West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

If you haven't seen Shaw's gym it is pretty unique. It's a shoebox. Very claustrophobic and tight.

They beat East Stroudsburg down there last year. Of course, they had Amir Hinton, too.

I think the last time we played was at WLU in Regional Semifinal in 2011 when WLU was 30-0 and #1 in country. WLU won 98-93 versus a very talented Shaw team.
Here is a great 30 second highlight of unselfish play in the Shaw game. I have not seen this in AAU games that I have watched.LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgIAu16kMDI

Note that Pelle #11 blocked the shot and then immediately hustled down the floor to deliver the last pass to Faulk for the layup! Great defense to offense transition. A typical AAU player would have gestured to the crowd after the blocked shot.and would have been a non-factor in the fast break.

Alex Faulk later became national player of the year. He is now a physician's assistant.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Interesting schedule for Nov Tournament games at Shaw in Raleigh NC
Host Shaw plays on Friday Night
West Lib plays Mansfield Saturday. Then West Lib plays Shaw on Sunday.
Have not seen a 24 hour home field advantage between games before. LOL

Any suggestions on how the Shaw team should spend their Saturday? Maybe...
1) Group Hypnosis to forget AAU ball tendencies?
2) Church?
3) Spend day breathing pure oxygen to get ready for Sunday?

Just kidding. It should be a challenging game.

If you haven't seen Shaw's gym it is pretty unique. It's a shoebox. Very claustrophobic and tight.

They beat East Stroudsburg down there last year. Of course, they had Amir Hinton, too.

[Columbuseer]

Interesting schedule for Nov Tournament games at Shaw in Raleigh NC
Host Shaw plays on Friday Night
West Lib plays Mansfield Saturday. Then West Lib plays Shaw on Sunday.
Have not seen a 24 hour home field advantage between games before. LOL

Any suggestions on how the Shaw team should spend their Saturday? Maybe...
1) Group Hypnosis to forget AAU ball tendencies?
2) Church?
3) Spend day breathing pure oxygen to get ready for Sunday?

Just kidding. It should be a challenging game.

[boatcapt]

Yeah ... it's been five years now since the last game.

We've been waiting!!!

[Columbuseer]

He's going to do just fine there but I don't see it this year (unless he can sneak Will Vorhees on to the team).

They lost a TON and he got there late.

That said, moving forward he should be able to recruit to FSU dramatically easier than to ND.

I am going to have to take a Missouri "Show me" on him. When he had Voorhees bringing the ball up against WL at the game at ND, I was left shaking my head. Voorhees was totally gassed late in the game. Especially when you have an all Philly CIty League guard on the team in Thurman. FSU with Mazulla and WL often competed for the same type of players. I hope that his style will reduce this competition, but who knows?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

And don't sleep on Koenig as an X-factor. He seemed to really come into his own as a coach during NDC's impressive MEC tourney run last spring. I would bet on him finding a creative way to use the pieces he has left at FSU and putting together a little run.

He's going to do just fine there but I don't see it this year (unless he can sneak Will Vorhees on to the team).

They lost a TON and he got there late.

That said, moving forward he should be able to recruit to FSU dramatically easier than to ND.

[Scrub]

I agree. Charleston has the right mix to win. Big man plus great scoring guard and 3 point shooter. If they catch them on a bad night, I could see them winning. Fairmont is an unknown with their graduation and transfer losses.

And don't sleep on Koenig as an X-factor. He seemed to really come into his own as a coach during NDC's impressive MEC tourney run last spring. I would bet on him finding a creative way to use the pieces he has left at FSU and putting together a little run.

[Columbuseer]

I don't see WL going undefeated, I see a loss at Charleston or Fairmont or somewhere in the regular season, but more than 2, and that's a huge upset...They will be really good and deep..and can see WL and IUP in a collision course in March....It will be alot of fun to see how they get there though...

I agree. Charleston has the right mix to win. Big man plus great scoring guard and 3 point shooter. If they catch them on a bad night, I could see them winning. Fairmont is an unknown with their graduation and transfer losses.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don't see WL going undefeated, I see a loss at Charleston or Fairmont or somewhere in the regular season, but more than 2, and that's a huge upset...They will be really good and deep..and can see WL and IUP in a collision course in March....It will be alot of fun to see how they get there though...

Yeah ... it's been five years now since the last game.

[IUP Extra Mile]

I don't see WL going undefeated, I see a loss at Charleston or Fairmont or somewhere in the regular season, but more than 2, and that's a huge upset...They will be really good and deep..and can see WL and IUP in a collision course in March....It will be alot of fun to see how they get there though...

[Columbuseer]

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I wanted to try out a post on the new board and bump the WL thread...Can't let it get buried.

Also, where does everyone think WL will be ranked in the preseason top 20? I'm saying top 4...They'll be good, but typically the national folks inflate WL in the rankings, just a hair...

And better question- Will IUP or WL be higher in the preseason rankings? (I know, I know, each team would rather be ranked higher at the END of the year...)

Doesn't WL start every year No. 1?

IUP ... depends how in-depth they actually research it. Typically, the preseason rankings are a stooge festival. IUP will be better this year than last year but from afar the roster transition could scare people in such 'researched' preseason lists.

Unless somebody else comes out of nowhere, they are the clear two front-runners in the Atlantic. UPJ is getting a lot of buzz (and will be very good).

My pick is if WL wins up at Daemen ... they go undefeated in the regular season. I see the 'second' team in the MEC being about 5 miles behind WL this year (talent-wise). I still think WL will run in to issues under the basket in March, however.


West Chester and Virginia State both lost a ton. Neither roster is posted yet. I suspect they reload quickly. Same with Slippery Rock.

Kutztown, Shippensburg, UPJ and Millersville will all be very solid. Fairmont State is in transition and lost a ton (graduation and players leaving).

With the very bad news out of East Stroudsburg it's hard to say what course its season will take.

Mercyhurst brought in some real intriguing imports -- especially under the basket. The guards are a different subject, however. They won't be near what they were a year ago.

[boatcapt]

I wanted to try out a post on the new board and bump the WL thread...Can't let it get buried.

Also, where does everyone think WL will be ranked in the preseason top 20? I'm saying top 4...They'll be good, but typically the national folks inflate WL in the rankings, just a hair...

And better question- Will IUP or WL be higher in the preseason rankings? (I know, I know, each team would rather be ranked higher at the END of the year...)

WLU will be ranked #1 by at least two of the pre-season polls.

[IUP Extra Mile]

I wanted to try out a post on the new board and bump the WL thread...Can't let it get buried.

Also, where does everyone think WL will be ranked in the preseason top 20? I'm saying top 4...They'll be good, but typically the national folks inflate WL in the rankings, just a hair...

And better question- Will IUP or WL be higher in the preseason rankings? (I know, I know, each team would rather be ranked higher at the END of the year...)

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I read a news article from Monteroso's football days at Perdue. It was an interview of players on the basketball team. One of the questions asked was who is the best basketball player not on the team. To a man they all said Monteroso. They said he would practice with the team sometimes and just light them up!! Hard to say he would have started (didn't follow the team so I don't know who they had) but it seems like the players thought that if he was on the team, he would have contributed quite a bit.

Scored over 2000 pts in high school.
At wl he once played basketball game on Friday, played football on Saturday afternoon, and then played second basketball game Saturday night. Incredible athlete!