West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Layton]

What in the world happened to the ladies? They were winning like 22-7 last I checked then lost by 20. Idk about Cooper

[Scrub]

What in the world happened to the ladies? They were winning like 22-7 last I checked then lost by 20. Idk about Cooper

Shot 60% in the first half. Shot about 17% in the second half. That'll do it.

Reverse was true for Charleston ladies--they shot 60% in the second half.

[timbertopper]

Also have been playing all season without two returning All-MEC starters in Smith (last year's leading scorer) and Thomas (Top 10 nationally in 3FGs).

[Scrub]

Also have been playing all season without two returning All-MEC starters in Smith (last year's leading scorer) and Thomas (Top 10 nationally in 3FGs).

Right. Thomas has been in a boot starting with game 2 (apparently an injury suffered in game 1). And Smith was seen on the sidelines yesterday with some kind of wrap on her knee. Not good when your two steadiest hands have been out all season.

The bright side is this has forced McCutcheon and Manzay (who were sometimes a little erratic last year--capable of both big games and also games off) to really step up and become the steadying force on the team. So if/when Thomas & Smith return, this should be a team to be reckoned with.

[Columbuseer]

FYI
wvmetronews.com sportsline podcast thursday dec 8
Bryce Butler interview starts at minute 16 and goes until minute 25...

Said Coach Howlett was most honest coach that he had encountered during recruitment.
Spoke of importance of prospective recruits playing in open gym.
Agreed wlu style is very appealing to players.

https://wvmetronews.com/podcast/

[Columbuseer]

After a horrendous start, wlu's 3 pt shooting is improving,..
Here are top shooters thru 8 games.

name. 3ptm 3pta 3pt%

#04 Montague, Christian 19 35 .543
#22 Hinds, Chaz 5 10 .500
#25 Rasile, Zach 20 43 .465
#05 Cannady, Steve 17 38 .447
#24 Sarson, Ben 18 44 .409
#02 Butler, Bryce 10 28 .357

[Columbuseer]

Fans often have different views about what is a good 3pt %.
FYI
"Statistics show that for NBA basketball players, a 3-point percentage (3pt%) above 35% is good and a 3pt% above 40% is considered to be elite.

A good 3-point percentage in college basketball is above 35% and an elite percentage is anything over 40%.

In high school a good 3-point percentage is anything above 32%."

source: https://thatsportlife.com/what-is-a-...with-examples/

[Scrub]

Well that one sure lived up to the hype!

(And it does appear that Pittman made the grade--that guy is still a beast)

[Layton]

Good win looks like Hinds is starting to get a bigger role

[Scrub]

Good win looks like Hinds is starting to get a bigger role

Needed the muscle today. WVSU is a physical team. Notice that Sampson set a season high for minutes as well. Needed the more physical players in the game today.

It'll be interesting to see if Hinds's minutes go back down in finesse games.

[TopperNation]

Needed the muscle today. WVSU is a physical team. Notice that Sampson set a season high for minutes as well. Needed the more physical players in the game today.

It'll be interesting to see if Hinds's minutes go back down in finesse games.

Hinds came up big last night! I spoke to him briefly before the game and he hinted that he would be playing a little more last night due to State's size. I also think Hinds is starting to get accustomed to the WL style, because as mentioned earlier by many on this site it takes some time to get use to playing like that.

[TopperNation]

Cannady not being able to return last night hurt as well. After his injury he was on the sideline trying to stretch and get back in, and I was able to ask him how he felt and he shook his head and said he could not return and his ankle felt swollen.

[boatcapt]

Needed the muscle today. WVSU is a physical team. Notice that Sampson set a season high for minutes as well. Needed the more physical players in the game today.

It'll be interesting to see if Hinds's minutes go back down in finesse games.

Physical presance, i.e. an inside game, seems to be the sword of Damaclise that swings over every WLU season. During the regular season and often into regionals we have the horses to out shoot and out run most teams. But as the competition gets better, we fall pray to teams that can out muscle us inside.

[TopperNation]

Physical presance, i.e. an inside game, seems to be the sword of Damaclise that swings over every WLU season. During the regular season and often into regionals we have the horses to out shoot and out run most teams. But as the competition gets better, we fall pray to teams that can out muscle us inside.

That and WLU refuses to adapt and not play 1 way when we are in the regionals or elite 8, I almost lose my mind when I see WL continue to press a team that is breaking it with ease and causing more problems for West Lib. Freaking change it up for a few possessions at least, just to give the other team a different look and give yourself a chance to regroup. We are pressing NWMS who has an NBA guard who is breaking the press with ease, so much ease that the lead grew because WL wouldn't switch it up. I've been saying this for over a decade now, and I've been to every elite 8 that WEST LIB has been in during that time.

[Columbuseer]

That and WLU refuses to adapt and not play 1 way when we are in the regionals or elite 8, I almost lose my mind when I see WL continue to press a team that is breaking it with ease and causing more problems for West Lib. Freaking change it up for a few possessions at least, just to give the other team a different look and give yourself a chance to regroup. We are pressing NWMS who has an NBA guard who is breaking the press with ease, so much ease that the lead grew because WL wouldn't switch it up. I've been saying this for over a decade now, and I've been to every elite 8 that WEST LIB has been in during that time.

Nwmsu may not be the best example. It does not matter the style that you play against nwmsu. We lost by 18. Semi and final losses to nwmsu were much worse. At one time nwmsu was up by approx. 30 in the finals on west texas.
No one was even close to nwmsu. Heck they lost to duke by 6 in exhibition. They had 2 nba level players on their team. We did not have yoakum and nwmsu had a week to prepare.
hillsdale coach said it was really hard to prepare for wlu in 1 day. But they still would have beaten us.

Look at Augusta in finals last year. Incredibly powerful, much bigger team and nwmsu schooled them. So big boy basketball is not a panacea.

Some counter examples on assertion that wlu is unwilling to change. Wlu went to zone against va state with 8 mins left, which won the game in past regional.

Against wvsu we left the trap and went man to man pressure for a latter part of 2nd half. We forced 18 turnovers with 12 steals and killed them on offensive glass for the game.

Imho wvsu is an ncaa tourney team. If one looks only at our shooting % most folks would have thought there was no way wvsu would lose. Imho it is the cumulative effect of the pressure. We got many more shots despite playing a taller, athletic, physical team.