West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Same number of natty titles. We do move on to football. You guys should try it.

Face it, WLU has become the top dog of the Atlantic Region. They have been in three of the last five Regional Champ games and have won two of the last three Atlantic Regional titles. Seems like IUP is more focused on winning in the regular season and there by hosting the Regional's. Not a bad idea for a school that is struggling. Got to get those dollars were ever you can!

[boatcapt]

In a traditional program, there is an emphasis on roles.
WLU is different. WLU recruits complete players. Everyone has the green light to shoot the three.

Of the top 10 players in terms of playing time, 8 shoot 35% or higher. Of these 8, 4 shoot 40% or greater.

The 3 players on the roster that are under 33% are new to the program.

WLU used to have specialists (Brady Arnold, Keen Cockburn, Kirkbride, Gossenbacher, CJ Hester, etc...). Yea, they had an ability to shoot and would pull the trigger from time to time. But that wasn't really why they were there.

For comparison...CJ Hester and Seger Bonifant were two contemporaries and both were listed as forwards. In his four year career, Seager took 703 three point shots and collected 511 rebounds. while CJ took 293 three point shots and collected 1107 rebounds during his four years. Same team, same style, same "green light," dramatically different production. And both were All-Americans.

[Layton]

Same number of natty titles. We do move on to football. You guys should try it.

Do we still have a football program?

[boatcapt]

Do we still have a football program?

Pop Warner

[Columbuseer]

WLU used to have specialists (Brady Arnold, Keen Cockburn, Kirkbride, Gossenbacher, CJ Hester, etc...). Yea, they had an ability to shoot and would pull the trigger from time to time. But that wasn't really why they were there.

For comparison...CJ Hester and Seger Bonifant were two contemporaries and both were listed as forwards. In his four year career, Seager took 703 three point shots and collected 511 rebounds. while CJ took 293 three point shots and collected 1107 rebounds during his four years. Same team, same style, same "green light," dramatically different production. And both were All-Americans.

I agree players are better in some areas than others.
i think Bonifant still holds career 3pt shooting % at d1and d2 at 52+%. In that era i saw wlu hit 31 threes versus urbana.

There are numerous interviews where St. Crutch and Howlett state that they recruit players who can dribble, pass, shoot, rebound and defend all over the court. That is a fundamental premise of 5 out, positionless basketball. Any player can bring the ball up the court and start the offense without coaches holding their breath.

In addition, players must know a good shot from a bad one, are unselfish and absolutely hate to lose, which eliminates many gifted players from consideration.

[boatcapt]

I agree players are better in some areas than others.
i think Bonifant still holds career 3pt shooting % at d1and d2 at 52+%. In that era i saw wlu hit 31 threes versus urbana.

There are numerous interviews where St. Crutch and Howlett state that they recruit players who can dribble, pass, shoot, rebound and defend all over the court. That is a fundamental premise of 5 out, positionless basketball. Any player can bring the ball up the court and start the offense without coaches holding their breath.

In addition, players must know a good shot from a bad one, are unselfish and absolutely hate to lose, which eliminates many gifted players from consideration.

But increasingly, those areas of difference are becoming very narrow. Seems like the WLU recruit metrics are 1. Can shoot the 3, 2. Can shoot the 3, 3. Can shoot the 3, 4. Can dribble, 5. Can pass, 6, Can play defense.. The metric for players staying on the team are 1. Shoot the 3 at a .350+ clip, 2. Average at least two 3 point tries per game, 3. Average fewer than 1.5 turnovers per game, 4. Average 2 rebounds per game. Fall below those lines (particularly the first two) and as a minimum, you'll see your minutes reduced and quite possibly you are a candidate for the portal.

Sometimes I wonder if a player like say, Patrick Ewing, came through the doors at the ARSC if Ben would even consider him for a second. I think his scouting report on Patrick would be, "Too big, too slow, doesn't handle the ball well enough, doesn't shoot the 3 well enough. PASS on offering him a scholly." Fact that he would get you 30 rebounds a game, would score 30 points per game on putbacks and would average 10 blocked shots a night would be dismissed because he only made .150 of his 3 pt tries and perhaps more importantly, only took 7 3 pt shots all season.

Of course, we all know Big Pat or even a player like him is not coming to WLU.

[IUPalum]

But increasingly, those areas of difference are becoming very narrow. Seems like the WLU recruit metrics are 1. Can shoot the 3, 2. Can shoot the 3, 3. Can shoot the 3, 4. Can dribble, 5. Can pass, 6, Can play defense.. The metric for players staying on the team are 1. Shoot the 3 at a .350+ clip, 2. Average at least two 3 point tries per game, 3. Average fewer than 1.5 turnovers per game, 4. Average 2 rebounds per game. Fall below those lines (particularly the first two) and as a minimum, you'll see your minutes reduced and quite possibly you are a candidate for the portal.

Sometimes I wonder if a player like say, Patrick Ewing, came through the doors at the ARSC if Ben would even consider him for a second. I think his scouting report on Patrick would be, "Too big, too slow, doesn't handle the ball well enough, doesn't shoot the 3 well enough. PASS on offering him a scholly." Fact that he would get you 30 rebounds a game, would score 30 points per game on putbacks and would average 10 blocked shots a night would be dismissed because he only made .150 of his 3 pt tries and perhaps more importantly, only took 7 3 pt shots all season.

Of course, we all know Big Pat or even a player like him is not coming to WLU.

They only recruit complete players.

[Columbuseer]

But increasingly, those areas of difference are becoming very narrow. Seems like the WLU recruit metrics are 1. Can shoot the 3, 2. Can shoot the 3, 3. Can shoot the 3, 4. Can dribble, 5. Can pass, 6, Can play defense.. The metric for players staying on the team are 1. Shoot the 3 at a .350+ clip, 2. Average at least two 3 point tries per game, 3. Average fewer than 1.5 turnovers per game, 4. Average 2 rebounds per game. Fall below those lines (particularly the first two) and as a minimum, you'll see your minutes reduced and quite possibly you are a candidate for the portal.

Sometimes I wonder if a player like say, Patrick Ewing, came through the doors at the ARSC if Ben would even consider him for a second. I think his scouting report on Patrick would be, "Too big, too slow, doesn't handle the ball well enough, doesn't shoot the 3 well enough. PASS on offering him a scholly." Fact that he would get you 30 rebounds a game, would score 30 points per game on putbacks and would average 10 blocked shots a night would be dismissed because he only made .150 of his 3 pt tries and perhaps more importantly, only took 7 3 pt shots all season.

Of course, we all know Big Pat or even a player like him is not coming to WLU.

Keys to playing time assuming everyone has adequate basic fundamental skills.
- high motor
- situational awareness and rapid correct decision making
- Good shot selection
- Unselfishness

You are correct. Ewing does not fit the style. But there are plenty of other styles where Ewing could excel.

if a collegiate steph curry showed up, we would offer him because he fits the style. Obviously many d1s passed on him because he did not fit their style.

We would take a young Wilt because he was the fastest player on the his team and often won long distance shooting competitions on his team. But he was pigeonholed in a traditional style.

Different strokes...

[boatcapt]

I'm of the opinion that you take the best players available to you and then work them into your style. And if you need to tweak your style a bit to get a 30/30 player into the game, you do that. Particularly in this time of portal madness

[Columbuseer]

I'm of the opinion that you take the best players available to you and then work them into your style. And if you need to tweak your style a bit to get a 30/30 player into the game, you do that. Particularly in this time of portal madness

I agree... that it is an opinion.

[boatcapt]

Wow.1st team all MEC

Yea...But Korte shot a career low .286 from 3 and only took 76 3 point shots. This shooting would have slotted him at #11 on this years team ahead of only West (238), Sampson (182) and Woodward (000). Some see him as a replacement for Butler. While both were All-MEC, I don't see the production in the "right" places for him to be a major performer at WLU.

[IUPalum]

I agree... that it is an opinion.

Ben, you only recruit complete players. Don’t forget that!

[Columbuseer]

Yea...But Korte shot a career low .286 from 3 and only took 76 3 point shots. This shooting would have slotted him at #11 on this years team ahead of only West (238), Sampson (182) and Woodward (000). Some see him as a replacement for Butler. While both were All-MEC, I don't see the production in the "right" places for him to be a major performer at WLU.

Wlu coaches and players are excited that he is coming to the hilltop. I have not watched his games, but a big factor that affects 3pt % in general is opponent distance from shooter. That is why higher % from corner, for defender is farther away on the close out. Six feet minimum distance is needed

West is working hard on the three pt shot and i think it will show results next season.

[boatcapt]

Wlu coaches and players are excited that he is coming to the hilltop. I have not watched his games, but a big factor that affects 3pt % in general is opponent distance from shooter. That is why higher % from corner, for defender is farther away on the close out. Six feet minimum distance is needed

West is working hard on the three pt shot and i think it will show results next season.

I would imagine all on the team are working hard on their 3-point shooting, West included! I'm particularly concerned with Woodward. Going 0-fer on the season from three is NOT the way to earn playing time at WLU.

Korte has a lot of work to do to earn frontline playing time at WLU. The coaches/team may be excited but Korte has a LOT of work to do burnish his 3 point shooting chops before the start of the season. He's a quality scorer, good rebounder and has the ability to block a few shots but these are not skills that are at the top of the WLU priority tree. He has a penchant for turning the ball over and will commit a foul or two (or three or four...).

[Columbuseer]

In looking at korte's 3 pt %, it varied from 37.2% playing 21 mins a game to 33% to 30% to 28.9% last year. He only averaged about 3 or 4 threes a game.
Last year he averaged 36 mins a game, led team in rebounding and scored 19.6 pts per game. At a strong 6-6, that is a tremendous amount of energy expended in the high scoring MEC.

It raises some questions. How much of the decline could
be due to fatigue? Could a reduction in minutes (wlu starters average 19 to 28 mins) raise his shooting performance as well as getting more open looks in the wlu 5-out offense?

Have to wait and see.