Williams is certainly a team in transition this year (nothing to be ashamed of after losing a big senior class and coming off three years in a row when they made the Sweet 16 twice and the round of 32 once), with three FYs and only one senior in the top seven scorers.  But it's pretty nuts to say that "not many" of their players would get "rotation minutes" on Tufts, Wesleyan and Trinity (a Trinity team that Williams beat on the road, by the way).  I'm confident that all five Williams starters would be no worse than a seventh (at absolute worst eighth) man on any of those teams, and a few bench guys would at least be somewhere in the back of the rotation.

What Williams is lacking personnel-wise right now is a clear offensive star, a guy like Regan, Vetter, Morgan, or Gyimisi (and Morakis as well at times) who can carry the team and force the issue offensively and get a tough bucket when the team is in a big funk. There are guys who might get to that point eventually in their careers, but right now, there seems to be no one able to take over a game when the defense clamps down.  But there are plenty of very capable players on the roster, especially defensively.     

Quote from: nescac1 on January 24, 2025, 10:15:24 AMWilliams is certainly a team in transition this year (nothing to be ashamed of after losing a big senior class and coming off three years in a row when they made the Sweet 16 twice and the round of 32 once), with three FYs and only one senior in the top seven scorers.  But it's pretty nuts to say that "not many" of their players would get "rotation minutes" on Tufts, Wesleyan and Trinity (a Trinity team that Williams beat on the road, by the way).  I'm confident that all five Williams starters would be no worse than a seventh (at absolute worst eighth) man on any of those teams, and a few bench guys would at least be somewhere in the back of the rotation.

What Williams is lacking personnel-wise right now is a clear offensive star, a guy like Regan, Vetter, Morgan, or Gyimisi (and Morakis as well at times) who can carry the team and force the issue offensively and get a tough bucket when the team is in a big funk. There are guys who might get to that point eventually in their careers, but right now, there seems to be no one able to take over a game when the defense clamps down.  But there are plenty of very capable players on the roster, especially defensively.     

I stand by my comment.

You do know that Williams' "end of bench scrubs" beat Trinity, right? Those same scrubs also lead Wesleyan several different times in the 2nd half.

I don't have a horse in the race, but saying they wouldn't get any rotational minutes on any of those 3 teams is kind of harsh.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on January 24, 2025, 05:23:15 PMYou do know that Williams' "end of bench scrubs" beat Trinity, right? Those same scrubs also lead Wesleyan several different times in the 2nd half.

I don't have a horse in the race, but saying they wouldn't get any rotational minutes on any of those 3 teams is kind of harsh.

I said not many, not none. Based on the recruiting style and way the top 3 teams play, I stand by my comment. Yes a lot of the top players in the league get recruited by the same team, but a lot of times similar players end up on the same team.

Tufts 37 - 17 Conn at half. Tufts beating Conn at their own game - shredding apart the zone that gave us issues in years past and choking them with our 3-2 defense. Wing -> short corner -> man cuts from high post. Wing -> high post -> diving short corner. Bernstein multiple dunks, Gyimesi multiple hook shots. Kennelly continuing to impress me with his high energy on defense and has really improved in the half court. Great transition game too.

Tough one for Williams and great win for Middlebury as Alex Lee hits a clutch three with six seconds left only to be eclipsed by a buzzer-beating three from Tristan Joseph, who had been cold most of the game, to win by one.  Ephs once again cough up two big leads in this one, 18 points in the first half and 11 in the second.   Williams seemed to lose focus with a big lead late in the first half and Midd never quit and fought like crazy on every single possession. 

Impressive coaching job by Jeff Brown in this one mixing and matching 13 guys in all sorts of different combinations with nearly all making contributions. Everyone on the roster seemed to make a play for Midd at one point or another. 

For Williams, Hudson Hansen was stellar all game but just didn't get enough help.

Tough couple of weeks for the "Hank Morgan is not the best player in the conference" crowd...

Quote from: RollConts25 on January 25, 2025, 05:17:36 PMTough couple of weeks for the "Hank Morgan is not the best player in the conference" crowd...

Equally tough week for the "Colby is not the best team in Maine" crowd

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 23, 2025, 12:23:40 PM

Quote from: ephsandbantams on January 23, 2025, 12:13:29 AMAlways a good sign for the Ephs when Jumbo Mumbo makes a anti-Ephs score prediction. Hopefully we get something similar out of Jumbo Mumbo ahead of Middlebury this Saturday. Thanks Jumbo!

Haha you're welcome. I already posted my prediction: 57-55 Williams over Midd
That being said, I will now change it just for you: 57-55 Middlebury.

Mumbo goes 5/5 on the weekend thanks to ephsandbantams fan

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 25, 2025, 05:31:39 PM

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 23, 2025, 12:23:40 PM

Quote from: ephsandbantams on January 23, 2025, 12:13:29 AMAlways a good sign for the Ephs when Jumbo Mumbo makes a anti-Ephs score prediction. Hopefully we get something similar out of Jumbo Mumbo ahead of Middlebury this Saturday. Thanks Jumbo!

Haha you're welcome. I already posted my prediction: 57-55 Williams over Midd
That being said, I will now change it just for you: 57-55 Middlebury.

Mumbo goes 5/5 on the weekend thanks to ephsandbantams fan

As I alluded to earlier, always bet with jumbomumbo.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on January 24, 2025, 05:23:15 PMYou do know that Williams' "end of bench scrubs" beat Trinity, right? Those same scrubs also lead Wesleyan several different times in the 2nd half.

I don't have a horse in the race, but saying they wouldn't get any rotational minutes on any of those 3 teams is kind of harsh.

Trinity lost that game more than the Williams scrubs won it.
But I do agree Williams has players that would play even start on other teams.

Quote from: RollConts25 on January 25, 2025, 05:17:36 PMTough couple of weeks for the "Hank Morgan is not the best player in the conference" crowd...

Are you related or Morgan's agent?
Morgan played against Wesleyan and was a non factor in the second half while Regan was lighting it up.
Then against Trinity when the game was decided, a 5 minute stretch in 2nd half, Morgan was guarded by Trinity Subs and fell behind by 10 points. He shot the ball great, but at home with leads in both 2nd half's you need to win. Couple of bad turnovers as well.
It's Regan's To lose right now, he was very good against Trinity today, played the entire second half and was one of the biggest reason they won.
It's Regan 1, Gyimesi 2, Morgan 3, Vetter no longer in running, he was not good today.
IMO will come down to the Tufts Wesleyan game next weekend. Will most likely decide the regular season title and POY.

Tufts Wesleyan should be great game to watch next weekend.
Trinity going to get throttled by Tufts. Trinity has zero offensive flow, take way too many bad shots. Coach screaming at refs the entire game doesn't help his team. They can defend but can't score against good defensive teams. Only thing that might help Trinity is that they will get Tufts 1 day after Tufts plays Wesleyan. But after watching both teams play, multiple times, Tufts should easily beat them.

Quote from: D3BBALL on January 25, 2025, 10:20:48 PM

Quote from: RollConts25 on January 25, 2025, 05:17:36 PMTough couple of weeks for the "Hank Morgan is not the best player in the conference" crowd...

Are you related or Morgan's agent?
Morgan played against Wesleyan and was a non factor in the second half while Regan was lighting it up.
Then against Trinity when the game was decided, a 5 minute stretch in 2nd half, Morgan was guarded by Trinity Subs and fell behind by 10 points. He shot the ball great, but at home with leads in both 2nd half's you need to win. Couple of bad turnovers as well.
It's Regan's To lose right now, he was very good against Trinity today, played the entire second half and was one of the biggest reason they won.
It's Regan 1, Gyimesi 2, Morgan 3, Vetter no longer in running, he was not good today.
IMO will come down to the Tufts Wesleyan game next weekend. Will most likely decide the regular season title and POY.

Agree that the wes - tufts game will decide regular season title and POY. That being said, I can see how the consensus right now is for Regan to be #1, but having watched Gyimesi for years and seeing this year - there's no doubt in my mind he deserves it. He's death by a thousand cuts. Hook shot. Hook shot. Hook shot. Hook shot. This is how conn felt today, and how most teams do. Not to mention he gets on the glass like no one I've ever seen. Best rebounder I've ever watched, especially for his size

Quote from: D3BBALL on January 25, 2025, 10:25:45 PMTufts Wesleyan should be great game to watch next weekend.
Trinity going to get throttled by Tufts. Trinity has zero offensive flow, take way too many bad shots. Coach screaming at refs the entire game doesn't help his team. They can defend but can't score against good defensive teams. Only thing that might help Trinity is that they will get Tufts 1 day after Tufts plays Wesleyan. But after watching both teams play, multiple times, Tufts should easily beat them.

Slow down Vetter, and we win the game. Last year they beat us 3 times. Well coached team, good talent -  maybe less this year. But a lot of the games before last year were 20 point tufts wins, including at trinity. It wouldn't shock me to see this next weekend, but I'll err on the side of caution and conclude tufts 60-51