MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[D-III Insider]

Well it seems to be that time of year again.  The first of what seems like almost always three Wiitt-Wooster battles.  What a rivalry.

Wooster should win today's game and maybe even comfortably.  The Tigers are still not healthy and very young.   Actually I think it bodes better for Witt that the second game is in Springfield in another six weeks.  By then they may be healthy and still have a chance to win/tie for NCAC crown if they can defend their home court.  

The pressure is on Wooster tonight.  They have to win or be faced with possibly having to win in Springfield for a tie and they are the #1 ranked team.  A game like this is why players play, coaches coach and fans watch.

Two of the most storied programs in the last 25 years at the DIII level.  This seems like UM-OSU in the 70's.  Diffrent year ... same story.
I will say Wooster 68 Wittenberg 57.  What you folks think?

[wooscotsfan]

A few keys to tonight's big game between Wooster and Wittenberg:

- How does Wooster try to slow down Clayton Black and Chris Sullivan?
- How does Wittenberg try to slow down Ian Franks, Nathan Balch and Justin Hallowell?

- Does each team play man to man defense and who denies three pointers better?
- Do Ian Franks and Michael Cooper guard each other and how does that matchup play out?
- Which team wins the battle of the boards?

I plan on watching a great rivalry game at Timken tonight!  It should be a "blackout"!

GO SCOTS!

[D-III Insider]

Not going to be able to make the trip to Wooster tonight.  But will hopefully be able to see the Ustream feed.  I predict you see more zone defense out of the Tigers than you expect.  They zoned Wabash alot on Wednesday.

Predictions??

[cave2bens]

Agree that a myriad of circumstances might affect an outcome, Smed, and frankly if COW had canned more than 67% from the charity stripe (16-24), it wouldn't have been that close.  What is more puzzling is how the LGs out-boarded both Witt and COW, not only in total caroms, but by 2:1 on the offensive end against both (trusting Mr. Harris for the stats).  

My locale (Botswana) doesn't enable downloads of video feeds, so this observation is purely "gut reaction" to stats, but is there either a hesitancy to take the ball back up strong, or just an inability to put it in the hole (no comment from the DPU contingent required... I know)?

COW by 4 tonight at home, unless Scots shoot the lights out over the zone - then 11 may be a good bet.  Now back to the boring cricket reruns on the tube. 

[David Collinge]

A few keys to tonight's big game between Wooster and Wittenberg:

- How does Wooster try to slow down Clayton Black and Chris Sullivan?

I'm not sure you can really do both of these things.  Sullivan sometimes shuts himself down by being cold, but he takes his shots from so far out that, if he's hitting and you choose to try to take away his shot, you could be leaving yourself exposed in the interior.  Wooster could put one man in Sullivan's jock and try to play four-on-four on the Tiger end, I suppose.  That would have the advantage of having a Wooster man always ahead of the break in transition.  But the best strategy may be to hope that Sullivan is cold (since he'll shoot whether he's hot or not) and then pack it in on Black.

[ScotsFan]

Or Maybe it's because the Big Red scared the heck out of them last weekend at Livingston?

Yeah that's it...  

After seeing how the Scots handled that game, I don't think they have the heads for sweeping conference play and going deep in the tournament any more.  The big guys seemed to get intimidated by the smaller, but tougher, Denison inside guys.  Coach Moore went as ballistic as I've ever seen him, and Hallowell spent a good part of the game jawing with and whining to the officials.  Not the composure I expected from the Number 1 team, and I have to say I enjoyed watching it.  

Impressive how you can draw this conclusion after seeing the Scots ONE time???    Forget the fact that the Scots waxed Denison by 30 in Wooster.  Forget the impressive wins they have on the road at Wabash, at Anderson and at OWU.  So you see them get into a dogfight with an inspired Denison team and suddenly you have the foresight to predict that this team doesn't have the heads to make a deep run in the tournament???  Personally, I'd say I saw just the opposite.  If they didn't have the heads, they wouldn't have found a way to pull that game out in the end as they did.  

Bottom line is, it's hard enough to get through the conference schedule unscathed.  Personally, I'm not expecting it to happen either.  But, the fact is, as good as Wooster is, they are going to have games like they did last Saturday in Granville or a few weeks ago in Meadeville.  Especially given the fact that they are getting the best efforts of the teams they are playing due to their current streak of conference championships and that little #1 ranking they have next to their name.  So, forgive me if I don't share in your opinion you have drawn after watching this team play one time that this isn't a team capable of making a deep run come tournament time.

[woosterbooster]

What is more puzzling is how the LGs out-boarded both Witt and COW, not only in total caroms, but by 2:1 on the offensive end against both (trusting Mr. Harris for the stats).

Rebounding numbers are a tricky business.  Team A's offensive rebounders are not directly matched up against Team B's offensive rebounders, so just looking at the OR numbers can give a skewed representation of what actually happened on the court.  Doing so is similar to comparing, in a single football game, the stats of Team A's quarterback against the numbers of Team B's quarterback, when in actuality they're not facing each other but rather the opposing team's defensive unit.  Another analogy would be comparing the stat lines of the two pitchers in a baseball game; they're facing the opposition's hitters, not each other.

You need to look at the number of available rebounds at each end of the court and see who comes up with them.  Available rebounds depend on the number of shots taken and how many go in.

Wabash at Wittenberg:

Wabash missed 36 shots and had 14 offensive boards.  So, they took down .39% of the available boards at their offensive end.  That's a pretty darned good number.  Wittenberg missed 32 shots and had only 7 offensive boards.  So, they controlled only 22% of the rebounds at their offensive end.  In this game, the Little Giants did indeed do a far better job on the offensive glass than the Tigers.  Obviously, to see a team's defensive rebounding prowess, just flip these percentages.

Wooster at Wabash:

Wooster missed 33 shots and had only 8 offensive boards, for just 24%.  Wabash missed 45 shots with 16 offensive boards; 36%.  So, you can see from looking at it this way that while Wabash did do a better job on the offensive glass than Wooster, it was not truly the 2:1 ratio that the simple OR numbers indicate.

[woosterbooster]

2010-11 NCAC Team Rebounding Percentages   -   Through January 21st                                 
                                 

Opp's   Avail           Opp     Avail           Total      Off        Def   Total Team      Off   Def        Off   Def   Off     Def        Total   Avail      Reb     Reb   Reb               Reb  Reb     Reb   Reb   Reb     Reb        Reb   Reb      Pct.     Pct.   Pct. Wooster      211  335    546   491   187     678     702   1224   .386    .724   .574 Wabash     197   338    535   430   160     590     627   1125   .368    .729   .557 Wittenberg  203   321    524   382   174     556     585   1080   .387    .687   .542 Kenyon     191   414    605   442   186     628     633   1233   .316    .704   .513 Hiram     266   458    724   369   162     531     635   1255   .367    .695   .506 OWU             223   443    666   432   202     634     655   1300   .335    .681   .504 Allegheny     165   409    574   378   230     608     543   1182   .287    .622   .459 Denison     173   409    582   347   217     564     520   1146   .297    .615   .454 Oberlin     137   454    591   368   183     551     505   1142   .232    .668   .442 Totals   1766 3581  5347   3639 1701   5340   5405   10687   .330    .681   .506

I don't know how to get these columns to line up.  Anybody know if there is a way?

[cave2bens]

WooBoo -  I appreciate your effort and analysis, and I will resist any cliche, Geico comments about "cavemen."  

My inquiry was whether these "bonus opportunities," when secured, were capitalized on.  I haven't seen a statistic on "second chance" points, but only those generated off turnovers.  Sometimes players become borderline "bi-polar" in the paint - aggressive in crashing the boards, then for whatever reason (unless a Gene Hackman clone tells his player not to shoot), tentative or even "gun shy" about executing a put back with similar enthusiasm.  Just seeking opinions from fans, regardless of W affiliation, who watched those games for insight.

Mein Gott, cricket is as boring as soccer - thank goodness it's over for the night and Super 15 and trout season resume next week.  

[David Collinge]

2010-11 NCAC Team Rebounding Percentages   -   Through January 21st                                 
                                 

Opp's   Avail           Opp     Avail           Total      Off        Def   Total Team      Off   Def        Off   Def   Off     Def        Total   Avail      Reb     Reb   Reb               Reb  Reb     Reb   Reb   Reb     Reb        Reb   Reb      Pct.     Pct.   Pct. Wooster      211  335    546   491   187     678     702   1224   .386    .724   .574 Wabash     197   338    535   430   160     590     627   1125   .368    .729   .557 Wittenberg  203   321    524   382   174     556     585   1080   .387    .687   .542 Kenyon     191   414    605   442   186     628     633   1233   .316    .704   .513 Hiram     266   458    724   369   162     531     635   1255   .367    .695   .506 OWU             223   443    666   432   202     634     655   1300   .335    .681   .504 Allegheny     165   409    574   378   230     608     543   1182   .287    .622   .459 Denison     173   409    582   347   217     564     520   1146   .297    .615   .454 Oberlin     137   454    591   368   183     551     505   1142   .232    .668   .442 Totals   1766 3581  5347   3639 1701   5340   5405   10687   .330    .681   .506

I don't know how to get these columns to line up.  Anybody know if there is a way?

The format is this, using square brackets instead of squggly ones:

{table}
{tr}{td}data point or heading{/td}{td}data point or heading{/td} (etc. to the end of the row) {/tr}
{tr}{td}data point or heading{/td}{td}data point or heading{/td} (etc. to the end of the row) {/tr}
{tr}{td}data point or heading{/td}{td}data point or heading{/td} (etc. to the end of the row) {/tr}
{/table}

Comes out like this:

heading	heading	heading
dp1	dp3	dp5
dp2	dp4	dp6

[David Collinge]

Wabash 83, Oberlin 55
Denison 99, Allegheny 89
OWU 74, Kenyon 70

Standings prior to tonight's Witt/Woo showdown:

1. Wooster 8-0, 17-0
2. Wittenberg 7-0, 12-4
3. Wabash 7-2, 15-2
4. Ohio Wesleyan 6-3, 10-8
5. Kenyon 4-5, 8-10
6. Denison 3-7, 6-12
7. Hiram 2-6, 8-9
8. Allegheny 2-8, 5-13
9. Oberlin 0-9, 1-17

[David Collinge]

A few keys to tonight's big game between Wooster and Wittenberg:

- How does Wooster try to slow down Clayton Black and Chris Sullivan?
- How does Wittenberg try to slow down Ian Franks, Nathan Balch and Justin Hallowell?

- Does each team play man to man defense and who denies three pointers better?
- Do Ian Franks and Michael Cooper guard each other and how does that matchup play out?
- Which team wins the battle of the boards?

I plan on watching a great rivalry game at Timken tonight!  It should be a "blackout"!

GO SCOTS!

This is truly an outstanding rivalry.  Sometimes in such rivalries, the standard questions do not apply.  It's more like
- Which role player will step up when the big names are ineffective due to foul trouble, cold shooting, or good defense?
- Which team will overcome uncharacteristic weaknesses in its usual gameplan?

Black and Sullivan were non-factors, and yet Wittenberg led most of the game behind a big game from Cameron Walton.  Wooster shot 4 of 22 from the arc, and still managed to pull out the 65-58 victory.  Strange things happen in rivalry games.  Thank god.

Congratulations to Wooster's Bryan Wickliffe, whose 12 points (10 in the second half, which were huge) put him over the 1,000 point mark in his career.

[David Collinge]

Standings through the games of 1/22:

1. Wooster 9-0, 18-0
2. Wittenberg 7-1, 12-5
3. Wabash 7-2, 15-2
4. Ohio Wesleyan 6-3, 10-8
5. Kenyon 4-5, 8-10
6. Denison 3-7, 6-12
7. Hiram 2-6, 8-9
8. Allegheny 2-8, 5-13
9. Oberlin 0-9, 1-17

[kiltedbryan]

Congratulations to Wooster. The fight they showed in the late comeback impressed me. The 3-point shot was never there, but tonight they got it done. This squad keeps finding ways to win basketball games, and especially in this rivalry, that's all that tends to matter at the end of the day. Wittenberg put forth an incredible effort and it looked like they would bring it home at several points throughout the evening. The first-hand report indicates that the atmosphere in Timken was incredible.

[ScotsFan]

The first-hand report indicates that the atmosphere in Timken was incredible.

Incredible may just be an understatement.  First of all, it was a packed house in full black attire.  And when Wooster finally climbed all the way back to actually take the lead, I don't think I've ever heard Timken louder. 

One of the keys to the comeback for me was Witt going into stall mode after doing such a great job of building their 11 point lead.  Witt was milking the shot clock on almost every possession and as a result, were not getting the quality looks at the basket as they had been so effective at doing for the most part of the first 10 minutes in the 2nd half.  And Wooster took advantage, slowly but surely pecking away at the Witt lead and the more the Witt lead shrunk, the tighter the Witt players became.

Bryan, I totally agree about how impressive this team is in finding ways to win.  When Witt stretched the lead out to 11, in years past, I don't think we would have seen the game finish the way we saw it finish tonight.  But this team just doesn't quit.  I have been critical of their poor finishes in a couple of games they had well in hand and almost blew (Wilmington, Wabash) but at the same time, they have proven they have what it takes to make the plays down the stretch when they are behind to pull out wins as well (CMU, Allegheny, Denison, and Witt).


And good points David about how all of our predictions about who will guard who and who will need to be stopped can go ahead and get thrown out the window.  Black turns out to be stoppable when he gets into foul trouble.  And the battle between he and Wick never truly materialized as Wick spent some time on the bench in foul trouble as well.  And Witt didn't just put Cooper on Franks.  Instead they chose to collapse down on him with double and triple teams and they got away with it because Wooster was colder than the temps outside from deep.  Thankfully for Wooster they weren't the only ones frigid as Sullivan finished with only one made trey for Witt.  And who would have ever guessed Cameron Walton almost was the hero of the night for Witt going 4-6 from deep to almost be the unlikely hero. 

But as the great ones always do, Franks made the plays when he needed down the stretch to once again led all scorers in yet another All-America type performance reminding everyone why he is the reigning NCAC POY.

And I too will send my congrats to Wick on joining the 1000 point club at Wooster!  His 10 second half points were absolutely HUGE in helping the Scots to this come from behind win!