West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

FYI
Seems like many Elite 8's have a team that represents a once in a career opportunity for a coach - such as Augusta in 2022, with a 7-2 strong center and #1 in nation in 3 point shooting.

It takes some luck to avoid these bad matchups as long as possible in the tourney.

Witness NWMSU, who had a once-in-a-generation D2 team, with 3 straight national titles.

WLU lost by 21 to NWMSU in first round of Elite 8 in March 2021. Although it is small consolation, no other team in Elite 8 lost by less LOL.

Although not playing them in the first round would have helped WLU's chances, due to less time for NWMSU to prepare, IMHO it would not have changed the final outcome as they had two players who are now playing in the NBA summer league.

Trevor Hudgens signed a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets (Rockets only had 2 two-way contracts to give).
Ryan Hawkins is playing for the Warriors in the California Classic and will play with the Raptors in the summer league.

[Layton]

https://twitter.com/garrisonkisner/s...7eupFMu2GlDIsQ

[Columbuseer]

https://twitter.com/garrisonkisner/s...7eupFMu2GlDIsQ

Imho great potential. Great fundamentals that is rare at 6-7. 3.92 GPA

[Columbuseer]

Bryce Buter was voted MEC male athlete of year across all sports.
Well deserved Bryce!

https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...-the-year.aspx

[Columbuseer]

Impressed by the players at wlu who excelled academically despite long hours required as a basketball player.
?Congrats to all!

2021-22 MEC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM (3.70-4.00 GPA)
Men's Basketball (3)
Bryce Butler, Zach Rasile, Austin Webb


2021-22 MEC COMMISSIONER'S ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL (3.25-3.69 GPA)
Men's Basketball (4)
Garrett Denbow, Pat Robinson, Ben Sarson, Will Yoakum

[Columbuseer]

FYI
Pitt Johnstown is coming to ASRC Nov 16. Very well coached team with many strong players returning.
Their big man was all region I think.
It was a tight game last year until their bigs got in foul trouble and they hit a cold spell.
Big test for WLU with 7 new players.
Need to fill the ASRC!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

FYI
Pitt Johnstown is coming to ASRC Nov 16. Very well coached team with many strong players returning.
Their big man was all region I think.
It was a tight game last year until their bigs got in foul trouble and they hit a cold spell.
Big test for WLU with 7 new players.
Need to fill the ASRC!

Their whole team is back minus perhaps the most important piece. Their senior-to-be star PG (Fred Mulbah) left. He was so dynamic and physical that the whole team fed off him. He really elevated his teammates and was an incredible distributor and finisher.

Looks like they added a transfer PG (very rare for UPJ). He appears to be a different type of PG than Mulbah (more of an outside shooting type rather than such a dangerous slasher).

But, you're certainly right about the typical UPJ team. They are extremely well-coached and always fundamentally sound. They are actually a throw-back to a different era in basketball. As WL fans say about the Hilltoppers, UPJ doesn't win many warm-up lines.

John Paul Kromka did stay. I think you are correct he made first-team, All-Region last year. Everything changes when he gets in foul trouble (which, is fairly rare).

They had to be extremely disappointed with their results last year. That was a tournament-caliber team. They just took a couple losses down the stretch that were very surprising and ended up missing out. But, that was the best West in history. Most years that team would have made the NCAAs.

[boatcapt]

Imho great potential. Great fundamentals that is rare at 6-7. 3.92 GPA

I am a little concerned for him. Doesn't look like he has a lot of range on his jump shot. Rare to see a highlight tape posted by the player that shows only one three point shot. Maybe he has a great 3pt stroke and just chose not to show it. For him to see much more than spot duty, he will need to develop a consistent 3pt shot AND be willing to take it regularly.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
more info on garrison kisner commit.
for his senior year, he has transferred across town to morgantown high, current AAAA state champs, who are very well coached.
that team recently played 4 games in DC. They played national hs powers Gonzaga and St. John's, who are loaded with high d1 players. They lost but won the other two games.

Kisner played on aau wv gold, who was coached by Juwan Staton, former wvu star and who played in France.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
wlu travels to malik's hometown of Bowie, Md on Dec 31 to play Bowie State.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Bowie State may not be good every year ... but, man, do they play a brutal schedule every year.


This coming year, they play:

East Stroudsburg
(at) IUP
(at) Bloomfield
U of District of Columbia
(at) Shippensburg
(at) Millersville
(at) Augusta
Wilmington
West Liberty



ESU and Ship were both NCAA-level teams last year despite not making it. Millersville made the tournament. And, we know what IUP, Augusta and West Liberty are all about.

[Columbuseer]

• Bowie State had some talent, but the pressure really disrupted them. Wlu forced 28 turnovers and 16 steals.

[boatcapt]

Imho great potential. Great fundamentals that is rare at 6-7. 3.92 GPA

OT: Anyone else see a GPA less than 4.0 and wonder what is wrong with the person? Used to be 4.0 was PERFECT but now days, with GPA ballooning well past that figure toward 5.0, anything less than 4.0 seems...deficient.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

OT: Anyone else see a GPA less than 4.0 and wonder what is wrong with the person? Used to be 4.0 was PERFECT but now days, with GPA ballooning well past that figure toward 5.0, anything less than 4.0 seems...deficient.

Used to be at Slippery Rock all five starters' GPAs wouldn't add up to 4.0

[Columbuseer]

OT: Anyone else see a GPA less than 4.0 and wonder what is wrong with the person? Used to be 4.0 was PERFECT but now days, with GPA ballooning well past that figure toward 5.0, anything less than 4.0 seems...deficient.

Not at all.

For many commits, GPA is conspicuous by its absence.
As u know, n hs, one can take college level courses and get college credit. Great deal financially. Some kids come out of hs as sophs in terms of college credits. I think if you get an A in colllege credit, it counts as 5.0 not a 4.0 course.

trouble is the college courses are very time consuming especially if held on college campus. So regular grades may suffer.

If you don't have 4.0 but 3.5+ AND took challenging courses, active in clubs, volunteering, it may carry more weight than a 4.0+ bookworm in terms of scholarship. $.
First hand experience.

What is sad is # of d1 athletic full rides relative to college funded academic full rides. Many high performing students only get modest, if any help.