MBB: NESCAC

[lumbercat]

Watched the Colby - Bates game tonight on a very good internet feed from Lewiston with no interruptions.
Bates was impressive and so were the Mulues who hung tough in the second half.
Hudnut is a horse but believe Bates defensive game plan was very effective. Young Coach Furbush at Bates began his tenure against immortal Whitmore at Colby and the lessons learned opposing the best coach in Maine state history are producing benefits for Furbush and his grinding style at Bates.

Hudnut looks more comfortable in the high post but he's a fine player.....Cowens type......he will have to be ready to play hard down low defensively on Saturday against Swords and Bowdoin. Hudnut would be well advised to emulate the style of Wayne Embry when he matches up against Swords (aka Mel Counts) on Saturday. Hudnut needs to come out of the Mules locker room with a defensive mindset to make it a nightmare day for Swords- if he plays effectively with a defensive focus his game at the offensive end of the court will take care of itself.

For all you old NBA fans from the 60's allow me to make some other NESCAC comparisons.....the Delpeche twins at Bates are getting better with every game in their sophomore year and controlled the boards tonight against Hudnut and Colby.......the Garnet Twin Towers equate to Nate Thurmond and Zelmo Beatty when they played together in the 60's..........like the the Delpeche twins Thurmond and Beatty were big, strong, dominant and.........underrated !!

[middhoops]

Whoa, Lumbercat!!  Zelmo Beatty, Mel Counts!  Love the comparisons.  Not many remember those guys.
Remember when the Warriors tried playing Wilt with Thurmond at the same time?
Thanks for the memories. 
+k for a few days on that.
Immmpressive.

[pinseeking1]

A few comments:

First, Bowdoin looked underwhelming in their loss to Babson. The PBs don't seem to be taking advantage of having a seven footer, but of course you can't keep feeding the big man if he doesn't want it. Sometimes I think Swords doesn't seem to "demand" the ball, so you can't place all of the blame on the guards not passing it into Swords in the paint. It will be very interesting to see how Bowdon bounces back from this game.

Second, Bates passed their first test tonight and beat a team with a quality big man in Colby. Colby is a strong team with excellent outside shooting along with a top notch big man, so they will be a very tough win for anyone this season. The Delpeche brothers do seem to be getting better with each game for the Bobcats and the scoring has been very balanced. It will be a difficult strategy for teams to try to shut down any one Bates player because there seems to be someone stepping it up every game to fill the void. Can't wait to see the Bowdon and Bates matchup on Thursday...

Middlebury seems to have good chemistry with this year's team as compared to last year. I suspect they'll be moving up in the rankings soon.

And finally, I'm rooting for Rooke-Ley to set a new free throw record. It's fun to check the box scores after every Williams game as the streak continues...

[Old Guy]

"Hudnut would be well advised to emulate the style of Wayne Embry when he matches up against Swords (aka Mel Counts) on Saturday. Hudnut needs to come out of the Mules locker room with a defensive mindset to make it a nightmare day for Swords- if he plays effectively with a defensive focus his game at the offensive end of the court will take care of itself." lumbercat

I think it's the other way around: Swords best be thinking of ways to contain Hudnut.

Lots of energy expended on this board on Ephs-Jeffs tilts, but the Bates-Bowdoin-Colby battles take no back seat in terms of the intensity of the rivalries, and they go way, way back.

[lumbercat]

Midd hoops-
Spent my youth listening to Johnny Most- I remember all the Wilt- Russell matchups and treasure those memories.
I'll throw out a few more of my favorite memories for you....vicious fist fights between Tom Meschery  and Tommy Heisohn....the great Hal Greer who shot jump shots from the foul line.....3 foul shots to make 2 in penalty situation.....the smooth stroke of Sad Sam Jones...the most underrated pure shooter of all time who was the the master of the bank shot, used the glass on almost every shot and when he made one over Wilt his line to the Stilt was "Too Late"!!!...
And last who could forget grinder Rudy LaRusso of Dartmouth who Johnny Most named "Roughouse Rudy" because he played so physical for the Warriors against the Celts.....
Many great memories of the "Old NBA" where they played hard instead of worrying about putting on an individual show- it was a team game then-- it's about individuals and egos today.

[lumbercat]

As always OLD Guy you may be right on the Swords-Hudnut matchup.
I know Vermont is beautiful but if you were domiciled in Lewiston I bet you would be at center court in the Bobcat Den Thursday night when the Black and White pay a visit. Here's betting your heart will be with the Garnet.
On a serious note, I heard of your book recently during the festivities honoring Chick Leahy at the Bates-Colby football game -- where can I get a copy?

[lefrakenstein]

Just perusing the box score from the Amherst/Westfield State game (which amherst won by 11 after a tight game throughout) a few things stick out:

1. No Ben Pollack tonight. Hate to see that. I hope he's alright.  I imagine he's had to work hard to get back on the court, so it would be a shame if he were injured again so soon.

2. Another very nice game for Johnny McCarthy, including SIX steals. He had every one of the team's steals tonight.

3. With Pollack out and George in foul trouble, Conklin made the most of some extra playing time, scoring 8 points and grabbing 8 boards in just 19 minutes.

[madzillagd]

Only turned on Amherst for a minute but it happened to be when they mentioned he had back spasms and should be back this week

[Vandy74]

Best wishes to Amherst FY Riopel - hope he isn't seriously injured.

Agreed.  I hope Riopel is back playing asap.  Middhoops and I were the only board posters I noticed at the MC-CSJ game last night.  Not much point in heaping praise on good play against a team that simply wasn't going to beat you but credit should go to a team that played hard and well instead of just going through the motions.  What the performance of the Panthers showed (again) that does warrant attention is that they really are 10 deep not just in players who won't hurt you if they need to play 2-3 minutes but in players who could start on any given game day.  This is something that Middlebury hasn't had before.  On a less enthusiastic note, Middlebury seems to have lost Sinnickson for at least a game.  He turned his ankle with about 7 minutes remaining.  He got up and ran gingerly down the court before realizing he couldn't continue.  Middhoops judged it to be a lateral sprain and possibly a mild one.  Sinnickson and St. Amour were joking about something on the bench as the game was winding down so it wouldn't seem the injury is serious.  I expect Bucket will be able to fill us in on the details at some point.  The last time I checked the MC site there was no mention of it.     

[lefrakenstein]

Only turned on Amherst for a minute but it happened to be when they mentioned he had back spasms and should be back this week

Thanks! I had missed that in the earlier post.

What happened to Riopel?

[grabtherim]

Midd hoops-
Spent my youth listening to Johnny Most- I remember all the Wilt- Russell matchups and treasure those memories.
I'll throw out a few more of my favorite memories for you....vicious fist fights between Tom Meschery  and Tommy Heisohn....the great Hal Greer who shot jump shots from the foul line.....3 foul shots to make 2 in penalty situation.....the smooth stroke of Sad Sam Jones...the most underrated pure shooter of all time who was the the master of the bank shot, used the glass on almost every shot and when he made one over Wilt his line to the Stilt was "Too Late"!!!...
And last who could forget grinder Rudy LaRusso of Dartmouth who Johnny Most named "Roughouse Rudy" because he played so physical for the Warriors against the Celts.....
Many great memories of the "Old NBA" where they played hard instead of worrying about putting on an individual show- it was a team game then-- it's about individuals and egos today.

I lived in Boston toward the end of Johnny Most's career calling games for the Celtics.  He was an unabashed "homer" but wore that badge proudly.  A couple of things I will never forget listening to live.  First, is when he set himself on fire with his cigarette during a game.  He had no idea until the color man brought it to his attention.  Second, was when the Bucks and Dave Cowens of all people beat the Celtics in the 1983 playoffs.  Most was incensed that they were celebrating the victory, especially Cowens.  His quote was shrill and typical of Most:  "How many banners do they have in their rafters?"  He was the voice of a generation to anyone who listened to the Celtics on the radio during the glory years of Russ and Bird.   

[toad22]

Last night, in the Williams-RPI game, I found myself yelling "Stanislofski!", when, in my view, an RPI player flopped on a play. I wonder if anybody in the gym understood the reference. Probably not.

[P'bearfan]

Last night, in the Williams-RPI game, I found myself yelling "Stanislofski!", when, in my view, an RPI player flopped on a play. I wonder if anybody in the gym understood the reference. Probably not.

Perhaps more would have understood the reference if you had yelled "Stanislavski" 

[amh63]

LeFrank....go back and read Amhstud05 post on the game.  The freshman guard was injured on a dunk late in the game.  It took the atmosphere of the game out of the fans as Stated by the announcers.  The SID writeup avoids any mention of the incident on the Amherst website.  The crowd and players all clapped as the trainer walked off the court with the player for further examination.

[AmherstStudent05]

Happy Birthday to Coach Hixon!