MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Lefrak......They are not in the box since they have not played.   The Amherst website has a "title pic" after the game with William Patterson.....showing Logan in dress clothes on the left side......possible recovering from an early injury.   There is also a player in cover jersey that may be Berry.....he made be ready to play but is still getting ready for the season.....delay due to an practice injury?  While I was at practice after the Football game there was a FY player that had an injury that was kept out of drills.  I mentioned it now since the player played in the last game.

[old_hooper]

Posted on another board by Titan Q (the link) regarding comments from Coach Walsh of Rhode Island College about Grinnell and the manufactured record.

http://blog.coachbobwalsh.com

[7express]

Following the LEC Bob Walsh is an excellent; not good, not great, excellent coach.  I'm absolutely shocked how he's still coaching at RIC because I have no doubt he can lead and be extremely successful at a division 1 school no matter the conference

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Posted on another board by Titan Q (the link) regarding comments from Coach Walsh of Rhode Island College about Grinnell and the manufactured record.

http://blog.coachbobwalsh.com

And they were playing a non-d3 opponent on top of it.  It wasn't even really a d3 game - just a game with a d3 team participating.

[Old Guy]

Interesting discussion by RIC's Coach Walsh. He makes many good points.

[nescac1]

One point I want to make on The System, and forgive me if it's been covered, is that it seems like it would hurt development of individual player skills.  Beyond shooting and pressing, what aspects of basketball does the system care if you master?  Not half-court sets, not pick and rolls, not man to man defense, not posting up, not conserving energy or fouls, not one-on-one moves, you become as a player an interchangeable cog in a machine.  If one of the goals of any college basketball coach is to develop his players' hoops attributes, this seems like a sure fire way NOT to do so.  Of course, the players choose to play in it, and so long as it remains a novelty, I don't see any harm.  But i would not steer anyone who has a goal of improving as a player to a system school. 

On another note, I'm surprised to see that Tufts has already lost two games.  I thought the Jumbos were ready to once again after a several-year hiatus to compete at the top tier of NESCAC, and while certainly still possible, the early returns are not promising.  If course with a strong group of frosh there is plenty of room for growth.

[jumpshot]

Less predictable game for Middlebury at Plattsburg State today coming off the break for both teams. My trust is in Panther Pride yet watch out ....

[lildave678]

No stats or anything posted yet, but AMC defeats Wesleyan 82-73. AMC held a 35-33 edge at half.

[Old Guy]

80-73 Midd over Plattsburgh. Tough game. Good win. Panthers were down 29-24 at the half (56 pts in the 2nd!) Plattsburgh's a good team, fast, strong, shoots the ball well. Exciting, well-played second half. Midd was down by 9 early in the second half - small line-up brought them back and won the game (Wolfin, Kizell, Thompson, Lynch, Jensen).

Thompson had 23 (8-13, 3-7,4-4, 7 boards), Lynch 19 (typically efficient - 6-8, 7-8), Kizell 13. Wolfin had seven assists. Panthers shot 57% from the field, 43% from three (7-16), 19-23 from the line (and needed to be). Plattsburgh dominated the boards 30 (12 offensive!)-21.

[Rimseeking1]

Middlebury pulls out a close one over Plattsburgh State 80-73.  Midd was out rebounded 30-21, which continues to be a concern with Sharry no longer in the lineup.

[amh63]

Was following the Live Stats of the Midd. vs Plattsburgh game for the last 8-10 minutes.  Was struck by the almost identical stats for both teams going down to the wire......number of shots made, 3-point shots made, foul shots taken and made, assist to turnovers.  The difference was that though Plattsburgh was winning the boards, Midd. had less turnovers and made more foul shots.  It seemed that Norm Thompson stepped up at the end and Midd. started to get the rebounds.  Midd got the layups and Plattsburgh tried the 3-point shots and when they started to miss....the lead went to 5, and then 7 and the fouls followed.  For awhile the foul shooting for both sides was over 88%.  Checked the roster for the NY'ers and they did not have a height advantage.....to win the rebounds, it seemed to me. 
Anyway, was watching the Williams vs. MCLA game for the first half.  Only a one point game at the half.....the much taller ephs have a game on their hands.  Nate Roberson was being checked at times by a 5'7" guard with quickness.  Mayer was getting beat underneath at times by shorter players.  Williams is missing a ton of foul shots.  Expect Williams to focus more in the 2nd half and win the game handily.
Oh yes, Wes. lost their game to Albertus....the team from New Haven.   Tufts pulled it out against Babson. 

[magicman]

Here's a post I made on the SUNYAC board about the Middlebury-Plattsburgh game that I attended this afternoon. thought I would post it here to add to what Old Guy had to say.

Old Guy did you make the trip over to the Burgh? I would have treated you to a little supper had I known. Losers have to buy you know.

Middlebury 80 Plattsburgh 73.

Great game at Memorial Hall this afternoon even if my Cardinals didn't get the win. I called it 75-68 in favor of the Panthers and after a 29-24 Plattsburgh lead at the half I thought my totals would be fairly close. I had the correct MOV at 7 points but both teams put up almost twice as many points in the 2nd stanza as they did in the first. Referees for the most part let them play in the first half as they only called 11 fouls (6 against the Cards, 5 on the Panthers) Made up for it in the 2nd period as they whistled the teams for nearly 3 times that amount. Happy that the zebras didn't decide the outcome. Only a few calls that I thought were questionable, some on both sides.

The first half was a defensive battle with each team contesting nearly every shot that was fired up. Nine ties and 5 lead changes took place before the Cards went ahead 21-19 on an inside basket by Reggie Williams. At one point the teams went nearly 5 minutes without a single point being scored. Plattsburgh stretched their lead to 29-22 before a Joey Kizel steal and layup with 35 seconds left  cut it to 29-24 at the half. John Perez had a monster dunk midway through the period to fire up the Plattsburgh crowd.

The Cardinals outscored the Panthers 6-2 to open the 2nd half and gave them the largest lead of the game by either team at 35-26. After a quick Middlebury time out  the Panthers went on a 13-3 run to regain the lead at 39-38 on a three pointer by Hunter Merryman.
Eight more lead changes and 7 ties would occur before a James Jensen jumper gave the Panthers the lead for good, making the score 58-56 with 6:06 left to play. Up by 5 after 2 Nolan Thompson free throws, the Cards got a triple by Ezra Hodgson to close within 2 but a Kizel layup and a Thompson 3 pointer gave Middlebury their largest lead of the contest at 69-62. Cards would fight back and once again get it to a 1 possession game when Chris Manning stole the ball from Kizel and fed Gary Tibbs for a layup to make it 74-71 with 38 seconds left. Plattsburgh called a timeout and went to a trapping press but the Panthers broke it for easy baskets on the next 2 possessions to open up another 7 point advantage and put this one away. Final score should have been 78-73 but refs blew the whistle on Plattsburgh with a half second on the clock which allowed Kizel to pad his stats a little bit. That would have made the final the same score as Midd had when they opened the season with a 78-73 win over Ursinus.

Plattsburgh was led by Shavar Fields with 11 points (3x4 fg, 5x6 ft). Ezra Hodgson had 10 points (4x9 fg, 2x4 3's) and 5 rebounds. Shamoy McIntosh also scored 10 points (2x7 fg, 2x6 3's, 4x4 ft) with 3 assists. Gary Tibbs led the Cards in rebounds with 6 and had a solid game with 8 points (4x4 fg) and 3 steals. Point Guard Chris Manning added 8 pts (4x11 fg, 0x1 3's) 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 boards. John Perez, Plattsburgh's leading rebounder and 2nd leading scorer from last year, saw his first action of the year today and ended up with 8 points (3x6 fg, 2x2 ft) 3 rebounds and 2 assists.Plattsburgh shot  27x56 from the field (48.2%), 7x19 from downtown (36.8%) and 12x13 from the line (92.3%). They won the rebounding battle 30-21 and had 17 turnovers to 15 for the Panthers. The Cardinals had a balanced effort today as Coach Curle played 12 players in the game and all of them hit the scoring column.

Middlebury placed 3 players in double figures as Nolan Thompson led all scorers with 23 points (8x13 fg, 3x7 3's, 4x4 ft). Thompson also was the game's top rebounder with 7, and he added 2 steals and 2 assists along with his usual sterling defense. He was the Panther's MVP today for sure. Peter Lynch was close behind as he had a number of nice inside moves to finish with 19 points (6x8 fg, 7x8 ft). Joey Kizel had 13 points (4x8 fg,1x2 3's, 4x6 ft) and 4 assists. Jake Wolfin finished with 7 assists, 5 points (2x6 fg, 1x3 3's) and 3 rebounds. The Panthers shot 27x47 from the field (57.4%), 7x16 from 3 point land (43.8%) and 19x23 from the stripe (82.6%).

Plattsburgh's next game is Tuesday Nov 27th when they travel to Canton, NY to take on St. Lawrence University.

Middlebury's next opponent will probably be a little easier to handle as they host Southern Vermont on Tuesday the 27th as well. The Mountaineers are still looking for their first win of the season. Don't think they'll find it on that night either.

[madzillagd]

Williams 102, MCLA 78.  A tale of two halfs in this one with Williams taking their time to get things going.  MCLA scored the first points of the game on a banked in 3 from the top of the key.  That pretty much sums up their shooting effort in the first half where I counted 3 different occasions where they unintentially banked in a shot.  MCLA got the open looks and for the most part knocked down shots throughout the night shooting 50% overall and 10-23 43% from 3 for the game.  Williams on the other hand rushed shots through the first half, struggled to knock down 3s (3-12), and once again missed free throws.  They managed to keep it close and even squeezed out a 1 point lead at halftime but for the most part MCLA got the better of it the first half.

The 2nd half was a different story with Williams coming out focused and much more patient on offense.  They looked to run when possible, worked the back door cuts and as the defense started to break down they were able to knock down some 3s (5-6).  Although they allowed too much penetration by MCLA in the 2nd half, they were able to collapse and not allow too many offensive boards on missed shots.  Star of the game was Mayer (27 pts, 12 rbs) who simply outclassed the MCLA front line scoring on several drives to the basket and getting to the foul line 15 times.  The only resistance Mayer seemed to have all night was his free throw touch making 10-15.  Nice to see him stay out of foul trouble and on the floor for the majority of the game.  A very balanced attack by the rest of the team with 5 other players in double digits. 

Next up for Williams, @ RPI on Tuesday. 

[toad22]

I think Williams finally got unstuck. Through the first 3 1/2 games, Williams has been playing like they were afraid to lose. In the second half of the game tonight, they finally just started to play basketball. It was fun to watch. I will be very surprised if they don't play much better bball in future games. Nate Robertson, as always, leads the way. 

[lumbercat]

Bates hung tough tonite in non league play with Rhode Island College in Lewiston losing by 2 at the wire. A good test for the Bobcats against 4-0 RIC. The Bobcats are undersized again this year but tough as nails as Coach Furbush has built his teams. The Cats will be a headache for any NESCAC foe especially in their home gym "The Garnet Pit".  Seemed very warm in there tonight.
Furbush is creating a coaching signature at a young age.  This guy will take his 6'5" grinders in the paint and wear opponents down.  He's got a project in a 6'9" a Frosh who he will work with to deliver an answer in the pivot for the Garnet.
Tonight the Bobcats sealed their fate at the charity stripe which cost them the game. Furbush will fix that.
Senior Bogdanovich is a crasher who can score. Brust as good as any guard in the league. Matarazzo a fine court general with early shooting woes that will subside. Freshmen Boornazian a skilled 6'5" frosh who will excel in the NESCAC. Junior Cunningham has been pleasant surprise this year.
At the end of the day no one will out work the Bates team again this year.