West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Refs are way too involved very boring game to watch

Two of the three were PSAC officials -- the hated GQ and Hair Gel (as known up here).

They ruin every game.

[Scrub]

Ugly stuff from the Hilltoppers tonight. Hats off to Charleston--they played very strong defense all day. As was mentioned, the refereeing was pretty lousy going both ways--turned the whole thing into a free throw shooting competition, which is just painful to watch. But in the end, this edition of the Hilltoppers have yet to solve the Charleston mystery. Congrats to the Golden Eagles.

But don't rule out a 4th meeting! How many times have the Hilltoppers been bounced from the NCAA tourney by teams they managed to take down in the regular season &/or MEC tourney (WVSU from a few years ago comes to mind). Maybe it'll be the Toppers' turn to play the spoilers when it really counts.

[boatcapt]

Ugly stuff from the Hilltoppers tonight. Hats off to Charleston--they played very strong defense all day. As was mentioned, the refereeing was pretty lousy going both ways--turned the whole thing into a free throw shooting competition, which is just painful to watch. But in the end, this edition of the Hilltoppers have yet to solve the Charleston mystery. Congrats to the Golden Eagles.

But don't rule out a 4th meeting! How many times have the Hilltoppers been bounced from the NCAA tourney by teams they managed to take down in the regular season &/or MEC tourney (WVSU from a few years ago comes to mind). Maybe it'll be the Toppers' turn to play the spoilers when it really counts.

2016-17 Toppers were defeated by WJU in the first round of the NCAA tourney. This was their 4th meeting of the year and seven days after WLU beat them in the conf tourney after handing conf regular season champ Fairmont their second of three total losses.. Many thought the only team that could nock the Toppers out that year SR1 Championship was WJU and felt the NCAA setup that first round game for just that purpose.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Ugly stuff from the Hilltoppers tonight. Hats off to Charleston--they played very strong defense all day. As was mentioned, the refereeing was pretty lousy going both ways--turned the whole thing into a free throw shooting competition, which is just painful to watch. But in the end, this edition of the Hilltoppers have yet to solve the Charleston mystery. Congrats to the Golden Eagles.

But don't rule out a 4th meeting! How many times have the Hilltoppers been bounced from the NCAA tourney by teams they managed to take down in the regular season &/or MEC tourney (WVSU from a few years ago comes to mind). Maybe it'll be the Toppers' turn to play the spoilers when it really counts.

Charleston's press break is masterful. They also break it and then play slow (they don't get suckered in to playing the chaos pace).

You can tell they have upperclassmen.

[Layton]

Contrary to what some advanced stats might say, he really never played at the level his advanced billing said he would.

We'll see if he sticks around but given his declining minutes over the last few weeks, wouldn't be surprised if he is in the portal the day after WLUs season is over.

Did Pankey leave then? One of the two were absent but I couldn’t tell who. One was on the bench the other MIA completely

[Scrub]

Did Pankey leave then? One of the two were absent but I couldn’t tell who. One was on the bench the other MIA completely

Pankey redshirted this year obviously. But he hasn't really been around the team at all since Christmas break. That probably signals one of two things. 1. Academic issue (i.e., not allowed to travel with the team due to eligibility), or 2. left the school after Fall Semester. Not sure which it is, but he's been absent from the WLU bench since Decemberish.

Fergus has been around the team, but he's been relegated to garbage time only. Yesterday, for instance, he and the walk-on entered the game at the same time and played the same 2 minutes. To use IUP fans' chosen phrasing, Fergus has been sent to Siberia.

Expect one or both of these players (Pankey & Fergus) to show up in the portal in a week or two.

[Scrub]

Charleston's press break is masterful. They also break it and then play slow (they don't get suckered in to playing the chaos pace).

You can tell they have upperclassmen.

They are so well coached. So many times they could have been suckered into speeding themselves up, and not once did they take the bait. They kept the pace right where they wanted it all game long. Really well coached team and very smart players for buying into what works.

[boatcapt]

SOOOO...Which Toppers show up for Millersville? Will it be the can't hit the side of a barn with a banjo Toppers we've seen for much of the last third of the season...Will it be the Toppers that scorched the nets vs Wheeling and in the second half vs Concord...or will it be an oncore of the hero-ball Toppers (haven't seen them since mid season)?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

SOOOO...Which Toppers show up for Millersville? Will it be the can't hit the side of a barn with a banjo Toppers we've seen for much of the last third of the season...Will it be the Toppers that scorched the nets vs Wheeling and in the second half vs Concord...or will it be an oncore of the hero-ball Toppers (haven't seen them since mid season)?

Millersville hammered Gannon once and got hammered by Gannon once.

I suppose one advantage they have is they just played the Jordan Fee version of the system (which is obviously very good). So, they shouldn't have a shock factor.

Here's a nugget nobody has considered: If Millersville were to get past WL, they'd have to play Gannon (highly likely) the next day. Back to back days of playing that pressure. Good luck.

[Scrub]

Millersville hammered Gannon once and got hammered by Gannon once.

I suppose one advantage they have is they just played the Jordan Fee version of the system (which is obviously very good). So, they shouldn't have a shock factor.

Here's a nugget nobody has considered: If Millersville were to get past WL, they'd have to play Gannon (highly likely) the next day. Back to back days of playing that pressure. Good luck.

Right. The old adage is that it's very hard to prepare for on one day's notice. But obviously, Millersville has a week to prepare, so WLU has to get past that first one. After that all bets are off.

We've already seen Howlett vs. Fee (sorta) in last year's National Championship game, but there's no telling what the heck will happen if that match-up occurs.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Right. The old adage is that it's very hard to prepare for on one day's notice. But obviously, Millersville has a week to prepare, so WLU has to get past that first one. After that all bets are off.

We've already seen Howlett vs. Fee (sorta) in last year's National Championship game, but there's no telling what the heck will happen if that match-up occurs.

I think we're going to find out Sunday.

[boatcapt]

2023-24 season is over...Seven loss team for the first time in a LONG time...no titles...second round looser...losing five of our top six players...had sever 3 point shooting problems and got beat like a drum inside.

Ben has some serious work to do...Across the board we need our current roster played to take a step forward, we need all our first year players to play like veterans and we need to figure out a way to be more competitive inside against good teams.

Advanced stats aside, by WLU standards, this 3023-24 earns a grade of D.

[Scrub]

2023-24 season is over...Seven loss team for the first time in a LONG time...no titles...second round looser...losing five of our top six players...had sever 3 point shooting problems and got beat like a drum inside.

Ben has some serious work to do...Across the board we need our current roster played to take a step forward, we need all our first year players to play like veterans and we need to figure out a way to be more competitive inside against good teams.

Advanced stats aside, by WLU standards, this 3023-24 earns a grade of D.

This was a tough year for sure. The IUP fans like to talk about their "Island of Misfit Toys" team a few years back. This kinda felt like our "Misfit Toys" team. They were an odd grouping of parts that didn't look particularly like a standard WLU squad. The 3-point shooting wasn't up to the usual standard. The free throw shooting wasn't up to the usual standard. So you're not wrong that it was a kinda odd (and, in certain ways, disappointing season).

But let's also add some perspective. Here's what this team accomplished:

-- Finished tied for first for the Conference Regular Season Championship. Co-champs.
-- Finished runner-up in the Conference Tournament.
-- Finished the season in the top-25 poll (after spending all but two weeks in that poll).
-- Earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
-- Won a game in the NCAA Tournament and therefore made it into the final 32 still standing.

How many fan bases could look at that list of accomplishments and feel salty about their team? Only one or two I suspect (WLU fans, IUP fans, NWMSU fans, Nova fans, Northern State fans, and that's about it). This was a down year for WLU for sure. But let's not take for granted that for most teams in the country this would be their banner year.

The developments I'm excited about: D'Augustino & Woodward really seemed to grow into the system as the season went on. I'm a big fan of Shuler's defensive ability as well. And Spadafora vastly improved his shooting, making him a bigger weapon as well. Still some things to build around for sure (assuming everyone sticks around).

[boatcapt]

This was a tough year for sure. The IUP fans like to talk about their "Island of Misfit Toys" team a few years back. This kinda felt like our "Misfit Toys" team. They were an odd grouping of parts that didn't look particularly like a standard WLU squad. The 3-point shooting wasn't up to the usual standard. The free throw shooting wasn't up to the usual standard. So you're not wrong that it was a kinda odd (and, in certain ways, disappointing season).

But let's also add some perspective. Here's what this team accomplished:

-- Finished tied for first for the Conference Regular Season Championship. Co-champs.
-- Finished runner-up in the Conference Tournament.
-- Finished the season in the top-25 poll (after spending all but two weeks in that poll).
-- Earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
-- Won a game in the NCAA Tournament and therefore made it into the final 32 still standing.

How many fan bases could look at that list of accomplishments and feel salty about their team? Only one or two I suspect (WLU fans, IUP fans, NWMSU fans, Nova fans, Northern State fans, and that's about it). This was a down year for WLU for sure. But let's not take for granted that for most teams in the country this would be their banner year.

The developments I'm excited about: D'Augustino & Woodward really seemed to grow into the system as the season went on. I'm a big fan of Shuler's defensive ability as well. And Spadafora vastly improved his shooting, making him a bigger weapon as well. Still some things to build around for sure (assuming everyone sticks around).

There are metrics of success that most DII team would be happy with and then there are metrics of success for WLU. Rightly or wrongly WLU measures a successful season by:

Winning the conference regular season title outright. (Sorry, I don't consider it a co-title given that we lost to UC twice)
Winning the conference tourney.
Winning the Regional title.

Anything less is considered a "down year" for WLU.

As for next season, I've mentioned before that we are losing a lot of our top performers...six of our top seven scorers...six of our top seven rebounders...six of our top seven 3pt shooters...five or our top six assist getters...five of our top seven free throw makers...You get the idea, not that the cupboard is completely bare, but we are going to have to see a BIG improvement from the returning players AND front line performances from more than a couple of the of the first year (redshirts, true freshmen and transfer) players. As for my personal windmill, we have one returning Big (Woodward at 6-7), one redshirt (Kisner at 6-7) and an incoming freshman (Tinsley at 6-7). Going into the season with only one experienced Big is not ideal.

[Layton]

It’s looking like last years recruiting class was an all-time dud sans D’Augustino. Can’t happen again