West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Sportsnut]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Just hope our depth (front line) and lack of height doesn't catch up with us over the course of the season.

[FlyHawk98]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Monteroso will make the biggest impact of the incoming players IMO.

Kid is a stud, and he has been around the program all throughout his high school years. He used to play pick up basketball with the team and hold his own when he was in high school.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Agree with your optimism. Each wlu player brings something to the table and all seem to be strong fundamentally and are unselfish. I don't envy the task of determining the rotations after the first 3 or 4 guys. Here are some of the unknowns that I look forward to seeing play out:
1. Who has a Keene Cockburn like breakout year? He went from a backup player to dominant shot blocker his senior year.
2. Who takes over the Hester role of smart, gritty rebounder who got rebounds because he wanted to rebound more than opponent?
3. I saw Zac k show flashes of deadly 3 pt shooting. If he works on getting lower center of gravity in defensive stance and footwork, he may be able to eliminate fouls that limit his minutes.
4. Can Dennis improve 3 pt shot? Not that he is bad but sometimes he needs a little more arc and rotation on 3s and foul shots.
5. Monterosa is very intriguing. He is great at wr. His high school videos are impressive. Anyone know if he is practicing basketball during football season? Wonder how long it will take him to shake off the rust?
6. Brandon Smith - one of best % 3 pt shooters. Anxious to see him again on the court.


Could be very interesting year.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Crutch is not afraid to play a true freshman OR redshirt him. If the players practice performance says he is ready to play, he will play...if the player will benefit from redshirting, Crutch will redshirt him.

From your assessment and video available, it sounds like both have a legit shot at playing meaningful minutes this year.

Probably pre-season optimism, but I'm starting to think this years Toppers could end up being quite good. Replacing Segar is going to be a huge challenge but we do have a few players that have the chops to at least handle parts of his game. I don't really think it will be one player that replaces him, instead I think several players that will improve with additional minutes...kind of like a running back by committee situation. This year we have some size with Gross and Kirk...top tier PG with Dennis and Arnold as his more than capable back-up...an athletic wing who can handle the ball, hit from the outside and slash to the basket in Monteroso...an everything combo guard who will fly around and produce in Hoehn...as well as any number of bench players that run the gamut from spot up jump shooters to ball handling slashers. The place we are thin is basically were we ALWAYS seem to be thin and that is SIZE. If Gross goes down, we get really small really quick.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Hi Folks,

I wanted to weigh in on the Freshman at WLU.
I went to the high School All-Star Game at Otterbein in Columbus a few months back.
There were two games: D1/D2 divided into North and South Teams and D3+ divided similarly.
Big names were there - Seth Towns from Northland (Harvard) and another guy going to Michigan State.

I actually saw Coach Crutchfield there. Coaches were coming up to him, like people paying respects to the Godfather! :-)
It was interesting to watch. He is truly a humble guy.

I was there to see Clay Guillozet play. Little did I know that Dalton Bolon was also there.
There were on opposite teams and initially matched up against each other.
My view is that Dalton is a little ahead of Clay at that time. In the first half, Dalton got by him on slashes to the basket.
However, once Clay adjusted, he acquitted himself quite well. Both are great shooters and slashers who can make baskets after contact.

At one point they stopped the game for a 3 pt contest finals - only 2 people made it to the finals - Dalton and some other guy.
Dalton was a little off and came in second, but I heard he won the prelims.

Seth Towns was dominating the action and was clearly the crowd favorite.
Here is one thing that impressed me greatly about Dalton. At the start of the second half, Dalton chose to line up and guard Seth Towns, 6 ft 7 inches and a top 60 recruit.
He wants to play someone bigger and better than he is to see how he measured up.
He did not get embarrassed by any stretch of the imagination, given the size difference.

I cannot find the video, but a few months I saw a video of Dalton hitting 31 3s IN A ROW (with an automatic machine returning the ball to him).
I think he might be next guy to average > 50% of his 3s.
Both Dalton and Clay were record-setting QBs at their school, so they are truly talented.
Based on this one data point, I would not be surprised if Dalton gets significant minutes as a Frosh.
I think Clay could easily get minutes too. He could be equally good; he just seemed just a little bit behind Dalton in that one game, but not by much.
He won his share of the battles too.

Can't wait until Nov 11!

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Every year we seem to have at least one (Dave Dennis and Justice last year, Brady Arnold and Columbo the year before) true freshman that comes in and makes an immediate impact. So who do you think will be this years surprise freshman? To refresh, here is WLU's 2016 freshman class:

Dalton Bolton, 6'3" guard from Indian Valley HS
Luke Dyer, 5'11" guard from Robert C. Byrd HS
Clay Guillozet, 6'2' guard from Greenville HS

Second question, including those three true freshmen, who do you think will have the greatest impact among first year players? The above three plus:

Dan Monteroso, 6'3" transfer from Perdue
James Griffin, 6'5" transfer from Marist

Great preseason question...boat...

I think Clay Guilliozet will be the FR who contributes most...I think Dyer playing behind Dennis and Arnold and Hoehn, will not get great chances.. And I guess I'm thinking Clay's pedigree is better than Dalton's.

As far as the most impacting transfer--has to be Monteroso...I'm really excited for this cat....I think he'll be top 3 scorer there...Has to knock off the football rust first.

And I do like the new commitment, Marlon Moore...I hate to say it, but reminds of last year's commit Chuckie Humphries and could fill similar role...So funny that Humphries never played a second for WL, but has reached Deity status on this board...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I like Bolton. He seems pretty polished. That said, I didn't see much on Guillozet.

Monteroso is obviously a very gifted, natural athlete -- and apparently a chicken farmer, also, from 'Perdue' University in Salisbury, MD. lol

Griffin ... not expecting much from him. Those late adds are usually still around for a reason. You never know.

By default it looks like The Church of Crutch may be going with some 5-guard lineups this year? That's a lot of guards on the roster.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Every year we seem to have at least one (Dave Dennis and Justice last year, Brady Arnold and Columbo the year before) true freshman that comes in and makes an immediate impact. So who do you think will be this years surprise freshman? To refresh, here is WLU's 2016 freshman class:

Dalton Bolton, 6'3" guard from Indian Valley HS
Luke Dyer, 5'11" guard from Robert C. Byrd HS
Clay Guillozet, 6'2' guard from Greenville HS

Second question, including those three true freshmen, who do you think will have the greatest impact among first year players? The above three plus:

Dan Monteroso, 6'3" transfer from Perdue
James Griffin, 6'5" transfer from Marist

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Seems like a good pick up for the Toppers...6'5", 210 wing player. Quick review of the limited video shows that he is a typical WLU "big." Can handle the ball facing the basket, moves to the rack well and can hit the 3. He'll fit in with the other Topper cats but only time will tell if he is a cog in the wheel type or a star.

[JDonAB92]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Marlon Moore Jr commits to West Lib. 6'5" swing/forward from Benedictine HS in Cleveland area.

[boatcapt]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Welcome to the Church of Crutch.

Worship hours run 24-7-365 until he retires. At that point he will be given Saint status and a statue will be erected in Boat's front yard.

Unfortunately, the Church of Crutch shares a building with the Church of Joe! Most of the time the Church of Crutch get's the prime time Sunday slot but every now and then the Church of Joe sneaks in! Happens just enough to be mildly annoying.

I would imagine that Saint Crutch and Saint Joe will share the same induction class. As during their coaching careers, Crutch will be first followed closely by Joe!

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Add centerville PG Keegan saben for next years class http://www.hudl.com/athlete/6168444/...ghts/331290430

[Hilltoppernation]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Well hopefully I can answer some of your questions during the year IUP...having sat down with coach Crutch on numerous occasions and having the opportunity to personally play in pick up games in the open gym with some of the teams he's coached as well as coaching a few kids that Crutch actually offered scholarships to and were on the team, I may be able to give you some insight on what he thinks...as we all know with West Liberty, the players may change but the system and results are the same.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

You can have the naming rights.

Just keep in mind when Crutch retires soon enough and WL basketball becomes WL football ... you sold your IUP soul to the devil. You'll have to earn your way back.

Kidding aside, ... hard to believe opening night is only about 3 weeks away.

[IUP Extra Mile]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Welcome to the Church of Crutch.

Worship hours run 24-7-365 until he retires. At that point he will be given Saint status and a statue will be erected in Boat's front yard.

IUP Big---I got a kick out of that quote, "Church of Crutch"...very funny AND true...we do worship him and the program...I may use that in the future if you don't mind.

Good to hear, Hilltopper Nation. My attendance at the Church of Crutch started fully in 2010-11 season, but I was more of a guest for the previous two seasons to that......I'll have some good big picture questions for you as the season is upon us...Be on the lookout...