Haven't posted in a long time, but still love reading the NESCAC musings that people throw up here.

Wesleyan's resurgence has brought me out of posting retirement to pass this along: http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/news/2012/02/mbbatbowd021012.html.  Great coach and a great group of guys. It's about time for the Cardinals.

I'm excited to be at Silloway tomorrow to see what the playoff atmosphere is going to be like.

tech wins at Bowdoin.  Loving seeing the young cards on the road to redemption for Wes.  Big game tomorrow against one of the top teams in the league.

Jeffs survive the mad comeback by the Tech 79-72 caused by Amherst's 16 turnovers.  Mendell with an uncharacteristically tough night from the field hurt the Cards.  Sha goes for 26. and Wheeler goes off from 3, would have been interesting to see it in person.  Anyone at the game with analysis?

Wes closing the gap as the lead stands at 6 for Herst.  Wish I was at Silloway enjoying the game.

Quote from: walzy31 on January 05, 2010, 10:27:32 PM
Amherst -12 @ Wesleyan (Amherst -9 if Kaminer launches one off the glass from 30 feet at the buzzer).
Over Under: 138.0

I like the over/under and as far as the spread goes, I think that it will be a closer game for at least the first 35 minutes, as Wes has played Amherst close at home in recent years and has generally stayed with the Jeffs until the last 8 minutes.  Here's to hoping that my Cards won't need another Kaminer jumper to squeak out a win...

I'll be very interested to see how Meehan plays against the much quicker, but smaller guards from Wes.  As we've said before on the board, Amherst has traditionally struggled against more athletic guards.  Inside, there could be problems for Wes, as they continue to be undersized.  I think it will come down to 4 factors: who wins the battle on the boards, who shoots a better percentage from 3, how each teams' guards react to defensive pressure and which team has better conditioning for 40 minutes.

This will be a real preview for the fast approaching CAC season as both teams try to reach midseason form.

The game will have livestats for anyone looking to follow it live. http://bkatten.web.wesleyan.edu/live/xlive.htm

Quote from: walzy31 on November 24, 2009, 05:27:30 PM
My guess would be Ty Rhoten or Keala Mills. I agree that Shasha's numbers are impressive.
If he puts up 20+ on less than 20 shots against the Eph's tonight then he will have my attention.

22 pts on 8-15 shooting with 9 mins to go.  Cards down 10 in an absolute shootout up at Chandler.

Quote from: nescac1 on November 24, 2009, 08:30:16 PM
In case there were any doubts, Wesleyan's frosh backcourt is obviously for real, combining for 26-4-3 with 3 steals in the first half.  Only a ridiculous half by Schultz (23 points on only 10 fga) and strong play from Whittington has given the Ephs a slim lead.   Transfer Kevin Scura (former Eph) hits a big three for Wesleyan.

In other NESCAC action, Eastern Conn knocks off its second straight NESCAC squad at home, in OT, in both games (Bowdoin and Trinity).  Wow. 

Damn I was typing up a summary as you posted.  Good analysis.

Might as well still post since I wrote it.

Halftime up in Williamstown, Cards down 52-46.  Bigs haven't had the huge impact i thought they would, beyond controlling the glass for Williams.  Its been all Shultz with 23 in the first half.  Geoghegan has been a non-factor, but Troy has 11 pts.

For Wes, the dynamic freshman duo is putting in work, with Shasha dropping 15 and Derick 11.  Kaminer is having a solid game, with 7pts.  I'm catching the livestats from a distance, so it's unknown as to who is getting worked by Shultz.  No doubt there will be big defensive changes by Coach Reilly at the half to slow him down.  The big difference right now for Wes has been their 17 pts off turnovers, looks like the quickness of the guards is getting to the Eph backcourt.

Looking forward to an exciting second half, I just wish Williams would spare some of their big endowment and not try to scam us out of $10 to listen to the audiocast.

I look forward to the day when Wes has enough respect in the NESCAC that when a freshman averages 25.5 pts, 5 assists, 4 boards and 2.5 steals with 47% shooting and wins a Tournament MVP as Shasha did, he atleast gets NESCAC co-player of the week.  I wonder who the last NESCAC freshman was to put up those kind of numbers in their first two college games.

Can't wait for the game tonight at Williams, even if the Cards get beat inside, the big indicator for the rest of the season will be how their guards play against the bigger and more experienced, but slower Eph backcourt.  It'll definitely be a 'welcome to the CAC/Little Three' kinda night for the young guns.

Quote from: lefrakenstein on November 23, 2009, 10:40:08 AM
Other notes from the weekend include Wesleyan's froshes looking scary good. Looks like the Little Three will be an actual three-team competition for the forseable future.

Also, awesome that Hixon got his 600th, but too bad that it was the same day as the other coach getting 700. Would have liked to have seen him on the front page. I guess I'll just have to wait another 4 years for 700.

A definite congatulations to Coach Hixon, I'm still hurting from how many of those wins have been against the Cardinals.  (and he is on the front page? along with a picture of the whole team)

The Little Three is getting more and more interesting in most sports, as Wes has really improved its athletics in the past 5 years, led by Men's Lacrosse and Soccer.  It'll be exciting if we can get Silloway Gym in Middletown as loud as Lefrak and Chandler can be and hopefully the Cards can help make it 5 or 6 years till Hixon reaches 700.

Quote from: nescac1 on November 21, 2009, 06:21:02 PM
Williams-Wesleyan should be interesting Tuesday, first leg of the little three.  Williams has a huge size and strength advantage and should pound it inside all day, rather than trying to run and gun with Wesleyan's smaller, quicker line-up.

How well the young Cards have learned Reilly's defensive rotations will make or break Wes against Williams.  The Ephs will pound it inside, and Maltz will need help with Geoghegan from a double down on the wing.  If the bigs are passing well, and Wes' rotations back to shooters are off or slow, it could be a long night.

Nobody likes to play swarming athletic teams, so if the Cards can do that all night, its gonna be a fun game.  Definitely looking forward to a preview of the NESCAC season this early on.

WesTech beats Becker to take the Chip, 95-85.  Shasha goes for 29, ROY watch is officially on.  The freshmen seem to be making every bit as big an impact as they were supposed to as Beresford also goes for 17.  Maltz, 13 and 7, Mendell (with an off shooting night) 17 and 8.  Loving seeing the Cards go 2-0 for the first time in recent memory.

Any other updates on games?

Cardinals Beat Johnson State 104-94.  Sign of the times for the Tech, Run and Gun baby.  Mendell drops 26 and Maltz with a double-double (10 and 13).   ROY watch is on as Shasha has 22 and Derick Beresford has 17.  Next up is Becker College, as the Cards try to take their first home tournament in a longggg time.

Quote from: BullShark09 on November 20, 2009, 08:25:12 AM
From Wes, I'd like to see Mendell (who should have been ROY last year, with better statistics than Demetrius Porter in pretty much every category, including--as a g/sf mind you--rebounding)

I partially take that back, he only had better stats in PPG, Minutes, Rebounding (off, def and tot), Foul Shooting Percentage, Turnovers, and his shooting percentage was only 2% less despite putting up 130 3-pt attempts.  The only statistic Porter led Mendell by a large margin in was Blocks.

Quote from: nescac1 on November 19, 2009, 04:57:56 PM
Still think the all-conference projections (always insanely speculative even at this pont) haven't changed much from what they were in the offseason,  something like Choice, Schultz, Pierce, Meehan, Geoghegan on first team, Wilson, Bernier, Wheeler, Phillips and Porter on second.  Possible break-out guys: Rubin, Whittington, Wang (Williams), O'Connell, Hanley (Bowdoin), Waller, Holmes, Barrisse (Amherst), Locke, Sharry, Edwards (if healthy) (Midd), Russell (Colby), Ellis (Bates), Beyel (Tufts), a bunch of different guys on Trinity / Wes. 

From Wes, I'd like to see Mendell (who should have been ROY last year, with better statistics than Demetrius Porter in pretty much every category, including--as a g/sf mind you--rebounding) and Kaminer (who put up 23 against Amherst and 29 against Albertus before breaking his foot last year) get looks for All-CAC.  Also Maltz, who is one of the top rebounders in the conference could be looking at a big year after a breakout sophomore year.

Season Opener tonight for the Cardinals at home vs. Johnson State, first game on the road to recovery.  Wes will probably be starting 2 freshmen tonight... potentially a look at 09/10 ROY candidates.

Quote from: nescac1 on November 17, 2009, 06:10:36 PM
Any other NESCAC teams have previews posted besides Williams and Amherst? 

No Wesleyan Team Preview, but an article in the Wes Newspaper on former All-Crazy Team member SID (and professional National Anthem singer) Brian Katten (http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/11/10/brian-katten-%e2%80%9979-sports-information/).