WBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Wednesday scores and updated standings:
Kenyon 56, Ohio Wesleyan 49...OWU falls from 2nd to 5th
Wittenberg 58, Earlham 55...Tigers move into 2nd
Allegheny 64, Wooster 55
Oberlin 61, Hiram 56
Denison and Wabash are idle
*** NOTE: 4 road winners! ***


Denison 13-0 (19-3)
Wittenberg 9-4 (12-9)
Allegheny 9-5 (15-7)
Kenyon 8-5 (11-11)...Ladies swept the Bishops
OWU 8-5 (13-9)
Wooster 7-6 (12-10)
Earlham 3-11 (4-19)
Oberlin 2-12 (6-17)
Hiram 1-12 (6-16)
Wabash DNP

Weekend schedule:
Friday
Ursuline 85, Oberlin 82
Saturday
Denison (13-0) at Allegheny (9-5)
Ohio Wesleyan (8-5) at Wittenberg (9-4)
Earlham (3-11) at Kenyon (8-5)
Wooster (7-6) at Hiram (1-12)
Oberlin and Wabash are idle

[David Collinge]

Denison comes in at #3 in the first Great Lakes Regional ranking. 

Great Lakes
1 Calvin 12-0 18-1
2 DePauw 12-2 19-2
3 Denison 17-2 19-3
4 Wilmington 16-3 18-3
5 Hope 13-2 18-2
6 Baldwin-Wallace 16-4 17-4

Maybe we can get some NCAA home games down in Livingston Gym?  I'd love to see that.  Go Big Red!

Interesting to see DPU as a Great Lakes team.  On the men's side, their conference affiliation (SCAC) places them in the South.  There are several conferences that have exceptions to the rule that all conference members are in the same region (e.g. UAA, AMCC) but the SCAC is not one of them.  Evidently on the women's side, the exception has been granted (I haven't bothered to download the women's Handbook yet.)  DPU beat Denison 73-64 in November; that probably accounts for their being ahead of DU despite a worse in-region win % (DPU probably has a stronger QoWI, too.)

[jscwittfan]

Denison comes in at #3 in the first Great Lakes Regional ranking. 

Great Lakes
1 Calvin 12-0 18-1
2 DePauw 12-2 19-2
3 Denison 17-2 19-3
4 Wilmington 16-3 18-3
5 Hope 13-2 18-2
6 Baldwin-Wallace 16-4 17-4

Has Calvin always been an all-sports powerhouse on the women's side?  They were the top team in the volleyball and soccer Great Lakes region polls at the end of this season as well.

[David Collinge]

Still more about Denison:

Congratulations to DU's sophomore guard Ellen O'Brien for being named to D3Hoops.com's Team of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4.     NCAC players seem to earn this honor only rarely, which I think (or hope) is largely a function of a dearth of nominations.

Has Calvin always been an all-sports powerhouse on the women's side? 

Beats me.  Maybe somebody in the busier MIAA room can answer that.

[oldknight]

Still more about Denison:

Congratulations to DU's sophomore guard Ellen O'Brien for being named to D3Hoops.com's Team of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4.     NCAC players seem to earn this honor only rarely, which I think (or hope) is largely a function of a dearth of nominations.

Has Calvin always been an all-sports powerhouse on the women's side? 

Beats me.  Maybe somebody in the busier MIAA room can answer that.

Calvin's women's teams have been more mercurial than the men (spare me the jokes about hormones). I don't know all the women's sports teams at Calvin that well but the women's cross country teams have been very good in recent years winning at least one national championship in the last few years (I haven't spent the time yet to look it up), have been runnersup at least once, and finished either 3rd or 4th this year.  The soccer team had an outstanding team this year losing in OT to Messiah in the quarterfinal round and I believe that was Calvin's only loss of the season. The women's basketball team has had some fine players and some good teams going back to the 70's but they had some very poor years as well. It seems to me that only a few years ago they had a couple of teams won only about 5 or 6 games--something unheard of with the men. The current men's BB team is 13-8 and by their standards that's a very poor year. I think the best NCAA finish by the Lady Knights (in basketball) was in 2000 when they lost in the sectional final. That was the same year the men were national champs. Calvin's men's and women's cross country and track teams have been very good, especially in recent years with the male cross team winning another national championship this fall. I believe that makes it 4 of the last 6 years that they have won the national championship. It helps having a former Olympic competitor heading your cross country team and another former Olympian as head coach of your track team. This year's women's BB team is a solid club with a lot of very good athletes. In fact, I think Calvin's women's BB program really went on the upswing with the hiring of their current coach, John Ross. It's a team anchored by center Lisa Winkle, one of those multisport athletes who is simply good at any athletic endeavor she trys. In addition to being a great post player she is an excellent hurdler who I saw many times in high school against my kids' high school. The women's volleyball team has had some recent success. They have gotten some pretty good players out of Iowa, an area of the country that turns out a lot of good high school volleyball players.

Now David, where's my cup of coffee?

[David Collinge]

And in case you don't take it black...

[oldknight]

And in case you don't take it black...

I knew I'd regret asking.

[Dark Knight]

Still more about Denison:

Congratulations to DU's sophomore guard Ellen O'Brien for being named to D3Hoops.com's Team of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4.     NCAC players seem to earn this honor only rarely, which I think (or hope) is largely a function of a dearth of nominations.

Has Calvin always been an all-sports powerhouse on the women's side? 

Beats me.  Maybe somebody in the busier MIAA room can answer that.

As oldknight said, Calvin's women's teams haven't been as consistent as the men's teams. This year's soccer team, which ended up rated #5, was their best ever. (No losses by the way, and just one tie.) The swimming team this year is their best ever. The volleyball team that ended up in the elite 8 (I think) was their best ever. And the basketball team, currently rated #2 or #3, is their best ever.

In short, no. Only the cross country team (#3 in the nation) and track/field teams are regularly national contenders.

All of those teams are losing key seniors.

[sac]

http://miaa.org/commcup/index.html
scroll down a little

Calvin currently leads the women's side of the MIAA all-sports trophy by 2 points.  They are having an outstanding year overall.    I'm sure their track team will do very well at Nationals as well.

[David Collinge]

The CoSIDa Academic All-District teams have been named, and although I can't find a single source listing for our district ("our" district being Ohio and four other non-NCAC states), I do know that at least three NCAC women's players have been selected:  Wittenberg's Kathy Hittle (2nd team) along with Denison's Kristen Sheffield and Wooster's Carly Loehrke (3rd team.)  If I find more, I'll add them to this list.

Congratulations to these fine student athletes!  They are what makes D3 basketball the very special game that it is.   

Wittenberg press release
Denison press release
Wooster press release

[David Collinge]

...and down goes Denison!!!

Saturday scores and updated standings:
Allegheny 55, Denison 48...Gators stay in the hunt for the #2 seed
Wittenberg 70, Ohio Wesleyan 54...Bishops tumble from 2nd to 6th in one week
Kenyon 47, Earlham 39
Wooster 73, Hiram 60
Oberlin and Wabash are idle


Denison 13-1 (19-4)
Wittenberg 10-4 (13-9)
Allegheny 10-5 (16-7)
Kenyon 9-5 (12-11)
Wooster 8-6 (13-10)...Scots have a win over the Bishops
OWU 8-6 (13-10)
Earlham 3-12 (4-20)
Oberlin 2-12 (6-17)
Hiram 1-13 (6-17)
Wabash DNP

Wednesday schedule:
Oberlin (2-12) at Denison (13-1)...postponed, rescheduled for Thursday
Kenyon (9-5) at Wittenberg (10-4)...postponed, rescheduled for Thursday
Allegheny (10-5) at Hiram (1-13)...postponed, rescheduled for Thursday
Wooster (8-6) at Ohio Wesleyan (8-6)...postponed, no makeup date announced
Earlham and Wabash are idle

Saturday schedule:
Ohio Welseyan (8-6) at Denison (13-1)
Wittenberg (10-4) at Wooster (8-6)
Hiram (1-13) at Kenyon (9-5)
Earlham (3-12) at Oberlin (2-12)
Allegheny and Wabash are idle
*** END REGULAR SEASON ***

[David Collinge]

Playoff update, based on how I think the tiebreakers work:

Denison has clinched the #1 seed

#2-#4 seeds:
Wittenberg clinches the #2 seed with a win over Kenyon Weds. or a win over Wooster coupled with a Kenyon loss to Hiram Sat.  In these cases Allegheny would be #3 and Kenyon #4, regardless of AC/Hiram outcome
Allegheny clinches the #2 seed with a win over Hiram Weds. plus a Witt loss to Kenyon plus either a) Witt loss to Wooster or b) Kenyon win over Hiram.  In these cases Kenyon would be #3 and Witt #4.
Kenyon clinches the #2 seed with two wins plus a Hiram win over Allegheny, which would make Witt #3 and Allegheny #4.
There is a remote possibility of a 4-way tie for 2nd at 10-6: this happens if
a) Witt loses twice, and
b) Hiram wins twice, and
c) either Wooster or OWU wins twice.
Should that happen, the seeds 2-5 would I think be
#2 Kenyon, #3 Witt, #4 Alleg, #5 Wooster or OWU
There are also scenarios where Wooster or OWU moves up to the #4 seed (perhaps higher), like for instance if Kenyon loses twice and Woo or OWU wins twice, but it's much too late to think much about that!  Maybe tomorrow...

#5-#6 seeds:
Wooster is the #5 seed if they win Weds. at OWU; OWU is the #5 seed if they win out; Wooster is the #5 seed if they beat Witt and OWU loses to Denison Sat.; and OWU is the #5 seed if Wooster loses twice.

#7 seed:
Earlham is #7 if they win Sat.
Oberlin is #7 if they win out, or if Hiram wins out.
Hiram can't be the #7 seed under any circumstance.

#8 seed:
Hiram is eliminated if they lose either of their remaining games, or if Oberlin splits their remaining games.
Hiram gets the #8 seed only if they win out and Oberlin either wins twice or loses twice.
Otherwise, the #8 seed is either Earlham or Oberlin, see "#7 seed."

Wow, do I have a headache. 

[David Collinge]

Kenyon has a tie-breaker advantage on both Wooster and OWU, so for either of these teams to pass the Ladies, they'd have to win twice and have Kenyon lose twice.  That would put Wooster or OWU into the #4 seed, drop Kenyon to #5, and leave the loser of Woo/OWU in #6.

Wooster loses tie-breakers to all three teams ahead of them (Kenyon and Witt due to season sweeps, Allegheny due to their victory over Denison; I am assuming that best-win is the tie-breaker.)  Therefore, for the Scots to do better than the #5 seed, they'd have to finish with a better record than one of the teams ahead of them.  The only possibility is Kenyon, outlined above, so Wooster can do no better than #4 (and needs two tough wins plus a huge upset by Hiram for that to happen.)

OWU loses tie-breakers to Kenyon (sweep), but probably wins tie-breakers with both Witt and Allegheny.  In each case, the teams split.  Allegheny's win over Denison is neutralized by an OWU win over the Big Red, a necessary condition for a tie between AC and OWU.  The tie-breaker would then be performance against Witt, which swept Allegheny.  As for OWU/Witt, the OWU win over DU that makes a tie possible tips the tie-breaker to the Bishops.  A three-way tie between Allegheny, Kenyon, and OWU at 10-6 (with Witt at 11-5) falls in that order on head-to-head results (AC 3-1, KC 2-2, OWU 1-3).  A Witt/OWU/Gheny tie falls in that order, but that still leaves OWU in #4 because Kenyon would be #2 with 11 wins (to avoid being part of that tie.)  And a four-way tie, I think, goes to Kenyon with a 4-2 head-to-head record; OWU would either be#5 because they have the worst head-to-head of the 4 (2-4), or #4 because once Kenyon is granted the #2 seed, a three-way tie without them falls Witt-OWU-AC as above.  (The 4 head to head records are KC 4-2, Witt 3-3, AC 3-3, OWU 2-4.  Thus h-t-h does completely order a 4-way tie, but it does ensure that KC is #2.  Whether it also ensures that OWU is #5, or just lease the three not-Kenyons still tied, I don't know.)

In short, the only way for OWU to earn the #3 seed is to end up in a tie for third at 10 wins with either Witt or Allegheny (but not both).  OWU can be #4 by ending up in a three-way tie with Witt and AC (behind Kenyon), or by winning twice while Kenyon loses twice.  But again, for OWU to even be in the conversation for a home seed, they have to win twice, including a win at Denison, and then get some help.

I think we can pretty much count on Wooster and OWU to be the #5 and #6 seeds, with the home games in Granville, Gambier, Springfield, and Meadville.

You know, by the time I figure all of this out, it'll be Wednesday and the teams will have figured it out on the court! 

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to Kenyon's Alisha Moreno for being named NCAC Women's Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 11. 

http://www.northcoast.org/wb/wbpow.txt 

I confess that Alisha is one of my favorite players in this league, so I'm especially happy to see her win this award.  She's an excellent shooter and floor general, and plays tenacious defense.  She's just downright fun to watch.  Congratulations, Alisha!

[jscwittfan]

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/news/athletics/news/2007releases/02_14.html

Both Wittenberg games tonight have been postponed due to weather.  They will now take place Thursday at the same schedule times (women at 6, men at 8 or 30 minutes after the women's game).