MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

Started by Scots Hoops Fan, March 14, 2005, 09:32:28 AM

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woosterbooster

I saw the BW-Wooster game earlier in the year and was very impressed with BW.  Davis was patient and smart inside, took what was given to him, and scored around 42.  The other guys, who looked more like football guards than basketball guards, were able to get to the basket and finish and hit from the outside.

The game was a battle of titans, neither team really able to stop each other, with BW of course winning in the second overtime.  I'm not looking forward to seeing Wooster play them again, even though I believe Wooster is a bit stronger now than earlier, because I suspect that BW is also.  I'd be interested in seeing a BW-Wittenberg matchup, to see how Davis fared against Russ and Borchers.  Also, it would knock one of them out of the tournament...  ;)

David Collinge

Quote from: bouncer1 on February 12, 2006, 11:53:17 PM
Has anyone had the pleasure of watching Baldwin Wallace play a game this year?  [...] In the OAC, to have only one loss to this point is quite an accomplishment.

It certainly is, and it's one that has gone somewhat unnoticed.  (It's been noticed by the pollsters, who have B-W ranked very highly.)  The OAC is one of the top D3 conferences, and like the other top circuits (WIAC, CCIW, NJAC, UAA), OAC teams usually suffer from the conference's strength.  John Carroll has won the last two years with four losses each year, and in '02-'03, JCU and Capital split the title with three losses.  The OAC may even be deeper this year, with the emergence of Muskingum and Wilmington, than in those years.  For B-W to win 15 of their first sixteen games in this conference is incredible.  They should be a major threat in the tournament.

bishopsfan

I just happened to be looking at the scores of some of the in region teams yesterday and came upon the John Carroll boxscore.  I was a little surprised to see them get beat so baddly by Otterbein but I was even more surprised to see that Pete Moran did not play at all.  Does anyone have any info on this?  Is he hurt? 
Go Bishops!!

Kramerica

BW is now ranked #3 in the country and finally Bankson has a gotten a OAC Regular Season Championship. 15-1 with two games to go in the OAC is great and 21-2 is one of the best teams ever at BW!

I do they think BW can score with anybody in the country. If they do play the likes of Wittenberg or Wooster (saying the make the NCAA's) I am worried about the height of those teams. 6-5 to 6-7 three guards may hurt them. Although Carroll beat some teams in the NCAA's that were taller (i.e. Wooster and Witt) in years past. Would love to see BW host a home NCAA tourney game and make Wooster or Wittenberg travel. But Wooster will be home probably throughout.

Congrats Jackets. Get em goin get em goin.......

Toph

BW is running away with this.  Right now they are the best team in the conference, head and shoulders above everyone else.  Tori Davis overshadows a brilliant supporting cast who don't get the credit they deserve.

As for JCU, Pete Moran is out with a groin injury (since the Wilmington game), his return for this season is uncertain.  Tony DeMichele (backup PG) is out (since the Capital game) with an ankle sprain.  Derek Smith is out (since the Capital game) with a leg injury.  So, the Streaks are missing their leading assist man and scorer in Moran, their backup point guard who was made the starter by Moran's injury, and one of their leading rebounders and a force down low.  Cap that off with a very difficult year off the basketball cour and it should come as no surprise that the team is struggling.  I hope I don't sound like I'm making excuses for the Streaks, but it's difficult to win under these circumstances.

David Collinge

Quote from: Kramerica on February 13, 2006, 04:52:04 PM
I do they think BW can score with anybody in the country. If they do play the likes of Wittenberg or Wooster (saying the make the NCAA's) I am worried about the height of those teams. 6-5 to 6-7 three guards may hurt them.

Wittenberg is pretty tall (6'9" Dan Russ and  6'8" Dane Borchers in the low post), but Wooster has no height this season.  The Scots start what amounts to three guards (6'0", 6'0", 6'3") and two forwards (6'5", 6'6"), and the rest of the rotation goes 6'1", 6'1", 6'3", 6'5".  The Scots play a perimiter game; B-W can (and did) expose their weaknesses inside.

David Collinge

Great Lakes teams in top 100 QoWI, and my prediction for this week's regional rankings:

1. (6th nationally) Carnegie Mellon    10.938    13-3
2. (11) Wooster    10.737    18-1
3. (14) Wittenberg    10.667    16-2
4. (19) Baldwin-Wallace    10.333    19-2
5. (21) Hope    10.267    13-2
6. (26) Calvin    10.200    9-1
7. (41) Albion    9.833    10-2
8. (74) Lake Erie    9.278    15-3
9. (77) Bethany    9.250    16-4

Projected rankings:
1. Wooster
2. Wittenberg
3. Baldwin-Wallace
4. Carnegie Mellon
5. Hope
6. Calvin

Actually, 2-6 looks like a crap shoot to me, and any/all of them could be tied.

xoacballer

What is everyones standpoint on the National Player of the year award?  Does it have to go to a Senior?  Because I would have to say that Tori Davis should be a serious contender if B-W can advance to at least the Sweet 16.  24 ppg and almost 10 rpg leading a team to the highest ranking in school history.  This kid can flat out ball.

Kramerica

Absolutely no doubt Tori Davis will be OAC MVP and should be considered for POY in D-3. 44 points @ Wooster and 39 points @ Muskingum to clinch the league outright, definitely great numbers on a great team.

I did not go to the Wooster-BW game so I didnt know Wooster is guard oriented. That changes my thoughts on BW beating Wooster again, but they are still #1.

Wittenberg at BW would be great to see in the tournament, but everybody knows Wooster and Wittenberg havent played a road playoff since Nixon was in office. Basically, I want BW to host a first round NCAA Tournament game, thats all. I do hope and think BW will finish off by winning the OAC Conference Tournament. But dont sleep on the Berg if they make the tournament. They do have a chance to come into Berea on Feb. 22 and shock the world (reference 95-75 win in 2005 @BW).

For those of you that follow the OAC, my buddy seems to the think the league is down this year. Would you say that's true or BW is just head and shoulders above the rest? In years past the league champ always has 3-4 losses and could lose on any given night, but not this year. That does raise an interesting point.

Toph

QuoteBasically, I want BW to host a first round NCAA Tournament game, thats all.

I think that's a tough argument to back up.  I think that BW is as deserving (if not more deserving) as Wooster for home games throughout. 

As for the league being down this year, I disagree.  I think the league is better than ever from top to bottom.  BW is just that much better this season.  Look at the number of teams bunched up in the middle.  Musky and Wilma have emerged as serious threats (remember, Wilmington beat BW) in the tournament.  It should be fun.  All it takes is for BW to come out flat one time in the tourney, and they're done...until they get an at large bid.

DII/DIIIFan

ONU showed how strong the OAC is (at least the top half) with a strong win at BW Wednesday night. They led by double digits most of the way before BW closed the gap in the second half.

If at least two OAC teams don't make the "DIII Dance" - it will be a crime.

David Collinge

Quote from: DII/DIIIFan on February 17, 2006, 09:11:57 PM
If at least two OAC teams don't make the "DIII Dance" - it will be a crime.

Perhaps, but be advised that crime is rampant in our society.  If B-W wins the OAC tournament, the chances of another OAC team getting a Pool C bid (would be Wilma or ONU, probably depends on which gets further in the tourney) would be very slender indeed.  They just don't have the on-paper credentials (primarily Quality of Wins Index, where both are just shy of 9.0 and thus not in the top 100 nationally, and regional win percentage, both hovering around .750, good enough only for 10th and 11th in the region) to compete with other teams across the country.  There are at least nine teams in the region with better credentials than Wilma and ONU. 

(I'm just talking about credentials here; whether there are actually nine better teams is an entirely different qustion.  For example, one team with considerably better credentials is Bethany, but in no way do I think Bethany is a better team than either Wilmington or ONU.  But subjective impression isn't important; objective credentials are.)

Fortunately, Baldwin-Wallace is one of those nine.  So if the Jackets fail to win the OAC tourney (which is a distinct possibility), then the OAC definitely gets two teams in: whoever wins the championship, plus B-WC through Pool C. 

So if you want two teams in, root for Anybody But B-WC to win the tournament.

David Collinge

Pat has updated the national QoWI standings through games of yesterday.  Tonight, Carnegie Mellon was upset at Emory, but the Tartans retain their control of the UAA Pool A bid by virtue of Rochester and NYU also losing (to Case and Chicago, respectively.)  CMU is now tied with WashU. atop the UAA, and the Tartans swept the Bears so they own the tiebreaker.  NYU, Rochester, and Chicago are all a game back with two games left.  In other words, all bets are off regarding how (and if) CMU is getting to the Big Dance.  In the data that follows, I've updated CMU's QoWI.

So here's the Great Lakes teams in the top 120 of national QoWI, along with their regional record:
Legend:  Team -- Regional Record and win % (ranking w/in region for win %) -- QoWI (national/regional rank)

Wooster -- 19-1 .950 (1) -- 10.700 (11*/1)
CMU -- 13-4 .765 (9) -- 10.556 (13*/2)
Wittenberg -- 16-3 .842 (5) -- 10.368 (17/3)
Calvin -- 10-1 .909 (2) -- 10.182 (21/4)
Baldwin-Wallace -- 19-3 .864 (4) -- 10.136 (23/5)
Hope -- 14-2 .875 (3) -- 9.750 (47/6)
Albion -- 10-3 .769 (8 ) -- 9.462 (59/7)
Bethany -- 17-4 .810 (7) -- 9.333 (73/8)
Lake Erie -- 15-3 .833 (6) -- 9.278 (74/9)
Ohio Northern -- 14-5 .737 (11) -- 8.947 (102/10)
Wilmington  -- 18-6 .750 (10) -- 8.875 (106/11)
Ohio Wesleyan -- 15-6 .714 (12) -- 8.810 (108/12)

*I've approximated where Wooster and CMU would be based on CMU's loss tonight, which was only a 3-QoWI-point game for them).  The other national rankings may be slightly off, due to the other UAA results tonght, but should be close.

I think we can officially strike OWU, Wilma, and ONU from any further Pool C consideration; it's win or go home for these teams next week.  Lake Erie and Bethany are hanging on to a tattered fringe of Pool C at the very best; Bethany still looks fairly solid for a Pool B bid, and LEC can still get in by winning the AMCC tournament.  The top 7 then shape up this way, as I see it:

1. Wooster
2. Calvin (beating Albion on Weds. was a big boost to their QoWI, while Hope's QoWI actually fell in beating lowly Alma)
3. Baldwin-Wallace
4. Wittenberg (mostly because B-W beat Wooster, who beat Witt twice)
5 (tie). Hope
5 (tie). CMU (a cop-out, but CMU's QoWI is still 0.8 higher than Hope's, offsetting the poor win %)
7. Albion (and Albion's QoWI will go down this weekend, win or lose vs. lowly Olivet)

Pool C prospects: 
NCAC: Woo and Witt are both in regardless of what happens.  So if OWU wins the tournament, NCAC gets three bids.  :o
MIAA:  Calvin is in regardless; Hope is in if they reach the MIAA final.  Albion likely needs to win the MIAA to earn a berth.  All three suffer from playing QoWI-damaging first-round games in the MIAA tournament (against Olivet, Alma, and Adrian, all with win %s below .333 and therefore just 8-point QoWI wins).  Plus Albion has a season-ending game with Olivet that will hurt them even more, QoWI-wise.
OAC: Baldwin-Wallace is in regardless; anyone else has to win the OAC tourney to get in.
AMCC: Lake Erie's last two games are worth 11 and 15 QoWI points if they win, so a trip to the conference tournament final may put them in the running for one of the last pool C bids.

ScotsFan

Quote from: David Collinge on February 13, 2006, 06:07:09 PM

The Scots play a perimiter game; B-W can (and did) expose their weaknesses inside.


Yes, but Wooster, and more specifically, Tim Vandervaart, are playing much better defense inside since their meeting with Tori Davis and the rest of the Yellow Jackets.  Tim has really improved in this area as the season has gone along.  Also, Tom Port has become a presense inside defensively, so I would wager that Tori and the rest of B-W would be seeing a bit of a different look if they were to go up against Wooster again in the post-season. 

Wooster Booster brought up an intiguing question regarding a possible Witt/B-W matchup in the tournament.  Now that would be interesting to see how Davis would match up against Witt's twin towers.  There's still a lot of basketball to be played though, and as deep as the OAC is, there's no telling who will walk away with the automatic from the OAC this year.  That being said, B-W will get at least a Pool C regardless of who wins the automatic.  But, the fact that B-W is hosting doesn't guarantee anything as evidenced by ONU's win there this week!  Should be a fun week of basketball to watch how everything unfolds!

johnworms

Interesting day today as both Wooster and B-W fall in their regular season finales. Should we chalk it up to both teams not playing real hard knowing they are the number one seed in the conference, or is there some reason to be concerned? I recall watching my team (Otterbein) down the stretch (2001-2002), thinking that they had to win EVERY game just to secure home court advantage leading up to the final four. It is such a HUGE advantage in DIII basketball considering there are no neutral courts until you reach Salem!