MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

2. If you give Coach Brown time to game plan and strategize, he does pretty darn well.

Unless the opponent is Wooster.

This is something that has been gnawing at me for a while. Wittenberg is pretty good every year, winning 17-20 games, getting a top-four seed in the conference tournament, and qualifying for the NCAAs every other year or so. That's the kind of resume that would be very exciting to at least 97% of D3 schools.

But Wittenberg is not 97% of D3 schools. Wittenberg is, or used to be, accustomed to success at the very highest levels, and apart from one magical tournament run eight years ago, Coach Brown has just not achieved that level of success. I would like to believe that winning one NCAC (regular season) title in 10 years and losing to Wooster game after game would be wearing pretty thin in Springfield by now. They've got to be looking up at Wooster, going to the NCAAs in 19 of the past 20 seasons and winning at least 20 games for 18 straight seasons, and thinking, "that should be happening here."

I wonder if I'm alone in wondering this.

Interesting thought.  What I've bolded here, I think, ought to be the thought process of every team in the league- not just Wittenberg.  If you're not thinking "that should be happening here", then you're doing it wrong. 

[smedindy]

2. If you give Coach Brown time to game plan and strategize, he does pretty darn well.

Unless the opponent is Wooster.

This is something that has been gnawing at me for a while. Wittenberg is pretty good every year, winning 17-20 games, getting a top-four seed in the conference tournament, and qualifying for the NCAAs every other year or so. That's the kind of resume that would be very exciting to at least 97% of D3 schools.

But Wittenberg is not 97% of D3 schools. Wittenberg is, or used to be, accustomed to success at the very highest levels, and apart from one magical tournament run eight years ago, Coach Brown has just not achieved that level of success. I would like to believe that winning one NCAC (regular season) title in 10 years and losing to Wooster game after game would be wearing pretty thin in Springfield by now. They've got to be looking up at Wooster, going to the NCAAs in 19 of the past 20 seasons and winning at least 20 games for 18 straight seasons, and thinking, "that should be happening here."

I wonder if I'm alone in wondering this.

Interesting thought.  What I've bolded here, I think, ought to be the thought process of every team in the league- not just Wittenberg.  If you're not thinking "that should be happening here", then you're doing it wrong.

Though you need to baby-step it. I don't think Oberlin or Allegheny right now can say that at all. I think Hiram, Kenyon and Denison need to say, "We should be in the top 4 of the NCAC" right now, because they're in that state where they compete, then fall back, then compete.

No reason for OWU, DPU or Wabash not to be in the championship chase every year - and that makes Wabash's struggles this year frustrating.

[Urban For Prez]

2. If you give Coach Brown time to game plan and strategize, he does pretty darn well.

Unless the opponent is Wooster.

This is something that has been gnawing at me for a while. Wittenberg is pretty good every year, winning 17-20 games, getting a top-four seed in the conference tournament, and qualifying for the NCAAs every other year or so. That's the kind of resume that would be very exciting to at least 97% of D3 schools.

But Wittenberg is not 97% of D3 schools. Wittenberg is, or used to be, accustomed to success at the very highest levels, and apart from one magical tournament run eight years ago, Coach Brown has just not achieved that level of success. I would like to believe that winning one NCAC (regular season) title in 10 years and losing to Wooster game after game would be wearing pretty thin in Springfield by now. They've got to be looking up at Wooster, going to the NCAAs in 19 of the past 20 seasons and winning at least 20 games for 18 straight seasons, and thinking, "that should be happening here."

I wonder if I'm alone in wondering this.

First let me clarify my initial point, which is substantiated only by my previously cited basic research, the sentiments of those closer to the program than I, and my direct observations.  I think Coach Brown's strength lies in his ability to break down another team's tendencies and prepare his team accordingly.  I think he is able to game plan generally better than his coaching counterparts.  Thus, when he has this extended time (i.e. basically five days before the first round NCAA tournament game) to look at film and digest it, I believe he prepares his team better than his opposing coach's prepare their respective teams.  However, the counterpoint is that when time to prepare is limited (i.e. one night before an NCAC championship game or a second-round NCAA Tournament game), I don't think he's quite as effective.  I think most who are familiar with the program know that his strength is not his in-game adjustments. Again, that's based only on my own observations and what I have gathered from those in and around the program.  I'm currently at work and cannot check to see if that proposition is supported by the results.  I meant my initial post to be a compliment to Coach Brown and his staff, so I hate to take anything away from that, but this is how I see it.

To your point David- I am not sure how much Wooster's recent success is weighing on the Tiger faithful. Wooster's recent success is undeniable, and there has certainly been grumblings in the stands during the last few games.  I think Witt's recent Elite Eight run and sweeping of the Scots in 2011-2012 likely helped ease some of the pain for the Tigers fans, but I, too, wonder for how long. I hope this weekend and upcoming weekends help to alleviate some of these concerns.

[David Collinge]

Two-thirds of the NCAC standard bearers are heading home after the first round. Wittenberg fell hard in U.City at the hands of volleyball nemesis Calvin, 66-51, while OWU gave a spirited effort but were unable to head off #5 St. Norbert 87-79. Conference pride is now in the hands of the conference champion, Wooster, who trailed by 10 early in their game but who have come back to regain a 6-point lead on PAC champion St. Vincent with 1:20 to go before the half.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 39  Saint Vincent 29

Doug Thorpe hit a big three pointer 10 seconds before the end of the half and he is leading the Scots with 10 points.  Xavier Brown made 3 three pointers in a row to rally Wooster when they were down 25 to 16.  Brown with 9 points in the half while Dan Fanelly has 6 points and 7 boards.

Wooster finished the first half with a 23 to 4 scoring run.

[David Collinge]

Wooster is in a real battle, leading 61-57 with 4:28 left. These St. Vincent guys sure can hit the three when they are even a little open. The refs are, putting it kindly, letting them play in the second half.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 76  Saint Vincent 67 

Xavier Brown led Wooster with 15 points.  Good balanced scoring for the Scots as they had 5 players with double figure points tonight.  Doug Thorpe had 14, Dan Fanelly had a double double with 12 points (11 boards), Kenny DeBoer had a double double with 12 points (10 boards) and Evan Pannell also had 12.

Wooster is now 26-3.   Next up is Dickinson tomorrow night in the 2nd round

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Final: Penn St. Behrend 70  Hope 66 OT

Surprising win for PSB as they upset the Dutchmen on Hope's home court.  PSB now plays Wheaton in the 2nd round.

IF Wooster gets past Dickinson tomorrow night, they would play the PSB - Wheaton winner in the 3rd round.

[wooscotsfan]

Dickinson starts a even bigger team than the one that lost to Wooster last year.  Here are their starters:

6'1" Adam Honig
6'4" Brandon Angradi
6'5" Tucker Landy
6'8" Gerry Wixted
6'10" Steve Collins

Angradi and Collins did not start last year so Dickinson is even taller this season.  Honig and Angradi have each made >60 three pointers this year.

Last year, Wooster outrebounded Dickinson but over 20 combined boards for the Scots were from Claytor, Mays, LaLonde & Wingard.  None  of those guys will see the floor for Wooster tonight so the Scots are going to need to fight hard on the boards this evening.  Let's hope that Josh Kipfer has recovered from the elbow to his head yesterday and is ready to play some tough minutes tonight.

GO SCOTS!

[kiltedbryan]

Feels like it could be a tough matchup for the Scots tonight - thanks for the scouting report, WSF. From the parts of Geneseo-Dickinson that I watched last night, it seemed like they were very comfortable in the half-court set, with lots of ball movement and in particular a higher-than-normal amount of skip passes as part of the offense. Wooster will need to be very alert with its help-side defense and defensive rotations in the man-to-man sets tonight to avoid being broken down by Dickinson's offense.

Scots will also face the size challenge down low, and will be especially weak if Kipfer can't provide his regular minutes. I didn't think the Scots rebounded very well last night, but some of that was related to very few fouls being called on any rebound attempts last night (in either direction). We'll see how the whistle is tonight.

I watched a pretty good chunk of PSU-Behrend and Hope, and while it is a surprise win in the sense that Behrend has maybe 1/100th of the national reputation of the Dutchmen, it was no fluke win. Everything I watched felt very evenly matched. If they played 10 times, the series might go 5-5.

I'm also a Calvin and IWU fan tonight. I think if those teams advance, Wooster very likely hosts next weekend as everyone would be within 500 miles of the Scots and Wash U's loss would leave the Scots as the highest remaining seed. Still several outcomes that would force the NCAA to pay for a flight next weekend, and a couple outcomes that would force two!

[David Collinge]

Very first moment of the game, the opening tip, and Jon Heavilin complains about how it is officiated. 

[David Collinge]

Scots not playing D, not hitting threes, not rebounding on the offensive end...and thus down 8 at the half. Going to have to step it up if they want to advance.

[woosterbooster]

Very first moment of the game, the opening tip, and Jon Heavilin complains about how it is officiated. 

Beyond that, three times in about two minutes, he confused Dan Fanelly with Josh Kipfer.  Fanelly has dark shorter hair, Kipfer has blonde locks longer than any of the Wooster cheerleaders.  Yesterday, when trying to figure out how to pronounce Geneseo, he tried it a couple of times and then just decided that was the way it was going to be.  No research, nothing that would actually take any work.  Can we please put this guy in a home already?  I mean, how can I complain about other team's announcers when we have one that's as bad or worse?

[David Collinge]

Well, damn. A pretty disappointing end to what was a great year for the NCAC.

[kiltedbryan]

Just incredibly disappointing, but Dickinson was the better team throughout the night. They earned it, good luck to them later in the tourney.