MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[tigerup07]

Hey all,
I'm jscwittfan's broadcast partner, got to watch the Oberlin-Wabash game with him. It was an interesting one to say the least. An impressive defense from Oberlin and a stale offense from Bash, not something I expected. Wabash had no low post offense although good outside shooting. Oberlin, like jsc said, wasn't amazing but good enough to edge wabash out. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the NCAC matchups for Oberlin and Wabash play out.
Witt/Wooster is getting a lot of attention on Witt's campus, might be even more heated than last year's game at the HPER, knowing that Wooster's team hasn't lost anyone and Witt's got a chip on their shoulder with the tough loss from the NCAA finals last year and Wooster's the easiest team to peg that chip on. Gettin' really excited and can't wait to see a good game.

[ScotsFan]

WooBoo,

It's true he (eventually) cleared the bench, but full court press when leading by 100+??!!  Taking IMMEDIATE three's rather than working the shot clock a bit (one guy made a steal when they were up by over 100 and shot a 3 when there was NO defender between him and the basket)??!!

While it would be EVEN worse if he had left the starters in, it was a totally shameful bit of coaching.

To lessen the black-eye for d3 (home of STUDENT-athletes, where sportsmanship is still deemed an actual value, rather than a quaint relic), I wish the media reports had mentioned that this is Lincoln's final year in d3.  Perhaps they were preparing for the transition by practicing d2 'sportsmanship'?!

I'm going to give my two cents on this matter.  I'm leaning more in agreement of Mr. Ypsi on this one.  While I don't agree that you should hold back the players that come off of the bench and not allow them to play, there is a difference between not allowing them to play and keeping up a full court press and launching 3's at will without even working the shot clock.  IMO, this is where Lincoln's coach crossed the line.  OSU-M had only 6 guys who even dressed for this game!  I just don't think it was neccessary to continue to put full court pressure when Lincoln was on defense and not work the shot clock a little more when Lincoln was on offense when they were up 100+ already!  What does this prove??  To me, it proves nothing and it opens up the door to questions about class and lack thereof.  Lincoln's coach opened himself up to all the criticism he's receiving when he chose to keep the press on and not slow the tempo by using up more of the shot clock.  I hope getting that 200 points was worth all the 'lack of class' talk that is going with it?!

[wally_wabash]

Wabash is really, really young.  They are going to have bad games like they did on Saturday, especially on the road.  And, as DC mentioned, Oberlin always seems to bring it against Wabash.  Don't know why, they just do. 

Witt/Wooster is getting a lot of attention on Witt's campus, might be even more heated than last year's game at the HPER, knowing that Wooster's team hasn't lost anyone and Witt's got a chip on their shoulder with the tough loss from the NCAA finals last year and Wooster's the easiest team to peg that chip on. Gettin' really excited and can't wait to see a good game.

How does beating Wooster this week (which isn't happening, BTW) ease the pain of pulling a wicked gak job for the National freakin' Championship against Virginia Wesleyan last March?  You can beat the Scots by 30 (still not happening) and it doesn't take the Walnut and Bronze out of the Fighting TonTon's trophy case. 

[uknowme2]

How does beating Wooster this week (which isn't happening, BTW) ease the pain of pulling a wicked gak job for the National freakin' Championship against Virginia Wesleyan last March?  You can beat the Scots by 30 (still not happening) and it doesn't take the Walnut and Bronze out of the Fighting TonTon's trophy case. 

I thought maybe the Wabash faithful would hate Wooster in basketball.  I guess they just hate the Tigers. 

But I do agree, I don't think the Tigers beating Wooster takes the sting away from losing the National Title last year.

[woosterbooster]

Yep, you guys are right, full-court press all game is way over the edge.  I didn't realize, either, that OSU-Marion had only 6 players. 

[Li'l Giant]

Yep, you guys are right, full-court press all game is way over the edge.  I didn't realize, either, that OSU-Marion had only 6 players. 

I have to admit when I first heard during a break in the football action on TV Saturday that a D3 team had scored 201 points I assumed they were playing Grinnell and only won by 5.

What I've read above is just disgusting. Only 6 players, full court press, taking that many threes. It's just wrong.

How does beating Wooster this week (which isn't happening, BTW) ease the pain of pulling a wicked gak job for the National freakin' Championship against Virginia Wesleyan last March?

I don't know about you, Wally, but I'd give my left one to play in the NCAC championship game, let alone a national championship game. Yeah, they blew it. I'd love for us to have that opportunity. And it's not happening to us anytime soon.

[jscwittfan]

How does beating Wooster this week (which isn't happening, BTW) ease the pain of pulling a wicked gak job for the National freakin' Championship against Virginia Wesleyan last March? 

I don't think tigerup07 was saying that a win would "ease the pain," so to speak.  I think what he's getting at is that Wittenberg doesn't have the chance to get "revenge" on Virginia Wesleyan, so the next best thing is beating Wooster.  I know, it's not important to avenge last year's loss, since this is a new year, but that's just how some people get psyched up sometimes.  Since Wooster is not only a rival but (probably) the soon-to-be #1 team in the nation, this is Wittenberg's chance to prove that they will be a contender again this year without Russ/Brady/etc. - hence the comment about trying to keep the proverbial chip on Witt's shoulder.

It should be a great game, and I'm looking forward to it immensely (going up to get my tickets today) - however, Witt better not look past Cedarville tomorrow.  There should be 2 pretty great games in the HPER this week, and the last thing that Wittenberg's psyche needs is to lose both of them and get an early season momentum/confidence killer.

[smedindy]

I'm all for a team running it's offense for most of a game so the scrubs can get with the program - but full court pressing a team with just six players is just wrong.

[Gregory Sager]

I don't know about you, Wally, but I'd give my left one to play in the NCAC championship game, let alone a national championship game. Yeah, they blew it. I'd love for us to have that opportunity. And it's not happening to us anytime soon.

Hey, at least you still have the Walnut and Bronze that Big Pete brought home to Wally World 24 years ago. And how many schools out there in D3 Land would give their left one to own a big doorstop just like that one Big Pete got you? I can think of one school in particular that's located in northeastern Ohio that undoubtedly looks upon your Walnut and Bronze with covetous eyes. 

[AndOne]

WooBoo,

It's true he (eventually) cleared the bench, but full court press when leading by 100+??!!  Taking IMMEDIATE three's rather than working the shot clock a bit (one guy made a steal when they were up by over 100 and shot a 3 when there was NO defender between him and the basket)??!!

While it would be EVEN worse if he had left the starters in, it was a totally shameful bit of coaching.

To lessen the black-eye for d3 (home of STUDENT-athletes, where sportsmanship is still deemed an actual value, rather than a quaint relic), I wish the media reports had mentioned that this is Lincoln's final year in d3.  Perhaps they were preparing for the transition by practicing d2 'sportsmanship'?!

I'm going to give my two cents on this matter.  I'm leaning more in agreement of Mr. Ypsi on this one.  While I don't agree that you should hold back the players that come off of the bench and not allow them to play, there is a difference between not allowing them to play and keeping up a full court press and launching 3's at will without even working the shot clock.  IMO, this is where Lincoln's coach crossed the line.  OSU-M had only 6 guys who even dressed for this game!  I just don't think it was neccessary to continue to put full court pressure when Lincoln was on defense and not work the shot clock a little more when Lincoln was on offense when they were up 100+ already!  What does this prove??  To me, it proves nothing and it opens up the door to questions about class and lack thereof.  Lincoln's coach opened himself up to all the criticism he's receiving when he chose to keep the press on and not slow the tempo by using up more of the shot clock.  I hope getting that 200 points was worth all the 'lack of class' talk that is going with it?!

Gentlemen----

Lets just call it as we see it-----> The Lincoln coach was a complete ass----!
Playing hard--yes. Kicking the other guy when he is down---complete ass----!

[wilburt]

Good Job Lincoln...

Don't Hate - Congratulate!  Check out this article.

http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/publish/article_02355.shtml

[jscwittfan]

Latest poll up . . .

#1. Wooster (21 1st place votes, 620 total points)
#6. Wittenberg (506 total points)

So, once again, Wooster comes into Springfield as the number one team in all the land.

[David Collinge]

Dane Borchers' huge game at Denison has been recognized by the conference office, which named him Player of the Week yesterday.  Congratulations to the fifth-year senior on yet another honor!

[pennstghs]

guys as proof of the crowds that will be at wooster this saturday-i went to pick up my ticket at a little over 6 and ended up in row Q. how in the heck does that happen? i am a little disappointed in that fact.

anyways, wittenberg has a very intriguing game against cedarville tonight. cedarville is undefeated but wittenberg should be able to handle them. the thing to watch tonight is how wittenberg handles cedarville's perimeter game because this could be a tune up as to what we may see saturday. in the past everyone has been saying why would u schedule two rivals in the same week but the styles in which they both play may be due to this little facet. comments?

[ScotsFan]

penn,  I agree with you in that playing C'ville should be a good prep game for Witt with Wooster looming on Saturday.  Also, Witt should not be caught looking past C'ville, as it is a rivalry game as well for the Tigers.  As for C'ville's style of play being similar to Wooster's, I don't know if that is totally acurate.  C'ville's offense looks to me like it runs through their big man, 6'10" Daniel Rose.  I would almost say that C'ville looks more like Witt on paper than Wooster.  One thing I will be interested in seeing is how Witt matches up with Guy Rathmell.  He looks to be very similar to a Tom Port type of player.  He's a 6'6" forward and he's leading the team in 3 pt fg % and he's 2nd on the team in made 3's.  I'm interested to see who Witt puts on this guy and how they defend him because that's likely what we'll see against Tom Port as well.

Overall, at least on paper, I'd say Wooster's guards are a better collective group than what C'ville has, although the Yellow Jackets appear to have more size off the bench with two guys at  6'6" getting some solid minutes.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that this will be Witt's stiffest challenge of the season to date and I'm looking forward to see how they come out of it.  I think we can get a better gague of just how good Witt is after tonight's contest.