West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Bballfan]

A number of factors. COVID obviously accelerated the small college decline with lower enrollment. Online schooling. Trade schools. Apprenticeship programs. Less kids are going to college and typically private schools are more expensive than public schools. Then the Catholic church has started pulling out their funding and support. Wheeling a few years ago. Notre Dame College last year. There is a school in the east (Saint Rose I believe) that also lost its funding and is now closing. Many of the small D3 schools are surviving on huge endorsements, but they are not going to be immune either. A few Ohio D3 schools are now on life support too. Going to get worse.

[Topper_Hopper]

What's causing all of this? The Notre Dame articles mention changes in demographics / a shrinking college-age population, costs, etc.

Maybe also something to do w/ large/online-schools stealing enrollment that would have otherwise attended a smaller school?

[Bballfan]

Wheeling College will be the next to fall. The G-MAC could be looking at losing a couple too. Lake Erie College is in about as bad a shape as Wheeling and Notre Dame College. Multiple colleges are going to shut their doors over the next few years. Survival of the fittest.

[Scrub]

And with the firing of Wheeling's President a week or two ago, one has to wonder if that life-support university is gasping its last breaths. And if so, that would mean the MEC would be looking for multiple members over a few short years (after just replacing AB this year).

[boatcapt]

Quite frankly, the Conference blew it. I'm not talking about NDC specifically but they have blown it by three major actions...First they cleaved to the "12 team limit" for conference size. Limiting the conference to 12 teams put us on the razors edge and ever time a school fell, the conference was left to scramble to try and pick-up almost anyone to get back to 12. Second, and this was partly driven by the first, they quite often accepted schools of lesser quality that were doomed to fail. Third, we always seem to be reacting to a school announcing it is closing...While the general public might not be aware a school is in serious financial trouble, I find it hard to believe the conference was caught COMPLETELY unaware. Yet, time and time again, the conference seems to be caught completely unaware and only after the school actually closes do they go into crisis mode and search for the first school that says yes to joining.

I guess the only silver lining is that the conference won't have to update their offers to schools that expressed interest in joining after the AB failure. Just call them and see if they are still interested in joining.

Conference has zero forsight or long term plan. There only plan seems to be, get to 12 members. Once there, all work seems to stop until the next school closes. They remind me of a dog chasing a frisbee.

[Scrub]

That may have been the last ever WL vs ND game.

ND is closing after this semester.

Wow. That's huge. Obviously I don't follow that school (outside of athletics) quite as closely as others, but I had no idea they were in that kind of shape. Not like Urbana (where the writing was on the wall for a while) and not like Wheeling that seems to be hanging on the thinnest of threads right now. This one seems to come out of nowhere.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That may have been the last ever WL vs ND game.

ND is closing after this semester.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

But even in the instances you cite, it's possible that in-conference familiarity plays a role. IUP & Cal know each other so well. Cal has been able to handle most other teams much more easily. And imagine if Cal gets matched up with a Concord, Fayetteville, Claflin, or whomever. Those teams won't know Cal like IUP knows Cal, and I'd bet Cal would have their way.

You're actually sorta supporting my point that these late-season conference grinders seem to be happening all around the leagues (and seem to prompted by extreme familiarity). But it almost feels like a whole new game once you get to the dance and out of your own conference.

Pressure changes everything.

Those teams are all 0-0 next week in the conference tournaments.

Same opponents. Familiar settings. But, that pressure can be a b!tch to an inexperienced March team.

It's the beauty (and, for some, nightmare) of March basketball. One and done changes everything.

[Scrub]

Casey Stitzel is nobody's favorite guy outside of Millersville, but you don't want to underestimate the Marauders. Against a Gannon team that plays a style similar to West Liberty, beat Charleston, and put up 140 on Glenville, Millersville took a 99-78 win earlier in the season. They split in two games with East Stroudsburg, the only other PSAC team that runs a ton of full-court defense. Like any other D2 team, Millersville can look lights-out one night and not so great the next, but they have a very nice mix of overall size and experience.

Oh don't worry--I know The Ville is legit. I was just trying to think of an example of a coach/team that wouldn't have a ton of experience against a system like WLU's. I just think those cross-conference Regional match-ups are so much fun and so unexpected. On one hand you can get dominating performances out of front-running teams who catch an unsuspecting opponent by storm. But you can also get interesting upsets where an "unknown" jumps up and bites a big dog (like when Hurst went into Wheeling and took out the 1 seed on day one).

So, no, I meant no disrespect to Sitzel & Millersville. They're absolutely deserving of a bid and can beat any of these teams on any night for sure. I was just trying to come up with an example of a team we don't talk about much on here who might not be as familiar with the style and therefore might create an interesting/fun/surprising match-up.

And in that vein, don't get me started on in-conference match-ups in the Regional (insert eye roll). Hate that.

By this point in the season, I'm growing tired of slugging it out with NDC/Concord/Wheeling/Glenville and excited for interesting new match-ups is all.

[Ship69]

I also kinda can't wait to get outside the conference (if WLU is lucky enough to finish strong and make the field). I feel like the coaches in the conference who have been here awhile (May, Poore, Richmond, Koenig, etc.) have figured out so many ways to challenge what WLU tries to do. But a guy like, say for a random example, Casey Sitzel at Millersville would only have film (rather than years of experience) to go on. I feel like some of these gutty wins WLU has had to pull out the last month or two are partly a product of being so familiar to conference coaches.

Obviously, there's no guarantee that a Millersville, ESU, Fayetteville, etc. is an easy win for WLU. That's not at all what I'm saying. Those teams pose their own kind of match-up problems for WLU. But I do feel like the familiarity in-conference creates these grinder games that seem to happen less frequently out-of-conference.

Danny & Fee, of course, are the big wild cards. They're out-of-conference coaches with MUCH familiarity with what WLU does.

At this point, as they say, it's all about the match-ups.

For now, it's on to Wheeling to try to finish this thing out!

Casey Stitzel is nobody's favorite guy outside of Millersville, but you don't want to underestimate the Marauders. Against a Gannon team that plays a style similar to West Liberty, beat Charleston, and put up 140 on Glenville, Millersville took a 99-78 win earlier in the season. They split in two games with East Stroudsburg, the only other PSAC team that runs a ton of full-court defense. Like any other D2 team, Millersville can look lights-out one night and not so great the next, but they have a very nice mix of overall size and experience.

[Scrub]

I was pretty high on Cal but after seeing them in person twice I'm not so sure.

Two different times now they've really struggled against a very depleted IUP team.

Part of that is IUP is still (usually) pretty strong defensively and has really taken Cal out of its rythem both games. To be honest, if IUP had any offense aside from two guys they'd have probably won both games.

The last four IUP teams would have lit this Cal team up. It could also be IUP had to really muck these games up and forced Cal to play extremely slow (way out of their comfort zone).

Don't get me wrong. Cal is very strong. They are big, deep, very athletic and can shoot. They have a swagger.

I'm just not sure anymore what to expect from them in the Regional. Lombardi had a great plan against them. He was just a horse short to win the race.

I wouldn't be shocked if they go out in Round 1 or if they cut down the nets on Tuesday night. They can run and bang, which makes them a very difficult matchup. They don't even start Keith Palek. He's a 6'8" matchup nightmare off the bench. The two starting bigs, Hall and Lucas, are as much guards as they are forwards.

But even in the instances you cite, it's possible that in-conference familiarity plays a role. IUP & Cal know each other so well. Cal has been able to handle most other teams much more easily. And imagine if Cal gets matched up with a Concord, Fayetteville, Claflin, or whomever. Those teams won't know Cal like IUP knows Cal, and I'd bet Cal would have their way.

You're actually sorta supporting my point that these late-season conference grinders seem to be happening all around the leagues (and seem to prompted by extreme familiarity). But it almost feels like a whole new game once you get to the dance and out of your own conference.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I also kinda can't wait to get outside the conference (if WLU is lucky enough to finish strong and make the field). I feel like the coaches in the conference who have been here awhile (May, Poore, Richmond, Koenig, etc.) have figured out so many ways to challenge what WLU tries to do. But a guy like, say for a random example, Casey Sitzel at Millersville would only have film (rather than years of experience) to go on. I feel like some of these gutty wins WLU has had to pull out the last month or two are partly a product of being so familiar to conference coaches.

Obviously, there's no guarantee that a Millersville, ESU, Fayetteville, etc. is an easy win for WLU. That's not at all what I'm saying. Those teams pose their own kind of match-up problems for WLU. But I do feel like the familiarity in-conference creates these grinder games that seem to happen less frequently out-of-conference.

Danny & Fee, of course, are the big wild cards. They're out-of-conference coaches with MUCH familiarity with what WLU does.

At this point, as they say, it's all about the match-ups.

For now, it's on to Wheeling to try to finish this thing out!

I was pretty high on Cal but after seeing them in person twice I'm not so sure.

Two different times now they've really struggled against a very depleted IUP team.

Part of that is IUP is still (usually) pretty strong defensively and has really taken Cal out of its rythem both games. To be honest, if IUP had any offense aside from two guys they'd have probably won both games.

The last four IUP teams would have lit this Cal team up. It could also be IUP had to really muck these games up and forced Cal to play extremely slow (way out of their comfort zone).

Don't get me wrong. Cal is very strong. They are big, deep, very athletic and can shoot. They have a swagger.

I'm just not sure anymore what to expect from them in the Regional. Lombardi had a great plan against them. He was just a horse short to win the race.

I wouldn't be shocked if they go out in Round 1 or if they cut down the nets on Tuesday night. They can run and bang, which makes them a very difficult matchup. They don't even start Keith Palek. He's a 6'8" matchup nightmare off the bench. The two starting bigs, Hall and Lucas, are as much guards as they are forwards.

[Scrub]

I'm a believer in a team having a limited number of "gut it out wins" during a given season. :Last two games have been gut it out W's. Don't know if WLU has enough gut W's left to win through the NC game.

I also kinda can't wait to get outside the conference (if WLU is lucky enough to finish strong and make the field). I feel like the coaches in the conference who have been here awhile (May, Poore, Richmond, Koenig, etc.) have figured out so many ways to challenge what WLU tries to do. But a guy like, say for a random example, Casey Sitzel at Millersville would only have film (rather than years of experience) to go on. I feel like some of these gutty wins WLU has had to pull out the last month or two are partly a product of being so familiar to conference coaches.

Obviously, there's no guarantee that a Millersville, ESU, Fayetteville, etc. is an easy win for WLU. That's not at all what I'm saying. Those teams pose their own kind of match-up problems for WLU. But I do feel like the familiarity in-conference creates these grinder games that seem to happen less frequently out-of-conference.

Danny & Fee, of course, are the big wild cards. They're out-of-conference coaches with MUCH familiarity with what WLU does.

At this point, as they say, it's all about the match-ups.

For now, it's on to Wheeling to try to finish this thing out!

[boatcapt]

What a wild ending on a night when NDC seemed like they couldn't miss and had the Hilltoppers dead in the water.

That final sequence was crazy--Zach Rasile went from dog to hero in about 8 seconds. With the game tied at 85, Rasile--thinking WLU was down--commits the stop-the-clock hand-check foul on the ballhandler (who appeared to be about to call a timeout anyway) to try to "extend the game" with about 9 seconds to go. He's obviously devastated when he discovers that it was actually tied and was, therefore, a no-foul situation. NDC shooter makes both putting NDC up 87-85. Rasile then hits a contested fading 3 with 1 second left to seal the win. What a crazy finish to save the season.

When WLU was down 8 with 4 to go, it sure looked like the bubble had burst.

Hats off to Rasile for hitting when it counts--nice moment for him to get that game winner.

I'm a believer in a team having a limited number of "gut it out wins" during a given season. :Last two games have been gut it out W's. Don't know if WLU has enough gut W's left to win through the NC game.

[Scrub]

What a wild ending on a night when NDC seemed like they couldn't miss and had the Hilltoppers dead in the water.

That final sequence was crazy--Zach Rasile went from dog to hero in about 8 seconds. With the game tied at 85, Rasile--thinking WLU was down--commits the stop-the-clock hand-check foul on the ballhandler (who appeared to be about to call a timeout anyway) to try to "extend the game" with about 9 seconds to go. He's obviously devastated when he discovers that it was actually tied and was, therefore, a no-foul situation. NDC shooter makes both putting NDC up 87-85. Rasile then hits a contested fading 3 with 1 second left to seal the win. What a crazy finish to save the season.

When WLU was down 8 with 4 to go, it sure looked like the bubble had burst.

Hats off to Rasile for hitting when it counts--nice moment for him to get that game winner.