The regular season comes to a close today for Wesleyan after what was certainly a confusing season from an outsider's standpoint -- they finish up 12-12 and 4-6 in the NESCAC after starting the season with a national preseason ranking of 23 (they've definitely missed the efficient play of Jason Mendell, '12). The Cardinals lost to Bowdoin yesterday after cutting what was at one point nearly a 20 point Bowdoin lead to 2 in the final minutes. It was too little too late, though, and you just have to wonder what it is that is keeping a relatively athletic team from pulling it together on defense for a full 40 minutes. In any case, Wesleyan finished the regular season off strong today against Colby, winning 73 to 47. They are a team of extreme ups and downs and while they lack any convincing wins over ranked opponents, they have proven that they can play with anyone and will be a tough out in any round of postseason play. It looks like they will most likely be headed up to Middlebury for the first round of the playoffs. In their first trip up to VT this year they lost by 1 in OT to the Panthers. Don't want to speculate too much as seedings are in no way final as of this time but Cardinal fans can at least be optimistic as their squad will be a tough tough underdog no matter whose gym they are in.

Missed this one but a big win for Hamilton over Wesleyan today, putting both teams at 3-5 in conference play. I'm not sure if the Cardinals went up there expecting to come away with another easy W like last weekend but I was expecting better from a Wesleyan team that seemed to be getting on a hot streak as of late. Wesleyan played from just slightly behind for the entire game and was never able to reel in the Continental squad. Hopefully Reilly can fire up his guys for the final regular season weekend coming up – hopefully this loss will serve as a wake-up call.

Good to see some other Wesleyan commentary – thanks for filling in nescac1. Looks like the Cardinals handled Merchant Marine and Eastern Connecticut handily this week and their lineup does seem to be clicking. AND, In yesterday's game vs. ECSU Derick Beresford became the third 1,000 point scorer in Wesleyan's class of 2013. Quite a graduating class – looking forward to watching what they'll do to end the season and their college careers.

In regards to the 6 away, 4 home question – it seems like the addition of Hamilton to league play has prompted such scheduling. Wes was on the road against their travel partner, Conn, last weekend and they'll again be on the road at Hamilton this Sunday. Also, looks like two weekends ago Hamilton played at Middlebury on Friday night and then hosted Williams on Sunday. Not sure what the fix would be here so that all teams have a 5 away, 5 home schedule.

Wesleyan comes away with an easy win at Conn, 71–41, in a game that was never close. The Cards played well but the lopsided score seemed to be just as much an outcome of a poor performance on the Camels' behalf, as they shot 33% from the field, 25% from 3, and just 45% from the line (compared to 49%, 38%, and 70% for Wes). Chalk that up to good defense from Wesleyan and frequently sloppy play from Conn. Solid performances for both Brown and Beresford, with 18 and 19 respectively. Zach Lynch provided good sustained energy off the bench for the second straight game, playing 29 minutes but remaining relatively statless (in what seems to be true Zach Lynch fashion). Also good to see Freshman BJ Davis back in action with 7 points in 9 minutes, though I am still unsure as to the whereabouts of Junior Julian Harris, who hasn't played since the start of the NESCAC season.

It's been awhile since my last post (or any Wes posts on the boards for that matter, it seems) and I'm afraid to admit that some of that has been due simply to a now-all-too-common case of post-webcast melancholy – a direct effect of hard-fought NESCAC games lost in the closing minutes (albeit after some great second half comebacks, i.e., Shasha Brown throwing his second free-throw directly off the front rim and proceeding to catch the rebound and tie the game v. Middlebury to end regulation). The Birds' Saturday win at Bates, though, certainly must have Cardinal spirits lifted and having played the CAC's big 3 already (as well as Tufts), the outlook for the remainder of the regular season is certainly a positive one.

With three NESCAC weekends to go, Wesleyan will head to Conn this coming Saturday and then to Hamilton in upstate NY the following weekend. Colby and Bates will then visit Silloway gymnasium to round out the regular season. Of course the Birds cannot afford to take any of these teams lightly, but I'm banking on some serious preparation from Coach Joe and the boys (and doubtless emotional motivation from St. Genius) as they head into the closing weeks and look to get hot heading into the NESCAC playoffs.

This is a special class of Cardinals (with two thousand-point scorers in Brown and Callaghan, as well as Beresford closing in on 1000 as the three of them look to make the first ever Wesleyan class of tri-thousand-point-scorers) and they are more talented than their current record suggests. Here's to a 6-4 NESCAC finish and a dark-horse conference championship.

And some early speculations on play-off seedings:
1. Amherst
2. Middlebury
3. Williams
4. Tufts
5. Wesleyan
6. Bowdoin
7. Bates
8. Trinity

CP

Tough three point loss for Wesleyan yesterday at Curry College (a team that has shown their grit in close losses against WPI, MIT, and Williams). The game came down to the wire and it seems (from live stats albeit) that Curry just made the last big play – or that Wes DIDN'T make the play, as Curry's offensive rebound off a missed free-throw led to their go-ahead layup with 25 seconds left.

Again, the Cards seem to be missing a key player – Junior starter Julian Harris was absent from yesterday's lineup. Looks like the midseason break is coming at a good time for Wesleyan, as they will look to recoup physically and get back on track come January when they kickoff NESCAC play against Amherst on the 4th of the new year. Their game at Cabrini should also serve as a good warmup on December 30th. Hopefully (and I wish this for every team – New Year's resolutions?) the boys can stay healthy and perform to potential.

Good to see Wesleyan come away with a solid W tonight at previously undefeated Westfield State (who has most recently defeated Springfield and Elms, both handily). It looks like the Birds are getting back to top form with Shasha looking healthy (23, 5, and 3) and big Glen Thomas back in the lineup (10 reebs). Some of the younger guys have undoubtedly gained a lot from extra gametime experience during Sha/Glen's physical setbacks – 11 points for Avery Robinson and another double double for freshman Rashid Epps (10 and 10 on 4-5 shooting). One more game this week (Curry) as the Cards look to head into break on a high note.

Quote from: 7express on February 11, 2012, 12:01:25 AM
Wesleyan is locked in at #3

I may be mistaken but I believe Wesleyan still needs the win today at Colby (assuming Bates beats Hamilton tomorrow, though that should be an interesting contest) in order to secure the third seed heading into the tournament. Because Bates beat Wesleyan, if the two teams were to end the season with identical records, the Bobcats would take the three spot.

Walzy, wondering if you've got spreads for today's games. Should be an exciting showdown between the two unbeaten-in-NESCAC teams and a great weekend to be at Lefrak.

Big one for the Cards on their quest to secure the three spot heading into the tournament. I hope they can make it happen tomorrow in good old Waterville.

Quote from: walzy31 on February 09, 2012, 11:17:18 PM
Friday February 10th NESCAC Spreads

Trying to keep this good run going:

Hamilton and under
Williams and under
Middlebury and under
Wesleyan and under
Colby and over

Quote from: walzy31 on February 03, 2012, 01:21:44 PM
Friday February 3rd AND Saturday February 4th NESCAC Spreads

Tonight:
Bowdoin and over
Colby and over
Trinity and under
Bates and under

Saturday:
Williams and over
Amherst and under
Bates and under
Middlebury and over

Sunday:
Hamilton @ Wesleyan?

OchoLoko, any word as to why Sha Brown and St. Jean didn't play?

Interesting that neither Sha Brown nor Greg St. Jean played today vs. Conn. Not sure what's up but hoping they'll be back by next weekend for the Sunday matinee vs. Hamilton (and even for Wednesday against a strong Eastern Connecticut team).

Looks like another big game from Mike Callaghan as well as undoubtedly scrappy play from the unheralded Zach Lynch, stepping up with 5 points and 3 steals, allowed Wes to escape a Conn team still without a NESCAC W.

Quote from: OchoLoko41 on January 28, 2012, 01:24:04 PM

Quote from: frank uible on January 27, 2012, 05:43:44 AM
Once upon a time "traditional" big men were called goons.

while im sure that some players - big and small alike could wear the goon tag, every quality CAC team for years has had at least one quality big anchoring the middle

Off the top of my head we've had Locke/Sharry, Whittington, Stone, Phillps, Walters, Geoghegan all being key members of quality CAC teams and the list goes on.  All of these bigs gave their teams quality shots from the low block and good interior D without being "goons"

That said, when it comes to big men it's hard to argue that the NESCAC is anything but a league made up primarily of goons, at least by frank's description of the word. To name a few from recent years:

Midd's Locke and Sharry both -- they're certainly imposing but also definite goons
Bowdoin's Mark Phillips
Amherst's Kaasila
Colby's Chas Woodward
Bates' Jimmy O'Keefe (one of my favorites)
Wesleyan's Neal Creeden
I'd even say Williams' Geoghegan, though I wouldn't even think of throwing Whittington into the list

As for the spreads:

Conn and over
Bates and under
Williams and over
Amherst and over
Colby and under