West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

[Columbuseer]

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

Your point on sunahara is well taken. It was more of a prediction. My comment was based on watching him play in the Canton Akron am pro league against ex d1 players many of whom are playing outside USA. Smart player with great athletic skills, strong rebounder and can slash to the rim and dunk over you. Very high motor. Not intimidated by bigger, stronger players. Was unselfish too. I thought he was most complete player on his team but his teammates did not share the ball with him enough. Got newcomer award in the league.

Will wait to see if my assessment is anywhere close to accurate.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Same publication had dalton bolon 1st team All American.

I think we will need to be patient with wlu. A lot of new players. Our bigs ( over 6-5) are young and we are playing teams with very good big men. But the potential is there.

In 2 seasons St. crutch has his team at #2. Impressive! Sunahara is a great player and Schneider transferred from d1 ( son of a great wv high school basketball player, Jeff Schneider)

Sunahara hasn't played a college game yet. I'd go easy on the 'great' comments. Strong potential, yes.

Preseason polls are basically curses.

[Columbuseer]

One publication has WL preseason #7. That's probably fair. Had the other suspects in the Top 10, Bellarmine, NW Mo St, and had Nova Southeastern #2 preaseason.

Quite a quick rebuild from St. Crutch down there!

Same publication had dalton bolon 1st team All American.

I think we will need to be patient with wlu. A lot of new players. Our bigs ( over 6-5) are young and we are playing teams with very good big men. But the potential is there.

In 2 seasons St. crutch has his team at #2. Impressive! Sunahara is a great player and Schneider transferred from d1 ( son of a great wv high school basketball player, Jeff Schneider)

[IUP Extra Mile]

One publication has WL preseason #7. That's probably fair. Had the other suspects in the Top 10, Bellarmine, NW Mo St, and had Nova Southeastern #2 preaseason.

Quite a quick rebuild from St. Crutch down there!

[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...