MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

Wheaton's very thin up front, too, wooscotsfan, and "tall team" is a relative term. Wheaton probably is a tall team when the over 400 teams in D3 are considered as a whole, particularly in terms of the backcourt; but by their own competitive standards (i.e., the CCIW), Wheaton is not notably tall.

Agreed.  It's more that Wooster is a short team.  Looking around at the match-ups during various times in the game, the Scots were giving away several inches at every position, especially at the guard spots.

Some observations:

1. How good Dan Fanelli is, or will be, is still in question.  The problem is, it all becomes moot if he can't stay on the court.  Friday night he drew some dubious calls.  Last night was his own fault, particularly the second call, when he reached around a Wheaton player to try to steal a rebound.  You just can't do that when the chances of a reward are so slight and the penalty so steep.  His free throw shooting scared me, too, as he left two attempts well short, barely drawing iron.

2. Josh Kipfer doesn't have much in the way of skill or quickness.  But he was a warrior inside last night, pulling down boards that he had no right to get.  He even found a couple of open shooters on the perimeter.  A job well done, that had to be done or Wooster loses.

3. Evan Panell played like the Evan Panell of last year.  Not afraid to shoot or penetrate, he came up big when needed.

4. If it's at all possible, XB's shooting seems to have improved from last season.  The textbook pull-up jumper remains, and he's not missing many at all.  The big difference is that he's now taking his three-pointers with the same pure form and making them.  Another important weapon added.

5. XB deservedly received the tourney MVP.  But I think it should have been shared with Doug Thorpe.  Thorpe is so tough down the stretch, and he's the man that Steve Moore gives the ball to when the shot clock, and game clock, are winding down.  In twenty years of watching, he's the best Scot I've seen at that job.

6. This Scot team will go as far as their big men, both the fours and fives, can take them.  They don't need all that much out of the five spot; just rebounding and the ability to find open shooters from the post.  Scoring is gravy.  Another tough test on Thanksgiving Eve down at Marietta.

[Dr. Acula]

I wanted Mount to get Fanelly after watching him in HS.  He looked like a really nice player.  He'd look nice next to Ruffin.  Any chance the Raiders could offer up a couple football players and cut a deal for a big man?     I don't blame the kid one iota for going to Wooster though.  Great tradition and a great school.  Tough to beat that combo.

[Urban For Prez]

Wittenberg beat Oberlin 85-69 in an early conference matchup.  Not much to say about this one, other than that Sam Collins had the type of efficient scoring night he will need to have if the Tigers want to have a chance at winning the NCAC.  Witt moves to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

[bufordscot]

Wheaton's very thin up front, too, wooscotsfan, and "tall team" is a relative term. Wheaton probably is a tall team when the over 400 teams in D3 are considered as a whole, particularly in terms of the backcourt; but by their own competitive standards (i.e., the CCIW), Wheaton is not notably tall.

Agreed.  It's more that Wooster is a short team.  Looking around at the match-ups during various times in the game, the Scots were giving away several inches at every position, especially at the guard spots.

Some observations:

1. How good Dan Fanelli is, or will be, is still in question.  The problem is, it all becomes moot if he can't stay on the court.  Friday night he drew some dubious calls.  Last night was his own fault, particularly the second call, when he reached around a Wheaton player to try to steal a rebound.  You just can't do that when the chances of a reward are so slight and the penalty so steep.  His free throw shooting scared me, too, as he left two attempts well short, barely drawing iron.

2. Josh Kipfer doesn't have much in the way of skill or quickness.  But he was a warrior inside last night, pulling down boards that he had no right to get.  He even found a couple of open shooters on the perimeter.  A job well done, that had to be done or Wooster loses.

3. Evan Panell played like the Evan Panell of last year.  Not afraid to shoot or penetrate, he came up big when needed.

4. If it's at all possible, XB's shooting seems to have improved from last season.  The textbook pull-up jumper remains, and he's not missing many at all.  The big difference is that he's now taking his three-pointers with the same pure form and making them.  Another important weapon added.

5. XB deservedly received the tourney MVP.  But I think it should have been shared with Doug Thorpe.  Thorpe is so tough down the stretch, and he's the man that Steve Moore gives the ball to when the shot clock, and game clock, are winding down.  In twenty years of watching, he's the best Scot I've seen at that job.

6. This Scot team will go as far as their big men, both the fours and fives, can take them.  They don't need all that much out of the five spot; just rebounding and the ability to find open shooters from the post.  Scoring is gravy.  Another tough test on Thanksgiving Eve down at Marietta.

Great comments Wooster Booster.  With your permission (or without) I'll add a couple of thoughts.
1. Let's not forget that Fanelli is a freshman.  A couple of bad fouls yes.  He will learn that he's no longer the big dog but just one of many talented players on the court and as such, he can't get away with what he did in high school.  Let's hope he takes the coaching he's sure to get to heart and learns to temper his enthusiasm.  As far as the free throws go, again when you consider a freshman playing the third game of his college career against the 5th best team in the country in a highly emotional game; I think hitting the rim at all was an accomplishment.  With time and seasoning I think he'll develop into a heck of a D3 player.
2.  While I agree that a lot of the Scot's success this season will depend on the big men the most impressive thing I saw this weekend was XB and Doug T putting the Scots on their backs and bringing home the victory against BW.  There will be nights when the threes don't fall and to have two guards as capable as these two will present problems to any opponent. 

[woosterbooster]

2.  While I agree that a lot of the Scot's success this season will depend on the big men the most impressive thing I saw this weekend was XB and Doug T putting the Scots on their backs and bringing home the victory against BW.  There will be nights when the threes don't fall and to have two guards as capable as these two will present problems to any opponent.

Hey, Pat!  Somebody posted without my permission!

About the guards, exactly.  My point was that Thorpe and XB are very, very good and we know what we're going to get from them.  The big men (and I'm not counting DeBoer in this discussion, he's already a solid known commodity) are new and untested.  If they can develop as hoped, that will give Wooster what they need to possibly be one of the elite teams.

[smedindy]

Meanwhile, since this is an NCAC board, let's talk about the rest of the league.

Looking good: DPU (3-0)
Probably as expected: Wooster (3-0), Witt (3-1)
Head scratching loss: OWU (2-1) - loss to LaVerne, Allegheny (2-2) - loss to Geneva
Not So Good: Kenyon (1-3)

Um...Hiram (0-2), Denison (0-2), Wabash (0-3), Oberlin (0-5)

As good as we were last year in non conference - we're, well, um....10-15.

[woolax]

#3 Wooster plays at #23 Marietta on Wednesday night. How well do these teams match up? Predictions?

[ScotsFan]

Meanwhile, since this is an NCAC board, let's talk about the rest of the league.

Give me a break... 

Is this really an NCAC board???  Thanks for the reminder?!   

Quick question.  Is the football board still an NCAC football board as well???

As if Wabash fans taking over the football forum isn't bad enough, they then have to come in here and whine about how Wooster is the prevailing topic of conversation??? 

Again, give me a break... 

[smedindy]

WOW! Dude, can you dial back the persecution complex?

Look at the football board now - we're all in on Witt now.

Over there, we welcome and encourage (well, most of us) posters from all teams. We've received some good discussion from a couple of Allegheny posters. We always try to discuss, at least a bit, each team in the league, if you go back a couple of months you'll see that's the case. We've discussed OWU's issues - the hope for Hiram - Denison and Wooster having some decent teams this year. Yeah, lots of Wabash talk - but most all of us are open and do chime in on the other teams in the league.

All I was trying to do was bring updates on the OTHER teams in OUR league, especially now since I live on the west coast and don't have much access to information, or time.

So, please, leave your martyr act by the wayside. It's unbecoming, petulant, and enhances the perception that there shall be no other talk but Wooster talk here.

[ScotsFan]

WOW! Dude, can you dial back the persecution complex?

Look at the football board now - we're all in on Witt now.

Over there, we welcome and encourage (well, most of us) posters from all teams. We've received some good discussion from a couple of Allegheny posters. We always try to discuss, at least a bit, each team in the league, if you go back a couple of months you'll see that's the case. We've discussed OWU's issues - the hope for Hiram - Denison and Wooster having some decent teams this year. Yeah, lots of Wabash talk - but most all of us are open and do chime in on the other teams in the league.

All I was trying to do was bring updates on the OTHER teams in OUR league, especially now since I live on the west coast and don't have much access to information, or time.

So, please, leave your martyr act by the wayside. It's unbecoming, petulant, and enhances the perception that there shall be no other talk but Wooster talk here.

Please.  Lose the holier than thou bs.  If you are so righteous, why the need to snidely point out that this is an NCAC board???  That's all I was pointing out?!  Your little comment came off as a tad snide to say the least.  Especially given the history of some of your fellow Wabash followers and how much you all seem to get bent when your team doesn't dominate the discussion.   

And I'm sorry, but sifting through 10 pages of Wabash drivel on the Wabash Football, errrrrrrr, NCAC Football Forum to find a couple of comments on other teams doesn't really strike me as encouraging other posters of other teams.  Precisely why I can count on two fingers the number of times I've posted in that forum in the last 2-3 years?!  Oh, and I'm sure some of your Wabash brethren would have not taken any offense had I made some similar snide comment reminding everyone that the football forum is an NCAC forum either...    I would probably see my smite count increase by about 100 in less than 5 minutes... 

[smedindy]

It wasn't a snide remark...at all. You should know better from me. I'm appalled and flabbergasted.

And don't denigrate the football board if you haven't been over there recently and seen the ebb and flow of the conversation during the season. There's definitely a crew that's talking about other teams a lot. We've gotten good OWU discussion and others have chimed in. I did see one post from you - and a reply was from a Wabash man saying the WITT guy (of all things) should be COY. Except for a rogue or two (and they always get slapped down by most of us), it's a lot more welcoming to others than it used to be.

I think you should be the same here - and not be a smarmy, sarcastic one. We have OWU posters there and not here. We have Gheny posters there and not here. We actually had a Hiram poster there for a while until their season went asunder. Not here. Hmmm...

Don't put us all in the same boat - because I can really unload about some biases and pretentions over here.

[woosterbooster]

I felt no sarcasm in Smedindy's remark.  Personally, I'm happy with the comparative peace that has settled in here in the last season or two.  (Once we finally got rid of that Collinge... )  I just wish that we had more posters, across the spectrum of the conference.  Instead of gaining contributors, we seem to slowly be losing them, and that's unfortunate.

[wooscotsfan]

Final: #25 DePauw 80  Mt. St. Joseph 74

Nice win for the DePauw Tigers as they advance to 4-0 on the season.  DePauw was led tonight by Pat Haggin with 26 points, Adam Botts with 17 and Tommy Fernitz with 17.

Mt. St. Joes was 3-0 and had beat Wilmington which knocked off D1 Miami University so this is a quality win for DePauw.

Always nice to see a NCAC team pick up another quality non-conference win!

[wooscotsfan]

6:51 Left at the Shirk in Bloomington, IL:  #7 Illinois Wesleyan 53  Wabash 49

Little Giants are hanging tough on the road late in the 2nd Half against Illinois Wesleyan.

[wooscotsfan]

Final: #7 Illinois Wesleyan 68  Wabash 57

Little Giants played a competitive road game tonight against the #7 team (?) in the country.  Wabash trailed by only 6 points (59-53) with less than 5 minutes to play.  Titans made some late free throws for the final margin of 11 points.