MBB: NESCAC

[OchoLoko41]

Ask for a spread and you shall receive.

Tuesday November 22nd Spreads
Wesleyan @ Williams
Williams -2.0
O/U: 156.0

Betting big on the Cardinals on this one.  Not only is a battered Williams backcourt going to have their hands full with Brown, Beresford, and Mendell, I dont see them as having the physicality to bang with the Wesleyan bigs, especially if Callaghan and Thomas stay out of foul trouble.

Betting the farm on a big Wes victory to give me something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Me too.  I'll take Wesleyan and the points.

Make Ted Moseby proud!

[LaPaz]

Williams and under

[amh63]

Amherst wins tonight 97-69 over WNEC at WNEC.  The game ended with a made WNEC 3-point shot at the buzzer.  It was a confusing game to follow on a livestats feed.  It was 48-26 at the half.  WNEC was outscoring Amherst for much of the second half before a late burst of scoring by Amherst in the last 5 minutes.  Amherst tried a number of combinations of players through out the game...often with 2 starters and experienced reserves.  Amherst's big man P. Kaasila only played 6 minutes and was 2-2 for 4 points.  I hope it was to see how other front court players worked with the starters.  For the last quarter of the game, there were 3 sophmores and 2 FY players on the floor for long periods.  Williamson and Holmes had off-nights....Williamson missed a dunk.  T. Killian, made Amherst's first dunk with 1 minute to go in the game.  Barrise led the team with 21 points with good outside shots and slashing drives even. Toomey also hit from outside and inside.  Workman also had a good all around game and scored in double figures.  It was another learning type game...to evaluate combinations of players in different situations against  smaller, often quicker players.  Both teams had double figure steals...but Amherst won the battle of the boards and had a good shooting night.

[Old Guy]

Middlebury beat the College of St. Joseph's 61-48 in a good test. Coach Brown played 13 players, including four frosh. St. Joe's is a small (500 students) Catholic school in Rutland, Vermont. They have some players, they play hard, and were hardly intimidated. They will do very well in their league (they were 5-0 coming in). It was a good test.

The bad news is that Jack Roberts (6'8"+), the presumptive replacement for Andrew Locke, went down and left the game in the opening minutes, and returned at the half in street clothes on crutches, knee. Sharry was in street clothes, walking gingerly. I'm glad it's early in the year.

Lynch had another good game (14 pts 5-7 fg, 4-4 ft, 7 rebs). The frosh are tall and fast, athletic: Brierly 6'5" 12 minutes; Sinnickson 6'5", 15 mins.; Merryman 6'6", 9 mins.; Churchill 6'9" 3 mins.

Wolfin, Kizel (6-6 from the line), and Thompson (14 pts) all played over 30 minutes. That will be the pattern. Don't they get after people on defense! Thompson defended a guy on the blocks tonight. He's fun to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving,  all

[Colby Hoops]

I'm sure we'll get a recap from some of the Williams posters, but a resounding win for the Ephs.

Lynch has always been underrated for Midd.  I think he'd have been a bigger contributor earlier on in his career if he had gone to a different school.  Strong, smart and plays hard.

The rest of the league struggled outside of the top 3 last night.  Bowdoin went down to St. Joe's in a game where the free throw disparity was 22-4 in favor of St. Joes.  It's an odd night when Hanley only gets to the line once.  Doesn't look like the 7 foot frosh for Bowdoin is going to be an impact player this year as some expected.  I think everybody outside of the top 3 who played last night lost in the NESCAC.

[walzy31]

Tuesday November 22nd Spreads
Wesleyan @ Williams
Williams -2.0
O/U: 156.0

Amherst @ WNEC
Amherst -27.5
O/U: 144.5

Tuesday November 22nd Spreads
Wesleyan 68 @ Williams 83
Williams -2.0 (Williams Cover +13.0)
O/U: 156.0 (Under +5.0)

Amherst 97 @ WNEC 69
Amherst -27.5 (Amherst Cover +0.5)
O/U: 144.5 (Over +21.5)

[walzy31]

Betting the farm on a big Wes victory to give me something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

Lost the farm but thanks for the action.

Me too.  I'll take Wesleyan and the points.
Make Ted Moseby proud!

Losing ticket.

Williams and under

There it is! Winning two bets or winning parlay.

[nescac1]

I did not see the game (the webcasts are very difficult to follow, so I am not planning on paying for them, certainly not 15 bucks), but a really encouraging result for the Ephs, especially with three starters still at less than 100 percent, and one starter plus the sixth man missing.  Great to see them bounce back from Salem, and get back on track in terms of both three point shooting and defending the three (the Ephs were uncharacteristically off in both categories in the last game, which was the key to the loss).  Epley had a huge game and I think more are to come ... he gives the Ephs the most well-rounded offensive option at the four that they have had in years.  I also think that once Emerson is 100 percent, we may see some Mayer-Emerson twin tower action, especially against bigger teams, since both have some perimeter skills.  Looking forward to seeing what the Ephs can do at full strength.  Maker will have some tough choices to make with the rotation once the two injured guys return.  Mayer and Rooke-Ley figure to be the top two bench players.  Mickens is a senior and valuable glue guy and Wohl and Weinheimer are both versatile, athletic guys who have provided a spark, and all three have made bids to stick in the rotation.

Seems like more early injuries than usual in NESCAC this year ... Williams and Midd's woes have been discussed, Colby seems to be missing their projected PG, two of Trinity's five veterans have not played, leaving them VERY inexperienced on the perimeter, and Wesleyan seems to be missing St. Jean (still a lingering issue from last year, or something new I wonder?).  Amherst appears to be the healthiest right now, and they have looked dominant.  Toomey seems to be playing at an all-NESCAC and future all-American level.  But, I think once Robertson and Sharry return, Williams and Midd will reach a similar level.

The betters on the big three finishing 1-2-3 have to feel pretty good right now.  The Bowdoin recap does indeed sound like some home cooking, but still, I expected the vetern Polar Bear squad to come out of the gate stronger.  Trinity is going to be dangerous, but also have some duds like last night, the nature of a team full of rookies.  Probably a year away.  Wesleyan's bigs seemingly got overwhelmed inside by Williams, which doesn't bode well for when they face Amherst and Midd (assuming Sharry is at full strength), but you also can't take too much from one tough road game.  Bates, Colby, Conn are all in serious rebuilding mode.  Tufts' Orchowski is off to a huge start, but hasn't gotten enough help.  Hamilton is still undefeated, and could be a bit of a wild-card. 

[met_fan]

I think everybody outside of the top 3 who played last night lost in the NESCAC.

I think Hamilton won

[amh63]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and good shopping!
I actually watched the Hamilton game on-line as it was played in the early afternoon.  Hamilton's big man actually seems to play outside a great deal.  The NY state school opponent played a pressing defense and even zone and was coached by a Hamilton grad.  Hamilton does have good plays and does have good ball movement.  Played their FY players for awhile in wholesale player rotations.  The "slight" FY Lin played PG and was left in for long periods of time.  He is a quick player and shoots left handed....his outside shot is flat footed and can be blocked since it takes time.  Hamilton is in a building process.....in my limited observation, they will not finish in the upper half of the conference this season.
In the Western New England University game(school went to university status this past June) there was another guard of the same size and also named Lin....and also a FY player.  Interesting! No, not related since he is from the hometown of UCONN.

[OchoLoko41]

Took me a while to come to terms with the Wesleyan loss.

Gotta give credit to a Williams squad that shoots a volume 60+% from the field and to Klemm in particular.  Big 5 for 7 from 3 and consistently hit big threes to stop Wesleyan charges.

Regardless of this loss I still think that Wesleyan is going to be a force in the NESCAC when the league season begins and I think Williams is going to need to find an alternative to the 3 pt shot before they truly live up to top 3 hype, but all in all looking forward to an exciting season for the CAC

[OchoLoko41]

The Cardinals are refusing to let this season follow last years script.  After falling to Williams before Thanksgiving, the Cardinals put on a clinic in defense and balance against Baruch, holding them to only 3 field goals in the second half and having 6 Cardinals score 7 or more. 

Harris seems to be living up to the hype, leading the Cardinals with 14 and the Wesleyan faithful have a lot to look forward to whenever Jay Mendell shakes out of this early funk he seems to have gotten into and Greg St Jean returns to the court to provide his own personalized batch of perimeter defense, leadership, insanity, and other intangibles

[Old Guy]

61 degrees in Middlebury at noon today, so I figured it wouldn't snow if I traveled north 80 miles to Johnson State to watch the Panthers play their penultimate game before break (I'll not be driving to Bennington, a couple hours south, to watch Midd-Southern VT Tuesday night).

The game was a rout, but the first half was competitive, Johnson up 22-21 with 6:30 to go in the first half.  Middlebury turned it up a notch, picked up fullcourt, made the game too fast for the Badgers, Second half: 43-16. Everyone played: Thompson played the most minutes with 26. Typical point distribution: 13 (Thompson), 11 (Lynch, also 11 rebounds), 11 (Brierly), 10 (Jenson), 8 (Wolfin). The Panthers could conceivably have a 12 player rotation. Against St. Joseph's, Thompson guarded a 6'6" inside player; today he guarded a 5'5" waterbug of a point guard. I haven't seen a better defensive player in all the years I've been here.

I didn't see the Ramapo game - everyone I've talked to who was there says we played well against a good team. I realize the two games I've seen have not been against tough opponents, but . . . these freshmen appear ready for prime time. Dean Brierley has good size (6'5, 200) shoots the ball well, a natural #3, filling a need. Dylan Sinnickson (6'5", 195) is very athletic. Merryman hit a bomb from three. Churchill doesn't play as much but is 6'9" and looks comfortable out there. Soph Nate Bullock is a good player, also fast and athletic.

Sharry should be back after the break; Roberts could be out longer.

[trixiep]

O.G., you're forgetting the Johnson and Wales vs Midd home game December 6th.  Will be fun to watch Thompson match up with the nation's returning leading scorer in Pepin Gym (Lamonte Thomas, 30.7 ppg).  Not to mention the fact that J and W knocked of Ramapo in the NCAA Tourney last season.  Would be nice to have Sharry back for that one!