West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Wl plays AB at 4 pm on mountaineast.tv.
AB has some 40% three point shooters so wl will have to rotate on defense.
open question is their depth and do they have enough defenders to stop wl finishers at the rim.

[boatcapt]

Well that was more like it! WLU goes on the road and stomps a mud hole in AB. Yoakum is back...12 players played.

2-0...14 more to go.

[Layton]

[Columbuseer]

Some wl stats from ab game
1.48 points per possession much above wl elite average of 1.26
29% of possessions had assists - good, but would have been higher if we had refrained more from one on one in second half
Only 13% of possessions resulted in turnovers is outstanding
2.18 assist to turnover ratio is very good as a team, but again could have been higher.

game
team	wl	ab
to	11	23
fga	84	65
off rebs	23	20
num possession	83	80
points	123	73
points per possession	1.48	0.91
factor	0.44	0.44
fta	25	27
points	123	73
assists	24	15
assists per possession	0.289	0.187
assists to turnover ratio	2.18	0.65
turnovers per possession (lower is better)	0.13	0.287

[Columbuseer]

Musings on some improvements observed in wlu ab game:

- Patrick is avoiding the offensive foul by changing direction in the lane and easily making a layup that would be impossible for the typical player. This will be needed at FSU Wednesday against the " fainting Polish guy" who is adept at drawing charges lol.

-Dalton is not forcing shot or losing ball inside against numbers... he kicked it to corner for open 3 from patrick
- Bryce has improved 1on 1 defense... cut off baseline on dribble drive with lower defensive stance.
- Marlon is reducing turnovers and avoiding charge calls in lane... better decisions on when to foul.
- luke taking advantage of defensive lapses for layups
- zach looked more relaxed in 2nd college game with great shot mechanics
- Elijah is rapidly adjusting to college game.

Wlu essentially has 10 starters who played between 16 and 23 minutes.

Any other improvements folks want to share?

[Columbuseer]

FYI west lib team national d2 stats after two games

# 1 in
Scoring 110.5
Scoring margin 35
Turnover margin 11
Assist to turnover ratio 2.00

#2
Rebound margin 16
Offensive rebounds per game 21

#3
Assists per game 19

#4
Turnovers per game 9.5
#7
Fg %. 52.17
Turnovers forced per game 20.5

#11
Blocked shots per game 4.5
#12
Free throw % 80.43

#15
Steals per game 9.5

[boatcapt]

Well...WLU went into Fairmont and did what critics said they couldn't do...win on the road against a ranked team. Toppers claim a 96-84 W ro go 3-0 on the season and have the inside track to another MEC crown.

[Columbuseer]

What impressed me is that they did not shoot well, some had subpar games and they still imposed their will. Subpar performance for both teams. Pressure reducing fsu fg % and steals and offensive rebounds were keys to our victory imho.

[Columbuseer]

Areas for improvement after fsu
- too much dribbling and not enough passing. Individuals must not get caught up in mano a mano attitudes, where they want to dominate their opponent and lose sight of the objective, which is a team victory. Frankly I thought both teams fell into this trap. Results were out of control, difficult, contested shots, turnovers, and offensive fouls. Points per possession was 30% lower at 1.09 than at AB (1.48). Can't make a deep ncaa run with that stat.
- gave fsu too many open looks, which they would have normally hit.
- terrible close out of game, giving up and ones with under a minute to play.

[Scrub]

Areas for improvement after fsu
- too much dribbling and not enough passing. Individuals must not get caught up in mano a mano attitudes, where they want to dominate their opponent and lose sight of the objective, which is a team victory. Frankly I thought both teams fell into this trap. Results were out of control, difficult, contested shots, turnovers, and offensive fouls. Points per possession was 40% lower at 1.09 than at AB (1.48). Can't make a deep ncaa run with that stat.
- gave fsu too many open looks, which they would have normally hit.
- terrible close out of game, giving up and ones with under a minute to play.

As to your second point, I kept saying aloud to my computer screen, "You can't keep giving VonHandorf open looks; he won't stay cold all night." Thankfully, VonHandorf DID stay cold all night (missing all of his 3's--a usual specialty of his--and even missing some layups after drives). I know it's weird to say that a guy who finished with 17 (thanks in part to a 7-for-7 night at the free throw line) had a bad night, but VonHandorf had a BAD night. If he's his normal self and is getting the looks WLU was giving him, FSU blows WLU out last night.

Thankfully, FSU's "shooting was atrocious" (to quote their own color commentator from last night) and WLU survived.

[boatcapt]

Weird game all around. Not going to get that on many nights from the Toppers. Yes, Bolon scored 20 but he was 4-12 on 3's and 1-4 from 2!! To say WLU struggled shooting last night is an understatement...but still, they won and they did so leading almost the entire game. Any time you get WLU shooting less than 30% from 3, you better count you're blessings and take advantage of it because it doesn't happen very often.

In this season with the amplification of W's and L's, this was a huge game. Worth pointing out that the next game will be the one quarter mark on the SEASON! WLU won a big game against the primary threat to their crown at their house. However that happened, can't deny the importance of the win.

[Columbuseer]

Weird game all around. Not going to get that on many nights from the Toppers. Yes, Bolon scored 20 but he was 4-12 on 3's and 1-4 from 2!! To say WLU struggled shooting last night is an understatement...but still, they won and they did so leading almost the entire game. Any time you get WLU shooting less than 30% from 3, you better count you're blessings and take advantage of it because it doesn't happen very often.

In this season with the amplification of W's and L's, this was a huge game. Worth pointing out that the next game will be the one quarter mark on the SEASON! WLU won a big game against the primary threat to their crown at their house. However that happened, can't deny the importance of the win.

[boatcapt]

Shooter gon'a shoot...that's what shooters do! But I would hope for a little more awareness about his shooting stroke on a given night. He was by far the biggest 3-taker against Fairmont and he struggled. I'd hope that he would realize that he didn't have the stroke that night and drive to create OR kick to another player. As a coach you never tell your leading player to stand down but I guess you have to just trust that he will understand how he is playing in a given game and make adjustments.

[Columbuseer]

[Layton]