NCAC Tournament Notebook: Men's Basketball

Outlook: The "Madness" started early this year, with College of Wooster men's basketball senior Turner Kurt (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) hitting a buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer in Saturday's 75-74 win over Wabash College at Timken Gymnasium. The latest top moment in Timken Gymnasium history clinched Wooster's North Coast Athletic Conference-leading 19th championship outright and secured the No. 1 seed for this week's NCAC Tournament. Wooster (19-5, 13-3 NCAC) hosts eighth-seeded Oberlin College (8-17, 4-12 NCAC) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21. Other Tuesday quarterfinals are second-seeded Wabash (18-7, 11-5 NCAC) hosting seventh-seeded Hiram College (10-14, 5-11 NCAC) at 7 p.m., third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University (16-9, 11-5 NCAC) hosting sixth-seeded DePauw University (17-8, 9-7 NCAC) at 7:45 p.m., and fourth-seeded Denison University (14-10, 10-6 NCAC) hosting fifth-seeded Wittenberg University (13-11, 9-7 NCAC) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday's winners advance to play in Friday's semifinals, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed. Saturday's championship game, also hosted by the highest seed to win on Tuesday night, is set for 4 p.m.

Media Coverage: Tuesday's game will be streamed live at https://northcoastnetwork.com/wooster. MCTV customers living in Wayne and Stark Counties can catch the first replay at 10 p.m. on Ch. 22. Mike Breckenridge's call of Wooster's game can be heard on 104.5 FM and online at https://wqkt.com. Fans can also follow the live stats link on Wooster's men's basketball schedule page and check for periodic score updates on the men's basketball team's Twitter account @ScotsBasketball.

Ticket Information: Ticket prices for the NCAC Tournament are set by the conference office. For the quarterfinals, ticket prices are $7 for adults (including seniors), $5 for children (18 & under), $5 for holders of a NCAC guest pass, and $5 for students without an ID card from a NCAC institution. NCAC students are admitted free of charge, but must have a valid student ID card from a NCAC institution. A reminder Wooster season ticket passes are not valid for postseason events, which include all NCAA and NCAC Tournament games hosted by Wooster. Wooster accepts cash and credit cards for ticket purchases.

NCAC Tournament History: Wooster has won the NCAC Tournament a league-best 17 times. Wittenberg is next with eight tournament crowns, while Ohio Wesleyan is in third-place with five. Wooster is a remarkable 77-20 all-time in the NCAC Tournament, and is 58-10 when playing at Timken Gymnasium. Wooster is 32-5 all-time in the quarterfinals, and the Scots have won their quarterfinal game in 25 consecutive years. In 2022, Wooster bid adieu to Allegheny College's time in the NCAC with an 86-79 win for its 25th-consecutive NCAC Tournament quarterfinal victory. In the semifinals, Wooster's 13-2 second-half run all but put a 75-59 Scots' victory out of reach for DePauw. With that win, Wooster advanced to its 23rd championship game in a 25-year stretch and played for the title for the 28th time in the 37 years of the NCAC Tournament. Wabash won a thrilling championship game over Wooster 85-84 in overtime. The Little Giants' victory snapped the program's remarkable run of 24 consecutive 20-win seasons and the program's all-time Div. III record of 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, which is the seventh-longest stretch in NCAA men's basketball history across all three divisions.

Talking Seeds: Wooster is playing as the No. 1 seed for the NCAC Tournament for the 17th time. The Scots are 40-7 all-time when playing as the one seed. Wooster is looking for its 10th NCAC Tournament title when playing as the one seed. Wooster last played as the one seed in 2019, a year where Wittenberg won the tournament. Wooster's last NCAC Tournament win while playing as the one seed was 2014 when Wooster downed Wittenberg 71-63 in the championship game. Wooster has been a top-three seed for the NCAC Tournament every year since 1989.

Every Role is Important: Guys buying into their roles has fueled Wooster's success for nearly four decades. Wooster's bench plays a key role to the overall team success, and that has been especially evident the last several years in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals. In 2018, alumnus Blake Blair came through with 14 points and four rebounds during Wooster's 70-63 win over DePauw. A year later, fan favorite Khaylen Mahdi filled that role with 16 points and four assists in Wooster's 91-89 win over Allegheny. Three years ago, then-sophomore Najee Hardaway (Cleveland, Ohio/Shaker Heights) keyed the Scots with 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds in Wooster's 92-66 win over Allegheny. Last year, Nick Everett (Salem, Ohio/West Branch) filled that role, finishing with a then-career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

A Brief Look at Oberlin: Wooster and Oberlin split the regular season meetings this year, with the Scots winning 62-48 at Timken Gymnasium on January 4 and the Yeomen winning 71-68 at Philips Gymnasium on January 28. Wooster's 48 points allowed in the first meeting with Oberlin this year marked the first time the Scots kept a team under 50 points since downing Hanover College 57-47 on November 20, 2018. Oberlin's win in late January snapped Wooster's 60-game series winning streak and it was the Yeomen's first win over the Scots since February 6, 1988. Yuuki Okubo is second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio and leads the NCAC with 142 assists. The Yeomen's point guard has 27 turnovers in 23 games this year, but nine of them are from the two games against the Scots. Wooster is 6-0 all-time in the NCAC Tournament.

Wooster is the Winningest NCAA Div. III Team of the 2000s: Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Wooster has Div. III's highest winning percentage at .811 (563-131). In fact, Wooster's winning percentage in the 2000s is higher than Duke University (.807; 679-162) and every other NCAA Div. I and Div. II men's basketball program except for Gonzaga University (.836; 681-134) and the University of Kansas (.814; 691-158).

NCAA Tournament Success: Wooster holds the NCAA Div. III record with 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. The 2021-2022 season marked the first  time Wooster did not make the NCAA Tournament since the 2001-2002 season.  Wooster's 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is tied for the seventh-longest streak in NCAA men's basketball history, trailing Kansas (32, 1990-present), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (27, 1975-2001), Duke (24, 1996-2019), Michigan State University (24, 1998-present), Gonzaga (23, 1999-present), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (19, 1999-2017). Wooster's run is tied with Indiana University Bloomington, which had an 18-year tournament streak from 1986-2003. Wooster has made 29 NCAA Tournaments since the formation of Div. III, which is second all-time. Longtime nemesis Wittenberg has made a Div. III-leading 30 Div. III Tournaments, and the University of Scranton ranks third at 28 trips.

One of the Nation's Elite Programs: One of Wooster's signature streaks is still going strong, as the Scots' 74-66 win over Hiram on February 8 gave the program its 18th win of the year. Wooster has won at least 18 games in each of the last 34 full seasons, a simply remarkable run, considering there are only 25 regular season games in Div. III. Wooster's 24-year run of consecutive 20-wins seasons was snapped last year. Wooster's 1,803 wins are the second-most in Div. III history trailing Wittenberg's 1,839.

Scots Second in Div. III to Hit This Number: Wooster won its 1,800th all-time game on February 1, marking the second time a NCAA Div. III institution hit that number. Only archrival Wittenberg has more all-time wins in Div. III history. Overall, Wooster is the 25th NCAA basketball program to hit the 1,800-win milestone.

All-America Success: Wooster is the only Div. III program to have five different players selected as first-team NABC All-Americans in the 2000s. Bryan Nelson (2002-03, NABC Div. III Player of the Year), Tom Port (2006-07), Ian Franks (2009-10), Doug Thorpe (2013-14), and Danyon Hempy (2019-20) are Wooster's first-team NABC All-American selections in the 2000s.

He Can Do It All: Point guard Jamir Billings (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) might not jump out at you in the scoring column, as he is one of five Scots on a very balanced offensive team averaging double figure points, however his all-around play will certainly catch everyone's attention. The 2021-22 D3hoops.com Region 7 Newcomer of the Year, the NCAC Top Defensive Player, and NCAC Newcomer of the Year, pairs 5.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game to his 10.0 scoring average.  Billings needed less than two seasons to break into the program's career top-10 list for steals, and he is already up to eighth with 145. Billings broke Wooster's single-season record with 84 steals as a first-year and his 61 this year are the seventh-most in program history. He is within 30 assists of joining the top-10 career program leaderboard, and he is the third Scot with two seasons with at least 120 assists. Wooster legends Erich Riebe and Antwyan Reynolds are the other two Scots with two seasons with at least 120 assists. Billings tied the single-game program record with 12 assists in Wooster's game against the University of Rochester, and that marked his fourth game with at least 10. Billings had six steals in the first game with Oberlin this season, marking his fourth game with at least six.

The Leader: Hardaway is a four-year starter for the Scots, who really embodies what the program is all about. The Shaker Heights High School product saw limited time on the varsity level as a first-year, then seized a starting role midway through his sophomore year and never looked back. Hardaway is averaging a career-high 12.7 points per game this season and entered the NCAC Tournament with 824 career points. He scored a career-high 24 points in the 125th all-time meeting between Wooster and Wittenberg.

No Secret Here: Wooster wants to get the ball inside to its bigs and take advantage of having a pair of 6-8 forwards who are able to score with high efficiency when they take shots. That would be Everett and Kurt, who are second and fourth on the team, respectively, with 11.3 and 10.7 points per game. Everett is leading the NCAC with a 68.5 (100-of-146) field-goal percentage, while Kurt ranks third at 55.7 (97-of-174) percent. Everett has three 20-point games in February, including a career-high 22 against Denison on February 15.

Hometown Pride: Junior JJ Cline (Wooster, Ohio/Northwestern) has been around the program since before he could dribble a basketball. The son of head coach Doug Cline is in his first year as a starter and does all the little things - like take an insane amount of charges, bring the energy and effort to rebounding - that don't shine through in the box score. Cline had a career-high seven rebounds in the regular season finale against Wabash and six of them came on the offensive end of the floor.

Athleticism & Depth: Wooster has the depth and talent to go three deep with elite defense on the perimeter. Junior Carter Warstler (New Albany, Ohio/Columbus Academy) is the reason why. In fact, Wooster has two of the top "sixth men" in the area, thanks to Everett and Warstler. Warstler is second in the NCAC with 40 steals on the year and he has a trio of games with at least three, including six in the season-opening win over Mount Aloysius College.

Meredith a Key to Success: Junior Elijah Meredith (Lewis Center, Ohio/Wellington) really opens the offense up for Wooster when he is on from range, and when he is on, he is one of the top shooters in the conference. Meredith really stepped up the consistency at last year's NCAC Tournament, averaging 18.7 points and 4.3 rebounds over the three games. He opened the league tournament with 21 points and seven rebounds against Allegheny, scored 18 against DePauw in the semifinal, and dropped in 17 points against Wabash in the championship game. The junior has eight games this season where he has hit at least three triples.

Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni in prominent coaching and administrative roles in college and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, including a near two-decade tenure as a top administrator for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and the honor is considered to be the top award given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of enshrinement. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida, when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming, was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year stretch, and worked in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Lamont Paris '96 was on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris then became the head coach at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he went 87-72 over five years, including 65-29 over his final three seasons. At present, Paris is in his first season as head coach at the University of South Carolina. Ryan Pedon '00 spent five years as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which ranked as high as second in the AP Top-25, before taking the head coaching position at Illinois State University.

Scots Go Abroad: Wooster's team spent fall break in France. The NCAA permits such international trips every three years. The trip to France marked the seventh for the program, which previously traveled to England, Ireland, and Scotland (2017), Spain (2014), Ireland and Scotland (2011), Italy (2008), Germany and Austria (2004), and England and Scotland (2000).