West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
d2 basketball practice may start no earlier than 35 calendar days before first game. For wlu, that would be Oct 6. Teams get a max of 25 practices during those 35 days.
I think it used to be oct 15.

Excited to watch the team grow and develop this year.

[Columbuseer]

On a slow day, I have been mulling over the question of the mvp of the crutchfield-howlett era.

An incomplete list of nominees:
Alex Falk - national player of year
Cedric Harris - three-time All American
Seger Bonifant - 2 time national player of year, still ncaa career leader in 3 pt % at 52+%
Dan Monteroso - Academic All American and All American
Dalton Bolon - From walk on to all american and academic AA while playing with one eye, 1st team all conference at d1 college of charleston. Epitomy of drive to excel
Bryce Butler - most invisible player to quietly dominate a game - scoring inside, midrange and from three, incredible footwork on back to basket moves, assists, rebounding, steals - totally unselfish

Acknowledging the effect of recency bias, I still tend to give an edge to Butler, for his game was so complete,

Other nominees?
What are your thoughts?

[Scrub]

On a slow day, I have been mulling over the question of the mvp of the crutchfield-howlett era.

An incomplete list of nominees:
Alex Falk - national player of year
Seger Bonifant - 2 time national player of year, still ncaa career leader in 3 pt % at 52+%
Dalton Bolon - From walk on to all american and academic AA while playing with one eye, 1st team all conference at d1 college of charleston. Epitomy of drive to excel
Bryce Butler - most invisible player to quietly dominate a game - scoring inside, midrange and from three, incredible footwork on back to basket moves, assists, rebounding, steals - totally unselfish

Acknowledging the effect of recency bias, I still tend to give an edge to Butler, for his game was so complete,

Other nominees?
What are your thoughts?

It's hard to bet against either Butler or Bonifant. But my personal favorite player of the era was Alex Falk. He was the guy who passed the eye test to me in ways the others didn't. There's no question about the completeness of Bonifant's & Butler's games. But Falk had a motor and a heart like nobody else. His "want-to" was off the charts. Intangibles like that can be hard to measure, but having watched ALL these guys play with my own two eyes (and your list forgot to mention Cedric Harris & Dan Monteroso who were also National Players of the Year), Falk was the guy who just made me say "wow" far more frequently than all the others. That's a pretty unscientific answer, I know. But to me, Falk is still the best player to ever wear the WLU jersey.

[boatcapt]

On a slow day, I have been mulling over the question of the mvp of the crutchfield-howlett era.

An incomplete list of nominees:
Alex Falk - national player of year
Cedric Harris - three-time All American
Seger Bonifant - 2 time national player of year, still ncaa career leader in 3 pt % at 52+%
Dan Monteroso - Academic All American and All American
Dalton Bolon - From walk on to all american and academic AA while playing with one eye, 1st team all conference at d1 college of charleston. Epitomy of drive to excel
Bryce Butler - most invisible player to quietly dominate a game - scoring inside, midrange and from three, incredible footwork on back to basket moves, assists, rebounding, steals - totally unselfish

Acknowledging the effect of recency bias, I still tend to give an edge to Butler, for his game was so complete,

Other nominees?
What are your thoughts?

CJ Hester - Leading rebounder his four years on the Hilltop (Ended as the leading rebounder in WLU history)....Lead the team in FG percentage in each of his seasons (,600+ each year)...Consistent double digit score every night (96 times over his career),,,Four time Academic All-American...The epitome of the "WLU Style" player in the early days...Without him, WLU's early years under Crutch would have been different.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
wlu AD has retired
https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...etirement.aspx

[boatcapt]

Fyi
wlu AD has retired
https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...etirement.aspx

Well last time it came down to Ulum or Wailaie. Obviously different President now but I would imagine that Wailaie would once again throw his hat in the ring. Other MEC schools have promoted their less than stellar head football coach to AD to get rid of him so why not WLU??!!

[Columbuseer]

Imho, there have to be great battles in progress between the first and second platoons. Often the second platoon increased the lead during their shift last season,

I am looking forward to seeing 6-1 Darren Fergus play in the wlu style, as it will give him more space for easier, higher % shots. He is an unselfish player.

last year highlights

https://youtu.be/NiXHL3orvl8?feature=shared


Some info as a refresher.

Fergus, a sophomore and now a two-time All-Conference First Team honoree, was the selection as the league’s top player after stuffing the stats sheet for the Lions with:

20.5 points per game, 26th nationally and 1st in conference
7.8 rebounds per game, top 5 in conference
4.4 assists per game, top 5 in conference
2.0 steals per game, top 5 in conference
Fergus also led the league in made field goals (194), made free throws (151), points (575), and steals (57) all while playing an ECC-best 36:23 minutes per game.
ECC Player of the Year and All-ECC First Team...
Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Division II Male Player of the Year/First Team...
D2CCA All-East Region First Team...
NABC All-District Second Team...
Ranked in the top-50 nationally in 12 statistical categories: free throw attempts (5th), free throws (12th), minutes per game (17th), field goal attempts (25th), points per game (26th), steals (30th), points (31st), steals per game (33rd), defensive rebounds per game (44th), assists per game (45th), assists (50th), and field goals (50th)...
Appeared and started in all 29 contests...
Led the team with 128 assists and 57 steals to go with 221 rebounds and 10 blocks...
Reached double-digit scoring in every contest, including a career-high 38 points against Mercy (Jan. 18)...
Has topped 20 points on 15 occasions...
Recorded a double-double against Assumption (Nov. 28) with 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds...
Has totaled six double-doubles on the season...
Dished out a career-high nine assists against Staten Island (Jan. 14) and Queens (Feb. 4)...
Netted his 1,000th career point against Daemen (Jan. 27), meeting the milestone in just 61 contests...
Named ECC Player of the Week three times (Dec. 5, Jan. 23, Jan. 30)...
Selected to the ECC Weekly Honor Roll five times (Nov. 21, Nov. 28, Dec. 12, Jan. 3, Jan 17)..
Named to the Metropolitan Basketball Writers' Weekly Honor Roll three times (Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Jan. 10).

[Columbuseer]

FYI
MEC basketball media day
Oct 25 1230 pm
1230pm
Mountaineast.tv

[Columbuseer]

Often highly touted players, when they arrive at a school, rapidly adjust and become very productive.

However, I have been mulling over why the adjustment can sometimes be much slower at wlu. We can all think of players who were truly gifted scorers, but either could not adapt or were impatient and frustrated at their lack of immediate success and have transferred.

Some thoughts on the challenges:

1. In organized ball, many players have just played in a half-court, set-play offense and half-court defense. On the playground, 1-on-1 dribble drive or contested jump shots are the norm, where assist to turnover ratio and points per possession are not valued. When they arrive at wlu, their prior habits are neither as successful nor as conducive to the style. They must learn a new way to play offense that is more free flowing without set plays and which requires effective movement without the ball. Several players have told me that this is a huge adjustment.

2. Great scorers have to give up a good shot that they would normally take to give a teammate a great shot from three.

3. Players have to see the court to know the location of the open man when they normally would have eyes on their opponent and the rim.

4. Wlu offense requires players to rapidly rotate the ball. Great scorers are used to holding the ball, surveying the situation, and dribbling to attack the opponent.

5. The continuous defensive pressure on makes and misses is new, as well as sprinting to tap the ball from behind the opponent who is dribbling in transition. There is no time for pacing oneself in terms of exertion.

6. Players have to crash the offensive glass, without allowing opponents to leak out for layups. If one player is out of position, it can lead to an easy transition score for the opponent.
Players have to remain fully engaged, processing the situation in real time, on both on defense and offense.

Imho many aspects of this style are well suited to playing in Euro pro leagues. However, It takes time. Great players, like Bolon, Yoakum, and Dyer, all had to redshirt in order to make the transition.

[Columbuseer]

Wlu scrimmaged Ashland tonight.
Ashland has a very tall team, which is typical of GMAC teams.
They lost by 1 to ferris state in 1st round of ncaa last yr.
They are picked 2nd preseason in gmac, by 1 pt to 1st place hillsdale.

The first 10 minutes was on pace for a 60 point game.
But the pressure took its toll and the score wound up in the mid 80s.

Some observations:
- about 200 fans were in attendance for an unpublicized scrimmage.
- scrimmage was valuable , because they were facing unfamiliar styles and players
- wlu experimented with many different combos of players
- wlu has found additional 3 pt shooters among the new players
- wlu has waves of quick players to increase pressure on inbounds plays.
- the transition to the wlu style for the newbies is a work in progress, which is to be expected.

[boatcapt]

Wlu scrimmaged Ashland tonight.
Ashland has a very tall team, which is typical of GMAC teams.
They lost by 1 to ferris state in 1st round of ncaa last yr.
They are picked 2nd preseason in gmac, by 1 pt to 1st place hillsdale.

The first 10 minutes was on pace for a 60 point game.
But the pressure took its toll and the score wound up in the mid 80s.

Some observations:
- about 200 fans were in attendance for an unpublicized scrimmage.
- scrimmage was valuable , because they were facing unfamiliar styles and players
- wlu experimented with many different combos of players
- wlu has found additional 3 pt shooters among the new players
- wlu has waves of quick players to increase pressure on inbounds plays.
- the transition to the wlu style for the newbies is a work in progress, which is to be expected.

Who "won?"

[Columbuseer]

Who "won?"

I think focus of wlu was evaluation of many different combos of players, not winning. For example, once wlu went with 4 6-1 type guys and sarson. Created havoc against much bigger players. They were having trouble even getting ball in bounds.

Ashland has some quick guards to go with their strong, athletic bigs. imho they deserve a 1or 2 ranking in gmac.
Strong "alternate style" team lol. very good post only guy.

They were very good defensively, keeping the score down to around 15 pts at the 10 minute mark. However, even their guards cracked under the relentless pressure. at half, Wlu led by about 10 at approx. 46-36.

wlu led by 16 before ashland cut it to 6. But a 3 by Finley ended that push and margin increased to 14. Wlu won by about 85-75.

What puzzled me was ashland playing zone for extended periods.
Maybe one of Ashland's fans can clarify.
Does ashland normally play zone? Why would they play it in a scrimmage if they normally play man?

It did slow down offense for wlu's new guys for a time. But why do it in a scrimmage if you are not a zone team?

After the game, bench/new guys for wlu and ashland played a 10 min quarter. Wlu led 22-17 at end.

[boatcapt]

I think focus of wlu was evaluation of many different combos of players, not winning. For example, once wlu went with 4 6-1 type guys and sarson. Created havoc against much bigger players. They were having trouble even getting ball in bounds.

Ashland has some quick guards to go with their strong, athletic bigs. imho they deserve a 1or 2 ranking in gmac.
Strong "alternate style" team lol. very good post only guy.

They were very good defensively, keeping the score down to around 15 pts at the 10 minute mark. However, even their guards cracked under the relentless pressure. at half, Wlu led by about 10 at approx. 46-36.

wlu led by 16 before ashland cut it to 6. But a 3 by Finley ended that push and margin increased to 14. Wlu won by about 85-75.

What puzzled me was ashland playing zone for extended periods.
Maybe one of Ashland's fans can clarify.
Does ashland normally play zone? Why would they play it in a scrimmage if they normally play man?

It did slow down offense for wlu's new guys for a time. But why do it in a scrimmage if you are not a zone team?

After the game, bench/new guys for wlu and ashland played a 10 min quarter. Wlu led 22-17 at end.

Just asking because vs D1's fans often crow about how the 'their team took it to the D1 before losing late.

Scrimmages are when teams try things they may not do much of during the season. Hence the Ashland zone for extended time. Get some practice doing it. We don't do such things because we only play one way so no need to try something different...it would just be waisted effort that could better be spent honing 3 point shooting.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
here is mec media day.
wlu went last, as they were picked 1st in preseason poll
https://mountaineast.tv/?B=717276

Wlu main points..
- 7 out of 10 man rotation returns
- west and spadafora have stood out this fall
- 7 new players including 3 freshmen
- one freshman will see significant playing time
- will take time for newcomers to adapt to system
- lots of practice time lost to injuries
- connor harr is now assistant coach
- Dan monteroso has joined staff after 4 or 5 years playing pro in Germany.

[boatcapt]

Fyi
here is mec media day.
wlu went last, as they were picked 1st in preseason poll
https://mountaineast.tv/?B=717276

Wlu main points..
- 7 out of 10 man rotation returns
- west and spadafora have stood out this fall
- 7 new players including 3 freshmen
- one freshman will see significant playing time
- will take time for newcomers to adapt to system
- lots of practice time lost to injuries
- connor harr is now assistant coach
- Dan monteroso has joined staff after 4 or 5 years playing pro in Germany.

Don't know if it's just the coaches or a change in format, but this years Media Day seemed to be filled with not much information.