West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

"NDC has good, quick athletes, many in 6-4 to 6-6 range, who can all play like guards, but are also very strong rebounders. However, waves of WLU pressure and NDC choosing to run with the Hilltoppers and play an individual 1-on-1 dribble-drive game, resulted in few assists and extreme fatigue for NDC in the second half."

I noticed the tendency of Notre Dame's players to go 1-on-1 in their game against IUP. Their attempts to dribble between 2-3 players often resulted in turnovers or ineffective offensive trips and contributed to their loss.

I don't know if it is the curse of AAU, but so many talented athletes eschew assists, challenge multiple defenders, and wind up taking low % shots or committing unnecessary turnovers.
Imho, if they shared the ball, they would get much easier shots.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

"NDC has good, quick athletes, many in 6-4 to 6-6 range, who can all play like guards, but are also very strong rebounders. However, waves of WLU pressure and NDC choosing to run with the Hilltoppers and play an individual 1-on-1 dribble-drive game, resulted in few assists and extreme fatigue for NDC in the second half."

I noticed the tendency of Notre Dame's players to go 1-on-1 in their game against IUP. Their attempts to dribble between 2-3 players often resulted in turnovers or ineffective offensive trips and contributed to their loss.

ND could be pretty decent as the year moves along. That's basically a JUCO all-star team -- which takes time to play as a team. Lot of individual talent. Their lack of size killed them against IUP - and that's even with Damir Brooks not playing that game.

The Falcons could be dangerous in the second half (or a disaster).

[Ship69]

"NDC has good, quick athletes, many in 6-4 to 6-6 range, who can all play like guards, but are also very strong rebounders. However, waves of WLU pressure and NDC choosing to run with the Hilltoppers and play an individual 1-on-1 dribble-drive game, resulted in few assists and extreme fatigue for NDC in the second half."

I noticed the tendency of Notre Dame's players to go 1-on-1 in their game against IUP. Their attempts to dribble between 2-3 players often resulted in turnovers or ineffective offensive trips and contributed to their loss.

[Columbuseer]

A Dummy’s Observations on WLU vs WV Wesleyan 11/29/23 WLU 125 - WVWU 69

WVWU Game Plan
WVWU has a starting five based on D2 transfers or junior college players. They play a 5-out offense to spread the floor and look for opportunities for open shots or drive 1-on-1 to the basket. They have some talent, but they face a huge blending task with so many new players.
Their game plan was to spread the floor, and attack the rim off the dribble or take the open three. If they break the press, they will attack the rim to score or draw fouls. To counter the WLU pressure, they will sub more frequently than normal.
First Half
WLU suffered from a Thanksgiving hangover and appeared sluggish. They were playing a perimeter game, without their usual high motion offense. Their first possession was a shot clock violation, due to good defense by WVWU and stagnant offense by WLU. WLU returned the favor by forcing a shot clock violation on WVWU’s first possession.
WLU shooting was horrendous, even though they were getting open looks. At one point they were 4-17 from three. WVWU was doing a good job in protecting the ball, as WLU got their first steal at 11:15 mark. At the first media timeout at 13:54, WLU led 15-11. At the media timeout at 9:09, WLU led 28-21. WVWU was staying within striking distance. At the 4:40 media timeout, WLU led 37-27. But the signs of fatigue were appearing in WVWU. Guys were standing on the perimeter when the WVWU shot went up, essentially conceding control of the boards to WLU. WLU had a 9-2 run and built a 17-point lead in just over 2 minutes. The half ended with WLU leading 48-31
Second Half
The rest from intermission generally only mitigates fatigue for about 5 minutes. By the first media time out at 14:58, the lead was 20. But it was becoming apparent that WVWU was vulnerable to a knock-out. In less than 2.5 minutes, WLU got 4 steals and extended the lead to 31 points at 73-42 at 12:31. WVWU had no legs left and was taking one and done shots.
The game was essentially over at that point, as WVWU was out of gas.
At 8:21, the lead reached 40 at 95-55, supported by 5 WLU steals.
At the 8-minute mark, WLU took off the trapping pressure and played man-to-man. But it really did not help WVWU that much. The lead reached 50 at 116-66 in less than 6 minutes at the 2:53 mark.
WLU reached its maximum lead of 58 points at 124-66 with 1:53 remaining in the game.
The final score was 125-69.


Keys to the game:

• Fatigue – WLU scored 52 points off turnovers, with 35 fast break points, and 17 steals among 33 forced turnovers. WLU dominated the boards 46-28. I thought WVWU played their starters too long before subbing, even though they did sub more frequently. WLU got 28 more FGA than WVWU, which offsets any advantage that an opponent might have had in shooting percentage. If WLU is shooting well, it typically means a lopsided score.
• WLU forced many five second calls on WVWU inbounds attempts.
• WVWU three point % was 50% for second half, after a 17% first half.
• The Alpha and Bravo Platoons continue to perform at high levels – Alpha was +16 over 4 shifts, Bravo was +24 over 5 shifts, and there was a mixed platoon that was +16 over 2 shifts.
• Quality depth – WLU bench points outscored WVWU’s bench 59 to 28.
• WLU only committed 12 turnovers.
• Incredible passing – WLU has elite passers with great vision. There were 30 assists on 44 FGs which is an amazing 68%.
• WLU guards demonstrated their incredibly quick hands. Typically, steals occur on intercepted passes. Today, several guards were picking the pockets of WVWU players.
• WLU shares the ball effectively, compared to WVWU’s dribble-dominant offense. WLU had an outstanding 2.5 assist to turnover ratio, compared to a bad 0.45 for WVWU.
• Despite their fast pace, WLU commits turnovers on only 14% of possessions, compared to 38% for WVWU.

Five players scored in double figures for WLU, with nine players scoring 8 or more points. Ten players saw at least 17 minutes of action, with only 1 player at 21 or more minutes (max of 24 minutes).
WVWU has experienced players who are still learning how to play together. Waves of WLU pressure and WVWU choosing to run with the Hilltoppers and play an individual 1-on-1 dribble-drive and perimeter game, resulted in few assists and extreme fatigue for WVWU in the second half.
WLU offensive rating was 145, which is amazing, and far above their incredible typical season average of 125. In addition, they held WVWU to 79, which is dominating defense.
The effective FG % as a team was 60%, and they held WVWU to 45%.

[Columbuseer]

Observations on WLU Individual Stats through 5 games

• Great shooting depth – 9 players over 56% effective FG %
• Unselfish – 7 players with Assist to Turnover Ratio > 2
• Quick Hands - 7 players averaging over 3 steals per 40 minutes of play
• Prolific scorers – 7 players averaging over 20 pts per 40 minutes of play

Leaders in Effective FG% > 50%

#	Player	AVG MINS	FTM	PTS AVG	BLK	Effective FG %	Pts Per 40Min
10	Spadafora, Dante	19.6	#	11.2	0	80.8%	22.9
2	Fergus, Darren	9	7	4.4	1	75.0%	19.6
5	Korte, John	18.6	#	13	4	65.2%	28.0
3	Woodward, Finley	18.2	7	10.2	1	64.7%	22.4
25	Rasile, Zach	20.8	9	11	0	60.5%	21.2
1	Montague, Christian	22.4	3	11	0	59.1%	19.6
13	Daugustino, Kyler	20.8	4	9.8	0	57.7%	18.8
23	West, Alek	18.4	4	8	4	56.3%	17.4
22	Hinds, Chaz	13.2	5	10.2	1	56.1%	30.9

Leaders in Assist to Turnover Ratio – ratio over 2 is good

#	Player	AVG MINS	FTM	PTS AVG	BLK	Assists per 40 min	Turnovers Per 40min	Assist to TO Ratio per 40 mins
23	West, Alek	18.4	4	8	4	9.1	1.3	7.0
11	Barnhart, Grant	5	0	1.6	0	4.8	0.0	4.8
1	Montague, Christian	22.4	3	11	0	10.7	2.5	4.3
3	Woodward, Finley	18.2	7	10.2	1	5.3	1.8	3.0
25	Rasile, Zach	20.8	9	11	0	1.9	0.8	2.5
10	Spadafora, Dante	19.6	#	11.2	0	4.5	2.0	2.2
22	Hinds, Chaz	13.2	5	10.2	1	3.6	1.8	2.0
24	Sarson, Ben	19.6	7	8.6	6	3.3	2.0	1.6
2	Fergus, Darren	9	7	4.4	1	8.0	5.3	1.5
5	Korte, John	18.6	#	13	4	5.2	3.4	1.5
4	Shuler, Lanyc	14.4	5	6.6	0	4.4	3.3	1.3
13	Daugustino, Kyler	20.8	4	9.8	0	1.9	1.5	1.3

Leaders in steals per 40 minutes

#	Player	AVG MINS	Steals Per 40Min	Blocks Per 40Min	TotalReb Per 40Min	OFFReb Per 40Min	DEFReb Per 40Min	Blocks per 40 min
10	Spadafora, Dante	19.6	6.9	0.0	6.1	2.0	4.1	0.0
23	West, Alek	18.4	4.8	1.7	8.7	3.5	5.2	1.7
1	Montague, Christian	22.4	4.3	0.0	6.4	2.9	3.6	0.0
2	Fergus, Darren	9	3.6	0.9	6.2	0.0	6.2	0.9
13	Daugustino, Kyler	20.8	3.5	0.0	3.5	1.5	1.9	0.0
4	Shuler, Lanyc	14.4	3.3	0.0	7.2	2.8	4.4	0.0
3	Woodward, Finley	18.2	3.1	0.4	7.0	2.6	4.4	0.4
22	Hinds, Chaz	13.2	2.4	0.6	9.7	4.8	4.8	0.6
25	Rasile, Zach	20.8	2.3	0.0	6.2	1.5	4.6	0.0
5	Korte, John	18.6	2.2	1.7	9.0	1.7	7.3	1.7
24	Sarson, Ben	19.6	2.0	2.4	7.3	2.0	5.3	2.4

[boatcapt]

West Liberty has assembled a Swiss army knife roster.

The scoring balance of this team is amazing!

Opponents cannot focus on just one or two players.

After 5 games:
- 5 different high point scorers (counting ties) in first 5 games.
- Only one repeat high point scorer.
- No player has scored more than 17 pts
- Avg of 6 double figure scorers per game.
- 7 players avg between 9.8 and 13.0 ppg
- 11 of 12 players have scored in double figures at least once.

I wouldn't call them a Swiss Army knife. Swiss Army knife denotes a number of specialized tools contained in one package. Better definition is a matched set of Ginsu steak knives, all super sharp, all identical to the other.

[Columbuseer]

FYI


A Dummy’s Observations on WLU at NDC 11/18/23 WLU 111- NDC 82

NDC Game Plan
NDC is a very athletic team, that is loaded with transfers who are 6-6 or below, with guard skills and excellent
rebounding ability. They started 4 players 6-4 to 6-6. They have good depth. They are a dangerous team, especially
against a half-court style opponent They have very good 1-on-1 players and are very strong rebounders. The NDC
coach has a great eye for talent, as he lost a huge amount of production from last year’s team.
Their game plan was to spread the floor, attack the rim off the dribble. and dominate the boards. If they break the
press, they will attack the rim to score or draw fouls. To counter the WLU pressure, NDC used a platoon substitution and played ten guys for substantial minutes.

First Half
In foreshadowing of a very athletic game, 6-6 220-lb RJ Ogom won the tip from Sarson, the first tip Ben has lost this year. It was a close game for the first 5 minutes, with WLU leading 13-10 at 14:43 media timeout. NDC chose to play their starters for over 5 minutes. They put in their second unit, just after a rested Alpha platoon had replaced Bravo
platoon. It was a bad matchup. Alpha dominated, increasing the lead to 29-12, getting 4 steals in about 2.5 minutes.
WLU pressure was wreaking havoc. Bravo platoon returned and extended the lead to 23 in the next 4 minutes.
WLU had forced 13 turnovers on 13 steals and the half ended with WLU leading 50-29, despite NDC
outrebounding WLU and being nearly perfect from the FT line.

Second Half
NDC could not cut the deficit, as the lead was 22 at 64-22 at the first media timeout at 14:42. NDC was making valiant efforts to score, but WLU was speeding them up and luring them into a one-on-one playground game, where the NDC players without the ball were standing around watching the dribbler, exhausted. The press led to 10 steals and easy scores for WLU.

However, when fatigue sets in, the playground shots don’t fall. NDC foul shooting and offensive rebounding was preventing a total collapse. Despite these efforts, the lead grew to 29 in less than 2 minutes at 12:54.
The game was essentially over at that point, as NDC was out of gas.

WLU reached its maximum lead of 34 points at 93-59 with 7:39 remaining in the game. The last 5 minutes were a little sloppy for WLU as they took some quick, albeit wide-open shots early in the shot clock, but with no one under to rebound. By that time, WLU had quit trapping in the backcourt.
The final score was 109-84.

Keys to the game:
 Fatigue – WLU scored 45 points off turnovers, with 25 fast break points, and 23 steals among 31 forced
turnovers, which offset NDC rebounding and FT % advantage. I thought NDC played their starters too long before subbing, even though they did platoon.
 WLU forced 74% live ball turnovers, which often led to easy scores for layups.
 NDC three point % was only 12% for the game.
 The Alpha and Bravo Platoons continue to perform at high levels – Alpha was +15 over 6 shifts, Bravo was +13 over 5 shifts, ignoring the last shift that ended the game.
 Quality depth – WLU bench points outscored NDC’s bench 50 to 35, which indicates that NDC has good
depth.
 WLU only committed 13 turnovers.
 WLU was making their threes – an elite 42 % on 15-36.
 Incredible passing – WLU has elite passers with great vision. There were many assists that made fans go
WOW!
 WLU has six extremely quick players who can harass opponent’s guards and disrupt their offense.
 WLU shares the ball effectively, compared to NDC’s dribble-dominant offense. WLU had an outstanding 2.31 assist to turnover ratio, compared to a bad 0.42 for NDC.
*Amazingly, 76% of WLU FGs were a result of assists, compared to only 42% for NDC.
 Despite their fast pace, WLU commits turnovers on only 14% of possessions, compared to 33% for NDC.


Seven players scored in double figures for WLU. Twelve players saw at least 10 minutes of action, with only 2 players at 20 or more minutes (max of 23 minutes).

NDC has good, quick athletes, many in 6-4 to 6-6 range, who can all play like guards, but are also very strong rebounders. However, waves of WLU pressure and NDC choosing to run with the Hilltoppers and play an individual 1-on-1 dribble-drive game, resulted in few assists and extreme fatigue for NDC in the second half.

NDC will be much improved by February, as they are having to blend many new players. But the talent is there.

WLU offensive rating was 116, which is very good, but somewhat below their typical incredible season average of 125. In addition, they held NDC to 90, which is great defense.

The effective shooting % as a team was 58%, and they held NDC to 49%.

Misc. Notes
There were so many wow moments in this game for WLU, from great passes, to steals in rapid succession, and sheer effort. It is well worth watching the on demand replay on mountaineast.tv.

Just one example was a sequence beginning at the 10:30 mark in the first half. After Woodward makes a layup to extend the lead to 19, NDC breaks the press and passes to 6-6 Cameron Johnson, who had leaked out and was wide open under the basket. He catches the ball standing on the left side of the rim and goes up for a monster slam.

Daren Fergus is sprinting past everyone toward the goal. As Johnson starts to throw the ball down from high above the rim, 6-1 Darren meets him above the rim! Darren cleanly blocks the dunk with BOTH hands, snatches the ball from Johnson’s hands while in mid-air and takes off toward the WLU goal. Darren then attacks the paint and makes a beautiful assist to Woodward for a layup. The fans were looking at each other in disbelief, not sure if the sequence
they just saw was real. For WVU fans, it evoked images of the legendary shot blocker Sagaba Konate from 2019, who amazed fans with two-handed blocks. But Sagaba was 6-7 and Darren is 6-1!

Effective Shooting %
The effective shooting % of many WLU players was excellent. This stat weighs the value of the 3-point shot 50% more than a 2-pt shot, which allows more effective comparison with post players, etc. A perfect score for a 2-pt shooter who does not miss is 100%. However, if the shooter only shoots threes and never misses, the maximum possible value is 150%. Here were the top effective shooters:

Spadafora 125%
Montague 86%
Hinds 85%
Rasile 81%
Woodward 67%
D'Augustino 58%
Korte 56%
Fergus 50%

[IUPalum]

West Liberty has assembled a Swiss army knife roster.

The scoring balance of this team is amazing!

Opponents cannot focus on just one or two players.

After 5 games:
- 5 different high point scorers (counting ties) in first 5 games.
- Only one repeat high point scorer.
- No player has scored more than 17 pts
- Avg of 6 double figure scorers per game.
- 7 players avg between 9.8 and 13.0 ppg
- 11 of 12 players have scored in double figures at least once.

Ok Ben!

[Columbuseer]

[QUOTE=Layton;n799997]Thought I had the other day, would you rather have an alpha that’s head and shoulders better than everyone around him but defenses can key on him or just a roster of really good players but no alphas that defenses can’t key on?[/QUOTE

I think it would depend on which option results in greatest amount of team synergy.

In most cases, I would prefer 12 payers who are alpha minus or beta plus players who can shoot, play D, force turnovers, and who get 30 assists a game.

Quality depth lowers the probability of losing due to the alpha having an off night. In a tight game, opponents must defend everyone in the final minute, as everyone has the green light.

However, if the alpha is unselfish and shares the ball, that would be tempting.

[Layton]

Thought I had the other day, would you rather have an alpha that’s head and shoulders better than everyone around him but defenses can key on him or just a roster of really good players but no alphas that defenses can’t key on?

[Columbuseer]

West Liberty has assembled a Swiss army knife roster.

The scoring balance of this team is amazing!

Opponents cannot focus on just one or two players.

After 5 games:
- 5 different high point scorers (counting ties) in first 5 games.
- Only one repeat high point scorer.
- No player has scored more than 17 pts
- Avg of 6 double figure scorers per game.
- 7 players avg between 9.8 and 13.0 ppg
- 11 of 12 players have scored in double figures at least once.

[boatcapt]

Just really outdated from a looks standpoint. Can’t speak to how good it is to play on but I’m sure it’s fine for that aspect. Although I’m a stickler for aesthetics

From that standpoint, I agree. One of the top DII teams in the nation should have a more visually appealing floors. The only avenue to WLU for many (most) potential players and fans is what their eyes see on broadcasts. There is certainly much more to WLU basketball, but the first hook is what they see. Kind of like Boise State and their blue field. Probably not many can tell you how they did back in the day, but they always remembered the carpet and maybe tuned in a couple of extra times because of it.

[Layton]

Layton you are much closer than I am. Is there a problem with the surface or is it an ascetic thing? It doesn't come across on line as a bad surface. But it is pretty standard. Doesn't make it bad persay...just not eye grabbing.

Just really outdated from a looks standpoint. Can’t speak to how good it is to play on but I’m sure it’s fine for that aspect. Although I’m a stickler for aesthetics

[boatcapt]

Has there been any talks about getting a new floor anytime soon? We could really use a refresh

Layton you are much closer than I am. Is there a problem with the surface or is it an ascetic thing? It doesn't come across on line as a bad surface. But it is pretty standard. Doesn't make it bad persay...just not eye grabbing.

[Columbuseer]

FYI
West Liberty national stats thru Nov 21

#1 Assists 26.4
#1 Turnovers margin 16.2 #2 Nova se 15

#2 Turnovers forced 27.2. #1 Nova se 30.67
#2 Steals 17.2 #1 nova se 22
#2 Bench points 52.2

#3 Scoring margin 35
#3 Scoring 105.6
#3 3pt attempts 37
#3 Assist to turnover ratio 2.36

#4 3pts made 13

#10. 3 pt defense 25 %
#10. Fast break pts 20.2