MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

I don't know what's going on with this Kenyon/Wittenberg game, but it has now been "canceled" according to the Witt site.  Not "postponed" (again), but "canceled."  I don't see how that is possible--it'll have to be made up sometime, for the integrity of the conference standings--and I don't understand why this has happened.  The Kenyon women are on site and preparing to tip off against Witt in 10 minutes.  I suppose the Kenyon men traveled separately from the women, since the women are headed directly to Oberlin for a game tomorrow while the men have tomorrow off, and maybe the men's bus just couldn't get there?  Is the weather still bad back there?  I have lots of questions, but no answers.

UPDATE:
According to Ben Bradley on the Witt videocast of the women's game, the KC/Witt game was rescheduled for tonight by the NCAC office, and Kenyon "did not approve" of the schedule change, and "refused" to make the trip to Springfield.  He's suggesting that it might go down as a forfeit victory for the Tigers.  I'm sure there will be more details forthcoming.

What's even weirder is that Kenyon has tomorrow off, so it wouldn't be a burden playing back-to-back games. Yeesh...

[David Collinge]

I don't know what's going on with this Kenyon/Wittenberg game, but it has now been "canceled" according to the Witt site.  Not "postponed" (again), but "canceled."  I don't see how that is possible--it'll have to be made up sometime, for the integrity of the conference standings--and I don't understand why this has happened.  The Kenyon women are on site and preparing to tip off against Witt in 10 minutes.  I suppose the Kenyon men traveled separately from the women, since the women are headed directly to Oberlin for a game tomorrow while the men have tomorrow off, and maybe the men's bus just couldn't get there?  Is the weather still bad back there?  I have lots of questions, but no answers.

UPDATE:
According to Ben Bradley on the Witt videocast of the women's game, the KC/Witt game was rescheduled for tonight by the NCAC office, and Kenyon "did not approve" of the schedule change, and "refused" to make the trip to Springfield.  He's suggesting that it might go down as a forfeit victory for the Tigers.  I'm sure there will be more details forthcoming.

What's even weirder is that Kenyon has tomorrow off, so it wouldn't be a burden playing back-to-back games. Yeesh...

This fact makes me suspect that there's something else going on here that we don't know about.  (And I hasten to point out that all we know is through Ben Bradley's comments before the women's game, and I can't attest as to how well-informed those comments were.)  I've asked the league office for more information, and I'll report back with whatever, if anything, I find out.

[ohiofan1954]

How did I become interested in d3 and denison? that might too long to answer. In 06 I inherited money. Had always wanted to watch college sports so I picked OU first because they were closest(I hate ohio stae)outside of columbus. I was instantly hooked on ou even though they lost to bg that day. After that I had too see something every weekend. So columbus has a lot of opportunites for football, basketball, so starting at cap I have been to just about every school you can think of in ohio(well I have missed a few). My favorite is denison because the folks their are so nice and it is the most beautifull campus I have seen(kenyon, john carroll, miami and michigan are also at the top of my list of most beautifull campuses. Usually make it over to denison 3 or 4 times a year for basketball, at least once for football and love watching lacrosse there. I have also turned into a amatuer photographer so I am almost always taking pictures.(always in football). I also love wooster, not far from mvnu where I went to school. I remember the wooster cap game well, sorry too bring up bad memories. I was hoping the scots would win also. I have always been impressed by the support the socts get from the community. I think all school would appreciate that much support. It doesn't seem too matter which sport there are alway plenty of fans. Of course my favorite tradion has always been the pipers. Too bad they can't come in off the hill with the football team anymore. Through the stadium just isn't the same. I am easy to spot at games. I usually have ohio u gear on. Just look for the guy who looks like john mccain and that is me. Oh I am also a big fan of otterbein as well.I try to go to at least 2 hoops game every saturday(once again columbus makes that pretty easy) and during football season I try to go to as many doubleheaders as possible. I actually saw wooster play 4 times this year in football. Oh one last thing I was at the wooster-denison hoops game this  year. Looked for a long time like denison might pull the big one in that game also.

david

[David Collinge]

The Springfield News-Sun has the story.  Basically, it seems that Kenyon balked at the Friday date for academic reasons, and Wittenberg balked at a possible Monday date for competitive reasons, and both sound valid.  There will not be a forfeit (i.e., Witt doesn't get a win on their record), but for purposes of seeding the conference tournament, Witt gets credited with a conference win, provided the teams and league can not agree on a re-play date in the coming weeks (seems unlikely.)

[ohiofan1954]

Oh, I can't believe I missed what I like about d3 the best. I appreciate when the student-athletes are actually students.

david

[David Collinge]

So, for all intents and purposes, the conference standings now look like this:

1. Wooster 11-0, 20-0
2. Wittenberg 10-1, 14-5
3. Ohio Wesleyan 8-3, 12-8
4. Wabash 8-4, 16-4
5. Hiram 4-7, 10-10
6. Kenyon 4-8, 8-12
6. Denison 4-8, 7-14
8. Allegheny 2-10, 5-15
9. Oberlin 1-11, 2-19

I don't even want to think about what impact the Wittenberg/Kenyon not-a-forfeit result will have on tiebreakers.

[David Collinge]

And here's Saturday's slate of action:

Wabash at Wooster, ~2pm -- video, audio, and live stats -- Game 2 of a doubleheader, women vs. Denison at noon
Oberlin at Denison, 3pm -- audio and live stats
Hiram at OWU, ~3pm -- live stats -- Game 2 of a W/M doubleheader
Allegheny at Wittenberg, ~6pm -- video, audio, and live stats -- Game 2 of a W/M doubleheader
Kenyon is in the library

[Li'l Giant]

Kenyon is in the library

*applause*

[seinfeld]

Maybe the bigger question for Wittenberg is how does the NCAA look at this game in terms of regional rankings and a Pool C bid were they to need it. There is such a fine line for a number of teams that on the bubble, that having one less regional win will make a difference.

[David Collinge]

Maybe the bigger question for Wittenberg is how does the NCAA look at this game in terms of regional rankings and a Pool C bid were they to need it. There is such a fine line for a number of teams that on the bubble, that having one less regional win will make a difference.

From what I can gather, in the eyes of the NCAA there was no game and no result.

[David Collinge]

Our little fiasco is now the lead story on D3hoops.com.

[wooscotsfan]

Big game tomorrow with Wabash visiting Wooster!

Wabash really needs a win tomorrow to strengthen their case for a NCAA Pool C bid if they don't win the NCAC automatic bid.  Another loss by Wabash would make 5 on the season and almost force them to win the automatic bid to get into the NCAA tourney.  Teams with 6 losses usually are on a low probability bubble for getting a NCAA bid.

Wooster really needs a win tomorrow to stay one game ahead of Wittenberg in the conference race.  A loss by Wooster would likely put them in a must win situation when they play at Wittenberg if the Scots want to win the NCAC regular season title.

With both teams nationally ranked and needing the win, I plan on watching a great game tomorrow!

GO SCOTS!

[WAlum]

Our little fiasco is now the lead story on D3hoops.com.

Fiasco is right.  I am sure there is more to this story. We have the Witt side reported. I hope we get to hear this from the Kenyon perspective.

[Pat Coleman]

Our little fiasco is now the lead story on D3hoops.com.

Yeah that was an interesting afternoon. It's unusual for us to directly link out to a story on another publication's site, but this was an unusual story.

[David Collinge]

On top of what's been reported, I understand that Kenyon had transportation issues as well, probably tied into the fact that the men's and women's teams could not travel together (because the women had to go directly to Oberlin from Springfield.)

It's an unfortunate situation all around. I may be in the minority here, but I am glad to see that, in a situation where there was (reportedly) an irresolvable conflict between academics and athletics, academics was given priority. I think that's the essence of D3.