West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

That national poll means absolutely nothing. Zero. It's all a puppet show. Nothing more.

[ctrabs74]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Those are good points. What role or predictive value does the coach's national ranking have in hosting the regional? IUP was #4 and Fairmont was #5. I was assuming it was the same people that decide the regional. Would a loss in MEC finals by Fairmont or West Lib doom them for hosting if IUP wins? I would think so.

It has no bearing whatsover on the regional rankings. The NCAA releases the top ten teams in each region over the final three Wednesdays of the regular season (starting this week); it's those regional rankings which determine the field of eight teams from each region (excluding conference tournament champions, who get an automatic bid).

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Good argument, except for IUP's 91-81 overtime loss at home to Fairmont State on Dec. 19. Hosting rights, at this point, are Fairmont's to lose.

Those are good points. What role or predictive value does the coach's national ranking have in hosting the regional? IUP was #4 and Fairmont was #5. I was assuming it was the same people that decide the regional. Would a loss in MEC finals by Fairmont or West Lib doom them for hosting if IUP wins? I would think so.

[cavsfan94]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU vs UVA-Wise Game Updates:

HALFTIME:
UVA-Wise leads #2 West Liberty 34-31

[timbertopper]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Where has Gross been the last two games? We need more output from him to be successful.

School Min Rebounds Points

Concord 20 1 9

Fairmont 35 6 0

Gross appears to have reverted to the 2-guard mentality he brought with him from Wofford. Has been a growing problem. WLU needs him to get back to the double-double machine he was at the end of last season. One rebound in 20 minutes at Concord isn't going to get it done.

Thursday may have been Dennis' worst game as a Hilltopper. Shot selection, finishing, decisions, etc. not up to his usual very high standards. Look for him to refocus on creating opportunities for his teammates rather than shouldering the scoring burden himself. WLU is better when that happens.

Griffin's shoulder injury may be more problematic than they're letting on. His minutes - and effectiveness - have been severely limited the last couple of games. Need him at 100% to make a run.

Guillozet has impressed me as a freshman. No fear and love his defense. Wonder where his game would be if he hadn't missed most of the first semester due to injury.

This team lacks the individual offensive firepower of previous WLU teams but has been getting better execution as the season goes on (e.g. second half of Fairmont game). Also, when focused as they were for the Fairmont game, this may be the best half-court defensive team of the Crutchfield era. That being said, the defense has to show up every night - especially on the road - or you wind up in one-possession coin flip games like we had at Glenville (got away with it) and Concord (didn't get away with it).

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Where has Gross been the last two games? We need more output from him to be successful.

School Min Rebounds Points

Concord 20 1 9

Fairmont 35 6 0

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

FSU

But ... they are due for a flop.

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

For fun assume west Liberty beats fairmont in the tourney final and iup wins out and wins the psac tournament.

Fairmont two losses both to WL
WL two losses fairmont concord
Iup two losses ship and fairmont

Who hosts

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Correct. Fairmont now controls its ability to host. Run table and done deal.

[ctrabs74]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[West Liberty's] fatigue will not be a factor in regional until the finals. But it will be an even playing field then.

However, it looks like IUP has the inside track at this time for hosting the regional. But a lot of basketball to be played.

Good argument, except for IUP's 91-81 overtime loss at home to Fairmont State on Dec. 19. Hosting rights, at this point, are Fairmont's to lose.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Just one of those games is the problem. Concord is a BAD team and a good consistent team should be able to beat them handily. Fact that WLU lost to them speaks volumes about this teams consistency. And make no mistake, the close final store doesn't tell the story of how WLU got their a$$es handed to them all night. We went on a furious run at the end of the game to tie the score but were behind by 15 to 20 points all night!

This years Toppers have enough talent to beat ANY team in the nation on many nights...but they also have the ability to lose to almost any team in the nation. That will work for most of the regular season when we are playing lesser caliber teams but in the NCAA tourney when every team is good, we are going to be in big trouble. Had we been playing one of the top teams in the Atlantic region last night, we would have lost by 40 points.

I watched the Concord game. Here are my thoughts.

1) Fatigue - Plagues many teams at this time in Feb - just look at D1. Especially a team that exerts as much effort/energy as WLU. Their legs appeared heavy and quickness wasn't there. The effort was there, but it was not effective due to fatigue. I base this on:
a) Every player was a step slow in guarding their man in the half court offense. Too many Concord players were winning the first step and getting to the rim. In addition, they were shooting lights out from 3 and the FT line. WLU did not even commit that many fouls because of separation between the defender in going to the goal. Personally I would have considered going to a zone to rest the players and hope they did not kill me from 3 pt range.
b) Lack of offensive boards and crashing boards when ball was shot.
c) Players getting behind WLU defense for over the top passes for layups.
d) Losing some 50-50 balls - that never happens with a rested WLU team
e) The long road trip also adds to the fatigue. Concord gave them their first loss last year at Athens (I was there) and they shot lights out then too.

2) Eventually, the sheer tenacity and effort took its toll on Concord, enabling WLU to come back from 22 down with 13 minutes left and 15 down with 7 minutes left to tie with 6 seconds left at 104.

Positives:
1) Did not give up and almost pulled out a victory when every concord player was having a career night. Mental toughness was impressive, as they were able to hit some 3s in the second half. The body just was just having trouble responding. Rest will fix it.
2) Monterosa took over the game and scored 21 pts. He and Hoehn led the comeback.
3) MEC teams know each other really well. Other teams in regional will not have this advantage.



Their fatigue will not be a factor in regional until the finals. But it will be an even playing field then.

However, it looks like IUP has the inside track at this time for hosting the regional. But a lot of basketball to be played.

[cavsfan94]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Remaining games for West Liberty:
@ UVA-Wise
vs WV Wesleyan
vs Glenville St.
@ Urbana
@ Wheeling Jesuit
@ MEC Tournament

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Just one of those games is the problem. Concord is a BAD team and a good consistent team should be able to beat them handily. Fact that WLU lost to them speaks volumes about this teams consistency. And make no mistake, the close final store doesn't tell the story of how WLU got their a$$es handed to them all night. We went on a furious run at the end of the game to tie the score but were behind by 15 to 20 points all night!

This years Toppers have enough talent to beat ANY team in the nation on many nights...but they also have the ability to lose to almost any team in the nation. That will work for most of the regular season when we are playing lesser caliber teams but in the NCAA tourney when every team is good, we are going to be in big trouble. Had we been playing one of the top teams in the Atlantic region last night, we would have lost by 40 points.

Didn't dissect the game like I usually do, but I agree Boat...They "could" win the region with effort / shooting like vs Fairmont...but close win vs Shepherd, close win vs Glenville in OT, and ugly, ugly loss to Concord, means they could lose first game in the regional...I guess it could have been considered a trap game...but trap games are usually against 'decent' teams, not at team you beat by 52 the first time...

Lots of ball to be played...but fairmont has inside track with winner of PSAC close behind as far as hosting...(IUP or SHIP or Kutz)

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Just one of those games is the problem. Concord is a BAD team and a good consistent team should be able to beat them handily. Fact that WLU lost to them speaks volumes about this teams consistency. And make no mistake, the close final store doesn't tell the story of how WLU got their a$$es handed to them all night. We went on a furious run at the end of the game to tie the score but were behind by 15 to 20 points all night!

This years Toppers have enough talent to beat ANY team in the nation on many nights...but they also have the ability to lose to almost any team in the nation. That will work for most of the regular season when we are playing lesser caliber teams but in the NCAA tourney when every team is good, we are going to be in big trouble. Had we been playing one of the top teams in the Atlantic region last night, we would have lost by 40 points.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Just one of those games, concord shot over 60% for the whole game came back from a 20 point deficit and tied it but couldn't finish