West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

FYI Newcomer profile - Austin Webb

High School:
two-time All-Ohio Division III All-District and All-Conference shooting guard who battled through injuries during his junior and senior year at South Point (Ohio). A 1,000-point scorer who led the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring (21.1 ppg.) as a junior, he also led the team in rebounding with 7.5 boards per game.

Coach Howlett says: "Austin is a silky smooth southpaw shooter who has great range but can score at all three levels and guard multiple positions. He's extremely easy to play with and with his skill set, he's a great fit for our system."

IMHO Notes:
- Unusually complete player who can score inside and out, dribble, pass, and rebound.
- incredibly smooth shooting mechanics
- good vertical jump
- started out as a post player in 9th grade and changed his game to a guard
- not rattled by older, stronger college players
- gym rat - High school coach Wise:
- high basketball iq - ball does not stick in his hands
- valedictorian of his class
- chose wlu over Fairmont and many MEC schools
- walk on offers from D1
- Needs to get stronger. The weight room upgrade at WLU is already reaping results.
- Just needs time to adjust to speed and talent of the college game

Long-term Assessment
- has not touched his long term potential, as injuries reduced his play in high school
- work ethic reminiscent of Bolon
- Combination of work ethic and intelligence will enable him to reach a high level of play before he leaves wlu

[Columbuseer]

Fyi Dalton Bolon named the 2021 national men's D2 scholar athlete across all sports!
Congratulations Dalton!


https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...-the-year.aspx

[Columbuseer]

FYI Newcomer profile - Dante Spadafora

High School:IMHO Notes:
- Unusually complete player who can score inside and out, dribble, pass, and rebound.
- Member of Pittsburgh Post Gazette Fab 5, which are top 5 players in Western PA, across all classifications.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/202104110085

- Four year starter; never lost a game at home. His team became only the 10th team to 3-peat as WPIAL champs in 122 years! Many thought 2A OLSH was best team in WPIAL across all classifications
- Driven to win - "failure is not an option" mindset
- Stated goal is to lead WLU to a national title during his career
- Third team all state as a freshman and soph, 1st team as junior and senior
- High school team played similar style to WLU
- Had D1 offers
- True point guard, who has great court vision.
- Aggressive passer with great touch to fit ball into tight windows, even at long distances
- Great range and accuracy on three point shot; can finish at the rim
- Very high, roadrunner-level motor who plays at 100%, regardless of the score
- Makes good decisions in real time in transition
- Unselfish; could have averaged 30 points a game, but distributed ball to talented teammates
- Tenacious defender; long arms and lightning-quick hand speed creates clean steals, intimidating opposing point guards
- Very fast
- Just needs time to adjust his game and style to speed and talent of the college game
- here are highlights from Springdale game. Dante is #11.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BXmueOsOUmM

Long-term Assessment
- Combination of skill, athletic ability, and drive could make him a special point guard who also maximizes his teammates' potential
- Ceiling extremely high
- Needs time to adjust to college game, just like any freshman

[Columbuseer]

I count three games last year were at least one WLU player did not eclipse 20 points. Typically Bolon was at the stop of the scoring heap.

Read an interview with/about Aiden. Paraphrasing here but he said he had D1 offers but that they wanted him to hit the weights and become bigger to earn playing time. He said that he was not interested which kind of indicates to me that he believes he is a "turn-key" product as is.

That was a good interview.
Aiden is ultra-talented. We just need to give him time to adjust.

I thought your previous assertion was that one person, specifically Aiden, had to score 20 points most nights even as a freshman. Even Dalton did not score 20 points in 11 games last season. Statistical averages can be deceiving. Also, one has to consider the number of shots each player took. Dalton took his fair share.

WLU had 8 players who scored 15 or more points at least once during the season, so that, in addition to their individual offensive efficiency stats, supports the assertion that wlu is loaded with scorers. This is a great advantage when one is having an off night.

[boatcapt]

the wlu style does not depend on one person getting 20 a night. Definitely not a shortage of scorers. Lol.

Aiden definitely has a long-term high ceiling. But there is an obvious adjustment from high school to college and to the wlu style. Wlu has talented, experienced players already on the wlu roster.

A plug and play replacement for Dalton is a tall order indeed. The open question for me is who on the roster can get offensive rebounds like Dalton? It requires great desire and effort as well as early anticipation of the shot. Nearly all of the offensive rebounders ahead of him in the national rebounding rankings were significantly taller than he.

To go way out on a limb, my sgt schultz guess is that Viktor could start in place of Dalton, as he is taller and a better three point shooter. Watched him get 34 against eventual elite 8 truman state. But he faces the same adjustment period as the other newcomers.

I count three games last year were at least one WLU player did not eclipse 20 points. Typically Bolon was at the stop of the scoring heap.

Read an interview with/about Aiden. Paraphrasing here but he said he had D1 offers but that they wanted him to hit the weights and become bigger to earn playing time. He said that he was not interested which kind of indicates to me that he believes he is a "turn-key" product as is.

[Columbuseer]

Hopefully he is cerebral enough to understand that the team has a better chance of winning if he scores 20+ most nights. With his already well honed D1 skill set and high basketball IQ, he seems to be the clear plug and play replacement for perenial All-American Dalton Bolon.

the wlu style does not depend on one person getting 20 a night. Definitely not a shortage of scorers. Lol.

Aiden definitely has a long-term high ceiling. But there is an obvious adjustment from high school to college and to the wlu style. Wlu has talented, experienced players already on the wlu roster.

A plug and play replacement for Dalton is a tall order indeed. The open question for me is who on the roster can get offensive rebounds like Dalton? It requires great desire and effort as well as early anticipation of the shot. Nearly all of the offensive rebounders ahead of him in the national rebounding rankings were significantly taller than he.

To go way out on a limb, my sgt schultz guess is that Viktor could start in place of Dalton, as he is taller and a better three point shooter. Watched him get 34 against eventual elite 8 truman state. But he faces the same adjustment period as the other newcomers.

[boatcapt]

He is too cerebral, mature and unselfish to worry about stats. He just wants to win.
IMHO, this is a very deep, experienced team. It is 15 deep, a problem most coaches would love to have.

Do u redshirt folks because there are not enough minutes to go around , even though redshirts are talented players? Or go with 3 platoons? Have to wait and see.

Hopefully he is cerebral enough to understand that the team has a better chance of winning if he scores 20+ most nights. With his already well honed D1 skill set and high basketball IQ, he seems to be the clear plug and play replacement for perenial All-American Dalton Bolon.

[Columbuseer]

With skills like his, anything less than All-American (not Freshman All-American) needs to happen his Freshman season. Anything less than 20 PPG (.450 from 3), 7 RPG, 4 APG and 2 steals PG will be a disappointing.

He is too cerebral, mature and unselfish to worry about stats. He just wants to win.
IMHO, this is a very deep, experienced team. It is 15 deep, a problem most coaches would love to have.

Do u redshirt folks because there are not enough minutes to go around , even though redshirts are talented players? Or go with 3 platoons? Have to wait and see.

[boatcapt]

With skills like his, anything less than All-American (not Freshman All-American) needs to happen his Freshman season. Anything less than 20 PPG (.450 from 3), 7 RPG, 4 APG and 2 steals PG will be a disappointing.

[Columbuseer]

FYI Newcomer profile - Aiden Satterfield

High School:IMHO Notes:
- Unusually complete player who can score inside and out, dribble, pass, and rebound.
- High motor who runs court really well
- Makes good decisions in real time in transition
- Unselfish
- Some d1 schools wanted him to bulk up and change his body in the their strength program in order for him to fit their style, but he did not prefer this scenario, given his current skill set.
- He continued to hear from WVU and Lincoln Memorial even after committing to WLU.
- With WLU style, he does not have to remake his body in order to play, as bulk is not a prerequisite to playing time.
- Just needs time to adjust to speed and talent of the college game

IMHO Long-term Assessment:
- Combination of skill and length could make him a matchup nightmare
- Ceiling extremely high

[Columbuseer]

Impressive in it's own right is the #3. Only worn by two players since 2009...Dave Dennis and Will Yoakum (current). Both won national All-Freshman honors.

Number factoid...WLU had no players sporting single digit uniform numbers in 2010-11. Don't see that very often if ever now days.

Great find!
I continue to be impressed that we made Elite 8 without Will. Speaks volumes about team depth and interchangeability of wlu players.
Reasonable to think that NWMSU might have been closer, as he is near/at the top in 3 point shooting on the team.

Number factoid made me wonder about which numbers are more popular than others and how it evolves over time. Obviously 23 is quite popular, starting with jordan.

Based on NBA MVPS, here are three notable jersey numbers: 33, 6, and 13.

MVP Awards by number
No.	Total MVPs	Winners
6	8	Bill Russell (5), LeBron James (2), Julius Erving
13	7	Wilt Chamberlain (4), Steve Nash (2), James Harden
21	3	Tim Duncan (2), Kevin Garnett
23	7	Michael Jordan (5), LeBron James (2)
24	3	Moses Malone (2), Kobe Bryant
32	6	Magic Johnson (3), Karl Malone (2), Bill Walton
33	9	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Larry Bird (3)
34	5	Giannis Antetokounmpo (2), Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon
41	2	Dirk Nowitzki, Wes Unseld

[boatcapt]

Wlu roster is out.
Patrick has been doing some serious lifting, based on his arms.
Elijah looks much stronger too.
Viktor appears to be a legit 6-8.

Aiden Satterfield is #5.
May be just a coincidence, but
Seger #5 - all american
Dalton #5 - all american

Could this be starting a tradition, like wearing #44 in football at Syracuse?

Aiden is ultra talented, per Coach. Have to wait and see. Was not a guarantee of stardom at Syracuse, either.

Impressive in it's own right is the #3. Only worn by two players since 2009...Dave Dennis and Will Yoakum (current). Both won national All-Freshman honors.

Number factoid...WLU had no players sporting single digit uniform numbers in 2010-11. Don't see that very often if ever now days.

[Columbuseer]

Wlu roster is out.
Patrick has been doing some serious lifting, based on his arms.
Elijah looks much stronger too.
Viktor appears to be a legit 6-8.

Aiden Satterfield is #5.
May be just a coincidence, but
Seger #5 - all american
Dalton #5 - all american

Could this be starting a tradition, like wearing #44 in football at Syracuse?

Aiden is ultra talented, per Coach. Have to wait and see. Was not a guarantee of stardom at Syracuse, either.

[Columbuseer]

He must have violated coach's directions??!!

LOL. Good one.

All kidding aside, the wlu offense spreads the defense, which opens up myriad options, because the lane is not congested. It makes effective help defense problematic, for the player spacing makes it vulnerable for the kickout pass for an open three.
On the current team, Bryce and Marlon have great footwork in the lane and Bryce is honing that soft jump hook, ala Seger.

[boatcapt]

Seger Bonifant - all time d2 career leader in 3pt % at 52.5, which is incredible and much better than 46% all time leader in d1. Two-time national player of the year.

By his soph. year, he knew he had to expand his offensive game, for defenses were keying on him. Starting in his junior year, he displayed a great back to the basket inside game. It culminated in his senior year against Lincoln Memorial in the final four, where he got 44 points against a future NBA invitee, most of them inside the paint. One of the best games by two teams that I have seen.

Future players should watch replays and study his technique.

He must have violated coach's directions??!!