MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Titan Q - yes, either Cleveland (one hour drive south to Wooster) or Akron/Canton airport (40 minutes drive west to Wooster) are good choices.

And sometimes you can get better fares through Columbus, but its about a 90 minute drive.

Pittsburgh is always an option as well and I've heard their fairs are lower than those from Cleveland, but it's a bit farther than any of the options given above.  If you take the scenic route, its a prettier drive than any of those options though... 

[Titan Q]

Titan Q - yes, either Cleveland (one hour drive south to Wooster) or Akron/Canton airport (40 minutes drive west to Wooster) are good choices.

Are you going to have any media credentials, or are you just coming as a fan and planning to sit in the IWU section? I'll keep an eye out for you, just gotta know where to look. Unfortunately I'm not likely to be there much before the first game tips on Friday.

Just coming as a fan in the stands, David...I look forward to seeing you!

Thanks for the travel advice, all!

[WoosterFAN]

Wooster Hosts again. I am not in favor of another iteration of Tigers v. Scots at Timken for a spot in the Final Four. My blood pressure may not be able to take it. This is quite a POD with the top 3 winningest Division III programs. The head coach at North Central is experienced having lost to Ill. Wesleyan in the 1997 National Championship game! Best perimeter player is coach's son. Looking forward to the CCIW/NCAC challenge for the final four!

[woosterbooster]

Hey, Pat, the last paragraph of the men's hosting article is wrong.

[Pat Coleman]

Hey, Pat, the last paragraph of the men's hosting article is wrong.

Oh well.

[scottiedoug]

Congratulations from a southern Scot fan who did not see the Scots' game in person or otherwise (I thought y'all northern Scots were technologically sophisticated....).  Good luck!  Did the southern Scots put up any resistance?  We are looking forward to a better year next year and hope the experience will help our big crop of freshman.

[pennstghs]

Can't say I agree with the NCAA at all for awarding Wooster as the host site. I know Wooster has reasons, but can't justify it to any Wittenberg fan when Wittenberg beat Wooster twice this year and won arguably the toughest league in the country, but the NCAA has a history of making idiotic decisions. Oh well, at least Wittenberg plays well at Wooster but they definitely have their hands full.

I was in attendance friday at Transy but not Saturday. Very impressed with the facilities and student section from Transylvania. I'm glad Transy lost Friday as they would have been a tough matchup for Witt. The stands were not full Friday night, but the 10:15 start probably had something to do with that one.

Can we quit complaining about the officials for once? The officials that did the Hope/IWU game were actually pretty good. Its usually one school that does most of the complaining about them anyway......

Good luck to Witt this week! I won't be able to make it up to north Ohio as I'll be in Indy for the Big Ten tourney.

[imderekpoe]

Can't say I agree with the NCAA at all for awarding Wooster as the host site. I know Wooster has reasons, but can't justify it to any Wittenberg fan when Wittenberg beat Wooster twice this year and won arguably the toughest league in the country, but the NCAA has a history of making idiotic decisions. Oh well, at least Wittenberg plays well at Wooster but they definitely have their hands full.

I was in attendance friday at Transy but not Saturday. Very impressed with the facilities and student section from Transylvania. I'm glad Transy lost Friday as they would have been a tough matchup for Witt. The stands were not full Friday night, but the 10:15 start probably had something to do with that one.

Can we quit complaining about the officials for once? The officials that did the Hope/IWU game were actually pretty good. Its usually one school that does most of the complaining about them anyway......

Good luck to Witt this week! I won't be able to make it up to north Ohio as I'll be in Indy for the Big Ten tourney.

My guess that people will quit complaining about officiating about the same that time people quit complaining about NCAA hosting decisions!   

[Mr. Ypsi]

Can't say I agree with the NCAA at all for awarding Wooster as the host site. I know Wooster has reasons, but can't justify it to any Wittenberg fan when Wittenberg beat Wooster twice this year and won arguably the toughest league in the country, but the NCAA has a history of making idiotic decisions. Oh well, at least Wittenberg plays well at Wooster but they definitely have their hands full.

I was in attendance friday at Transy but not Saturday. Very impressed with the facilities and student section from Transylvania. I'm glad Transy lost Friday as they would have been a tough matchup for Witt. The stands were not full Friday night, but the 10:15 start probably had something to do with that one.

Can we quit complaining about the officials for once? The officials that did the Hope/IWU game were actually pretty good. Its usually one school that does most of the complaining about them anyway......

Good luck to Witt this week! I won't be able to make it up to north Ohio as I'll be in Indy for the Big Ten tourney.

My guess that people will quit complaining about officiating about the same that time people quit complaining about NCAA hosting decisions!   

True!

Actually, everyone I talked with agreed the IWU @ Hope game was poorly officiated, though most thought they were equal-opportunity poor.  Two incredible teams playing their hearts out, with officials well below what they deserved.

Since this is the NCAC board, I won't even bother commenting that NCC and IWU ALSO deserved consideration for hosting!

[smedindy]

You gotta win 'em where you play 'em anyway. Just the same as you gotta overcome whatever the refs call or don't call.

[ScotsFan]

Since this is the NCAC board, I won't even bother commenting that NCC and IWU ALSO deserved consideration for hosting!

I'm of the opinion that the NCAA's decision about Sectional hosts stemmed from schools that hosted the Regionals.  Of all the schools that hosted and won their regional pods, all of those schools are all hosting again next weekend.  My guess is, the main reason Wooster is hosting (besides being deserving to host  ) is that they were hosting last weekend and won.  Witt, NCC and IWU all won their pods as visiting teams.  Had NCC been hosting instead of WashU, I'd say it may have been a toss-up between them and Wooster.  But because Wooster is the only school of the 3 in this Sectional that hosted, I believe that is the overriding factor that went in their favor for hosting.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Since this is the NCAC board, I won't even bother commenting that NCC and IWU ALSO deserved consideration for hosting!

I'm of the opinion that the NCAA's decision about Sectional hosts stemmed from schools that hosted the Regionals.  Of all the schools that hosted and won their regional pods, all of those schools are all hosting again next weekend.  My guess is, the main reason Wooster is hosting (besides being deserving to host  ) is that they were hosting last weekend and won.  Witt, NCC and IWU all won their pods as visiting teams.  Had NCC been hosting instead of WashU, I'd say it may have been a toss-up between them and Wooster.  But because Wooster is the only school of the 3 in this Sectional that hosted, I believe that is the overriding factor that went in their favor for hosting.

It seems you may be right.  In the past, it seems that a team could very rarely make it to Salem never having left home.  Assuming that home court is a distinct advantage, I'm not sure I approve of this seeming trend.  I approve of hosting being a reward for quality work, but vanishingly few teams have 'earned' playing ONLY home games prior to Salem (and, this year, Wooster ain't one of them; I don't think any team probably is this year).

Oh well, we already took out #1 Hope AT Hope; you're next on the list!

(Geez, Mr. Y, aren't you starting the trash talk a bit early in the week?! )

[woosterbooster]

I'm inclined to agree with you Ypsi.  If it's a close call to host the second round, I think that one of the road warrior teams from round one should get the nod.

Pennstghs, I'll complain about the officials any goddamned time that I want, especially in a game that doesn't involve Wooster.  They were miserable, if unbiased, and should be put out of work as soon as possible.  Good choice going to the Big Ten tourney, because Wittenberg's going to get their ass handed to them by North Central.  And outside of anyone that makes the trip from Springfield, there won't be a person in the house offering them any sympathy.

[ScotsFan]

I'm not sure the connections in Timken have ever been all that good--and I don't think they did any upgrades to them while building the Scot Center addition, unfortunately. Not sure what you need to be able to get a good stream, but no idea if the bandwidth is really there.

Still, terribly disappointing.

Yes, this is unfortunate.  IMO, I'm disappointed in Wooster's decision to completely ignore upgrading or even updating any part of the original PEC including Timken Gym and Timken Natatorium.  To build that beautiful new Scot Center and choose to leave the PEC basically untouched was a missed opportunity to me.  Especially Timken Gym (a facility I think should be the jewel of facilities at Wooster due to the tradition of basketball at the college). I shudder to think what kind of recruiting hauls Coach Moore could bring in if he had facilities even half as nice as what you see at other D3 programs like Hope and Calvin.  The bones of Timken Gym aren't that bad.  It is just well overdue for a facelift including new seats, new scoreboards, new lighting, and obviously, upgrades to their internet connectablity so we don't have the problems with live video feeds that we have seen now in the last two post-seasons.

[ScotsFan]

It seems you may be right.  In the past, it seems that a team could very rarely make it to Salem never having left home.  Assuming that home court is a distinct advantage, I'm not sure I approve of this seeming trend.  I approve of hosting being a reward for quality work, but vanishingly few teams have 'earned' playing ONLY home games prior to Salem (and, this year, Wooster ain't one of them; I don't think any team probably is this year).

Oh well, we already took out #1 Hope AT Hope; you're next on the list!

(Geez, Mr. Y, aren't you starting the trash talk a bit early in the week?! )

I totally agree that Wooster hasn't truly 'earned' the right to play at home for the chance to go to Salem, but as you said, I don't see any team left in the tournament that probably 'earned' that right.  Last year, I feel Wooster was totally deserving of hosting the first 2 rounds of the tournament, but this year...  Not so much.  An argument could have been made for Hope, but they didn't take care of their own business at home last weekend and they're not in the tournament anymore.  An argument could have been made for Amherst, but it's the Amherst girls' turn to host this year.  Witt could have 'earned' that right but they lost in the conference semis to a .500 basketball team at home.  IWU could have 'earned' that right but going 4-4 over your last 8 games doesn't help.  As you said, I don't see any team from this Sectional that clearly 'earned' the right to host over another team.  And it's not like Wooster just backed into being chosen for this.  They may have been swept by Witt, but they did find a way to finish second in a very competitive NCAC this year, they have gone 21-2 including winning the NCAC Tournament and last weekend's Regional since dropping back to back games to Wabash and Witt back before X-mas.