MBB: NESCAC

[frank uible]

magic: Not enough edge in Amherst minus 10 for the Smart Money to take, but Amherst minus four seems close to a lock, and Williams plus 13 might have enough vigorish..

[nescac1]

A few individual notes for the Ephs:

Taylor Epley now has 1433 career points, and Michael Mayer 1424, placing them eight and ninth, respectively, on the all-time scoring list at Williams.

Duncan Robinson has 501 points for the season -- I am fairly confident that no Eph first-year have ever broken 500 before, and I am hard-pressed to think of any player in NESCAC history who had done so prior to Robinson. 

[jayhawk]

 fortunate to be at Amherst game last night with texting with my college classmate texting me the ongoing score of the Williams game.
Exciting match up next week.

A few comments as far as yesterday.  Aaron Toomey continues to do whatever is needed for Amherst to win. He was determined to put his stamp on the game in the first half. He made without a doubt some of the longest and cleanest 3 pt shots I have ever seen in a D3 game. He played the pick and roll  particularly with David George to perfection. David Kalema and David George played critical roles in the game with David  Kalema hitting 3 pt shots and slashing to the basket while David George continued to exert a presence by causing the opposing team to change shots.  Hixon and the coaches have just a fantastic job developing David George's confidence and play. He has cut down on slapping down on the ball and getting costly fouls. David George made a big time scoring move up and under the basket with his left hand. Both Killian and Connor Green contributed. It seemed Connor was half step off probably as a result of getting back his timing after ankle injury. Killian was charged with some odd fouls which slowed him down.

Finally i believe strongly in the privacy of players and their families. But I want to provide a shout out to the family of Aaron Toomey. Even though they reside in North Carolina they have been a presence at probably all of his games home and away. A  class act, thoughtful, kind, and knowledgable set of parents and brother. Amherst will miss the play of Aaron but also the presence of his family at games.

[lefrakenstein]

Can't wait for next weekend. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it down to Salem.

Anyone have any recruiting news? It seems surprisingly quiet for Amherst. It would be ideal to get one ready-to-contribute point guard (to back up Berman) and two ready-to-contribute wings (to add to Green and Mussachia). Hopefully at least one of Magana/Wright/Holding/Racy is ready to contribute next year as well.

[amh63]

It is morning and I'm alert.  Stayed up to check out the "other" games.  Soon lost interest since Williams is next.  Booked my room for Salem...last night...hope it is the place I usually stay...hotels all look alike .  Found out that the rematch...to the 4th power...is the late game at 8:30 pm.  Good..gives me time to beat the rush hour traffic/ construction and have dinner before the game.

Some random thoughts of the Amherst game last night and other final 4 matters.
Frank U...you posted at 4 am!   In response to Magicman on point spreads?  Wow..this is a Star Trek moment..heading towards new frontiers .  Suggest caution here...since MM pointed out that Massy gave only a 5 point spread between the LJs and the Cardinals in LeFrak.

Hoop Fan posted that Morrisville looked impressive.  I agreed.  They have quick guards and good size up front.  Amherst  played hard to win the game.  Took good games by Amherst's guards to pull it out.

Morrisville lost to Hamilton in Clinton 82-80 during the season.  Winning at Hamilton can be a challenge...even for Nescac teams.

There were testy times during the game.  There was a technical call on a Morrisville player and a warning given to the Morrisville coach.  Kalema confronted a player after a drive, etc. and no foul called. There were more walks called than fouls as it seemed the refs were getting adjusted to the intensity of the play...not wanting to call fouls, IMO.  Near the end of the game, a ref called an over and back on Amherst.  both Killian and Toomey pointed to a black line.  Refs gave the ball back to Amherst.  Amherst was even called for a 10 second violation that brought a protest from Coach Hixon.
It was that kind of game in the 2nd half, even when Amherst went ahead by 20, only to have it cut to single digits...again.

The student section had the bulk of Morrisville supporters....asked by an announcer why they were sitting there..the answer was that they had driven 4-5 hrs to the game and wanted their team to see them cheering.  Works for me as it did for the student announcers.   Meanwhile, the people behind the Morrisville bench cheering the LJs on were apparently Amherst HS students having fun and getting on a webcast.

Aaron had a "monster" game in his last game in LeFrak. Amherst needed it.  He was the top rebounder in a game that Amherst lost the battle of the boards.  More memorable to me in the game was when Toomey and one of the top guards of Morrisville who hounded him in the game gave each other a hug afterwards..mutual respect gesture. 
There was another gesture that I want to point out that Aaron made...in the Plattsburg game that illustrates the special person/player Toomey is.  Give credit here to the announcers in describing the situation.  David George needed a break and was at the foul line.  FY Nabatoff was waiting to replace him...Levine had an ankle sprain and was not dressed to play.  Toomey walks over and talks to Nabatoff and gives the FY player a rub on his head.  Leadership!  Nabatoff goes on to make a dunk the first time he gets the ball...scores 3 Points and pulls down several boards , I believe.

Yes, I will miss him...remember the first time I saw him at practice during Homecoming weekend..4 years ago...a slim looking player...thinking what is all the fuss about.
Still two more games to watch him play

needed to make a correction!  Morrisville not Maryville.  thanks posters for being kind and not dumping on me.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

 Finally home from my Sectional road trip to LeFrak, and still feeling the helium. Gotta add my CONGRATS to all those already offered by others; honestly, I didn't see this for the Jeffs back in December, or again after Pollack's loss, for that matter. But man is it great to be proven foolish. Not sure there's anything better than seeing players grow--and better still, seeing a team grow--over the course of a season.

If Friday night's win was defined by George, last night belonged to Toomey. His 31 could've been much more; he barely missed on several strong takes to the rim even though I thought he was fouled (didn't get the calls, either, but it's boring to gripe about refs). In fact, he actually did have a 32nd point, but a made free throw was disallowed 3 seconds before halftime when a Jeff entered the lane early. Which of course prompts the question: Why would anyone even risk entering the lane early with 3 seconds on the clock and Toomey shooting? Since the NESCAC semifinals, Toomey has played 5 games under tournament pressure, taken 42 foul shots, and made them all.

The totals don't adequately convey Toomey's timing, though. Morrisville played extremely well after both clubs calmed their early adrenaline overflow, and they used a tactic I can't remember seeing against Amherst in the 21st Century: they intentionally burned the first 25 seconds of each possession, using a high double stack and freeing their three scoring guards in turn off the picks, passing the ball back and forth 30 feet from the hoop, until starting their offense with 10 seconds left. Then they were able to shake one of those guards free for a 3 in the last seconds, and they hit 'em. Can anybody else remember seeing such a shorten-the-game strategy lately?

It was working. At a timeout with 3:52 left before the half, the score was tied at 28. Then Toomey just took it upon himself to force his own offense, which he very rarely does for any extended stretch. In the next 1:30, he went for 2 free throws, an off-dribble 3 over a high screen, a pull-up jumper from the key, and finally a heat-check 3 off a behind-the-back crossover from six feet beyond the arc. BANG, as that guy on Bowdoin webcasts loves to say (I love that dude, I wish he called LJ games). Ten quick points, against 2 from Morrisville, and a quick 8-point lead that lengthened to 10 at the break. Lordy, that was fun. I know this will sound like hyperbole, but it was one of those great, great sequences when you watch a cat simply decide to impose his will and change a game's course for good. Things were not going well for the Jeffs, Morrisville's confidence was earned and growing, and it was like Toomey just said: This is not happening. And then he changed it. What was almost as fun as watching him change it was watching how his teammates responded to him, to his pure stones and competitiveness. They just take so much confidence from him. It's what defines the whole team (which, of course, is why things kinda go sideways whenever he's off the floor--which, this weekend, he never was).

OK, I'll calm down. There was other good news to report, but also some bad. The good:

-- Kalema was his slashing self again, with several of his patented coast-to-coasters and finishes at the rim (including a gorgeous throw-down punctuating the game near the end).
-- George was good again, staying out of foul trouble, holding his own against Morrisville's talented 6'8" man-mountain of a center, making four blocks, and finishing with a newfound smoothness after Toomey drop-offs and mini-lobs. 13 points from him.

The bad:

-- Green really struggled from the field, and had some turnovers in traffic that looked the result of a less-than-healthy ankle (though he went all 40 minutes). It'll be good to get him another week to mend before Salem; at some point against Williams, Jeffs are gonna need some vintage Green.
-- And the worst news: Again the LJs really struggled against the full-court zone trap. GOTTA get that fixed. Though they ended up with just 8 turnovers for the game, it felt like 18. Man presses never affect Amherst, even with double-teams involved, because they can just give Toomey the ball and there's no one in the country who can handle him in the open floor. But when a quick team (and the LJs just played three of those in a row in York, Plattsburgh, and Morrisville) goes full-court zone and makes the non-Toomey Jeffs pass to each other, things get ugly. Far too many long, floated cross-court passes, and too many non-Toomey Jeffs trying to split a double-team with the dribble. It's weird to watch, frankly, since a player like Kalema seems able to slice through an entire defense in regular play but then gets wonky when asked to handle the ball in a point-guard-like situation. If not for the zone press troubles, Amherst would've won by 25.

But hey, you can't harsh my high: the good news amidst that bad news is that I'm not sure there's a team left in the field that can exploit that particular LJ weakness. Williams certainly can't. The Ephs have some obvious advantages over the Jeffs, but quickness isn't one of them. The main LJ five owns the quickness advantage over the main Eph five in all five matchups.

Anyway, here we are. Amherst-Williams, yet again. Round four of the bout. Final Four of the tournament. And while at this point it's not credible to argue that the Ephs are as good as the Jeffs (three games, three LJ wins, all by double digits, all more comfortable even than the score), we all suspect that the Ephs are playing their best ball of the season, and we all know that if the two clubs played ten games, the Jeffs wouldn't win all ten. Here's praying that this fourth game isn't one of the ones the Jeffs would lose. . . .

There's more to say, but it's a long week, gentlemen. I'm glad they're not playing tomorrow. I need the rest.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

Hixon and the coaches have just a fantastic job developing David George's confidence and play. He has cut down on slapping down on the ball and getting costly fouls. David George made a big time scoring move up and under the basket with his left hand.

Jayhawk, dead on. That left-hand up-and-under was something I'd never seen from George before. And George's improvement to this point probably is a testament to the coaches--but it's no doubt a testament to him, as well. After a couple weeks watching top teams from all over the country--teams in the NCAA field--you can't help thinking that the quality of NESCAC bigs is pretty high on average, and I haven't seen anyone like Mayer.

Against all that quality, George has had his share of frustrations. But frustrations are fabulous if you can learn from them. He has.

[frank uible]

amh63: Your correspondent recommends his hours to no human.

[Pat Coleman]

Morrisville played extremely well after both clubs calmed their early adrenaline overflow, and they used a tactic I can't remember seeing against Amherst in the 21st Century: they intentionally burned the first 25 seconds of each possession, using a high double stack and freeing their three scoring guards in turn off the picks, passing the ball back and forth 30 feet from the hoop, until starting their offense with 10 seconds left. Then they were able to shake one of those guards free for a 3 in the last seconds, and they hit 'em. Can anybody else remember seeing such a shorten-the-game strategy lately?

Dickinson used it all tournament.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I think that was the strategy that Scranton used a few years ago to beat Middlebury in the Sweet 16.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

Morrisville played extremely well after both clubs calmed their early adrenaline overflow, and they used a tactic I can't remember seeing against Amherst in the 21st Century: they intentionally burned the first 25 seconds of each possession, using a high double stack and freeing their three scoring guards in turn off the picks, passing the ball back and forth 30 feet from the hoop, until starting their offense with 10 seconds left. Then they were able to shake one of those guards free for a 3 in the last seconds, and they hit 'em. Can anybody else remember seeing such a shorten-the-game strategy lately?

Dickinson used it all tournament.

Interesting, thanks Pat (and Dave, for Scranton/Middlebury note; maybe some Midd posters will follow up). And I should point out that I knew nothing about Morrisville before the game, so maybe the approach isn't unusual for them and wasn't particularly designed for Amherst.

In the end, I don't know whether it helped or hurt Morrisville. Maybe it helped them keep the game even until late in the first half, but it also kept them from exploiting any of Amherst's depth issues (though who knows if they'd have been able to). One thing it did do, for better or worse: it made for a very choppy-feeling, no-flow game. Buddy next to me said it was as if the game had to keep starting over. If that's what Morrisville was after, it worked.

[nescac1]

The parallels between Friday and the last Salem meeting for Amherst and Williams, exactly one decade ago, are positively eerie.  Consider:

-- In 2004, Williams was defending its national championship, as Amherst is this go-around.
-- Williams had recently earned a second-straight NESCAC championship with a victory over Amherst in the title game.  Once again, the reverse holds true this year.
-- Williams was led by an all-American point guard who had a ton of hype prior to enrolling, and won NESCAC ROY prior to setting loads of school records during his career.  Again, ditto.
-- Amherst had reached the Elite 8 the prior year, just like Williams did last year. 
-- A WIAC team was in the other half of the Final Four bracket. 

Kinda weird.  I just hope that this time, the underdog prevails! 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Tonight on Hoopsville we will recap the sectional weekend of basketball action and start previewing the championship weekend in Salem, Vir. and Stevens Point, Wis. Here are the guests you will hear from tonight:

- Williams head coach Mike Maker and senior center Mike Mayer
- Illinois Wesleyan head coach Ron Rose
- UW-Whitewater siblings Alex and Mary Merg
- Tufts senior forward Liz Moynihan

Pat Coleman will also join us to talk about what he saw this weekend and the tournament so far and we will announce the All-Region teams!

Show starts at 7 PM ET and will run until about 9:00 tonight.

You can tune in here: www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2013-14/mar16

Don't forget you can ask us or our guests questions via social media:
- Twitter (@d3hoopsville and #Hoopsville)
- Facebook (www.facebook.com/Hoopsville)
- Email (hoopsville@d3hoops.com)

Thanks and enjoy the show!

[amh63]

Amhstud05...guess we were both in Salem in '04.   Pulled out my Salem championship programs to see who was on the Williams team at the time.  Crotty was a senior PG on the team with two other Ephs' greats...so a loss to Williams, the defending champs is not bad.  Williams lost by two points to UW-SP in the title game.

Nescac 1....read your post about the '04 final 4.   Have one that is somewhat similiar.  The '08 Salem Final 4.  Amherst had won its first title in '07, lead by its junior All American PG Andrew Olson.  In '08, Amherst arrived in Salem lead by POY Olson.  The date for the Final 4 was March 21-22, just like this year.  Amherst went on to lose in the title game to WashU.  Amherst won last year and return to Salem this year lead by POY Aaron Toomey.  Since the title game was in Atlanta last year...expecting the pattern to be somewhat different .

[AmherstStudent05]

Great stuff as always, Ancient Son.  Naturally, I am in complete agreement with you that Amherst has already established itself to be the better team than Williams this season (though, in turn, Williams has likewise established that it is more than capable of ruining our weekend in Salem).  I also agree with you that our first two wins over the Ephs were quite convincing and perhaps even more comfortable than the final score might otherwise suggest.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the NESCAC Championship game.  In fact, I think that game was MUCH more competitive than the final score indicated. (I also think that was the closest Williams came to giving us their best shot.)

Other than George, who did a masterful job guarding Mayer, I think our defense really struggled a great deal against the Eph offense.  I know that this might be uncharitable on my part considering we "held" Williams to 1-12 3 point shooting in the second half, but from my vantage point, many of those looks were not ones I would be comfortable giving Epley or Robinson.  Also, even with those misses, Williams did a great job getting to the rim against us.  Bottom line, Williams can definitely hurt us with their offense.

Of course, as we have talked about many times before, Williams's problem with Amherst is in stopping the Jeff attack.  To his credit, Maker has been very candid about this in all of his interviews (not that he is giving anything away to anyone who has watched any of these games).  Williams just hasn't yet found a way to pose significant challenges to the Amherst offense for really any sustained amount of time.  To be sure, Williams can still win even without resolving this glaring problem.  They can either shoot us out of the gym and win a 93-87 type game, or they can hope that we go ice cold even if we are getting great looks.  Obviously, while workable, neither of these options are likely to be Coach Maker's "Plan A", and I suspect he will be spending a lot of his week figuring out what adjustments he should make to tighten up the Williams D.

AncientSon, you are also right on about George.  He is been simply outstanding for us the past few weeks as he is really starting to come into his own.  Most noticeably he has made tremendous strides in his conditioning.  Anyone who watched the Emerson game -- the first time George was asked to play 30+ minutes with Pollack out -- could see how obviously George got fatigued in the second half (absolutely not the reason we lost that game by the way).  When Pollack went down, I was naturally very worried that George would not be able to pick up most of those additional minutes.  I am happy to say that he has proved me wrong big time.  For the most part now, George's minutes seem to be almost entirely dictated by foul trouble, not conditioning.

Speaking of which, Amherst was very fortunate this weekend that neither game was called all that tightly.  Given our depth concerns, we simply cannot afford a lot of foul trouble -- particularly with George and Toomey.  As we saw last year, the officiating in Salem can be quite erratic as players, coaches and refs try to familiarize themselves with one another.  Our starters really can't afford the usual "feeling out" period to see how the game will be called.  Last year, we had some serious foul trouble in Salem -- fortunately, Kalema, Green, and Pollack each stepped up BIG TIME for us when called upon (in fact, Kalema did so well for us off the bench that some informed posters argued that he should be starting for Toomey!).  We may well need Mussachia, Gach, and Nabatoff to do the same this weekend.