Impressive performance by Bowdoin last night. Wes did not have a great game but it was really more about what the Polar Bears did right vs. what the Cards did wrong. To take the burden off P'bear's statistical analysis, I did a little if my own and can say with confidence that when Bowdoin hits 12/26 three point shots and out-rebounds its opponent 42-32 they will win over 90% of their games.
Wes needs to regroup fast as they face an experienced, talented Colby team with a chip on its shoulder and lots to play for.

Agree with everything previously noted re the Wes-Williams game last night. Wes struggled in the first half and it was 12-6 Williams at 10 minutes, but Mackey got hot and scored all 15 of his points over the next ten minutes. BJ Davis was on his game in the second half and scored all of Wes' final 15 pts over the final six minutes. Nice insight regarding the contributions of Krill and O'Brien. Krill gives the Cards a solid three man rotation for two post positions. While other FYs might stand out statistically, O'Brien does a lot of things that don't appear in the box score. He can be very disruptive to the opposing perimeter offense and has been a key part in Wes's low opponent Fg%.

These past two seasons may have been frustrating for Williams fans, but in many ways that speaks to the tremendous success of their program over the past several years. They will be fine. The freshmen are already good and will improve next year as they run through the NESCAC for the second time. Aronowitz (btw he is "arm pits" by my autocorrect) is already an all-league candidate. Scadlock played smart and had two huge blocks. Casey looks like he should be in driver's ed but is just fearless and I love his willingness to control the ball in crunch time.

The historical view of Little 3 competition is interesting and humbling. It gives some perspective on why Amherst/Williams fans are frustrated losing to Wes. Fact is Wes has not done enough to make the Little 3 more of a competition. Hopefully Wes can continue to do its part.

Important win for Wes yesterday at home. Conn College is improved and learning to win. Wes was down 8 at half but recommitted to its inside game to pull ahead midway in the second half. On a day when Davis and Mackey went a combined 1/12 from deep Epps/Kuo/Krill were 17/22 inside.

Wes is playing better but still has work to do. Wes is inconstant from deep and needs to do a better job of figuring who (if anyone) is hitting on a given night--something they did much better last year. Rebounding has become more of a strength. Turnovers remain an issue. Offensive flow was strong last year with a shorter bench, and was not as strong earlier this season. It seems much better this past month as roles have become more defined. One of the advantages of lengthening the bench is that it helps with program continuity. Of the six major returners this year, four are seniors. Going with that lineup again could have left a big hole for next year, but now Krill, O'Brien, Reed and Sears will all be much more ready for 2016-17.

Congrats to Hamilton on their victory. I remain impressed with how Middlebury has handled its early NESCAC run. Clearly the Panthers had a rough ten minutes to finish yesterday, but I expect they will be fine. For Hamilton a win like that will provide confidence in future close games.

As NESCAC1 described Wes escaped in OT vs Tufts with a relentless commitment to get the ball into the post. Ephs/Kuo/krill were a combined 20/33 from the field and when they missed they frequently were grabbing one of their combined 11 offensive boards. Despite this dominant performance inside Wes was still fortunate to win as the were again miserable from deep (3/21) and struggled in key stretches from the line (13/27). Paleschi picked up two very early fouls and went to the bench for the rest of the first half. He came out and had 18 in the first ten minutes of the second half but managed only a free throw in the last ten and OT. Pace was outstanding for tufts but picked up a costly foul with 3 sec left when he inadvertently fouled BJ Davis on a steal attempt. Davis drained both to force OT. Wes will continue to struggle if they can't find a rhythm from deep. The team that was second in 3pt % in the NESCAC is a woeful 21% in conference.

Amh63...The rhyme is pretty much a direct lift from Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. I haven't read it in forty years but could still recall most of the rhymes. Your question prompted me to do some wiki-checking. Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs in 1960 after the success of Cat In The Hat, but parsed the vocabulary from over 200 words for Cat to 50 for Green Eggs (thus my ability to recall). Turns out it is regarded by kid readers and "experts" alike as one of the classics of kid lit. I used the rhyme to emphasize Hixon's distaste for losing. The wiki editor refers to the main character in Green Eggs as Grouchy Guy. Seems like an appropriate description of Hixon at the end of those uncommon Jeff losses. I actually mean that as kind of a compliment since I think most really successful coaches hate losing more than they love winning. Seems like Dr. Seuss would be a natural fit for the NESCAC, but he is actually of the mean green from Dartmouth.

Agree with the discussion above re Vassar as a possible NESCAC addition. Without looking too deeply into their programs I think they might initially struggle but I would not be surprised if such a move would result in significant overall improvement in the Vassar athletic program. Everyone benefits but they benefit the most.

Getting way ahead of ourselves, if Vassar were included I would argue for doing everything possible to collect the Little Three in the South and CBB in the North primarily for scheduling purposes. In this scenario Wes (and Williams and Amherst) would only add four games to get to 16 conference games: Vassar (2) plus additional games against Trin and Conn. The additional games vs Amherst and Williams are already on the schedule (and would be more meaningful as part of the NESCAC).

With regards to Hixon's coaching philosophy in last night's non-conference game, I can tell you from my Wes perspective I was not worried so much that Hixon might turn to his bench and find a hot hand as much as I was worried that McCarthy and Racy might at any moment start playing like they usually do and turn the game around. Even when Wes went up 20 with about ten minutes to go I could not feel comfortable. With regards to Little Three competition I think Hixon wants to win in league and out of league, at home and away, in a box with a fox in the rain on a train.

Well after losing by 28 Friday I could never have predicted a win tonight--much less a 27 point win. Some credit should go to both victors for their defense but as others have made clear these games were mostly about extraordinary offensive incompetence that happens very rarely, especially for Amherst. The game showed that Amherst is vulnerable on a bad shooting night, but I fully expect the Jeffs to bounce back this weekend.

For Wes it wasn't so much about how they showed in the stats, but more about showing up in general after a very disappointing start to the conference (and the really big difference in the games is that the first one counts in the NESCAC). The Cards could very easily have rolled over tonight but instead were ready to fight from the start, and when Amherst was obviously having a rough night Wes kept the throttle down and pulled away.

So Amherst wins 68-40 and it truly wasn't that close. Give Amherst credit for using their length and discipline to force tough shots, but it also required a combination of poor shot selection, woefully inaccurate shooting and maybe a little bad luck for Wes to go 11/53 and 0/13. Wes literally did not have a single player make more than two shots from the field. Can't blame it on the refs as Wes went to the line 29 times and Amherst only 4. That's right...the team that went to the line 25 more times lost by 28 points. Amherst had 15 assists to a measly 3 for Wes, but you can't get an assist if the ball doesn't go through the hoop.
The chemistry at the end of last season that allowed Wes to find the open hot shooter is missing. Wes fed on an easy non-conference schedule and will now need to do some real soul searching to make a stand in the NESCAC. It better happen quick because Trinity is on deck tommorow.

Wes entered the weekend justifiably hoping for a sweep (defending champs at home against two teams that did not qualify for the conference tournament). They finished lucky to be 1-1.

As Bucket describes, the Midd-Wes game involved multiple runs by both teams. Midd made their own breaks at the end and deserved the win. Though the score wasn't as bad as last year's crushing loss at Midd, both games were decided by the Midd transition offense. Midd wasn't necessarily faster but they moved the ball faster. The stats gave Midd a 26-7 edge in fast break points and it felt worse than that. Wes committed to pounding the ball inside but the Midd interior defense forced Kuo/krill into 4/22 shooting. The Wes bigs had been feasting on lesser teams and will need to adjust again to the size and schemes of the NESCAC. One option is for more kick outs but of course that might only work if Wes improves from deep where they were outstanding during last year's run.

The Wes-Hamilton game was interesting in that Hamilton led in basically every statistical measure except turnovers and fouls which were 34-16 in favor of Wes. Wes again pounded the ball inside and while the shots weren't dropping the refs were calling a tight game and that eventually resulted in a 28-13 scoring advantage from the line. One of the other keys for Wes was strong defense on Ham pg Jack Dwyer by Kevin O'Brien at the end of the first half and by Harry Rafferty at the end of regulation and OT. Dwyer otherwise did a nice job of managing pace and getting the ball to teammates in a position for them to score.

I was impressed by both opponents and by the transitive property am also impressed with the start by Conn College. Midd lost some big time talent in Sinnickson and Merryman, but overall they are well positioned going forward with their returners and a strong frosh class. Hamilton for key stretches played with three frosh and two sophs. They may not win many games this year but they will compete and should advance in the standings next year.

Wesleyan pulled away from Westfield St 82-61 to finish the semester on an eight game win streak over mostly average competition. With last year's top six returning Coach Reilly has lengthened his bench with increasing contributions from jr PJ Reed, soph Nathan Krill and fr Kevin O'Brien. BJ Davis continues to impress and Jack Mackey appears to be pulling out of an early season shooting slump. Improvement still needed for a much tougher NESCAC slate.

No major surprises across the conference for the first semester. Midd struggled early on the road but seems to be improving. Conn College with a nice finish and they may be turning a corner. Amherst looks ready to compete for national honors with a combination of talent, depth, experience and a coach who has been there before.

With regards to CBB and Little Three championships, the Little Three includes league play in the calculation. FWIW, I wish the non-league Little Three games would all be played in the first semester. They would add some early excitement to the schedule for players and fans (especially students) and frankly in the second semester when the games an wedged between League weekends they lose some of the impact and are a bit of a distraction. Just my opinion.

Best to all the NESCAC players for finals and look forward to league play.

BJ Davis gets a buzzer beater to crawl over the rim with 0.9 secs left as Wesleyan goes on the road to steal one in Williamstown. Both teams looked good for periods but neither were sharp overall. The Ephs got off to a hot start and a 15 point lead twelve minutes into the game. Wes managed to pull within 9 at half 34-25. The first eight minutes of the second half were the best played by Wes this season. They nerves the ball, rebounded and played stout defense to eventually open an 8 point lead. Williams regrouped and took advantage of poor free throw shooting by Wes (12/26) to eventually tie the game with 30 sec left on an aronowitz drive and bonus. The last play was basically Davis dribbling out the clock until he drove right with about 5 sec left and threw up the game-winner. Not a pretty play but we'll take it.
Aronowitz was excellent for Williams, who were missing Greenman and Galvin. Both teams need to and will improve by January. For Wes though this was an important win on the road against a strong opponent.

So the league goes 11-3 (vs 19-12 pre-thanksgiving) over the weekend highlighted by a big win for P'bear's crew over #10 Babson. Nice recovery overall. Definitely impressed with Bowdoin's victory. Way to represent the NESCAC.

For Wes, a too comfortable 49-32 advantage turned into an uncomfortable 67-71 deficit behind a period of excellent 3 point shooting by Union. Fortunately a big 3 pointer by PJ Reed and clutch free throws by BJ Davis secured the win. Hopefully more victories for everyone before finals. Someone else may have more insight but I believe the  overall success of the league out of conference can be the difference between getting two bids or four come March.

Wes with an efficient 76-49 win over 1-6 Clarkson  at Union College. The schedule indicates we get Union tomorrow even though they lost to Westfield St. today. Epps/Kuo/Davis were combined 16/22. Mackey sat out with injury but Edmonds retuned for his first action to go 4/6 from three. All the freshman got minutes. Progress.

Wes update and a few league observations. The Cards have won the last two games and are starting to gel. They definitely are not playing to the level of last Feb but show potential. Reilly has lengthened the bench with PJ Reed, Jordan Sears, Nathan Krill (injured last year), Kevin O'Brien and Jordan Bonner all in the mix with last year's starters, of whom BJ Davis has been excellent so far. Joe Edmonds has yet to play and when he returns he will add to the mix. Eventually this longer bench will be a positive but short term it creates some chemistry issues on the court. No issues off the court as the team seems very supportive of each other, but on the court it will take a while to find the right combinations. Last year when Reilly went with a very short bench the on-court chemistry was very strong. Hopefully we can get there this year with a bigger mix.

Impressed so far by the way Coach App seems to have incorporated the talented Eph frosh group into the lineup. Hixon has a glut of talent and it will be interesting to see how he manages minutes.  A few pages back NESCAC1 observed that in a no-transfer world Hausman would be the third best player in the league. With all respect to Robinson and Hart in 2013-14 neither have matched Hausman's production from last year's NESCAC season. Both have had early success at the D1 level and Hausman has only dominated D3, but it may not be fair to place him third in that group. FWIW I would take Toomey and Robinson as my two best NESCAC players over the past five seasons. Housman and Hudnut would be the two players I would most like to see play for Wes this year (alas, no free agency in the NESCAC).

It was a bit of a shocker in Middletown. Maybe the Cardinals overlooked Lyndon State...maybe some breaks went the Bobcats' way...but mostly this was about Lyndon making shots (12/27 from three including several contested threes in the late stages of the shot clock). Give them credit. At the end of the season they may not be very good, but they were pretty good last night. For Wes it the effort was there. Wes obviously could have managed the backside rotations a little better but many of those kick outs followed good penetration by Lyndon. Learn from this one and move on.