MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

So, my exact words were a touch more creative than Middhoops reports, though just as innocuous, and far more good humored.

What I said was, "Are you guys using half-court whistles? 'Cause they only seem to work on one end," delivered just as Middhoops stated--without any sense of anger or heated emotion, just clear enunciation. The official closest to me actually laughed, and when his partner came across the court to make a big show of the ejection, the near official said "Really? Why?" and then shook his head.

Now, to be fair, the gym was deathly quiet, and I maaaay have timed my comedy for the effect of being heard, but there was certainly no malicious intent, nor anything remotely resembling profanity, vulgarity, threatening commentary, etc. One man's humor is another man's arrogance, I guess, though I would think even that doesn't fall under any of the reasons for an official to become so, shall we say, activist. And no warning, Old Guy, fwiw.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Ok, so this was my lowest moment as a basketball fan, but college is for doing stupid things, right?

In college I had a three foot long orange traffic cone I used as a bullhorn, while sitting in the first row at midcourt across from the scorers table, screaming incessantly.  I tried to be comical most of the time and usually just directed my taunts to opponents, although I wasn't shy about letting the refs know if they'd missed a call.

Anyway, one day I was getting egged on by those around me and we witnessed an egregious foul on one of our big men, which someone, inexplicably was called a technical on our guy.  I waited until the place was stone dead for the free throws and I happened to yell something along the lines of "I hope your family isn't here, because I'd be embarrassed to be related to you."

I knew it was wrong the moment I said it, but it was said and everyone in the place heard it.  I am embarrassed by it, but it is a good story - only because of what happens next.

The half came pretty quickly thereafter and the ref I yelled at, came by on the way to locker room and put his finger in my face with some varied threats of clearing the whole gym out if I was still there when they came back.  One of the other refs went over and had a brief discussion with our athletic director.  She came over and sat next to me.  I apologized and asked what the ref said.  She told me he'd said, "you better get control of your fans."  She said she replied, "if you had control of the game, it wouldn't be a problem."

None of the refs said anything to any of us in the second half.


I have noticed in the decade since then that the refs are a little bit less tolerant of fan reaction these days.

[toad22]

Old Guy: The answer to the question of who Maker was "auditioning" for the second half of the season is clear, isn't it? Greenman played 18 minutes, a lot more than he's been averaging. Maker already knows what McCreary is going to give him, since he's a senior. Everybody else but Aronowitz, who was available to play, was in fact hurt, not really available for big minutes. Williams, like many other teams, is limping to the semester break, with very few players uninjured. Sometimes the players you play, are nearly the only players you can play.

[7express]

The Western Connecticut Keene game from a couple years ago comes to mind on how NOT to handle a crowd reaction if your a ref.  One of the refs in that game was more concerned about quieting down a couple baseball players yelling some stuff about going back to Foot Locker or something like that than what was happening in the actual game.  If your a ref you have gotta have tougher skin than that.

[amh63]

Somewhere in the past, there was an emphasis of crowd behavior as rules of conduct was put in programs and announcements were made before games...in the conference.  Now with this season underway and the refs trying to understand how to ref under the the new emphasis of certain rules, I suggest that posters at live games only shout out concerns in Latin!...not Pig Latin.  There was a WSJ article that there is a push by some EU/UN members to return to Latin as the common language.
Contrary to Middhoops concerns...Bucket  of the Green Shirt will NOT have a problem in LeFrak if he takes my advice...Bucket, wear Purple.
Please note that I have corrected my American prose/ spelling.  No one to blame but Me.

[middhoops]

Somewhere in the past, there was an emphasis of crowd behavior as rules of conduct was put in programs and announcements were made before games...in the conference.  Now with this season underway and the refs trying to understand how to ref under the the new emphasis of certain rules, I suggest that posters at live games only shout out concerns in Latin!...not Pig Latin.  There was an WSJ article that the is a push by the some EU/UN members to retain to Latin as the common language.
Contrary to Middhoops concerns...Bucket  of the Green Shirt will NOT have a problem in LeFrak if he takes my advice...Bucket, wear Purple.

amh63,  Midd fans can scream anything as loud as the want in LeFrak and not be heard in that madhouse.  May as well save one's voice.

[Vandy74]

Now with this season underway and the refs trying to understand how to ref under the the new emphasis of certain rules, I suggest that posters at live games only shout out concerns in Latin!

Et tu, Brute?

[P'bearfan]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week2

The new Top 25 has been released.  NESCAC teams in the poll:

1 Amherst

7 Williams

21 Middlebury

Tufts - received 3 votes

Also interesting to note that Southern Vermont received 7 votes - their performance hasn't gone unnoticed.

[maineman]

How soon can we expect Sinnickson back?  Is this a continuation of his football injury?

[nescac1]

A few NESCAC notes:

-- As noted below, new top 25 out, and Amherst remains an overwhelming number one, where the Jeffs will stay until they lose a game (and perhaps longer).  Williams creeps up to number seven following a strong week.  If the Ephs can survive two more games, both likely still without big guys Mayer and Flynn I'd imagine, they will be well-positioned heading into the break despite the upset to SVT.  Springfield is likely to pose the tougher challenge as the Pride have posted four blow-out wins and lost narrowly to a tough Hampden Sydney team in OT.  Springfield has posted insane shooting numbers so far: 54 percent from the field, 47 percent from distance.  Middlebury meanwhile drops a few notches and another loss would likely push the Panthers out of the Top 25.  In the upcoming schedule, the away game at Skidmore looks to be the biggest potential obstacle for the Panthers.  Tufts also received a few votes and may have a shot to crack the Top 25 if they can knock off WPI.  If Bowdoin can string a few more wins together (especially vs. Bates and Colby), they should start getting some love in the poll. 

-- The Jeffs may get their first test tonight on the road vs. what looks like a solid Westfield State team.  Other intriguing match-ups tonight: Williams plays RPI, who Midd played only two days ago, so should be an interesting comparison, and the big game is of course Tufts at WPI, a tale of two teams each missing injured stars this year, but still very capable squads.  If Tufts could pull out a road win at WPI without Ferris, that would be a real feather in the cap for NESCAC. 

-- Congrats to Duncan Robinson on being the first frosh in nearly two years (since Ben Ferris) to win NESCAC player of the week.  Hopefully the first of many ...

[nescac1]

P'bearfan, speaking of injured guys, what are the odds of Hurley healing up in time for NESCAC play?  In my view he is the difference between the Polar Bears (who have been impressive without him) fighting for the four through six slot in NESCAC vs. a potential NCAA team / dark horse contender if a few of the big three stumble. 

[nescac1]

In the Trinity refugee watch, several transfers from Trinity are having impressive years:

Eric Dean is averaging 12-7.6-2.5 for a solid Babson team while shooting 54 percent from two and 44 percent from 3.  Varun Ram has gone from walk-on to surprise rotation player at Maryland, playing all seven games, and averaging 10 minutes per game.  He's averaging a point, an assist, a rebound and a steal in those ten minutes.  Not too shabby vs. the likes of UConn and Providence.  Here is another great article on Ram (who, to be fair to Trinity, sounds like he always wanted to be at Maryland):
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-11-12/sports/bs-sp-terps-varun-ram-1113-20131112_1_mark-turgeon-seth-allen-dez-wells

In addition, Mike O'Loughlin is a rotation player for Wheaton (last year he was their second-leading scorer, this year he is coming off the bench, however, which is strange; perhaps an injury?). 

Trinity could be a pretty interesting team right now had those guys not transferred (not to mention the various other guys who are no longer with the program, but may not be playing hoops elsewhere) ...

[Bucket]

Interesting match-up for the Panthers tonight against Castleton.

Castleton knocked off 14th-ranked WPI a week or so ago, but then turned around and lost to Plymouth State. Have no idea what to make of this team.

[P'bearfan]

P'bearfan, speaking of injured guys, what are the odds of Hurley healing up in time for NESCAC play?

No I haven't heard any timetable.  While we would all enjoy seeing him out on the court we also want him to be healthy so we hope he doesn't come back before he's ready.

[middhoops]

Interesting match-up for the Panthers tonight against Castleton.

Castleton knocked off 14th-ranked WPI a week or so ago, but then turned around and lost to Plymouth State. Have no idea what to make of this team.

I watched both games, Bucket.
WPI just plain played bad.   I was disappointed in WPI even while rooting for Castleton.  Castleton played very hard, pounded the boards and made their put backs.  The Engineers shot poorly.
Plymouth played the Spartans far more physically and hammered the offensive boards (25 or so), which I thought was the difference in a high scoring three point loss.
Carnelius Green is the exact type of player that has killed the Panthers this year.  He is quick, hustles and beats the bigs to offensive rebounds.  I expect Middlebury to have a hard time handling him.  PG Logan White is crafty and potentially a dangerous outside threat.  Center Chad Copeland was huge against WPI but may wear down against the Roberts/Daley/Nidenberg/Churchill/Jensen rotation(s). 
Oh, and Castleton didn't just edge out WPI.  They beat them by a dozen.
In Castleton's loss to Skidmore, they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and lost badly.
They are a very difficult team to predict.