MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

"sit, UMU, sit...good dog!"

That's one bad hat, Harry.

Cincinnati Christian (who?) at Wooster

And you're making fun of Mt. Union being a university?    This one ain't gonna be pretty.  Three years as an NAIA II school, prior to that they played in the NCCAA.  They lost their opener to Taylor, 95-54, after which they immediately downgraded their schedule.  I believe Sarah Palin is an assistant coach.

[woosterbooster]

Notes from the Wednesday night scrimmage at Ashland:

Coach Moore brought fifteen players with him, and in the three twenty-minute periods the Scots were called numerous times for icing while Ashland had several minor high sticking penalties.  Heh.  Seriously, Wooster's staff really mixed up the lineups; only very rarely were the starters together on the floor.  Most of the time it was more likely to be something like three veterans and two frosh.  So, it was difficult to get a good read on where the top guys would be were they to play together.  I'm seeing nine guys that might get quality minutes this season.  Steve Moore might have another one or two in mind but I'm not on board yet. 

Nathan Balch had some really nice minutes as his shot continues to fall.  I love his old school game with the pull up jumpers and runners.

The Scots didn't score inside much on post-up play despite getting some nice position down low.  I'd like to see them more often make a strong move to the hoop rather than immediately sending the ball back out.

Doug Thorpe continued to impress.  Nice penetration and dishing, working a nice two-man game especially with Josh Claytor.

Ashland might be a bit improved from last year; they definitely shot the ball better from out.  But they're still not big enough to compete with the Grand Valley States and Findlays.

Flash!  Wooster has a new look to it's athletic web page.  Kind of noisy and loud.  I still like the one that they had for many years until a couple of seasons ago.

[David Collinge]

Monday games:
Allegheny at Bethany
Denison at Marietta
Hiram hosts Mt. Union (no longer MUC, I am informed, but now UMU--"sit, UMU, sit...good dog!")
Westminster at Oberlin

Allegheny/Bethany: 8pm, Bethany live stats and silent videocast
Denison/Marietta: 7:30pm, live everything from Marietta (there's a JV games scheduled for 5:30, which I guess means that DU has a roster large enough to field a JV team.  Go Big Red!)
UMU/Hiram: 7:30pm, Hiram live stats
Westminster/Oberlin: 7:30pm, Oberlin live stats and video

--------------------

Hiram, which has not trailed, clings to a 3-point halftime lead, 34-31.
Oberlin is up 10 on their guests at the half, 39-29, and looks pretty good. 
Denison was getting hammered at Marietta (26-7) when the live stats had a merciful demise.
Allegheny ("AGH" in the videocast) is trading baskets with Bethany, 16-16 in the first period.

-----------------------

I'm going to need a supply of Bufferin for all the video bufferin' I'm being subjected to.

------------------------

Hiram, in control throughout, vanquishes UMU 71-53.  Typical Hiram gameplan, they grab 17 offensive rebounds.  Chris Roberts and Chris Meyer lead with 15 points, while Jide Eniola adds 14 with nine boards.
Oberlin also controlled their game, albeit a little less firmly than Hiram, and nail-bited out a season-opening 78-72 victory over Westminster.  Andrew Fox had a huge game with 24 points and 14 boards.  The Yeo shot 47% and won the glass war 43-40.
Marietta reports a 78-70 victory over Denison, which if true represents a big rally by the Big Red.
AGH! Allegheny falls to Bethany, 81-69.

[GoRed]

Denison did rally big.  Hale inside and good 3-pt shooting brought them to within 7 as the Pioneers got a little sloppy.  Marietta extended it again to 15 or 17 again, then the Big Red closed in once more.  They played a good 2nd half, but it wasn't enough to overcome an horrendous 1st half.  If they can avoid slow starts and play each game like they did the second half of this one, I see good things coming for Denison this year.

Add Dimonde Hale to the POY poll.  He gets my pre-season vote.

[David Collinge]

Add Dimonde Hale to the POY poll.  He gets my pre-season vote.

Actually, I did consider putting him in there, but I wasn't sure anyone else was as high on him as I was, and anyway, as Dan Hodgkinson proved quite capably, it's tough to win a POY award from a second-division program.
(My vote was not on my own list, either--I'm backing Bryan Wickliffe.)

[kiltedbryan]

I'm going to need a supply of Bufferin for all the video bufferin' I'm being subjected to.

Glad to see your humor is already in mid-season form, DC.   

More seriously, good to get some D-III basketball back.  I hope to be able to follow the teams/boards more closely this year than I had been able for the past couple years (grad school will do that to ya).  Unfortunately, I'll still be quite far away geographically from most of the NCAC action for the third year running.

Good to see the NCAC put up a couple non-conference wins with the openers.

[David Collinge]

Denison box score and recap.  The Big Red outscored the Pioneers 51-35 over the game's last 22:47, but that wasn't enough to overcome a 43-19 deficit at the beginning of that stretch.  Hale had 24 on 9-13 shooting, but he contributed 5 of DU's 16 turnovers, and missed 5 free throws, so there's still room for improvement in the sophomore.  Still, dead and buried before halftime on the road, it's good to see this team suck it up and fight to the end.  Let's see if that pays off against their next opponent on Wednesday, some little Quaker school in Indiana you've probably never heard of.  (It's true!  You know it's true!)

[pennstghs]

Lets go Witt, beat up on IU-East.

As last two years, Witt will be short handed for the first month at least as Josh Mckee and Micheal Cooper are still in football mode right now. We'll see what freshamn step up this year!

[David Collinge]

Tuesday:
Grove City at Kenyon
Albion at Ohio Wesleyan
Wittenberg at IU-East
Marian (IN) at Wabash

GCC/Kenyon, 6:00pm: video, audio, and live stats
Albion/OWU, 7:30pm: audio/video and live stats (tune in for the women vs. ND(O) at 5:30!)
Witt/IUE, 7:00pm: video, audio, and live stats
Marian/Wabash, 7:30pm: Audio

[ScotsFan]

That Albion at OWU game might just be worth tuing in for!

[David Collinge]

That Albion at OWU game might just be worth tuing in for!

OWU games are almost always worth tuning it, thanks to the Yoder brothers (aka @StreamOWUSports on Twitter).  They do a great job and make even the dullest games fun.  And they do most men's and women's home games.

[ScotsFan]

That Albion at OWU game might just be worth tuing in for!

OWU games are almost always worth tuning it, thanks to the Yoder brothers (aka @StreamOWUSports on Twitter).  They do a great job and make even the dullest games fun.  And they do most men's and women's home games.

IIRC, the Yoder bros. were butchering the pronunciation of something during their webcast with Wooster last year.  I'm thinking they weren't pronouncing Wooster correctly?  Or was it a player's name?  Pretty sure they were saying Wooooooster.  But now that you mention they make the games fun, maybe they were doing it intentionally?   

[woosterbooster]

One of the many pluses of the former two Wooster websites was the ability to click through on any of the opponents on the schedule to get to their own basketball web page.  Presto, that nice function no longer exists.  And, they've completely eliminated mention of the non-Wooster tournament games (and, hence, the times)  Again, style over substance, and I don't even care for the style. 

[David Collinge]

That Albion at OWU game might just be worth tuing in for!

OWU games are almost always worth tuning it, thanks to the Yoder brothers (aka @StreamOWUSports on Twitter).  They do a great job and make even the dullest games fun.  And they do most men's and women's home games.

IIRC, the Yoder bros. were butchering the pronunciation of something during their webcast with Wooster last year.  I'm thinking they weren't pronouncing Wooster correctly?  Or was it a player's name?  Pretty sure they were saying Wooooooster.  But now that you mention they make the games fun, maybe they were doing it intentionally?   

They both know how to pronounce "Wooster," but one of them (I forget which) intentionally says it the wrong way.  All in good fun.  They're actually very respectful fans who pull for their Bishops and like to have fun, but give proper respect to the opponent.  That's one reason why I like them.

[smedindy]

Let's see if that pays off against their next opponent on Wednesday, some little Quaker school in Indiana you've probably never heard of.  (It's true!  You know it's true!)

From your mouth to the ears of the Jug Rox' deadliest gunner.