Jumbos a strong 3-0 against 3 teams that have been winning. Strong contributions from a new bench. Most of these guys are in their 2nd and 3rd year with the squad and it shows, as they've picked up where they left off last year with the defensive intensity. Perhaps I'm biased but this squad will lift that NESCAC banner.

Quote from: SpringSt7 on November 19, 2024, 07:34:12 PMAs a noted Williams fan, they are at best 3rd right now, both taking into consideration the preseason outlook and this weekend's performances. Porter and McGraw are both out until the second semester and the offense will probably continue to look similar to Saturday for the foreseeable future.

One thing on Stevens - no one has forgotten about his freshman year. In fact, we probably remember it too much, it's why no one is willing to fully quit on him or this Middlebury team despite the fact that they are currently an injured version of last year's 11-14 team without its leading scorer.

Stevens had a great game but he's 3 years removed from that freshman version. 2 years ago he shot 36% from the floor and 25% from three. Until proven otherwise, it seems like either version is just as likely to show up on a nightly basis

As of right now (knock on wood), Middlebury is far healthier than they were last year when they were without Witherington, McKersie, and Stephens (who played hurt every game, when he did play) for a majority of the season. 

Middlebury looked better at St. Joe's than they did in any game I watched last year.  It remains to be seen if they can keep it up, but I'm pretty optimistic, given the performance.

Sam Stevens with a game-high of 25 as Middlebury beats Clark University, 75-68, in Vermont.

Midd led for most of the game and by as much as 15 with under 10:00 to play, but a relentless press and timely three-point shooting brought Clark to as close as 4 in the waning minutes.

Tristan Joseph added 18 and Kuba Cwalina 10; David Brennan with his usual, ho-hum 10 boards.

It was another good, early season test against a Clark team that, like St Josephs, beat the Panthers last year. The Cougars return four starters from a team that went 20-7 last year, though one of their all-league players didn't dress tonight and appeared to have his hand in a cast. The leading returning scorer and first-team all-NEWMAC, Bruce Saintilus, led the Cougars with 24. 6-8 bruiser Kekoa McArdle was a load on the blocks, and had a double-double.

What we're seeing early in the season is a Sam Stevens who is both healthy and confident. Back-to-back 20+ point games against good teams, and he's both taking charge and getting everyone else involved.

Joseph is streaky offensively—he struggled from the field against St. Joes, but was dynamic with his 18 tonight. I think Kwalina is showing he has the potential to be a steady double-digit scorer—smooth three-point stroke, while also demonstrating he can put the ball on the floor and score. Edward Witherington and Evan Flaks will have their nights when either will be that second scorer to Stevens.

Midd's biggest challenge at the moment is interior defense; Brennan and Newell (at 6-6 and 6-5) play with relentless motors and toughness, but will be outsized against most teams' bigs. When McKersie returns, it will be a big help.

And frosh Sawyer Ramey—the Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year two years ago before a PG year at Deerfield—is fun to watch. Both quick and fast (like, Jack Farrell fast when he's pushing the ball up the floor), with great court vision.

It's quite early, yes, but a very nice start to the season for Middlebury.

Great road win for Williams against an always physical, grinding Oneonta team.  Xavier Hill is an absolute tank for Oneonta and is a very tough cover but the Ephs did a nice job swarming him and holding him to 7-19 from the field. 

Hudson Hansen was once again the POTG for Williams and he has clearly made a huge leap this year.  His finishing touch in particular is dramatically improved.  23-5-4 on 10-13 shooting including 2-2 from three, along with his typical strong defense.  Alex Lee also had a very good two-way game, finishing with 13-2-3 while playing excellent defense and hitting a huge three late to ice it. 

The Ephs played three frosh in this one and the first year class definitely has some real talent.  Aidan Yates is certainly not afraid to put it up and he has a quick release, he hit three huge triples for Williams and looks like a desperately needed shooter off the pine.  And playing for an injured Evan Glatzer, Justin Belcher had a tremendous game in his first appearance as an Eph, immediately coming in an nailing a corner three and adding two layups on blow-byes and a gorgeous assist.  While he could surely use some filling out over time, he is the fastest guard Williams has had, I think, in the Kevin App era.  IN general, Williams was very effective when pushing the ball and there is a lot of team speed up and down the roster, so I expect them to employ that strategy a lot.

Isaiah Dickens is another guy who is dramatically improved since last year.  He has good touch as a passer and he seems to be seeing the floor at a lot better, leading the team with five assists today, and is a badly-needed physical presence off the bench for a front line that isn't as big as the typical App team. 

While not great for the rest of the league, happy to see Sam Stevens is apparently back to the player he was before his injuries - that alone dramatically raises Midd's upside this year. 

Up next for the Jumbos is a strong Endicott team who just gave D1 UNH a run for its money, as at one point they had a 6-point lead in the 2nd half. Elijah Kinney will give the jumbos a good look as he's a well-rounded 5 man - wouldn't be surprised if UNH goes after him after that game. The Gulls also feature Parker McLaren, brother of former Jumbos guard Casey, who has been giving the Gulls strong contributions as he was recently added to the starting lineup. Montagnino is another strong player with an interesting story as he joins the Gulls for a 5th year after tearing up the intramural competition at Xavier for 4 years. Endicott always play well against the Jumbos, and will be hungry for their first NESCAC win in quite some time as they've had close losses to Tufts, Midd, and Wesleyan in recent years.

Besides Tufts-Endicott, some other key non-conference match-ups in November:

Colby v. Ramapo - 11/22
Stevens at Midd - 11/23
Keene State at Williams - 11/24
Trinity at WNEC - 11/26
WPI at Tufts - 11/30

And I thought the NESCAC plays non-conference cupcakes all the time. LOL kidding.

It seems like not playing the first weekend and getting the extra practice in has made the coaches more comfortable challenging their teams out of the gate.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 22, 2024, 09:05:13 AMAnd I thought the NESCAC plays non-conference cupcakes all the time. LOL kidding.

You must have been thinking of trinity. They play a cupcake non conference, every year, good or bad

Quote from: jumbomumbo on November 22, 2024, 09:45:34 AM

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 22, 2024, 09:05:13 AMAnd I thought the NESCAC plays non-conference cupcakes all the time. LOL kidding.

You must have been thinking of trinity. They play a cupcake non conference, every year, good or bad

You misspelled Amherst

As much as there are good matchups in the rest of the month, I just can't wait for December

Trinity-Yeshiva
Tufts-Keene St.
Colby-WashU
Midd-Emory
Midd-CMU
Tufts-Rochester
Hamilton-Cortland

Great list of games.  Also, Williams will hopefully/likely play NYU in December in the title game of a holiday tournament. 

The NESCAC / UAA tournament is a great new tradition, though it would be nice if more of the NESCAC contenders, as opposed to the middle and bottom tier, participated ...

Amherst's upcoming schedule really is indeed awful: in their next seven scheduled games the Massey ratings of opponents are 142, 403, 194, 381, 185, 303 and 225.  Although they may get a reasonably tough game against number 82 Marymount in a tourney. 

Speaking of Amherst, what a leap for CJ Mitchell this year, who after never averaging more than 6.3 points in game, is scorching the nets for 17 ppg thanks to ridiculous 59 percent shooting from 3.  While he surely can't keep that pace up, he's always been a good shooter and Amherst really needs a big senior year from him without much shooting in the rotation other than Mitchell and Chris Hammond. 

Quote from: nescac1 on November 22, 2024, 01:16:03 PMThe NESCAC / UAA tournament is a great new tradition, though it would be nice if more of the NESCAC contenders, as opposed to the middle and bottom tier, participated ...

To be fair – the top UAA teams from last year did not participate in the NESCAC/UAA challenge either. Carnegie Mellon (#3) was the only top-4 finisher and Bowdoin beat them. Other participants were Emory (#5), Chicago (#6T), Brandeis (#6T), and Rochester (#8). Unless I am missing someone.

And you can't really anticipate who the top teams will be, as there is always movement from one year to the next? In the last 4 NESCAC seasons, 9 different teams have finished in the top 3 (including Middlebury, Hamilton, and Colby).

Joseph. 30. Witherington. 20. Panthers 3-0.