West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Scrub]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I agree that a talented big man can give WLU trouble. However, I did not think Burgess was much of a factor on defense.

Burgess had zero blocks. He had 8 rebounds, but Meininger had 10. He got many of his points on dunks after Shepherd broke the press. Shepherd chose the strategy to attack the rim when they broke the press.
I thought he was mainly an athletic dunker. He needs to work on this game from 5 -10 ft from the basket. Inside 5 feet he can be tough. IMHO, we need the guard to sag down to disrupt his move and make him pick up the ball and then other players must quickly rotate their defensive assignments so that the open man is not obvious to Burgess (i.e., the open man is not the sagging guard's man) and is at a difficult angle for him to deliver the pass.

You make some good points here, Columbus. But I wasn't thinking of blocks in particular. It just seemed as though every time WLU drove to the bucket in the first half, they altered their shots because they knew he was there. They missed a lot of bunnies during that bad stretch, and I was attempting to attribute those misses not to bad shooting but to the specter of Burgess waiting at the rim. He may not have actually blocked their shots, but I do think he altered their shots. They needed to be more aggressive going right at him (as both Hill and Bolon were in the second half). In addition, he had very active hands on passes into the paint on back cuts. WLU was having trouble getting clean catches on curl cuts that usually equate to easy buckets because of Shepherd defenders' active hands in the paint. So, it's true that Burgess is nothing special in a vacuum (which is why he doesn't bother other teams necesssarily), but he's the type of match-up that seems to bother WLU, and I thought his presence in there and active hands had a lot to do with the extended cold shooting stretch in the first half that kept it so close for so long.

[Dirtybird]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

You do learn and grow as a result of games like this. Those are accurate points made about Burgess. I felt another aspect that hurt WL was the fact no one could keep number 4 from driving to the basket. It seemed like he blew by anyone that matched up with him.

With that said it is a good situation when you can still win games when you don't do the things you typically do well very well. Weird ending to that last sentence but you know what I mean haha.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Tight one with Shepherd last night. I know the game recaps made the story of the game about the Hilltoppers' low shooting percentage. And it's true that they shot the ball terribly. But to me, the story was their difficulty dealing with an athletic big man. Shepherd's D FORCED a low shooting percentage in my opinion. Burgess established early on that there wouldn't be anything easy in the paint. So, with the back cuts getting stuffed by Burgess, Shepherd's guards were able to extend their D and contest every 3 ball. There were very few open looks either inside or outside, and I think that was all a result of the presence of Burgess in the middle. This game, to me, revealed WLU's continued struggle to function in the face of a PSAC-style athletic big man. They lost a game to Kutztown and their bigs, and then almost coughed one up to Burgess and a better-than-usual-but-not-really-that-talented Rams team last night. If those struggles continue, it could mean an early exit in the Regionals. There is certainly time to get it figured out, though, and I'm hopeful the young Toppers will continue to grow as a result of tough games like last night.

I agree that a talented big man can give WLU trouble. However, I did not think Burgess was much of a factor on defense.

Burgess had zero blocks. He had 8 rebounds, but Meininger had 10. He got many of his points on dunks after Shepherd broke the press. Shepherd chose the strategy to attack the rim when they broke the press.
I thought he was mainly an athletic dunker. He needs to work on this game from 5 -10 ft from the basket. Inside 5 feet he can be tough. IMHO, we need the guard to sag down to disrupt his move and make him pick up the ball and then other players must quickly rotate their defensive assignments so that the open man is not obvious to Burgess (i.e., the open man is not the sagging guard's man) and is at a difficult angle for him to deliver the pass.

If you look at WLU's missed shots, most of them were wide open shots (ignoring the missed foul calls under the basket).
There were also incredible steals and passes that presaged a mini-blackout in the first half, but wl just could not finish at the rim. Based on the game, I suspect that WL must have gotten the message to take the ball to the basket rather than take the three, as Shepherd plays the infamous AAU defense (i.e., none). Yahel Hill just destroyed his man taking him to the rim for layups.


The half-court defense against the dribble drive after a high ball screen (McKnight had 32 going to the rim) needs a lot of work, as there was no help (probably because going to help would leave Burgess open for a pass and dunk in many cases).
Guys have to stay in front of their man.

IMHO there are some positives. In spite of terrible shooting night and bad defense, the turnovers from the pressure of WL and the intense crashing of the glass for offensive rebounds wore shepherd out and were the deciding factors in the victory. The sheer effort of WL for 40 minutes continues to amaze me. In the second half, no one for Shepherd was even trying for offensive boards. Meininger got an offensive rebound on a WL foul shot that Burgess (with inside position) should have easily gotten if he still had legs.

It was one of worst offensive performances I have seen in a while for WL and the defense was terrible. However, the incredible effort in other areas that wore Shepherd out was enough to win.
If WL were clicking offensively, they would have put 130 on Shepherd with McKnight still getting his 30 (their teamwork is that bad with 14 assists and 13 turnovers - just watch the Glenville game).

A lot of good coaching moments from this game for a very young team.

[Scrub]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Tight one with Shepherd last night. I know the game recaps made the story of the game about the Hilltoppers' low shooting percentage. And it's true that they shot the ball terribly. But to me, the story was their difficulty dealing with an athletic big man. Shepherd's D FORCED a low shooting percentage in my opinion. Burgess established early on that there wouldn't be anything easy in the paint. So, with the back cuts getting stuffed by Burgess, Shepherd's guards were able to extend their D and contest every 3 ball. There were very few open looks either inside or outside, and I think that was all a result of the presence of Burgess in the middle. This game, to me, revealed WLU's continued struggle to function in the face of a PSAC-style athletic big man. They lost a game to Kutztown and their bigs, and then almost coughed one up to Burgess and a better-than-usual-but-not-really-that-talented Rams team last night. If those struggles continue, it could mean an early exit in the Regionals. There is certainly time to get it figured out, though, and I'm hopeful the young Toppers will continue to grow as a result of tough games like last night.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I also picked FSU in the pick 'em. WLU doesn't have a real good track record of going into that building and coming out with a W. Fairmont always finds a way to play us tough, and if Jolly gets going look out. When he's hot, he's borderline unstoppable. I'll never forget the game FSU played up here at WLU last year. Monteroso pretty much held Jolly in check for most of the game, but late in the game with FSU attempting to mount a furious comeback, Jolly started to just chuck it from further and further back each possession (and making them all). It was as though Monteroso was picking him up tight at the 3-point line, so Jolly finally got fed up with that and started shooting from 5 feet behind the line before Monteroso could pick him up. I have nightmares about seeing that guy light it up. Should be a battle, but as was said above, home court advantage offers a slight edge to FSU I would think.

[Scrub]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I also picked FSU in the pick 'em. WLU doesn't have a real good track record of going into that building and coming out with a W. Fairmont always finds a way to play us tough, and if Jolly gets going look out. When he's hot, he's borderline unstoppable. I'll never forget the game FSU played up here at WLU last year. Monteroso pretty much held Jolly in check for most of the game, but late in the game with FSU attempting to mount a furious comeback, Jolly started to just chuck it from further and further back each possession (and making them all). It was as though Monteroso was picking him up tight at the 3-point line, so Jolly finally got fed up with that and started shooting from 5 feet behind the line before Monteroso could pick him up. I have nightmares about seeing that guy light it up. Should be a battle, but as was said above, home court advantage offers a slight edge to FSU I would think.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Fairmont has played a good variety of teams so far.

They started 0-2 with tight losses to Ferris State and Missouri Western.

They've played fairly good defensively.

The Falcons held Glenville to just 75 points but also scored just 77 on them. They won a slop fest against WVW (65-52).

They struggled mightily against what is turning out to be a pretty bad Slippery Rock team (won in final seconds). California even gave them a tussle.

There isn't much size on the team. Jason Jolley will always be the X:Factor, and he's obviously well-experienced playing against West Liberty.

From the stats, they aren't playing a real deep rotation. The top three don't come off the floor much. They are very similar to last year's team. IUP really hammered them up here last season. IUP's size and depth will be a major problem for them.

Against West Liberty, it appears to me their bench will be too short to run around for 40 minutes.

So, if I had to bet, I'd pick them to get swept.

That said, they don't lose at home. I've always thought they play more like a top-tier PSAC team than an MEC team. That's a big key for them against WL -- perhaps the biggest key. If they can't dictate the pace I think WL beats them up. If you look at their scores this year, they haven't played one of those MEC-style, 125 to 115, games yet. They don't appear built for that style. They have to slow the game down against WL to have a chance.

[PSAC76]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Getting swept. It is hard to win games, especially against good teams.

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[/B]


Take away Crutch putting 133 on a NAIA team (and giving up 106) and WL is ahead of him.


What are your thoughts on this big WL at FSU game this Sunday? After WJ this week FSU gets WL and IUP back-to-back (both in Fairmont).

I picked Fairmont in the weekly pick em, only bc you have to favor the home team in that one...I'm a little surprised Fairmont is as good as they are...I thought they had some good seniors who left, but then again, so did WL, and these two are the class of the conference..

If Fairmont happens to sweep WL and IUP, let them host right now...that's pretty impressive...But I dont think they will sweep..

If you were a betting man, would you say Fairmont has better chance of sweeping or getting swept by WL and IUP?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Wlu is #2 in scoring. #1 is nova southeastern lol

Take away Crutch putting 133 on a NAIA team (and giving up 106) and WL is ahead of him.


What are your thoughts on this big WL at FSU game this Sunday? After WJ this week FSU gets WL and IUP back-to-back (both in Fairmont).

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU survives a tough test from NDC to claim a 10 point W...103-93.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WLU survives a tough test from NDC to claim a 10 point W...103-93.

[Scrub]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Wow--this one with NDC is going to be a dog fight. In addition to NDC being a really high quality team, the referees have imposed their will on this game as well. There wasn't a single NDC foul called until 10 minutes remaining in the first half (at which point WLU had 7 already). I'm not sure how many were called on WLU by the half's end (likely close to 20), but NDC was in the double bonus for a full 6 minutes. There almost appeared to be more off-ball fouls called on WLU than there were total on NDC. Granted, NDC is a physical team that is attempting to play a physical game, so there is likely to be a BIT of disparity on the foul line, but it's been an uphill battle so far. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the second half. If this refereeing crew had somehow gotten lost and accidentally shown up at a PSAC game, they would have had to cancel the game at halftime because both teams would have been out of players. Ugh. No flow--hard to watch.

The bright side is that NDC's play-by-play guy is, in my opinion, the best in the conference. He's a delight to listen to even as an opposing fan (and he's helping a generally un-watchable game get a bit more watchable). He clearly does his homework on the players/teams and generally avoids the blatant homer stuff that you typically see on a home broadcast at this level (don't get me started on those guys from WJU). Real classy broadcast. Looking forward to the second half (I guess).

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

As good as Dennis, Clay are, I think Yahel Hill has a greater upside than Dennis (pays more under control, better shooter, and does not force shots), and Yoakum has more upside than Clay (taller, better rebounder, great shooter as well as finisher at the rim).

Obviously we would have loved to have kept them, as they are several years ahead of Hill and Yoakum with little overlap, but the point is that I believe Coach Howlett is getting better and better athletes who want to play at WLU.

It also highlights the amazing coaching job that Howlett did last year (he got coach of year in MEC):
Lost 2 star players from same class (Justice in 2016 and Dennis in 2017), one to top players from Bolon's class (Clay in 2017) and lost a leader in Brady Arnold (PG with Dennis) to cancer just before the season started in 2017

IMHO, we are still not fully recovered as we are staritng 2 frosh, 2 sophs and senior in the first platoon after a November LOI backed out of his written agreement (Insincere Carry) that caused him to restart recruiting the position in April! But Hill is turning out to be a blessing in disguise, as he rapidly improving his defense, is a great shooter and makes very few turnovers ( he is a shooting guard with point guard skills).

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

For jumping ship and taking perhaps the best PG in the country with him ... you guys sure are loyal.

Rumor in Columbus was he was thinking he was too good not be a d1 guard even during his freshman year. I think he would have left after his sophomore year even if Crutch had stayed.
I look at it as "if you don't want to be here, then next man up and good luck in the future.".
I don't think Crutch stole him away- perhaps he just might have thrown him a lifeline when no D1 schools called. That speculation is based on the fact that he got him really late in the summer and Dennis purportedly according to the net had previously visited other schools (like Lincoln Memorial) with Clay much earlier. No first hand knowledge of situation.