West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Perhaps Daemen was last year's Kutztown game. Big wakeup call.
The press is getting better and better as the players learn to play cohesively.
Guys are taking the jump stop for the open short jumper instead of trying difficult, contested shots.

After four games, WL has 7 players with an effective FG% (3s count 1.5 times two point shot) > 60%., with three over 70% and one over 80%!
(to put in perspective, steph curry was 60% last year, ableit from greater range).
Six players are averaging over 0.5 points per minute played, with two averaging over 0.8 pts/min and one averaging over 1 pt/min!
So offense is not often going to be a problem.

IMHO, this team has a very high ceiling that it is not even close to reaching.

I've seen some of the shoots Dalton has drained...may want to amend the Steph Curry greater range comment!! Some of his shots have been absolute bombs.

[timbertopper]

Keep in mind that there are only four players on the active roster who played in a West Liberty game last season. Following the Salem win, Howlett talked about the benefits derived from a 2-hour film session on the day after the Daemen game. No question the talent is there. Making it mesh is the challenge.Will be interesting to see what we have in February.

[Columbuseer]

[Columbuseer]

Malik McKinney is terrorizing guards-

Malik transferred to wl from seton hill. It is a huge transition to the wl style, with its freedom for players to make rapid real time decisions and its focus on ball movement rather than dribble drive.

Malik is rapidly adjusting. His turnovers are down and his assists are up. His shot selection is much improved.

He has an incredible ability to cleanly steal the ball from guards in the open court. Against him, if you show the ball on the dribble, you do so at your peril. He is creating chaos on the press with suffocating pressure.

His rapid improvement is impressive.

[Scrub]

Malik McKinney is terrorizing guards-

Malik transferred to wl from seton hill. It is a huge transition to the wl style, with its freedom for players to make rapid real time decisions and its focus on ball movement rather than dribble drive.

Malik is rapidly adjusting. His turnovers are down and his assists are up. His shot selection is much improved.

He has an incredible ability to cleanly steal the ball from guards in the open court. Against him, if you show the ball on the dribble, you do so at your peril. He is creating chaos on the press with suffocating pressure.

His rapid improvement is impressive.

Lightning fast hands. Picking pockets left and right.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lightning fast hands. Picking pockets left and right.

Why did he only play 7 minutes at Daemen?

[Columbuseer]

Why did he only play 7 minutes at Daemen?

I am just a dummy but my guess is that he got 4 personal fouls and had two turnovers in those 7 minutes.
WL has six new players this year and no senirors on the squad. It is a big adjustment to play the WL style as a platoon and not revert to dribble drive to try to make something happen when stressed.
I was pessimistic that we would even be able to platoon until January. They have made huge strides, including Malik. They have a long way to go, but the improvement is significant.
Malik has improved the quality of his fouls while reducing them overall, which allows him to stay on the floor longer. Assists are up and turnovers are down too. He is becoming to WLU what Jevon Carter was to WVU a few years back in terms of defensive pressure. That is due to sheer gut-wrenching effort and desire to play defense.

[Columbuseer]

[Columbuseer]

[Columbuseer]

Thru Dec 1:
- WL is averaging 1.32 points per possession (which is better than last year's 1.25 that was best in d1 and d2).
- WL is averaging 82% turnoverless possession, which is amazing, given how fast they play.
- WL is averaging 109 points per game which is behind Nova SE and Glenville State who score 111 points per game. BTW. Brandon Smith (former West Liberty Player) is an assitant coach at Glenville.
- WL is averaging 41.4% from 3 point range, despite have several off shooting nights.

This team still needs a lot of work to reach their potential, but the early results are encouraging.

[Columbuseer]

FYI Updated scoring stats
nova se 122 ppg
west liberty 109 ppg
glenville state 104 ppg

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
nova se hit 156 points against Clayton state. Sunahara from fairmont had a big game.
Their 6-10 freshman averaging 19 mins a game. Hitting 42% from three and 58% overall.
what ball movement! 96 points at the half. Generated 26 turnovers.
If they dominate in conference then they could be dangerous.
if wl gets more experience playing the style, the potential is there to rival nova se.

[IUPalum]

Fyi
nova se hit 156 points against Clayton state. Sunahara from fairmont had a big game.
Their 6-10 freshman averaging 19 mins a game. Hitting 42% from three and 58% overall.
what ball movement! 96 points at the half. Generated 26 turnovers.
If they dominate in conference then they could be dangerous.
if wl gets more experience playing the style, the potential is there to rival nova se.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT

[Columbuseer]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Giving up 96 in a game is horrendous -- let alone a half. That coach should have been fired at halftime. Seriously.