NCAC- Previews, reviews, and other such things Topic

Week 1 of the non conference schedule is over, and the North Coast Athletic Conference started out with an 8-2 collective record, here's a brief breakdown of the games.

#3 Wooster beats Lehman College 94-85. Lehman kept with Wooster much longer than anyone would anticipate, but never really made the game close in the final minutes as Wooster's offensive onslaught proved too much for them. Led by Francisco Lopez and Thomas Friesen who both exceeded 20 points this looks like a potent offensive team ukula has put together. (Next game for Wooster at Randolph Macon, Wooster favored by 21 points).

Ohio Wesleyan beats McMurry 66-53. As has become typical for OWU under zorzii this was not a high scoring affair, but a solid efficient day on defense. The offense needs improvment however because, apart from William Oxford with his 29 points, they shot just 35% from the field. With a defense as stingy as OWU's though they may not need to shoot better than that. (Next game for OWU at Capital, OWU favored by 39 points).

Denison crushes Fisk 80-45. Denison absoloutely obliterated Fisk to the point where it seems Fisk lost the will to play as they ended up shooting just 29% from the field. Denison also drew 24 fouls leading to 35 free throws a winning strategy if ever I've seen one, but I get a feeling this was just a warm up for they're match up next week. (Next game for Denison vs #16 Salisbury, Salisbury favored by 4 points).

Earlham loses to Cabrini 62-47. Earlham rings in the new era of fontbonne as coach with a whimper as Cabrini pulled away in the second half, a disappointing first match, but a tough test on the road versus a perennial NT team. A positive point to this game was that Earlham made nearly 50% of their 2 pointers, they just might want to stay away from the 3-ball for a little while. (Next game for Earlham at Loras, odds are even on this one folks).

Hiram loses 69-43 to #6 St. Lawrence. A top 10 team going up against a mediocre sim team pretty much the blowout we expected even if St. Lawrence unperformed a little. Hiram shot 0-16 from 3 point land when Leonard Terry wasn't the one shooting it, this is going to be a long season for Hiram. (Next game for Hiram vs La Verne, odds are even on this one folks).

Oberlin soars by Alma 86-55. Oberlin had maybe the best game I've ever seen them have as long as I've been in conference, an efficient offensive day for them led to a 31 point blowout despite Alma shooting 17 more shots than Oberlin. Is this the year Oberlin makes the NT for the first time in 88 seasons? Magic 8 ball says, "Don't hold your breath." (Next game for Oberlin at Adrian, Oberlin is favored by 20 points).

Kenyon smothers Knox 63-43. Kenyon took their lack of ranking in the preseason, and vented their anger onto a poor Knox team, Kenyon played their game and Knox could not adjust letting Kenyon walk all over them. Like OWU, Kenyon had a great defensive game, but really need to step up on offense before conference play starts, but last night was a good first step. (Next game for Kenyon vs Transylvania, Kenyon favored by 13 points).

Wabash flies by Brandeis 86-57. Led by Paul Koralewski and Irving Schultz with help by Martin Ward off the bench Brandeis was buried under a flurry of shots, most of which found the bottom of the net. This impressive victory certainly resounded with the voters as Wabash moved into the receiving votes category of the Top 25, next week maybe they'll crack the top 25 and give Wooster some NCAC company in the rankings. (Next game for Wabash at Aurora, Wabash is favored by 32 points).

Allegheny slips by RHIT 82-80. In overtime Allegheny held on to their lead through their great free throw shooting, and if you want to look where RHIT went wrong you can just look at their performance from the charity stripe, which wasn't that charitable for them last night. Despite shooting under 40%, and their opponents shooting over 50%, Allegheny came away with the hard fought victory, this is a team that doesn't give up, I see a lot of heart on this team. (Next game for Allegheny vs Hobart William Smith, Allegheny is favored by 2 points).

Thiel starts off the season right winning 85-71 over Wilkes. Led by brilliant tactician and coach community25, Thiel's balanced attack spearheaded by Solomon Westbrook scoring and distributing from point guard could not be contained by Wilkes. The highly anticipated debut of Shawn Pack as the starting center did not disappoint, and Thiel's victory moved them up to join Wabash in the receiving votes category. (Next game for Thiel at Virginia Wesleyan, Thiel favored by 25 points).

Grove City holds on against North Park 75-69. Turns out the sim AI can win games, just against other sim AI's. Grove City shot well from everywhere but beyond the 3 point arc, and kept North Park out of reach down the stretch to secure their first victory of the season. Believe me they need to get their victories now. (Next game for Grove City vs Manchester, Grove City is favored by 13 points).

Last but certainly not least hugodls fingernails have gone missing after the finale of the Wittenberg Linfield game where Wittenberg won 58-56 on Johnny Gill's baseline fadeaway. Linfield battled back to take the lead with 2 minutes left, but then the offenses were dead apart from one free throw until Gill's game winning shot, while a classic game hugodls probably hopes tonight's game will be a little less nail biting. (Next game for Wittenberg vs SUNY Geneseo, Wittenberg is favored by 1 point).

Hope you enjoy reading this recap of the games last night, I may do more of these, but maybe not every day. Feel free to give feedback.

NCAC Lineup of the Night (Based off of what their position says they are not where they played in the actual game)
PG- William Oxford, Ohio Wesleyan 29 points 2 steals
SG- Francisco Lopez, Wooster 25 points
SF- Paul Koralewski, Wabash 21 points 8 rebounds 2 steals
PF- Eddie Zarin, Wittenberg 15 points 9 rebounds 2 steals 2 blocks
C- Thomas Friesen, Wooster 22 points 11 rebounds
8/17/2016 9:30 PM
Excellant!
8/18/2016 6:23 PM
With the release of the RPI numbers today I think it's good to see how each team is standing at the moment starting with the East division.

Kenyon-trophaeum (7-1) RPI 61 SOS 201. Kenyon so far has been solid if unspectacular, their one loss was to a solid Cabrini team, and otherwise they've cruised, but as their SOS shows Kenyon hasn't played anyone particularly challenging so far. Still getting the early victories is quite useful in a strong conference like the NCAC, and Kenyon has set themselves up well for conference play. No one player seems to show any spectacular play, they've been solid with no standouts look for Ainsworth to step up in conference play to provide some offense cause Kenyon will be facing greater challenges to their defense in conference play. I think Kenyon is better than their current RPI, but I suspect their RPI isn't going to get much better with both of their next out of conference games being 200 RPI or below.

Oberlin-warrior0510 (6-2) RPI 162 SOS 362. Oberlin is only one game behind Kenyon in the East, but before we get to congratulating them they also have the second lowest SOS in the entire conference. They however have for the most part won those games, and will most likely end non conference with a 300+ SOS and an 8-2 record, something some of our harder scheduled fellows may want to take a lesson from (for those who don't get it I'm talking about myself). The true test for Oberlin will come early in the conference schedule as their first games are home games versus Wooster and Kenyon, if Oberlin can win one of those games then I can see them as a threat for the postseason, but if they lose it could snowball and send Oberlin to the bottom of the league. It's a tenuous situation, and Oberlin will be challenged more in their first couple conference games then their entire non conference combined. Player wise Laduke and Plemmons have impressed, and if they can replicate their success against tougher opponents Oberlin will have a nice duo, as long as Laduke doesn't keep shooting 3's.

Allegheny-shawnfucious (6-2) RPI 155 SOS 153. Allegheny's RPI does not reflect this team's play with their two losses against the 31st and 32nd RPI teams, with the loss to Brooklyn being especially devastating. However their wins in the rest of their games makes me think Allegheny has what it takes to rise again to the top of the East division. Their next game against Neumann will be a telling point to the season so far for Allegheny, can their offense show up when needed in a critical home game versus a tough opponent? My other question is how will the Allegheny players deal with playing an away game to open conference play versus Earlham? Allegheny has, and will play, ever game out of conference on their home court. How shawnfucious pulled off that scheduling feat is beyond me which just contrasts them with Wooster's all road schedule. Allegheny will go as far as their high scoring bench will take them, and I think that'll be at least the number 2 spot in their division.

Earlham-jeffdbrown (5-3) RPI 106 SOS 108. Earlham is hard to get a read on so far, so I believe conference play will be telling for this squad. Are they a real threat to the rest of the conference, or will their inexperience show when they're facing tough opponents nearly every day? With only one senior it's hard to feel that Earlham can take down a team like Wooster aka the class of the NCAC, but with good game planning and a little luck from the sim engine Earlham could spoil the day for a lot of middle of the run teams of which their seem to be many this season. Grabbing a postseason spot is obviously the ultimate goal for Earlham, but with such a young team the future looks good if they can just stay competitive throughout this season.

Hiram-SimAI (3-5) RPI 203 SOS 110. I'm not the biggest fan of writing about SimAI teams, and Hiram is just your prototypical sim team. Don't let their position above Denison in the division fool you Hiram is going to finish the season on the bottom of the East. They've played some tough opponents, and have never really competed with them, which makes me think that the program in their second season of sim coaching may sink even lower than last season 0-16 in conference is a real possibility.

Denison-kmfloyd (2-6) RPI 140 SOS 38. At the bottom of the East we find Denison who has played some of the top team in the nation so far, and played at least one of them very well. Denison is a better team than the rpi might suggest, but they need some turnaround quickly, and once conference play starts it may be hard to find. Denison remains one of the teams that hasn't adopted the easy non conference schedule to get wins to prepare for a tough in conference run, and this season they've been burned by it. Denison needs to find wins in conference fast or this might turn into a lost season. I do not however believe that they will finish in this bottom slot at the end of the season, and with no stand out teams in the NCAC apart from Wooster Denison could go on a run and make some noise provided the engine is a little more favorable to Denison in conference than out.

#3 Wooster-ukula (8-0) RPI 23 SOS 121. Wooster is doing their usual out of conference tune up on the road before they're prepared to come back and wreck havoc in conference, and boy is this a good team. Offensively a powerhouse with 4 players averaging in double digits, and a solid defensive team with a weaker than usual NCAC I wouldn't be surprised if Wooster headed into the conference tournament undefeated, and I still wouldn't be surprised if they emerged from the tournament undefeated either. Wooster is a national title contender, and have played like it so far, though we encourage ukula not to look to far ahead because a surprise team could rise and challenge them look out for the away game against Wabash early on to get a feel for how good Wooster can really be.

Ohio Wesleyan-zorzii (7-1) RPI 108 SOS 292. OWU has done everything expected of it during its non conference games setting itself up nicely, but holding together a roster that's comprised of a lot of underclassmen will be difficult. OWU is going to want to slow down the pace as much as they can, we're talking Wisconsin in the real world at their slowest point, that'll give the high defense OWU team chances to keep the game how they like it, and it's a hard system to beat without highly skilled offensive players. If OWU can't control the pace though they may struggle, but I feel confident that this is a national tournament team they just probably won't be equaling last season's elite eight run, let alone the final four run two seasons ago.

Wabash-indyrider123 (7-1) RPI 24 SOS 102. As indyrider123 predicted Wabash's winning streak ended against Southwestern last night, but it was a good run, and a bounce back game against Martin Luther tonight could place Wabash as the biggest competition towards complete Wooster domination. If things go right Wabash will entire their home game against Wooster 12-1 having run a gambit of road games to open conference, but starting with Martin Luther tonight Wabash could see a turn in fortune (no pressure indy). This is a team I trust to make the NT though, and one I think could make some noise, which is good, maybe even a sweet sixteen appearance with a favorable draw, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Wabash needs to prove they can win even when Koralewski has an off night, if they can do that their position as one of the top NCAC teams this season will be secure.

Wittenberg-hugodls (6-2) RPI 145 SOS 260. Hugodls is sighing with relief as Wittenberg handled their last two wins by double digits rather than the nailbiters that characterized the first few games of the season, and if this trend continues Wittenberg could be just starting up. They could however be held up against teams in the NCAC who will have higher ATH and DEF than Wittenberg by sometimes significant margins. Now I remind the reader that ATH and DEF is not everything, though mfnmeyers has been trying to disprove that point for years now, but Wittenberg will need to show that they can adapt to a higher level of play before they can seriously discuss the postseason. With 6 in conference games against the likes of Wooster, OWU, and Wabash they'd come ready to play their best ball even before crunch time.

Grove City- SimAI (6-2) RPI 185 SOS 372. Like with Oberlin their record has been inflated by an easy SOS, but make no mistake in putting Grove City in the same category as Hiram, they are significantly better than their sim counterparts in the East. Do I see them really challenging any of the top teams? No, but I also could see a couple scenarios where they finish in front of at least one or maybe two human coaches in the West especially if Thiel can't get themselves together. They are not to be overlooked by any means, but this may be the last season Grove City is truly threatening until they get another human coach.

Thiel- community25 (2-6) RPI 136 SOS 27. Thiel is reeling at the moment, and apparently the AD at Thiel has been getting numerous written letters demanding the resignation of head coach community25 after a horrible run of 6 straight losses. While it's true that every team Thiel has lost to has been in the top 100 of RPI teams, hence Thiel having played the toughest out of conference schedule in the NCAC so far, Thiel was expected to be better than this. Thiel is a better team than they've shown, but could keep digging themselves into a hole they can't climb out of, and need a great conference run to even sniff the postseason, let this be a lesson that while Thiel has gotten away with tough out of conference schedules in the past it may be time to put those to rest, or else tactical genius community25 could be forced out. That elite eight run seems a long ways away now.

NCAC as a whole has fell to 4th overall for conferences in D3 after spending the last couple seasons positioned at number 2. The hope is that this is just a down year for the conference in general, but the goal for this season should be to reclaim that number 3 spot. With a tougher conference schedule and maybe some emerging top teams alongside Wooster and Wabash it is quite possible in my opinion.

I plan on doing a write up after the first conference games, and then I'll see how I'm feeling after that for future writings. Thanks for reading.
8/24/2016 2:12 PM
Conference games are upon us, and they kicked off with 6 games last night here's a brief recap of those games.

Allegheny goes on the road and beats Earlham 64-54. Allegheny won this game mostly by not making stupid mistakes, Earlham was limited to only 10 free throws, and Allegheny turned the ball over only 9 times. The offense for Allegheny mostly game from the 23 points Frank Cooper scored, a little more than a third of Allegheny's total points. This game helped solidify Allegheny as one of the top East division teams, and makes their upcoming game versus Kenyon all the more critical, but they've got to beware not to overlook what could be a trap game against Thiel before then, it also demonstrated Allegheny can actually win on the road/play on the road. Earlham showed their inexperience, which probably places them on the tier below Allegheny and Kenyon in the East, if Earlham doesn't show up against Grove City conference play could be tough for the Hustilin Quakers (yes that is Earlham's team name). Next up for Allegheny is a bye week, then a matchup home against Thiel, for Earlham they stay at home to take on Grove City.

Continuing the trend of road wins would be Thiel beating Wittenberg 84-75 on the road. A strong backcourt performance from starters Mayville and Westbrook and supplemented off the bench by the surprise contributer Craig kept Thiel on top throughout the game. However this game was closer than it looked, on the stats line the margin between the teams was almost non-existent in every category, except rebounds where Thiel grabbed 6 more than Wittenberg. The difference maker then would be Thiel's incredible performance from the free throw line where they made more from the charity stripe than Wittenberg shot, and it's not like Wittenberg shot very few free throws. Thiel seems to be having a resurgance after a rough middle of non conference stretch, but they've got to prove it's for real if there is any hope of a post season berth this season. Wittenberg encounters the problem that is evident to anyone that glances at their roster, their ATH and DEF ratings are low enough that they can be easily exploited, and they will be done in conference. Hopefully solid ratings in other departments can help Wittenberg against the rest of the conference, but this game was not a good first step for them. Next for Thiel is a home game versus Wabash as they attempt to prove this resurgance is real, and for Wittenberg a home game against Denison a chance to get back on track versus another team that looks to be on it's way back up after a bad non conference run.

The run to 0-16 for Hiram begins with a loss on the road versus Denison 68 to 58. A rough non conference schedule for Denison meant they deserved an easier start to conference play, and they got it clamping down on the perimeter forcing Hiram into a 4-19 display beyond the arc. Denison really pulled away in the second half as Hiram only trailed by 2 going into halftime, but Denison's balanced offensive attack and tight defense prevented any aspirations at a comeback for Hiram. As I have continued to write Hiram looks like the worst team in NCAC this season, and they did nothing to disprove that in this game. Denison on the otherhand had a good start to conference play, but now have to gear up for some less cushy matchups, nevertheless it's nice for Denison to get this warmup game in to gain confidence after a depressing beginning of the season. Next up for Hiram is a bye, and then a home game against Oberlin, for Denison they travel on the road to Wittenberg and try to continue clawing back into respectability.

Grove City defended their home court beating Wabash 63-53. This result was made possible by the worst shooting night Wabash has had this season, they even shot better in their loss versus Southwestern than this one. Wabash had their lowest shooting percentage from the field and 3 point range, tied their lowest made 3 pointer mark, and shot only 9 free throws. Despite this they only lost by 10, which I think demonstrates that Wabash can, and will play better. This was an unlucky night for Wabash, and a great start for Grove City, a team that can no longer be underestimated in conference play, not that I think they'll go too far on just luck like last night. Next up for Wabash they travel on the road to redeem themselves against Thiel, and for Grove City they travel on the road trying to string some wins together against Earlham, a team like Wabash looking for some redeeming of its own.

Until further notice consider Kenyon the class of the East was the message sent as Kenyon fended off Ohio Wesleyan 77-69, much like the Thiel Wittenberg game though the numbers are fairly close, but where Kenyon outclassed OWU was from the free throw line. Despite strong offensive efforts from Benedict and Oxford the rest of OWU couldn't muster up enough to get back in the game as Kenyon relied on an impressively balanced starting five to keep OWU from utilizing their top players to shut down Kenyon. OWU had a tough matchup going on the road against a team like Kenyon, so I think a bounce back performance is likely, and I would still give them a good shot of being the number 2 behind Wooster in the West. For Kenyon that Allegheny game coming up is going to riveting, so long as both teams don't fall prey to the trap games ahead of them it should be one of the matchups of the season. It does seem like the East is always a more interesting division race than the West, I think it's Wooster's fault hogging all the conference titles. Next up for OWU at Wooster (it might take until the night after this one for the bounce back to really kick in), and for Kenyon they travel to Oberlin to take on the Yeomen.

To no one's great surprise Wooster has kicked off their conference play with their first of what I expect to be many conference victories 73-55 over Oberlin. Take heart though Oberliners you limited Wooster to only 15 free throws, and did not lose by 30 as the Vegas Line had it. However most of the good news goes over to Wooster who while not having a dominant offensive day, did extremely well on defense, and avoided repeating the experience of the SUNY Geneseo game (how did it go to overtime I'm still flummoxed). Wooster looked like the dominant team basically everyone could have predicted from the outset, and they remain the one and only ranked NCAC team, the real tests for this Wooster squad are down the line, but for now they can celebrate in a solid win. The game gives us unfortunately basically no clue as to what to expect from Oberlin, they lost by a significant amount, but that was what was expected, it's what will happen when they aren't playing the class of the conference that'll give a real clue to how far this team could go. Up next for Oberlin however is the class of the East division Kenyon, but at least they get to play at home again. For Wooster they head back home to face OWU as Wooster seeks to cast down last years CT winners.

Projection report report:
The projection report looks similar to what I expected, we have one lock (Wooster), and a handful of bubble teams with a couple lurking outside the bubble area, but could make a run. Oh and Hiram is the worst as expected.

It looks like we'll be getting some good games this season with all these pretty evenly matched teams even if the lowest margin of victory from last night was 8 points. Let's go out and get a good number of teams into the postseason I'm saying we can still get 4 NT teams and between 2 and 3 PI teams.
8/28/2016 2:07 PM
The mid season of conference play is here with some good news, Wooster has been as good as advertised, Hiram has been as bad, and the NCAC has regained the number 3 RPI spot among conferences, but there's more going on than just that, so let's dive right in.

Starting with the East there is a jumble of teams at the top who could still go on a run and win the division, but currently Kenyon ranked #20 in the nation occupies that spot after a win last night and a loss for Allegheny. Kenyon can begin to pull away in the next couple games if they can beat Earlham away and Allegheny at home.

Allegheny still has the opportunity to gain ground, but their loss to Grove City last night was disappointing to say the least continuing a trend of trouble for Allegheny when playing teams outside the RPI top 100, as both of their conference losses, Oberlin and Grove City, come to teams outside that group.

Denison began conference hot starting 5-0, but have run into difficulties lately with tough matchups against Wooster, Earlham, and Kenyon. The bounceback win over Hiram started off a string of wins last time, can last night's win be a similar springboard for another Denison run?

Earlham has been solid with their only losses coming to Wooster, as one would expect, and two losses to Allegheny. While that play certainly implies that Earlham is not ready to really compete at the top of the East, their wins in every other game they've played place them at the top of the next tier below in conference.

Oberlin without the win over Allegheny has not impressed this conference play, their weak defense has continued to be exploited, and they have settled into the 5th position in the division, which without a great run, which may be possible look out for their matchup against Thiel tonight for signs that Oberlin still can turnaround this season, is probably where they'll end the season.

Hiram's run to 0-16 continues unabated, Hiram has lost every conference game by double digits, so it isn't even as though they're playing their fellow NCAC teams close. The only reason to continue to pay attention to Hiram is to see when/if that first win comes along.

On the other side in the West the picture is much clearer at the top where Wooster reigns continuing on their track towards an undefeated conference run. There have been a couple close calls, as in games Wooster didn't win by double digits, against Wabash and Thiel. The former of which was closer than the final score reflected and the latter was not as close as the score showed. It's down to the top teams in the East to take down Wooster, and even then nothing will stop them winning the West this season.

Grove City surprisingly sits in 2nd place in the West at the midway point of conference play, with a tough upcoming stretch though I think it unlikely that Grove City will stay in that position. They've already gone above and beyond what was expected from them this season with huge upsets over Wabash and Allegheny, now my advice for Grove City is to take the money and run.

Thiel seems to be getting paid to try and keep games close, regardless of whether they win or lose. One of their wins was by 10 points, versus Hiram, and one of their losses, against Allegheny, every other game was a single digit game. If Thiel is hoping for the postseason, as I have written several times before, they need to get their act together and start winning more of these close games.

Wabash's opening to conference seems as though it may have been a sign of things to come because at the start of conference they were positioned to be the challengers to Wooster in the West, and instead started out 1-5. The good news is things seem to be going Wabash's way now as they look to extend their winning streak against Grove City, just in time for a game at Wooster right afterwards oh joyous day!

Wittenberg is a strange team that no one seems to be able to get a handle on I figure that's the reason that, if you exclude the game against Wooster the spread for a Wittenberg game has been between +1 and -2. Unfortunately for Wittenberg, most of those games haven't been going their way, but hope is not yet lost for Wittenberg to take the number 2 spot in the West, which is frankly a very open spot for everyone in the division except Wooster, and try to make it to the post season for the first time since season 86.

Lastly we have Ohio Wesleyan sitting at 2-6 in conference play, last in the West division. A series of sub standard, at least the standard for OWU because standards are relative, recruiting classes has led to some decay in the program and OWU has slipped from their perch in the top tier of the conference. OWU had looked good in consecutive wins against Oberlin and Wabash, but the loss to Wittenberg tempered the cautious optimism growing. The good news is they have a chance to pull themselves back up the conference standings with a game against Grove City, a game they certainly can win.

As I looked through the schedule past and present for each team I noticed how many of the games this season have been put as even or just barely favoring a particular team this season, that is an impressive piece of work to have so many teams so close in skill level. Now if only that skill level was a little better this would be a great competitive season for the NCAC, well we'll have to settle for a competitive season.
9/5/2016 2:22 PM
Tonight is the final game of the regular conference season, so let's take a look at the games tonight and see what the stakes are for each team.

Denison at #25 Allegheny. This game has little bearing on final conference standings since Denison is locked in as the 3 seed in the East and Allegheny as the 2 seed, therefore what each team has at stake is positioning for the postseason. At the moment Allegheny is headed to the NT and Denison to the PI neither will likely change without a Denison conference tournament win, but seeding is still important. Allegheny with a nice run could push towards a 5 or even a 4 seed, and Denison could help secure for sure a PI bid closer to a middle seed rather than the 6 or 7 seed they seem to be headed for.

Grove City at Thiel. Due to the topsy turvey nature of the West division when factoring out Wooster this game has great import for one particular team, Thiel. With a victory Thiel will win their 14th game putting them at least in the discussion for the NT even if it's unlikely at this point, and they'll fend off Wabash for the 2 seed in the West giving them a first round bye in the conference tournament. As with Denison Thiel is not making the NT without the automatic bid, but solid wins over Grove City, and one or two more in the conference tournament could lead them up to a 3 or 2 seed in the PI, with some help probably. For Grove City they're playing for pride, and for the hope of next season.

Hiram at Oberlin. There's not much at stake in the this game apart from pride, Hiram would love to get a 2nd win and Oberlin just wants to finish strong to snap the longest currently running losing streak in conference. Oberlin has the 5 seed wrapped up, and Hiram has the 6 seed wrapped up, so this is a tune up for the next games in the tournament.

Wooster at Ohio Wesleyan. For Wooster this is the one obstacle left to overcome to 16-0, it hasn't always been pretty, there have been some close calls, but they're still motoring along. Also if Wooster loses this game they're tenuous hold on the final 1 seed in the NT is gone without a CT run and some help. For Ohio Wesleyan if they win this game they avoid the cellar of the West, and get the glory of being the only team to beat Wooster in conference. A loss I'm pretty sure puts them down to the 6 seed in the West because they'd end up with the same record as Wittenberg, but lost to them twice this season. The postseason without a miracle run is out of OWU's reach this season.

Earlham at #20 Kenyon. For Earlham a win will put them back on the right side of the bubble for the PI tournament, it will not however change seeding for the conference tournament as Earlham is locked in as the 4 seed. For Kenyon they've already clinched the 1 seed for the East, but a loss to Earlham could knock them from the top 25, and set them down a seed in the projection report, all Kenyon has to lose is seeding, and since no team wants to lose that expect Kenyon to come out fighting.

Finally for the teams that are off Wabash is cheering for Grove City to take out Thiel so they can get the 2 seed in the West, and Wittenberg is hoping for a Wooster victory in order to take back the 5 seed in the West, so even if they're not playing tonight these two teams still have something at stake.

At the moment the outlook is for 3 NT bids and 3 PI bids, Wabash is close enough to moving to the right side of the bubble that a run to the Conference tournament final may clinch a spot, even if they don't end up winning. On the PI side Earlham could make a run in, they're not too far out now, and make it 7 total postseason bids. Let's hope for a great postseason!
9/13/2016 7:57 PM
NCAC- Previews, reviews, and other such things Topic

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