MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BigRedGrad]

Congratulations to OWU on a HUGE win.  That is awesome!!  Mike DeWitt is clearly the COY.  Nobody else should get a vote.  Seriously, not only does his guys get it done on the court, they get it done in the class room as well.  With Rudegeair and Holliday being clear examples.

I would not count them out in any game. 

Again, hats off to DeWitt and his guys.

[woosterbooster]

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...

I have definitely noticed this, and think it's a good move.  He seems to have better court sense out there then Geitgey, however still has a long way to go before he's really a contributor on the floor.  Right now, he seems mostly to be trying to stay out of the way on offense, but that will probably gradually change.  He needs some work in the weight room, looking much like a high school kid, which he still almost is.  I can see him down the road, if he works hard, being a Matt Smith type of player.

[wally_wabash]

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

I should have been more clear...what I meant by SOS was the SOS metrics of OWP and OOWP of which OWU's are significantly better than Wittenberg's. 

[pennstghs]

honestly, i think Witt and Wooster need to win the tournament to get in the NCAA's, but we will surely see. Whoever wins the regular season title between Witt and Wooster is going to get a great opportunity to host a very competitive weekend of basketball in 2 weeks, ceteris parabis(assuming all seeds hold accordingly).
Also, i do not think that we should look too far into the loss last night to OWU or Wooster not "winning" by as much as they'd have liked when looking at Saturday's game. Witt knows they need a win regardless and as i've said before just throw everything out of the window. After all, no one though Witt had a great chance the first time around and being able to come back and win just booms with a confidence increase.

[ScotsFan]

honestly, i think Witt and Wooster need to win the tournament to get in the NCAA's, but we will surely see.

I think if Wooster loses on Saturday and then loses in the NCAC tournament, they will be facing a big question when it comes to a Pool C bid.  But, if Wooster wins on Saturday and goes on to win the NCAC regular season title and loses in the NCAC tournament, I think they still get into the NCAA's at large. 

IMO, the only way Witt gets into the NCAA's is to win the NCAC tournament IMO.  And I think the same can be said for OWU.  That being said, I also feel that, at this point, OWU has a stronger case for a Pool C than Witt.

As far as motivators for this game, I think that Wooster will have plenty to motivate them.  For the seniors, this will be a chance at 4 straight NCAC championships.  That has only been done once before at Wooster back from the '88-'89 through '91-'92 seasons.  And 2 of those ('89-'90 and '90-'91) were when the conference was divided North and South and the other 2 were Co-Champions.  I don't believe that anyone has ever won 4 straight outright NCAC titles.  Not to mention, I'm sure that none of the seniors want to end their careers losing at least 2 straight to Witt.  Especially James Cooper.  And then there's the hosting issue.  I'm sure that these seniors don't want to have to make any more trips down to Springield.  And I'm sure that losing that lead late and not finishing has left a lingering bad taste for the entire team.  I'm sure that they want nothing more than to finish the job Saturday in front of the home fans.  And that would bring me to my last point.  The lone win at home over Witt for these seniors occurred on that memorable shot by James Cooper 2 years ago.  Witt has won 5 of the last 7 regular season match-ups at Timken.  Witt reversed the trend of Wooster winning down in Springfield.  Now it's Wooster's turn to return the favor.

[pennstghs]

pardon me i meant to say OWU instead of Wooster i think Wooster has a good at large chance-sorry about my slip up guys its been a long day

[kiltedbryan]

honestly, i think Witt and Wooster need to win the tournament to get in the NCAA's, but we will surely see. Whoever wins the regular season title between Witt and Wooster is going to get a great opportunity to host a very competitive weekend of basketball in 2 weeks, ceteris parabis(assuming all seeds hold accordingly).
Also, i do not think that we should look too far into the loss last night to OWU or Wooster not "winning" by as much as they'd have liked when looking at Saturday's game. Witt knows they need a win regardless and as i've said before just throw everything out of the window. After all, no one though Witt had a great chance the first time around and being able to come back and win just booms with a confidence increase.

Wittenberg's only NCAA chance is to win the NCAC tournament.  If Wooster wins out and then loses in the NCAC championship, I think the Scots would be a likely Pool C contender.  A loss to Witt Saturday hurts those chances.

OWU has Pool C chances also, by winning out and losing the NCAC final to Wooster (preferable, because if Wooster takes the Pool A bid, it takes Woo out of Pool C contention.)

Wittenberg would be at least a 6-loss (in-region) Pool C team...and its OWP and OOWP numbers are well below Wooster, Capital and Ohio Wesleyan, among others.

EDIT:  I see that ScotsFan has already addressed this point, but I felt that I didn't trample on what he said too much, so I'll post, too.

[wally_wabash]

Witt is certainly not out of the woods even if they do get a win against Wooster on Saturday.  Witt's remaining two opponents both played the Tigers tough the first time around (Wabash and Kenyon both suffered 8-minute FG droughts that doomed them).  Both teams will have plenty to play for (Wabash and Kenyon are fighting for the last home game in the first round...and neither wants to travel to the other for that first round game).  Wabash could all but cinch up that 4th place spot with a win next Wednesday.  Should the LGs slip, Kenyon could all but cinch that spot up by beting Witt at home in the season finale (and on Senior Day at that...Kenyon may have a TON to play for on that final Saturday).  Witt has two stern tests coming in the season's final week for sure.  

[ECHOOPER]

With the rankings should OWU and Wooster meet in the championship game, do you guys think that both make the tournament regardless of who wins?  The loser going to Pool C and the winner possibility of hosting the first 2 round.  I think it doesn't matter much where you are seeded in the first 5 seeds becasue any one can beat anyone on a single night.  Take the teams I played on seeded 5th we went into wabash where we had lost earlier in the season and won the first round.  Also, take OWU a couple of years ago beating Witt in the semi's to play wooster, but the eventually lost that one.  But like I said it doesn't matter where you are ranked within the top 5 of the tournament.

[kiltedbryan]

With the rankings should OWU and Wooster meet in the championship game, do you guys think that both make the tournament regardless of who wins?  The loser going to Pool C and the winner possibility of hosting the first 2 round.

If both OWU and Wooster win out until meeting in the NCAC championship, it seems likely that they could both make the tournament...however, the loser of that game will definitely be hoping that most other Pool A bids around the country go according to form.  Upsets in championship games can kill a bubble Pool C team's chances.

Hosting will again depend on what still happens between now and then.  If Capital wins out, Capital almost assuredly would have hosting rights (whether or not any NCAC teams would be slotted into that bracket is less clear- Capital came to Wooster for the first weekend last year.)

[ECHOOPER]

Do you think that it Wooster and Capital win out it would be a toss up or is it clear that Capital would host if it wins out?  Any OWU fans goin to make the trip to Earlham this weekend for the game? 

[ScotsFan]

Do you think that it Wooster and Capital win out it would be a toss up or is it clear that Capital would host if it wins out?  Any OWU fans goin to make the trip to Earlham this weekend for the game? 

I think it's pretty clear that if Cap wins out, they will be the top seed coming out of the GL Region.

[sac]

Do you think that it Wooster and Capital win out it would be a toss up or is it clear that Capital would host if it wins out?  Any OWU fans goin to make the trip to Earlham this weekend for the game? 

I think it's pretty clear that if Cap wins out, they will be the top seed coming out of the GL Region.

I kind of think thats unclear give the uncertainty of what Hope's in-region record is supposed to be.  If Hope wins out they'd be 18-2 in-region.  Thats certainly comparable to 22-3, which is what I think Capital would finish.

[ECHOOPER]

Looking at the regional rankings and if they stayed this close, do you guys think that all these teams make the tournament?

1. Capital 18-3 17-3 .536 .530
2. Wooster 18-3 11-2 .525 .495
3. Hope 17-3 10-2 .501 .519
4. Ohio Wesleyan 14-6 13-4 .545 .498
5. Heidelberg 16-5 14-4 .507 .528
6. Penn State-Behrend 17-4 15-3 .425 .501

With the tournament time coming up who do you guys think might be a sleeper in the NCAC tourney, and who could be a sleeper in the national tourney?

[pennstghs]

the thing is, the number one seed in the region isn't exactly "guaranteed" to host the sectionals because that's based on lowest cost of travel