West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Scrub]

EARLY in the Crutch era, he most definitely scheduled cupcakes to get the team rolling. There's no denying that (plenty of the old OU Eastern or PSU Fayette games on those early Crutch-era schedules). But you're conveniently forgetting about the times Crutch got a bit more daring with his OOC schedule as he got more comfortable applying his system. In 08-09, Crutch scheduled a brutal OOC back-to-back with Lynn & Bellarmine (and lost them both). If not for pulling out a double-OT win vs. Pikeville, they would have lost 3 in a row OOC that year. He scheduled a very strong Northern Kentucky team in 10-11. And don't forget about 11-12 when he opened with ESU, Ship, & Findlay (taking a loss to Findlay). Then, followed that up with a Christmas break trip to Florida to play away games in notoriously tough gyms at St. Leo & Eckard. Crutch may have started his run playing PSU Fayette, but in the midst of his "heyday" at WLU, he was regularly mixing good OOC games with bad OOC games. Ohio Valley & Point Park were still regulars on the schedule, but he also mixed in the Findlays, Bellarmines, and St. Leos. Those teams are up there with this year's Daemen. And don't forget Ben scheduled Ohio Valley this year as well. In other words, Ben's schedule this year is eerily similar to Crutch's schedules in his heyday. Just because Crutch managed to pull out tough wins against the likes of St. Leo, Eckard, Northern Kentucky, etc., don't fool yourself into believing he was only scheduling cupcakes.

I repeat--this year's struggle has nothing to do with going to Daemen in November. Crutch succeeded by absolutely owning the conference teams. An OOC loss to a Bellarmine or Findlay didn't hurt him much because he never lost to WVWC or UC in the regular season. Granted, the conference was likely a lot weaker when Crutch was ripping through it, and Ben doesn't have that luxury. But the difference this year isn't that they failed to get an easy win against PSU Fayette in November (the easy win against Ohio Valley is forthcoming--don't worry). It's that they have failed to take care of business against beatable teams in the conference. Period. Forget about the OOC schedule. Howlett has to figure out how to beat the teams that are most familiar with what WLU does (and the degree of difficulty is raised now because he's not taking anyone by surprise anymore).

[boatcapt]

This is the risk of "playing tough" OOC. You run the risk of having additional losses. And those losses compound as the year goes by. BEST case scenario is that it ONLY costs you a chance at hosting the Regionals...worst case it costs you a chance to even be in the NCAA tourney.

You know, we all bow at the alter of Crutch and talk about how smart he is as a basketball coach. Yet some seem completely unwilling to accept that maybe he knew what he was doing as far as scheduling goes. Seems like he understood that a win trumps any supposed value a team gets by playing and perhaps losing games against tough opponents early in a nearly five month long basketball season. Now Crutch is doing the same thing with scheduling at a new school and people are casting him as BRILLIANT while the new guy at WLU has bowed to the "experts" that say WLU should schedule tough games at the beginning of the season and we sit with 3 losses for the first time in over 15 years, a very real chance at 4 losses, quite probably the longest string of weeks in the top 25 gone, and danger close to not making the NCAA tourney. All for what?

Seems like once again, we see how much smarter Crutch is than we are.

[Scrub]

You have to go all the way back to Crutch's first year (04-05) to find the last time WLU has lost three before the calendar turned.

[Scrub]

And no, Boat, playing Daemen had nothing to do with these losses. Gotta take care of business in the conference. Crutch picked up losses to the likes of Findlay and Bellarmine over the years in the non-conference. But Crutch's teams tended to take care of business in the conference. I do believe the conference has strengthened and caught up a bit. WLU isn't taking anybody by surprise anymore. But Howlett is going to have to find a formula for getting through the conference. Another tough test with WVSU coming Saturday. Yikes.

[Scrub]

Anybody get a chance to watch it? What happened this time? I was unavailable to watch.

[boatcapt]

And in that 06-07 season, they finished 25-5 and made their first NCAA tournament. Not too shabby for a 6-2 start. ; )

Yep. Lost in the WVIAC tourney to fall from the #1 ranking in the East Region to #2 behind Barton. Wonder if they would have claimed the #1 tourney seed and played at the ARSC had they just won ONE more game early in the regular season??

[Scrub]

Last time WLU stated a season 6-2 was in the 06-07 season (13 years ago). Hey, but at least we will be "tough" in the NCAA tourney...were ever it is played. And it doesn't get any easier with two loss Charleston and then two loss WV State next up. Real chance we could be 6-4 this time next week. But again, at least we will be stronger in the tourney!!!

And in that 06-07 season, they finished 25-5 and made their first NCAA tournament. Not too shabby for a 6-2 start. ; )

[boatcapt]

I would think iup, bellarmine etc would get same consideration. Do u think the fact so many top 25 teams lost to unranked teams this week helped them? Could perhaps their schedule have been tougher than those teams in outside looking in at top 25? I know I am throwing chum in the water when talking about early tough games. Lol

Last time WLU stated a season 6-2 was in the 06-07 season (13 years ago). Hey, but at least we will be "tough" in the NCAA tourney...were ever it is played. And it doesn't get any easier with two loss Charleston and then two loss WV State next up. Real chance we could be 6-4 this time next week. But again, at least we will be stronger in the tourney!!!

[Scrub]

Point...WLU's two losses took place with 18 days between them...Valdosta's and Ashland's occurred in the same week and in Ashland's case, they were back to back. I would imagine that losing twice in the same "ranking week" would have more impact on the voters than two losses that occurred over a three week period.

That's a fair point. Timing is everything.

[boatcapt]

I'm shocked that the WVWC loss didn't actually drop the Toppers out of the Top 25 and end the streak. Ashland's bad loss knocked them out. Valdosta lost to then-#25 Florida Southern (not even a bad loss) and that was enough to drop them. This probably goes to show that so much of the poll is political or name-recognition or whatever. WLU & Queens (both typical top-25 "powers") are the only teams to be given "scholarships" into the Top-25 with 2 losses. Everyone else there is either a 1-loss or undefeated team.

IUP continues to play with house money and win--tough stretch coming up though. If, on an off chance, IUP would happen to take two losses during their brutal upcoming stretch, I wonder if their name recognition would be enough to keep them in the poll?

I admit that I'm glad the streak is still alive--it's a really cool little factoid about the team and the program that Crutch built here. But I kinda think this was supposed to be the week they dropped out, regrouped, and began the climb back to the top. We'll see.

Point...WLU's two losses took place with 18 days between them...Valdosta's and Ashland's occurred in the same week and in Ashland's case, they were back to back. I would imagine that losing twice in the same "ranking week" would have more impact on the voters than two losses that occurred over a three week period.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I would think iup, bellarmine etc would get same consideration. Do u think the fact so many top 25 teams lost to unranked teams this week helped them? Could perhaps their schedule have been tougher than those teams in outside looking in at top 25? I know I am throwing chum in the water when talking about early tough games. Lol

Last week was like Armageddon for the Top 25. I've never seen so many teams lose ... and lose to teams under .500

I'm not naive. Joe said so himself in the paper he knows they are no longer a Top 10 team. They are still really good but not as good as they are ranked. That said they have some nice wins so far.

[Columbuseer]

I'm shocked that the WVWC loss didn't actually drop the Toppers out of the Top 25 and end the streak. Ashland's bad loss knocked them out. Valdosta lost to then-#25 Florida Southern (not even a bad loss) and that was enough to drop them. This probably goes to show that so much of the poll is political or name-recognition or whatever. WLU & Queens (both typical top-25 "powers") are the only teams to be given "scholarships" into the Top-25 with 2 losses. Everyone else there is either a 1-loss or undefeated team.

IUP continues to play with house money and win--tough stretch coming up though. If, on an off chance, IUP would happen to take two losses during their brutal upcoming stretch, I wonder if their name recognition would be enough to keep them in the poll?

I admit that I'm glad the streak is still alive--it's a really cool little factoid about the team and the program that Crutch built here. But I kinda think this was supposed to be the week they dropped out, regrouped, and began the climb back to the top. We'll see.

I would think iup, bellarmine etc would get same consideration. Do u think the fact so many top 25 teams lost to unranked teams this week helped them? Could perhaps their schedule have been tougher than those teams in outside looking in at top 25? I know I am throwing chum in the water when talking about early tough games. Lol

[Scrub]

I'm shocked that the WVWC loss didn't actually drop the Toppers out of the Top 25 and end the streak. Ashland's bad loss knocked them out. Valdosta lost to then-#25 Florida Southern (not even a bad loss) and that was enough to drop them. This probably goes to show that so much of the poll is political or name-recognition or whatever. WLU & Queens (both typical top-25 "powers") are the only teams to be given "scholarships" into the Top-25 with 2 losses. Everyone else there is either a 1-loss or undefeated team.

IUP continues to play with house money and win--tough stretch coming up though. If, on an off chance, IUP would happen to take two losses during their brutal upcoming stretch, I wonder if their name recognition would be enough to keep them in the poll?

I admit that I'm glad the streak is still alive--it's a really cool little factoid about the team and the program that Crutch built here. But I kinda think this was supposed to be the week they dropped out, regrouped, and began the climb back to the top. We'll see.

[Columbuseer]

WL returned to their roots against D&E. Rapid ball movement on offense and continuous high energy on defense. D&E was a well-coached, nearly international team, with players from Finland, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, who had recently defeated Fairmont State. WL won 103-73.
Like most games, the opponent plays WL evenly for the first 5 to 10 minutes, before a blackout occurs.
WL went with a partial platoon system, subbing only two or three at a time to provide more experience on the court at all times. IMHO, it really helped the new players blend into the game and increased their contribution, because two or three of their teammates on the court were experienced. The few extra minutes for the starters did not seem to affect them from a fatigue point of view. WL scored 1.35 points per possession, which is outstanding and 86% of their possessions without a turnover, which is also outstanding.
Kudos:

[Columbuseer]