MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Well, this shouldn't be a Wooster fan club either - and unless your team shoots NO free throws in an NCAC tourney game - mayhaps the lips should be buttoned about fouls and refs.

[earlhamalum]

For a page there I thought I was reading things posted on the woman's board... Ladies let's get back to basketball!




POTSHOT

[David Collinge]

I've been trying to turn it into a Denison fan club, but so far I've had little success...like Denison. 

[wally_wabash]

For a page there I thought I was reading things posted on the woman's board... Ladies let's get back to basketball!

Are the refs out to get the Lady Scots as well?!?

[ScotsFan]

To take Titan Q's advice and get the conversation back on basketball, anyone have any thought's on tonight's game with Wittenberg @ Ott?  This is pretty much a must win for the Tigers IMO.  A loss would make it 3 straight and all would be in-region losses.  Personally, I don't see the Cards posing much of a threat to Witt, but the way this season has gone, nothing would surprise me.

OWU is also back in action tonight and they are also taking on an OAC foe in Wilmington.  This could be a tough one for the Bishops as well as they have not played since their loss to Allegheny on Dec. 9th and Wilmington is coming off of an impressive win over JCU who had been unbeaten and leading the OAC.  Wilmington is also riding a 3 game win streak.  

For Mose Hole related games, UW-Lax is taking on #4 St. Thomas tonight.  After an impressive start of the season by the Eagles which saw them reach #21 in the polls, they have since dropped 2 straight.  One of them was a respectable 3 point loss at #5 UWSP and the other was a bit of a surpise overtime loss at 3-5 Carleton (MN).  They are in a bit of the same waters as Wittenberg.  If they lose tonight, they then have Calvin followed by a matchup of either ONU or Wooster.  They could be facing the serious possibility of easily looking at a 5 game losing streak to end the year on if they can't right the ship tonight vs. the Tommies.

Hopefully the NCAC can represent tonight and bring home a couple of wins over the OAC!

[ScotsFan]

What I was pointing out was that the Wooster war on NCAA officials has reached comedic levels. 

For a page there I thought I was reading things posted on the woman's board... Ladies let's get back to basketball!

Are the refs out to get the Lady Scots as well?!?

Sorry to see that your attempts at humor haven't reached comedic levels though. 8)

[jscwittfan]

Wally and Lil' Giant, that was beautiful.  That's all I'll add to that.

As far as tonight goes, big bounceback game is what everybody is hoping from Witt.  Dane has already proven that he can have big games against Otterbein (he led Witt with 18 points and 8 rebounds in last season's matchup), so that is what to look for tonight.  However, how will the other Tigers respond?  Can Gregg Hill shake off 2-11 from the field?  Can Witt as a team find their 3 point shooting range after 1-9 on Tuesday?

I'm sure that Bill has his guys focused, but don't look past the fact that a lot of these guys (as are numerous other collegiate athletes around the country) may be looking ahead to a much-needed and/or wanted break from basketball for the holidays.  Especially after getting it handed to them against ONU, Witt may just be feeling like they want to pack it in and head for break.  I highly doubt this will happen, but don't be surprised if tonight is a little closer than the Tiger contingent would like.

Not only does Witt need a win, but so do the NCAC teams as a whole - the conference is taking a beating this week!

[smedindy]

DC -

Well, you can start complaing about rotations and playing time, right?

[smedindy]

Wow, I just did a cursory glance at Denison's stats.

180 turnovers, just 39 steals.

Their opponents have 95 steals and just 117 turnovers.

They also have a piddling amount of blocked shots.

D-up, boys! D-up!!! Please!!!

I wonder since someone is leading in minutes played and scoring by a large margin is why the Denison fans are silent...hmmm.....

[David Collinge]

The refs have been screwing the Big Red all season...

[goscots]

My reply to few of the questions posted earlier:

1. Will the Scots drop from the #1 poll ranking spot? - I don't think there is any question they will, its just a matter of how far. If St. Thomas loses tonight to UW-Lacrosse it might by to only the #3 spot, but it could be as low as #6. It can't see it being any lower because the voters are pretty informed and know that Wooster has played a very tough pre conference schedule.

2. Was it a bad loss?  It would only be a bad loss if they don't take anything away from it. Wooster is a very good team but not perfect. I have noted before that they have played stretches of very good defense. But I heard in Coach Moores commentary in the post game interview that after the Scots got to a 5 point lead, Cal Baptist scored on their next 10 possessions and that was basically the ball game.

3. Officiating? - Now I can only go by Mike B's commentary and he is very good about being impartial, but I only heard him once reference a miss by the ref's. I forget the name of the CB player but Mike commented that he got a  'running start' on his drive to the basket. He also referenced a few times when Wooster bench argued for a foul not called. But all in all I don't think the ref's were the issue. Wooster had their chances but just a few too many turnovers and didn't rebound well in the second half.

To me the silver lining is that the loss should put a hunger in them for the Mose Hole tournament. It should be a great set of games and I'll be there.

[Pat Coleman]

Whoa!  Why the swipe at Wabash? 

Probably because you swiped first.

It's not unusual to demand a somewhat more even distribution of free throws. That's why I spotlighted it on the front page.

[WLCALUM83]

Wittenberg/Otterbein about to get underway:

[WLCALUM83]

Wittenberg 24, Otterbein 22, approx 9 minutes left in 1st half:

[David Collinge]

1. Will the Scots drop from the #1 poll ranking spot? - I don't think there is any question they will, its just a matter of how far. If St. Thomas loses tonight to UW-Lacrosse it might by to only the #3 spot, but it could be as low as #6. It can't see it being any lower because the voters are pretty informed and know that Wooster has played a very tough pre conference schedule.

The next poll will not be released until after the holidays, taking into account games through Dec. 31.  I think Wooster's results in the Mose Hole games will be far more significant in determining their ranking than the Cal Baptist loss.  Also you need to consider that some of the other top teams have rugged weeks ahead, such as UW-Stevens Point playing Augustana, Amherst traveling to San Antonio to face Trinity, and (as goscots notes) St. Thomas taking on La Crosse. 

There's far too much basketball between then and now to predict what the Jan. 3 ranking will be, but I'll suggest that if Wooster goes 2-0 next weekend, they'll be no worse than #2 in that poll, and quite possibly still #1.  That's a big 'if,' though.

To me the silver lining is that the loss should put a hunger in them for the Mose Hole tournament. It should be a great set of games and I'll be there.

I think this is a great point.  The only real damage done by Cal Baptist was to the Scots' pride.  They believe that they're the best team in D3, and I'm sure they're anxious to prove it next weekend and silence the doubters.  Sky-high ONU vs. Wooster with a chip on its shoulder--it should be an outstanding game next Friday.