West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

OT (somewhat)
Nova SE Sikou Sylla is national player of the year.
I guess not everyone outside the PSAC thought Alston was a much better player. LOL
Chosen by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA),

https://nsusharks.com/news/2022/3/21...-the-year.aspx

Oh, what might have been...

Alston didn't win PSAC West Player of the Year. If you don't do that, you aren't likely winning National POY.

[Columbuseer]

OT (somewhat)
Nova SE Sikou Sylla is national player of the year.
I guess not everyone outside the PSAC thought Alston was a much better player. LOL
Chosen by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA),

https://nsusharks.com/news/2022/3/21...-the-year.aspx

Oh, what might have been...

[Columbuseer]

Spadafora also played for a tiny Catholic school notorious for bringing in ringers - thus having completely loaded teams playing in a dinky classification against small rural schools.

I know he's a good player, bit that discussion could be its own thread.

That may account for their large margins of victory and 60+ game winning streak.
However, another factor is that they press the whole game (or until the game is out of reach), like WLU.
In 20-21 season, they played Aliquippa and Highland. In fact Aliquippa was the last team to beat them two years ago. They also played constitution in state finals, who was far more athletic.

Like WLU, I suspect they have problems scheduling out of conference games.


I would separate the school from the player. Dante had lower D1 offers.
In watching OLSH games online, Dante never took plays off, regardless of the score. Great shooter, great passer, unselfish, great quickness.
One example: Up by 30 with 30 seconds left, Dante misses a 3 from the corner. Opponent gets long rebound past the top of the key with a clear path for a meaningless layup. Dante takes off from the corner, running past teammates and opponents until he catches the guy at the rim and stops the layup. Amazing effort.

Another example: In a pre season scrimmage, Montague got a turnover around mid court and had an open court to score. Despite being 20 feet behind him and not being his man, Dante caught Montague from behind and kept him from a layup.

He is really fast, with long arms for his size.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Happens all too often, especially those that were a big fish in a little pond.
But there is hope. Dante Spadafora was a Fab 5 player in Pittsburgh, Co-wpial player of the year. Big fish in a big pond. He recognized the huge jump in talent, speed and strength from HS to college. He understood the benefit of a redshirt. Mature young man who will have great success.

Spadafora also played for a tiny Catholic school notorious for bringing in ringers - thus having completely loaded teams playing in a dinky classification against small rural schools.

I know he's a good player, bit that discussion could be its own thread.

[Columbuseer]

The down side of bring in "athletes" (read, players who were big deals in HS). Many are going to leave if they don't get playing time their freshman year...or if coach asks them to do somthing they don't want to do (like play defense in this case).

Happens all too often, especially those that were a big fish in a little pond.
But there is hope. Dante Spadafora was a Fab 5 player in Pittsburgh, Co-wpial player of the year. Big fish in a big pond. He recognized the huge jump in talent, speed and strength from HS to college. He understood the benefit of a redshirt. Mature young man who will have great success.

[boatcapt]

All these 6-7 players whose advisors are saying you are too good for wlu need to just look in the mirror.
Forget your basketball skills. Are you built like Phil Alston? That is the requisite body type for d1 interest. That is reality. It does not matter if you shoot better or dribble better. Just watch March madness and watch the knucklehead plays by players whose physical stature is off the charts.

The down side of bring in "athletes" (read, players who were big deals in HS). Many are going to leave if they don't get playing time their freshman year...or if coach asks them to do somthing they don't want to do (like play defense in this case).

[Columbuseer]

Powell to the portal

Sorry to see him go. Would love to know the inside story as to why he was never required to learn to play defense in high school. That put him behind the 8 ball. Great athletic and shooting skills. Could have blossomed with another year of hard work.

[Layton]

Powell to the portal

[Columbuseer]

All these 6-7 players whose advisors are saying you are too good for wlu need to just look in the mirror.
Forget your basketball skills. Are you built like Phil Alston? That is the requisite body type for d1 interest. That is reality. It does not matter if you shoot better or dribble better. Just watch March madness and watch the knucklehead plays by players whose physical stature is off the charts.

[Columbuseer]

FYI
offensive highlights for commit Finley.
born in Bury St. Edmund, near Suffolk England.

Note his passing for assists and open court ball handling. Typical euro skills.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1488290553791926274

[Columbuseer]

Well they are out there. We live in the internet age so identifying overseas players is easier than back in the day. Identify 20 that you like and invite them all for an official visit at the same time. Watch a game and have an "open gym" practice. Maybe 12 of the 20 decide to come, a further 3 decide WLU is too rural and another 3 get scared away by the practice. That's 6 euros that are willing to come play at WLU...find 4 gym rat Americans that haven't been destroyed by AAU ball...roll out the basketballs at the begining of the season and go win a National Championship!!

Great plan.
Excellent observation about gym rats. I think u have to be one to rise to the top at wlu. He who works hardest improves the most. Examples are Butler and rasile. Webb is a gym rat too but injury to yoakum forced him into action and out of a redshirt year. He will surprise folks before he is done at wlu.

[boatcapt]

If we did play 15 euros, we just might win the national title. We would no longer have to spend so much time unlearning their bad AAU habits!
That is how gonzaga got started , with international players.

Well they are out there. We live in the internet age so identifying overseas players is easier than back in the day. Identify 20 that you like and invite them all for an official visit at the same time. Watch a game and have an "open gym" practice. Maybe 12 of the 20 decide to come, a further 3 decide WLU is too rural and another 3 get scared away by the practice. That's 6 euros that are willing to come play at WLU...find 4 gym rat Americans that haven't been destroyed by AAU ball...roll out the basketballs at the begining of the season and go win a National Championship!!

[Columbuseer]

Was he a starter at SPIRE? How many games did he play in? Who did SPIRE play and how did they do? Who was his coach at SPIRE? What team style did they play?

Seems like these PG Academies are long on talk but online information about results or player performance is almost non-existent. You mentioned IMG as an opponent in another post and sure enough, the SPIRE site does show a "Florida Trip" between 12/9 and 12/19 that lists DME - Centre Point - IMG as opponents, yet IMG's schedule for their PG team does not show SPIRE as an opponent that week, or any week. Not saying the game didn't happen, but there is no indication it did.

Can't answer any of your questions. Maybe an interesting Google project for someone (but not me)... One highlight was played on IMG court based on markings. Was it IMG? Would need to check roster of img
Maybe check his Twitter for clues.

[boatcapt]

Have watched most of his highlights to assess skills and mechanics (but not stats as no one misses in highlights lol) and read what bball scouts say about him.

Main thing is a very high level of competition. Spire is a basketball academy. Not your wv class a team.

Was he a starter at SPIRE? How many games did he play in? Who did SPIRE play and how did they do? Who was his coach at SPIRE? What team style did they play?

Seems like these PG Academies are long on talk but online information about results or player performance is almost non-existent. You mentioned IMG as an opponent in another post and sure enough, the SPIRE site does show a "Florida Trip" between 12/9 and 12/19 that lists DME - Centre Point - IMG as opponents, yet IMG's schedule for their PG team does not show SPIRE as an opponent that week, or any week. There is a video posted online that says a game between the two took place but nothing that lines out how individual players did.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
Defensive highlights for Finley Woodard.
Confirms huge defensive upgrade compared to departing underclassmen, since he is older, stronger, and has had better hs coaching.

Note how he plays defense with his feet not his hands (no reaching). Shuts off drives of quick guards with great footwork. Good, low defensive stance. He did not learn this in AAU lol!

spire has folks from usa and Europe. Have to be good just to be admitted.

He is #3.

https://youtu.be/hjwxvkJ4SvI

They don't play chumps either. They play teams like IMG Academy.