MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Gotcha, thanks P'bearfan, hopefully his recovery will go well.  It's been a very tough year for significant NESCAC injuries so far, between Hurley, Palleschi, Ferris, Mayer, and the various Midd players missing time. 

[nescac1]

Fun Mike Mayer fact: if my calculations are correct, he currently has 999 career points ... so the injury that has kept him out of the past few games must be doubly frustrating at this point! 

[amh63]

Just glad to see Amherst play another game....an away game at that.
Would like to see the blending in of the bench and FY players..if the game allows.  To me these early season games are to evaluate players and let players get game experience and get to know each other.
With posters keeping an eye on the rankings...I remember watching Amherst climb back up after their early season losses.  However it is good to have conference teams win games outside the "CAC"..maybe there will be 4 teams in post season play

[P'bearfan]

No sure what to make of tonight's matchup between Bowdoin and Southern ME.  Southern ME is 4-2 including a loss to Bates.  However Bates lost to St Joe's - a team that both Bowdoin and Southern Me defeated.  Their roster looks a lot like Babson and St Joe's.  Haven't seen them play so would be interested if anyone on the board has a perspective.

[old_hooper]

Interesting on Mayer at 999.  Look forward to see him come back and have a great year (other than against Amherst).  Also, Conner Green is leading the Jeff's in scoring by a wide margin in his 3 games.  He is averaging 22+ a game in 24 minutes pg and has connected on 14 treys already at a 60% clip.  His 31 points in the 2nd game made me search the archives.  He and Toomey are the only sophs for the Jeff's since the turn of century to light it up for more 30 points in a game.  Toomey did it against NYU in March of 12 in a tournament game where he scored 34. Just a handful of players have even done it in their careers for the Jeff's.

I said before that it will not be a surprise to see Green lead the team in scoring this year.  That IMO will only help the team because it will allow Toomey to distribute more (ave almost 7 assist pg) and you know that he will get his points along with Kalema and Killian.

Tonight should be a good test for Amherst against a 4-1 Westfield State team.  If Green goes off with another big game you could start to see some double teaming in future games.

[P'bearfan]

Btw, Coach Gilbride is sitting at 399 career wins right now.  Hopefully the P'bears will be able to push him to the 400 mark tonight.  Best of luck to the team!

[7express]

No sure what to make of tonight's matchup between Bowdoin and Southern ME.  Southern ME is 4-2 including a loss to Bates.  However Bates lost to St Joe's - a team that both Bowdoin and Southern Me defeated.  Their roster looks a lot like Babson and St Joe's.  Haven't seen them play so would be interested if anyone on the board has a perspective.

Conor Sullivan is their main scorer, and James Odneal is probably second or 3rd in scoring.  I think they were picked 6th in the LEC this year, but were picked 8th last year and finished 4th.  Probably a little less talented than Western Connecticut is, but play better as a team (if that makes any sense ) and Bowdoin destroyed Western earlier in the year.  Usually they do better at home than on the road, but last year and so far this year (3-1 road neutral record, 1-1 home record) they've done better on the road than at home in Gorham.  I picked Bowdoin 67-63 over on the LEC board in my daily pick 'em.

[amh63]

If it helps after 7's fine post..Allstar, another poster on the Little East board picked the Polar Bears.  Both are quite good at predicting the outcome of games...so here's my plug..Go P'Bears!  No pressure

[7express]

Yah.  Don't screw up our good records, haha.

[nescac1]

Well, as predicted RPI was good for Williams' offensive stats as the Ephs put up 113 points and it could easily have been a lot more.  The fact that this RPI team stayed with Midd for most of the game should be a bit concerning to Midd fans as they were totally dominated in every facet by the Ephs, going down by as much as 40 before extensive garbage time cut the lead to a more respectable 25 point final margin.  Maker must have been reading these boards, as he played his bench early and often in this one, with all but one starters playing fewer than 20 minutes and everyone available playing at least 8.  Among the starters, Epley's scorching shooting was the story, as he nailed 6 out of 6 threes to continue he insanely hot early-season pace.  His shot is quick and deadly. 

But the real story for the Ephs were the frosh Aronowitz and Greenman, who both made a big time bid for more minutes.  Aronowitz in particular showed that he is a very springy and smooth finisher in the paint, putting up a monster stat line: 22 points on 11-13 shooting, 8 boards, 2 steals, and 1 block (only negative were 5 turnovers coming mainly during the sloppy garbage time).  He had three dunks, one of which was a monster slam off a beautiful feed from Greenman, and nearly had a fourth off an alley-oop from Greenman that just missed.  He is definitely a guy who can be effective as a wing man going to the hole and finishing at the rim.  Greenman was also impressive, with 11 points and 5 assists, and he could have had a few more assists if guys on the receiving end hadn't missed bunnies.  Greenman's quickness and ball-handling were a real plus in the up-and-down pace of this game.  He still has a tendency to foul a bit too much on defense, and sometimes (similar to Jake Brown on Midd) gets just a bit out of control on offense, but he has a sneaky-good offensive game with quick floaters enabling him to score over bigger guys, and can make some absolutely gorgeous passes at time.  He looks like he will eventually be a very capable one-man press-breaker as the college game slows down for him. 

Weinheimer, Kilcullen, and Robinson also had solid all-around games for the Ephs.  Kilcullen may have the prettiest shot in NESCAC, so smooth.

I see that Tufts narrowly lost to WPI, playing without Ferris OR Haladyna as the Jumbos' early-season injury woes continues.  Tough break.  Quiet day it seems for Sabety. 

I did get to watch some of the Amherst game.  It was a one-man show for Amherst as Toomey absolutely lit it up, looking like the best player in the country for sure.  Maybe he's been reading some of the Midd hoops bloggers' posts for extra motivation.  Westfield State's coach didn't help matters picking up two straight T's and getting ejected.  David George won't be a huge offensive force just yet, but he is already a monster presence on defense and is a lock for at least one and likely more DPOY awards in NESCAC.  The only question for Amherst at this point is who will handle the scoring load as a consistent third option in games in which Toomey or Green are both cold and/or in foul trouble, but that will very rarely occur as they are two truly elite offensive players, and no one is going to be able to totally shut Toomey down this year. 

[amh63]

Amherst blows Westfield State out.  Sixteen point lead at the half and over 20 points at the end of the came with no starters on the floor.  Aaron Toomey took over when WSU went ahead by 2 after Amherst started the game on a 7-0 run.  Aaron scores over 35 points...maybe a career high.  Should have had more assists ...a pass to Kalema who misses a layup hurt.  Conner Green was missing his threes so he goes inside for his points.  George started at center as Pollack was not dressed...believe he was celebrating a religious holiday.
Three Technicals called..one on a player and two quick ones on the WSU head Coach...all in the second half.  Kicked off the floor, out of the gym.  Announcers mentioned he was emotional...my term. Maybe he needs to brush up on his Latin?

[nescac1]

I see yet another monster game for Swords of Bowdoin.  Seems like as many of us expected he has figured out how to be a consistent force this year.  By next year he could be truly dominant.  You just don't see guys his size with any degree of coordination in D-3 very often. 

Two other notes.  Williams has been cruising of late, but the remainder of the Ephs' non-conference schedule is very difficult: Springfield who has been playing very well, at Castleton State who gave Midd all they could handle tonight, at Stevens who defeated the Ephs last year and were a tourney team, and three games in Virginia including two against good ODAC squads.  As easy as things have been for Williams since the brutal opening loss, the Ephs will need to keep improving to keep succeeding in the tougher games ahead (and of course the NESCAC looks a bit deeper this year than it has in the recent past).  And hopefully Mayer will be back soon, which will be a huge addition -- it looked like the boot was off his leg, although he was still in street clothes today. 

One upcoming match-up to watch.  Former BC player Gabriel Moton has been absolutely lighting it up for Brandeis this year (he was also very good last year).  Moton vs. Toomey in one week will be a battle of two of the premier point guards in D3.  Although I'm guessing Hixon will put Kalema on Moton ...

[quicksilver]

It does indeed seem as though John Swords has progressed well beyond the "project" phase for the Polar bears -- a dominating performance tonight, with 25 points and 16 rebounds against USM.

[Bucket]

Two other notes.  Williams has been cruising of late, but the remainder of the Ephs' non-conference schedule is very difficult: Springfield who has been playing very well, at Castleton State who gave Midd all they could handle tonight, at Stevens who defeated the Ephs last year and were a tourney team, and three games in Virginia including two against good ODAC squads. 

It all depends on which Castleton team shows up against the Ephs—the team that shot lights out in beating WPI and playing Midd close or the team that couldn't hit the broad side of the barn against its other two opponents. If Mayer is healthy against Castleton, he'll go for 30. No interior presence on defense for the Spartans.

Tonight the Spartans shot 50% from three (12-24) and many were well contested and deep. They kept dropping. Logan White had a particularly nice looking stroke. He and some of the other Vermont kids really seemed to play with a chip on their shoulder against Midd, and specifically against the guy who tormented them in high school (St. Amour).

St. Amour really struggled from the field (1-7, 0-4) though he will be fine; looks so smooth and confident out there. And he didn't let his shooting woes affect the rest of his play, which is key.

In his second game back, James Jensen really started to shake off the rust. 22 points, got to the rim and to the line repeatedly. Jack Roberts had a Locke-ian game: 12 pts (6-7), 7 boards, and 9 blocks. Bulluck got to the rim, too. He had 10. Joey was Joey: 19 pts, 4 assists. Merryman was the fifth Panther in double figures with 14 (and 4 assists).

Missed Matt Daley, who is ill, and Connor Huff, who has a bum ankle.

[AmherstStudent05]

Was able to catch a good chunk of today's Amherst-Westfield St. game.  I don't have too much to add from what has already been said.  Apart from Toomey's career night -- and Pollack's absence -- it was a rather sloppy, unremarkable contest.

One thing I do want to mention though.  With his impressive 37-point effort tonight, Aaron Toomey has moved ahead of Yram Groff for 5th on Amherst's all-time scoring list (1,493 points).  Congratulations, Aaron! (Also want to recognize our SID who has already updated the Record Book section of the Amherst Basketball website.)

It is still incredibly early, of course, and Amherst's schedule has yet to be particularly challenging, but, at the moment, it seems to me that Amherst (when fully healthy) would play only a 7-man rotation in crunch time.  George backs up Pollack at the point, and Mussachia can come in to play the 4, leaving Toomey, Killian, Kalema, and Green to split the backcourt duties amongst themselves.  To me, that is by far the best arrangement for us at the moment, but it does not leave much room for error.  Last year, the Jeffs consistently went 8-deep during close games (with two freshmen coming off the bench), and even then some questioned whether Amherst had enough depth.  Perhaps Berman or Gach or one of the other freshmen will emerge as an 8th man who can be counted on to eat up important minutes in a close game.  This is perhaps the only area where Midd's Fri/Sun conference schedule is an advantage -- the back end of those Fri/Sat games could be tough if only 7 Amherst guys are playing.  I know that is still a long ways off, but I am curious to know what the other Amherst posters think.  Bottom line: we trust in Coach Hixon.

Speaking of, that reminds me of the other thing I wanted to mention.  Today is Coach Hixon's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Coach!