MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[HopeConvert]

Wooster being put in Hope's sectional is not a real favorable draw.  Odds are whoever wins out at Wooster will be traveling to Hope the next weekend.

Hope may have an easy first round opponent, but having to play the winner of traditional powerhouse programs IWU and UWSP will be no gimme for the Dutchmen.

You're right; it won't be a gimme. However, IWU is a good-but-not-great team that comes stumbling into the tourney having gone 4-4 over its last eight games, while UWSP has lost its top scorer, Tyler Tillema (17.3 ppg) to a thumb injury.

To be fair to IWU, those four losses were @ #24 Wheaton, @ orv Augie, home to # 23NCC and @Wheaton again in the CCIW semis, all teams that finished in the top 4 in the CCIW so they weren't bad losses by any means...

No, not bad losses, but it's still a good-but-not-great team. Having seen both Hope and IWU this season, I can state with reasonable certainty that if IWU beats Hope at DeVos it'll be a considerable upset. I was fairly surprised that Wheaton made a late run and almost beat Hope at DeVos  at Van Noord Arena at Calvin back before Christmas, since Hope's definitely a better team than Wheaton ... and Wheaton's definitely a better team than IWU.

Fixed it for you.

Sorry. I keep mixing up the two Master Plans.

Hope's is the first one.

[wooscotsfan]

Some information on Witt's first round opponent.  Birmingham Southern runs a 10 man rotation (#10 guy plays 14 minutes/game) which sounds impressive until you realize that their lineup is short and they are vulnerable in the paint.  Of their top 10 guys, only one player is 6'7" and one other player is 6'6".  The remaining 8 guys are all guards and wings.

How vulnerable is Birmingham Southern (BSC) inside?  Well, some Wooster fans will remember 6'5" freshman Greg Ross out of Cincinnati who transferred out of Wooster after his first year.  He transferred to Centre College and has been a starter there for the last 2 seasons.

This past weekend in the SCAC tourney semi-finals played AT Birmingham Southern, 6'5" Senior Greg Ross pounded BSC for 28 points, 9 boards in leading Centre to the win that pushed BSC into their Pool C bid.

So if Greg Ross can punish BSC inside, how much damage can 6'7" Clayton Black, 6'7" Alex Brandt and 6'6" Jacob Weide do in the paint vs. Birmingham Southern?  Attention Bill Brown - feed the post on every Witt possession! 

GO TIGERS!  Represent the NCAC! 

[ScotsFan]

Some information on Witt's first round opponent.  Birmingham Southern runs a 10 man rotation (#10 guy plays 14 minutes/game) which sounds impressive until you realize that their lineup is short and they are vulnerable in the paint.  Of their top 10 guys, only one player is 6'7" and one other player is 6'6".  The remaining 8 guys are all guards and wings.

How vulnerable is Birmingham Southern (BSC) inside?  Well, some Wooster fans will remember 6'5" freshman Greg Ross out of Cincinnati who transferred out of Wooster after his first year.  He transferred to Centre College and has been a starter there for the last 2 seasons.

This past weekend in the SCAC tourney semi-finals played AT Birmingham Southern, 6'5" Senior Greg Ross pounded BSC for 28 points, 9 boards in leading Centre to the win that pushed BSC into their Pool C bid.

So if Greg Ross can punish BSC inside, how much damage can 6'7" Clayton Black, 6'7" Alex Brandt and 6'6" Jacob Weide do in the paint vs. Birmingham Southern?  Attention Bill Brown - feed the post on every Witt possession! 

GO TIGERS!  Represent the NCAC! 

wsf, thanks for the rundown of B-S.  Witt's post players must be licking their chops in seeing those numbers Ross put up for Centre.  I mean, 28 points and 9 boards?   

I've taken a glance at Maryville's roster and stats and I'm not seeing anything that jumps off the pages at me.  I will say one thing that the northern Scots are going to have to guard against is turning the ball over.  The southern Scots are forcing nearly 16 to's per game.  Wooster has done a better job of taking care of the ball down the stretch and are actually only averaging 13 per game on the season.  If Wooster can handle the Maryville defensive pressure, that won't bode well for the southern Scots.

[scottiedoug]

Maryville has several players who can shoot well and if a couple of them are doing so, it might be interesting.  If you do not work hard at defense for Coach Lambert, you do not play much, and they have had spurts of being pretty good defensively.  For whatever it is worth, the Wittenberg game was closer than the score and the southern scots are better now.

[sac]

The schedule strengths of the OWU bracket are something.  This is using masseyratings.com in BCS mode which takes out scoring margin.


Cabrini--#248
Castleton--#385
Hobart--#215
Ohio Wesleyan--#19

This doesn't make OWU the favorite, but I think it points out they have have played way better competition than the other 3 teams in this bracket.

[ScotsFan]

Maryville has several players who can shoot well and if a couple of them are doing so, it might be interesting.  If you do not work hard at defense for Coach Lambert, you do not play much, and they have had spurts of being pretty good defensively.  For whatever it is worth, the Wittenberg game was closer than the score and the southern scots are better now.

Wooster can play some pretty stifling defense as well and they have been since the post season started.  In 2 of Wooster's 3 conference tournament games, the northern Scots held their opponents to under 35% from the field and under 20% from beyond the arc.

A matchup to keep an eye on is Maryville's leading scorer, Milton Stanley, who is averaging 17 ppg against Wooster's defensive stopper, Justin Warnes.  Warnes has made a habbit of shutting down opponent's leading scorers over his career so we'll see if he can do it once again Friday against Stanley.

[ScotsFan]

The schedule strengths of the OWU bracket are something.  This is using masseyratings.com in BCS mode which takes out scoring margin.


Cabrini--#248
Castleton--#385
Hobart--#215
Ohio Wesleyan--#19

This doesn't make OWU the favorite, but I think it points out they have have played way better competition than the other 3 teams in this bracket.

Sort of backs up why some of us are of the opinion that this is a favorable draw for the Bishops...   

[Gregory Sager]

The schedule strengths of the OWU bracket are something.  This is using masseyratings.com in BCS mode which takes out scoring margin.


Cabrini--#248
Castleton--#385
Hobart--#215
Ohio Wesleyan--#19

This doesn't make OWU the favorite, but I think it points out they have have played way better competition than the other 3 teams in this bracket.

Sort of backs up why some of us are of the opinion that this is a favorable draw for the Bishops...   

... and it makes me feel pretty darned good about having Tim Brady on my tournament fantasy team.

[David Collinge]

The schedule strengths of the OWU bracket are something.  This is using masseyratings.com in BCS mode which takes out scoring margin.


Cabrini--#248
Castleton--#385
Hobart--#215
Ohio Wesleyan--#19

This doesn't make OWU the favorite, but I think it points out they have have played way better competition than the other 3 teams in this bracket.

Sort of backs up why some of us are of the opinion that this is a favorable draw for the Bishops...   

... and it makes me feel pretty darned good about having Tim Brady on my tournament fantasy team.

... and now you know why I was pimping him on that board. I think he has a good chance to put up some big numbers and play in at least three games.

[woosterbooster]

Maryville has several players who can shoot well and if a couple of them are doing so, it might be interesting.  If you do not work hard at defense for Coach Lambert, you do not play much, and they have had spurts of being pretty good defensively.  For whatever it is worth, the Wittenberg game was closer than the score and the southern scots are better now.

Wooster can play some pretty stifling defense as well and they have been since the post season started.  In 2 of Wooster's 3 conference tournament games, the northern Scots held their opponents to under 35% from the field and under 20% from beyond the arc.

A matchup to keep an eye on is Maryville's leading scorer, Milton Stanley, who is averaging 17 ppg against Wooster's defensive stopper, Justin Warnes.  Warnes has made a habbit of shutting down opponent's leading scorers over his career so we'll see if he can do it once again Friday against Stanley.

Let's hope that the Maryville team doesn't pop in here and grab some bulletin board material. 

[nuscottsfan]

Wooster Booster,
The Fighting Scots should come out and "just be" the Fighting Scots. The NCAC is a tough conference and after this season of ups and downs the Scots' MIS (Men In Suits) will be singularly focused on this game and (I'm sure) will have the TEAM solely focused on this game regardless of individual accolades procured.

[David Collinge]

When I was driving through campus this morning, Josh Claytor crossed in front of me...and he was limping (just a little bit though.)

[ScotsFan]

Maryville has several players who can shoot well and if a couple of them are doing so, it might be interesting.  If you do not work hard at defense for Coach Lambert, you do not play much, and they have had spurts of being pretty good defensively.  For whatever it is worth, the Wittenberg game was closer than the score and the southern scots are better now.

Wooster can play some pretty stifling defense as well and they have been since the post season started.  In 2 of Wooster's 3 conference tournament games, the northern Scots held their opponents to under 35% from the field and under 20% from beyond the arc.

A matchup to keep an eye on is Maryville's leading scorer, Milton Stanley, who is averaging 17 ppg against Wooster's defensive stopper, Justin Warnes.  Warnes has made a habbit of shutting down opponent's leading scorers over his career so we'll see if he can do it once again Friday against Stanley.

Let's hope that the Maryville team doesn't pop in here and grab some bulletin board material. 

While I'm flattered that you would think what I said warrants bulletin board material, I have one thing to say about that.  If Maryville needs banter from some fans on a hoops forum to post on their bulletin board as motivation to beat Wooster than they are in more trouble than I thought...     

[scottiedoug]

I can think of quite a few things that will motivate the southern scots and talk on this board is not one of them.  I do hope some of them are effective against a real good team playing at home.  This is a matchup between two coaches each with over 600 career wins, so preparation and motivation are most likely not problems.

[ScotsFan]

I can think of quite a few things that will motivate the southern scots and talk on this board is not one of them.  I do hope some of them are effective against a real good team playing at home.  This is a matchup between two coaches each with over 600 career wins, so preparation and motivation are most likely not problems.

Agreed!