West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Unfortunately I was unavailable to watch the game. Not sure. But I'd also be interested to hear from those who were able to watch: wondering what the issue with Mont is. He didn't start against Frostburg (and played limited minutes--as far as limited minutes are possible as a rotation player in this system). And then he was barely in the box score (figuratively speaking) against Fairmont. Yes, he played 30 minutes, but he uncharacteristically only scored a single point, only took 4 shots all game, and had more turnovers than assists (all very uncharacteristic). Wonder if some guys are experiencing some aches and pains (tis the season--this the part of the year that starts to grind).

Don't have any info, but cmont was a 80+% FT in past, but he is much lower recently.

[Columbuseer]

A nice win over FSU. I did not see Fergus in the box score... did he participate in warm-ups? Wondering if he is hurt?

In video I saw him taking some outside shots, but that does not mean that he is 100% though. He seemed to be moving somewhat slowly in warmups based on limited views.

I am a big fan of Darren and marvel at his potential.

Imho the next stage in his development is half court defense. Some Frostburg players drove by him to the rim. With his quickness and leaping ability, he could be a shutdown defender. But he plays too high in his defensive stance, making his center of gravity higher than opponent, among other areas. He just needs to tweak a few defensive fundamentals.

[Columbuseer]

fyi
Bryce butler, who does not start for charleston, was named conference player of the week last week.
Congrats Bryce!

[Columbuseer]

2024 signee jp dragas is going to make some noise at wlu.
scored 50 in 69-67 win over edgewood on jan 13, despite being face guarded and double teamed. 4.3 GPA too. In the conversation about candidates for best sg in ohio. Might have a spadafora motor!

https://www.starbeacon.com/sports/dr...63d1eee2b.html

[IUPbigINDIANS]

2024 signee jp dragas is going to make some noise at wlu.
scored 50 in 69-67 win over edgewood on jan 13, despite being face guarded and double teamed. 4.3 GPA too. In the conversation about candidates for best sg in ohio. Might have a spadafora motor!

https://www.starbeacon.com/sports/dr...63d1eee2b.html

Why would he go D2 then? Just curious. I assume it's a height issue? Seems very odd the best SG in Ohio would play in the bus leagues?

[Scrub]

A bit nervous about tonight. This is a really good Concord team and weird stuff always seems to happen on Cox Court down in Athens. Here's hoping Mont can come out of his funk, Fergus gets healthy, and the Hilltoppers dial in and take care of business. But any time they have to visit Athens, it makes me nervous (even when Concord has a bad team--nerves even worse when they're actually good!).

[boatcapt]

Why would he go D2 then? Just curious. I assume it's a height issue? Seems very odd the best SG in Ohio would play in the bus leagues?

It will be interesting to see if he actually shows up on the Hilltop. We've had a couple of guys in the not too distant past back out after big senior seasons. Seems like player tampering doesn't apply when it's a D1 poaching DII signees.

IMHO the only way to stop the poaching is to stop letting players back out on their NLI. I know Ben's philosophy is if a player wants to go elsewhere, he lets them. Make them live up to their commitment and play for even one year and the D1 sharks will probably be less inclined to see our HS recruits as fair game.

[Columbuseer]

Regret I did not speak more clearly about Dragas.
"In the conversation about candidates for best sg in ohio." That does not imply that he has, or will be, named the best guard in ohio.
He is being mentioned on list of basketball players in ohio. Cinci enquirer had him as #21 best basketball player before the season.
Big honor to be on the list. But there are bigger, more athletic guards in Ohio.
He is like 6-2 and 150 lbs. Typical d2 player who does not have body type for hi major d1 and goes to elite d2 school rather than bottom feeder d1 program.

"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/high-school/ohio-high-school/2023/11/30/ohio-high-school-boys-basketballs-top-24-players-for-2023-2024/71745078007/

https://bvmsports.com/2023/12/28/vot...l-for-2023-24/

[Columbuseer]

It will be interesting to see if he actually shows up on the Hilltop. We've had a couple of guys in the not too distant past back out after big senior seasons. Seems like player tampering doesn't apply when it's a D1 poaching DII signees.

IMHO the only way to stop the poaching is to stop letting players back out on their NLI. I know Ben's philosophy is if a player wants to go elsewhere, he lets them. Make them live up to their commitment and play for even one year and the D1 sharks will probably be less inclined to see our HS recruits as fair game.

Do you see any downside to your proposed approach?
Some questions:
1. What is the impact on the team if a player does not want to be there? Could the player be a cancer in the locker room?
2. Let us say the player is from the Cleveland area. Could there be a significant long term negative impact on recruiting there if you held a player who wanted to go d1? Bad optics when there are no transfer limitations after 1 year anyhow.

if someone backs out now, there will be plenty of proven players in the portal to take his place. But it does hurt a player from an integrity perspective. I would never hire him and I am probably not alone.

[Columbuseer]

A bit nervous about tonight. This is a really good Concord team and weird stuff always seems to happen on Cox Court down in Athens. Here's hoping Mont can come out of his funk, Fergus gets healthy, and the Hilltoppers dial in and take care of business. But any time they have to visit Athens, it makes me nervous (even when Concord has a bad team--nerves even worse when they're actually good!).

Me too. Historically, it is a tough gym for us.
Coach May will have his team hit the boards hard and he has players who can finish at the rim in transition.
if we have a cold shooting night and they shoot like they did against D&E, it could be a nail biter.

[boatcapt]

Do you see any downside to your proposed approach?
Some questions:
1. What is the impact on the team if a player does not want to be there? Could the player be a cancer in the locker room?
2. Let us say the player is from the Cleveland area. Could there be a significant long term negative impact on recruiting there if you held a player who wanted to go d1? Bad optics when there are no transfer limitations after 1 year anyhow.

if someone backs out now, there will be plenty of proven players in the portal to take his place. But it does hurt a player from an integrity perspective. I would never hire him and I am probably not alone.

Then what is the point in signing them to a NLI at all? Just tell potential recruits that the first three incoming freshmen that enroll and pay their tuition will get X scholly. NLI's are a two way street. By signing a player, the team is blocked from using that scholly money to recruit other players...that is until a player decides to back outs. By that time, the prime recruits have probably already committed elsewhere.

Were I a new HC at a low/mid level D1, the players that WLU signed would be instantly on my radar. 1st because Ben is a good talent evaluator and 2nd because we let recruits out of their NLI with no fuss and certainly no tampering complaints.

It would be interesting to know if other DII's let their NLI signees out of their commitment as readily as WLU seems to?

[Layton]

Nm

[Columbuseer]

Then what is the point in signing them to a NLI at all? Just tell potential recruits that the first three incoming freshmen that enroll and pay their tuition will get X scholly. NLI's are a two way street. By signing a player, the team is blocked from using that scholly money to recruit other players...that is until a player decides to back outs. By that time, the prime recruits have probably already committed elsewhere.

Were I a new HC at a low/mid level D1, the players that WLU signed would be instantly on my radar. 1st because Ben is a good talent evaluator and 2nd because we let recruits out of their NLI with no fuss and certainly no tampering complaints.

It would be interesting to know if other DII's let their NLI signees out of their commitment as readily as WLU seems to?

No easy solution that is not a " cut off your nose to spite your face" situation for a coach.
Fortunately, most wlu signees like the unique style and understand it will increase their basketball iq, which can give them a better chance to play in Europe. BTW, will yoakum is playing in 2nd highest league in Germany. Monteroso just ended his career playing in Germany and is an assistant coach, which should be an incentive for recruits.

Transfer portal mitigates what was previously a huge negative impact of hs signee backing out.
Can only recall two players backing out -
1. Sincere Carry- He was legit high major guard before 2 knee injuries caused teams to back off. We got Robinson and McKinney in his place.
2. Luke Denbow - went as package with brother Garrett to Anderson, a bad d2 team. Watched him play recently. Imho, he has not progressed much since high school.

[Scrub]

Me too. Historically, it is a tough gym for us.
Coach May will have his team hit the boards hard and he has players who can finish at the rim in transition.
if we have a cold shooting night and they shoot like they did against D&E, it could be a nail biter.

WLU ended up winning the battle of the boards (which is surprising given that Concord leads the nation in rebounding).

Curious, though, that May took so long to slow down. Concord decided to run with WLU for the whole first half to the tune of a 20-point deficit. But once May decided to slow the pace and exploit size mismatches in the second half, it was an evenly played game. Had he gone there from the start (rather than playing from a 20-point hole), I'm not sure whether WLU comes out with a win.

[Columbuseer]

WLU ended up winning the battle of the boards (which is surprising given that Concord leads the nation in rebounding).

Curious, though, that May took so long to slow down. Concord decided to run with WLU for the whole first half to the tune of a 20-point deficit. But once May decided to slow the pace and exploit size mismatches in the second half, it was an evenly played game. Had he gone there from the start (rather than playing from a 20-point hole), I'm not sure whether WLU comes out with a win.

I thought the game was a great half court defensive battle by both teams. WLU really disrupted their offense in the first half. WLU showed that it can win even when forcing only 13 turnovers.
Great foul shooting and rebounding really helped WLU.
But we are still having short stretches where we take difficult shots, either off balance or contested by 2 players. This could bite us if we are shooting our normal 70% FT and are not getting offensive rebounds.

I liked Coach May's adjustment in the 2nd half. He not only forsook the three for the size advantage inside, but he also cleared out the side from the low post guy so that there was no guard to drop down on help defense. In the first half, our guards were making the bigs pick up the ball after 1 dribble. He also put a taller player on Rasile to limit his open looks.

In the second half, they also baited WLU into taking early threes with no one under.
IMHO, a great 3 point shot has the following characteristics:
1 Shooter's feet are set .
2. Defender is at least 6 feet away
3. Teammates are anticipating the shot and moving toward the rim before the shot is released to get in rebounding position.

WLU was taking threes early in the shot clock when #3 above was not met. No one was under. One and done.
Also sometimes the three looked a little rushed.

Once we got into our half court game, moving without the ball and rapidly passing the ball 5 or 6 times, we started getting easier scores. We started getting secondary assists.
Player 1 passes to player 2 within 2 seconds
Player 2 passes to player 3 within 2 seconds
Player 3 scores within 2 seconds.
Player 2 gets an assist.
Player 1 gets a secondary assist.

We lost our big lead when we got away from secondary assists.