MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Heck, we used to gather in the town square to watch a re-creation of the game on a big board with the results wired in from Western Union.

And a Coke was a nickel.

[woosterbooster]

I get that.  I really do.  I'm older than almost all of you.  I've been there, back in the day.  I loved it, and I miss it.

My point is this.  If you say you're going to produce something, such as video, you should be able to do it, better than 99% of the time.  I understand technical difficulties and acts of god.  But webcasts from these smaller schools have a failure rate well above what should be tolerated.  And even when the video is provided, it's often with some guy on the camera who fails to show the scoreboard and clock.  Or announcers who fail to put in the tiniest bit of research so they can even pronounce the names of the players and visiting school.  Or who feel that their well-biased but unknowledgeable opinions are actually what the listener wants to hear.

Maybe some of you don't think that this reflects poorly on the school.  I happen to think it does.  Colleges and universities should be at the forefront of competency in what they do, not bringing up the rear.

[seinfeld]

I don't know what the exact error or error message was last night but I believe the local cable crew that does these games for free typically don't like to work sundays

[smedindy]

Many times the announcers are students who volunteer and are learning. Most of them just have a small college radio station and don't even have a journalism or radio program - just a station for recreation that doesn't have much if any professional staff guiding and mentoring them. Trust me, I've been there. I've heard 'professionals' butcher things as well.

As for the camera, many times they're volunteers as well and perhaps they're also filming for the coach and have specific marching orders.

You get what you get - don't throw a fit!

Seriously, back before I had much of a weekend life and was on EST I tried to watch a Kenyon / Chicago football game and the UC camera angle was at the track and far away from the action. I don't know if they had issues getting into the press box or what. But it was maddening and I commented on it here - and made it kind of a running thing anytime an NCAC team played at UC. But I understand that different schools have different priorities based on what their alumni wants / needs / expects and what the school can deliver. Technological infrastructure can be expensive and time-consuming to install - and the priorities have to be in the academic areas first.

[woosterbooster]

I don't know what the exact error or error message was last night but I believe the local cable crew that does these games for free typically don't like to work sundays

Well, the message certainly didn't reference anything like that.  The link for the video was up until a few minutes AFTER game time.  I was never able to connect.  At a few minutes after 7 PM, the Wooster website said there would be no difficulty due to technical difficulties.  If they'd known in advance that they weren't going to have people to do it, then the video link should have been down beforehand.  It definitely influenced my decision to not attend the game live.

[ScotsFan]

Well, Wooster did play a game tonight and there WAS video although I didn't watch the entire thing. 

Wooster came out on top 63-53 in what appeared to be a somewhat underwhelming performance.  I only tuned in for a few minutes of the 2nd half when Hanover had cut the Wooster lead to 4 and Wooster quickly bumped the lead back out to 7 or 8 and then it was dinner time. I'm guessing Hanover implemented some zone defense in the 2nd half to stymie the Scots' offense?  Or maybe it was just the fact that Wooster went from shooting 6-10 from deep in the 1st half which can help break down a zone defense. But only 1-4 from deep in the 2nd half?  Not so much...

[seinfeld]

No DeBoer and Wingard for Wooster, so any type of win was a good win. Fanelly didn't score either. Wingard may be done because of academics, but nothing is certain right now. I think Brown's immense value to the Scots, as if it ever needed to be defended, is without question this year, especially in recent games.

[wooscotsfan]

No DeBoer and Wingard for Wooster, so any type of win was a good win. Fanelly didn't score either. Wingard may be done because of academics, but nothing is certain right now. I think Brown's immense value to the Scots, as if it ever needed to be defended, is without question this year, especially in recent games.

I was also at the game tonight and will add a couple of observations.  Kenny DeBoer sat on the bench in street clothes so I am guessing that he was resting his knee which can give him additional pain if he plays back to back nights?  Dan Fanelly had a significant ankle sprain in the first half and limped off the court in serious pain.  He did return after the halftime break but Kipfer started in his place for the 2nd half and Fanelly only played a total of maybe 3-4 minutes in the second half before he sat out of the rest of the game...probably as a precaution because his ankle was clearly not 100 percent.  Fanelly only had a total of 12 minutes played in the entire game.

Seinfeld is correct that this was a good win since Wooster played most of this game without 2 starters and a key bench player in Wingard.  Xavier Brown was red hot to start the game and made 4 three pointers in a row.  He actually scored 14 of Wooster's first 19 points in the opening 7 minutes of the game.

Xavier Brown led the Scots with 19 points, Doug Thorpe had 14 points (11 came in the 2nd half including a big shot with ~3 minutes remaining that iced the game) and Josh Kipfer controlled the lane with 12 points and 9 boards.

Wooster is now 10-1, 4-0 NCAC.   Next game is Denison at home this Saturday 1/4.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Other NCAC Final Scores:

Ohio Wesleyan 75  Defiance 62  Nice win by the Bishops over an 8-1 Defiance team whose only previous loss was to a D1 team.  OWU now 9-2.

DePauw 81  Kalamazoo 80  2OT's   DePauw improves to 7-3 on the season.

[David Collinge]

and...

Denison 80, Earlham 76

[imderekpoe]

I heard that DeBoer came down with a stomach ailment overnight. Hopefully from something he ate.

[kiltedbryan]

Well, Wooster did play a game tonight and there WAS video although I didn't watch the entire thing. 

Wooster came out on top 63-53 in what appeared to be a somewhat underwhelming performance.  I only tuned in for a few minutes of the 2nd half when Hanover had cut the Wooster lead to 4 and Wooster quickly bumped the lead back out to 7 or 8 and then it was dinner time. I'm guessing Hanover implemented some zone defense in the 2nd half to stymie the Scots' offense?  Or maybe it was just the fact that Wooster went from shooting 6-10 from deep in the 1st half which can help break down a zone defense. But only 1-4 from deep in the 2nd half?  Not so much...

Actually I don't recall Hanover playing any zone tonight. Generally just some unimpressive ball movement and icky shot selection for the Scots that led to the "meh" offensive performance. You can probably chalk some of that up to the weird Wooster rotations due to essentially missing three players, but some credit also to pretty good defensive pressure from Hanover.

Defensively I thought the Scots did quite well. Especially Kipfer, who collected 9 boards and - critically - avoided foul trouble so that the Scots were able to keep some size on the floor.

Breckenridge said that DeBoer's issue was illness, likely some food poisoning. After the game Doug Cline indicated that the trainer's initial report on Fannelly's ankle is that it's a mild strain. But not presently clear if he'll be available for Denison on the 4th.

[ScotsFan]

Missing 2 starters and a key bench player explains a lot in the closer than expected final result.  Like I said, I caught about 2 minutes of the video feed in the 2nd half so I had no idea DeBoer and Wingard were out and Fanelly went down with an injury.  Definitely changes my opinion on the win...

Seinfeld, when will we know if Wingard did or did not make the grades?  I'm assuming he won't be playing on Saturday vs Denison?

As for DeBoer's food poisoning, one of my good friends is the GM of Campus Dining at the COW so I will have to get on her about poisoning the boys on the hoops team... 

[kiltedbryan]

I thought I'd try my hand at offensive and defensive efficiency measures for the NCAC teams. A few notes: 1) this includes all games, so includes some games against non-DIII opponents 2) this relies on my ability to type correct figures into Microsoft Excel, 3) this is my first time running calculations like this, so accuracy not guaranteed.

Offensive measure is points per 100 possessions; defensive measure is points allowed per 100 possessions. Possessions estimated by the generally accepted formula of: Possessions = FGA-OR+TO+.475*FTA. Kudos to members of these boards (especially sac) for making me aware of such a measure in the first place.

Team	Offense	Defense	Differential
Wittenberg	120.7	95.1	25.7
Wooster	107.1	90.2	16.8
OWU	105.2	95.8	9.5
DePauw	103.7	95.6	8.1
Kenyon	109.8	108.3	1.5
Hiram	102.7	105.5	-2.9
Allegheny	103.3	108.5	-5.2
Oberlin	98.6	105.3	-6.6
Denison	100.0	112.1	-12.1
Wabash	92.2	110.2	-18.0

Some observations:
1. Wittenberg's offense is excellent - just a huge gap above the rest of the league. I think a 120ish mark is usually among the elite in all of DIII. Credit the seemingly unstoppable force that is Scott Masin and his 65.5% shooting from the floor.
2. As I expected, Wooster has the best defensive mark, but the gap over the other top contenders is smaller than I expected.
3. Speaking of the top four, there's a major drop-off between DePauw and Kenyon. When the NCAC round-robin is done, it seems unlikely that any of the bottom six will challenge for a top-four finish.
4. Denison is likely not as bad as this metric makes them look, as they've played a tougher schedule than most. In addition to facing Marietta, they've opened conference play with DePauw, OWU and Witt with Wooster next on the calendar. Ouch.

[ScotsFan]

I thought I'd try my hand at offensive and defensive efficiency measures for the NCAC teams. A few notes: 1) this includes all games, so includes some games against non-DIII opponents 2) this relies on my ability to type correct figures into Microsoft Excel, 3) this is my first time running calculations like this, so accuracy not guaranteed.

Offensive measure is points per 100 possessions; defensive measure is points allowed per 100 possessions. Possessions estimated by the generally accepted formula of: Possessions = FGA-OR+TO+.475*FTA. Kudos to members of these boards (especially sac) for making me aware of such a measure in the first place.

Team	Offense	Defense	Differential
Wittenberg	120.7	95.1	25.7
Wooster	107.1	90.2	16.8
OWU	105.2	95.8	9.5
DePauw	103.7	95.6	8.1
Kenyon	109.8	108.3	1.5
Hiram	102.7	105.5	-2.9
Allegheny	103.3	108.5	-5.2
Oberlin	98.6	105.3	-6.6
Denison	100.0	112.1	-12.1
Wabash	92.2	110.2	-18.0

Some observations:
1. Wittenberg's offense is excellent - just a huge gap above the rest of the league. I think a 120ish mark is usually among the elite in all of DIII. Credit the seemingly unstoppable force that is Scott Masin and his 65.5% shooting from the floor.
2. As I expected, Wooster has the best defensive mark, but the gap over the other top contenders is smaller than I expected.
3. Speaking of the top four, there's a major drop-off between DePauw and Kenyon. When the NCAC round-robin is done, it seems unlikely that any of the bottom six will challenge for a top-four finish.
4. Denison is likely not as bad as this metric makes them look, as they've played a tougher schedule than most. In addition to facing Marietta, they've opened conference play with DePauw, OWU and Witt with Wooster next on the calendar. Ouch.

Nice work on those numbers kb.  One thing to note wrt Witt's impressive numbers offensively is that they haven't really played the most challenging schedule.  To date, only 2 of their 11 games have been against a team with a winning record and they're only 1-1 in those two games.  And one could argue that Witt's next game vs OWU a week from today will be their toughest game they've played since losing to Wheaton.  On the flip side, Wooster has played a far more difficult schedule with only 2 of their 11 games coming against teams with losing records. 

IMO, I'd say Wooster's numbers might be more impressive than Witt's numbers given the difficulty of the Scots' schedule.