Tomorrow, January 8th, the Wabash College Little Giants (13-0, 5-0) will host the Wooster Fighting Scots (13-0, 4-0) in a battle of highly ranked unbeatens. The game will tip-off at approximately 2:00 PM, and Chadwick Court is expected to be very loud and very red; Wabash students have called for a "Red Alert" so that all students will wear red to the game.
Wabash enters Saturday's game coming off a strong 73-57 home win over Denison on Wednesday. The Little Giants will rely on Senior guard Wes Smith, who enters the game averaging 23.1 ppg, to play well, but even more importantly, will need their top-ranked scoring defense, which is only allowing 54.7 ppg, to slow down the high scoring Wooster offense, which averages 79.5 ppg. Wabash also will rely on its outside shooters, Aaron Zinnerman (8.0 ppg), A.J. Sutherlin (6.7 ppg), and Derek Bailey (6.2 ppg), to rip the nets against the Wooster defense which comes into the game allowing 62.5 ppg. In the frontcourt, Ben Burkett, Nick Curosh, and Pete Nicksic will be faced with the task of guarding Wooster's big men, 6'7" Justin Hallowell, 6'5" Bryan Wickliffe, 6'7" Josh Claytor, and 6'8" Jake Mays.
#1 ranked Wooster enters the game coming off a 79-77 scare against Baruch College (The City Univ. of New York) in the Bahama House/Best Western Aku Tiki Shootout in Daytona Beach, Florida. In tomorrow's game, Wooster will rely on its leader, d3hoops.com pre-season All-American Ian Franks, for much of its scoring along with Junior forward Justin Hallowell. Franks and Hallowell are averaging 19 and 11.5 ppg respectively in NCAC play, combining to account for over 40% of the team's points. Not only do the two do most of the scoring for Wooster, but they both also average over 6 rebounds per game.
After comparing both teams' statistics, the two teams seem to be very, very evenly matched. Both teams enter the game undefeated, outscore their opponents by over 15 ppg, play an 8-9 man rotation, and rely heavily on 1-2 players for the majority of their scoring. Therefore, on paper, the game seems to be a toss-up.
However, Wabash has one great advantage that I believe they will use as a Gamebreaker: the Chadwick Crazies. Although most of Wabash's students are still on break, I expect a great deal of the students to return to support their team in a game of such great magnitude. The students have been persuaded by fellow students and even Dean Raters to venture back to campus and support the team. If I know my fellow Wallies as well as I think I do, I know that many will show up for the game and will have a great impact on the game. I believe that, just like Dr. Herzog described the 1982 Chadwick Crazies, we will refuse to lose and will will our team onto victory.
My prediction: Wabash 67 Wooster 62
WAF
Thanks to both Wabash and Wooster's SID's for statistics.
For more stats, visit:
http://www.wabash.edu/sports/docs/basketballstats/201011/teamcume.htm#TEAM.IND
or
http://www.woosterathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/files/teamcume.htm
After encouragement from friends, I have decided to start a blog with my thoughts about what's going on the world of sports, music, movies, etc. These are simply my opinions; if you don't agree, comment and tell me why, and we will have a civil discussion about the issue. I hope to use this as a medium to stir discussion about recent events around the state, country, and world.
Do you think Wabash's big men can handle the depth in size that Wooster has? But then again Wooster has been struggling against mediocre teams like Allegheny and Baruch. Wooster struggles with controlling guards as seen by the Allegheny and Baruch games. Wes Smith and Aaron Zinnerman need to step up their outside shooting in particular to create havoc for the Scots. The atmosphere should be good at Chadwick Court which could give the Scots some issues. I have to agree with Ryan in saying it should be a good, close game with plenty of drama. Wabash has come close in recent years to knocking off heralded Wooster but I believe this year is their best chance.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. On defense, if we can slow down Hallowell, I think we have a great chance. Not many teams have had success shutting down last year's NCAC Player of the Year Ian Franks, but teams that played Wooster close all seemed to hold Hallowell in check. Teams that didn't, such as Anderson, didn't fare well (they lost to Wooster by 41). Therefore, it is very important that Nick Curosh plays a very great game on defense. I think that he will play well, and Wooster will have to put all of their money on the play of Ian Franks. My only concern is that if Wes Smith has a below average game, Wabash will have a hard time scoring. Therefore, I believe our gunners (Zinnerman, Sutherlin, and Bailey) will play a key role supporting Smith. I have a gut feeling that Sutherlin will have a great game following his off-shooting night against Denison. Great shooters don't have two bad games in a row.
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