MBB: NESCAC

[NEhoops]

I think most of us knew the Mid/Bat game was going to be a battle and come down to the wire. Impressive win for the Bobcats on the road, even when Safford doesn't play great, he still makes all the plays down the stretch. In addition to Matarazzo being back in action, it seems as though Malcolm Delpeche (17pts/9rebs) took a huge step forward last night. I think the most telling stat was the points in the paint, which Bates held the edge, 38-17. Very encouraging effort by Sinnickson, along with Kizel they form a strong duo. Without a doubt the Panthers will bounce back quickly. The pieces are there, just need to find more consistency on offense and a reliable third scorer. Interesting to hear about the post game celebration. I can see where there is some added excitement for the Bobcats (lost two games at the buzzer already this season and hadn't beaten Mid since '07), but typically their squad and Mid usually just go about their business – play hard and keep your mouth shut. 

[lumbercat]

I'm not sure where I've engaged in the same, as you imply. I seem to think I was even-handed in my recap of the game and full of praise for the Bates effort.

Agreed, up until the potshot you take on an 21 or 22 year old kid who obviously is not allowed to come on here and defend himself. I find your contempt for "Safford's mouth" particularly ironic, considering you were removed from a basketball game by officials earlier this season for a mouth of your own.

Vandy - Not sure what my post count has to do with anything.

Booyakasha- You hit the nail on the head here.

[Old Guy]

typically their squad and Mid usually just go about their business – play hard and keep your mouth shut. NEHoops

I appreciate that about NESCAC generally - and so do the players. When I talk to them, they like the play hard/respect your opponents attitude that prevails in NESCAC. The exception does occur and is noteworthy because it is an exception. I like the moment that often occurs right after hard-fought games where high school friends, now on opposing sides, visit warmly on the court or playing fields, though one party is usually disappointed.

[nescac1]

Frank writes "Do any of you number crunchers have a conference-wide average for wins in the latter conference games from pairs on the road?."

I was curious too, so I looked at last year -- I was surprised to see that road teams in Saturday-following-Friday games last year went a combined 8-8.  Of course, Williams, Amherst and Middlebury were so far ahead of the rest of the league last year -- they combined to win EVERY game against other NESCAC teams, including 5 of those 8 Saturday wins -- that it is hard to draw much from a one-year sample.  And it's too much work to go back further .   I think this year, with what appears to be more balance in the top half of the league, we will see a few surprises from home teams on those Saturday games. 

re: Safford, he is not the only current NESCAC guard who can be, let's say, a bit feisty.  There could be some interesting moments this year when certain guys go up against certain other guys ...

[AmherstStudent05]

I don't have too much to add about the Amherst-Hamilton game apart from what Jayhawk and Amh63 have already said.  For the first 25 minutes or so, the game actually reminded me a lot of last year's game with Hamilton: We were playing a team we "should" beat, we were playing pretty well, and yet the scoreboard said we were tied!  Full credit to Hamilton for playing us tough two years in a row now.  Matt Hart is a truly fearless sharpshooter and Bradley Gifford impressed with his knack for getting to the hoop.

Just as last year's Hamilton team had no answer for Big Pete Kaasila, this year's team could not defend Ben Pollack who, as mentioned, finished with 18 points (a career high, I believe), on 7-7 shooting from the floor.  Obviously, it has been a tremendous boost to get him back in the lineup as he provides Coach Hixon with another weapon, and, most importantly, some much needed flexibility/maneuverability in changing lineups during the course of the game.

To be honest though, I think I was most impressed by the play of Toomey last night.  On one hand, this should not be surprising since he was the game's high scorer with 26 points.  On the other hand, the box score alone would tell you that he did not have his best night (6-17, 2-8 from distance), and anyone watching the game could see that some of these shots were not pretty.  Early in the second half, as Hamilton built up what would be their largest lead of the night (5 points), Toomey took a couple of forced, ill-advised jumpers.  It was clear at this point (if not before), that this was not to be his night.  But, to Aaron's tremendous credit, he neither continued to force jumpers nor did he recede from the flow of the game entirely as he perhaps might have done much earlier in his career.  Instead, Toomey made himself MORE involved in the offense.  Wisely taking advantage of Hamilton's aggressive D, Toomey seemed to adopt a strategy whereby he would keep dribbling until (a) he was fouled, (b) he found himself in front of the hoop for an uncontested layup, or (c) he could pass off to an open Pollack down low or Killian out wide.  While this apparent "strategy" did result in a few turnovers, it also produced remarkable dividends.  Toomey scored 18 second half points, powered by his 12-13 performance from the charity stripe.  He did not make a single 3-pointer in the second half (he also had 9 assists and 3 turnovers on the evening).

On a night when Connor Green was struggling with his outside shot and foul trouble, Toomey simply could not afford to remain passive.  To his credit, he found a way to put up points even when his shot wasn't falling. (Also want to mention Dave Kalema who has really stepped up his game recently).

Interesting to hear about the Midd game.  I was following it on live stats as I watched the Amherst game.  I stopped following as Midd made their run to go up double digits with about 5 minutes to play and looked to be in total command as they had been completely shutting down Bates's three-point shooting.  Definitely seems like the NESCAC will be much more competitive top to bottom this year than in years past.  Also, PN, I had thought Midd's streak was 44, not 43, but, either way, incredibly impressive.

nescac1, I always appreciate the all-conference talk, but, to be clear, it is WAY premature to be "penciling" in any players on the All-NESCAC team.  As you will recall, Joey struggled a bit at the beginning of conference play last year before turning it on like gangbusters.  I am confident he will do so again.  I am likewise confident that Mayer will improve his play as well -- but let's hope he doesn't start today.

Obviously can't wait for the game today.  Should be a fun one.  Unfortunately, Toomey and Killian had to log more minutes last night than I had hoped, but I fully expect them to be at 110% as soon as they hit the court in the presence of the purple and gold (and black) of Williams.  Go Jeffs!

[booyakasha]

I'm not sure where I've engaged in the same, as you imply. I seem to think I was even-handed in my recap of the game and full of praise for the Bates effort.

Agreed, up until the potshot you take on an 21 or 22 year old kid who obviously is not allowed to come on here and defend himself. I find your contempt for "Safford's mouth" particularly ironic, considering you were removed from a basketball game by officials earlier this season for a mouth of your own.

Vandy - Not sure what my post count has to do with anything.

Fair enough. That makes more sense.

That said, I don't see my comments as "taking on" a 21 year old kid. I have the utmost admiration for Graham Safford. Heck of a player, clearly has the respect of his teammates, and he made the big bucket when it counted.

There was just a moment when I think his emotions got the better of him—as they do with all of us from time to time—a fair observation, I think. (And I did qualify it with the admission that perhaps it was just me who felt that way.) As for my "mouth"—yes, I can be exuberant, sharp-edged. It resulted in (unjust!) action, as you mention, earlier this year. But I draw the line at profanity, personal insult, which is a big difference, I think. But I have the benefit of years to form this opinion. I'm sure I was closer to Mr. Safford (without his talent!) when I was 22.

Anyway, enough about this. I don't want to take away from Bates's victory or the great effort and quality play exhibited by both teams last night.

Maybe Vandy's observation of my post count does have some merit. Allow me to explain myself. I read just about everything written on this forum, though I rarely post. My last two comments on this board have been critical/snarky towards Bucket and Old Guy (Bucket Re: Safford and Old Guy Re: NESCAC all academic teams). I don't necessarily disagree with your views on these two issues, rather I take exception to the vehicle in which your criticism is delivered. With my exception on these two items noted, almost everything else you guys post I find interesting/insightful/positive, or tend to agree with you on. You just would not know it since I rarely post.

I could never keep my mouth shut on the court. I'm pretty sure I was universally disliked by referees, opposing players, and coaches. I just wouldn't criticize someone else for being the same way, and I certainly wouldn't appreciate someone criticizing me in a public forum in which I can't respond. Maybe another avenue is appropriate. Send him an email or something.

Funny, Old Guy, that you mention you like the moment when opposing players meet after the game. Again, I have to disagree with you (though it doesn't bother me in the slightest you feel this way). The last thing I wanted to do after a hotly contested game against Bates or Bowdoin was to play nice after. Most of my teammates felt the same way too. We always held the opinion that there was a time and place for being friends with Bobcats or Polar Bears; the offseason.

[P'bearfan]

I was able to watch the Bowdoin - Conn College game in person last night and wanted to share a few impressions:

-Overall a much better outing for Bowdoin.  The entire team looked much sharper than they did against Bridgewater State on Tuesday.

-The game was very physical - much more than I anticipated given the rule changes this year.  Conn College played very aggressively and didn't give an inch the whole game.

-Vadas is a very good shooter and was very physical on defense.  I was surprised he wasn't called for hand-checks / grabbing.  However, he didn't seem to like it when the tables were turned and Bowdoin played him physically.

-Good game for Swords despite what might appear to be a limited stat line.  He was much more involved and very active.  He was also on the short end of a couple incredible non-calls when he was simply mugged.  No doubt the P'bears need to work the ball into him more.

-Very big game for Bowdoin's bench.  Major props to Matt Palecki, Lucas Hausman and Neil Fuller.  Palecki had a career night with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Lucas Hausman brought his typical offensive spark and engery finishing with 11 points.  Neil Fuller provided the physical response to the Camels that Bowdoin needed and was an overall defensive nightmare.  He was credited with 3 steals but it looked more like 5.

Looking forward to the game this afternoon against the Cardinals.  Go U Bears!

[nescac1]

Amherst up 9 at the half.  Williams has really made so many mental errors in this game, very frustrating.  Tons of just needlessly careless passes (Killian has FIVE steals almost entirely from jumping passing lanes) and also failed to mark three point shooters in transition on many occasions.  Williams will need to be much sharper with the passes if they hope to stage a tough comeback on the road.  Ephs also hurt by early foul trouble with Mayer and Rooke-Ley both quickly picking up a few fouls.  Mayer has missed a few bunnies which has also hurt the Ephs.  If Amherst was hotter from three the Ephs would be dead in the water right now.  Green and Killian the only guys who have been hot for the Jeffs.  Epley has played well on offense for the Ephs, but that is about it.  Duncan Robinson as great as he is going to be is learning how tough NESCAC play is these first two games. 

Amherst in general has been the more aggressive team, especially on the offensive boards, which have for the second night in a row really hurt the Ephs.  Have to absolutely cut down on the second-chance points next half to have a chance. 

[nescac1]

Amherst wins convincingly today.  Well-earned victory led by Tom Killian's big game on both ends, he was huge for Amherst -- best I've seen him play, he is much improved since last year.  Ben Pollack was also outstanding on both ends and is a physical presence.  Connor Green was Connor Green -- taking a lot of shots that will drive a coach crazy, but still very effective because he makes half of them.  Toomey, likewise, was Toomey, controlling the game even without a great shooting day. 

I'm not worried at all about Williams going forward.  The Ephs played fairly well on defense but for the innumerable second chance points that Amherst was able to score on them, which was an issue all weekend, and may be all year.  Gotta do a better job boxing out.  On offense, however, the Ephs can and I'm confident will play much, much better going forward.  Credit to Amherst which clearly had an effective strategy -- jump the passing lanes, and no open threes, even if they allowed a fair number of drives to the basket.  With the big guys to clean things up, Amherst can afford to take risks.  That certainly limited the number of Eph good looks, but the Eph shooters are capable of much, much better, even with the fairly tough looks they got -- they certainly missed some open threes.  Williams simply needs to hit more threes, miss fewer bunnies, and have fewer careless turnovers (something they really improved upon in the second half, but it was a bit too late) to beat a team of Amherst's caliber, since I don't think, realistically, the Ephs can hope to do much better on defense vs. a quick team like Amherst than they did today. 

For the Ephs, Daniel Wohl did have an absolute monster dunk, followed by a Mayer dunk on the next play, to give the Ephs a big spark late in the game, but that was about the only highlight in the second half for the Ephs.  An unkind welcome overall to Little 3 play for Duncan Robinson who just BARELY missed several threes and one or two interior shots that just could not drop -- I am sure he, and the rest of the Ephs, are looking forward to another shot at Amherst in the friendlier confines of Chandler, but for now, the recent struggles vs. the Jeffs continue. 

[AmherstStudent05]

Six in a row!

Congrats to Amherst on an 84-73 win over Williams.  As nescac1 has already stated, the man of the match has to be Tom Killian, who had a huge game today with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals.  Aaron Toomey had another off shooting night (16 points on 4-11 shooting), but he did have a double-double with 10 assists against just 1 turnover.  Whether it was a little extra hustle, or just Amherst's day, the Jeffs seemed to get more than their share of the breaks on 50/50 balls and the like.

Williams, as everyone already knows, is a very dangerous team -- any one of their starting 5 can hurt you.  To me, Mayer still looks a half a step slow and slightly unsure of himself.  That said, in a testament to his skill and perseverance, Mayer had a huge second half and still finished with 18-11.  Williams is a handful to deal with now -- if he returns to the form he showed at the end of last year, look out.

Very happy with Amherst's defensive effort for the most part.  They got their hands up in the passing lanes and stayed active.  Not sure I have seen Williams dribble so much against us since Maker took over.  We did get a little lazy at times on the defensive glass (Williams even got an offensive rebound on a missed free throw, which can't happen very often) and at the end of the game we didn't do a great job marking their three point shooters.  Still, all in all, a very impressive display.

As has also been noted many times, Williams and Amherst share the same weakness of not having a lot of depth.  It really handcuffs the coaches in terms of what they can do to shake up the dynamic of the game.  I will say that Kilcullen must have more range than any backup 5 in the country.  Obviously Pollack came back in the nick of time for us.  He and George are a dynamic duo and did a great job altering shots inside.

I have to say that I am totally confused by the officiating.  My understanding was that this year it was a point of emphasis to make sure that hand check fouls were called -- leading to almost unwatchable basketball earlier in the season as there was a whistle every few seconds.  Amherst partisan that I am, it still seemed that Toomey was getting checked almost every single time down court by Rooke-Ley (or sometimes Wohl if memory serves).  To be clear, I found nothing wrong with this and would actually prefer that these types of "fouls" not be called, but I am left scratching my head about the enforcement of this particular rule.  To my admittedly untrained eye, it seems like what was not a foul last February became a foul in November/December and is now no longer a foul.  Again, I say good riddance to this particular change in enforcement, but it is confusing.

Was it just me, or was the Amherst webcast very choppy today?  I have had the same problem for most of the year -- a problem I didn't seem to have last year.  Maybe I just need to invest in a new computer.

[middhoops]

Big time kudos to the LJs.  They made Williams look like something less than Williams.  Their disruption of passing lanes in the first half was artful.
I love watching Connor Green.  He plays basketball on a high wire.  Great skill set, fearless shooter, high revving motor at all times.
Michael Mayer still doesn't look like the Mayer of the last two seasons.  Can't quite put my finger on why.  But he's not the guy who dominated the league for two years now.  He and Joey Kizel are having puzzling times now.  For Mayer, it's a long way til the NCAA tourney and he can find his game.
Back to the game......Killian was so much better than I've ever seen him to date.  His scoring burst was the least of it.  Amherst always has someone step up.  Williamson at the end of the season last year.  Killian today.  Pollack looked greatly improved as well.  Gach was a welcome addition for coach Hixon, too.
Less than two weeks  before these two teams meet at Chandler Gym.  No predictions.  I'm done with that.

[amh63]

Not much to add to the games tonight in LeFrak.  Stopped on the drive back to CT for a quick dinner on the road.  Finally back to check the boxscores....men and women games.  General comments on the game....live game impressions that are verified by the stats or surprised by the stats.
Based on the overall play of Mayer, was surprised by his final stats....of 18pts, 11 rebounds.  Face value those numbers would indicate a major impact in the game.  A knowledgeable friend and I both felt that Mayer's contribution to the outcome of the game was not very much.  Not the final score......but to a win.  Put it another way....when Mayer came back in the game, I felt Amherst would build a bigger lead.  Mayer provided little interior defense, blocks and was slow up the floor as Amherst pushed the ball up.  Green, Killian and Kalema would score inside....get rebounds, etc.  Check out the rebounds of Amherst's "smaller" players...as Amherst out rebounded the "taller" Ephs.
Posters had speculated on how to stop Williams' talented five starters, etc.  I now pose the question to those who watched the game.....how will the Ephs and others defend the 5 Amherst players on the floor at the end of the game..Kalema, Killian, Green, Pollack and Toomey.  Coach Hixon seems to have figured out a rotation system that allows rest for the five cited players....all five had played well in last season's Title game.  The rotation player list may grow as George, Gach and Mussachia, Berman, Labatoff, etc. all get more PT.
I must remind posters that this Williams win is the conference counting win.

[P'bearfan]

Was able to watch the Bowdoin - Wesleyan game in person. Bowdoin looked sharp again as they won 63-54. 

Bowdoin jumped out to a quick lead at the start of the game and took a 34-17 lead into half time.  Wesleyan made a big surge mid-way through the second half at one point cutting the lead to 8.  Bowdoin was taking good shots but simply went cold with the ball rimming out several times.  To their credit the P'bears kept their composure and hit some important foul shots to get the win.

A couple of thoughts:

-Overall Bowdoin looked very sharp and balanced.  They finished with 4 different players in double figures.  Their ball movement was just terrific especially in the first half.  Andrew Madlinger led the way with 16 points.

-Bowdoin's defesne was very good.  They played a trapping zone defense that caught a number of Cardinal players along the sideline or in the corner.  They held Wesleyan 13.5 points below their season average.

-Swords had a big game finishing with another double double (12 / 12).  He was not only sharp, he was very aggressive and physical on offense which was great to see.

-Bowdoin's bench delivered another good performance though they didn't have quite the total offensive output they did last night.  Neil Fuller had another good game including hitting two foul shots after getting absolutely leveled on a fast break.

Next week will a big one as Bowdoin prepares to go on the road for tough contests at Williams and Hamilton.  Should be fun!

[quicksilver]

P'bear Fan -- Any news on Bryan Hurley's possible return? I thought that I saw him in uniform on the Bowdoin bench for both the Conn College and Weskeyan games.

[nescac1]

AmherstStudent05, I agree that Hayden was hand (or really arm) checking Toomey at times, no doubt about it.  But Toomey was also pushing off pretty blatantly at times.  They were really letting all the guards play a bit physically on both ends in ways that I welcome vs. what was being called early in the season.  And Toomey doesn't help his cause by, ummm, reacting in an exaggerated fashion any time that anyone makes contact with him -- hard to know what is a real foul (he draws plenty which are legitimately, certainly) and what is a reaction to a good acting job (he also draws plenty that way, and is damn good at it).  I felt like Williams was really hurt by the reffing in the first half as there were several barely-there touch fouls called on them while Williams guys were getting hit and nothing was getting called, but to be fair, certainly received the benefit of the calls in the second half, when the same thing happened to Amherst.  So it evened out over the course of the game.

Of course, Williams was hurt most of all by its own sloppy play, much of which was forced by Amherst's (again, especially Killian's) effective aggression on D, but the Ephs took way, way too long to adjust to what Amherst was doing out there, and when guys keep jumping passing lanes, you can't just keep throwing casual, telegraphed passes.  They played hard, but Amherst had, forgive me for using the term, the eye of the tiger out there, and Williams was lacking it -- unlike the second half of the Hampden Sydney game, where they were far more poised and focused in hostile territory against another quick and athletic team.

Williams better bring it a bit more against an undefeated Bowdoin team on Friday, which will no doubt be looking to prove to the skeptics that its record is not a fluke.  Right now Amherst is clearly in the driver's seat in NESCAC, but the Jeffs do now have that brutal stretch of road games, including two Maine trips, ahead, and winning at Bates and Bowdoin won't be easy for anyone this year.  I do think Amherst is one of about eight legit national championship contenders (despite last night, I still believe that Williams is in that group, along with Stevens-Point, IWU, Cabrini, Wooster, Whitewater, maybe Augustana although I think they are a year away), which I was skeptical about at the start of the year.  Killian (this year's version), Pollack and Green have essentially been an even swap for the production/roles of Workman, Williamson, and Kaasila, which would have been hard to predict given how well those three were playing at the end of the season.  Kalema is like the Killian of last year, a guy who can make some big plays but is inconsistent.  Amherst doesn't have the bench firepower it had at the end of last season, but that is the only downgrade.  If Amherst can win its next four road games over eight days vs. Wesleyan, Bates, Tufts, and Williams, I'd make them tied for the favorite slot with Stevens Point and IWU -- that is a very, very tough, exhausting combination of rivalry games, quality opponents, and long road trips in a compressed period. 

Williams, meanwhile, finally gets to play in Chandler again on Friday for the first of four straight at home (first time since December 7!), a welcome sight after its own very long and taxing series of tough road games.  Hopefully they will get a lot of crowd support for Friday's big match-up. 

Two crazy statistical notes, one from NESCAC, one from elsewhere.  Ben Pollack is shooting 83 percent on the year!  He has missed FIVE field goal attempts in six games, the same number of FTAs as he has missed.  I know most of those are probably dunks and layups, but he made at least two high-degree-of-difficulty shots against the Ephs.  That is insane.  David George is an athletic monster who can make the occasional jaw-dropping play, but right now Pollack is clearly the better and more polished overall player, his passing and shooting ability was impressive last night.  When they are paired up on the interior next year (as I expect) venturing into the lane vs. Amherst will NOT be fun.

Finally, for those following other potential contenders for top team / player in the country, check out Aaron Walton-Moss's insane stat line from last night: 33-18-4, 15-25 from the field, 3 steals, 2 blocks, only 1 TO in 31 minutes.  His stat line for the year is positively Lebron-esque: 26-11-6, shooting 62/43/80, plus 2 combined blocks/steals per game.