2011 Basketball Tournament TOP LEFT BRACKET discussion board

[kiltedbryan]

37-33 Wooster leads at the half. Tremendous game so far. These teams are like two prize fighters trading blows and just trying to contain the other.

[magicman]

Whitworth grabbed the early lead and maintained a 6 to 8 point advantage throughout much of the 1st period. Pirates were still up 27-19 with 6:31 left in the half, when Wooster went on a 12-2 run to take the lead for the first time since their opening basket, at 31-29. Whitworth came back to go up 33-31 but Wooster got a layup and 4 free throws to end the half up 37-33.

[magicman]

Whitworth in need of a rally as they are down 60-53 with 4:53 left in the game.

Pirates still down 7 at 66-59 with 2:58 remaining.

Score is now 68-59 with 1:09 left to play. Doesn't look like the Pirates are going to pull it off.

[(509)Rat]

Big Congrats to Wooster. If these teams played 10 ties I'm sure they' split 5-5. Wooster was very comfortable shooting in their home gym. A lot of deep, contested shots that went through.

Whitworth picked a bad time to miss shots that they normally don't. Wooster picked a great time to play a great game. Wooster may have trouble with a bigger team but like Whitworth have 5 guys who can score and will be incredibly tough to beat. Good luck in Salem! Hope those of you posters at the game enjoyed it, maybe someday we'll get the same opportunity 

[magicman]

It's a final in Wooster as #1 Whitworth falls to #5 Wooster 76-66.

[nwhoops1903]

Congrats Scots.  You are a very nice team and had contributions from all over your roster.  We appeared frustrated on offense and lost rhythm in second half.  The bounces on the rim did not go our way and we had turnovers we didn't see all season.  I think the crowd was a big help but Scots deserved to win because of excellent clutch shooting.

Good luck!

[Greek Tragedy]

Tough loss, nwhoops.  Things might have been different in front of your home crowd or possibly a neutral site.  It's too bad you guys are stuck on an island.  I was really hoping for a St. Thomas/Whitworth final so it would be an all West of the Mississippi final.  Oh well. 

[kiltedbryan]

Tough loss, nwhoops.  Things might have been different in front of your home crowd or possibly a neutral site.  It's too bad you guys are stuck on an island.  I was really hoping for a St. Thomas/Whitworth final so it would be an all West of the Mississippi final.  Oh well. 

Well, it would've been close, but St. Thomas is actually east of the Mississippi.

[ScotsFan]

Congrats Scots.  You are a very nice team and had contributions from all over your roster.  We appeared frustrated on offense and lost rhythm in second half.  The bounces on the rim did not go our way and we had turnovers we didn't see all season.  I think the crowd was a big help but Scots deserved to win because of excellent clutch shooting.

Good luck!

Congrats on a fine season by WW as well.  As I said on the NCAC board, I felt it would take a herculean effort by Wooster to win this game.  I did feel going into the game that I thought Woo's defense could be the difference maker and that indeed ended up being the case.  WW had to work much harder on offense at getting open looks than it appeared they had to the night before against Marietta and that is a credit to the defense played by the Scots. 

I will say, this was a game between two pretty evenly matched teams.  The shots were falling for Wooster and WW had several that just wouldn't fall.  Add in the home court advantage and it was a recipe for a Wooster win.

I echo what Old School said about it being too bad that you guys find yourselves on an island out there in the northwest.  It would be nice to see what your team could have done playing at home as they deserved.  But, unfortunately, the NCAA is more concerned about the bottom line and until that changes, it's going to make things difficult for west coast teams.

[(509)Rat]

To the Wooster community,

Please take care of business in Salem so I don't feel as bad about the loss last night!

[John Gleich]

Tough loss, nwhoops.  Things might have been different in front of your home crowd or possibly a neutral site.  It's too bad you guys are stuck on an island.  I was really hoping for a St. Thomas/Whitworth final so it would be an all West of the Mississippi final.  Oh well. 

Well, it would've been close, but St. Thomas is actually east of the Mississippi.

Isn't it north of the Mississippi...?


EDIT:  It's north... but it's closer to the Mississippi in an easterly direction than a northerly direction.

[woosterbooster]

Hopefully it's located to the left of Michele Bachmann. 

[nwhoops1903]

Congrats Scots.  You are a very nice team and had contributions from all over your roster.  We appeared frustrated on offense and lost rhythm in second half.  The bounces on the rim did not go our way and we had turnovers we didn't see all season.  I think the crowd was a big help but Scots deserved to win because of excellent clutch shooting.

Good luck!

Congrats on a fine season by WW as well.  As I said on the NCAC board, I felt it would take a herculean effort by Wooster to win this game.  I did feel going into the game that I thought Woo's defense could be the difference maker and that indeed ended up being the case.  WW had to work much harder on offense at getting open looks than it appeared they had to the night before against Marietta and that is a credit to the defense played by the Scots. 

I will say, this was a game between two pretty evenly matched teams.  The shots were falling for Wooster and WW had several that just wouldn't fall.  Add in the home court advantage and it was a recipe for a Wooster win.

I echo what Old School said about it being too bad that you guys find yourselves on an island out there in the northwest.  It would be nice to see what your team could have done playing at home as they deserved.  But, unfortunately, the NCAA is more concerned about the bottom line and until that changes, it's going to make things difficult for west coast teams.

Scots defense was definitely the best we had seen all year.  WW top 3 scores combined for only 50 points.   Taylor had no less than 3 shots climb OUT of the basket at key moments, he also had 7 turnovers.  Probably 10 possesions we had in second half didn't go our way with the ball in MT's hands.  Because of this, as I said, we got frustrated on offense.  Our defense didn't shut down your top 2 scorers (or 3).  Warnes was terrific.  Franks was the first impact player our defense didn't stop ALL season.  He is calm, poised and really good.  6 steals to 1, Wooster.  

Wooster did what they do and Whitworth didn't.  Homecourt advantage is big but not that big.  Scots win and deserved it.  Would we win in Spokane?  I think yes but it doesn't matter and will never happen in an Elite 8 game.  Scots get my #1.  Hopefully they win it all.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Hopefully it's located to the left of Michele Bachmann.  

Here is a map of the 6th Congressional District.

I will let you decide for yourself.  

[woosterbooster]

Warnes was terrific.

The story of Justin Warnes is an amazing one.  As a freshman, he was nowhere on the radar, playing JV. Last season, he began to get scattered varsity minutes.  Personally, I couldn't understand why.  He appeared to be a pretty good athlete, but he looked like an intramural player.  Decent defensively, but totally lost on offense.  When the ball went to him, the offense stopped.  He rarely shot, but if he did, the likely result was an air ball.  Honestly, I couldn't understand why he was on the court, but the coaching staff stuck with him.

This season, early on, his minutes began to slowly increase.  His defense had improved some, his offense still not so much.  But then, by the holidays or so, you could almost see improvement game-by-game.  Dramatic improvement.  By the time of the league tournament, he was a defensive stopper.  He (combining with Nate Balch) did an unbelievable job of shutting down Wittenberg's Chris Sullivan, a deadly long-range shooter.  Prior to that, he'd made life miserable for Wabash's high scorer, Wes Smith.

I'll be the first to admit how wrong I was about this player.  I saw the potential, but never figured it could be realized during his stay at Wooster.  He was just so far behind, even beginning this, his junior year.  But my hat is off to him for what he's done.  He's now a crowd favorite, and one of mine, too.