West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[FlyHawk98]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I thought the charge call on Arnold at the end of regulation was complete BS. Should have been a no call, but the guy was still moving and never got set. I thought it was a great look by Arnold to find an open Monteroso for the lay up, very unfortunate that they called a charge there.

I also think Arnold plays great defense for the most part. He is the type of guy who wears on your nerves throughout a game because he is ALWAYS up on you if you have the ball.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Being I don't worship at the Church of Crutch ... a few observations:

* WL really adjusted well during the course of the game. Early on it appeared WJ was going to do whatever they wanted inside.
* WL was extremely effective once it started driving the ball. They missed a lot of the layups but once WJ started collapsing they got many easy kickouts for treys.
* WL dodged a bullet on that technical ... freshman-type mental lapse
* If either WJ or Dennis could have hit free throws ... game never sees even a first OT
* I thought Brady actually played a good game. He fouled out but I agree that charge was 'iffy' at best. He hit some big shots last night at clutch moments.
* WL had WJ on the ropes pretty bad with about 12-13 minutes left but couldn't knock them out
* WL was the better physically conditioned team -- and deeper.
* As a 'neutral' observer ... it was hard not to feel bad for WJ at the foul line. Just awful. Hitting 50 percent on 30-some attempts ... didn't deserve to win.
* Was surprised WJ didn't try to press more (did they at all?)
* Monteroso and Moseh ... great match-up
* WJ 7-26 (26%) on threes yet just kept chucking them
* Round 2 will be a good one. Both could have won last night numerous times -- and both could have lost numerous times.
* WL announcer butchering Highsmith's name all night ... fantastic.

[FlyHawk98]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

West Liberty switching to the 2-3 zone a few times throughout the game seemed to really mess with WJ as well.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Something that has been overlooked is Gross fouled out at the beginning of Doubke OT I think or around there and we didn't put in Kirkbride so our tallest guy was 6-4/5ish while they still had two guys 6'7 or taller. Somehow still got rebounds at the end to win it. Very fortunate that didn't kill them

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Checking out next years recruits and found the announcement of Marlon Moore 6-5 and Keegan Sabon 6-3 that the sports information department made but never found anything on Will Yoakum whose name was mentioned on this forum that is a recruit. Anything formal on him being in the fold or has he moved on? We lose 3 seniors and hopefully a bench guy may move on so it would be nice to sign at least 4 players. We really need a 6-6/6-7 guy, probably a transfer to replace Gross since it would be hard for a true freshman to come in and make a significate contribution. Sounds like Moore plays bigger than his 6-5 height.

[DownLow55]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Checking out next years recruits and found the announcement of Marlon Moore 6-5 and Keegan Sabon 6-3 that the sports information department made but never found anything on Will Yoakum whose name was mentioned on this forum that is a recruit. Anything formal on him being in the fold or has he moved on? We lose 3 seniors and hopefully a bench guy may move on so it would be nice to sign at least 4 players. We really need a 6-6/6-7 guy, probably a transfer to replace Gross since it would be hard for a true freshman to come in and make a significate contribution. Sounds like Moore plays bigger than his 6-5 height.

Correct he does.

[timbertopper]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Never found anything on Will Yoakum whose name was mentioned on this forum that is a recruit. Anything formal on him being in the fold or has he moved on?

Don't believe Yoakum verbaled until after the November early-signing period had ended. School/coaches may not be able to comment on recruits until paperwork is in hand. Everything I've heard indicates he is sticking with his commitment.

[FlyHawk98]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Don't believe Yoakum verbaled until after the November early-signing period had ended. School/coaches may not be able to comment on recruits until paperwork is in hand. Everything I've heard indicates he is sticking with his commitment.

Coaches are not allowed to comment until a recruit has signed.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

FYI...WLU beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame last night. Never trailed and up by as many as 24 in the first half and 27 in the second. Six players in double digits and 34 points off the bench. Not a great shooting % by some of the starters but the bench play of Arnold (4-4 from the field) and Gauz (5-8) helped keep us above 50%.

Next up is a UC squad that was 9-1 at one point but is now 10-8 after going 1-7 over its last 8 games. I'm sure they would love to reset their season with an upset!

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Well, a one point halftime lead turned into a 24 point win. Charleston, historically, has done a good job of slowing the tempo down with WL. They haven't had great success doing it--beat them in the MEC final in 2014(?), but otherwise, WL has beaten them pretty regularly. I do give them credit, they are one of the only MEC teams that at least tries to do something other than run with them. 18-38 3 pointers will help you to a 24 point win. good shooting performance, while Charleston sat in the zone. Monteroso is a beast. Clay looks like a Freshman keeper. Still concerned about Hoehn's inconsistency from 3. Maybe I'm spoiled from Seger.

I got flagged last week for criticizing Arnold, and he responded last week with a touche to me---4-4 vs ND OH, including 3-3 from 3. I'm sure I'll get flak for this one, too, but Dennis needs to finish better at the rim...Gets in to the paint consistently, but misses an inordinate number of his twisting layups. Also, shoots too many 3's for my liking...But he's one of the quickest guards in d2, and love that he's only a sophomore. When he finally graduates, he'll be one of those players, where you say--jesus, seems like he's been playing for them for 7 years...He's special...I just want more consistent finishes at the rim.

Still only one loss...and big one vs Fairmont coming up next saturday...

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU beat WVS the other night 111-75. No big surprise there. Monteroso played a typical team leading game. Seems like he is the only consistent player on the team. This game Hoehn stepped up with 18 points and lightly used Primmer went "off" for 11...These were offset by Dennis and Arnold throwing up stinkers with 8 and 3 points respectively. Dennis was 1-8 shooting and Arnold was 1-6. Outside of Monteroso, this team is all over the map from one night to the next. Glass half full analysis is that the opposing team can't game plan for who will have a big game because it's liable to be anyone from Monteroso on down to the #11 guy off the bench...Glass half empty analysis is that eventually this will catch up with us and every player will be off during a particular game and we will crash in flames.

[DownLow55]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU beat WVS the other night 111-75. No big surprise there. Monteroso played a typical team leading game. Seems like he is the only consistent player on the team. This game Hoehn stepped up with 18 points and lightly used Primmer went "off" for 11...These were offset by Dennis and Arnold throwing up stinkers with 8 and 3 points respectively. Dennis was 1-8 shooting and Arnold was 1-6. Outside of Monteroso, this team is all over the map from one night to the next. Glass half full analysis is that the opposing team can't game plan for who will have a big game because it's liable to be anyone from Monteroso on down to the #11 guy off the bench...Glass half empty analysis is that eventually this will catch up with us and every player will be off during a particular game and we will crash in flames.

Glass might be half full, half empty, cracked, chipped, crystal, tiffany glass, etc. but the bottom line, and what matters, is this team is 19-1. The record is better at this juncture of the season than 2015-2016 and 2014-2015 teams and the same as the 3 years prior. WL takes everyone's best shot and I really like how this team responds. On to Shepherd.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I think Dennis has taken a huge step back for whatever reason I don't really get what happened to him he's not finishing drives to the basket like last year in the few games I've went to or still a good shooter pretty weird to step back after the season he had last year

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Really don't think Dennis is that good of an outside shot. Still glad he is a Topper !

[Chevydude89]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

They seem quite a bit deeper than other teams played this year which has helped with their success on the season so far...agree with there being hot and cold nights for several guys but thats the game... we must rebound well against the better team(s) coming up and in the tournament to go the distance and definitely needs some consistent shooting threats!!!!! Shepherd is hot right now. This game is huge wednesday - need a W going into saturday