MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[KnightSlappy]

I watched the video several times of Pannell's lovely smash dunk against the Witt defender.  I too thought the defender may have planted his feet.  Anybody know the precise NCAA rule on this?  A friend is a ref at the high school level here in Maine; I may look on-line, too.  I wonder if the same rule applies at the collegiate and high school level?  Obviously, it's going to be viewed and interpreted by the ref and she/he is the final judge, but now I'm curious.  Anybody have insight on this?

There's nothing that college basketball is more inconsistent about and gets wrong more often than block/charge.  I'm inclined to call nothing on that play because it was so close either way and I don't really want to take that dunk away from Pannell and I don't need to pile on that poor kid who just got abused.  But that's a cop out on my part- there was contact, it was outside the restricted area, so it's a foul one way or the other.  Slowed down, maybe you can see the defender plant before Pannell takes off.  In real speed, it looks like the defender is still sliding.  I don't know what the right call is.  I do know that dunk was nasty.  You don't see that kind of thing very often in D3.

Rule 4-17.4:
When the opponent with the ball is airborne, the guard shall have attained legal guarding position before the opponent begins his upward motion with his hands/arms to shoot or pass.

(emphasis mine)

I believe this rule was modified prior to the 2013-14 season. I heard Calvin's coach Kevin Vande Streek explain the interpretation to mean the defender must be set/planted when the offensive player begins his gather (which could occur even step before his feet leave the ground). It seems clear to me the defender was still sliding his trailing foot when Pannel was "beginning his upward motion with his hands/arms". I think the referees called it correctly in this case.

[Eco-manblue]

  Wooster hiccuped at the onset of the it's game with Allegheny tonight.  Down 22 to 21 or so, the Scotts shifted gears, hit the groove, and the gas, and it was bye-bye.  Halftime was 54 to 31 and the final topped the century mark for the second time in two games, 104 to 73.  The Black and Gold shot 58% or 34 of 59 field goals for the game (61% in the first half).  55% on tres and 89% from the foul line (25 of 28).  The Scots jumping jacks out bounded the Gators, 45 to 30. 

Worst thing about the game:  Yes, you guessed it: The AV system.  This time, I assume it was Allegheny's Rube Goldberg clunker-of-a-system.  It died out completely before the start of the second half.  Only audio from WQKT-AM in Wooster.      Allegheny's video commentary in the first half was straight out of Wayne's World -- inane, always stating the obvious, a waste of time and space.  Where do they get these guys?  The play-by-play announcer was tolerable; the "color commentator" was colorless and clueless.  If EPA had been on the job, he would have been fined for polluting the air(waves). 

[smedindy]

They are probably students.

[wabashcpa]

I think guarding Luke Lattner might be a good idea.

[David Collinge]

DePauw 75, Wabash 58...nothing like a good rivalry game to right the ship
Denison 72, Hiram 63
OWU 86, Oberlin 61
Wittenberg 73, Kenyon 62
Wooster 104, Allegheny 73

1. OWU 8-1/13-3
1. Wooster 8-1/14-2
3. Wabash 6-3/11-5
4. Allegheny 5-4/8-8
5. DePauw 4-5/11-5
6. Denison 3-6/9-7
6. Hiram 3-6/9-7
6. Kenyon 3-6/5-11
6. Wittenberg 3-6/5-11
10. Oberlin 2-7/6-10

Coming up Saturday:
Wabash at Oberlin
Hiram at Kenyon
Allegheny at Wittenberg
DePauw at Wooster
OWU at Denison

[wally_wabash]

DePauw 75, Wabash 58...nothing like a good rivalry game to right the ship

Yeah...Luke Lattner played like Laettner (Duke Laettner, not Atlanta Laettner) and there's not a whole lot you can do when a team is willing to settle for perimeter shots all day and they make a high percentage.  It happens...wasn't Wabash's day. 

I believe that brings us to the halfway point of the league season, yes?  Everybody has played each other once?  Quickie first half thoughts- Wabash and Allegheny have been pleasantly surprising, I think.  Wabash/Allegheny/DePauw- one of these three won't host a quarterfinal game.  Allegheny has the hammer here hosting both of the Indiana schools when they go east. 

Wooster and OWU are playing to expectations, I think.  Wooster is solid as always.  I'm a little confused at how OWU can shoot 30 3FGS per game and be 8-1.  That's a tough way to win consistently.  I think they'll drop a couple of more games in the second half and Wooster will win the league. 

And then there's the lower five in the league.  Witt's best game of the year might have been their loss at Wooster, coming on the heels of consecutive wins.  They might be figuring some things out,  I think you have to figure that it takes at least 8-8 to be in play for the fourth spot and a home game...seems like a tall order, although I think we can probably squash the idea that Witt might not make the league tournament. 

Interesting league race this season.  The home stretch here is going to be fun to watch. 

[Ohigy]

Wally - I agree that Allegheny and Wabash are the biggest successful surprises on the season.  DePauw (with 5 league losses) and Witt (with 6 league losses) are the biggest "disappointments" thus far as they were picked 2nd and 3rd in the league.  OWU has exceeded expectations so far and Wooster is always Wooster and at the top.  The biggest surprise is the disparity in wins half way through the schedule.  OWU and Wooster having 4 game leads in the race to host a quarterfinal game is shocking.  I expected multiple teams to be battling for the #2 spot behind the Fighting Scots!  I also think the league is Woosters to lose.  Wooster at OWU is coming up in the next few weeks. 

Bigger question, what are the NCAC's chances of getting multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament?  The OAC has several high quality teams that will be competing for at-large berths, as does the MIAA.  If OWU loses a few more as you predict, will they need a conference tourney championship to get in? Can DePauw or anyone else (other than OWU and Wooster) make a run at an at-large bid or are they eliminated?

[smedindy]

OWU and Wooster all have SOS over .500, which is good. I think they're both in barring a massive collapse. I think they'll do well in the regional rankings...

The other 8 have to win the tourney to get in.

[sac]

OWU and Wooster all have SOS over .500, which is good. I think they're both in barring a massive collapse. I think they'll do well in the regional rankings...

The other 8 have to win the tourney to get in.

Still a long way to go of course.  Knightslappy has his regional rankings on his blog  http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

At present time Ohio Wesleyan is about the #17 Pool C, firmly on the bubble.  No one else from the GL is in position for a C at this time.    But there are some goofy things going on out East, a lot of higher ranked teams on KS's chart aren't leading their conferences.

Its fluid, but traditionally the GL has been pretty average to below average grabbing Pool C's.  Almost all of them have been teams that won their regular season conference title and lost in their tournament.  Marietta will almost be a lock by the first regional ranking, the NCAC is too strong to call Wooster or OWU a lock at this point imo.


These teams are all in the top 70 on KS's chart and with strong finishes would be Pool C material.
Marietta
Wooster
Ohio Wesleyan
Mt. Union
St. Vincent
PSU-Behrend
Case Reserve
Calvin
John Carroll
Hope

Behrend and Case Reserve don't have strong SOS numbers right now.  Case will go up as they ply through the meat of their UAA schedule the next 4 weeks.

After that group

Mt. St. Joseph, despite being 12-3 right now would be a poor Pool C candidate due to SOS
Medaille, low SOS
Trine, work to do
Baldwin Wallace, work to do

[wally_wabash]

At-large talk...now we're talking.   

[ohiofan1954]

OWU at Denison could be interesting this weekend. Yes OWU should win but Denison finally put a good game together the other night and being a rivalry you never know. Very much looking forward to next Wednesday night's game between Wooster and OWU. It will be interesting who has more fans at the game.

[kiltedbryan]

OWU at Denison could be interesting this weekend. Yes OWU should win but Denison finally put a good game together the other night and being a rivalry you never know. Very much looking forward to next Wednesday night's game between Wooster and OWU. It will be interesting who has more fans at the game.

Denison leads wire-to-wire, including being up by as much as 21, and the survives OWU's second half charge to notch a 73-70 over OWU.

After being down much of the afternoon, Wooster escapes at home against DPU thanks to a Evan Pannell 3 with 20 seconds left to give the Scots a 63-62 win.

[David Collinge]

The struggles were not limited to the top 2. Third-placed Wabash fell at last-place Oberlin, 75-67. Fourth-placed Allegheny got flattened at resurgent Wittenberg, 59-38; Witt is now just one game out of fourth place.  Elsewhere, homestanding Kenyon drops Hiram 85-74.

Losses by four of the top five teams today: Carnage. That Pannell three-pointer is looking like the shot of the season right now.

1. Wooster 9-1/15-2
2. OWU 8-2/13-4
3. Wabash 6-4/11-6
4. Allegheny 5-5/8-9
5. DePauw 4-6/11-6
5. Denison 4-6/10-7
5. Kenyon 4-6/6-11
5. Wittenberg 4-6/6-11
9. Hiram 3-7/9-8
9. Oberlin 3-7/7-10

Wednesday's games, four big games led by the battle for #1.
Wooster at OWU
Wittenberg at Wabash
Hiram at Allegheny
Denison at DePauw
Kenyon at Oberlin

[Eco-manblue]

Yes, Pannell's Tres was huge -- as were the three preceding 3 ptrs -- the only points for the Scots in the last 6:50 of the game.  I'm thanking the stars for Wooster's age old tradition of being an high percentage FT shooting team.  If Woo won it on its outside shooting at the end, DePauw lost the game on FTs, cashing in on a comparatively ice cold 43.8% (7-16) on a day when the Scots went efficiently about their task at the foul line, nailing 80% (16-20) in a workman-like manner.

Wooster was horrendous in the paint: only 6 pts. in the valley of the jolly green giant, 6'9" Tommy Fernitz.  On the other hand, Depauw virtually waltzed through that zone for 24 of their 62 pts.  Depauw also snared twice as many offensive rebs (11-5) and capitalized on those, ringing up 14 second-chance pts. vs. only 3 for the Scots.

One bright spot: Wooster treated DePauw to a "block party"-- slapping down 9 shots while the Tigers only stuffed two.

Crossing my fingers crossed, knocking on wood, and saying my prayers to the Great Gods & Goddesses of The Game In The Sky that Coach Moore & Co. can help right the ship before Wednesday's "all-in" showdown at OWU! 

[wooscotsfan]

Wooster was very fortunate to get the "W" today as they played a miserable first half vs. DePauw.  Scots shot only 28.6% in the half with 9 turnovers.  Most high school teams don't win their games when they score only 21 points in a half.     On the other hand, 42 points in the second half was just enough! 

As Eco-manblue noted, Wooster's last four made shots of the game were all huge three pointers:
Jalen Goodwin three pointer to get the Scots to 54 points...
Ari Stern three pointer to get them to 57...
Another Ari Stern three pointer to get them to 60...  This was a huge shot by the freshman as Wooster was down 4 points with ~39 seconds left
Evan Pannell three pointer to get them to 63 and ultimately the win when DePauw did not convert on their last possession.

Very impressed with Ari Stern.  He takes good care of the ball, plays aggressive defense and nails shots when he is open. 

Next Wednesday's game at Ohio Wesleyan will be very important in deciding who wins the NCAC regular season title.

GO SCOTS!