Quote from: nescac1 on January 17, 2025, 08:06:38 AMAmherst's Charlie Randall is in the transfer portal:

https://x.com/charlierrandall/status/1878969231641076148

Theo Pow is an interesting recent recruit for Colby - he is ranked number 2 in Maine by NERR and at 6'3 he can really throw it down:

https://awww.hudl.com/video/3/17220568/6632c0e0f6745a59383ce588
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/17220568/6786b3bfbd0d985fa42cf4b0

Isn't Randall's brother headed to tufts? Could be one to watch but I don't know if we need another tower down low

I'm Told Randall has been in the transfer portal officially for several weeks and his early interest has been minimal

Charlie Randall is a lean 7 player who loves play at the 3 pt line
has potential but has not been as consistent as he would like
It would have been smart to have stayed at Amherst for next year
Amherst has their best recruiting class of 3 players, at least on paper, coming in next year
With a rugged talented center from Blair Academy  with an outside shoot and a rugged forward from New York Catholic School league
Perfect complement to Randall's skill set
hopefully the incoming frosh  and Amherst can live up to potential next year

Randall certainly had and still has all the potential, but a 7'1" player at the D3 level should be able to shoot better than the 38% clip he was at his first two years at Amherst. Sometimes, things just don't work out for whatever reason. I wish him all the best and hope he finds a good landing spot!

Wesleyan-Hamilton and Trinity-Amherst should be awesome games tonight too. Amherst in similar spot to Williams from last week, think they have to grab 1 this weekend if they want a real shot at dancing.

Tufts closes the half in Williamstown on a 22-2 run to take a 10 point lead. Ephs played awesome for the first 12 minutes and then the last 8 minutes just completely fell apart. Also as a note in case I forget later - the entire run for Tufts came once Bernstein left the floor with his 2nd foul.

I missed the first 15 mins but logged on just in time to see the Jumbos go on a 14-0 run. Passing the ball well, rebounding well, snatching steals. First 5 mins of the 2nd half will be critical. 3 first half boards from Gyimesi and Bernstein - i could not have predicted. Glad to see Kennelly picking up the slack on the boards!

The rout continues. Williams has scored 3 points in about 12 minutes - 0 field goals. Tufts defense is legit. Tufts offense is legit. They move the rock and run actions fast, quick - with purpose. Williams looks lackadaisical, slow footed - clunky

Credit to Tufts for making some adjustments on defense and going on that impressive run. Williams defended pretty well but went ice cold and then got rattled and started turning the ball over - Tufts size and length on defense gave them a lot of problems.

Williams drops one at home to Tufts 59-46, in a game that was not nearly as close as the score would suggest, although the Ephs deserve credit for sticking in there and throwing everything at Tufts until the end.

Really weird game. Williams led 22-12 with 8:25 left in the first half and trailed 49-27 with 11:37 in the second half, before cutting it to as close to 9. So they lost a 17 minute stretch by 32, not awesome. They just don't score it enough, plain and simple. Alex Lee has struggled to get going the last few weeks and without him scoring there just isn't a path to 65+ points against good teams. Aidan Yates came back to earth (1-11 FG) and will bounce back I'm sure but his struggles served as a good reminder of the lack of options for this team.

I have pounded the drum for Tufts all season and continue to think they are capable of winning the league and playing into the second or third weekend of the NCAA tournament, but we didn't learn a whole lot about their ceiling tonight I don't think. Dylan Reilly was 3-7 from 3 but the rest of the team was 1-8 and Gyemesi (6-11) was the only guy who shot above 40%. Their offense is pretty clunky but they are uniquely suited to matchup with this Williams team (who also might not be that good). It was interesting how well they played with Bernstein out and I wonder what their on/off splits were. Against other teams I'd like to see Gyemesi play the 5 and Reilly at the 4 with maybe some more Kennelly or Wooten, and I might even like Gettings more than Bernstein in terms of fit because they kind of try to jam it in to him a little too much on the whole and they have better options to go to.

Tufts is not my team and I don't watch them enough to say any of that with a lot of confidence but I really like their pieces and I think they have better players than Trinity, they just need to find a way to get the most out of them.

As for Williams, tomorrow is massive, they matchup better with Conn and can overload their lineups with shooters (Declan Porter 3-4 from 3 will set off some alarm bells among coaching staffs when they check the box score) but you just can't guarantee anything from this group offensively. But now the schedule softens up and they really need to keep finding their stride

A nice win for the Garnet Bobcats tonight in Brunswick.
Pouye for Bates is the real deal in all phases of the game.
And Cuervas has to be one the best FY's in a long time---I think.... but I'm not a Hoops guy.....
Maybe some the NESCAC pundits who know CAC Hoops might weigh in.

Hoping the class of this board and Bates favorite Old Guy is doing well these days. He will forever be a respected guy among those who have worn the Bates Garnet! How about that kind of affection for a Middlebury guy!

Off

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 16, 2025, 12:18:25 PMJumbomumbo's week 2 predictions:
Saturday:
Conn 70 - Midd 73
Bates 75 - Bowdoin 65
Tufts 63 - Williams 54
Trinity 80 - Amherst 55
Wesleyan 75 - Hamilton 59

Sunday:
Wesleyan 85 - Amherst 55
Trinity 72 - Hamilton 59 (love that call names jaismith)
Tufts 82 - Midd 62
Williams 70 - Conn 60
Colby 87 - Bates 75.

I think Colby is the best of the Maine teams

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 16, 2025, 12:18:25 PMJumbomumbo's week 2 predictions:
Saturday:
Conn 70 - Midd 73
Bates 75 - Bowdoin 65
Tufts 63 - Williams 54
Trinity 80 - Amherst 55
Wesleyan 75 - Hamilton 59

Sunday:
Wesleyan 85 - Amherst 55
Trinity 72 - Hamilton 59 (love that call names jaismith)
Tufts 82 - Midd 62
Williams 70 - Conn 60
Colby 87 - Bates 75.

I think Colby is the best of the Maine teams

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 16, 2025, 12:18:25 PMJumbomumbo's week 2 predictions:
Saturday:
Conn 70 - Midd 73
Bates 75 - Bowdoin 65
Tufts 63 - Williams 54
Trinity 80 - Amherst 55
Wesleyan 75 - Hamilton 59

Sunday:
Wesleyan 85 - Amherst 55
Trinity 72 - Hamilton 59 (love that call names jaismith)
Tufts 82 - Midd 62
Williams 70 - Conn 60
Colby 87 - Bates 75.

I think Colby is the best of the Maine teams

Off by a bucket by both sides in the Wes Hamilton game... don't let Mumbo get hot

I'm changing the Conn Williams prediction to 66-58 Conn.

My quick recap of the 'CAC.

Bates is now 3-0 against their ME rivals. First NESCAC win since January 21, 2023 over Tufts. Begin II finally back should only help them.

Conn's defense looked great against Midd. Big game today against Williams incoming. Espinosa is a big time scorer for sure. Middlebury's window on the season is closing fast if it hasn't already.

Wesleyan just keeps on churning. Regan is a NESCAC POTY candidate. Not enough help for Morgan today. Singh just hasn't found his shot this year unfortunately.

Tufts goes on a 37-5 run in a span of 17 minutes from the end of the first half to about the midway point of the second. Can you believe every Tufts starter will be back next year? Wow! The scoring drought for Williams that pops up every game did again in a big way. A bright spot for the Ephs, it looks like Porter is back to his 2023 form after two very solid games.

Trinity goes on a 12-0 run in a 3 minute span midway to late second half to stave off Amherst. Big win for the Bantams as it certainly looked like they would drop to 1-2. Amherst defense was excellent up until the 10 minute mark of the 2nd. Any chance they can pick it up for Wesleyan today?