though he was giving up 4 inches in height.

Ian Franks was unstoppable tonight with 30 points and Whitewater had no answer for him.  Wooster won this game because they executed on offense (shot 48%) while holding the Warhawks to only 43% from the floor.  The Scots also made their free throws at 81% while Whitewater missed a lot.

Great win for Wooster as they are now 25-5.   Next up is Guilford on Friday.

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

My take away from this game was the same as David's- Ian Franks carried the team in the first half but Brandon Johnson is showing his leadership here at the end of the season.

I think you mean ScotsFan.  People get us confused all of the time, despite his being a full generation younger than me.   

[goscots]

Sorry - I should be duly down graded for bad references

I do want to point out another achievement with tonight's win. Here is the list of 14 consecutive 20 win seasons...

1996-1997   23-6   Four year running record   86-24
1997-1998   22-6                                             90-22
1998-1999   25-4                                             89-23
1999-2000   26-3                                             96-19
2000-2001   24-4                                             97-17
2001-2002   21-7                                             96-18
2002-2003   30-3                                           101-17
2003-2004   26-4                                           101-18
2004-2005   27-3                                           104-17
2005-2006   26-4                                           109-14- d3 has this has 26-5 but I'm pretty sure I'm right
2006-2007   29-5                                           108-16
2007-2008   23-5                                           105-17
2008-2009   23-7                                           101-21
2009-2010   25-5                                           100-22

So since the first final four season they have achieved a four year running total of 100 wins - 8 seasons running. An amazing high level of consistent achievement.

[goscots]

I should have put a smiley on my first comment 

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulations Wooster on the big win.  You even defended The Belt^TM.   

[fantastic50]

I read on the ODAC board that the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro next weekend, so all the hotels in the city are likely booked up.  Guilford might not get to host, after all.

Harrisonburg has the CAA women's tournaments (at James Madison), and given the relatively small size of the town, they might not be a good choice logistically, either.

Is it possible that the Scots will luck into being at home for one more weekend?

[ArmingtonCave]

The sectional at Wooster would be awesome.  Make it happen.

[seinfeld]

Wooster has the largest gym and the highest attendance average of the three teams that have a shot at hosting, for whatever that is worth. I still think it is a real long shot that Wooster would get to host, but it's not impossible.

One thing that is playing a role in how teams, especially Wooster, are approaching these tournament games are the media timeouts. It is silly that they have media timeouts at Div. III, especially games that are not televised live, but it is helpful to Wooster. Steve Moore always tightens up his rotation come tournament time, but with these extra stoppages, he is able to do it even more this year. The Scots are basically playing just seven guys, with a few token minutes thrown to Evans and Warnes.

[ScotsFan]

I read on the ODAC board that the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro next weekend, so all the hotels in the city are likely booked up.  Guilford might not get to host, after all.

Harrisonburg has the CAA women's tournaments (at James Madison), and given the relatively small size of the town, they might not be a good choice logistically, either.

Is it possible that the Scots will luck into being at home for one more weekend?

This is an interesting development.  Good catch fantastic!

Part of hosting also has to do with having adequate accommodations for visiting fans is it not?  Well, I'm guessing hotels will be hard to come by within 60 miles of Greensboro with the ACC tournament in town.  And it looks as though Harrisonburg might not exactly be such a strong choice as well with the CAA Women's tournament going on at JMU!  When will we find out how this will play out? 

[imderekpoe]

I read on the ODAC board that the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro next weekend, so all the hotels in the city are likely booked up.  Guilford might not get to host, after all.

Harrisonburg has the CAA women's tournaments (at James Madison), and given the relatively small size of the town, they might not be a good choice logistically, either.

Is it possible that the Scots will luck into being at home for one more weekend?

This is an interesting development.  Good catch fantastic!

Part of hosting also has to do with having adequate accommodations for visiting fans is it not?  Well, I'm guessing hotels will be hard to come by within 60 miles of Greensboro with the ACC tournament in town.  And it looks as though Harrisonburg might not exactly be such a strong choice as well with the CAA Women's tournament going on at JMU!  When will we find out how this will play out? 

I did a quick check when I got home last night and there were hotels available in Greensboro, but they were either 2-stars or very expensive.  I guess the fact that the ACC tourney is in town would explain that.

There's also the chance that Wooster might not have even submitted a bid for the tournament.  From the looks of things they were ready to begin construction (or rather de-construction) of the PEC immediately...  But it would be great to have the possibility of 2 more games this year in the friendly confines of Timken Gym!

[wooscotsfan]

I read on the ODAC board that the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro next weekend, so all the hotels in the city are likely booked up.  Guilford might not get to host, after all.

Harrisonburg has the CAA women's tournaments (at James Madison), and given the relatively small size of the town, they might not be a good choice logistically, either.

Is it possible that the Scots will luck into being at home for one more weekend?

This is an interesting development.  Good catch fantastic!

Part of hosting also has to do with having adequate accommodations for visiting fans is it not?  Well, I'm guessing hotels will be hard to come by within 60 miles of Greensboro with the ACC tournament in town.  And it looks as though Harrisonburg might not exactly be such a strong choice as well with the CAA Women's tournament going on at JMU!  When will we find out how this will play out? 

Accommodations, size of gym and seedings all affect the hosting.  The other factor is which schools have filed the paperwork to host a sectional.  Wooster usually files the paperwork (but did they with the new construction ready to start?) and you would think that both Guilford and EMU have filed?

If memory serves, the sectional sites are usually announced either Sunday night or Monday morning.  The NCAA can't wait too long because obviously there are 3 teams that have to make travel arrangements!


One other kudo on last night's win by Wooster goes to Nathan Balch!  Balch was the Scots leading rebounder and he recorded a double double with 15 points and 11 boards.  Wickliffe and Hallowell correctly focused on boxing out the Whitewater big guys which allowed Balch to sneak the lane and grab some boards.

Great to see Balch playing well at the end of the season as he was the NCAC tourney MVP also!

[imderekpoe]

According to the D3 Basketball Handbook the sectional sites are announced today online.

Teams interested in hosting need to have submitted applications by Feb 19, noting which rounds they are interested in hosting.

Also from the handbook:

Site Selection
The Championships Committee has prioritized the following site-selection criteria for all championships:
1. Quality and availability of the facility and other necessary accommodations;
2. Geographical location (which may include such factors as rotation of sites, weather, accessibility and transportation costs);
3. Seeding; and
4. Attendance history and revenue potential, which shall be considered necessary to assure fiscal responsibility.

[David Collinge]

It's Guilford.  Pack a tent and hope for good weather. 

[ScotsFan]

It's Guilford.  Pack a tent and hope for good weather. 

My slim hopes of Wooster getting the sectional have been dashed.    Nothing unexpected though. 

I see that Wooster has a link up for Live Video and that Guilford does appear to offer Video for free so I guess I'll be resigned to watching it on my computer.  Maybe I'll hook up the laptop to my flatscreen and watch the game on the bigscreen.   

[wooscotsfan]

No surprise on Guilford hosting the sectional.  After all, they are 28-2 and the #3 ranked team in the country according to D3Hoops.  Most important, the NCAA committee clearly had them as the #1 seed in this quarter of the bracket.

For Wooster, I now think that they are playing with "house money" to use a poker expression.   The Scots have nothing to lose this coming weekend and everything to gain if they can pull a big upset by beating Guilford on their home floor.

Wooster at 25-5 has already had a great season:
1.  NCAC regular season title
2.  NCAC tourney title and NCAA bid
3.  Win over the #8 team nationally to reach the Sweet Sixteen!

So with very few folks expecting a Wooster win next weekend, let see if the Scots can adopt a "nothing to lose" attitude next Friday and pull the big upset at Guilford!

GO SCOTS!