MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

I wrote a blog post along these lines last year:
http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=62

This scenario actually pretty closely resembles last year's Mose Hole.

[ScotsFan]

Yes it did have a strong resemblence to last year's Mose Hole field.  I actually think that Wooster tried to pair it up as you explained in your blog, Pat.  Rumor has it, however, that Lycoming, who would have fallen into that better than average out of region opponent, only accepted to play in the tournament on the stipulation that they not play Wooster in the opening round.  That left Wooster with the choice of playing the weak in region opponent which was Thiel or taking on the strong in region opponent which they did and lost to B-W. 

Using Pat's scenario for this year's Mose Hole, there really isn't a spot for the weak out of region opponent.  Wooster basically had to choose between Calvin and ONU as who to play in the opening round.   Based on Pat's scenario, Wooster should have chosen to play Calvin in the opening round because they would the lower seed between the 2 hypothetically speaking.   I'm guessing they chose ONU because, as DC noted, they knew ONU was going to be loaded coming into this season and there is a strong probability that these 2 might meet up again come March.  Not saying that the possibility of meeting up with Calvin in March isn't there, but it's more likely the Scots would have to face the PB's before they would face Calvin come tournament time.  It's one thing to scout a team, but to be able to go head to head gives you a real good idea of what to expect if and when you happen to meet up with them again.  Of course, the ideal scenario to play out for the Scots would be for them to defeat ONU and then have the chance to face Calvin in the finals and finally have the chance to exact some revenge on what the Knights did to the Scots back in the 2000 NCAA tournament up in GR! 8)

[onefan]

Come on guys, if Wooster really thinks ONU is loaded., why not meet them in the finals on Saturday and have two regional teams going head to head in the championship game? I think you are fooling yourselves if you truly believe a program is going to pick a team they think is going to give them the toughest game in the opening game of a tournament. Yes upsets do happen, and yes Northern or Wooster could lose in the first game and not get the chance to meet, but I still maintain the more plausible explanation is that they felt ONU was the weakest team in the tournament and logically chose to play them in the opener. Bulletin board material? You Betcha. But with this match up I don't think either program needs any added motivation. 1verses7 is pretty good stuff all by itself.

[woosterbooster]

Dang, the link for the live video from California Baptist still isn't working and nobody's answering the phone number that they gave me to call if I had problems.  Stuck with the radio broadcast, I guess.

[earlhamalum]

http://www.earlham.edu/athletics/content/sports/men/basketball/2006-07/stats/erlm1220.html

Earlham Drops a close one at the buzzer 59-61 against Muskingum in the third annual Hilton Gardens Inn/Jacksons Classic at Washington & Jefferson in PA .  Markous Jewett dropped 23pts on 6-12 shooting and 10-11 from the Free-throw line, while Nick Welsh went 7-7 from the field and ended up with 15pts.


Games like these will get them ready for the 2nd half of the season and hopefully they can do well in the NCAC.

[David Collinge]

Sounds like Wooster is off to a fairly crummy start tonight, trailing 23-12, 11:02 1st.

[division3hoops]

I just have to say that after listening to the Witt/ONU game last night, Wooster fans ARE spoiled to have Breckenridge.  He does such an excellent job. 

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 42  Cal Baptist 42

Wooster got off to a slow start trailing 23-12 before they went on a 14-3 run to knot the game at 26-26. Wooster hit 8 three pointers in the half to keep pace with Cal Baptist.  Port, Johnson and Will each have 2 fouls.

Wooster is being led by Tim Vandervaart with 8 points, James Cooper with 7 points, Marty Bidwell with 6 points and Brandon Johnson with 6 points.

Mark Roussin is leading the Lancers with 14 points and Andrew Bruckner has 6 points.

GO SCOTS!

[woolax]

Wooster may have some rust to shake off after flying out to Cali. At halftime the score is tied 42-42  and the anouncer did mention that it sounds like there may be a good Wooster alumni crowd in attendance

[division3hoops]

At the Half:
The game is tied at 42.  Vandervaart had two freethrows to break the tie but missed his first.  He got a break due to lane violation but missed the second as well.  It was rebounded by Cal but they couldn't put the shot in.  Coop took his usual 3 with the time winding down but was not able to make it go in either.  
Scots really need to step it up next half.  Sounds like they are shooting well from 3 point land.  They have made 8 3 pointers already.

[Pat Coleman]

Hey, so it's tied 42-42 at the half?

Looking forward to Mose Hole. Just booked my trip and I am definitely going to be there.

[woosterbooster]

I finally got the video to work about halfway through the first half.  Not at all intuitive, at least to me.

Wooster is playing like a team suffering from jet lag.  The desire is there, but they look a step slow, and maybe a mental step slow sometimes, too.  Still, they're right in this ballgame, tied at the half.

They're giving up too many baskets, obviously, but also too many second chances, which is uncharacteristic of them.  Since they're not consistently able to clear their defensive board, they've been unable to run.  They've tried to push it hard up the court after Baptist scores, but some poor long passes have resulted in turnovers.  It'll be interesting to see if they have more energy and alertness in the second half, or less.  They're trying, as always, but a cross country trip is fatigueing, whether you're Wooster or the Celtics.

[TigerFan_1973]

Yes it did have a strong resemblence to last year's Mose Hole field. 

There must be a story to the name "Mose Hole."  Can someone enlighten me on this one?

Witt has another game tomorrow night that I'm hoping comes out better than last night's against ONU.  I have to give the Polar Bears credit for a good game.  

Go Tigers!

[David Collinge]

Say, does anyone have the halftime score? 

Elsewhere, in Las Vegas to be precise, Denison slumps to 1-9, losing to lowly Clarke College 69-52.  Dan Hodgkinson contributed half of the offense, scoring 26 on 10/16 shooting and 6/8 free throws, but the rest of the team went just 7/27 (.259) from the field (including 1/15 from the arc, to go along with Hodgkinson's 0/1).  Denison actually led this game at the half, but allowed Clarke to shoot 50% in the second half to salt the game away.  In a word:  Yuk. 

[David Collinge]

There must be a story to the name "Mose Hole."  Can someone enlighten me on this one?

E.M. "Mose" Hole was the head coach of men's basketball at Wooster from 1926 through 1958.  He compiled a record of 412-181 (.695) in those 32 years, and won five OAC titles.

Looking forward to seeing you, Pat.