MBB: NESCAC

[Titan Q]

The zone that worked against Amherst is probably the right defense against Whitewater as well.

I think I'd play about 25 minutes of zone against UW-Whitewater.  It really bottles up their dribble drive game with KJ Evans, and I'd take my chances with open jumpshots.  In hindsight, I wish IWU had gone to it earlier last night.

Congratulations to Amherst on another ridiculously good season, and to Williams on an incredible performance in the national semifinal.

[grabtherim]

Do any of you LJ fans know if Toomey plans on playing oversees next season?  Also can someone please post the CBS NCAA link for  the final. Thanks.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

  Also can someone please post the CBS NCAA link for  the final. Thanks.

just go here: http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-men/d3 Then go to the Williams/Whitewater game at the center of the bracket and click it. You'll see a tab to click "watch" at the top.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

  Also can someone please post the CBS NCAA link for  the final. Thanks.

just go here: http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-men/d3 Then go to the Williams/Whitewater game at the center of the bracket and click it. You'll see a tab to click "watch" at the top.

OOPS, i'm sorry, my bad--did that too fast. Game is on CBS Sports Network, channel 56 (or 856 in HD) on my Comcast system. The "watch" tab DOES exist on the NCAA web site, but may be disabled as folks here have said. sorry for earlier post

[jumpshot]

Williams College executed an absolute offensive and defensive clinic against amherst on the big stage in an epic performance for the ages---a tribute to the Ephs' players, Coach Mike Maker, and his staff. One of the best demonstrations of unselfish teamwork, skill, and intelligence for an entire 40 minutes I have seen in D3. The ljs surprisingly had no answer on either ends of the court. Check out the post-game Williams interview for a sense of who these young men are.

The final will be a challenge.   

[madzillagd]

Channel 221 for the DirecTV folks

[nescac1]

After sleeping on it, I'm convinced that last night was the best I've ever seen an Eph team play.  The top three games that come to mind are last night, the 2010 Guilford game in Salem, and the 2003 Elite Eight victory over Amherst, in that order.   But I'm not sure last night can ever be topped in terms of execution on both ends. 

[AncientSonOfHixon]

Upon further review (of last night's game): Wow.

I know some of my fellow LJ board members hate it when one says anything appreciative about Williams, but if a man is unmoved by beauty when he sees it, what is life? (As Mike Tyson once said.) (It was Mike Tyson who said that, yes?)

People keep using the word "clinic," but honestly even that seems insufficient. When a team in high-volume, high-speed attack (not bothering to use the whole shot clock looking for the easiest, highest percentage shot) throws down a shooting line of 63/46/92, with 24 assists on 38 buckets, and just 9 turnovers, the opponent is basically baked. (Especially when the opponent goes 39/31/64 in comparison.) So some of last night was about what Doc Rivers used to call a "make-or-miss" result. The other blokes make. You miss. You lose. Williams is a great shooting team, as the yearlong numbers show. But of course they're not THAT great a shooting team (as the yearlong numbers and three prior Amherst games also show)--but no one is. It's too tall an ask to hope they match last night's shooting line tonight, but I hope they do. Because that shooting made that offense a glorious thing to behold. Yes, painful as all get-out for some of us (i.e., me), but glorious nonetheless.

Random notes:

-- When an offense works like that, obviously it works because everybody's clicking, in concert. But though I agree with other posters that Mayer played an almost flawless all-around game (GREAT interior passing to find cutters), I think it was Robinson who made the biggest difference. He had most of his points in the first 22 minutes, and he (along with Greenman, remarkably) just stretched the LJ defense too far. Those two cats can shoot from deep, and after so many balls had fallen through, you could see the Jeffs cheating all the way out, with their feet actually beyond the arc, to try to prevent Robinson's next 3-ball. (Epley helped too, clearly.) That just leaves too much space in the half-court for all those weakside cutters and ball rotation. Defenders are too far apart to help and recover. And of course without George in the middle, the Jeffs couldn't control anything around the rim, either. Perfect storm for one side, perfect dream for the other.

-- An overlooked aspect of Mayer's performance: he avoided foul trouble beautifully by frankly playing very differently from George (or typical rim protectors). Mayer hardly jumps, seems like. He more often just anchors his position and stays vertical with his arms instead of swatting. One consequence is that he gives up stuff that you'd think he might contest--Killian and Green both made a bunch of layups around him, but also missed a bunch, too. I'd expect Evans tonight to get his share of layups, too. But the upside for Mayer/Williams is that he stays in the game and remains in decent rebound position. And he's big enough to present at least some problems even when not aggressively contesting. Smart player. (Or smartly coached, or both.)

-- The zone took Toomey out of the game (don't know if there were other factors, as some have speculated). The most interesting thing about the zone was how far Williams extended it--which, with their length, makes it near impossible to shoot over. On the other hand, it left HUGE space in the key, which Amherst simply couldn't exploit (and yes, Pollack would've helped there, but let's not pretend it would have made up the difference last night). That'll be different tonight against Whitewater; Whitewater has a mid-range, 15-foot game, whereas Amherst has none. (Neither does Williams, really. Jeffs and LJs are both "modern" teams, focused on 3s and rim.) Whitewater actually seeks 12- and 15-footers. If Ephs play their zone like last night, they'll give up a ton of 'em. But. . . I don't expect they'll play their zone the same way as last night.

-- A surprise: I wonder why Toomey himself didn't try to penetrate into the foul-line area more, and then pass when picked up. That was the aspect of his play that seemed least characteristic of him. Puzzling.

-- Last thing: the zone helped expose Amherst's weaknesses as a passing team (which their failures against full-court zones have exposed all season). Toomey, obviously, is gifted, but in standard man-to-man attacks he has the ball all the time, and the other Jeffs really aren't asked to pass that much. They're willing passers, but not good ones. The open space in the middle of the Eph zone could have been exploited by multiple interior passes, or by initial penetration and then passes--but the Jeffs apart from Toomey just aren't good at that, maybe in part because they've so rarely had to do it. Williams, on the other hand, has an entire offense predicated on team-wide passing ability (instead of a dominating point guard). As was painfully evident last night, they've become really really good at it. Kudos to them.

I like Williams over Whitewater tonight, and I don't think it'll be that close (though nothing like last night) unless Williams' shooting numbers fall off the table--which, of course, can happen. "Make-or-miss." I'll be pulling for them. (Sorry, Amherst friends.)

[AncientSonOfHixon]

After sleeping on it, I'm convinced that last night was the best I've ever seen an Eph team play.  The top three games that come to mind are last night, the 2010 Guilford game in Salem, and the 2003 Elite Eight victory over Amherst, in that order.   But I'm not sure last night can ever be topped in terms of execution on both ends.

Not remotely surprised to hear this.

[madzillagd]

Apparently I'm behind Toomey today

[ECSUalum]

Congrats to the Ephs on a brilliantly played game last night. Hard for Amherst to beat an excellent team 4 times.  I watched last night with amazement as they dominated the Lord Jeffs. Great Job!!
Feel sorry for Aaron Toomey to have a final game performance like this, but he is still an amazing young student athlete.  Congrats to him , Coach Hixon and the Lord Jeffs on another outstanding season and Good Luck to Williams College vs UW-Whitewater tonight. Go Ephs!!!!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My most surprising takeaway from last night was how solid I think both teams will be without the Seniors next year.  Killian will be tough to replace, but the young guys stepped up enough to prove something.  Williams is losing a bunch, but their underclassmen really stepped up as well.  I thought both teams may have down years next season; I no longer believe that for a second.

[JustAFan]

Pat, I agree with and appreciate the irony in your response about CBS Sports!

I noticed that the women's championship game will be available online. So I would assume that the powers that be governing the NCAA DIII tournament are not the ones imposing the ban on online broadcast of tonight's men's game, and assume instead that the ban is coming from CBS. Do you know if the ban is a condition of CBS's TV package for the NCAA D1 tournament and they've forced the NCAA to apply the ban at all levels?  Makes me wonder if the NCAA DIII folks could reverse this going forward.  It does the NCAA no good to have this game unavailable unless you have a cable package that includes CBS Sports, especially since I doubt that little, if any, of the financial rewards from the CBS contract find their way down the NCAA ladder to the DIII level. Except at the D1 level, broadcast sports packages are becoming a relic and no longer a benefit to any of the schools involved given the advent of all of the different direct online broadcast media available to schools. The NCAA DIII men's tournament no longer needs access to a national broadcast system and the exclusivity conditions that are part and parcel of that access hurt rather than help the game, as evidenced by tonight's game; DIII sports are doing just fine, thank you, relying on the new technologies and broadcast venues available to all schools (and websites like yours!), which have created a greater buzz and more interest than the national system ever did.  Let's hope the DIII leaders in the NCAA can undo this approach in future years.

[nescac1]

AncientSon, 100 percent spot on.

Folks in Salem, eat at Blue Apron Red Rooster, and thank me later.  Absolutely spectacular meal, as good as you can find anywhere in D.C.   Wow. 

[rlk]

Williams College executed an absolute offensive and defensive clinic against amherst on the big stage in an epic performance for the ages---a tribute to the Ephs' players, Coach Mike Maker, and his staff. One of the best demonstrations of unselfish teamwork, skill, and intelligence for an entire 40 minutes I have seen in D3. The ljs surprisingly had no answer on either ends of the court. Check out the post-game Williams interview for a sense of who these young men are.

The final will be a challenge.

Agreed.  Williams is facing a very tough challenge.

Whitewater played very aggressive D against us (MIT) 2 years ago in the semi and completely took us out of our shooting rhythm.  Jamie Karraker, who was a deadly three point shooter, was zeroed out altogether, and they kept our other top players (Mitch Kates, Will Tashman, Noel Hollingsworth) bottled up.  They actually have three of their starters back from 2 years ago (Alex Merg, Quardell Young, and Eric Bryson), and one of their starters against us (Cody Odegaard) is now one of their top subs.  They don't have Chris Davis, who was national POY, but KJ Evans looks to be deadly enough himself.

All three games this bunch has played in Salem have featured killer second half runs.  We were up by 2 and then down by 10 or so before we knew it.  Cabrini was up by 18 with 14 minutes to go, and UWW came all the way back with time to spare, and against Illinois Wesleyan they had a 10-0 run in the second half also.  I haven't seen Williams play, but they're going to have to keep the pedal to the metal for 40 minutes.