MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Final from C'ville:

RHIT 57
Wabash 50

Wabash played the part of a young team very well tonight...24 turnovers, 4-24 3 pt shooting.  Wabash did make a late charge in the game, but just couldn't overcome the turnovers in this one.  Wabash will play IU-South Bend in the consolation game tomorrow  afternoon. 

Simkus had a good day for Wabash with 15 points on 7-11 shooting.  My freshman to watch (Haltom) had 8 points on just 2-10 shooting.  Good to see he's not afraid shoot on the bigger stage...I think he'll come around nicely as the season progresses. 

[David Collinge]

Wooster ends up winning 128-71.  All sorts of records set, including points in an AVW Classic game (old record: 103, set by Mt. Union earlier this evening) and threes deposited in a game by Wooster (25, of 45 chances.)  Cooper had six treys and 24 or so points, Port had 5 treys (of seven) and about 17, Vandervaart had 15 points and 16 rebounds. 

Around here I tend to be the wet blanket on what I see as the sometimes irrational exuberance over Wooster.  But not tonight.  I am well and truly impressed.  Now, I grant you that the Cabrini Fighting Jane Byrnes* are not a great or even good club, but that just wasn't relevant tonight.  They never had a chance against the Wooster team that showed up tonight.  On one end, they hit 25 treys, most of them wide open as the result of crisp ball movement.  On the other end, they forced something like 26 turnovers and held Cabrini to 45% shooting.  Every Scot who dressed played, with the bench emptying with about 7 minutes left and a 50 point lead. 

Cabrini has a very good center in junior Randy Reid, who had something like 18 and 9 to go with 3 or 4 steals.  He was guarded by Tom Port most of the time, and had the better of that matchup.  But that's the whole Cabrini highlight reel.  The rest was a clinical dismembering by a team that may even be better than the hype.

Mt. Union handled Emory and Henry fairly easily in the first game.  E&H looked pretty poor, and I would not be surprised to see Cabrini beat them, even after losing by 57 tonight.

(*A joke that probably only Greg Sager will get.  )

[David Collinge]

Scoreboard says:
Washington & Lee 82, Denison 71
Allegheny 78, Grove City 75 (OT)
OWU 96, D'Youville 31
Brockport St. 78, Oberlin 6 (I sure hope that's not correct...)
plus Wittenberg's win and Wabash's loss previously reported here.

[wooscotsfan]

David - the Yeomen had 66 points tonight so they only lost by 12.   

[Mr. Ypsi]

(*A joke that probably only Greg Sager will get.)

David,

Now don't go underestimating your audience (and I've never even lived in Chicago)!

[David Collinge]

Thanks, WSF.  That's a relief. 

Wooster-Cabrini box score is now posted.  Revising and correcting my remarks above, Cooper had 24 (6/9 from arc), Port had 19 (5/7 from arc), Vandervaart 15 and only 6 rebounds (not 16, duh).  Johnson added 14 (4/6 from arc) with 4 steals and 7 assists; and Fulk added 11 (3/6 from arc).  Every Wooster player who dressed played and scored, and eleven of 'em sank three pointers.    

It's just one game, but it looks for now like a nine-man rotation: the 8 veterans (Port, Van Horn, Vandervaart, Cooper, Johnson, Fulk, Will, Bidwell) and frosh Craig Elam.  These nine had double-figure minutes tonight, ranging from Elam's 10 to Cooper's 25.

Ypsi--it take more than just a Chicago orientation, it also takes a certain amount of chronological giftedness, with which you and I are blessed.   

Here's a question for those in the know.  Who is the mop-headed frosh who wears #54?  In the program, it's Rob Tenenini of Fox Chapel Pa., and that's also what the PA announcer said.  But CMHScotsFan's dad told me it was Jason Ronyak, and that's what the box score says as well, even though he's listed as #41 on the roster.  What's the answer?

[Li'l Giant]

(*A joke that probably only Greg Sager will get.  )

So a snowstorm keeping Wooster away from the gym would have saved them?

[Mr. Ypsi]

(*A joke that probably only Greg Sager will get.  )

So a snowstorm keeping Wooster away from the gym would have saved them?

Wasn't it Harold Washington that was done in by the snowstorm?

I think this has to do with Cabrini-Green.

Though I may have now set myself up to have credit withdrawn by David if I'm wrong!

(Even though I have MORE 'chronological giftedness' than him! )

[goscots]

One concern from tonights game was that Andy Van Horn took what I think was an elbow to the face early in the second half and never returned. He had an ice pack to his face while sitting on the bench. Hope he didn't break a nose or cheek bone.

[Li'l Giant]

Wasn't it Harold Washington that was done in by the snowstorm?...

...I think this has to do with Cabrini-Green.

I don't remember who Jane Byrne beat in that election (Who remembers the losers of elections?).

And she did live in Cabrini-Green. Just not for very long.

[goscots]

Jane Byrne defeated Michael Bilandic in 1979 and lost to Harold Washinton in 1983

[goscots]

I should have added that it was Bilandic that lost due looking ineffective in dealing with the heavy snowfall....it paralyzed Chicago.

[wally_wabash]

Egads.   Wooster is scary.  Anything less than Salem has to be disappointing for this team, right?

[imderekpoe]

Here's a question for those in the know.  Who is the mop-headed frosh who wears #54?  In the program, it's Rob Tenenini of Fox Chapel Pa., and that's also what the PA announcer said.  But CMHScotsFan's dad told me it was Jason Ronyak, and that's what the box score says as well, even though he's listed as #41 on the roster.  What's the answer?

David - His first score was announced as Tenenini, but later the announcer did give a correction and said that it was Ronyak.

[woosterbooster]

Egads.   Wooster is scary.  Anything less than Salem has to be disappointing for this team, right?

Wooster did look terrific last night.  Great ball movement produced numerous open looks, and they certainly have the players that can take advantage of those.  They played hard and forced numerous turnovers.  James Cooper, and even Devin Fulk, when called upon to give minutes at the point guard spot, looked very capable.  Even many of the freshmen, who were on the floor for over seven minutes at the end, and about whom I'd begun to have some doubts, showed lots of promise, especially with their shooting touches.

Let me sit down in that Devil's Advocate chair for a moment.  Kind of comfortable and familiar, actually.  

Wooster's interior defense appeared, to me, as suspect as it did last year.  Cabrini's Randy Reid, a Jesse Jean (OWU) clone, did far too much damage on the offensive end to suit me, and I'm sure the Scots, much of it coming on the offensive boards and stick-backs.  Too often, nobody put a body on him at all.

Alright, I guess that's all of the downside that's coming to mind.  They did look awesome!  

They did pick up those two injuries, though.  Andy Van Horn's dad was suspecting a broken nose (on his son, not his own), although he did comment once that Andy had flipped him a "Thumb's up" sign across the gym, apparently meaning that he was ok.  Everybody hopes so, that he'll be back in action as soon as possible, buzz-cut and all.

I had the pleasure of meeting two esteemed DIII Hoops posters last night, David Collinge and cmhscots.  I loved it.  Dave, thanks for coming by and then introducing me to cmh.  Looking forward to seeing both of you guys again at future games, which for me will not include tonight's championship, unless I can race home to make the second half.