MBB: NESCAC

sully6827 · November 09, 2006, 01:00:49 AM

Wilson is a PG

walzy31 · November 09, 2006, 11:13:20 AM

Congrats to Zak Ray for being the sole NESCAC preseason All-America picked by D3Hoops. Kind of ridiculous that the "best" NESCAC player is honorable mention AA, but I am not surprised.

Didn't WPI lose to Clark, Wheaton, Coast Guard and Utica last year?

slickyquick · November 09, 2006, 12:18:18 PM

To nescac1, I'm not afflliated with Williams but I can get some inside info on their team throughout the season. Just from being around the business.

thunder32 · November 10, 2006, 10:37:20 AM

I was just checking out Tufts schedule and I noticed that this year may be a little different than the last because of the schedule. The last couple of years we didn't know who the NESCAC regular season champion was going to be until the last weekend of league play. But this year we have the four best teams playing each other in the first NESCAC weekend. We should know a lot from that weekend. It also gives the edge to the more veteran teams such as Tufts and Bates. I say this because Tufts only lost one player and should be well adjusted to one another and Bates as long as they have Ray and Stockwel everyone else is just a role player. Trinity they lost Tyler and im not sure about anyone else. He may have been their only loss but I think that they would need to restyle their offense that was grounded around him for four years. Amherst is obviously going to be a great team once again but I think with the loss of Bedford, casanocha (not sure if I spelled his name right) and Corrigan (even though he was a backup I believe he gave them leadership and defensive depth) the players will have to adjust to a different core of players and the sooner that Tufts can play them during the season the better the chance they will have to win.

whoarewebobcats · November 10, 2006, 11:43:28 AM

I think that's a pretty good observation. Obviously I am Bates-biased, but I think this is their optimal year in terms of getting a NESCAC championship with Zak and Rob as seniors. Sounds like the frosh class is promising, and they have the role players you mentioned -- Halloran to shoot, McGinn and Taylor for energy and size off the bench, Shone will be a great "little things" contributor assuming he is fully healthy -- but you may be underestimating Bryan Wholey by lumping him in with the "role" players. Reilly loves him, he'll always get minutes, he's got a great shot. He doesn't play much defense, but he's got the size and ability to, and he's a lot more aggressive than he was his frosh year, or even early soph year at both ends of the floor.

I saw the Bates/Tufts game last year and Tufts really impressed me...I don't remember specifics, but they seemed to work really well as a team and had really difficult matchups for Bates' defense, plus their PG was a nuissance for Zak, which is tough to do. And of course Amherst and Trinity are always good...so it should be a very interesting year, especially with, as you pointed out, the early matchups. Any reason to expect any of last year's bottom five to make a leap upward (I guess based on reputation Williams would be most likely)?

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · November 10, 2006, 11:45:28 AM

Bates also has the added advantage of a trip this summer to gel better and get some off-season work in. That usually helps squads get started well during the regular season.

formerbant10 · November 13, 2006, 01:21:41 PM

Nice write up on Drew "Treyball" Cohen. Cohen looked to be in very good shape this summer. Getting up and down the court really well and blocking everything in sight. Looked a little bit better down on the block. If he can add a couple of good moves to his soft outside touch, he could be a lot of trouble for some of the other big guys in the league.

Interesting first weekend as Thunder pointed out. Trin/Amherst on the road at Tufts/Bates. Amherst has cruised that that trip the last two times, while the Bants are 1-3 including two losses at the buzzer to Bates. The only thing I disagree with is saying that Bates and Tufts are the more experienced teams. Tufts gained a lot last year by making it to the tourney, and I think they'll be at that level again, despite their loss. Bates, however, doesn't have any tourney experience and only a couple of guys have really proven themselves to be consistent players. Ray and Stockwell are two of the best, but since the departure of Gerrity and Furbush, the have relied a little too much on their playmakers....but they have continued to win games, so they are obviously doing something right up there. Maybe this is the year they get over the hump.

Amherst is loaded. They have players who didn't sniff any time last year who can play. They have plenty of experience and as long as Olson is running the point, they'll be just fine.

As for the Bants. They have plenty of experience as well. Hoar, Hasiuk, Taylor, and Clarke all contributed to their most recent tourney team. P. Martin has plenty of big game experience and started to really shine at the end of the year. Sure losing Rhoten makes their team different, but Trinity had run different offenses each of his 4 years, so if they do put something new in this year I don't think it'll be a struggle for those guys to pick it up.

And by the time the conference schedule comes into play, most of the teams are at least 10-12 games deep and will have worked out their early kinks. Had this set of games been in the November or early December, I'd give the advantages to the home teams no matter what. But playing in January is much different than.

eclinchy · November 13, 2006, 09:10:11 PM

Hey everyone... longtime lurker, first-time poster... I cover baseball/basketball/football for the Tufts newspaper, so I thought I'd offer a few notes on this year's Jumbos.

-Fitzgerald is returning for another year. He walked on as a sophomore, so he's got another year of eligibility left. He got into a biomedical engineering grad school program, so he's still a Tufts student.

-Martin's the only loss to graduation -- Fitz is moving up to center to replace him, and Weitzen moves into the starting lineup, he and Kumf are the two forwards. Shepherd and O'Keefe are still starting.

-The bench looks solid. Black will back up Shep, and Dan Cook, the new freshman, backs up O'Keefe at the 2. They LOVE Cook so far. From what little I saw at midnight madness, he seemed to be shooting the lights out... Coach Sheldon said he carried the team in one of their scrimmages.

-Jon Pierce is looking solid as a backup post guy (he's the sophomore transfer from Drew). He's only 6'5", but then again so is Fitz. It's not out of the question that Pierce could see some time as a center... his teammates seem to like him, especially Weitzen.

-Overall, everyone looks to be in better shape physically... a lot more strength, and they'll need it if they're gonna rebound well without Martin. According to the rosters, Kumf has gained ten pounds, and Shep and O'Keefe have put on five each. They're really stressing rebounding in practices... we'll see if it pays off.

-The Tufts Tip-Off Tournament (TU, Lasell, RI College, Endicott) starts Friday night. If anyone wants to watch the webcast, check out http://www.jumbocast.com. Should be some good games.

If anyone's interested, I can post some links to some further reading when they go online tomorrow morning.

Old Guy · November 13, 2006, 09:57:29 PM

"Weitzen moves into the starting lineup,"

How's Weitzen's conditioning?

eclinchy · November 13, 2006, 10:11:23 PM

He looks pretty much the same as he always has, and he weighed in at 265 again this year. So I dunno if there's any news to report on that front.

He pretty much has to start though... unless Pierce or Tom Selby (new frosh from Wisconsin) learns the system in a hurry, he's the only big guy good enough to start.

formerbant10 · November 13, 2006, 10:37:45 PM

Eclinchy,

I don't want you to take this personally, but the weight on the roster is not always that players true weight. I'm not saying that these guys didn't put on weight, if they worked hard the easily could have put on the muscle....but I've seen players lose inches over the years according to their roster listing.

But thanks for the insight on the Jumbos. Top Notch preview.

eclinchy · November 13, 2006, 10:51:31 PM

Yeah, I understand that. But Shepherd definitely looks stronger to me, and Kumf too (who needs to be -- a LOT of this team's fate depends on whether he's strong enough to rebound against guys like Wheeler, O'Shea, Stockwell, etc). I'm not just going off of the roster, although the roster does confirm my thoughts.

By the way, the TTT could be a really competitive weekend. According to Sheldon, RI College crushed Iona (yes, a D1 school) in a scrimmage last week. And if I remember Endicott well from last year's NCAA tourney game, their leading scorer and rebounder (Nemanja Marinkovic) is a senior now, so they could be solid despite losing a couple of guys. Should be some good games.

walzy31 · November 14, 2006, 12:45:12 AM

Eclinchy,

LOVING the knowledge you are dropping about Jumbo nation. Keep that up.
Tufts and Trinity join Amherst in the top 3 of the conference a small step ahead of Bates and a large jump from the rest of the league.

Fitz coming back for Tufts is big. If they had lost both him and Martin I would think they would drop off a bit.

So I get it that Ray and Stockwell are good and Wholly can support them a little bit. But they are missing that component of NESCAC teams which makes them real good which is having a first 7 that everyone in the conference can name and is worried about.

Tufts, Trinity and Amherst have it. Williams used to have it.

Amherst opens up Friday night with NYCCT. I don't know what that stands for, but I will predict a 109 - 56 win.

walzy31 · November 14, 2006, 12:45:47 AM

109 - 56 Amherst winning for anyone who is from Mars.

eclinchy · November 14, 2006, 01:11:22 AM

Quote from: walzy31 on November 14, 2006, 12:45:12 AM
Eclinchy,

LOVING the knowledge you are dropping about Jumbo nation. Keep that up.

Will do! Here are three pieces of extra reading for anyone interested...

My season preview article - http://www.tuftsdaily.com/news/2006/11/14/Sports/Mens-Basketball.Preview.Smaller.More.Athletic.Jumbos.Aim.To.Sustain.Winning.Way-2457267.shtml
A feature on Fitz's comeback - http://www.tuftsdaily.com/news/2006/11/14/Sports/Graduate.Student.Fitzgerald.Returns.To.Use.His.Remaning.Year.Of.Eligibility-2457273.shtml
A feature on Weitzen joining the starting five - http://www.tuftsdaily.com/news/2006/11/14/Sports/Weitzen.To.Leave.SixthMan.Role.For.Starting.Job-2457276.shtml

Enjoy...

And another thing... Walzy, I know you're well respected around here for your NESCAC expertise, so I hate to challenge you. But I have to ask... why do you think Trinity is a top-three team without Rhoten? You think Kino is that good? I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bants lose this year to Bates, Williams and maybe even Bowdoin. But that's just me.