MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Beat Stout by 8.

[Gregory Sager]

DC -

First off, when ESPN was in its infancy, Vitale and Berman were great. Now they're caricatures.

Second, Vitale off camera is way different than on camera. He knows the importance of D-3 and all that - he's kind of boxed into a corner.

Third, you're sounding like the fans of indie rock bands that become famous. I remember when "Slanted and Enchanted" by Pavement came out - many of their long-time fans were disgusted that they were getting great press now and were going to sell more than 5,000 records. They thought the band was 'just for them'.

Like D-3, they're for everyone. The more publicity, the better.

But I agree about the media timeouts. But if it ever happens, and it helps in the general financial aid of a school by being on TV - then that's great.

Vitale "gets" D3 -- or at least he used to. I've seen a tape of his broadcast of the 1980 D3 championship game between North Park and Upsala, back when ESPN was in its infancy (I was at the game, so I didn't see his performance as it aired), and he made frequent enthusiastic references to the "they play for the love of the game" spirit of D3. But that was a long time and a lot of dollars ago, and although he had the same general over-the-top broadcasting style he was not nearly the human hype machine then that he is today.

Slanted and Enchanted is a good album, but like most of their fellow bands in the '90s lo-fi movement Pavement could've used a good producer to edit their material, and they didn't really employ a strong outside ear until they had Mitch Easter engineer Brighten the Corners and Nigel Godrich produce Terror Twilight.

[DenisonFan]

First things first........what a terrific facility Kenyon has.  Very very very nice.  70 million well spent.  I think that would certainly turn some head of some recruits looking to come to the school.

Now to the game..........Kenyon just came out and shot lights out in the second half.  They were on fire.

Kenyon had no answer for Hodgkinson but other than him nobody did anything else.  Once again, Hern is no where to be found.  He has 14 pts but played with NO excitement.  I don't get it. 

Krantz found a way to shoot it 12 times, making 4. 

Denison looked like they were confused in the second half.  Either they stopped doing what Ghiloni wanted or they just choked.   At one point Kenyon went on a 20-4 run.  Game over!!

Now 4th place in the conference is history.  Oh well. 

Again, beautiful facility.  If you get a chance you should go see a game there.

Can we have a show of hands that think Port should graduate?  PLEASE move on!!

[ScotsFan]

Well, if there was a statement being made, I feel sure that it wasn't for OUR benefit.

I think that was what I was trying to get at.  It was a statement for the guys out on the court, not for us.  They had something to prove to themselves more than anything after letting Hiram come back and not only make a game out of what should have been another blowout, but they also let Hiram drop 91 points on them.  I think that game left a negative imprint on all of Wooster's players for a lot more reasons than the Pfouts incident.  That only fueled the fire.

And, of all those, I honestly think the two wins I would call "statement" wins were decided by a total of 12 points: 86-83 and 86-77 over Witt.

Again, I wasn't at the game, but it just felt like this "statement" conversation was a bit much; beyond that, I feel that it's a bit immature to play for the purpose of embarrassing an opponent, and if that is the reason the Scots went for the 62 point margin tonight, I'd find that unfortunate.     

I think I would throw the EC game in there as the Quakers did manage to almost beat the Scots the first time around bowing to Wooster in OT on a Witucky jumper at the buzzer.  Wooster then came back and thumped the EC, as you stated, by 36.  Also, I would include the Wabash game in there as well.  Wabash always plays Wooster tough at Chadwick, and the Chadwick crowd was ready for Wooster that day.  Wooster responded with a 35 point rout.  

As for the game last night, I stick by what I said.  I don't think Wooster was out to prove anything to anyone but themselves.  They came out with the same focus they have been bringing since after the Kenyon game.  As far as playing not to embarrass the opponent, that's pretty difficult to do when the game is such a mismatch like last night.  Especially, when Wooster allowed the Terriers to turn a 24 point laugher at halftime into a 7 point game with possession to make it a possible 4 point game.  Wooster executed very well in nearly every facet of how the game is supposed to be played. They shot the ball well (57%), they were unselfish (35 assists on 47 made fg's),  and they played strong defense (forcing 23 to's and holding Hiram to under 40% shooting).  

When all of these things are clicking like they were for Wooster, the result is more than likely going to be a Wooster rout against a team like Hiram, or against a team like Wabash.  What would you suggest, Wooster's players to let up a bit after the lead got to 30 or so?  Wooster did have most of their bench cleared at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half.  

This all reminds me of the old addage, "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."  Wooster wins in a closer than expected game on the road at Hiram, and everyone wonders what's wrong with Wooster that they can't even put a team like Hiram away.  And then last night they win going away and it becomes senseless?!  All I know, is after watching how well Wooster played last night, it would have been a major feat for them to not win by as many as they did.

[oldwittfan]

There was a nice story in the Springfield News-Sun about Bill Brown yesterday. It noted that he is approaching the winning record of Larry Hunter, Wittenberg's winningest coach, probably next year or the year after.  What it described was a good human being who knows a lot about basketball and who really likes to win but also cares a lot about the rest of his players' lives.

Those of us who know Steve Moore, who is also a product of the Wittenberg tradition, know him to be a good human being who knows a lot about basketball and who really likes to win but also cares a lot about the rest of his players' lives.

We are lucky to be able to watch the result of the hard work of these two men.  You Brown bashers might want to think about that.

Wittenberg got back to winning last night against a good OWU team.  Two of the teams ranked above us lost to teams they should not have.  There are games yet to play before we might get to see game number three between Wooster and Wittenberg.  I know there are teams who would love to prevent that matchup, but it would be fun.

[kiltedbryan]

Beat Stout by 8.

Yup, sorry.  I meant Emory and Henry.

[WoosterFAN]

I am truly sorry DenisonFAN.  I really thought that the BigRed coudl win out and sneak into 4th place but I as I said early, your future is bright.

As for Wooster, our future is bright, too.  Now that Port has announced that he is coming back.  Here is next year's roster forecast (assuming everyone else comes back/never a certainty):
8 of top nine scoreres return including top 5. Top 5 rebounders and the rotation will include 3 seniors.  two freshman seeing minutes will be sophomores and have a full year for conditioning and coaching (read get better!).

This season is not even close to over and I am already looking forward to next year!!!

[DenisonFan]

Wooster is scary now.  Bring everyone back with another year under their belt.  Nobody can touch them. 
Heck, they crush everyone now. 

Has anyone ever won back to back championships??  Did North Park do it?

[ScotsFan]

DF,

UW Stevens Point just did it the last 2 years so they would be the most recent.  North Park has done it as well.  They actually 3 peated in 78,79 & 80.  UW Platteville also won back to back titles in 98 &99.  They actually won 5 titles in the 90's!

Here is a link to the D3Hoops Archives where you can check out the National Champs from 1975 to present:

National Champs

[AndersDY]

Only 4 titles for Platteville in the 1990s actually (yeah, only...). I saw the 1998 championship game and that team was a wrecking crew. Not sure about the earlier titles, but the last two came under Bo Ryan, who of course is now at the big UW doing quite well still.

[wally_wabash]

Not only has somebody won back-to-back championships, it happened over the last two years.  Here's a link that lists past D-III champions:

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/mens/history/diviii

I'm not ready to crown Wooster national champions yet...this year or next.  Wooster has the textbook makeup of a team that can't go all the way.  That is to say, I don't think Wooster can win a game against a quality team where they don't shoot 45%+ on 3-point field goals and the score stays reasonable, say in the 70s.  It's very, very hard to play six games in a row where you don't have an off night, especially against the kind of competition Wooster will see in the NCAAs.  When you live and die by that three point shot, as Wooster does, more often than not you get tripped up in the tournament.  

Wooster can afford an off night against Kenyon or Hiram or even Earlham.  But against the teams they'll likely see in the tournament (Hope, Witt, Albion, B-W, etc.) they won't have the luxury of a mulligan.  

[DenisonFan]

Thanks for that.  Doesn't UW Stevens Point have like 12,000 kids.  That is really fair for them to be D3 to begin with.  Doesn't seem right.

[woosterbooster]

Thanks for that. Doesn't UW Stevens Point have like 12,000 kids. That is really fair for them to be D3 to begin with. Doesn't seem right.

I used to believe that way, that those Wisconsin schools sure had a big advantage because of their large enrollments.  Then someone pointed out to me that no one (anymore), chooses their athletic teams from their student bodies.  There are no such things as tryouts these days, except to maybe add a couple of walk-ons. The Wisconsin schools, just like everyone else, recruit their athletes from the high school populations.

Now, they may have some advantage in that there might be fewer colleges in Wisconsin in proportion to the state's population.  And, if the local kids mostly decide to stay in-state to go to school, that would aid the colleges there.  But I don't know if this is true, and there's certainly no reason why Ohio colleges (or those from any other state) can't go up that way to Badger kids to play at the various Buckeye State schools.

[sac]

It been beat like a deadhorse on here over the years but the UW schools clear advantage is difference in tuition.

.......that and the longstanding ability to redshirt which they can no longer do.




Does anyone really believe Wooster made or had to make a statement against a team that just lost to Oberlin?

[hoopsfan1111]

Does anyone really believe Wooster made or had to make a statement against a team that just lost to Oberlin?

I don't believe Wooster was concerned with making a 'statement'.  Maybe we can put this 'statement' discussion to rest...Wooster is better than Hiram, Wooster played hard, played focused, and played well last night...they were doing what they are supposed to do as a basketball team, regardless of the opponent.  I don't think they were trying to make an example of Hiram, if they had wanted to make an example, the starters would have been left in and the margin of victory would have been even greater than 64...the only statement made was probably one that has been in the making the entire year, Wooster is an outstanding basketball team.