I am enthusiastic about only being given 6.5 points. Waltzy, love the optimism. I know Williams is the class of the NESCAC but I have always thought Midd was the tougher matchup for the mules. We need another lights out day from Haylon as well as the usual Choice/Russell two-headed production monster. That and a bad shooting day from the Midd Frosh could spell an upset.

If Mike Russell doesn't get 1st team all NESCAC I will disagree but understand. There are lots of great forwards in the conference this year. If Hanley makes it over him though it would be an absolute travesty. I wouldn't put Hanley on either 1st or second team. Bowdoin deserves 1 player and that is Phillips. He is more important to the team and deserves a 2nd team all-NESCAC spot.

My predictions (not what they should be)

1st team

Shultz
Choice
Wang
Edwards
Pierce

2nd

Sharry
Russell
Ellis
Wheeler
Bernier

POY:Shultz (it kills me to actually put this in print)
ROY:Brown
DPOY: Edwards
COY: Furbush

In order to contain my excitement about Colby v. Midd this weekend I decided to stray away from my usual Colby fanaticism and think about who would make the All-NESCAC ISL alum squad. This is what I have thus far.

Starters:

PG: Sal Abdo- Trinity via St. Marks
SG: Dean Lampe- Conn via Brooks
SF: Adam Choice- Colby via St. Georges
PF: Scott Anderson- Tufts via Middlesex
C: Big New Hampshire (aka Pete Kaasila)- Amherst via St. Marks


Backups:

PG: Derrek Beresford- Wesleyan via Nobles
SG: Gil Haylon- Colby via Nobles
SF: Gil Haylon (if you shoot this well you get to be a backup at both wing positions)
PF: ?
C: ?

Not sure on the backup bigs but who needs a backup with Kaasila bashing heads. Anyways, this is a good start and not bad for a league of small high schools. NESCAC schools would be smart to continue this pipeline because the ISL boasts elite academic schools stocked with D3 Players who have played with and against elite division 1 talent during high school.

Quote from: walzy31 on February 13, 2010, 08:47:59 PM
Also, Colby is not winning next weekend...

HAAAAAAAAAATERS come out and PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. Colby just blasted Amherst WITH Meehan and Choice shooting 2-12. To illustrate how much of a crush this was, Colby outscored Amherst 63-29 if you eliminate the first 2 minutes of both halves. Looks like the mighty have fallen.....Amherst was terribly coached. The last 10 minutes of the game they stood around waiting for Meehan to go 1v1. Wheeler seems to completely vanish when face guarded.  They need to feed the ball to Kaasila more. He is a beast.

Also, looks like unless the selection committee are a bunch of Bowdoin grads, the Mules will be dancing. What an accomplishment for a team with "nobody other than Choice". Looks like this team is head and shoulders above the mushy middle known as the Bates, Bowdoin, Amherst, and Trinity.

great news about the Mule's mathmatical relevance. I can't talk to much now though because my singular focus is on beating Amherst. The Jeffs are the most dangerous team to play right now. Their talent is incredible. I can just hope that their inexperience goes our way this weekend.

On another note, I am crushed at being beaten out for the all crazy team. I was very happy about Chas making the squad. I was at the first Amherst game when he spiked the ball. If you look closely you can see me put my head in my hands. What an absurd moment!

Nescac Hoops,

I agree that Colby's NCAA at large hopes probably went away yesterday. The only scenario I could think of is if they get to the league final and play Williams close. Even in this scenario I dont think they will be dancing. Your assertion that this team was built up by their schedule doesnt really apply when talking about last night. Colby has probably won close to 10 games over teams better than Conn. Last night was just flat out terrible. It didnt help that Conn didnt miss from three. This is a crushing blow for a team which has overachieved up until this game.

Quote from: nescac1 on February 10, 2010, 08:43:39 PM

Two final thoughts from me on Russell.  First, if Choice is clearly the player of the year, and Russell clearly a first teamer, why did Colby get dominated twice by Midd and Williams, and why did they need overtime (twice) to beat Bates, among numerous other narrow escapes?  Unless Colby folks claim their supporting cast is just atrocious, which hasn't been the claim all season.  SOMETHING has to give if Colby truly has the first and fourth or fifth best players in the conference, and team performance tells the story in addition to stats. 

Also, Whittington and Russell played just a week ago.  Here were the results:

Whittington, 15 minutes, 4-5 from the field, 4-6 from the line, 12 points, 7 boards, 3 steals, one assist, 0 TO's.
Russell, 22 minutes,  6 points, 9 boards, 3-7, 0-2, 1 TO, no steals, blocks or assists.  (I realize Russell banged his head, but he played 22 minutes in the biggest game of the year and did little beyond boarding in that time period).

A couple of things. First, I don't think many people on this board would not choose Whittington over Russell if they were to start a college team tomorrow. That is not what we are talking about. What WE ARE talking about is who merits a first team all league selection. Russell has put up better numbers than Whittington. This is fact. He is also significantly more important to his team. If Whittington got hurt at the beginning of the Nescac season what would be their league record? 8-0? 7-1 maybe.....If Russell gets hurt for Colby we are fighting with a whole host of other teams for the 6-8 spots in the league tourney.

Next, anyone who has watched more than just the Williams and Midd game knows that Colby played particularly poorly. The mules are not as talented as those two squads, but have proven themselves to be the best of the rest. Choice is the best player for the same reason as Russell is a first teamer; without him Colby is in big trouble.

Lastly, this whole time I have maintained that Colby's supporting cast is better than advertised. Does this make them as deep as Williams or Midd...NO. Although this is true they have been more than capable and lead this team to the brink of a NCAA tournament birth. Lets not let one bad weekend against 2 top 10 teams get in the way of a whole seasons worth of work.

Quote from: machine54 on February 08, 2010, 08:33:45 PM
Hard to believe that Colby is the third best team in the NESCAC - their offensive sets v. MIDD consisted of three sometimes four guys literally standing around the perimeter  

If a person only saw last weekend I dont think anyone would say Colby was a top three team. Over the season, however, their body of work speaks for itself. They have beaten every team below them in league play and, despite this terrible weekend are the leagues best hope for a third NCAA bid.

Tonight the Mules escaped with a 2 point win over Thomas College. Thomas is really scrappy and have already beaten Bowdoin, Bates, and Tufts. Colby looked really stagnant on offense in the first half but Choice and Russell took over in the second (each had 27). If the mules take care of business this weekend I would imagine all they would need is to win the quarterfinal. Obviously the quarterfinal game is a big if, but this team, despite their offensive woes, is really good in the clutch.

In respect to Russell in the all league discussion, the only reason he would not be on the first team is because the league didn't want two Colby players. Statistically he is the best post player other than maybe Pierce. Also, if Colby lost Russell they would be in much worse shape than if Midd lost Sharry or Williams lost Wittington.

Nescac1,

I dont know who you wouldnt think looked much  better than Colby based on last nights performance. Pretty sure Tufts could have beaten us. It is hard to win games when you cant score. The most surprising thing about this game is that Colby didnt get killed by the big three. In fact, I thought they did alright against them considering the final outcome. Also, the matchups before this game didnt scare me either. Largely that was validated too. It was just astounding to watch this team fall apart so fast. If these scoring woes persist, and the defensive effort follows it will be hard to beat anyone legit. Tonight might be a rebound game though. I was more worried about the midd matchups coming in, but am hoping that colby can grind out a win

That final score is very reasonable and could very well happen...I think that Colby has the chops to put up more the 64 though.

I think the spread is a bit much. Williams is averaging 87 points a game while Colby is only giving up around 60. My guess is that Williams will probably score in the mid to high 70s. If that is the case and Choice has a relatively big game (which i think will happen) I think Colby will definitely be within single digits. They are going in as underdogs, but if Colby does play williams close they have a great chance. Everyone on Colby is a vet who knows how to win close games. Haylon, Choice, and Van Loenen in particular have made huge shots in their careers. My prediction is that this game comes down to the last possession like last year. Unfortunatly last year Colby's three went in and out. I think Haylon will Ice the game winner this year. At Least thats what I can hope for.

Based on the analysis it looks like Colby will have Woodward guarding Geohegan when he is in but not Wittington. Russell will then be switched on to Whittington with maybe even Choice switching over to guard him occasionally. Although I think Choice is as good of a defender as they come, I wouldnt be surprised if Colby has Sherman play a no help type of defense on Shultz. Sherman was able to do a really good face guarding job on Wheeler last weekend. Whether or not Van Loenen can stay in front of Wang sounds like it might be the story of the game. Against Amherst Van Loenen did a great job on Meehan for the 22 minutes  Meehan played. Out of his 9 points at least 4 came on transition jumpers.

Although it sounds like Shultz is Williams best perimeter defender I think it might be a mistake for him to guard Choice from the start. Many people look at Choice as a slasher/midrange jump shooter, but I think he is at his best when he is posting up about 4ft extended from the low block. He can do so much facing up from there including drawing a tone of fouls. If the refs call the game even remotely close Shultz could be in serious foul trouble.

Colby's offense will probably have to have a better than average game because they are not going to hold williams in the low 60s. In order to do that the 3/4 scorers will have to show up. If Van Loenen, Sherman, and Haylon all are making plays this Colby team will be in very good shape.

Really excited for this weekends games. Will be splitting the insane 15 dollar streaming video charge with a bunch of friends and watching from Colby. I haven't seen Williams for two years but the player that stood out the most then was Geohegan. I haven't heard about him as much this year but am really worried. He posses a potential problem especially if Woodward gets in foul trouble. Colby will really need his 6'8 body down low for this one.

I am also very intrigued about the Choice/Shultz matchup. Would Shultz be able to guard Choice effectively? What type of defensive player is he anyway?

In regards to matchups, I feel pretty good in this game. I think that Williams is deeper and more talented but not nearly as tough of a matchup as midd. Midds length gave Colby a terrible time last year. With Van Loenen guarding Wang and Choice on Shultz, Colby's best two defenders will be guarding there best two players. If Russell and Woodward can stay out of foul trouble they will hold there own as well. I am hoping Fridays game goes down to the wire because Colby has been able to pull out close ones all year long. If they can limit Williams big runs they should be able to hang in there.

I am honored and humbled to be mentioned as a potential all crazy candidate.

In regards to my earlier post, I did not try and bash Amherst. In fact, I was trying to give them props...they are very talented. I would doubt that anyone on this board would disagree with that. The reason that I noted their talent was to highlight how Colby had to use their experience and toughness to pull out the win.

Colby is a very tough squad. Any poster can mock this. But can these snide posters answer how a team which only had 7 players get minutes while frequently employing a lineup with a 6'5 center beat a team with a host of division 1 caliber players.

Next, Meehan seemed like he was healthy during the minutes he did play. Unfortunately for Amherst, he did leave the game with about 15 minutes in the game. The score at that point was back and forth. Certainly his absence may have shifted the outcome, but from where I am sitting it looks a lot like an excuse from some grumpy fans.


Lastly, the "haters" out there represent those who did not think that the Colby supporting cast could carry this team out of the middle of the league. I said then, and continue to say that this group around Choice are the type of players that know how to win. I guess the teams record thus far backs this up...

 

Colby just proved itself to be amongst the elite tonight. Next weekend will prove whether they can continue to elevate their game. If they win 1 of 2 next weekend there chances of winning the league look possible.

I have said from the start that people have been sleeping Colby the whole year. Many on this board have continued to assert that this team is all Choice. Tonight was a classic example of how these haters are wrong. The whole Colby team stepped their game up. This is a veteran team who beat a more talented Amherst team  because of grit and determination.

In regards to individual performances it is hard not to start with Choice. With all due respect to Blake Shultz I would have to say that it would be a travesty if Choice was not POY. He is unstoppable, and if anyone has seen him this year they would know that. Amherst used multiple players to guard him and still had no success. The same was true for Trinity last night. Next, Mike Russell should have put himself into great position to be a 1st or 2nd team all league player. There is nobody in the league who rebounds the ball like he does.

The rest of the Colby squad is what might have been most impressive though, performing like the seasoned veterans that they are. Haylon was snipping as usual, and Sherman did a grade A job shutting down Wheeler. Lastly, Christian Van Loenen has continued to be the key to this team. When Meehan was in, he locked him up, and when Carcieri came in he went to work. Carcieri was over his head as Van Loenen must have scored over double figures in the second half.


As a whole what a win. I look forward to next weeks games and hope that the top 25 wakes up and gives this team the love they deserve