West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPalum]

Pip is a monster. I can't believe Gary doesn't do more to run through him. He got a few quick buckets on the pick & roll in the first few minutes, but once WLU recognized the play and defended the roll, he really only got his points from stick-backs the rest of the way. If you have a weapon like that, I can't imagine not doing more to utilize it.

He has no post moves or they would run offense through him.

[Scrub]

Pip is a monster. I can't believe Gary doesn't do more to run through him. He got a few quick buckets on the pick & roll in the first few minutes, but once WLU recognized the play and defended the roll, he really only got his points from stick-backs the rest of the way. If you have a weapon like that, I can't imagine not doing more to utilize it.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I thought mercyhurst was very well coached, had high bball iq players, outstanding experienced guards and great 3 pt shooters. I agree, lack of depth is what hurt them. They started getting a step slow due to fatigue, which got them in a deficit situation late.

A big factor in the game was MiyKah McIntosh having to sit most of the first half with two fouls. He got those about five minutes into the game when Hurst jumped out to the lead. I’m not saying if he doesn’t sit the game ends differently, but they couldn’t afford to have anyone in foul trouble to have a chance, and especially McIntosh. Not only is he a great defender, he can also be an elite scorer when called upon as you saw flashes of. He only played 21 minutes yesterday. Credit to WL for getting him into trouble. If you don’t have depth it’s eventually going to bite you, and that was the case yesterday.

[Ship69]

I thought mercyhurst was very well coached, had high bball iq players, outstanding experienced guards and great 3 pt shooters. I agree, lack of depth is what hurt them. They started getting a step slow due to fatigue, which got them in a deficit situation late.

Your team does have some nice quality depth, and with your style of play it helps in a tournament setting when teams have to play 2-3 games in a short period of time. The championship game definitely will be a clash of styles.

[Columbuseer]

Mercyhurst's main problems, when they had some this season, were a lack of overall size and depth. UPJ was made to order for West Liberty. Fairmont was not overrated, but they're no West Liberty, I saw Ship play them earlier this year and did not feel at any point that we were outclassed.

I thought mercyhurst was very well coached, had high bball iq players, outstanding experienced guards and great 3 pt shooters. I agree, lack of depth is what hurt them. They started getting a step slow due to fatigue, which got them in a deficit situation late.

[Ship69]

Against mercyhurst's "vaunted defense",
Wlu offensive rating was 130 pts per 100 possessions.
Against upj it was 142 and against fairmont in mec final it was 148.
We average 122, second only to nova se at 125.

Mercyhurst not built to come back from double figures down late. Like wishbone in football.

Mercyhurst's main problems, when they had some this season, were a lack of overall size and depth. UPJ was made to order for West Liberty. Fairmont was not overrated, but they're no West Liberty, I saw Ship play them earlier this year and did not feel at any point that we were outclassed.

[Columbuseer]

Against mercyhurst's "vaunted defense",
Wlu offensive rating was 130 pts per 100 possessions.
Against upj it was 142 and against fairmont in mec final it was 148.
We average 122, second only to nova se at 125.

Mercyhurst not built to come back from double figures down late. Like wishbone in football.

[Columbuseer]

To think the lopsided MEC final 112-82 WLU victory indicates Fairmont is overrated would be a serious error in judgment.
Many of the stats were quite good for Fairmont, other than a horrendous shooting night.
the effective shooting % was 45% for Fairmont vs 61% for wlu.
WLU offensive rating was an amazing 148.7 pts per 100 possessions. But Fairmont was quite good at 107.

But some stats were deceptive. Many fairmont offensive rebounds were clustered in groups of 3-5 on 2 or 3 possessions.
three of the 4 made 3fgs occurred in last 2 mins when Fairmont emptied bench and players had fresh legs, down by 41 points.
Turrnovers, and steals were all competitive.

Like NDC and Concord in regular season, Fairmont hit a fatigue tipping point. I look for a much closer game vs VU.

Statistic FSU WLU
Offensive rating (pts per 100 possessions) 107.3 148.7
Assists 13 29
Assist % of FG Made 40.6% 69.0%
Offensive rebounds. 18 20
Def rebounds. 22 28
Turnovers 11 7
Turnover % of possessions 14.41% 9.30%
Assist to turnover ratio 1.18 4.14
3pt % 4-13 30.8% 18-42 42.8%
Three of four of fsu's 3s were made in garbage time in last 2 mins. by fresh subs when wlu had 41 pt lead.
Effective fg% 45% 61%

[Columbuseer]

Mountaineast.tv has replays of game as well as post game press conferences. Coach May of Concord had interesting observations in his press conference.

paraphrasing: ... WLU comes at you in waves. But they pressure you on offense too. They rotate the ball so that no one can rest on defense ...

We fans often overlook the role of the WLU offense in creating fatigue. Thought it was interesting that he confirmed its role.

[Columbuseer]

Fairmont is a very talented team.
Before the game I told a respected high school coach that I was worried about FSU. He said fsu was tired in semis and predicted an easy WLU win. He was very confident.

IMHO they fell victim to the 3 games in 3 days madness of the MEC that results in a war of attrition. It is probably partially due to using a non campus arena with contention from hockey. I like PSAC spacing of games.

Fairmont starters played heavy minutes in 2 previous games.
It showed after first 10 minutes. They were a step slow.
Mangas touch fouled Butler just to stop play to come out of game, which brought a smile to fsu coach's face.



Percent of minutes played in 2 previous games

	Glenville	D&E
01 Dobbs, Zyon	37	30	84%
10 Sanders, Isaiah	37	37	92%
32 Younkin, Seth	19	18	46%
23 Mangas, George	25	27	65%
05 Hale, Fonz	8	26	43%
12 Parris, Briggs	26	26	65%

Compare with WLU

Player	concord	ndc	percent prior to finals
02 Butler, Bryce	20	31	64%
04 Montague, Christian	19	26	54%
24 Sarson, Ben	21	24	56%
05 Cannady, Steve	22	21	54%
01 McKinney, Malik	17	24	51%

[Layton]

Getting hot at the right time

[Columbuseer]

Observations from a Dummy - NDC vs WLU 3/4/23

NDC is a dangerous team . They defeated Charleston by 13 and defeated Youngstown State and Wvsu yesterday. They are a young, talented team, with 3 sophomores and 2 seniors/grad students on the starting 5. They are strong 1-on-1 players, which is both a blessing and a curse. NDC might be an elite team next year, as they get older. They have the second leading scorer in the MEC in willis.


Tale of the Tape (Season)

NDC WLU

Points 81 101

FT % 77% 74%

FG % 44% 49%

3FG% 36% 39%

Turnovers 14 12

Assists 14 23

Assist/TO ratio 1.0 1.9

NDC Strategy

· Play tight defense - FAIL fatigue allowed many open looks but they did get steals on 47% of 17 wlu turnovers

· Minimize turnovers against WLU pressure - FAIL committed 21 turnovers of which 67% were live ball steals
· Use motion offense with multiple screens in rapid-fire succession to free up their talented players to finish at the rim. Get Jaedon Willis open looks as he is averaging 21 points per game, 40% from three and 89% of FTs. - PARTIAL SUCCESS Willis made difficult shots in the paint but held to his average,

· Try to draw fouls and get WLU in foul trouble. Make FTs. FAIL WLU had 4 players with 4, but they occurred too late to affect outcome

· Shoot the 3 effectively. Three starters shoot over 40% from three. - FAIL 2 for 18 for 11%

· Deny Rasile open looks from three. FAIL Rasile 3-5 60%

· Keep WLU off the offensive glass and win the rebounding battle. PASS won off. reb 16-13 and was close in def. Reb 20-22

· Double team Butler in the lane to prevent inside moves. FAIL Butler had 22 points and 16 rebounds

· Avoid the WLU blackouts. FAIL WLU had several that opened a lead. But NDC did not collapse and lose by 40.

[bballfan03]

some stats on Transfers
PSAC Schools (in portal)
Cal PA - 1
Clarion - 4
Boro - 2
GU - 2
Kutztown - 3
Ship - 1

other schools
Adams State - 5
Saint Rose - 8 (eek!)
Texas-Permian Basin - 6
Truman State - 5

[Columbuseer]

Dangerous opponents for Fairmont and WLU
Glenville won both games this season vs Fairmont.
At Feb 11 game at WLU, CU ran into the perfect storm of WLU on fire from three. From a 7 point halftime lead, WLU grew the lead to 50.
However, CU has the athletic players, pg, coach and rebounding to challenge WLU. Rahama averaged a double double for season.

CU keys:

• control the boards
• Attack the rim after breaking the press
• Shoot much better than wlu
• Get WLU in foul trouble
• Limit fatigue

WLU keys:

• Get back on defense
• Exert pressure on offense and defense
• 2nd platoon must exert extreme pressure
• Force CU to use their thin, young bench and then attack them
• Avoid ill-advised fouls
• Double Rahama to make him pick up ball
• Shoot at least 35% from three

[Scrub]

The ladies got outplayed in all phases tonight. No other way to say it. Fairmont wanted it more and came in and took it.