MBB: NESCAC

[middhoops]

If anyone wants to take bets tonight:

Conn College +16 @ Amherst
Over/Under 155.5

Bates +11 @ Williams
Over/Under 143

Colby +5.5 @ Middlebury
Over/Under 148.5

Tufts -2 @ Hamilton
Over/Under 144

Wesleyan +4.5 @ Trinity
Over/under 125

Amherst 77-65.  Conn College and the unders
Williams 92-70.  Williams and the overs
Middlebury 85-64.  Mid and the overs
Hamilton 71-69.  Hamilton and the unders
Trinity 70-65.  Trinity and the overs.

That was really impressive odds making.  +k

[jumpshot]

Anyone else notice the public display of mid-week co-habitation at Middlebury at the outset of the recent video posted here? Not new at Mid or other schools ----surprised it wasn't edited. A bit of an affront to parents and others .

[4 the love of the game]

jumpshot, this was the first "road to salem" I have watched and those same thoughts streamed through my mind. I understand that this is an all access type film, but discretion should be taken on the matter. Im sure most if not all middlebury parents watched the film and there is a good chance the young womens family has seen it now as well. very well done and highly entertaining, but I would rather stay naïve to these occurrences.

[met_fan]

Anyone else notice the public display of mid-week co-habitation at Middlebury at the outset of the recent video posted here? Not new at Mid or other schools ----surprised it wasn't edited. A bit of an affront to parents and others .

I also liked the beer pong setup from the previous night

[Bucket]

Anyone else notice the public display of mid-week co-habitation at Middlebury at the outset of the recent video posted here? Not new at Mid or other schools ----surprised it wasn't edited. A bit of an affront to parents and others .

I'm not going to comment on the appropriateness of such an inclusion other than to point out that this is a student production—that is, it is entirely produced, filmed, written, and edited by students and "published" under the auspices of the student newspaper, the Middlebury Campus.

The only "non-student" involved in the series is me, as narrator, and I don't see any film until the rest of you do--once it is posted to Vimeo. Obviously I get a general sense of the story in advance, due to the script that I record (usually the day before the episode is posted), but even that is limited to the written narrative; the on-camera scenes are not written nor described.

All this to say that students, obviously, have a different perspective on the "norms" of college life and how they are portrayed to the public.

[AmherstStudent05]

This may just be a generational thing, I am afraid.  I know that I for one felt absolutely no "affront" from the scene in question.  As my initial post on this video may have (cryptically) referenced, I confess that I was a bit surprised that the students involved would consent to that level of access.  However, assuming that such consent was given (as I most assuredly assume it was), I have absolutely no problem with the scene's inclusion.  The creators of this series sought to bring to life Williams game day in an honest and compelling fashion.  They succeeded brilliantly.

Brother Lefrakenstein asked if it was common for Midd freshmen to have singles.  I have my own question based on this video.  Are freshmen at Midd allowed cars on campus?  That was a big no no at Amherst.  At least in my day.

[AmherstStudent05]

Let's finish up the weekend:

Saturday:

Wesleyan +15 @ Amherst
Over/Under 152.5

Tufts +10 @ Williams
Over/Under 146.5

Conn College +8 @ Trinity
Over/Under 125

Bates pick @ Hamilton
Over/under 143

Sunday:

Bowdoin -1 @ Middlebury
Over/under 135.5

Trying my luck again, I like the Overs in both the Amherst and Trin games.  Great lines!

[P'bearfan]

Anyone else notice the public display of mid-week co-habitation at Middlebury at the outset of the recent video posted here? Not new at Mid or other schools ----surprised it wasn't edited. A bit of an affront to parents and others .

Yeah I went back and forth on that one.  I thought "they really could have edited that part" ....to..."well if it was my son at least I'd know who he was dating"....to ...."that's not really how I'd like to meet my daughter's boyfriend".....think I'm getting old

[nescac1]

Yeah, the part of the video didn't really bother me in the least.  I figure, so long as the participants signed off (and I assumed they did), then it's totally up to them.  It's not like there was anything explicit or untoward going on ... and if a parent (or anyone else) is shocked to discover that a  son / daughter crashes in the same bed as his or her significant other in college, well, you are about forty years behind the times -- college ain't Pleasantville -- and living in a bit of a fantasy world.   

P'bearfan, good question on the glue guys.  I actually had a lot of trouble coming up with many good examples.  To me Tom Killian and Daniel Wohl are the consumate glue guys, but at this point they are both too good and too well-known to qualify anymore.  Both can score when needed, but consistently do all the little things you want to see, many of which aren't always recognized, on a game-to-game basis.  In terms of more subtle contributors who would qualify, maybe Mussachia on Amherst?  He is never going to be a big scorer, but he is tough, physical, will fight for rebounds, plays solid defense, and understands his role on the team.  On Midd, Jensen is definitely a glue guy as well, but he is another player whose profile may already be higher than what you are talking about. 

[middhoops]

For me the "glue guy" is Wohl.  He takes a back seat to everyone.  The kid can guard four positions, handle the ball, rebound, run the floor and finish.  Daniel Wohl is whatever you need him to be.  Wish he'd joined his high school team mate and gone to Middlebury.

[met_fan]

Not many competitive games today...closest is a 14-point spread at the moment

[nescac1]

Second straight fantastic performance on both ends for Williams.  Ephs are now playing like the nationally elite team that most of us expected them to look like -- the turning point really was half time of the Midd game, since then, the Ephs have been absolutely fantastic.  To dominate two NESCAC teams down two starters and starting three frosh is really impressive.  The zone defense was very effective all weekend. 

Duncan Robinson had another ho-hum game -- 25 points, 10 boards, 6 assists, a steal, a block, only one turnover, 9-12 from the field.  He did miss a free throw, though, so he has room to improve  .  Among the highlights were a beautiful post-up move, a four point play, a gorgeous behind-the-back pass on a fast break, an extremely tough mid-range runner in the lane, and a dunk to finish another fast break.  I don't know when, if ever, there has been a frosh on first-team all-NESCAC, but he is a lock.   In fact I'd say right now he is the second-best player in NESCAC after Toomey, and honestly, he isn't all THAT far behind Toomey. 

For the second straight game, Michael Mayer took an impressive young talent at center to school, pouring in 23 points and 10 boards.  Sabety is a physical monster on both ends, but needs a bit of work on his shooting touch and also on avoiding fouls.  Still, he is going to be a beast for the next three years.  Scary to think what Tufts could have done inside with a Sabety-Palleschi combo.  Daniel Wohl continued his fine play, he had a fantastic overall weekend and is playing at an all-NESCAC level right now. 

Nice to see the seniors, on senior night, make big contributions.  McCreary had a very nice game, hitting a three and causing several turnovers.  Weinheimer also had some strong moments including a dunk for the second straight game. 

For Tufts, Haladyna had a very strong game, and Firepong poured it on late but the game was over by that point.  Tough to see Ben Ferris struggle, he is far from the dominant force he was before his injury.  Hopefully he returns to 100 percent for his senior year. 

Last comment: scorekeeper, show the point guard some love!  There is no WAY that Greenman had only one assist.  He set up teammates for easy buckets on at least several other occasions. 

[amh63]

Back to todays BB games.  Amherst had a good crowd on hand for the conference game with Wesleyan in LeFrak.  Amherst wins going away by 26....81-56, I believe.  No stats available and the announcers were missing in the second half.  The stats guys went over to support the hockey game.  Anyway no real issues to report other than the scary point when Pollack was "bowled over  and held his leg in pain.  He finally got up and walked off with the trainer.  He did not return.  The other item to report was late in the 2nd half, Kalema makes a steal and heads to the basket in a break away.  He slows down and looks back and seeing no trailer, lays the ball up for 2 points.  The bench was standing up ready for a dunk.  Kalema and others was talked to about such things.  I believe if he had a team mate trailing he might try to flush it down.....with his team mate rebounding a miss.  Coach Hixon wants 2 points and less displays.
Toomey and Killian led the way in scoring...Killian was 4-4 from three point land, I believe.  Toomey had steals, took charges and scored inside and outside.  Green made his points and rebounded well.  Kalema scored more inside than outside.  Leave the box and other posters to provide the stats, etc. 
Amherst kept pace with others for the top seed.

[middhoops]

Well, NESCAC fans, looks like Sunday's Midd/PB game may be the one to watch after today's mismatches.  NSN broadcast for a 3 pm tip off.  Be there or be.........

[AmherstStudent05]

Agreed, amh63, Pollack's injury did not look good at all.  I really hope that it is one of those injuries that looks much worse than it really is.  Pulling for him.

As has been mentioned, Amherst won a very comfortable game against Wesleyan.  The team was really engaged on the defensive end, which was great to see.  Killian in particular stood out on that end and has further cemented his position as at least being in the conversation for DPOY.  On the offensive end, despite the final score, I thought the Jeffs were far from their best.  Lots of turnovers and too much disjointed play at times (not helped at all when Toomey had to sit with foul trouble).  With a week off before Midd, I have no doubt that Coach Hixon will get this corrected and that the Jeffs will be rested and ready to go when the Panthers come to town.

I don't believe I have been to LeFrak since I graduated -- an awfully long time ago now (since graduation I have only seen Amherst live in Salem or Atlanta).  However, if work cooperates, I think I might make the trek next Sunday.  Maybe I can get tips from magicman on where to sit to get captured by the cameramen for the Road to Salem.  I promise that it would do wonders for your ratings!

I know there are still a few critical games left to play -- including the whole NESCAC Tournament -- but even with some key precincts still outstanding, the election desk at AmherstStudent05 headquarters is THIS CLOSE to officially projecting the following All-NESCAC First Team: Toomey, Mayer, Kizel, Robinson, and Hart.  Not sure the NESCAC coaches even have too many other options at this point.  Perhaps the only thing that can stop those fine players is the infamous commentators' curse!

I am also looking forward to the Bowdoin-Midd game (not sure yet if I will be able to watch it live).  It should be a great matchup in its own right, but I am also intrigued by the tournament implications.  If Midd wins, they will move ahead of Bowdoin for third in the conference standings based on the head-to-head tiebreaker (though Midd's remaining schedule appears more daunting than Bowdoin's).  The conventional wisdom at the moment seems to be that Bowdoin has a strong chance of a Pool C bid and Midd has almost no shot.  But if Midd finishes ahead of Bowdoin in the conference standings, I wonder if that shakes things up a bit.  Does it do perhaps fatally damage Bowdoin's Pool C chances as they would be behind a team almost everyone seems to have left for dead (in the Pool C context only)?  Does it revive Midd's Pool C hopes by showing that they are every bit as good as Bowdoin who we all seem to recognize as a legit Pool C candidate?  Or would it simply maintain the status quo?

Finally, I confess I remain a little confused why posters from other regions take such an interest in the NESCAC schedule.  Personally, from Amherst's perspective, I wouldn't change a thing.  We have a home-and-home with Williams every year who is almost always our toughest conference rival anyway.  As I said before, in an ideal world, I would swap out the extra Wesleyan game and replace it with sort of a roving non-conference game with our next best conference rival after Williams (Trinity in my day, probably Tufts shortly after that, and quite obviously Midd for the past 5 or so years).  That will obviously never ever happen, but it would give us home-and-home contests against our top conference rivals.

Other than that, I really appreciate the NESCAC format.  It gives us a lot of flexibility to play a nice cross section of teams from other conferences in the Region.  For instance, Amherst has been able to develop nice rivalries with RIC and Brandeis -- two traditional powers that are a bit down this year.  We have also been able to play Eastern Conn and Babson.  Typically, by the end of the year, we have a pretty fair sense of where we stack up against the other top teams in the Region.