MBB: NEWMAC

[BaboNation]

Clark:
Holiday week games:  Williams (H) Nazareth (H).  Um, better hope you catch Williams flat, but even then, there's so much depth that it could get ugly quickly.  I haven't seen Nazareth, but their resume is daunting.

Ironically, Clark caught a flat Williams team today and lost by 17. They built up a 16 point lead in the first half on 7 made threes but went into half up 6 after some really sloppy play and lost all the momentum. It was over after that. Isaiah Taylor went 3-19, that didn't help either.

I have seen Clark in limited stretches this year but see no reason why they can't steal the NEWMAC. Now, it's unlikely, but they play a very defined style that is perfect for pulling upsets. Plus, if the presumed championship game against WPI (no offense to anyone else, they've only played in about 6 in a row) is played at their tempo, they have more firepower to win a shootout. Plus, McArdle can bang against Adams and Houston at least at a serviceable enough level to force others to put them away.

Normally you would say a 3pt shooting team has just as much of a chance to shoot themselves out of the game too, but they have 4 guys shooting over 40% from 3 on 4+ attempts each. Those numbers will definitely go down as their schedule improves in conference play, but it seems fairly reliable so far through 10 games.

You may be right, but I need to see Clark win big games before I can believe in them.  I really didn't give them much of a shot against Williams and even up 18 I thought Williams hadn't yet committed defensively.  Then Saintilus went down and Clark just doesn't have quality depth whereas Williams (as you know) has it in spades.  Taylor takes some god-awful low percentage shots.  And they have to lock in more defensively. 
They can score.  Can they defend?  TBD

[BaboNation]

Babson 83 Hope 60 in a 1st ever matchup (this one at Hope).

Before getting into game action kudos to the announcers for a top-notch call of the game.  I have to catch a Hope-Calvin game sometime.  Both great facilities.

I knew 6'2" Nate Amado was ready for this one when he tugged the jersey of 6'7" Lauder off the jump circle to take it himself and win the tip.  Amado has great hops, length, and timing.  He put up a great 1st half (13) before getting injured.  He tried to go again for a couple of minutes into the 2nd half before icing his knee for the remainder.

This is a game the team never would have won earlier in the year when it was Amado, Kirkpatrick, Amado, Kirkpatrick, or bust.  But everyone is contributing now and the defensive intensity has improved dramatically.

It would have been great to see both Evan Thomas and Amado for 40 minutes, but it wasn't meant to be.

Back-to-back signature wins @ Brandeis and @ Hope will look great in March if they can keep focused.

And, per my earlier post today, FY Tyler Lauder has indeed returned for his first action since game 1.  He's going to be a future NEWMAC star.  He'll definitely be matched up on Adams, Houston, and McArdle down the road and will only grow from the experience.

Some may focus on Babson shooting lights out from 3 (11/25), but the defense was the story for me, holding Hope well below their average and chasing them off the arc.  I have to believe coach Brennan makes the arc defense a focus because they often get beaten off the dribble and foul or get beaten inside.  Seems analytics-based to me (2's vs. 3's).

Ryan Cibull has gotten better and better and was immense 13-2-3 and 2 steals with no TOs in 17 minutes;  Aaron Gao, who is as disruptive, inch for inch, as anyone on the roster finished with 8-5-3 and 2 steals in 30 minutes off the bench and fought like hell against anyone he switched onto.  FY Woolhouse with easily his best game of the year with 12-8 and 3 from deep.  With everyone contributing the forced shots that became common from Kirkpatrick and Amado late in the clock have almost disappeared.

Side note:  Yet another roster change.  FY Jeremiah Paul is listed and played his first game in the closing minutes.  I knew he had committed last winter, but I figured he hadn't been enrolled.  Roster size now at 14.

Get well Nate.

[WPI89]

Big one at 2:00 - a win and even Dave will have to put WPI back in his top 25 - lol.  I had planned on being in Worcester - but I will be on video.  Very much looking forward to it.

[BaboNation]

I'll set the over/under for WPI to win at 8.5 3-pointers.  They will have to space STJ's and be hitting outside shots to win.  The inside-first priority won't open up until STJ's respects your outside game.

[nescac1]

Is the video feed of this game screwed up for everyone?

[Coache]

Yes the video just keeps glitching.

[SpringSt7]

I apologize for forgetting his name because I know I've heard it before, but the silver lining here is that the WPI play by play is as good as it gets at this level, it's like listening on the radio.

[BaboNation]

Alex Gutierrez

Edit:  my bad Jorge Bannister

[WPI89]

Yes glitchy for me too.  Interesting half  Rust from both with 2/3 weeks off.  If WPI can hit a few 3's they hang the whole way.  This game deserves a student body but oh well - big 20 mins to come.  5-10 from 3 and get Adams involved (and stay at only 2 fouls for a while).  Might need another 13 from Lowther!

[WPI89]

Funny Babo - I just saw your 8.5 prediction on 3's.  My 5 needed above would put us at 8.

[WPI89]

I can't even watch the delay/glitching is worse.

[BaboNation]

Clark goes down again, this time to a strong Nazareth team, 82-63.

It was still just a 3 point deficit with 10 to play, but got out of hand late.

It probably wouldn't have affected the outcome, but Bruce Saintilus did not play.  He had left the Williams game when they were still up 38-24.  I doubt he would have affected the outcome there either, but he's Clark's 2nd leading scorer (16.9), just behind Taylor.  I'd project him to be a 2nd team ALL-NEWMAC on a roster that isn't deep.  He's a very important cog in Clark's game.
Hopefully he's back soon (as with Amado for Babson) because these are key individuals to both teams' long-term success.

[BaboNation]

UChicago 73 Babson 64 to close out holiday week and the OOC portion of the schedule.

No Nate Amado for this one.

Chicago came in shooting just .295 from 3, but hit on .625 in this one, on 10-16 shooting across several players.  Without the benefit of replay I'd say no more than 3 were uncontested, but a mental lapse on defense led to a dagger 3 from Kenah to make it 64-53 with 5 minutes to play.
That said, Babson fought back and had a chance to make it a 1 possession game with 1:30 left but came up empty.

Too many unnecessary fouls (all fouls were earned - no griping from me) led to Chicago +15 points from the stripe.
And early 2nd half fouls put Babson in the double bonus way too early.  With a 9 man rotation they had Gao pick up his 5th with 8 to play after knotting the game at 52-52; Lauder reached the limit with 6 to play; and O'Toole and Woolhouse playing with 4 fouled out in the final minute.

The FY class will be very good I think in years to come.  Woolhouse (7 today) is already substantially better than the first 5 games.  Lauder has the size, strength, mobility that he needs to trust more.  He picked up a foul that is illustrative of green players at this level:  his man was asking for an entry pass on an isolation at the elbow, and with all eyes on the matchup he's using his full body to push his man off the spot.  Too many fouls over the back.  Too many fouls not being vertical.

Babson needed more from the vets (Kirkpatrick 5/16 in a homecoming of sorts, Gao 4 points, 4 TOs) with only Cibull (21) answering the bell.

In addition to Amado, Parker Mason has missed the last 2 games.  After being injured most of his first year the guy can't seem to catch a break.

All in all, considering the lopsided OOC schedule with only 3 of 11 home games, 7-4 is not bad at all.
They have a very small margin for losing much more for Pool C, but the main thing now is whether Amado is out for long.  The first NEWMAC game is @ Emerson.  Only 3 of the first 13 are at home.

Side Notes:

* This loss will change things, but Babson came in only slightly behind WPI in Massey (52 vs. 45), and actually ahead of WPI in Matt Snyder's R2 rankings (4 vs. 5 due to Babson's better SOS). 

* A somewhat expected poor showing from the (in my mind) pretty clear top 4 NEWMAC teams, going 1-5 collectively, with the sole win coming from Babson over Hope.

* The announcers got it wrong; this was not the 1st ever meeting between the schools.  This is the 3rd meeting, with the only Babson win coming in the National Championship season.  Hey UChicago, how 'bout coming to our gym?

* Credit to Chicago, because the UAA, always very good, is loaded at the top half this year.

[BaboNation]

Emerson 79 over Babson 70

Nate Martin (20) and Houston (17/8) too much for Babson in this one in Boston.

Only a 3 point game with 2 minutes to play, but the game swung when they denied Houston on a drive, but left the weak-side rebound open to Beckwith for a put-back +1.

Houston had a huge impact on bothering shots of the FYs (Waterhouse, O'Toole, and Lauder) who were seeing him for the first time. 

For Babson, Amado and Mason still in street clothes, and now Horan, who has been part of the rotation missed this one.  Any game til Amado comes back is going to be a slog.

Elsewhere, FY Mitch Shettles (25) hits a buzzer-beater to lift Coast Guard to just their 3rd win, this one over Wheaton 75-74.

[BaboNation]

This crazy season just got crazier.

Kieran Dorney is back on the roster, dressed for the game.