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Looks like the blackout happened for 40 minutes straight tonight
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Beginning with the Ohio Dominican game before Christmas, WL started showing significant progress toward internalizing the WL style of offensive and defensive play. The improvement continued through the Concord game, where their half-court defense and offensive rebounding effort overcame a sub-par shooting night and higher than usual turnovers (they actually had more TOs than Concord).
Would the upward vector of play continue against a dangerous, but erratic team in Glenville? They have arguably the player of the year in Bledsoe, who appears to have slimmed down and improved his 3-pt. shot and a talented freshman scorer in Verplancken from the Dominican Republic, as well as some other 3 pt. shooters. Since former WL player Brandon Smith has joined them this year as an assistant, they have started adapting some WL pressure concepts. Glenville was averaging 100 pts a game, while WL was scoring at a 104-point clip. Everyone knew that a high scoring game awaited.
The first three minutes ended with Glenville ahead 7-2. Bledsoe demonstrated a great 3-pt. stroke, even when contested. At the 15:00 mark, the score was tied at 9 apiece, which was a pace for an 80 to 90-point game. However, WL was playing with high intensity at both ends of the court, with rapid passing and ball movement and great effort on defense, which inevitably takes its toll on the opponent.
Fans were about to witness one of the longest sustained blackouts in a long time, which were reminiscent of the Alex Falk days of years past.
In the next 3 minutes WL went on a 20-8 run, leading 29-17 at 12:00. Glenville was starting to stand around on offense and exerted only minimal effort to get offensive rebounds (probably due to fatigue and concern about WL getting run-outs in transition).
The next 3 minutes were more of the same, with a 13-4 run. At 9:05 WL led 42-21. By the 4:52 mark, the lead was 30, at 62-32, with no signs of the scoring and turnover barrage abating.
The half ended at 83-52.
Glenville was shooting well, with an effective FG % of 66% and FT at 82%, but they had only 5 assists and had turned the ball over 17 times.
WL shot well at a 78% Effective FG% and FT of 92% with 16 assists and only 4 turnovers.
We were witnessing the domination of an opponent, mentally and physically.
The intensity of WL was like a school of piranha and the opponents were like cattle trying to cross a stream, where the piranhas attack in waves. In a few minutes, nothing is left but bones.
With memories of WV Wesleyan, WL started the second half strong, extending the lead to 41 at the 15:18 mark. WL stopped the trapping and worked on their half court defense for the rest of the game and experimented with different combinations, which slowed the scoring pace such that the ASRC record of 158 (set against Glenville last year) was safe.
Glenville made a good run using a hot shooting streak to cut the lead to 30, but WL responded to end the game at 129-89.
Kudos:- Assist to Turnover ratio is better than all but 3 players in the nation in D2!
- The scary part is that they can play at an even higher level. This could be just the appetizer, given the skills of this team.
- Glenville was a good shooting team. We need to contest more shots regardless of the score. They averaged 1.08 points per possession, which would win many games.
- I understand that referees are trying to curb flopping. However, I suspect that they are not calling legitimate contact because they think the player is "overselling" the call. This may require some players to do jump-stops and do up and under shots or easy bank shots to score.
- This might be picky given the score at the time. Remember a dunk counts the same as a layup and take into account your fatigue. We missed two dunks and left 4 points on the table.
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FYI - WL is starting to come on strong. Big challenge tonight against Fairmont.
Here are some WL Team stats as of Jan 12, showing the quality of WL basketball. I am not implying the WL would defeat high level D1 teams, as D1 teams are much larger and generally have greater raw athletic skills. But it does make the argument that the overall quality of the game is better. Also, there are other D2 teams besides WL that could make the same argument from a statistical perspective.
West Liberty Team Season National Statistical Ranking (with comparison to D1 Stats)ndthththth)
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If there's such a thing as a mid-January MUST-WIN game, this is it. Toppers can't afford to drop another home game at this point in the season. It feels like their status in the top-8 of the region is on the line tonight. It could be very difficult to dig out of the hole if they don't take care of business tonight (especially with a trip to Retton still looming later in the season).Originally posted by Columbuseer View PostComment
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Oh and looking at the rest of the conference's schedule (in which all the other quality teams are playing bottom feeders), WLU could end tonight as either tied for the top spot in the conference . . . or they could end up with the same record as about 5 other teams in that second-tier logjam. Gotta get outta that logjam and distinguish their season from the likes of WV State & Glenville.Originally posted by Scrub View PostComment
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Well WLU just defeated a game Fairmont squad 105-99. While the score was close, it was effectively a wire to wire W for the Toppers. Fairmont was only able to tie the score once in the first half. To their credit when WLU was able to extend their lead to double digits on several occasions, Fairmont was able to whittle the lead down.Comment
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Hop Bellermine for #1.
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I'd be happy hopping Catawaba right now...until the regional polls start coming out.Originally posted by IUPalum View PostComment
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Coming off their third conference loss, Fairmont needed to win this game. Likewise, WL needed to keep pace with Charleston in a tie for first place.
Fairmont has some talented players, who are both athletic and can shoot the three.
Throughout the game, WL had mini-runs, where the lead would get to 10-12 points, and fans were anticipating a blackout. To their credit, Fairmont would respond and whittle the lead down to four, but could not get closer. Fairmont did a good job of limiting the back-door cuts and trying to keep the ball rotation on the perimeter. In addition, Fairmont focused on preventing Dalton Bolon from getting good open looks and limited his scoring opportunities.
It was a sub-par game for WL defensively. They allowed too many run-outs in transition for layups. Uncharacteristic fouls plagued the hilltoppers, which required Yoakum, Dyer, and Robinson to spend considerable time on the bench in foul trouble.
It would seem that these factors were the perfect setup for a loss. However, this game demonstrated how much parity exists in both platoons. WL continued to score and players were hitting open looks and did not break under the pressure of the game. Very impressive.
WL won 105-99 (Fairmont hit an unguarded 22 ft shot at the buzzer to narrow the lead to 6).
WL played at their season average efficiency at 1.31 points per possession, despite not having their typical turnover margin and steals as well as encountering serious foul trouble. WL shot 60% effective FG % for the game, which along with 85% turnover-less possessions, provided the margin for a narrow victory.
Kudos:
Areas of Improvement:Last edited by Columbuseer; 01-17-2020, 10:57 AM.Comment
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FYI - Some WL Individual Stats
The encouraging aspect is that these stats include the growing pains earlier in the season. The level of play has significantly increased since mid December as players are now much faster at recognition, processing, and reacting to situations in real-time.
WL stats 1/12/2020
Individual Statsall 6 players would be in the top 50 nationally. Two players would be tied for 6th nationallyComment
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Frostburg got 'welcomed' to the MEC tonight. LOL.Comment
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WL has reclaimed the #1 ranking in scoring at 106.8 points per game, after defeating Frostburg 125-77!KudosAreas of Improvement
Just keep improving on what you are doing and honing your team cohesion and movement.
Try to avoid the holding calls on the press. It is unfair that they call holding on WL, but ignore push offs by opponents to get open for a pass.
Continue to improve on the zone, as it may come in handy (as in VA State last year).
First half foul shooting was sub-par at 61%, but 92% in the second half is not bad. LOL
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FYI
WL stats 1/19/2020
West Liberty Team Season National Statistical Ranking (with comparison to D1 Stats)thththComment
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Wow, looking at the comparison... West Liberty must be the #1 team in the country uncontested!!!Originally posted by Columbuseer View PostComment
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I see what you did there...leaving out Bellarmine after they lost!!Originally posted by IUPalum View Post
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