West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Observations from a Dummy - Final four WLU vs Black Hills State Univ

BHSU was very well coached, with last year’s national player of the year and an all-region player.
IMHO BHSU could have won

• with better foul shooting
• more focus on getting ball to Scott inside in the first half.
• Keeping Scott inside on defense and sending another player to guard our center in the corner

WLU could have won by more if:

• Reduced missing shots at the rim that we usually make
• Average FT %
• Butler did not have to leave due to injury (nose) late in the game.

WLU Offense

• WLU was below average offensively at 116 points per possession (average is 124), which is still better than nearly all teams. It was primarily due to:
  • Poor FT % of 55% versus average of 74%
  • BHSU did a great job in limiting 3 pt shots to 20 (below average of 36)
• Assists were below average due to BHSU defensive strategy to stop kick out for 3-point shot.
  • WLU put center in corner for three which drew Scott away from basket – advantage of positionless basketball. This left large gaps in the lane for dribble drive.
  • BHSU did not have guards who could stay in front of our guards so the lane was open for dribble penetration
• BHSU limited WLU to 53% effective shooting % (avg 58%) due to denial of 3 pt shots and some missing easy shots at the rim.
• WLU took amazing care of the ball, with turnovers on only 7% of possessions. 15% is a very good number (BHSU had 16%).

WLU Defense

• BHSU has elite offensive efficiency of 115 pts per 100 possessions. WLU held them to 106, despite the fact Scott was nearly unstoppable in the second half and we gave up many needless and-ones.
• WLU limited BHSU 2 pt shooting % to 44% (average of 59%), but more importantly held their shooting efficiency to 50% (Average of 59%)

Statistic	West Liberty Season	BHSU Season	BHSU Final Four 3/23/23	West Liberty Final Four 3/23/23
FGM	1273	1009	27	32
FGA	2565	2009	64	66
FTM	514	392	18	16
FTA	688	533	29	29
Three Point FGM	439	348	10	7
three Point FGA	1146	881	25	20
OFF REB	445	221	12	9
Assists	781	484	15	13
Turnovers	400	386	12	5
Steals	377	182	0	7
Turnovers Forced	677	354	5	12
Points	3499	2758	82	87
Games Played	35	34	1	1
Number of Possessions	2823	2409	77	75
Avg. Possessions per Game	81	71	77	75
Pts per Possession	1.24	1.15	1.07	1.16
Offensive Rating - pts/100 possessions	124	115	107	116
Shooting Efficiency (FGM +0.5*3ptFGM)/FGA	58.2%	58.9%	50.0%	53.8%
FT %	74.7%	73.5%	62.1%	55.2%
3PT%	38.3%	39.5%	40.0%	35.0%
2PT%	58.8%	58.6%	43.6%	54.3%
Turnovers Per Game	11.4	11.4	12.0	5.0
Turnover %	14.2%	16.0%	15.6%	6.7%
Forced Turnovers per Game	19.3	10.4	5.0	12.0
Percent Forced Live Ball Turnovers	55.7%	51.4%	0.0%	58.3%
Assists % of FG Made	61.4%	48.0%	55.6%	40.6%
Assist to Turnover Ratio	1.95	1.25	1.25	2.60

[Columbuseer]

Elite 8 WLU vs New Haven

WLU Offense

• WLU was above average at offensive rating at 132 points per 100 possessions – elite
• WLU had assists on 78% of made FGs while UNH was 48%, as they relied on 1-on-1 play
• Surprisingly, WLU won the offensive rebounding battle 12-9.
• WLU Effective FG % of 63% well above their average of 56%, compared to a slightly below average 51% for UNH

WLU Defense

• WLU shutdown UNH on defense – limiting offensive rating to 81 points per 100 possessions, well below their average of 106. When one falls below 95, it is very difficult to win.
• WLU forced 26 turnovers, well above their average of 19 forced turnovers
• WLU forced many dead ball turnovers due to errant passes by UNH; imho a combination of pressure and cognitive fatigue.
• They limited 7-1 center Majur to 4 points – not a factor offensively

Statistic	West Liberty Season	New Haven Season	West Liberty Elite 8 3/21/23	New Haven Elite 8 3/21/23
FGM	1237	836	36	23
FGA	2495	1815	70	49
FTA	679	454	9	12
Three Point FGM	423	237	16	4
three Point FGA	1110	712	36	14
OFF REB	433	240	12	9
Assists	753	396	28	11
Turnovers	390	348	10	26
Steals	367	170	10	6
Turnovers Forced	651	314	26	10
Points	3404	2254	95	58
Games Played	34	33	1	1
Number of Possessions	2751	2123	72	71
Avg. Possessions per Game	81	64	72	71
Pts per Possession	1.24	1.06	1.32	0.81
Offensive Rating - pts/100 possessions	124	106	132	81
Shooting Efficiency (FGM +0.5*3ptFGM)/FGA	58.1%	52.6%	62.9%	51.0%
Turnover %	14.2%	16.4%	13.9%	36.5%
Forced Turnovers per Game	19.1	9.5	26.0	10.0
Percent Forced Live Ball Turnovers	56.4%	54.1%	38.5%	60.0%
Assists % of FG Made	60.9%	47.4%	77.8%	47.8%
Assist to Turnover Ratio	1.93	1.14	2.80	0.42

[Layton]

We make the final four and nothing acknowledging it on the basketball social medias. Yikes!

[Columbuseer]

Bryce Butler named d2cca 1st team All American!
https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...-american.aspx

[Layton]

Crutch spoke at sports banquet at his hs. No hard feelings here. Only heard good things about him.
Glad he wound up at a premier program in IUP.

Must’ve forgot he ended up there. He took a lot out of poor Boat

[Columbuseer]

No one compares to the legend Chucky Humphries

Crutch spoke at sports banquet at his hs. No hard feelings here. Only heard good things about him.
Glad he wound up at a premier program in IUP.

[Columbuseer]

It was Ariel Watson. Much of his WLU "career" has been stricken...His name has been removed from the 2018-19 roster, his player profile has been scrubbed and you can't get any game to game information without going into the individual game box scores. Watson was a NJCAA All-American. Played 12 games and was sumerarily bounced from the team. Interesting that his recruiting class consisted of Nick Greely, Yalee Hill and Jon Alessandro. Three of the four were gone by the start of their second season and Alessandro was gone by the start of the next season.

I don't worry about transfers. There is no shortage of players longing to play for wlu
For example:

2019-20 Out In
Greely. Butler
Hill. McKinney
Watson. Robinson III

2020-2021 Out. In

Alessandro. Sarson

[Layton]

No one compares to the legend Chucky Humphries

[boatcapt]

That guy was an offensive machine. Projecting his offense to 40 minutes yielded about 47 points per game. But his opponent would probably score 55. Lol. Near zero defensive fundamentals were learned growing up. Sad, given his skills.

As I said when I THOUGHT I was talking about Hill, I seem to remember him never seeing a shot he could pass-up. Yea, he certainly had the ability to make a lot of them, but it wasn't really the ball movement offense WLU runs! Takes a lot of boneheadedness to wear out your welcome after 12 games particularly when you are a gifted scorer, like he was. I would think that if a scorer like him just listened and tried to execute what Ben and company were telling him about defense and ball movement, they would have kept him around for at least the full season.

[boatcapt]

I might be mistaken, but I believe Greely merely hung it up after that season. I never saw him surface anywhere else after that. I could be wrong through--I admit to not searching that hard for the travels of Nick Greely. LOL

I hear you. That would be an interesting read about "what happened to..." of WLU players that transfered (or that committed and backed out). Obviously we know about Bolon and Robinson and Yoakum, but what about other players who transfered in search of glory? Did they find it at their new school? I don't have the time anymore to research something like that but it would be an interesting read!

[Scrub]

It was Ariel Watson. Much of his WLU "career" has been stricken...His name has been removed from the 2018-19 roster, his player profile has been scrubbed and you can't get any game to game information without going into the individual game box scores. Watson was a NJCAA All-American. Played 12 games and was sumerarily bounced from the team. Interesting that his recruiting class consisted of Nick Greely, Yalee Hill and Jon Alessandro. Three of the four were gone by the start of their second season and Alessandro was gone by the start of the next season.

I might be mistaken, but I believe Greely merely hung it up after that season. I never saw him surface anywhere else after that. I could be wrong through--I admit to not searching that hard for the travels of Nick Greely. LOL

[boatcapt]

He might be thinking of Ariel Watson. He was a gifted offensive player but never saw the court (unless it was garbage time) because he was a me-first player.

It was Ariel Watson. Much of his WLU "career" has been stricken...His name has been removed from the 2018-19 roster, his player profile has been scrubbed and you can't get any game to game information without going into the individual game box scores. Watson was a NJCAA All-American. Played 12 games and was sumerarily bounced from the team. Interesting that his recruiting class consisted of Nick Greely, Yalee Hill and Jon Alessandro. Three of the four were gone by the start of their second season and Alessandro was gone by the start of the next season.

[Columbuseer]

He might be thinking of Ariel Watson. He was a gifted offensive player but never saw the court (unless it was garbage time) because he was a me-first player.

That guy was an offensive machine. Projecting his offense to 40 minutes yielded about 47 points per game. But his opponent would probably score 55. Lol. Near zero defensive fundamentals were learned growing up. Sad, given his skills.

[Scrub]

I think you may be confusing hill with someone else, who loved to shoot but had no interest in defense. Everyone liked hill; good student. It was his decision to leave. He went to school (polk) that showcases players for d1 offers.

He might be thinking of Ariel Watson. He was a gifted offensive player but never saw the court (unless it was garbage time) because he was a me-first player.

[Columbuseer]

Hill is the example that proves the point about playing in the system. No doubt that even at WLU, he could SCORE...but equally true that when the ball hit his hands, it rarely went anywhere else except to the basket! Ben gave him about 1/2 a season to realize that that wasn't how WLU played until he was asked to leave the team! Two fundimental truths at WLU, first if you're a "big" you have to be able to shoot the 3 or you won't get on the court and second if you hog the ball, you won't be around long.

I think you may be confusing hill with someone else, who loved to shoot but had no interest in defense. Everyone liked hill; good student. It was his decision to leave. He went to school (polk) that showcases players for d1 offers.