MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

Midd meat-grinder indeed. Panthers open at #21 Alvernia, travel to play Stevenson, and then get #10 St. Mary's in Stevenson's house.

With tourney team Plattsburgh (22 votes in the poll) also on the sked,  I doubt we'll hear gripes about Midd's non-conference schedule this year.

[Jumbo Fan]

Bad news for the Jumbos... Tom Palleschi will no longer be playing ball. Medical issues. I have not seen the new recruits yet, not sure who will be able to step into the big roles.

[madzillagd]

Wow. That's horrible to hear. Hopefully everything will turn ok with his health.

[Jumbo Fan]

Want to respect privacy, but he should be ok, just cannot play.

[old_hooper]

Ditto to Maz comments.  That is very sad news and my heart goes out to the young man. A huge loss...

[nescac1]

Wow.  Very sorry to hear about Palleschi, as well.  He was, at worst, a future all-NESCAC guy and projected to likely develop into an all-American at some point.  He also seems like a fun guy.  Very few frosh big men had that level of impact in NESCAC -- not even guys like Sharry, Mayer, Whittington, Coffin.  I'm sure it's very rough not to be able to play after working to reach that level, but glad his health is otherwise O.K., and he is at a great school in a great city. 

Tough blow as well for a Tufts team that looked to be on the rise.  Jumbos now will be without their top three interior guys from last year, and while they have a lot of young talent inside there will be a transition period. 

[grabtherim]

I echo the comments on Palleschi.  Let's just hope he is OK.   

[jayhawk]

agreed about Palleschi, he was an excellent talent-selected as NESCAC freshman of year . I hope he will be able to find his niche. He was also an excellent high school baseball pitcher, I don't believe he played baseball last year. Wish him only the best.

[ECSUalum]

Prayers are on the way!!!!

[amh63]

Amherst played Tufts twice last season.  In both games, the ROY logged 30 plus minutes and his skill and size were felt in the games.  In both games, Big Pete remained in the lineup to counter.
I just went to the Tufts website to check on the returning players...who on the Jumbos can replace his size up front?  IMO, no one!  The play and style of play of the Jumbos will be quite different, I believe, this season.  The FY players will be called on more in the front court..though I do not recall who they have coming in.  With luck and coaching, the Jumbos may have their third ROY in a row!

[middhoops]

I echo the sentiment regarding Palleschi and wish him a quick and successful recovery.  Actually heard it first today at the football game from Jeff Brown.  He was obviously concerned for the young man.

[madzillagd]

A little bit more on the technology behind the advanced stats revolution that is about to begin in the NBA

http://www.theconnectivist.com/2013/10/the-nbas-missile-tracking-statistics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-nbas-missile-tracking-statistics

[amh63]

Madz's....thanks for the follow-up article.  Bloomberg on-line wrote an article less than month ago as the MLB playoffs started...about the changing management of MLB today based in part to use of stats as portrayed in the "Moneyball" movie.  It  states that MLB is turning to smart baseball playing graduates of schools such as Amherst to manage teams.  The article discuss the Amherst connection that has led to three present GMs....one being the Red Sox GM.   The Amherst website still has a link to the article...since the Red Sox is now in the World Series. ..for those interested.
Anyway,  with the advanced stats revolution ongoing in the NBA...it will not be too long for some graduates of conference schools...Williams perhaps...to set up a NBA management network...like the one in the MLB article.  With your love of stats, I figure your nephew will have a jump start for such a career.  Seriously...genes and you mentoring him.

[nescac1]

Now that the season is imminent, and before the Midd bloggers post their sure-to-be-epic analysis, thought I'd get the conversation going on pre-season all-NESCAC.  My picks on that front (I didn't stick with strict positions just because so many guys are swing players and center is now looking very weak across the league) are as follows.  I'd also be curious to hear players to watch for all-crazy, assuming Waltzy has not left the board (and hopefully he has not!). 

1st Team: (super easy and will probably be unanimous, all these guys should be at worst all-Region and likely all-Americans if they stay healthy)
Michael Mayer, Taylor Epley, Ben Ferris, Aaron Toomey, Joey Kizell

2nd Team (pretty big drop-off from the first team):
Keegan Pieri, Daniel Wohl, Bryan Hurley, Mike Boornazian, Matt Vadas

3rd Team: 
Connor Green, Matt Hart, Steve Haladyna, David Kalema, James Jensen

POY: 1. Toomey, 2. Mayer,  3. Kizell
ROY (always a stab in the dark): 1. Harry Rafferty, 2. Duncan Robinson, 3. Hunter Sabety, 4. David George, 5. Drew Madsen
DPOY: after many years of really elite defensive players, like Locke, Whittingon, Sharry, Thompson, Workman, this is the first year in awhile with no obvious candidates at all, with no true lock-down wing players nor any dominating defensive big guys, but I'll go with:
1. Wohl, 2. Kalema, 3. Jensen

[jayhawk]

interesting for the fun of it  and some potential logic though with limited data -David George as Defensive Player of the Year