What an effort from Conn to hold Sobel to 6-18 from the field. Murray with 17 and 10. That game was a lot of fun to watch, not to mention the biggest poster I've seen this year on Sobel by 23 on Conn. I mean oh my god.

Very interesting for conference tournament implications.

Everyone who's still in has a lot to play for.

Last night really showed how deep this league is! 3 teams, who've literally only lost to top 10 teams in the country, lose to relative middle of the pack teams! What a night of basketball

Williams has gotta find some penetration to get the offense going in the halfcourt. Tufts really got dominated inside by Conn too. Very interesting.

Quote from: nescac1 on December 05, 2022, 10:40:03 AM
It's early yet, but I agree that Williams seems (for now, it's early still!) ahead of the pack in NESCAC, and the next group, Middlebury, Colby, Trinity, Tufts, and Conn College, are very tough to distinguish from one another.  All seem like good teams that could make a solid run and earn an NCAA bid if they keep growing as teams throughout the course of the season.  They are very closely ranked from an efficiency ranking perspective: Conn 38, Midd 42, Tufts 44, Trinity 47, Colby a bit behind at 71 but it's not a dramatic drop.  Hamilton with the big win over WPI is not far behind at 83, and seems dangerous on any given day. 

The bottom tier of the league has had a much rougher go of it.  Wesleyan 116, Amherst 131, Bowdoin 141, and Bates 216.  Those teams have obviously been struggling.  I think of that group Wesleyan has the biggest opportunity to move forward, because of a combo of injured guys now all the way back and some changes to the rotation to get more young, offensively-minded players on the court (Bryant, Langs, and Hauser, all of whom are still pretty raw in terms of on-court experience).

Back to the middle tier, kudos to Tufts for hanging tough with Harvard, while playing its entire roster.  Down only five points at halftime!  Although Tufts lost by a lot to St. Joseph's, St. Joe's has killed some other good teams this year and may just be THAT good.  Nice game for Thoerner with 16 points on 5-9 from deep.  Thoerner is, I think, the last guy with an extra COVID-eligibility year in NESCAC who might possibly get onto a D1 radar as a transfer.  (If not, I imagine Tufts will hope he sticks around as a grad student).  And playing that well vs. a pretty solid Harvard team can only help. 

Finally, I love that Williams posts highlights from all its home games.  There were some really good ones from the Wesleyan game, showcases just how many guys on the team can score in really creative ways.  There were a few rough patches still on offense in that game (as there have been in most games), but when it all comes together, it's really impressive to watch.  This also showcases the great game that Langs had for Wesleyan, he looked really good scoring in the deep post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1nVjnssRe8

Another tough test for Williams tomorrow, going on the road to 6-1 Oneonta, who is ranked 31st in efficiency rankings.  Oneonta took the Ephs to OT last year and has a lot of new faces this year (three of their top four scorers did not play in the game in Chandler last year).  Oneonta is a big, physical bunch who outrebounds opponents by over 20 per game, so the Ephs will have to be really focused on cleaning the defensive glass in that game.

The efficiency stuff is cool. Conn in 2nd at 38 is very interesting, their zone looks great and it's hard to argue with the 52 average OPPG. Been a long time since they have been even solid. Their SOS is not good so we'll see how it plays out into nescacs but regardless pretty impressive. Trinity has been in the same boat with the SOS but again look really impressive. I mean they'll likely be undefeated heading into nescac action. Could see them getting a number of t25 votes. Midd has been winning games but in somewhat ugly fashion, wonder how that will translate to later in the season(they start hitting shots and looking like a contender or they struggle).