MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

...since nobody has brought it up, can I assume that Coach Moore did not address this in his post-game interview? (I see from WooBoo that he talked about the injury, but the foul itself?)

No, Coach Moore made no mention of the foul.  I would have been surprised if he did.

No word from #7 UPS yet.

Brown has a team in DIII and Fedex doesn't?

WooBoo, I like your taste in films. Did you know that the real-life model for Dill was Truman Capote, Harper Lee's childhood friend? Of course you did!

I had no idea that Dill was modeled after Capote.  Now that you mention it, though, I can picture the grownup Dill evolving into old Truman.

[woosterbooster]

Sorry that the Wittenberg broadcast wasn't up to your "standards."  Just like a Wooster supporter to bash anything Wittenberg.  I'd expect nothing less.

The fact is, the Witt men's game was on at the same time the women were, and with the women being away from Springfield, they got the radio billing, and therefore the better set-up.  And with the mic - would you rather have dead air than background noise?

Considering what was coming over the air during halftime, I'd rather have had dead air.  Geeze, a basketball game is only two hours long.  Maybe Witt should have their announcers do a few wind sprints so they can go the duration.

[earlhamalum]

Hey billy_pilgram i didn't know if the Wabash/Earlham game brings back any memories.  If i'm not wrong that game helped you get on the front page of d3hoops.  A few years back there was a player for  wabash named Jeff Espino.  One heck of a story.  He came back from major brain surgery and played his first game against Earlham in the 2002-2003 season.  He hit a pull up jump shot late in the game giving him his first points of his college career.  If i'm not mistake'n that pull-up was on Billy_pilgram!  It is amazing some of the thing you'll remember over the years.

3 players that stick out in my mind for Wabash... J. Estelle, B. Lathom, and Joe DesJean.  It is nice to see Earlham getting the best of WABASH... 3 games in a row. 

Actually in the last 6 years Earlham is 6-5 overall Vs. their in-state rivals.  That speaks volumes for what Coach Justus has Done with Earlham, since he has arrived in 1998.  He took Earlham From Oberlin status to a top 4 NCAC team.  That hands down isn't easy to do.  I give Coach Justus all the respect in the world.  Anyone that follows NCAC basketball knows that before 1998, Earlham was a team that you could walk all over... but since then, Earlham is a team that can beat you on any given night!

Congrats EC. 

[WooMix]

Is there an error on the Woo/Hiram stats sheet?  Who is the Calistus Onyiuke guy who supposedly started for Woo today?  I see him on the roster on Woo's basketball homepage but I have never heard his name mentioned in all the games I have listened to this year.  I'm thinking maybe this error, if it indeed is one, got to do with the system failure the stats computers at the Hiram game suffered today?  Thanks.

[David Collinge]

Maybe that's Tim Vandervaart's new pseudonym, now that I've blown his "Devin Fulk" nom de plume. 

[billy_pilgrim]

earlhamalum,

You sure I was guarding him? I don't ever remember playing defense in my life. I've blocked most of those plays where I didn't have the ball in my hands. 

I think that was the game I wore the throwback Reebok Pumps....leading to the greatest exchange between a student section and player in history. Unfortunately, that conversation can't be repeated here.

[David Collinge]

...since nobody has brought it up, can I assume that Coach Moore did not address this in his post-game interview? (I see from WooBoo that he talked about the injury, but the foul itself?)

No, Coach Moore made no mention of the foul.  I would have been surprised if he did.

I suppose that's right.  I wouldn't have been surprised if Mike B. had brought it up, though.

No word from #7 UPS yet.

Brown has a team in DIII and Fedex doesn't?

No FedEx team in D3.  I should know, since I worked there for 15 years.  8) 

As for UPS, this just in:  they didn't play tonight.  D'oh! 

[Gregory Sager]

It's 46-32 Witt.

Aside to WooBoo:  that's Captain Hilts.  (And Flying Officer Ives.) 

Are all American officers so ill-mannered?

[imderekpoe]

Back in the OAC days - maybe when Balser and Dixon were at Wooster - it seemed as if every game the Scots would get a breakaway and a guard named Lapenta (Ron?, Mike?) would submarine the Scot player as he went up for the layup.  These plays more than once resulted in ejections.  That was the comparison that my dad used to describe the foul committed by Pfouts on Port last night.  Of course, last night they didn't even call an intentional foul on Pfouts (but did call one later in the game.)

In the Daily Record article this morning, Steve Moore does not say that the foul was intentional - just "ill-advised".
http://www.the-daily-record.com/article.php?pathToFile=/articles//sports/&file=_sports2.txt&article=1&tD=

[smedindy]

Ok. Glad that's settled.

As for Wabash, the emergence of Stephens and Maloney has caused Coffey's playing time to decrease.

[smedindy]

Oh, I think sometimes that stats program can go crazy-go-nuts and move peoples stats without warning. Geez.

[big red x]

I was at the Denison-Kenyon game last night and had a couple of questions.

1. Is Ghiloni always that intense?

2. Can two teams actually score less and make a game more boring?

3. After the game I was talking to a couple of assts. from Denison and is Rodich always that negative. I mean come on man your team just won. But, he was like that at Lakewood, I figured it was because he was head coach. I guess some things never change.

[woosterbooster]

Just as Curly was the most indispensable stooge, Tom Port is Wooster's most indispensable player.  Without him, Wooster simply cannot compete on the national stage.  Wittenberg would be well out of reach.  The Scots would join OWU, Earlham, and Wabash in the second echelon of the NCAC.

It's not just Port's ability, but where he fits in on the Wooster roster.  A Witucky, Cooper, Johnson, or Fulk would be sorely missed, but I'd still give Wooster a puncher's chance against a top team without any of them simply because of the depth at the guard position.  Everyone could move up a slot, a pretty darned good Jamie Yoder would get some minutes, and the Scots would still be tough.

But no one on Wooster would be able to fill in for Port.  Vandervaart would be nearly as difficult to replace.  If he were gone, again Wooster would be plain out of luck.

From the Wooster Daily Record:

Pfouts admitted he was too late to block Port's dunk, but he said he was just adhering to a code so many basketball players follow.

"I've always been taught that you don't let someone dunk in your house," he said.

This "Nobody dunks in our house" garbage is really dangerous bull****.  It's time that the country's basketball coaches stepped up and shut this philosophy down.

[AndersDY]

Of course, #1 Witt rolled up a big win over a pretty good team; so did #4 Hope. 

Correction: Hope rolled up a big win over a pretty ugly team that appears to be having a meltdown. It opened 13-0 with a 45-15 halftime score, and it was only the first half in which there was an effort put forth by either team (or the officials, apparently they had a show to watch at 10:00). Adrian is 0 for the MIAA and looks to be having an ugly year. Only thing to note about Hope last night was that Andy Phillips appears to have the touch on his shot back so if he can maintain that, hopefully Albion-Hope pt.2 looks very different.

Bad news on Port and hopefully no information comes out implicating John Chaney, but it is fortunate that Witt is 5 games off at the moment. Not enough time to heal a major break, but time to recover from possible milder injuries.

[ScotsFan]

From the Wooster Daily Record:

Pfouts admitted he was too late to block Port's dunk, but he said he was just adhering to a code so many basketball players follow.

"I've always been taught that you don't let someone dunk in your house," he said.

This "Nobody dunks in our house" garbage is really dangerous bull****.  It's time that the country's basketball coaches stepped up and shut this philosophy down.

Was the foul really out of line, or is that what you just heard or inferred on the radio? Don't accuse someone of dirty play without an eyewitness. Now if someone can corroborate, then that's fine. I just want to be sure we're not here on a witch hunt against Hiram for a dirty play when it wasn't as bad as all that.

Hey smeds, I'd say Pfouts' quote constitutes dirty play?!  I agree with Wooster Booster on this.  If this is the attitude being taken by some of the thugs that want to call themselves basketball players, and the refs do nothing more than call a personal foul, this type of thing will go on.  I wasn't at the Wabash game, but it sounded as if Port's missed dunk in that game should have been a foul that wasn't even called.  And then to here that Wabash put a hard foul on Henry last night doesn't surprise me in the least.  These officials need to step up and start dishing out some accountability.  And I'm not talking about intentional or even technical fouls.  I'm talking ejections!  Something's got to give.  Wooster lost arguably their best player last night for who knows how long because of what?!  No one dunks in Hiram's house???  Are you kidding me??!!  I thought this was DIII basketball, not hockey!!!