MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

67-65 Earlham, just under 1 minute left.

Wabash's shot at the other end gets blocked.  Hewitt gets fouled and will shoot two.  Brock has fouled out for Wabash.  22.7 seconds left.  First shot is good.  Second shot is good.  69-65 Quakers.  Earlham calls timeout.

While the Wabash stream was out, Zimmer fouled out.  That's bad news. 

Wabash's three point attempt is no good, the ball goes over the back and Earlham has the ball.  Quick foul by Wabash and Henry will have two foul shots.  12 seconds left.

First shot is good.  Second shot is good.  71-65 Quakers.  Timeout Earlham. 

Wooster needs to give away iPods in the conference finals vs. Witt.   

Final score is Earlham 72, Wabash 70.

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 2/7 Final Scores:

Denison 68  Kenyon 65
Allegheny 74  Oberlin 69
Wittenberg 71  Ohio Wesleyan 64
Wooster 90  Hiram 73
Earlham 72  Wabash 70

Wally - thanks for the updates.

[wooscotsfan]

Current NCAC Standings thru 2/7 results:

Wooster 12-1 (19-3)
Wittenberg 11-2 (19-3)
Ohio Wesleyan 8-5 (14-8)
Wabash 6-7 (9-13)
Earlham 6-7 (8-14)
Hiram 6-7 (7-15)
Allegheny 5-8 (9-12)
Kenyon 5-8 (9-13)
Denison 3-10 (4-17)
Oberlin 3-10 (4-18)

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg 71  Ohio Wesleyan 64

Average crowd, but very quiet crowd until the end-this really bugs me sometimes......

Wittenberg in the first and most of the second half seemed to have problems with OWU's screen-heavy offense and OWU was able to get matchups they needed and Shier(sp?) was making some tought shots. Jesse J. had a big game as well-tough defender and a tough body to match up with. Wittenberg got down 7 and after a timeout Hill was able to penetrate and kick out to Nowicki and that started the 21-7 run that ended the game.

Big game from Brandon Barabino as he was a spark at times and created some key baskets when we needed him to down the stretch. Another key was the disappearance of Rudegair to 2 points and heavy foul trouble the whole game.

on both sides-a lot of bad calls for witt- but generally horrible officiating i must say. A bad charging call on hemenway started the OWU run, but both ways it was bad at times.

Thoughts from anyone?     I was surprised at Wittenberg being ranked ahead of Hope, but looking at the numbers it does make sense.

[wooscotsfan]

Regional Final Scores of Interest:

Calvin 77  #6 Hope 71 (big upset)
Lake Erie 93  Pitt-Bradford 64 (another cupcake squashed )
John Carroll 91  Heidelberg 86
Ohio Northern 75  Wilmington 53
Capital 56  Mount Union 44

JCU and CAP lead the OAC at 11-4, ONU one game back at 10-5

[wooscotsfan]

Wittenberg 71  Ohio Wesleyan 64

Thoughts from anyone?     I was surprised at Wittenberg being ranked ahead of Hope, but looking at the numbers it does make sense.

Given Hope's loss tonight, Wittenberg should also jump over them in the next D3Hoops Top 25 poll!  
 

[David Collinge]

All the NCAC 2/7 Final Scores:

Denison 68  Kenyon 65

G@&%(#&D$@(*&^$ Denison.  I'm bad enough at Pick 'Em without their help! 

Anyway...

Kudos to Hiram tonight, they played hard and pretty well, despite being both overmatched and undermanned tonight.  Hiram only dressed out nine players; among the missing was starting PG Mike Staley, the conference's assists leader by a wide margin.  The remaining Terriers hung tough through the first half but eventually ran out of steam and fell out of it by the middle of the second half.  Four of the starters played over 30 minutes, while no Scot players played more than 29.  Ian Pfouts in particular had a good game, scoring 14 on 5/6 shooting and leading the Pups with 9 rebounds.  Wooscotsfan correctly notes that the Hiram starters narrowed the final margin against the Wooster freshmen (Jackson Ellis and Julian Mangano saw their first-ever varsity action tonight), but don't get the wrong impression: Hiram had nothing but regulars in uniform tonight.  It was a game effort all around by the Terriers.

Wooster played with little enthusiasm, but little was needed.  Evan Will, normally the team's biggest cheerleader, was pretty sedate tonight, but he played another outstanding game, leading the Scots with 15 points and 12 boards (7 offensive.)  He's really stepped up in Vandervaart's absence; a very good sign.  Robert Melick also had a very nice game; his scoring touch in the paint is definitely improving--he was 4 of 5 tonight.  Wooster played well on defense in spurts, but mostly in the first half.  In the second they played a little less aggressively, and Hiram shot 55%, but they couldn't overcome 25 turnovers, leading to 31 Scot points, or do much to stop the Scots inside (52-18 scoring advantage in the paint to go along with a 37-27 rebound advantage.)

The Scots got away with a W tonight with about their 'C' game.  They'd better bring at least their 'A-' game to Crawfordsville on Saturday if they want to stay in the lead in this race.

[wooscotsfan]

Evan Will, normally the team's biggest cheerleader, was pretty sedate tonight, but he played another outstanding game, leading the Scots with 15 points and 12 boards (7 offensive.)  He's really stepped up in Vandervaart's absence; a very good sign.  Robert Melick also had a very nice game; his scoring touch in the paint is definitely improving--he was 4 of 5 tonight.

David - thanks for the first hand report from Timken.  Great points made about Evan Will and Robert Melick.  IF Vandervaart doesn't get back on the floor this year, Wooster will need strong play from Will and Melick to make any type of run in post season play, especially vs. teams with big front lines.

As others have noted, Evan Will played a great game vs Witt last Saturday.

[kiltedbryan]

Evan Will, normally the team's biggest cheerleader, was pretty sedate tonight, but he played another outstanding game, leading the Scots with 15 points and 12 boards (7 offensive.)  He's really stepped up in Vandervaart's absence; a very good sign.  Robert Melick also had a very nice game; his scoring touch in the paint is definitely improving--he was 4 of 5 tonight.

David - thanks for the first hand report from Timken.  Great points made about Evan Will and Robert Melick.  IF Vandervaart doesn't get back on the floor this year, Wooster will need strong play from Will and Melick to make any type of run in post season play, especially vs. teams with big front lines.

As others have noted, Evan Will played a great game vs Witt last Saturday.

I would argue, wooscotsfan, that regardless of whether or not "Darth" Vandervaart returns to the lineup in post season play, Wooster will need excellent play from Will and Melick to contend deep into the  postseason.  Even if Vandervaart returns, you can never have too much depth developed on your bench for the postseason.

[tigerup07]

Witt vs OWU -
Tonight I saw something I hadn't seen from Witt in a while. A little bit of everything
Some outside shooting
Some midrange shooting
Some post play
Some good ball movement
Some good perimeter defense
Some good post defense
Some turnovers
Some blocks and steals

Not a whole lot of anything but some of everything
Nice to see a balanced team (if not completely well balanced) take the floor
OWU impressed me with a stiff defense, good ball movement and especially the play of Jesse Jean and a solid outing from Rudegair. It was a stiff game, a lot closer than the final score shows. I'm surprised at OWU's record but I think it's just that they match up so well against Witt that they've given us a hard time each meeting (especially the first one).
I expect Witt and OWU will be meeting again. Just a hunch I have before the regular season wraps up. But, I also have a feeling that Wooster and Witt will see each other again at Timken. Should be an excellent and exciting NCAC tourney.

[smedindy]

Oof, with Wooster and Witt on the horizon, this loss to Earlham is trouble for the LGs if they want to host an NCAC tourney game.

[pennstghs]

I do have to argue Rudegair having a solid game-he was held in check most of the game by the seat on the bench he was occupying. He only had 2 points and didn't play much at all. He fouled out with about 3 minutes to go.

[pennstghs]

Also Willie apparently im not the only one noticing that Wittenberg's attendance is kind of pathatic

from today's Springfield News Sun:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wittenberg/2007/02/07/snssp020807wittnotes.html

[David Collinge]

All the NCAC 2/7 Final Scores:

Denison 68  Kenyon 65
Allegheny 74  Oberlin 69
Wittenberg 71  Ohio Wesleyan 64
Wooster 90  Hiram 73
Earlham 72  Wabash 70

Hmmm.  34 total points difference, average of 6.8 per game, and four of them single-digit affairs.  That might not be remarkable anywhere else, but I wonder when was the last time in this conference we had a full slate of games with such a low total margin (and no Witt/Woo game)?

Also Willie apparently im not the only one noticing that Wittenberg's attendance is kind of pathatic

from today's Springfield News Sun:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wittenberg/2007/02/07/snssp020807wittnotes.html

Could be worse; Wittenberg could be in Italy ==>
Italians to Play Soccer With No Fans
La Tigre su!   

[wally_wabash]

Pretty scathing article.  It's hard to find argument with the premise...if Wabash were ranked in the top 10 and coming off a Final Four season, Chadwick would be an absolute madhouse.