MBB: NESCAC

[old_hooper]

This might surpass Willie Workman's degree of difficulty in heroics.  Found on another board from Titan Q

Check out this ending to a H.S. game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&hl=en&gl=US&v=lIMFvCYBXCM&feature=youtu.be&nomobile=1

[toad22]

Panthernation, thanks for the correction, I've just learned something about Massey. The good news for Midd is that I haven't noticed that Midd is concerned or affected by being away from home. They are tough.

[nescac1]

Really enjoyed both YouTube videos.  The New Rochelle shot was simply incredible.  I'm very happy to see Dickinson win ... and that video brought back fond memories ... I spent five summers at Dickinson, including many hours playing hoops in that gym, and just about my only moment of hoops glory when my team won a three-on-three tournament.  Sadly, there was no similar court storming, delayed or otherwise, from the 15 people watching our performance. 

While I'm bummed not to see the Ephs in my neck of the woods next weekend, I am more happy that they received a second round home game, which I think was deserved given their entire body of work this season.  I hope Coach Maker has a few new wrinkles in store for what looks like a very, very well prepared team that plays some lock-down defense. 

Cortland looks like a very tough team -- four starters who can really shoot it, very experienced (four senior starters, one junior) and balanced.  Midd will, however, have a huge advantage up front.  Cortland plays only two guys over 6'3, and the one true big guy (6'9) plays limited minutes, despite starting.  Roberts and in particular Lynch should be able to go to town on the interior.  I'd imagine that Midd will go inside early and often, and pound Cortland on the boards, but the Panthers may have trouble sticking with all those smaller, presumably quicker Cortland perimeter shooters on the other end.  I certainly like Midd minus 8 in that game, with that sort of size advantage, but on the road it's probably a true toss up. 

[Bucket]

I agree that Midd-Cortland will be a very tough game, especially at Cortland. Cortland is very good and should be a slight favorite playing at home.

Still, I like the match-ups. The players that have given the Panthers the most trouble have been interior bangers or highly skilled post players (or both)—Glen Thomas, Peter Kasilla, Michael Mayer, A.J. Stephens (Curry).  I have no doubt that the Cortland guard play is as good as advertised, but the Panthers have relatively good success against quick guards and good shooters: Matt Vadas, Brown and Beresford, Robertson and Klemm (at least the first game), Aaron Toomey, Ben Ferris, Papalambros and Sedale Jones. Only Willy Workman has gone off against the Panthers.

Midd will obviously have to shoot better than they did against Curry. And Lynch will need to stay out of foul trouble and on the floor.

Should be a great game.

[toad22]

I'm very excited about this weekend, though it is still Sunday! At least at first blush, I like the chances of all 3 NESCACs to advance. I'll get more nervous about Williams as the week moves on!

[magicman]

Magicman......yes indeed.  It was a confusing night of switching games.  Before I go further.....the video was prime and the announcers were as good as you suggested. 
Around 7 PM, I turned to the Plattsburgh game and caught the flavor of site and the flow of the game.  Seemed that Plattsburgh was quicker than Husson.
 
Magicman...did you spot any Amherst scouts?  Two of the assistants are tall BB players...one 6'11" with light hair....the two other assistants are older and shorter.  Wonder if any of the Amherst players went up...are allowed to go up.  Probably not, school work to do on a Sat.

amh63,
Glad you got a chance to catch a portion of the Plattsburgh-Husson game. Nice to see that my recommendation was as good as advertised.

You are correct in that Plattsburgh was the quicker team. The coach of the Cards said in the paper today that "our quickness was the difference in the game. I'm sure Husson scouted us and saw how quick we were. But until you play against us you don't know how quick we really are." 
We had the balance and depth of our team on full display as 6 players hit double figures and 9 players had multiple rebounds. We will have our work cut out for us against Amherst however. We'll have to play our best game of the year to have any hope of getting a W in that game. The Lord Jeffs have another final four type team (I thought they did last year and had several players, Toomey and Workman, on my NCAA fantasy team as I thought they were going to make a deep run in the tournament) that will look to overcome their stumble of a year ago.

I didn't see any Amherst scouts but Memorial Hall was packed and I only left my seat for a brief moment to get the 1st half stat sheet from the SID. But I'm sure they were there getting all the info they could.

Trying to see if I can scare up a few other guys to make the trip to Lefrak on Saturday. I don't think that's going to happen though, so I'll probably be relying on a good video feed to catch all the action. If I stay home I can also watch the Cortland-Midd game and float between the two. It would be nice if they were at different times. Maybe a 7 PM start and an 8 PM start would be nice. Nothing yet on the Amherst website about the game at all. Not even an article stating who the Lord Jeffs are playing. Would have thought there would have been something to let the faithful know who they will be up against.

EDIT:
Just now checked the Plattsburgh website however and they have listed the starting time for the Amherst-Plattsburgh game as 7:00 PM. Still no time for the Middlebury-Cortland game though as the Cortland website says TBA.         

[Pat Coleman]

No in-person scouting in the tournament, so they'd have to really be incognito.

[magicman]

No in-person scouting in the tournament, so they'd have to really be incognito.

Porbably why I didn't see some 6'11" guy with a clipboard. Thanks for the heads up Pat. I didn't know about that rule and obviously neither did amh63.

[lefrakenstein]

Lefrak - not sure how to do the Massey thing - I am certain Randolph Macon would be a big fave over WPI - could you "calculate" for me?

As a reward - take a few minutes to watch this - it is very "NESCAC" - my nephew plays at Dickinson - they had a n organized and delayed court storning last night after their victory - they are getting some pub out of it......

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21805451/video-d-iii-students-show-perfect-proper-way-to-storm-the-court

haha, enjoyed that. DIII... usually pretty classy.

Randolop Macon is a 2 point favorite at WPI, with a 57% chance of winning. (according to Massey)

To check a matchup, go to masseyratings.com. Select college men's basketball, change Division I to Division III, then go to the 'more' tab and click on matchups.

Then you can select any two teams.

[Matt Letourneau]

Just thought I'd chime in over here...it really is a shame Catholic and Williams have to play each other in the 2nd round.  Obviously I'm biased but I'm disappointed Catholic didn't get a home game...after winning their league and having a higher regional ranking.  SOS is fine, but there's not one common opponent and a lot of it has to do with league.  Catholic had a tough non-conference schedule and beat every tournament team they played.  Ultimately they were punished for their league not having another top tier team this year.  I can understand if a team has a soft non-conference schedule and comes from a weaker league, but that was not the case. 

At the same time, in the abstract I also think Williams deserved a second round home game...which just goes back to the fact that these teams shouldn't be facing each other this early.  They are both among the top 16 in the tournament.  It isn't the only instance, obviously, but having home court is a big deal for each of these teams (CUA is 15-0 at home) and, well, it stinks to have to travel. 

It should be a good game, it sounds like they are some similarities.  I've really enjoyed watching this Catholic team and in particular the senior leadership. They took a big leap forward this year.  Dave is right in terms of depth--probably the most impressive part of what Catholic has been able to do is that they're using 3 freshman at the point.  Fonville, the starter, has been as good as you can possibly expect given what he's asked to do--he doesn't make mistakes and increasingly has become a scoring threat.  For a team without a deep bench, Catholic is very versatile and can beat you a lot of different ways.

I hope the internet video stream is working well!  I'm from MA, actually (I can remember when I was a freshman in high school, a senior from my school's basketball team--Jim Frew--went to Williams and played a bunch of sports, including basketball) but these days its just too hard to make that kind of trip.  I'm sure it will be a great atmosphere.

[Vandy74]

I agree that Midd-Cortland will be a very tough game, especially at Cortland. Cortland is very good and should be a slight favorite playing at home.

Still, I like the match-ups. The players that have given the Panthers the most trouble have been interior bangers or highly skilled post players (or both)—Glen Thomas, Peter Kasilla, Michael Mayer, A.J. Stephens (Curry).  I have no doubt that the Cortland guard play is as good as advertised, but the Panthers have relatively good success against quick guards and good shooters: Matt Vadas, Brown and Beresford, Robertson and Klemm (at least the first game), Aaron Toomey, Ben Ferris, Papalambros and Sedale Jones. Only Willy Workman has gone off against the Panthers.

Midd will obviously have to shoot better than they did against Curry. And Lynch will need to stay out of foul trouble and on the floor.

Should be a great game.

The individual match ups don't look worrisome as long as fouls don't become a factor.  Why is Cortland's home court advantage so inordinately high, assuming I understand massey's HFA correctly?  The fact that Cortland starts 4 seniors who won't want to walk off their home court for the last time on the losing end of things worries me the most.  That intangible worked in Middlebury's favor against Curry.  It will be a major obstacle playing at Cortland.  The Panthers might need to be a bit lucky Old Guy.

[magicman]

I agree that Midd-Cortland will be a very tough game, especially at Cortland. Cortland is very good and should be a slight favorite playing at home.

Still, I like the match-ups. The players that have given the Panthers the most trouble have been interior bangers or highly skilled post players (or both)—Glen Thomas, Peter Kasilla, Michael Mayer, A.J. Stephens (Curry).  I have no doubt that the Cortland guard play is as good as advertised, but the Panthers have relatively good success against quick guards and good shooters: Matt Vadas, Brown and Beresford, Robertson and Klemm (at least the first game), Aaron Toomey, Ben Ferris, Papalambros and Sedale Jones. Only Willy Workman has gone off against the Panthers.

Midd will obviously have to shoot better than they did against Curry. And Lynch will need to stay out of foul trouble and on the floor.

Should be a great game.

The individual match ups don't look worrisome as long as fouls don't become a factor.  Why is Cortland's home court advantage so inordinately high, assuming I understand massey's HFA correctly?  The fact that Cortland starts 4 seniors who won't want to walk off their home court for the last time on the losing end of things worries me the most.  That intangible worked in Middlebury's favor against Curry.  It will be a major obstacle playing at Cortland.  The Panthers might need to be a bit lucky Old Guy.

Vandy,
Cortland's home court advantage is high because the Red Dragons are 13-0 at home this year and have won 12 of those games by double digits. Only Geneseo who lost 79-73 kept it under double figures. Plattsburgh State, who gave the Red Dragons one of their 4 losses this year in Plattsburgh, 80-77 couldn't keep it in single digits in Cortland as they lost twice in Corey Gym...68-55 during the regular season and 75-61 during the playoffs. Those Cortland sharpshooters love their home rims and they are deadly there. I call them the "good and plenties" because they're good (265 made 3's at 40% rate) and they have 5 guys who can bury the 3 on you. You just can't cover them all and they find the open shooter and it's drano time.

[walzy31]

This might surpass Willie Workman's degree of difficulty in heroics.  Found on another board from Titan Q

Check out this ending to a H.S. game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&hl=en&gl=US&v=lIMFvCYBXCM&feature=youtu.be&nomobile=1

That was incredible. However, watch the slow-motion replays at the end of the video and watch the timer above the backboard (not the one the production team super-imposes in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. I am not sure that is off in time. Still amazing.

[amh63]

Magicman.....Surprised somewhat that there are rules for coaches movements during tourney time.  Thanks for covering my "back".
Sunday is a strange day for sports coverage at Amherst during this period.  There is the WBB wrap-up story, the residual stories of the track teams, swimming teams, qualifying athletes for the NCAA events.....even the Squash...yes squash players at the Nationals at Trinity.  Hockey teams were playing this weekend...at Bowdoin and Middlebury.....you get the picture.  In any case, IMO, the SIDs are also awaiting info from the men's and women's coaches on this coming weekend games.  Amherst is also hosting a sectional pod in WBB along with the men's 2nd round game.  Last week the SID stated that previews would be coming this week....maybe by Tues and no later than Wednesday...I would guess.
Some side notes on the matter to fill the void.  Coach G. of the WBB team was on Hoopsville last night and gave a vanilla like interview.  He opened up a little,  relaxed a bit and even chuckled when he was asked how Coach Hixon was doing this long waiting period.  Coach Hixon seems to be popping in often to assist and watch videos and vice versa since their offices are next to each other.
During the Amherst woman's game on Sat.....saw some men's team members walk by returning to their dressing rooms.  Returning from workouts in the Alumni gym? from the fitness center? from the trainers room?  Preparations are underway. 
Coach Hixon on an earlier Hoopsville stated that A. Toomey and W. Workman would not resume any practice efforts before last Friday...would have time to recovery from nagging illness/injuries.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I was surprised that last year, Amherst had several injuries prior to the game with F & M.  Sure that practice routines have been altered somewhat to possibly avoid any repeats.

[WPI89]

Lefrak - not sure how to do the Massey thing - I am certain Randolph Macon would be a big fave over WPI - could you "calculate" for me?

As a reward - take a few minutes to watch this - it is very "NESCAC" - my nephew plays at Dickinson - they had a n organized and delayed court storning last night after their victory - they are getting some pub out of it......

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21805451/video-d-iii-students-show-perfect-proper-way-to-storm-the-court

haha, enjoyed that. DIII... usually pretty classy.

Randolop Macon is a 2 point favorite at WPI, with a 57% chance of winning. (according to Massey)

To check a matchup, go to masseyratings.com. Select college men's basketball, change Division I to Division III, then go to the 'more' tab and click on matchups.

Then you can select any two teams.

thanks