MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Two out-of-division games tonight, already noted on Smed's now pages-ago schedule:

IU-East at DePauw
PSUNK at Oberlin

[smedindy]

Those are two very *odd* matchups just looking at the schools - regional branch university campuses versus national residential liberal arts colleges.

[GoRed]

Question for Big Red Fans....watching D Hale against Wabash shoot everything left handed Saturday, when did he change to shooting left-handed? Or is he injured? I went back and watched some film and he definitely shot right handed in past years.  Just curious....

Wabash2011

First, let me congratulate you on the comeback win Saturday night.  While we Big Red fans have become accustomed over the years to being outcoached when in the lead, adjusting to a 17 point deficit and coming back to win against any team is no easy feat.  I was impressed with the LG's composure in the second half and their ability to execute. 

Hale is not hurt to my knowledge.  He is being reprogrammed to shoot FT's with his left hand in the hope of increasing his FT percentage.  While junior year is a bit late to be adjusting a player's form, it probably can't hurt in this case.  I just hope that he doesn't start thinking he should be shooting FG's outside of three feet. 

Rather than writing a new line of code for Hale, though, Denison should really start pricing out a new operating system. 
Wabash is the third lead of 14 or more already this season to dissolve into a loss for the Big Red (how the team held on against Capital I do not know but good for them!).  If it happens again, I would put new Assistant Chris Sullivan in the driver's seat right away and hope he didn't learn any bad habits in his first seven games on the bench.

A team like this year's Big Red should not be folding when they have big leads.  They have more talent and experience this year than ever before and have proven they can play against good teams.  So when the talent and experience are there, it comes down to coaching.  The coach's job is to understand the flow of the game and counter the other side's in-game adjustments.  For ten years now that has not come from the Big Red bench.  I see a lot of pointless substitution, head scratching and complaining about calls, but no great coaching moves. 

We should be a contender for hosting a tournament game this year.  Instead of being a possible 6-1, though, we are 3-4 and a .500 year may be only a pipedream.  I'm not ready to write off the season yet, but if Bob Ghiloni looks back at the end of February and sees only a mediocre season at best, he needs to look no further than his own mirror.  Blaming his players or lack of depth isn't an excuse this year.  The Big Red have the ability to get it done, but Ghiloni has to take his game to a different level, or get out of the way and let someone else get it done. 

[smedindy]

One final to report:

Oberlin 74, PSU - New Kensington 50 - Andrew Fox led the Yeomen with 21, while Geoff Simpson added 15 and 11 rebounds. Oberlin played 15 players and no one was a member of club trillion (though Jacob Goldstein only had a turnover on his ledger in three minutes).

As of now, with 16:05 left in the game, IU-East has a 42-33 lead over DPU.

[woosterbooster]

Oberlin beat somebody by 24 points?  Look, you know, if you're gonna fill in for Collinge, you gotta get these scores right.  Or was this not a basketball game but a re-run of an old GE College Bowl?  In which case, PSUNK definitely covered the spread.

[smedindy]

PSU-NK lost to Mt. Aloysius 131-72, as reported earlier. Those branch PSU schools can be, well, not good in basketball terms. They are USCAA members and for the most part D-3 squads roll over those.

[smedindy]

The other final:

IU - East 79, DePauw 66 - The Red Wolves went on a 15-2 run early in the second half and held off the Tigers. Sean Haseley led DPU with 21, while Barry Flynn continued his strong play with 17 points and 12 boards.

NCAC now 29-19 in non-conference if I added correctly.

[David Collinge]

New Top 25:
Wooster inches up to #5 but is within 8 points of #3 Va. Wesleyan.
Wittenberg drops out and back to effective #27.
Wabash enters the poll at #25.
Ohio Wesleyan feels the love with three points.

[David Collinge]

One game tonight:
Millikin at Wabash

[smedindy]

Here's a preview:

Millikin (0-6) @ Wabash (6-0) - CCIW vs. NCAC? Sounds like a good match-up? Not so fast my friends. Millikin is reeling, and some wags say they could be winless this year (though they may have a good chance at Cornell (IA) later in the month. Wabash is soaring, and now in the Top 25. I don't think first-year coach Antoine Carpenter allows the LG's to overlook the Big Blue even with Wooster coming to Chadwick this weekend.

[smedindy]

Wednesday's NCAC action:

Non-Conference:

Case Western Reserve (4-2) @ Allegheny (2-6) - CWRU is 3-1 against the NCAC and unless the hangover from Allegheny's frenetic run against the OWU scrubs carries through, I bet they will be 4-1. I wouldn't quite call the Gators 'a mess', but they are struggling.

Conference:

Hiram (0-1, 2-3) @ Oberlin (0-1, 3-4) - The Yeomen have shown signs of life, in whapping PSU - New Kensington and not getting run out of the gym by Wittenberg. Hiram lost a close on to CWRU where they definitely showed improvement from the Denison game. This will be an interesting one to watch. A win for either team would be welcome for confidence.

Kenyon (0-2, 2-4) @ Ohio Wesleyan (1-0, 6-1) - The Lords lost a heartbreaker to DPU after staying with the Scots for a half. They're going to be decent, but the NCAC schedule makers didn't do them any favors as the probably will enter the holiday break 0-3 in league play. OWU cruised by Allegheny until it was bench-clearing time, and I'm sure coach DeWitt made that a teaching moment. The Bishops look like they will go to 2-0 here.

Wittenberg (1-0, 2-2) @ Wooster (1-0, 5-0) - Just a typical mid-week early-season NCAC game.  I don't have a good read on the Tigers, still. IU-East and Marietta are quality teams but the Tigers really haven't impressed in their wins. I do have a read on the Scots. They look as strong as ever. This may be close because of the rivalry aspect, but I do see a Scots win. Frankly this should be a Saturday night game in late January, not thrown in here.

[David Collinge]

Current conference standings:

DePauw 1-0
OWU 1-0
Wabash 1-0
Wittenberg 1-0
Wooster 1-0
Denison 1-1
Allegheny 0-1
Hiram 0-1
Oberlin 0-1
Kenyon 0-2

[woo91]

Hey guys, we're going to be continuing our show with Wooster coach (and Wittenberg alum) Steve Moore tomorrow at 11. Do you guys have any burning questions you'd ask him?

[woosterbooster]

I'd really like to know who the jerk is that's attacking woo91.  He's a Wooster student who only peeks on here to announce their excellent radio show.  He's never voiced an opinion, at least in this room, nor even commented on the Scots' team.  And somebody feels the need to take swipes at him?  C'mon.  You wanna hit me, go at it.  But give the kid a break.

[imderekpoe]

Hey guys, we're going to be continuing our show with Wooster coach (and Wittenberg alum) Steve Moore tomorrow at 11. Do you guys have any burning questions you'd ask him?

Here's my question - not that I'd really expect an answer...

So far either Josh Claytor or Jake Mays has played every meaningful minute, and there doesn't really seem to be a viable option for a 3rd big man.  What's the plan for when they need someone else due to foul trouble or injury?