West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Learned long ago that 6'9" dudes aren't in D2 because they are polished. If they had no flaws, they wouldn't be in the bus leagues.

Now, of course, the flaw is they get polished here ... and then take the first bus out of town in April.

Good observations.

Imho 6-9 players who are slender often get passed over at D1 in favor to physically stronger players, even if they are better fundamentally. The wlu style is more amenable to slender players, regardless of height, due to 5-out nature of their offense and the emphasis on ball movement and assists.
.

[Columbuseer]

FYI
Article that gives insights into the origin and details of "the system" at wlu.
https://www.basketunderreview.com/iu...nd-the-system/

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
according to Beaver Local hs East Liverpool oh social media, Owen Hill 6-7 220 lb has committed to wlu.
he was 1st team Ohio all state in D4.
3.7 GPA

Barring injury, he will become the leading scorer in beaver local history.

https://www.hudl.com/profile/17778608/Owen-Hill

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
wlu basketball scrimmage at 11 am tomorrow sat Oct 4.
Also, former basketball player CJ Hester will be inducted into wlu hall of fame during football game.

[Columbuseer]

The 11 am wlu pre wv state fb game scrimmage had a good crowd for a scrimmage.

Some observations:
- top to bottom, this roster has the most very good 3 point shooters in quite a few years
- the tall guys run the floor very well.
- imho they are far ahead of last year because of prior experience in the system
- some of the freshmen are going to surprise with their play
- the intensity is incredible, so much so that regular games are going to seem easier
- I do not envy the coaches' job in determining the platoons. So much competition.

[Scrub]

Obviously there are tons of unknowns heading into the first season post-Howlett, but I'd like to think the Hilltoppers will have something to say about Fairmont being voted the unanimous pre-season MEC favorite. Fairmont's roster looks loaded to be sure. But I really hope Coach Lamberti will have his Hilltoppers up to the challenge of defending the crown.

[boatcapt]

Clearly the MEC coaches didn't read the preseason assessments of WLUs. This year we will have at least 12 40+% 3-point shooters and have seven bigs that can all drain 3's from 50 ft, can run like the wind, play full court defense for 48 minutes every night and handle the ball like...Spadafora (probably the best ball handler in college basketball). Looking at the schedule and looking at our team, I don't see how any team we play will be within 30 points...We are THAT good!!!

These coaches need to turn in their whistles and depart their campus in shame.

[Columbuseer]

Obviously there are tons of unknowns heading into the first season post-Howlett, but I'd like to think the Hilltoppers will have something to say about Fairmont being voted the unanimous pre-season MEC favorite. Fairmont's roster looks loaded to be sure. But I really hope Coach Lamberti will have his Hilltoppers up to the challenge of defending the crown.

Fairmont has assembled an awesome roster. They purportedly have the most resources of any team in the MEC. They deserve to be the preseason favorite. if they can make it past the 1st round of regional, their coach might get his d1 gig opportunity.

fyi
here is link to media day

https://mountaineast.tv/?B=2729320

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
on sat Oct 25 wlu will scrimmage at 11 am prior to homecoming game vs glenville.
hope others can attend and share their observations.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
Here is mec media day story.
https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...ra-begins.aspx

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
wlu basketball scrimmage at 11 am tomorrow sat Oct 4.
Also, former basketball player CJ Hester will be inducted into wlu hall of fame during football game.

Correction: due to homecoming, men's scrimmage will start at 10 am tomorrow (saturday). Women will scrimmage at 8 am.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
on sat Oct 25 wlu will scrimmage at 11 am prior to homecoming game vs glenville.
hope others can attend and share their observations.

Correction: due to homecoming, men's scrimmage will start at 10 am tomorrow (saturday). Women will scrimmage at 8 am.

[boatcapt]

Two weeks out from the start of the season. WLU has two tough games...and Clarion...over the first five days. Open the season against Clarion (only question here is what is an acceptable final margin...20? 30?) the follow that the next day vs Cal at the ARSC. Then travel to Richmond to play VA Union.

As most of the players are the experienced transfers in the WLU System, there should be no ramp-up to the season. What you see in games 1-3 should be pretty close to what they are in March. So that said, we need to be 3-0 out of the gate. While Cal and VUU are solid teams, if WLU is as good as we've been led to believe, we should beat both comfortably (10-15 point range). Anything less than 3-0 COULD indicate some sort of problem.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
wlu hosted slippery rock last night for a scrimmage.
They reset score for start of second half.
i did not attend.
wlu won 1st half 50 some to 20 some.
wlu won 2nd half 60 some to 30 some.

I do not put much stock in scrimmage scores, as coaches often work on evaluating different personnel groupings, often at the expense of the outcome. Wlu played mostly freshmen the last 9 minutes.

[boatcapt]

Fyi
wlu hosted slippery rock last night for a scrimmage.
They reset score for start of second half.
i did not attend.
wlu won 1st half 50 some to 20 some.
wlu won 2nd half 60 some to 30 some.

I do not put much stock in scrimmage scores, as coaches often work on evaluating different personnel groupings, often at the expense of the outcome. Wlu played mostly freshmen the last 9 minutes.

That's been my point on scrimmages. Particularly when DII fans point to a score vs a D1 as proof that they can hang with a D1. Quite often the coaches have wildly different agendas which can sque the results. REAL game would have a completely different results.