MBB: NESCAC

[warriorcat]

Eastern Conn    69
Conn College    45

Eastern moves to 5-1 with an easy road win over one of NESCAC's  weaker teams.  Tre Preston (6-13 on threes) and Mike Garrow led the Warriors with 22 pts each.  Brian Salzillo was held to 8 pts (2-7 on threes) 17 points below his average.  12 of ECSU's 23 field goals were threes.  Conn College (1-2)  shot 23.6 % from the field.  Matt Vadas (3-15) and Zuri Pavlin (4-13) led the Camels with 10 points each.

[nescac1]

A tale of two halves for Williams vs. a poor Curry team (easily the worst team Williams has played this year, Curry is not nearly the team they were last year, had three guys who could play led by Papalambros who is very solid, but nothing beyond that).  Williams came out totally somnabulant, going down eight early and rallying to lead by only one.  The Ephs looked lethargic, failing repeatedly to get back on defense, not working the ball around and settling for poor out-of-rhythm shots on offense, etc.  Maker must have given them a good talking to because they came out on fire in the second half and utterly and totally dominated the half, winning the half by 30. 

The story for the Ephs was Duncan Robinson.  He started the game WAY off, going one for his first six, including four badly-missed threes.  From that point on, he could do no wrong, finishing with a fantastic 21-12-4 line, with only one turnover, including hitting his last eight shots, two of which were from distance.  He has a preternatural ability to, when he gets the ball going to the hole, wind his body around a defender for the score, and can finish inside with either hand.  He is much quicker with the ball than I realized, as well, as he had several blow-byes vs. the overmatched Curry defenders. He looked beyond dominant in the second half, as his 17 points on 7-7 shooting in only 13 minutes reflects.  He is going to have one heck of a career for the Ephs, and if he is not the best first year in the country, I'd really love to see who is. 

Also playing well were John Weinheimer who had several beautiful swooping drives to the basket, Taylor Epley, who continues his incredible hot shooting of late from outside (Epley's release seems even quicker this year and he can get his shot off in the tightest of spaces now), and Ryan Kilcullen, who had another great day filling in for the injured Mayer, posting a 15-5-5 line including 3-3 from deep, improving his already scorching shooting percentage.  First year Dan Aronowitz saw his first extended meaningful action and acquitted himself well, scoring six points.  He is big and athletic and looks like he belongs and I imagine will see a bit more time as the year progresses. 

Again, not exactly stiff competition, but the Ephs played inspired ball in the second half.  If they can come out with that kind of energy on defense and patience / teamwork on offense from the START of the game, they will be in good shape vs. better competition, which will be provided by virtually anyone remaining on the schedule. 

[AmherstStudent05]

Posts from D3 Soccer board:

Sandy
Junior Varsity
*

Sirius90
Second-stringer
**

Re: Top Conferences and NCAA Bids
« Reply #202 on: Yesterday at 07:54:23 am »

Quote from: Sandy on November 24, 2013, 11:40:55 pm

"An Amherst player came over to the crowd after beating SLU and started cursing them out and flipping them off too. I don't really understand why players think it's a good idea to interact like that with an opposing team's fans."

"In the case of Amherst, this behavior is modeled by their classless coaching staff. It's a way of life for Amherst College Soccer."

Why do amherst students, administrators, and alumni tolerate such behavior in recent years as has been noted numerous times on various D3 boards?

Middhoops and nescac1 have already dealt with this quite correctly; nevertheless, it does seem somewhat strange for no Amherst poster to respond to your query.  The trouble is, I honestly have no idea what you expect any Amherst poster on a basketball blog to say about this.  You quote an allegation made by an unidentified poster on a board which, until now I didn't even know existed, asserting that some unidentified Amherst soccer player (whom, even if named, I almost certainly would have never heard of before) behaved inappropriately at a game I didn't attend.  I think this set of facts would be true for virtually every Amherst poster on this board, let alone Amherst alumni more generally. Remarkably you then have the gall to imply -- if not explicitly accuse -- myself and other Amherst alums, students and administrators of "tolerat[ing]" what is apparently verbal abuse.  What should I have done? Refreshed the "Top Conferences and Bids" page on the d3soccer board every two minutes after any Amherst soccer game, wait for the apparently inevitable vague accusation of impropriety made by anonymous poster, drive up to Amherst myself to investigate and identify the guilty party, and then excommunicate him on the spot?

If you have a serious grievance about the manner in which the Amherst Soccer Program conducts its affairs, I suggest you post your concerns on the soccer board rather than the basketball board (I don't know about other Amherst posters here (other than Walzy!), but I have not been to a single Amherst soccer game in my life (conflicted with Football).  If there is no NESCAC board or if there aren't any Amherst posters over on the soccer board who might satisfy your concerns, I suggest you consider e-mailing the soccer coach himself or our athletic director.  You may also consider writing a letter to the Amherst Student.

Again, to be clear, I am in no position to comment on the specific charge you are making or on the character of the soccer program generally.  I like to think that it is run in a first-class manner, as that would be consistent with my experience of how the Amherst Athletics Department conducts itself, and I certainly hope that no guests of ours were ill-treated on campus this weekend but, sadly, my assumptions could be wrong -- as nescac1 rightly states, this is not the first time that the behavior of Amherst soccer has been discussed on this board.  Still, I must say that I find it wildly inappropriate and out of line for you to blithely suggest that all Amherst alums tolerate inappropriate behavior from the soccer team.  I also think that this clearly isn't the right forum for you to take up your complaints -- whatever they may be -- with our soccer program.

(As an aside, I have witnessed interactions between a player and opposing fans of NESCAC schools on a basketball court.  I wouldn't say that the particular situation redounded greatly to the credit of either party, but neither do I think any harm was done.  To be fair though, while there may have been some sharp words, I do not recall any cursing per se or any flipped birds)

[P'bearfan]

So far in this young season all three Maine teams are off to a fast start.  Last night Bates beat Southern Me 79-68 to improve to 5-1.  Four of Bobcats five starters were in double figures.  Colby is 4-1.  Bowdoin is 3-0 but they face a tough Babson team next Sunday.

Could be an intersting year in the CBB series.

[P'bearfan]

Interestingly, neither Delpeche brother was in double figures in last nights win.  Southern Me has two bigs who started so I'm not sure if this was a match up issue or just an off night. 

[WPI89]

I am intrigued by the Bowdoin/Babson match-up on Sunday.  Site says there will be video - does Bowdoin do a decent job with their broadcasts?

[amh63]

Interesting night of " surfing" for interesting games.  All the ones that attracted me have had posts. Some general comments as we are in the "holiday" dead zones for conf. games.
I watched the Williams - Curry game for the first half and was surprised by the play of both teams.  The undersized Curry players...even with Mayer out...was leading for most of the first half.  Nescac 1 comments on the play of the Ephs are better than anything I could make and using a word that is NOT in my mind...I can assure you . Thanks Nescac 1!  Saw the score in the second half and did not watch further.
Checked in on the Bates game and on the short time there...never heard the name of the twins called out for anything, so I left.
Warrior cat... Thanks for the particulars!  I tried several times to get the video of the Conn-ECSU game but was not successful.  I am more interested in the play of the young ECSU team since they will play Amherst in LeFrak in Jan...The first game between the men's teams.  Think  Williams also has a game with ECSU.  Have met your school's prez.  As I have told ECSUalum on your board..she is too good for her husband..my classmate.
AmherstStudent05...I have responded to Jumpshot on another matter on the soccer board.  He surely does NOT like Amherst...but has offered to donate funds to Amherst.  I took him? up on the offer and hopes he makes good.  Maybe his post on this board is because he, a Williams fan, gave money to Amherst.
To close my post on a happier note...congrats to all the student- athletes cited for their academic achievements while playing a Fall sport.  Bowdoin and Williams had the highest numbers...see we are even competative here.

[quicksilver]

I am intrigued by the Bowdoin/Babson match-up on Sunday.  Site says there will be video - does Bowdoin do a decent job with their broadcasts?

Bowdoin has improved the quality of its webcasts rather substantially this year through a new relationship with the Northeast Sports Network (NSN).

[lumbercat]

Bowdoin has brought in an outside company to handle their Football Webcasts and they are very good- Professional announcers with replays, a cut above anything I have seen in the NESCAC. I have not seen a BBall webcast yet but believe they will be as good.

There must be a significant expense increase associated with this but believe other NESCAC schools will follow suit in the future.

A quality production that eliminates the shortcomings we see in campus produced webcasts will bring more alums and supporters into the loop.... A piece at halftime in these productions soliciting alumni support may be very beneficial to the respective school and my justify the expense.

Believe many alums/supporters who won't deal with current webcast frustrations will watch a quality broadcast. The computer feed is better and with a "smart TV" it goes right up on your TV.

[nescac1]

Williams, and I think now most of NESCAC in fact, is also using NSN.  The quality and reliability of the webcast vs. last year is night-and-day, a dramatic upgrade. 

[amh63]

Forgot to post that I watched several other games...actually bits and pieces.  Watched the MIT - Tufts game and a RIC game...future Amherst opponent.  In the Tufts game, more impressed with a MIT "big" than the "super frost" of Tufts.  Guard play and defense of both teams need work.  the season is still early.
Lumbercat...good points.  Amherst's approach to date is to webcast more team games.  Saw briefly a webcast put on by  Weselyan of a swim meet..a first I believe for the conference.  In my judgement, the key in webcast are the announcers.  Student announcers can be good and at times bad announcers are better than watching a game with no announcers.  Of course, webcasts are FREE in the CAC.  Went to some other games and found  it cost!  How soon we forget the former days of pay webcast and even audio cast.  Now we demand HD with replay...that does not change calls on the floor.

[grabtherim]

Assume you are referring to Sabety and I could not disagree more.  I watched him for the 1st time and came away very impressed.  He is efficient, relaxed with the ball, and still really learning where to be on the court.  He should be dominant in the league in the years to come.  To me the bigger questions surround Sheldon.  With the talent he has brought in over the years and a school that D3 kids want to be at, his results should be better.  Like Lefty Driesell at Maryland back in the day, he gets the kids there, but can he win his league?  Lefty could never crack NC, NC State and Duke of his era.  Can Sheldon get his squad past Midd, Amherst and Williams? 

Forgot to post that I watched several other games...actually bits and pieces.  Watched the MIT - Tufts game and a RIC game...future Amherst opponent.  In the Tufts game, more impressed with a MIT "big" than the "super frost" of Tufts. 

[middhoops]

Early in the season and many teams appear to be less than the sum of their parts. 
Tufts is going to be far better than they're playing so far.  Playing without Ben Ferris may develop other players during the OOC.  Sabety was a shot blocking machine in only limited minutes due to fouls against a very big MIT squad.  I agree with grabtherim that Sabety looks very relaxed on the floor.  Fearless for a fy.
Also agree that the coach has assembled the talent to challenge the Big Three and know that we are all looking on with great interest to see if this is the year they open the door.
Much as I don't want the Jumbos to crack their way in against my team, I hope we become more like the CCIW and ODAC in terms of depth in top quality programs.

[amh63]

Grabtherim...do like to hear about what other perceptive posters "see" in players and on the floor.  However, do not understand your use of the term "relaxed" play for a player that is listed at 6'8" and 240# and gets into foul trouble...playing only 18 minutes.  The MIT team is tall but also young and not very good, IMO, at this time...except for Archer?..who was the only offense for the team.  It was only one game and I only saw part of it...confident would be more my word choice.
Oh yes, I disagree also with your opinion of Lefty D. at MD...a favorite of mine...and his legacy .

[grabtherim]

What I mean by relaxed is how a kid handles his minutes and his spacing on the offensive end by being efficient.  This kid is a bit raw but to me he is the type of player who you will saying that the ball always seems to find him, but it's no accident or coincidence, he knows where to be, and he will only get better with experience.  Look at his mpg to ppg versus the rest of the Tufts team.  He is tied for first in scoring and 6th in minutes per game.  Efficiency comes from being relaxed in what you can do on the floor and excecuting it.
Regarding the fouls, as with every player who moves up from high school the speed on the defensive side is much quicker than what they dealt with before so freshman pick up cheapies, mostly on reaches.  Good players learn to cut them out if they want to stay on the floor.  I'm guessing he will figure that out. 

I saw countless games Lefty coached and knew many of his players both famous and infamous very well.  A great recruiter?  One of, if not the best ever.  Moses Malone was signed, sealed and headed for College Park before he took the ABA money.  A great coach?  By any measure, NO!  Finally anyone who was close to the program was not at all surprised when the Len Bias tragedy took place.  Sadly, that defines his legacy more than anything including his one ACC Championship.       

Grabtherim...do like to hear about what other perceptive posters "see" in players and on the floor.  However, do not understand your use of the term "relaxed" play for a player that is listed at 6'8" and 240# and gets into foul trouble...playing only 18 minutes.  The MIT team is tall but also young and not very good, IMO, at this time...except for Archer?..who was the only offense for the team.  It was only one game and I only saw part of it...confident would be more my word choice.
Oh yes, I disagree also with your opinion of Lefty D. at MD...a favorite of mine...and his legacy .