West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Layton]

Found a way to win against a quality team with a good big man. They were cooooooooold though

[Scrub]

Despite all the ugliness tonight (including neither team being able to hit a bull in the arse from the free throw line--sheesh), there was one silver lining: Marlon Moore. Against the first-team All-America Center, Marlon put up this array of stats:

7 Points
9 Boards
3 Blocks
2 Steals

None of those stat lines is individually eye-popping, but it's a nice day's work when you're facing the presumptive best Center in the country. Marlon is always up for a good battle, and he's a lot of fun to watch in when he's in the throes of those battles.

[boatcapt]

See your quote from earlier, Boat. All you gotta do is score more points than the other team.

This wasn't exactly how you draw that up, but a win is a win. When I used to coach my kids' sports teams I used to have a saying after games like these: "Good teams can win ugly; bad teams find ways to lose those games." I'd like to think that's the case.

Daemen is a really solid team (despite their early-season-non-conference-gauntlet record), and they may end up making some noise in the East.

A win is a win but coming off their loss to NDC, I hoped for just a little more than the worst top to bottom offensive performance in memory.

Our vaunted bench scored SEVEN points and those were all by one player.

We didn't make a FG over the last 3 minutes and only scored 2 points over that span. When was the last time that happened?

[Layton]

[boatcapt]

Not much of a contest. WLU 118 WVW 72. Hard telling much from this game except when WLU has wide open shots, we make them. 73 points in the first half alone. Games like this can get a little ragged in the second half and this was no exception. Second half looked like an open gym pick-up game.

[boatcapt]

They are. They are the definition of "Tomato Can." We have to play them because they are a conference school but any quality non-MEC school that schedules them has to be questioned for their commitment to playing a tough schedule.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They are. They are the definition of "Tomato Can." We have to play them because they are a conference school but any quality non-MEC school that schedules them has to be questioned for their commitment to playing a tough schedule.

Right. Just like when you guys would play Clarion and Mansfield.

[IUPalum]

Right. Just like when you guys would play Clarion and Mansfield.

Great points!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Great points!

In fairness, WVW was signed in to this deal a couple years ago when they weren't a total basement dweller. They did win at West Liberty in 2019.

Joe's kickoff tournament isn't overly attractive. You get IUP one night and UPJ the next. Good odds most teams are leaving Indiana 0-2.

[Scrub]

In fairness, WVW was signed in to this deal a couple years ago when they weren't a total basement dweller. They did win at West Liberty in 2019.

Joe's kickoff tournament isn't overly attractive. You get IUP one night and UPJ the next. Good odds most teams are leaving Indiana 0-2.

Correct. They were a tough out during that stretch of time when they had the 3 Serbian kids. They've fallen on hard times more recently (and I'm not sure the hard times are exclusive to the Athletic Department). I don't know how to check on this, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they severely cut scholarships in the athletic program to save $$ during uncertain financial times. The roster last night boasted a fair number of local WV products. The coach is clearly not being given the money to go get tough Serbian kids anymore.

[Scrub]

In fairness, WVW was signed in to this deal a couple years ago when they weren't a total basement dweller. They did win at West Liberty in 2019.

Joe's kickoff tournament isn't overly attractive. You get IUP one night and UPJ the next. Good odds most teams are leaving Indiana 0-2.

And you're also correct that many of these home-and-home deals were signed before COVID thereby extending those deals into a new era so to speak. It took about 3 years for Daemen to pay off their visit after WLU went there a few years ago. But non-con games were restricted last year, so those agreements couldn't be paid off then.

[boatcapt]

Right. Just like when you guys would play Clarion and Mansfield.

Yes...WLU has scheduled similar teams and they have been criticized for doing so. Other programs schedule equivalents of Clarion and Mansfield yet get praised for how tough they schedule.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Yes...WLU has scheduled similar teams and they have been criticized for doing so. Other programs schedule equivalents of Clarion and Mansfield yet get praised for how tough they schedule.

You never know. Look at Bowie State this year (0-6 so far) ... always a solid non-conference game. Virginia State is also a perennial power and they've now lost 4 in a row.

[boatcapt]

You never know. Look at Bowie State this year (0-6 so far) ... always a solid non-conference game. Virginia State is also a perennial power and they've now lost 4 in a row.

Good teams do have outlier bad seasons, but that ain't WVW.

[boatcapt]

In fairness, WVW was signed in to this deal a couple years ago when they weren't a total basement dweller. They did win at West Liberty in 2019.

Joe's kickoff tournament isn't overly attractive. You get IUP one night and UPJ the next. Good odds most teams are leaving Indiana 0-2.

IUP schedules teams for it's tourney to fill certain roles. The role of WVW and Concord is not to win or even give IUP a tough game. Their purpose is to give IUP someone to practice against at game speed and under game circumstances and give the team a 2-0 start.