MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

well capital probably will not be a first or second round opponent now. They were beaten tonight by Mt. Union.  Mt. outplayed and outcoached them, a well deserved win.

So,  seeing as Cap has been ranked ahead of Calvin in the last 2 regional rankings, if Calvin loses in the MIAA Championship game, do the Knights stay ranked below Cap for the Pool C bid?  Something to think about...

[smedindy]

We may never know. I think these last ratings are the 'secret' ones...

[KnightSlappy]

well capital probably will not be a first or second round opponent now. They were beaten tonight by Mt. Union.  Mt. outplayed and outcoached them, a well deserved win.

So,  seeing as Cap has been ranked ahead of Calvin in the last 2 regional rankings, if Calvin loses in the MIAA Championship game, do the Knights stay ranked below Cap for the Pool C bid?  Something to think about...

They (i.e. Calvin) will almost surely end up ahead of Capital in the final (secret) rankings. In that scenario Hope would enter the rankings and Calvin would get "credit" for 1-2 versus regionally ranked opponents. We'd be looking at:

Calvin .905 WP / .461 SOS / 1-2 vRRO
Capital . 792 WP / .490 SOS / 1-2 vRRO

[smedindy]

Rematches, of course, in the NCAC tourney tonight:

Wooster, of course, blew Wittenberg away (at Witt, no less) way back in December, but had to fight hard to keep from blowing a double-digit second half lead and won just 75-71 at Wooster on the 9th.

Kenyon faced OWU just once, losing 81-69 back in December when OWU was on a roll. Kenyon's won seven of eight, though, (and nine of 11) and I think the previous result may be thrown out the window. I had not realized Kenyon was on such a streak, but there. you. go.

[sac]

Rematches, of course, in the NCAC tourney tonight:

Wooster, of course, blew Wittenberg away (at Witt, no less) way back in December, but had to fight hard to keep from blowing a double-digit second half lead and won just 75-71 at Wooster on the 9th.

Kenyon faced OWU just once, losing 81-69 back in December when OWU was on a roll. Kenyon's won seven of eight, though, (and nine of 11) and I think the previous result may be thrown out the window. I had not realized Kenyon was on such a streak, but there. you. go.

This little gem from my blog last summer

8. Kenyon 11-15, 5-11

Good gravy how did Kenyon win so many games with 13 underclassmen, nine of them Freshmen?  Kenyon loses 1 Senior, only their 3rd leading scorer and then return everyone else.

Unlike Allegheny I see reasons to be a little optimistic in Gambier.   They might hover around the .500 mark and pick off a pretender or two along the way. Maybe next year's Denison?

[woosterbooster]

Wow!  Kenyon was doubled up at 36-18 near the end of first half and now they're about to tie it up!

[fantastic50]

Kenyon keeps it close into the final minutes, but OWU pulls away late to win,  77-64.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 40  Wittenberg 37

Wooster is missing Kenny DeBoer who is out with a knee injury.  Scots are being led by Evan Pannell with 13 points and Doug Thorpe with 11.

Wittenberg's top scorers in the half were Zach Leahy with 14 points and Sam Collins with 9.

Witt shot 63% in the half compared to only 42% for Woo but the Tigers committed 8 turnovers (vs. only 2 for the Scots) and were outrebounded 15 to 12.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 78  Wittenberg 66

Wooster beats its rival for the 3rd time this season!   Scots were led by Evan Pannell with a career high 21 points, Doug Thorpe with 17 and Xavier Brown with 9.

Wooster's depth showed tonight with freshman Alex LaLonde starting in place of the injured Kenny DeBoer.  LaLonde hit two big three pointers in the last 6 minutes of the game and also pulled down 8 boards to go with his 8 points.

Wittenberg's top scorers were Zach Leahy with 16 points, Scott Masin with 14 and Sam Collins with 12.

Wooster is now 23-4 and will face Ohio Wesleyan tomorrow night for the NCAC tourney championship.  Witt finishes the year at 17-10.

GO SCOTS!

[kiltedbryan]

Tonight's game in one sentence:

Wittenberg played very well; Wooster played better.

In a few more sentences:

Probably the overall best game I saw Wooster play this year (sadly, I haven't seen all that many). Perhaps also one of Wittenberg's best, as well. I really thought the Tigers looked pretty good in nearly all phases of the game. Their two weaknesses were defensive rebounds (only 19 total; Wooster had 14 offensive boards) and turnovers from the guards, a few of which were quite unforced (twice stepping out of bounds on the wing, for example). Those extra offensive opportunities for Wooster proved decisive at Timken tonight.

Credit the Scots' guards for proving themselves to be a step ahead of Witt tonight - guard play was a key strength for the Scots tonight. Thorpe, Goodwin, Brown, Wingard and Pannell (give the man a game ball!) were all very good throughout. I especially thought that their offensive decision-making was excellent, which was reflected in the season-low 4 turnovers.

[wooscotsfan]

Tonight's Woo-OWU game is likely a very important game for NCAA tournament seeding purposes.

If Wooster wants a chance to host a couple of games in the NCAA tourney, they need to secure the win and the NCAC automatic bid.  In past years when Wooster entered the NCAA's only as a Pool C at large team, they have ended up playing NCAA tourney games at road sites like Rock Island, Albion, Transy, etc.

Wooster's defense will be tested again tonight in trying to slow down OWU's guards.  Taylor Rieger has become OWU's leading scorer and he is shooting 43% on three pointers with 64 now made on the season.  Andy Winters is a close second in scoring for OWU and he continues to excel (as Kenyon discovered last night) at penetrating drives to the basket.  Hopefully, Wooster's "D" can contain Rieger and Winters tonight.

GO SCOTS!

[WAlum]

Looks like it was a great game last night in Wooster between Woo and Witt.  Another great matchup tonight between the top two teams in the NCAC as Woo and OWU meet for the NCAC title.  I will take the Scots by 8.

[ScotsFan]

Tonight's game in one sentence:

Wittenberg played very well; Wooster played better.

In a few more sentences:

Probably the overall best game I saw Wooster play this year (sadly, I haven't seen all that many). Perhaps also one of Wittenberg's best, as well. I really thought the Tigers looked pretty good in nearly all phases of the game. Their two weaknesses were defensive rebounds (only 19 total; Wooster had 14 offensive boards) and turnovers from the guards, a few of which were quite unforced (twice stepping out of bounds on the wing, for example). Those extra offensive opportunities for Wooster proved decisive at Timken tonight.

Credit the Scots' guards for proving themselves to be a step ahead of Witt tonight - guard play was a key strength for the Scots tonight. Thorpe, Goodwin, Brown, Wingard and Pannell (give the man a game ball!) were all very good throughout. I especially thought that their offensive decision-making was excellent, which was reflected in the season-low 4 turnovers.

Well said.  How disheartening must it have been for Witt to play arguably their best half of basketball of the season (save for the 8 turnovers) in that first half, only to look up at the scoreboard as the half time buzzer went off and saw that they were trailing by 3?  Despite shooting nearly 20 percentage points better than Wooster, the Scots still led at the break. 

Wooster did step up their defense in the second half holding Witt to just 10-30 shooting, but the Tigers still wouldn't go away as it was still tied at 61's late in the game before Wooster took over and put the game away!

What is the severity of the injury to DeBoer?  I really thought his absence was going to kill us last night especially when Mays and Claytor had to go to the bench early in the first half after both picked up 2 fouls.  But as wsf noted, Lalonde stepped up big in starting for DeBoer.  What a nice addition that turned out to be.  Josh Kipfer also came in and played well as Moore was forced to go to the freshman as there were no other options at the big spot once both Claytor and Mays both had to go to the bench.  The fact that Witt couldn't capitalize on this was a key as Wooster actually went on a nice run with Claytor and Mays on the bench as opposed to Witt seizing the opportunity and increasing their lead...

Now it's on to Woo/OWU part 3.  Both of the regular season games could have gone either way and especially the last one in Timken where the Bishops blew a double digit lead over the last few minutes allowing Wooster to come back to win in OT.  I still think, win or lose tonight, the Scots should remain the top ranked team to come out of the GL Region.  OWU has already lost to the Scots twice and as they have remained in the two spot, I don't think one win would vault them ahead of the Scots.  But this is the NCAA selection committee we're talking about so throw out any rationale when it comes to how they come to their decisions.  Wooster wins and I think you can guarantee Wooster will host at least the first round of tournament games...

[woo84]

I heard DeBoer had an inflamed knee but I don't know the severity of it. I know he had surgery on it during the off-season. Could be he just needs rest and ice. Nevertheless, we need him against OWU. I hope we play defense like we did the second half last night. If we can put the clamps on Rieger and Winters, I like our chances.

[kiltedbryan]

In regards to whether Wooster or OWU would be ranked first in the region if OWU wins tonight, let's review the primary criteria for each:

(Records assume OWU victory tonight; SOS is through last Sunday)

1. In-region winning %: Wooster 22-5 (.814), OWU 22-4 (.846) - Advantage OWU
2. SOS: Wooster .554, OWU .537 - Advantage Wooster (OWU is getting the multiplier benefit of a road game tonight though)
3. In-region head-to-head: Wooster 2-1 - Advantage Wooster
4. In-region results vs. regionally-ranked opponents: Wooster 3-2, OWU 3-2 - Advantage even

The only one I'm not sure about is the in-region results vs. common regional opponents - but I think it's even because both of them were 12-2 in NCAC play when excluding the games against each other, they're both 2-0 in the NCAC Tournament so far, and I only saw one other common opponent (Marietta), who they both beat. So I think both are sitting at 15-2 vs. in-region competition vs. common opponents.

So if OWU wins, I think we'd see them as even on two criteria, OWU holding the edge in one, and Wooster holding the edge on two. If SOS is basically at parity as well, then really head-to-head competition would seem to be the primary criterion differentiator, and Wooster will still have that edge. That could be enough to keep the Scots at #1 in the GL.