West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Another encouraging sign. WLU now has 4 players shooting over 39% from three. There are still several players in abysmal slumps who made over 40% last year. If they break out, look out!

[Columbuseer]

Observations from a Dummy - West Liberty at Frostburg State

Many good things to like about the game. Here is just a small sample. I welcome other additional observations.

1. WLU brand of ball continued with predictable results against a team playing playground ball. Incredible 1.47 Points Per Possession (PPP) versus only 0.87 for FSU. Amazing 1.83 Assist to Turnover Ratio to only 0.37 for Frostburg State. Assists on 48% of FGs, which would have been even higher, but Frostburg was not getting back on defense, which led to run-outs by WLU.

2. With 10:40 left in 1st half, WLU led 22-20. Then the flood gates opened and massive blackouts occurred. Half was 64-38. There was no garbage time in the second half. WLU kept playing unselfish ball with the extra pass, which continued to increase the lead, reaching a high of 55 points.

3. Really good judgment on shot selection.

4. We had an incredible 50% Offensive Rebounding Efficiency. That means that WLU got half of all the rebounds off our basket

5. Freshmen are getting more comfortable with each game. The future is bright for all of them.

Areas for Improvement
1. Some guys are still too high in their defensive stance. When an opponent moves quickly or jumps, if one sees the WLU defender first bend his knees and lower their stance, before moving or jumping, that means their leg muscles were not contracted and ready to move (whether running or jumping). That creates a half-second delay and an opening for an opponent to get open or get a shot off.
2. Some foul shooters have little or no backspin on the ball and need more arc on the trajectory, which is causing them to missing shots hard off the rim (no shooter's bounce). Strangely enough, these same shooters may be OK with their mechanics from three point range

Statistic	West Liberty	at Frostburg St.
POINTS	128	75
FGM	46	24
FGA	84	63
FGPCT	54.8%	38.1%
3FGM	14	7
3FGA	38	23
3FGPCT	36.8%	30.4%
FTM	22	20
FTA	28	35
FTPCT	78.6%	57.1%
REBOUND OFFENSIVE	21	11
REBOUND DEFENSIVE	37	21
REBOUND TOTAL	58	32
ASSISTS	22	7
TURNOVERS	12	19
BLOCKS	1	0
STEALS	12	4
Num Possessions	87	86
Points per Possession	1.47	0.87
Assists per 100 Possessions	25.3	8.1
Assists to FG Made ratio	47.8%	29.2%
Assist to Turnover Ratio	1.83	0.37
Turnovers per 100 Possessions (< better)	13.8	22.1
WL Opponent Defensive Rebounds	21	37
Offensive Rebound Efficiency %	50.0%	22.9%
Effective FG %	63.1%	43.7%
Effective FG% Difference (team-Opp)	19.4%	-19.4%
FGA % Diff ((team FGA-Opp.FGA)/Opp FGA)	33.3%	-25.0%

[Columbuseer]

Dante Spadafora has quite a repertoire of underhand passes made with one hand, which are not commonly seen in basketball today. Reminiscent of a great passer from Aliquippa who played college ball in the 1960s... :-)

[Columbuseer]

2021 WLU Freshman Dante Spadafora Sighting #3

Dante gets the ball in transition and dribbles at a sprint down the court. At about the 3-point line in the middle of the court, he does a no-look behind-the-back bounce pass to a teammate in the corner for an open three. That bounce pass was at least 30 feet and was on the money, despite the fact Dante was still moving forward toward his goal at high speed.

It was amazing; for many players, that type of pass is frequently errant, for it lands too far in front of the teammate because the ball is moving forward at the same speed and direction as the dribbler when it is released and they don't account for that aspect of Newton's Law of Motion. So they wind up leading the receiver of the pass too much and the ball goes out of bounds. Quite a common occurrence against WLU press.

Purportedly, some writers in Pittsburgh are saying the OLSH is the best team in the WPIAL regardless of classification.

Dante is the perfect fit for the WLU style. He is going to thrive there.

[IUPalum]

Yes. Mercyhurst will be loaded again next year. The Lakers may win the last game of the season this year.

To quote the famous Billy Beane ... If you don't win the last game of the season .... nobody gives a sh!t

Love the Moneyball quote.

Yes, Hurst can win the last game. Only thing hurting them right now is not playing games regularly. Tough to get in sync and jelling that way!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Good news for IUP. They could have had a three-peat in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But I'm sure they will be happy with just one national championship in 2022 (I know WLU would! LOL).

Can anyone seriously challenge them in PSAC next year?

I know, it seems silly to worry about Frostburg. It is just that I watched some of the WVSU game and they looked like a different team than the one we beat by 62 points. On paper they should have lost by 20-30 points to WVSU.
Of course, I hope you are correct.

Yes. Mercyhurst will be loaded again next year. The Lakers may win the last game of the season this year.

To quote the famous Billy Beane ... If you don't win the last game of the season .... nobody gives a sh!t

[Columbuseer]

They'll be back next year. All of them. Enjoy this year.

Seriously, worrying about Frostburg is like IUP worrying about Clarion...

Good news for IUP. They could have had a three-peat in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But I'm sure they will be happy with just one national championship in 2022 (I know WLU would! LOL).

Can anyone seriously challenge them in PSAC next year?

I know, it seems silly to worry about Frostburg. It is just that I watched some of the WVSU game and they looked like a different team than the one we beat by 62 points. On paper they should have lost by 20-30 points to WVSU.
Of course, I hope you are correct.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They'll be back next year. All of them. Enjoy this year.

Seriously, worrying about Frostburg is like IUP worrying about Clarion.

They can have a player who gets 40 ppg. Who cares. Who gets the other 70 they'd need?

Frostburg football showed they can at least be a workout. Frostburg basketball is horrendous.

[Columbuseer]

Wow... now some sense being spoken. I wonder why a team like IUP didn't opt in with only being able to get cup cakes on the schedule? hmmm

[IUPalum]

When you're sitting on 3 losses in a small-field tourney year, you're worried about every opponent. Notre Dame was about 2 minutes away from making hosting duties in the Regional very uncomfortable for a disappointed collection of ball boys and stat runners.

Wow... now some sense being spoken. I wonder why a team like IUP didn't opt in with only being able to get cup cakes on the schedule? hmmm

[Scrub]

So true. Another concern is balance of GMAC. Hillsdale and Findlay have had close games. Cedarville has beaten them both. Risk is hillsdale and findlay lose inTourney and gmac gets 3 teams.

Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan are also tough outs. MEC fans just have to hope that Hillsdale takes care of business.

[Columbuseer]

When you're sitting on 3 losses in a small-field tourney year, you're worried about every opponent. Notre Dame was about 2 minutes away from making hosting duties in the Regional very uncomfortable for a disappointed collection of ball boys and stat runners.

So true. Another concern is balance of GMAC. Hillsdale and Findlay have had close games. Cedarville has beaten them both. Risk is hillsdale and findlay lose inTourney and gmac gets 3 teams.

[Columbuseer]

My mistake. Powell is the kid from D&E who started the year with a very high scoring average. Looks like he got off to a very hot start but may have regularized lately. We haven't seen him yet.

Speaking of powell, can't wait to see Luke powell next year. He is injured this year at wlu. Scored 2374 points. He and Zach Rasile were 2 of 8 finalists for mr. ohio basketball.

[Scrub]

You're worried about Frostburg? That's like playing against a low class high school team.

When you're sitting on 3 losses in a small-field tourney year, you're worried about every opponent. Notre Dame was about 2 minutes away from making hosting duties in the Regional very uncomfortable for a disappointed collection of ball boys and stat runners.

[Scrub]

Don't see a powell on fsu roster. Imho best player is #4 edwards averages 19 and 39% from 3 and good dribble drive. I know we beat them by 62 earlier. But against wvsu they were playing wlu ball on offense and were carving up wvsu. Frostburg definitely lost the pre game warmup against wvsu. Announcers said it was the unselfish offense they had been waiting to see.

Wvsu definitely took them lightly. Unselfish, team ball can be a great equalizer.

I know coach Howlett will make changes if he does not see great Effort.

My mistake. Powell is the kid from D&E who started the year with a very high scoring average. Looks like he got off to a very hot start but may have regularized lately. We haven't seen him yet. I just remember him making some headlines after a hot start. But we've had to wait so long to see him--we many not see that version of him.