West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Ship69]

Wow. Two games in less than 12 hours in IL.
Would seem to give deep teams an unfair advantage.

Sometimes it did. It's interesting that Illinois, which was fully as crazy about HS basketball as Indiana when I was a kid, doesn't get notice Indiana gets about it. I think part of it is due to the state's college teams underperforming over the years.

The movie "Hoosiers" was based somewhat on the championship run of tiny Milan, Indiana, to that state's championship in 1954. Illinois actually had its own version of that two years earlier when Hebron, a tiny school with 98 students near the Wisconsin state line, defeated Quincy, a school of 1,500 for the state championship. Hebron was led by a pair of 6-3 twins, Paul and Phil Judson, and 6-11 center Bill Schulz.

Illinois High School basketball actually coined the term "Sweet Sixteen." That came from the tradition of sending the final 16 teams from the sectional tournaments to the University of Illinois campus to play the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The NCAA tried to come after them about using the term, but the Illinois high school association was able to prove that it had used "Sweet Sixteen" first.

[Layton]

Cold shooting night but this is the fastest and quickest team we’ve had since I’ve been following

[TopperNation]

Yes, WL had a cold shooting night, but the defense stepped up in a big way. I saw the first roster adjustment from Ben this season as he started Hinds over Sarson to begin the second half. I know it's early in the season but Hinds is looking really good and is outplaying Sarson at the moment, and may soon be moving into the starting line-up, which I know isn't a huge deal as WL plays different platoons, but I thought it was note worthy. Lanyc Shuler is looking more comfortable playing in the WL system as well.

[Columbuseer]

Yes, WL had a cold shooting night, but the defense stepped up in a big way. I saw the first roster adjustment from Ben this season as he started Hinds over Sarson to begin the second half. I know it's early in the season but Hinds is looking really good and is outplaying Sarson at the moment, and may soon be moving into the starting line-up, which I know isn't a huge deal as WL plays different platoons, but I thought it was note worthy. Lanyc Shuler is looking more comfortable playing in the WL system as well.

Wlu started entire Bravo platoon in the second half. Hinds, Woodward, spadafora, West and shuler. They played hard, forcing 3 turnovers, before alpha platoon came in at 17:59. Effective tactic.

[Columbuseer]

Wlu is #1 in D2CSC poll. Nova SE is #2.
Fairmont is #23.

https://esuwarriors.com/news/2023/11...onal-poll.aspx

[boatcapt]

Early observations after three games:

The good:

12 of 15 roster players are playing. Reasbeck (SO transfer from Wheeling), Kisner (Fr) and Pankey (Fr) have yet to see the floor and thus, possibly redshirts.
10 players are averaging 14+ minutes per game.
Montague is the real deal. Cool under pressure and hitting .583 from three.
Spadfora is making a big leap. .563 from three and in fact has only taken three point shots.
Woodward is ticking almost all the blocks - leading the team in shooting percentage (.636) and is near the top in most other categories. His only issue is he hasn't taken ANY three point shots. In the past, that has been death to WLU players.
Daugustino - The college lights are not too bright for him. He's not stuffing the stat sheet yet but he is playing front line minutes and more than holding his own.
Korte is what you expected/hoped he would be. Leading the team in scoring, rebounds and free throws.

The not so good:

Fergus (JR transfer from Molloy) and Barnhart (SO) are below the 10 MPG Maginot Line and are in risk of seeing their minutes go to zero when Ben shortens his bench.
2 players have failed to take a 3 point shot on the season (Fergus and Woodward). In the past, an unwillingness to take three point tries has been nearly as detrimental to a WLU career as missing threes.
7 players are shooting below .300 from three. Top five players are shooting .425 collectively from three which is beyond excellent...but the bottom seven players are shooting .143 which is the opposite of excellent.
Sarson at .154 from three and .264 overall is at the bottom of the starting five.


Overall assessment:

When we are on, we are capable of winning by 70. But when we are off, we can be pretty pedestrian.

Two biggest questions thus far:

What's going on with Fergus? First team all East Region and ECC POY came in with a ton of hype. Barely seeing the floor.
What's going on with Sarson? After shooting .396 from three and averaging 10.3 PPG last season, he was poised to make a big leap this year. Thus far this year, he has done the opposite of taking a step forward.

[Ship69]

Wlu is #1 in D2CSC poll. Nova SE is #2.
Fairmont is #23.

https://esuwarriors.com/news/2023/11...onal-poll.aspx

West Chester gave Fairmont a pretty good game Wednesday, but ultimately was doomed by poor three-point shooting (2-for-18) and foul shooting. WC is also missing Robert Smith, probably its best player.

[Columbuseer]

A Dummy’s Observations on WLU vs Chestnut Hill 11/15/23



Chestnut Hill Game Plan

Chestnut Hill is a young team with many athletic freshmen and sophomores, with 3 starters 6-6 or better in starting lineup and double-figure scorers

Cybak 6-8 240 lb. soph Madrid Spain – typical Euro strong fundamentals, 13 pts last game

Angwafo 6-8 215 lb. soph from Md, 25 pts last game. Strong scorer

Hill 6-6 195 lb. jr. 11 pts last game.

The game plan was to leverage their height advantage and dominate the boards. On offense they wanted to get the ball to their bigs down low. They wanted guards to attack the basket off the dribble and look to pass to their bigs. CH chose to play their 7 best guys with players 6 and 7 getting 22 and 17 minutes respectively. It was a calculated risk from a fatigue perspective.

First Half

In the opening moments, WLU got decent shots, but nothing was falling. WLU also took some time to adjust to the talented height of CH. In the early going, CH was doing a great job in handling the ball, with only 2 turnovers. After 5 missed WLU layups and only 1 Montague 3-pt. goal, the result was a 9-3 CH lead at the 15:40 mark, when the Bravo Platoon entered the game.

Bravo narrowed the CH lead to 9-8 in their 2:40 shift with Alpha reentering at 13:05. While handling the ball well in the first 5 minutes, CH started to crack under the pressure, committing 5 turnovers in 3.5 minutes. In addition, WLU was starting to get more wide-open cuts to receive passes for layups.

At the 10-minute mark, WLU led 19-12. WLU started selectively subbing, with Woodward, Spadafora and West joining Montague and Sarson. WLU continued to play with different combinations selected from both platoons for the remainder of the half.

Despite still shooting horrendously in the first half at 29% FG 11-38 and 24% 5-21 from three, WLU compensated by suffocating half-court defense and 91% FT at 10-11. They were generating shot clock violations by CH and CH was only shooting 33% FG, 18% Threes and 40% FT. WLU committed only 4 turnovers, while forcing 12 CH turnovers.

The half ended with WLU leading 37-24, despite the fact that WLU had missed 9 of 14 layups in the first half.


Second Half

WLU tried a different combo to start the 2nd half – Shuler, Woodward, Spadafora, Hinds and West. They were playing at a breakneck pace for 2 minutes, when the Alpha Platoon replaced them. By the 16:48 mark the lead was 20 at 46-26, a 9-2 run.

Fatigue was leading to bad decisions by CH. In a 2 on1 transition, the off-ball player was standing on the wing resting rather than sprinting to the goal, which would have led to a layup. CH guards were either not taking advantage of transition opportunities or they were driving out of control and taking difficult shots, instead to passing the ball out. Angwafo, who scored 25 in last game, looked like he was running with a 50-lb backpack. The CH players were gassed.

The score seesawed back and forth between 14 and 20 until 11:17 when it moved beyond 20 for good and varied up to 28-point lead for the rest of the game.

WLU shot 55% for second half, mainly from layups in half-court due to a gassed CH. They were 4-12 from three and 7-9 FT

Keys to the game:

• WLU demonstrated that they can mix and match players as needed to best match up with opponent’s size, speed, etc.
• WLU has several elite passers on this team.
• WLU can play strong half-court defense as well as full-court pressure to limit opponent scoring when WLU is having an off-shooting night. They held CH to 31% FG, and 21% 3-pt. shooting for the game.
• CH cracked against the press. WLU forced 7 steals and 23 turnovers for 21 points
• The full court pressure disrupted CH’s offensive continuity. As CH got tired, WLU out rebounded the much bigger team and was getting to every 50-50 ball.
• WLU only committed 11 turnovers.
• Had it been a normal WLU shooting game and they made layups and threes, they would have scored well over 100.

The effective shooting % of some of the WLU players was good. This stat weighs the value of the 3-point shot 50% more than a 2-pt shot, which allows more effective comparison with post players, etc. A perfect score for a 2-pt shooter who does not miss is 100%. However, if the shooter only shoots threes and never misses, the maximum possible value is 150%. Here were the top effective shooters for WLU:

Woodward 71% - all two-point shots

West 67%

Korte 67%

Montague 60%

Spadafora 50%

Shuler 50%

Five players scored in double figures. Ten players saw at least 14 minutes of action, with 6 players at 20 or more minutes (max of 24 minutes).

Chestnut Hill is a well-coached, young team with good athletes, with quick guards and mobile bigs who can score. Although they had a reputation for handling pressure, the waves of WLU pressure and CH starters playing too long before subbing, while using only 7 players, resulted in extreme fatigue in the second half.

WLU offensive rating was 109, far below their typical 125. But they held CH to 71.

The effective shooting % as a team was 48%, but they held CH to 34%.

[Ship69]

A Dummy’s Observations on WLU vs Chestnut Hill 11/15/23



Chestnut Hill Game Plan

Chestnut Hill is a young team with many athletic freshmen and sophomores, with 3 starters 6-6 or better in starting lineup and double-figure scorers

Cybak 6-8 240 lb. soph Madrid Spain – typical Euro strong fundamentals, 13 pts last game

Angwafo 6-8 215 lb. soph from Md, 25 pts last game. Strong scorer

Hill 6-6 195 lb. jr. 11 pts last game.

The game plan was to leverage their height advantage and dominate the boards. On offense they wanted to get the ball to their bigs down low. They wanted guards to attack the basket off the dribble and look to pass to their bigs. CH chose to play their 7 best guys with players 6 and 7 getting 22 and 17 minutes respectively. It was a calculated risk from a fatigue perspective.

First Half

In the opening moments, WLU got decent shots, but nothing was falling. WLU also took some time to adjust to the talented height of CH. In the early going, CH was doing a great job in handling the ball, with only 2 turnovers. After 5 missed WLU layups and only 1 Montague 3-pt. goal, the result was a 9-3 CH lead at the 15:40 mark, when the Bravo Platoon entered the game.

Bravo narrowed the CH lead to 9-8 in their 2:40 shift with Alpha reentering at 13:05. While handling the ball well in the first 5 minutes, CH started to crack under the pressure, committing 5 turnovers in 3.5 minutes. In addition, WLU was starting to get more wide-open cuts to receive passes for layups.

At the 10-minute mark, WLU led 19-12. WLU started selectively subbing, with Woodward, Spadafora and West joining Montague and Sarson. WLU continued to play with different combinations selected from both platoons for the remainder of the half.

Despite still shooting horrendously in the first half at 29% FG 11-38 and 24% 5-21 from three, WLU compensated by suffocating half-court defense and 91% FT at 10-11. They were generating shot clock violations by CH and CH was only shooting 33% FG, 18% Threes and 40% FT. WLU committed only 4 turnovers, while forcing 12 CH turnovers.

The half ended with WLU leading 37-24, despite the fact that WLU had missed 9 of 14 layups in the first half.


Second Half

WLU tried a different combo to start the 2nd half – Shuler, Woodward, Spadafora, Hinds and West. They were playing at a breakneck pace for 2 minutes, when the Alpha Platoon replaced them. By the 16:48 mark the lead was 20 at 46-26, a 9-2 run.

Fatigue was leading to bad decisions by CH. In a 2 on1 transition, the off-ball player was standing on the wing resting rather than sprinting to the goal, which would have led to a layup. CH guards were either not taking advantage of transition opportunities or they were driving out of control and taking difficult shots, instead to passing the ball out. Angwafo, who scored 25 in last game, looked like he was running with a 50-lb backpack. The CH players were gassed.

The score seesawed back and forth between 14 and 20 until 11:17 when it moved beyond 20 for good and varied up to 28-point lead for the rest of the game.

WLU shot 55% for second half, mainly from layups in half-court due to a gassed CH. They were 4-12 from three and 7-9 FT

Keys to the game:

• WLU demonstrated that they can mix and match players as needed to best match up with opponent’s size, speed, etc.
• WLU has several elite passers on this team.
• WLU can play strong half-court defense as well as full-court pressure to limit opponent scoring when WLU is having an off-shooting night. They held CH to 31% FG, and 21% 3-pt. shooting for the game.
• CH cracked against the press. WLU forced 7 steals and 23 turnovers for 21 points
• The full court pressure disrupted CH’s offensive continuity. As CH got tired, WLU out rebounded the much bigger team and was getting to every 50-50 ball.
• WLU only committed 11 turnovers.
• Had it been a normal WLU shooting game and they made layups and threes, they would have scored well over 100.

The effective shooting % of some of the WLU players was good. This stat weighs the value of the 3-point shot 50% more than a 2-pt shot, which allows more effective comparison with post players, etc. A perfect score for a 2-pt shooter who does not miss is 100%. However, if the shooter only shoots threes and never misses, the maximum possible value is 150%. Here were the top effective shooters for WLU:

Woodward 71% - all two-point shots

West 67%

Korte 67%

Montague 60%

Spadafora 50%

Shuler 50%

Five players scored in double figures. Ten players saw at least 14 minutes of action, with 6 players at 20 or more minutes (max of 24 minutes).

Chestnut Hill is a well-coached, young team with good athletes, with quick guards and mobile bigs who can score. Although they had a reputation for handling pressure, the waves of WLU pressure and CH starters playing too long before subbing, while using only 7 players, resulted in extreme fatigue in the second half.

WLU offensive rating was 109, far below their typical 125. But they held CH to 71.

The effective shooting % as a team was 48%, but they held CH to 34%.

Thanks for the report. We have Chestnut Hill next on our schedule. Sounds as if they'll be a load for us with that kind of size.

[boatcapt]

Is Fin Woodward becoming the big we said we didn't need? Fourth on the team in scoring (11 PPG), third on the team in assists (8), fourth in steals (5), tied for first in shots made (14) and FG% (.636). BUUUTTT is 0 for ) from three which backs up his 0 for 17 from three last season.

Two questions:

1. Will his lack of three point attempts relegate him to the bench and ultimately into the transfer portal as has happened to other WLU bigs?

2. Did we luck into the big we said we didn't need and he will continue to be a key player as the lone big in WLU's position less offense?

[Columbuseer]

FYI

WLU national stats thru Nov 15

Assists #1 26.4
Turnovers margin #1 16.0 Nova se #2. 15 Gannon #4 13.3
Turnovers forced # 2 26.67. Nova se #1 30.67
3pt attempts #2 38.3
Steals #2 16 nova se #1 22 gannon #2 tie 16
Bench points #3 54.0
Scoring margin #3 41
Scoring #5 102.7, gannon #1 and Nova se #3

Assist turnover ratio #6 2.47
3pts made #10 12.3


Scoring defense #23 61.3
3 pt defense #25. 25.1%
Fast break pts #29 17.0
Fg % defense #33 38.462%

[Ship69]

FYI

WLU national stats thru Nov 15

Assists #1 26.4
Turnovers margin #1 16.0 Nova se #2. 15 Gannon #4 13.3
Turnovers forced # 2 26.67. Nova se #1 30.67
3pt attempts #2 38.3
Steals #2 16 nova se #1 22 gannon #2 tie 16
Bench points #3 54.0
Scoring margin #3 41
Scoring #5 102.7, gannon #1 and Nova se #3

Assist turnover ratio #6 2.47
3pts made #10 12.3


Scoring defense #23 61.3
3 pt defense #25. 25.1%
Fast break pts #29 17.0
Fg % defense #33 38.462%

I'll be interested in seeing how Gannon does when the caliber of opposition picks up a little bit.

[Columbuseer]

I'll be interested in seeing how Gannon does when the caliber of opposition picks up a little bit.

Good point. I have not watched them, but I have been surprised that they are undefeated. Big change in style and type of player needed to play it compared to last year.
charleston was supposed to be loaded and and they are familiar with the style.

[Ship69]

Good point. I have not watched them, but I have been surprised that they are undefeated. Big change in style and type of player needed to play it compared to last year.
charleston was supposed to be loaded and and they are familiar with the style.

Yeah. I think it actually will be good for the PSAC to have a team or two playing that style so it isn't completely exotic to our teams when we get out of the conference. East Stroud has been about the only team in the PSAC to consistently play uptempo in recent years, but they are not as frenetic about it as WL and Nova. Hard to work on a good press offense when you don't see it a lot.

We'll see how Gannon does. They've put up some impressive stats so far and do have some good players, but Penn State DuBois Campus is quite a step below the better PSAC teams.

[Columbuseer]

Yeah. I think it actually will be good for the PSAC to have a team or two playing that style so it isn't completely exotic to our teams when we get out of the conference. East Stroud has been about the only team in the PSAC to consistently play uptempo in recent years, but they are not as frenetic about it as WL and Nova. Hard to work on a good press offense when you don't see it a lot.

We'll see how Gannon does. They've put up some impressive stats so far and do have some good players, but Penn State DuBois Campus is quite a step below the better PSAC teams.

Curious, I rewatched about 1st 26 min of gannon Glenville game.
glenville looked like a high end naia team...great athletes, great 1 on 1 game, team game lacking.
gannon doing hockey line changes, not as athletic, but much more skilled in team aspects. Gannon winning every hustle play. Gannon went on runs at 6 mins in 1st half, taking lead from 5 to 16 in about 3 mins. Glennville down double digits after shoooting over 55%!
In second half gannon extended lead to 27 in 1st 6 mins.

fee has assembled some team first players. They are still a work in progress in terms of mastering the style,, but the potential is there,