The College of Wooster has been selected as a first- and second-round host for this week's NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championships, as the North Coast Atheltic Conference-champion Fighting Scots will welcome Defiance College (23-5), Grove City College (19-8), and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (22-5) to 3,400-seat Timken Gymnasium. On Friday, March 5, Defiance, the champions of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, will match up with No. 8 ranked Wis.-Whitewater, which received an at-large bid after winning the rugged Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference during the regular season and then finishing runner-up in the league's postseason tourney, starting at 6 p.m. That will be followed by No. 17 ranked Wooster hosting Grove City, winners of the Presidents' Athletics Conference Tournament, at approximately 8 p.m. Friday's winners will meet in the second round Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m., for the right to go to the sectional semifinals, more commonly known as the "Sweet 16."
NCAA Tourney Notes: The Scots are making their 19th appearance in the NCAA Div. III tourney. Only six others have been in as many – Franklin & Marshall College (21), Hope College (21), Illinois Wesleyan University (19), Salem State College (22), Univ. of Scranton (22), and Wittenberg University (24). Wooster, which also played in two other NCAA Tournaments prior to Div. III (1971, 1973), has been in the national field 15 of the last 16 seasons and 18 times since 1990.
The Scots' all-time record in the Div. III tourney is 18-19 – 11-5 in games played at Timken Gymnasium, 6-5 at neutral sites, and 1-9 in true road games. Wooster has reached the Div. III sectional round ("Sweet 16") five times over the last 11 years, highlighted by runs to the "Final Four" in 2003 and 2007.
On the Air: Every Wooster men's basketball game can be heard live in the Wooster area on WQKT 104.5 FM or anywhere in the world by following links on the radio station's Web site at http://wqkt.com/. Mike Breckenridge serves as the "Voice of the Fighting Scots."
Additionally, the audio and video of any game Wooster is involved in from local cable provider Clear Picture, Inc., will be broadcast live over the Web at no charge to the viewer at http://www.teamline.cc/teampage?teamcode=1100, thanks to the support of Clear Picture and the "W" Association, the school's alumni organization which supports athletics.
Ticket Information: As determined by the NCAA, ticket prices for this weekend's first- and second-round action are $6 for adults and $3 for students/senior citizens. On Friday, one ticket is good for both games. There will be no pre-sale, as the ticket window will first open at 4:30 p.m., Friday afternoon.
Against the 2010 NCAA Field: A highly challenging non-conference schedule hopefully has the Scots prepared for the 2010 NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championships. Wooster played three teams ranked among the top-five (D3hoops.com) – the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), John Carroll University, and Randolph-Macon College – and all three made the national field. Wooster dropped all three, however, two were very close road losses to John Carroll (71-63) and Randolph-Macon (72-65). Also noteworthy, two other NCAA participants, Albright College and Washington University-St. Louis, were in tournaments that the Scots were involved in, but they did not meet.
All-Time Series: Grove City and Wooster have met on the hardwood 34 times, but not since Dec. 29, 1997, in the Scots' annual "Mose" Hole/Kiwanis Classic. Wooster won that one 67-48 and leads the series 22-12 overall, with the Wolverines last winning 67-56 Dec. 10, 1988.
The potential second-round match-ups are less familiar for the Scots, having only faced fellow Ohio school Defiance five times previously and never matching up against Wis.-Whitewater. Wooster is 3-2 in games with the Yellow Jackets, but their most recent meeting was way back on Dec. 17, 1975 – a 100-93 triumph for Defiance. While they've never met on the basketball court, Wis.-Whitewater and Wooster share some NCAA history in another sport. The two met in the winners' bracket game of the finals of the 2005 NCAA Div. III Baseball Championships, a 10-7 Warhawks' victory that spurred them on to the national championship.
Head Coach Steve Moore: The architect behind the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 2000s is Steve Moore. In addition to guiding Wooster to 278 victories this decade, he carries a 23-year record of 536-125 (.811) with the Fighting Scots. Prior to coming to Wooster in 1987-88, Moore coached Muhlenberg College for six seasons and was successful there as well, giving him a career record of 623-190 (.766), which puts him eighth all-time in wins for Div. III coaches. Moore has seven Coach-of-the-Year honors from the North Coast Athletic Conference. Noteworthy, Moore's Wooster teams are 6-1 against Grove City.
Scots' In-Season Update: Wooster entered 2009-10 with typical high expectations, including a No. 9 preseason ranking (D3hoops.com), but got off to a 2-3 start in the month of November, thanks in part to a highly-challenging schedule that featured losses to then-No. 4 ranked University of St. Thomas (Minn.) and No. 2 John Carroll University. Since then, the Scots have won 21 out of their 23 contests, with the lone setbacks coming on the home floor of No. 5 Randolph-Macon College and to arch-rival Wittenberg University.
In the conference portion of the schedule, Wooster had some good fortune early. On Dec. 5, Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) fed Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy) for a lay-up with :02 left, capping a 66-65 victory that saw the Scots come back from a 63-57 deficit with 1:28 remaining. On Jan. 13, they put together another furious comeback, this time down 45-33 with 15:47 to play and 59-51 with 5:40 on the clock before pulling out a 69-68 win at Allegheny College. Franks paved the way with a career-high 33 points, 24 coming during the second half.
With the exception of the loss to Wittenberg Feb. 13, Wooster has been playing its best ball of the season over the past five weeks, witness double-digit victories in nine of the 11 outings. The Scots have been shooting 50.7 percent from the field, raising their season average to 46.8 percent, and holding the opposition to a rate of .379, compared to .402 for the entire year. They've also averaged a +7.6 rebounding margin during this current stretch.
Franks, a junior guard, has been the difference maker for Wooster throughout the season with an average of 17.4 points, which ballooned to 19.5 against NCAC competition. Also in double figures are Balch and Bryan Wickliffe (Columbus, Ohio / St. Charles Prep) at 11.8 and 11.4 points, respectively, and not far behind is Justin Hallowell's (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) 9.5 points. More than half of Hallowell's and Balch's scoring comes from 3-point range, as they've combined for 113 3-pointers made, while Wickliffe is the Scots' primary post presence. He pulls down a team-leading 7.1 rebounds an outing.
Wooster's fifth starter is senior point Brandon Johnson (Columbus, Ohio / Groveport Madison), who endured a second ACL surgery in as many years this past summer. A gutsy return sees him averaging 3.5 assists and 1.2 steals to lead the team in each of those categories, while another key player for the Scots has been his back-up, Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville), who chips in 6.2 points and a .434 3-point percentage.
Conference Tourney Recap: The Scots won the NCAC Tournament last week, marking their league-leading 12th title out of a possible 26.
On Feb. 23, top-seeded Wooster, behind 8-of-13 3-point shooting in the first half and a strong defensive effort in the second, steadily pulled away from the No. 8 seed, Kenyon College, as the Scots ultimately triumphed 73-59 during the quarterfinals. Wooster was ahead for all but two possessions, both coming in the early stages, and it utilized a 10-3 run late in the first half to secure a 41-32 advantage going into the break. In the second, the Scots held down the Lords to just 8-of-25 field goals (.320) and strung together a similar late run, this time 10-2 to take a 72-55 cushion before emptying the bench with a little over 2:00 left. Wooster put three in double figures, headlined by Ian Franks' (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) 25 points, which included 9-of-11 field goals (4-of-5 3-pointers). Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy) contributed 13 tallies in the scoring column, keyed by 3-fo-5 3-pointers, and off the bench, Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) hit 3-for-4 3-balls as part of a 12-point night.
On Feb. 26, the Scots jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back, rolling past fifth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University 87-70 in the semifinals. Wooster scored on six of its first nine possessions, including a pair of 3-pointers from Brandon Johnson (Columbus, Ohio / Groveport Madison), the second of which gave them a 14-3 lead and forced the Battling Bishops into a second timeout less than five minutes into the action. Ohio Wesleyan kept the margin at a manageable distance for the ensuing 10 minutes, only to see Wooster close the first half with a 14-2 run, resulting in a 51-28 cushion at the break, and in the second, the Scots stretched out their advantage to as much as 30 (74-44). Wooster had a very balanced effort with four in double figures, led by Josh Claytor's (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda) collegiate-high 17 points. The freshman forward made 3-of-4 3-pointers and four other field goals, and paced the team with nine boards as well. Balch contributed 13 points, while Franks and Wickliffe produced 12 apiece. Franks passed out a game-high six assists, too.
On Feb. 27, Wooster built an 18-point halftime lead and then withstood a comeback attempt by Wittenberg University in the second, completing a wire-to-wire 88-77 victory during the championship game. The two rivals split the regular season, with each winning on the others' home floor, but the Scots set the tone right from the outset of this one, as within eight minutes they were ahead by 10 (16-6). Wooster, after seeing its lead trimmed to five at 21-16 and 23-18, also would close the half strong, edging out to a 45-27 advantage at the break. During the second, Wittenberg cut an 18-point deficit (57-39) all the way down to six (61-55) in a span of less than three minutes. Balch ended that run with a 3-ball and then the theme of the game became Franks' ability to get to the free throw line, where he finished 14-of-16 with all of the attempts coming in the second half, as the Scots sealed the win. Balch scored a season-high 22 points, 14 coming in the first half and 4-of-7 3-point shooting overall, and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Franks wound up with a 21-point, five-assist night, earning a spot on the all-tournament team. Also for Wooster, Wickliffe scored 18, Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) notched a game-high nine rebounds, and Johnson led all players with six assists.
This and That: Wooster's six consecutive NCAC championships is a conference record, bettering the five in a row by the 1990-94 Wittenberg squads ... Brandon Johnson (Columbus, Ohio / Groveport Madison) became the 33rd player in team history to score 1,000 points on Nov. 29, and now with 1,120 points, he ranks 20th on that list. Wooster's lone senior also ranks third in steals (176) and fifth in assists (395) in the school annals. In games with Johnson in the lineup, the Scots have a 99-19 record (.839) ... Junior Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) joined the 1,000-point club in Wooster's most recent game, as he has 1,004 for his career entering NCAA play.