MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

With the preface that, as a card-carrying member of the 'ribbons-and-cookies' wing of intercollegiate athletics, I like the tournament, and think the more teams in it, the better...

Last night's results I think actually support those who would like a shorter field.  The argument would be that all season long Allegheny (or more to the point, Salisbury) has done little to deserve the chance to represent the conference in the NCAA tournament, so why give them the chance?  It's great for the fans and exciting and all that, but for every Salisbury that makes its way into the 59-team field on the basis of one good week, some other team that has proved more worthy over four months is left out. 

Norman Maclean expressed it best when talking about his father's views on fly fishing:

My brother and I would have preferred to start learning how to fish by going out and catching a few, omitting entirely anything difficult or technical in the way of preparation that would take away from the fun. But it wasn't by way of fun that we were introduced to our father's art. If our father had had his say, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him.

[old scot]

Amen Dave.

[smedindy]

Last night's results I think actually support those who would like a shorter field.  The argument would be that all season long Allegheny (or more to the point, Salisbury) has done little to deserve the chance to represent the conference in the NCAA tournament, so why give them the chance?  It's great for the fans and exciting and all that, but for every Salisbury that makes its way into the 59-team field on the basis of one good week, some other team that has proved more worthy over four months is left out. 

Though you are ultimately proven worthy by winning the auto bid. If you do not, and are not a "B", then you have left it up to others to decide your fate.

York and Wittenberg have little hope for a "C" anyway.

[woosterbooster]

The two visiting league teams that impressed me the most this season were OWU and Allegheny.  The latter is, also, definitely on the rise, those players that were thrust onto the court during the early season having become veterans.  Raftis is as good (or better) than any big man in the NCAC, and I'm anxious to see him take on Rudegeair and Jean on Friday.  I see that first game as being a tossup, with the winner certainly being a contender for the title.

[pennstghs]

so Wittenberg didn't impress you at all when they visited Witt? I know they're eliminated and probably don't deserve it but come on that's a little harsh haha. I am interested to see what chinks OWU can find in the Wooster armor to find the keys to victory. If Wooster has to travel to Capital in the NCAA i think that would be a moderate test as compared to having to travel to say Hope? Although i'd be interested to hear what some opinions of DeVos Fieldhouse up there is as it looks like a gem.

[kiltedbryan]

Feb. 27 regional rankings:

Great Lakes Region 
1.  Hope  21-3  15-2 
2.  Capital  21-4  20-4 
3.  Wooster  22-3  15-2 
4.  Heidelberg  20-5  18-4 
5.  Penn State-Behrend  21-4  19-3 
6.  Albion  18-5  14-3

The only news here for NCAC fans (I think), is that the stronger OWP and OOWP numbers in the OAC are keeping Capital ahead of Wooster, even with Capital's loss last week.

[wally_wabash]

Last night's results I think actually support those who would like a shorter field.  The argument would be that all season long Allegheny (or more to the point, Salisbury) has done little to deserve the chance to represent the conference in the NCAA tournament, so why give them the chance?  It's great for the fans and exciting and all that, but for every Salisbury that makes its way into the 59-team field on the basis of one good week, some other team that has proved more worthy over four months is left out. 

Though you are ultimately proven worthy by winning the auto bid. If you do not, and are not a "B", then you have left it up to others to decide your fate.

York and Wittenberg have little hope for a "C" anyway.

I suppose this depends on one's definition of "worthy".  I think a team that has performed far better over the course of a 25-game season is more "worthy" than one who plays better over the course of three games.  As a man of science, sample size is pretty important and, quite simply, conclusions drawn from a set of 25 games far outweigh conclusions drawn from three games.  We (and by we I mean every conference in Division III) should be sending their regular season champions to the tournament.  The choice, to me, seems to be between having a relatively meaningless regular season or a completely meaningless conference tournament.  Overwhelmingly, the Division has chosen the former which is too bad. 

[smedindy]

Maybe worthy is not the proper word. However, if you don't take care of business, you have no one to blame but yourself.

[David Collinge]

Your intrepid correspondent is here on the scene in Delaware, but it seems I have to choose between connectivity and power.  So no play-by-play, but maybe sporadic in-game commentary.

OWU is off to a rough start.  As we all know, Hiram is an aggressive team, bumping, slapping, and forcing the action all the time.  This is not a style of play that plays to OWU's strengths; for example, Dustin Rudegeair is a great player in a lot of ways, but he's as soft as a kitten.  He's off to a very tough start, being manhandled at both ends.

Mike Staley is a special player.  He can do it all for a man his size, not unlike James Cooper. 

Hiram's fans (30 or so) were infuriated at the officiating early on, but that worm has turned, especially after back-to-back charging calls went their way.

I have to stand up to maintain my connection, which sucks, especially since I can't follow the action while I do this.  So I'll sit down now, as Muhammed ties the game at 30, 2:32 left.

[David Collinge]

OWU on top, 35-30 at the half.  Hiram's fans, one in particular, are back to being unhappy with the refs.  This one guy, who I remember vividly from their visit to Denison, is very large (body-builder style), very loud, and very obnoxious.  At the end of the half he was screaming at the refs and actually started down out of the stands in their direction.  The cops here clearly have their eye on him. 

Those watching at home can see that the stands are about half-full, which is normal here in my experience.  You're looking at the student section on the right, the two women's teams in the center, and general admission on the left.  The more crowded G.A. section is to the left of the camera, and the Hiram section is to the right. 

It felt like Hiram must have dominated the stat sheet in the 1st, since they provided nearly all of the energy and forced the pace of play.  But actually OWU has an 18-17 rebounding edge and made one more basket (13/28 vs. 12/31 for Hiram).  Staley and Muhammed have 8, as do Jean and Holliday.

[jscwittfan]

OWU wins 84-66.

[David Collinge]

Yeah, so as I was saying...

I guess the server from which I was stealing my connection got turned off or something.  And then there was the women's game, and the long drive through the snowstorm (took me a full extra hour to get home.)  All so I could tell you that the second half belonged to Jesse Jean.  He put up a solid double-double with 15 points and 10 boards...in the second half alone.  His final tally was a Jeff Gibbs-like 23 & 19.  If Rudegeair is a kitten (and of course that's an exaggeration), then Jean is a water buffalo.  A rebounding water buffalo, with a nice soft touch around the hoop.  They may have had their way with Rudegeair in the first half (held to 2 points and 1 board in 16 first-half minutes), but nothing Ian Pfouts or Jason Hebeisen (to say nothing of Hassan Muhammed, who's a rag doll next to Jesse) did was going to budge Jesse in the second.  And that opened things up nicely for Dustin, who contributed 15 second-half points.

Hiram played a very good game, and it took a very good game from a very good team to eliminate them.  The 18-point final margin is misleading.  OWU had to work hard for the win, and they were spent by the end.  It will be interesting to see how well they can pull themselves back together for the early game Friday against Allegheny.  Then, if they should win that, they'd have a third game in four days on Saturday, and it would be against either an up-tempo team (Wooster) or a physical team (Wabash).  If OWU can pull this title out of their hat, I'll change my vote for Coach of the Year to my friend Mike DeWitt, because he'll have earned it.

[jscwittfan]

Hiram played a very good game, and it took a very good game from a very good team to eliminate them.  The 18-point final margin is misleading.  OWU had to work hard for the win, and they were spent by the end.  It will be interesting to see how well they can pull themselves back together for the early game Friday against Allegheny. 

Seems very similar to the situation Witt was in last year.  Hiram played them tough, kept it close in the first half, and Witt pulled away late for the win, then had to try and bounce back (which they obviously failed to do) against OWU in the early Friday game.  Hmmmm.....

[wally_wabash]

We're not really comparing Jesse Jean vs. Hiram to anything Jeff Gibbs ever did?  Come on now. 

[David Collinge]

We're not really comparing Jesse Jean vs. Hiram to anything Jeff Gibbs ever did?  Come on now. 

Somebody needs a nap.