MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

7Express...why are you going to a local H.S. game? 
Things are slow when we discuss high school games....even when there is an college recruit or two playing.  Racy is a senior.  He also has a younger brother on the team.  7Express makes one of his few posting errors here.
Jayhawk.....thanks for the info.  During this down time period.....I  turn to the pile of books that I ordered and start reading.
WPI89.....Walzy could be busy taking exams, etc......so I will give you +K for him.

[walzy31]

December 11th Spread

Amherst -12.0 @ Anna Maria
O/U: 137.5

Jeffs and the over

Amherst and Over.

Finally went 2-0.

Just gave you each your first +1
The remaining payout will come tomorrow.

[WPI89]

Thanks guys!

Racy and Ridgefield High started off rough last night.  They were pre-season ranked 3 in CT but played the number 4 team for their first game (St Joseph's out of Trumbull).  RHS and Racey had been lighting it up all "scrimmage season".  Racy drained a big 3 early and not much else.  Entire offense was off.  Could see this team not losing again but not the way the team or Racy wanted to start.  Their UVM recruit (Kurt Steidl) had more than half their points with 26.

OK - I am done with HS hoops but will from time to time keep you Amherst guys filled in on Jeff's goings-on this season.

[amh63]

Interesting D3 game to check on.......WSJ reports today that No. 20 ranked UNLV plays D3 team LaVerne that enrolls only 1700 students.  Talk about a "Cupcake" schedule.  Walzy, what would the spread be on such a game?....could check the Vegas lines I guess.  Size of the student body is not a concern to me since there are a number of very small enrollment schools that play Div. 1 sports...like Wofford College in SC, in football....its the talent difference and possible negative impact on the players.

[7express]

7Express...why are you going to a local H.S. game? 
Things are slow when we discuss high school games....even when there is an college recruit or two playing.  Racy is a senior.  He also has a younger brother on the team.  7Express makes one of his few posting errors here.
Jayhawk.....thanks for the info.  During this down time period.....I  turn to the pile of books that I ordered and start reading.
WPI89.....Walzy could be busy taking exams, etc......so I will give you +K for him.

St. Joes is one of the 2 high schools in my town.  Went to the other one, the public school, and Ridgefield high is like 10 minutes down the road from Western Connecticut, so took a detour there after my final last night.
As for Racy being a junior, don't shoot the messenger  .  The program had him listed as a junior, and seemed weird to me a junior would already be recruited AND be a team captain, but I don't know the family, don't live in the town, and don't go to Ridgefield high, so what do I know??  I was just going by what I saw listed in the program.

And WPI, no suprise to me seeing that Steidl kid playing D-1.  Looked to me he could be playing small time D-1 (NEC, Am East, etc).  Was their best player.

And Am, I don't think Vegas does line for D-1 teams playing non division 1 teams, but I'd go about UNLV -45.

[nescac1]

Now that the first semester games are over, and more than a third of the season is in the books, it's interesting to reassess where things stand in handicapping the all-NESCAC races.  Interesting to note that many of the top players didn't post tremendous statistical first halves of the season, including Aaron Toomey, Joey Kizell, Nate Robertson, and Sha Brown, all of whom have all-American talent, but none of who seem yet to be consistently playing a an all-American level.   Still, I have faith that all four of those guys will  pick up the pace a bit come conference play.  Right now, my revised all-league projections:

First team:

C Michael Mayer
F Matt Vadas
G Joey Kizell
G Aaron Toomey
G Sha Brown

Second team:

C Peter Lynch
F Taylor Epley
F Willy Workman
F Mike Callaghan
G Nate Robertson


Third team:

C Peter Kaasila
F Keegan Pieri
F Ben Ferris
G Nolan Thompson
G Andrew Madlinger

POY: Mayer, Toomey, Kizell in a toss-up (I think all three will post bigger numbers in NESCAC play as they play in more close games)
ROY: Conor Green
DPOY: N. Thompson, Workman, Robertson

[Old Guy]

I think most Midd fans would give Peter Lynch the team MVP for this first third of the season. He deserves to be on NESCAC1's first team. His numbers are impressive: 17 points a game (3rd in the league); 70% fg% (1st); 87% ft% (7th); 6 rebounds/game (13th). He's so solid. We take him for granted at times. He never takes a bad shot. Plays hard, never complains, great team leader.

[frank uible]

Loves dogs, is respectful of elders, adores his mother, goes to church, is an Eagle scout, dang is his strongest expletive.

[Old Guy]

Loves dogs, is respectful of elders, adores his mother, goes to church, is an Eagle scout, dang is his strongest expletive.

Actually, pretty close

[nescac1]

Old Guy, that sounds right.  My teams are projections based in part on the first part of the season, in part based on ability level / past performance, so I am anticipating some star players who haven't yet put up superstar numbers (Kizell, Sha Brown, Toomey in particular) will really pick it up in the second half of the season.  Based solely on first third-of-the-season performance, the first team would probably include Callaghan, Lynch, and Vadas, but some of the guys they would bump are proven go-to performers. 

[madzillagd]

Are the teams typically done by position or is it possible to get 2 centers on the team for example? 

I think Lynch will have a hard time beating out Mayer, especially if Mayer continues to rebound like he has so I'd expect him to be the top center and Lynch to be #2 (sorry Amh63 - Big Pete isn't going to bump those two with the #s he's putting up so far) - but that doesn't mean Lynch might not end up with the best stats for Midd.   Kizel is the likely person to rise to the top but Midd has a lot of guys that are performing well so it's not out of the realm of possibility to see one of the others make that 1st team if opponents focus on Kizel defensively and slow him down. 

Toomey I think is a lock because he's going to have to put up some big numbers for Amherst to win this year.  As NESCAC1 predicted, the supporting cast isn't quite up to the level of the past and they are even relying a lot on a couple freshmen which typically brings some inconsistency.  I'd expect Toomey to start pushing that ppg closer to 20 when league starts.

Brown might be the odd man out in this group, but I don't think it will be because of his play.  I'm not convinced yet that Wes will be in the top 4 in league and if they slide whomever ends up in the 4th spot will potentially get someone on the 1st team.  If there isn't a standout, you might see a 2nd Midd like Thompson or Williams with Epley take that last spot. 

[7express]

More likely to get a team that consists of 3 guards and 2 front court players on a team with 2 centers.  2 center's on the team is virtually unheard of.  Probably only chance of having 2 center's on the first team is if one of the 2 ends up winning the conference player of the year.

Not sure how the NESCAC does it, but the LEC first team consists of 6 players (the conference POY and then 5 others).  If the NESCAC only goes 5 deep then your probably only getting the 1 center, but if it goes 6 deep like the LEC does AND the POY is a center then its likely the 2nd center gets on there if he had comparable number's to the first guy that won POY.

[nescac1]

I don't think positions matter.  There have been years, I believe, with four forwards, or four guards, on one or more of the all-league team.  The reason, in my view, that there have never been two centers (that I can remember, at least) is that NESCAC seldom has even ONE center worth of first-team recognition, let alone two.  If Lynch and Mayer continue to be among the league leaders in multiple statistical categories, and continue to lead teams at the top of the league standings, I see no reason why both would not be recognized. 

[pick and roll]

I believe Lynch is actually playing the four with Jack Roberts the five although he sticks pretty close to the basket.  Really expected Kaasila to be dominant this year - the kid is just so big - maybe in the second half he will hit how stride.

[old_hooper]

Not sure i agree with Madz assessment of Amherst, they have 7 guys averaging double figures in scoring.  They have not played their best basketball yet but the scoring ability has certainly proven that on any given night anyone of those guys can go off and score 20 points.  They just need to be more patience on offense and utilize kaasila more.  No one in the league should be better in establish position on the blocks than him.  The team needs to get better shooting 3s and the freshman Green is proving to be a consistent threat off the bench.  If they commit to play better defense every game they are going to be a difficult matchup with anyone and hopefully peak at the end of the year. Keep in mind that they have had injuries to Williamson, Killian and Buckner.  Buckner has made just a brief appearance of 3 minutes in one game.  He is physical and will bring an addition to this team that they don't have on defense now.  this may be one of the deepest Amherst teams.  Prays for victims and families in Newtown, Ct...senseless tragedy!