Atlantic Region Men's Basketball '25-'26

[Chuck Norris]

Well, the tempo of tomorrow’s game will certainly be one IUP is more comfortable playing. But they better be ready for a physical battle. If VU shoots like they did today I do like IUP’s chances.

[Bballfan]

I guess West Lib proved they didn't deserve the #1 seed.

[Ship69]

Doesn't make me feel any better yet lol seeing a team force West Liberty to play that uncomfortably... scary. I would have never put any money on a WLU loss for that game.

The key to beating the press-and-gun teams is having the horses to battle with them on the boards and slow the tempo. Cal has had the front line to do that twice against Gannon this season. You also like to hit a game where the press-and-gun squad isn't hitting their three-pointers, and 5-for-35 wasn't gonna get it done for West Liberty today;

[Scrub]

I guess West Lib proved they didn't deserve the #1 seed.

None of us thought they did.

[Scrub]

The key to beating the press-and-gun teams is having the horses to battle with them on the boards and slow the tempo. Cal has had the front line to do that twice against Gannon this season. You also like to hit a game where the press-and-gun squad isn't hitting their three-pointers, and 5-for-35 wasn't gonna get it done for West Liberty today;

Right. The VUU zone gives you decent looks at the three ball. They lock down the interior. If WLU hits for a better percentage early, maybe VUU comes out of their shell a bit, but WLU shooters gave them absolutely no reason to open any space in that lane.

Joe should pull out his old notes on battling the old Manchel zone. VUU felt a little similar to that.

[Scrub]

Doesn't make me feel any better yet lol seeing a team force West Liberty to play that uncomfortably... scary. I would have never put any money on a WLU loss for that game.

For sure. I would have bet money that WLU would have come up with some answers for VUU having seen it all before, but VUU executed their game plan to perfection and WLU seemed just as baffled as they did back in November. That's the shocking part to me.

[boatcapt]

The key to beating the press-and-gun teams is having the horses to battle with them on the boards and slow the tempo. Cal has had the front line to do that twice against Gannon this season. You also like to hit a game where the press-and-gun squad isn't hitting their three-pointers, and 5-for-35 wasn't gonna get it done for West Liberty today;

3-point shooting has been one of WLUs Achilles heels all year. Quite shocking for a WLU team. A perpetual Achilles heal has been having to face teams with two good bigs. Having five bigs this year should have helped us find an answer to the historic problem. Clearly it did not. Guess that is what you get when you use your bigs as little more than tall guards

[IUP24]

I recall last offseason suggesting that a stylistic change would be good for West Liberty, but was mostly balked at. I said that deviating from what they’ve done well would perhaps give them a better opportunity to win the national championship. I said assembling a team that’s more “hybrid” might drop a few games playing the typical frenetic pace in the MEC, but would likely be more capable against more of the types of teams they would see in the tournament.

I recognize they shot poorly today, but West Liberty tends to have trouble when two things pop up (specifically in March)…

1. They play a team that’s strong in the front court and can control the boards.

2. They play a team that’s able to take them out of their tempo (because they’re consistently uncomfortable when they have no ability to make a team play a million miles an hour).

Again, they shot really poorly today from outside and that aided VUU’s ability to settle in. But they seem very unwilling to assemble a roster that’s capable of playing multiple styles in a winning fashion.

[Ship69]

3-point shooting has been one of WLUs Achilles heels all year. Quite shocking for a WLU team. A perpetual Achilles heal has been having to face teams with two good bigs. Having five bigs this year should have helped us find an answer to the historic problem. Clearly it did not. Guess that is what you get when you use your bigs as little more than tall guards

Yeah, given the record you guys have had the past few seasons, it has been surprising for an outside observer to see. I think you have to have a little bit of both (three-point shooters and bigs) to be really successful these days. Ship has been erratic with three-pointers the past couple of years and hasn't had the bigs to control the paint when the shooting isn't there. When you're getting three or four 3s a game and the other guys are getting 8 or 9, it usually doesn't work.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

You're probably correct that Gannon will host, but to say that Gannon's resume and West Lib's resume is not really close is not correct. Of the 4 losses by West Lib, 3 of those came against teams who are currently in the top 25 in D2. They also won their conference tournament, as we can all agree that the MEC this year is better than the PSAC.

I don't think we'd all agree on that.

[Scrub]

Weird day at the tourney all across the country. #6 & #7 seeds fared very well today across the bracket, and TWO #1's fell (including the highly touted Washburn team that a lot of people had penciled into the Final 4).

[IUPalum]

I don't think we'd all agree on that.

His comment didn't age well.

I was going to ask when the last time WL score under 70 but under 50??? Yikes! That was a lot of physicality in that game today.

[bballfan03]

I don't think we'd all agree on that.

Uh yeah - no. I think today showed the MEC was not a better conference than PSAC.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Cal vs Gannon

Round 4


That is going to be a wild one.

[IUP24]

Uh yeah - no. I think today showed the MEC was not a better conference than PSAC.

My general take has always been that teams in that league are way too one dimensional. They are all assembled to play one particular style. In the macro it works; those teams all put up great numbers in their league and stack tons of wins in the regular season. Their league hosts the regional a lot because of it.

I don’t want to say that those teams don’t have success in March (WL and Fairmont have both faired very well out of the Atlantic - WL in particular). But it’s fairly clear to me at this point that the league as a whole struggles against other good programs in one game formats which have different visions of how to play basketball.