West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

At wvsu Fairmont won 82-80.
a skirmish broke out in handshake line. announcers lamented lack of sportsmanship. Then things must have gotten worse, as announcers said "oh no!", followed by "we are cutting the video now!"

That puts wlu in 2nd place for now.

[Scrub]

A tough year for the ladies just gets tougher. Taking only their second loss to Wesleyan in the last 22 times out. Ouch.

[Scrub]

As the saying goes, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. WLUs performance in the first half vs D&;E was what has become all to typical of late (poor 3 pt shooting, getting beat inside, poor shot selection, etc). Lucky for us that we were playing against a team that wasn't able to fully exploit our problems and we were able to take a one point lead into half time. Second half we were finally to get our act together in the shooting department and stretch out to a 20 point win.

Good to see Montegue have a good game after a string of sub par performances. With Sarson injured, he needs to step up every game.

I believe the lead at half was 9, but you're right that it didn't feel comfortable. And that first half had me thinking: "here we go again." Good to see them put it together in the second half.

Should have two "get healthy" games coming up in Wesleyan & Frostburg. Should. That said, gotta take care of business (something WVSU almost didn't do against this Frostburg team).

[boatcapt]

As the saying goes, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. WLUs performance in the first half vs D&;E was what has become all to typical of late (poor 3 pt shooting, getting beat inside, poor shot selection, etc). Lucky for us that we were playing against a team that wasn't able to fully exploit our problems and we were able to take a one point lead into half time. Second half we were finally to get our act together in the shooting department and stretch out to a 20 point win.

Good to see Montegue have a good game after a string of sub par performances. With Sarson injured, he needs to step up every game.

[boatcapt]

They may have to turn Fergus loose. He collapses defenses on his dribble drive and then dishes to corner or underneath. For being an incredible 1 on 1 player he has great vision and is a good passer.

Why would we change what we do? The answer is just trying harder and doing better.

MORE COW BELL!!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

FYI
Correction on end of glenville game. Previously written:

With the shot clock off, WLU called off the dogs, as is customary. As WLU dribbling out the clock, Turbo Smith left his man and ran across the court to try to steal the ball from behind. He was called for a foul. After that bush league play, the dogs were called back. WLU passed the ball inbounds to West, who buried a three. A fitting end to the game.

A knowledgeable fan who was at the game near the scorer"s table told me that the glenville coach was screaming at Turbo to go get the ball. So the source of the bush league play was the coach, not the player. My apologies to Turbo.

Unwritten rules, of course.

IUP was up like 20 on Seton Hill this year and SH fouled about 300 times in the final minute (and made the game last an extra half hour). I suppose it worked and got the score down to 11 or 12 by the end.

You could argue that's a Bush league move, too.

[TheMadLibs]

That sounds familiar to Saturday in Erie...

[Columbuseer]

FYI
Correction on end of glenville game. Previously written:

With the shot clock off, WLU called off the dogs, as is customary. As WLU dribbling out the clock, Turbo Smith left his man and ran across the court to try to steal the ball from behind. He was called for a foul. After that bush league play, the dogs were called back. WLU passed the ball inbounds to West, who buried a three. A fitting end to the game.

A knowledgeable fan who was at the game near the scorer"s table told me that the glenville coach was screaming at Turbo to go get the ball. So the source of the bush league play was the coach, not the player. My apologies to Turbo.

[Columbuseer]

I actually heard someone in the stands last night (heck, maybe it was even you!) yelling "they're overplaying the three--run a back cut for God's sake!"

I trust they'll get it figured out and adjust to what some teams are doing defensively this year. As Boat has pointed out, this team isn't as deep with shooters as a vintage WLU squad. There are about 4 guys who can reliably be counted on to hit from 3 (as opposed to years past when that number was often closer to 7 guys). As a result, opponents are doing more to sell out on guys like Rasile & Hinds when they're setting up beyond the arc. Now, WLU has to adjust to that reality and find some more stuff going toward the basket.

They may have to turn Fergus loose. He collapses defenses on his dribble drive and then dishes to corner or underneath. For being an incredible 1 on 1 player he has great vision and is a good passer.

[Scrub]

Imho, wlu will tweak their 2pt offense to compensate for teams selling out on the three.

I actually heard someone in the stands last night (heck, maybe it was even you!) yelling "they're overplaying the three--run a back cut for God's sake!"

I trust they'll get it figured out and adjust to what some teams are doing defensively this year. As Boat has pointed out, this team isn't as deep with shooters as a vintage WLU squad. There are about 4 guys who can reliably be counted on to hit from 3 (as opposed to years past when that number was often closer to 7 guys). As a result, opponents are doing more to sell out on guys like Rasile & Hinds when they're setting up beyond the arc. Now, WLU has to adjust to that reality and find some more stuff going toward the basket.

[Scrub]

With Fairmont and Concord still to play, I don't really want to face UC in the MEC tourney sitting at 6 or perhaps 7 losses. Imagine going onto the NCAA selection show sitting at 7 or even 8 losses!! You think the possibility of falling out of the top 25 for the first time in 10 years is upsetting, try not making the NCAA Tourney for the first time in 14 years!

I hear you. And if you look at Inkblot's PI after yesterday, he has WLU dropping to the 7 slot (firmly on the bubble). And fair enough.

But we know all of Gannon/Cal/ESU/Millersville except for one are going to incur at least one more loss (only one can win the PSAC tourney). ESU & Millersville still have one more regular season match-up as well. So that's another loss for one of them. The same holds for UC & Concord (who Inkblot has ranked above WLU right now). Only one can win the MEC tourney. And if WLU or WVSU would win the MEC tourney, both UC & Concord come out with at least another loss. Heck, Concord still has to come up here and work to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Hilltoppers. If the Hilltoppers end up sweeping the season series from Concord, there's no way the committee puts Concord above WLU (despite what any metric might be suggesting).

So your fears about staying out of the 6/7-loss bubble range are totally legitimate. And the march toward March starts with taking care of business against a very game D&E squad this Wednesday.

But many of these 3/4-loss teams that are currently sitting comfortably are going to rapidly get uncomfortable when they inevitably incur an additional loss or two in their other conference and conference tourney schedules.

As many have said, the Atlantic is pretty wide open for the first time in years (it always felt like an IUP-WLU collision course . . . except it never quite worked out that way until it finally did last year). But this is a year when the UC's, ESU's, Millersville's of the world are licking their chops seeing a legit shot in a wide open field. No program is unbeatable this year. There's no 32-2 IUP squad looming. So buckle up for a wild finish. But I wouldn't count the Hilltoppers out just yet. And as many of the IUP posters have said, there's no one feeling one bit sorry for the Hilltoppers while they struggle to get it figured out. D&E is absolutely putting the last two game stories on a bulletin board and screaming "We're next!"

[boatcapt]

I agree with you. This team is competitive with anyone in the MEC. No need to wish for bracket seeding favors. Regardless of style, a poor shooting night will get you beat against very good teams. UC is one of the best FG% teams in usa at 4th. Wlu is 39th which is very good. Wvsu is 11th best rebounding team while wlu is 22nd.

Imho, wlu will tweak their 2pt offense to compensate for teams selling out on the three. We are seeing rasile fake the three and drive for the open 15ft pull up or go to the rim.

Last two games 4 of Rasile's 16 shots have come from inside the 3 point line.

[Columbuseer]

I'd like a chance to play a complete game against them and let them know they don't own the 2023-2024 edition of the Hilltoppers. It reminds me a bit of that Voorhees NDC team. They just had our number, and we never really got to them (losing in the MEC championship to them as well). It was a missed opportunity for sure, and Voorhees, Koenig, & company can always hang their hat on owning WLU that year. I'd like a shot at getting the last word against this year's UC group. They're really good and really well coached, no doubt--much like that old NDC team. But it's no use being afraid of good teams--gotta go out and prove you can beat them.

I agree with you. This team is competitive with anyone in the MEC. No need to wish for bracket seeding favors. Regardless of style, a poor shooting night will get you beat against very good teams. UC is one of the best FG% teams in usa at 4th. Wlu is 39th which is very good. Wvsu is 11th best rebounding team while wlu is 22nd.

Imho, wlu will tweak their 2pt offense to compensate for teams selling out on the three. We are seeing rasile fake the three and drive for the open 15ft pull up or go to the rim.

[boatcapt]

For those fretting about 3 pt shooting (count me out), even though we have 4 40%+ shooters, help is on the way lol
jp dragas scored 52 points this week while hitting 8 threes.
6-7 kameron tinsley just broke jj Reddick's school record with a 45 point game. He is regarded in some scouting circles as one of the best shooters in Va.

I count 2 .400+ 3 point shooters...Same number as sub .200 3 point shooters.

Toppers just backed up a 27% 3 point shooting night with a 19% one.

As with most Topper teams, we will go as far as our 3 point shooting will carry us...And HOPE we get seeded on the other side of the bracket from teams with dominant athletic big men.

[Columbuseer]

For those fretting about 3 pt shooting (count me out), even though we have 4 40%+ shooters, help is on the way lol
jp dragas scored 52 points this week while hitting 8 threes.
6-7 kameron tinsley just broke jj Reddick's school record with a 45 point game. He is regarded in some scouting circles as one of the best shooters in Va.