MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jscwittfan]

Nice win for OWU tonight, and a tough loss for Witt.  Gregg Hill had a chance to tie at the end thanks to some timely OWU free throw misses, but it was not to be (adding one more miss to Witt's 4-for-17 3-point shooting night).  Don't look now, but OWU has beaten Witt 3 straight and 4 of the last 5, perhaps even further solidifying their place in the top 3 in the conference.

I don't think the outcome would have been significantly different but the officiating was TERRIBLE in this game.

Alas, such is a game in the NCAC.  Then again, looking at the endings of both the Villanova-Georgetown and Rutgers-Tennessee games on Monday, such is also any game in the entire NCAA.

I just wish we could have watched this game like we were able to watch the first game between these two.  I mean, if OWU can pull off an internet video broadcast from (and no offense to any OWU fans) their old, aging, technologically-challenged (from what I remember from my broadcasts there) arena, I would think that Witt would like to consistently showcase this feature as well (considering they KNOW they can do it after basketball games last year and the NCAA volleyball tournament this year).

This is not a good sign for Witt heading into Saturday's showdown with Wooster. Wooster may have struggled a little bit tonight (as much as an 18-point win can be considered a "struggle"), but the Scots a) will be looking for revenge, b) can essentially (if not officially) wrap up the regular season conference title, and c) also deliver a blow to Witt's at-large hopes.  I must say, I don't have a good feeling about Saturday.  But, as Mr. Berman says so often, that's why they play the game.  Should be a fun one nonetheless.

[pennstghs]

i think this loss makes them all the more hungry saturday night

[woosterbooster]

Well, one thing that it definitely does, even if Wittenberg beats Wooster, is to put the Tigers' final two games back into play.  A win now over Wooster ties them for the lead, and they'll have the head-to-head tiebreaker.  But should they drop either their mid-week home game against Wabash or their season-finale matinee at Kenyon next Saturday they'll still finish second, at best.

[kiltedbryan]

One random note from the Scots game tonight:

Devin Fulk recorded career start #2 for the Scots...a sort of early Senior Night for Fulk, who attended Licking Valley High School and must have plenty of family in the Newark/Granville/Licking County area.

One of the biggest cheers of the night was when he was announced in the starting lineup.  I thought this was a nice, classy move by Steve Moore to allow Fulk the start in front of the "home" fans.   

[kiltedbryan]

From the OWU website about tonight's game:

"The win snaps Ohio Wesleyan's 43-game losing streak to the Tigers in Springfield dating back to Feb. 28, 1953, when the Bishops took a 67-58 decision in Wittenberg Field House. The win also gives Ohio Wesleyan its first regular-season sweep of Wittenberg since the 1949-50 campaign."



That's a pretty impressive streak.

Nice win for OWU tonight, and a tough loss for Witt.  Gregg Hill had a chance to tie at the end thanks to some timely OWU free throw misses,

Yeah, and not just by any 'ol OWU player.  Brian Caferella went 1-2 at the line twice in the final ten seconds of play- quite unusual for a player in "Devin Fulk" territory on FT percentage.  Caferella came into the game 39-42 on the season.

[Gregory Sager]

From the OWU website about tonight's game:

"The win snaps Ohio Wesleyan's 43-game losing streak to the Tigers in Springfield dating back to Feb. 28, 1953, when the Bishops took a 67-58 decision in Wittenberg Field House. The win also gives Ohio Wesleyan its first regular-season sweep of Wittenberg since the 1949-50 campaign."



That's a pretty impressive streak.

Those are two mighty impressive streaks. Congrats to the Bishops for getting both of those monkeys off of OWU's back.

[ECHOOPER]

Reading the post on the main page of d3hoops, before last night they had OWU ranked high in the regional rankings than Witt.  How is this possible?

[smedindy]

The regional rankings are set by many criteria. It's not just a popularity contest. They use regional record, OWP (opponents winning percentage), and OOWP (opponents opponents winning percentage).

[ScotsFan]

Looks like the forecast is calling for a 'Whiteout' on Saturday:

» Whiteout!: The Wooster athletic department is encouraging all fans to wear white in support of the Fighting Scots at Saturday night's game.

[jscwittfan]

Looks like the forecast is calling for a 'Whiteout' on Saturday:

» Whiteout!: The Wooster athletic department is encouraging all fans to wear white in support of the Fighting Scots at Saturday night's game.

Hopefully it will go as well for Witt as last year's "blackout" did...

[wally_wabash]

Reading the post on the main page of d3hoops, before last night they had OWU ranked high in the regional rankings than Witt.  How is this possible?

I think you may have answered your own question Hooper...*Both teams have essentially identical regional records (13-4 or OWU, 14-4 for Witt), Witt has an advantage against regionally ranked opponents (1-2 vs. 0-3 for OWU), but the difference in the SOS numbers is huge as you posted earlier.  That, combined with OWU's head-to-head win over the Tigers makes it pretty easy to have them ranked higher than Wittenberg. 

*These numbers do not include last night's results...which really only enhance the argument for OWU. 

[smedindy]

They don't use SOS though, they use OWP and OOWP now.

[ScotsFan]

Has anyone noticed that Ian Franks has appeard to have passed Dusitn Geitgey on Wooster's depth chart?  Geitgey logged 11 minutes in the OWU game compared to just 2 for Franks and since then, Franks has been averaging nearly 13 minutes per game compared to just 4 minutes per game for Geitgey.  In fact Geitgey didn't even see the floor in the Wabash game.  I'm just wondering if Geitgey didn't do something to get him in Coach Moore's doghouse...

As for last night's game, Wooster had a subpar shooting performance (by their standards) and still won by 18.  Wooster only shot 45% from the floor and just 33% from deep despite Cooper and Fulk combining on 5-9 treys.  The rest of the team only managed 2-14.  Interesting note that the last time the Scots had an off night shooting the basketball was at Allegheny (44% from the floor and 24% from deep).  They followed that game up with a sizzling shooting performance vs. OWU as they shot 53% from the floor and a scorching 60% from deep!  Will history repeat itself this Saturday?  Lets hope so!

[pennstghs]

amen jsc---note to all in attendance i should "standout" to the crowd-maybe meet some of you fellow Wooster fans??? I will be at the JV game and trust me you won't be able to miss me.....

The only school that can truly have a successful whiteout is Penn State football-case in point the Notre Dame game last year-that was amazing

[ScotsFan]

The only school that can truly have a successful whiteout is Penn State football-case in point the Notre Dame game last year-that was amazing

The White Out for the Michigan game 2 years ago went pretty well for Penn State...   At least there were no reports of urine filled water bottles being tossed out of the student sections?!