MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Crazy game in Williamstown.  Williams up one at the half, should have been up about 10 but could not hit a free throw or three to save their lives.  Trinity took control and looked ready to blow Williams out, going up 16 at one point behind absolutely shooting from Jacquan Starks.   Williams came all the way back thanks to an incredible individual effort from Daniel Wohl, and now headed to OT.  Whatever happens, Amherst has to be happy to see this game extended ... Ephs have worked REALLY hard to get back into this one.  hope they have enough for five more minutes!

[Bucket]

Bates, aided by a bit of Lewiston home cooking, escapes with 57-53 win.

I'm fully aware that this will sound like sour grapes, and I don't care. If this game is any indication, I don't see the Bobcats improving much on their one-win conference season of a year ago. If they struggle like this to beat a Middlebury team at home with the Panthers playing without one of its best players (Daley) and with virtually the entire team sick and playing on fumes, then I honestly don't see how Bates will compete with the stronger teams in the league. We'll see if they prove me wrong.

Gritty effort by the Panthers. I feel for the kids who gave it everything they had, while clearly having nothing in the tank.

Oddly, last year after the Bates game I predicted a big year for the Bobcats and was soundly proven wrong. After this particular game, I'm predicting the opposite. I guess we'll see what happens.

Smite away Lumbercat and friends.

[AmherstStudent05]

Amherst opens its NESCAC season by prevailing over Hamilton, 93-86.  This is easily the best I have seen Amherst play all year.

The story of this game has to be David George who finished with a career high 29 points on 9-10 shooting from the field and an astonishing 11-12 mark (!) from the charity stripe.  Hamilton simply had no answer for him today.  He was relentless on both ends of the court and managed to pick up only 1 foul (Lord knows how many he drew).

Amherst had a comfortable 15 point lead with about 4 minutes to play, but Hamilton battled back hard to close the gap to as few as 5 points (even if it cost me about 45 minutes of lifetime that I am unlikely to get back).

Hamilton played a zone against us all game, which, especially given how our season ended last year, was a very reasonable approach.  The Jeffs were just in a zone all game long and shot 12-24 from three.  Many of the threes were from pretty deep as well.  Not sure there was much Hamilton could have done on many of those as it actually seemed like their zone gave us some trouble. 

Connor Green was back to his old self with 25 points on 15 shots from all over the court.  This is the first Amherst game I have watched in about a month, but Connor just hadn't seemed himself to start the season.  I don't know if it was injury, illness, or just a bad spell, but today Connor was back to his familiar self.  So prior to tonight, no Amherst starter scored 20+ points in a game.  Tonight, George and Green accomplished the feat handily.

Speaking of, Pollack still clearly has a long way to get back to his proper form, but he definitely showed flashes today of what he is capable of.  Very heartening to see.

Anyway, on to Williams.  I am rooting for quadruple overtime tonight in Williamstown!

[AmherstStudent05]

Also, this may have been covered already and I may have missed it, but has the men and women travelling together experiment come to an end?  Are we no longer in cost saving mode?

[Bucket]

23, 5,11, 13, 14 and 31 were the rumored casualties and all were out there tonight. If they were incapacitated I give them credit for gutting it out tonight in Alumni Gym which is a tough place to play.
I bet the Panthers bounce back on the back end of their weekend road trip.

#23, Matt Daley, did not play. He wasn't even in uniform. 13, 14, and 31 all appeared  to be as effective as they generally are.  5 and 11, bless them both, were shadows of themselves.

[nescac1]

Both teams running on fumes.  Wohl just playing incredible  in every way except that he can not BUY one from the line -- 0-7 in OT.  Yet he still has 30 (so far).  Amherst and Hamilton gotta be loving this, but can't save anything for tomorrow, both teams need this one badly.  Ephs shooting 51 percent from the line as a team, so far, including two missed front end of one-and-ones.  Ephs also can't buy one from three.  Kind of amazing they are in the game at all. 

[nescac1]

Well, that last play just epitomized the kind of night it was for Williams.  Great turnaround shot by Wohl, off the backboard, spun over every part of the rim, seemed good to go, and out.  I think the Ephs had two other threes rim out in similar fashion, and of course the free throws, oh, the free throws.  Maybe Hayden needs to do some coaching of his teammates on his FTA technique. 

Congrats to Trinity on a gutty win and to Williams on a gutty comeback, in a game that they had chance after chance to win, but just could not get that one bounce or roll.  Hell of a game.  Williams really played as well as they possibly could, down one of their stars, in every way EXCEPT for three point and free throw shooting.  Second heart-breaker of the year for Williams, really, the breaks have just not gone their way this season, but that happens.  Tomorrow is going to be brutal after this one, but I'm sure the Ephs will be up for Amherst and playing in Chandler will give them, I hope, a little extra boost of adrenaline. 

[AmherstStudent05]

Bates, aided by a bit of Lewiston home cooking, escapes with 57-53 win.

I'm fully aware that this will sound like sour grapes, and I don't care. If this game is any indication, I don't see the Bobcats improving much on their one-win conference season of a year ago. If they struggle like this to beat a Middlebury team at home with the Panthers playing without one of its best players (Daley) and with virtually the entire team sick and playing on fumes, then I honestly don't see how Bates will compete with the stronger teams in the league. We'll see if they prove me wrong.

Gritty effort by the Panthers. I feel for the kids who gave it everything they had, while clearly having nothing in the tank.

Oddly, last year after the Bates game I predicted a big year for the Bobcats and was soundly proven wrong. After this particular game, I'm predicting the opposite. I guess we'll see what happens.

Smite away Lumbercat and friends.

Bucket, first I guess I need to start with the obligatory disclaimer: injuries are just so difficult to talk about.  I am reminded of the old Australian adage: "If you play you are fit and if you are fit you play."  But while this is a nice ideal, we know that it is rarely true.  Injuries and illness do play a role in determining sporting events obviously, but we can't have asterisk on everything or essentially give teams free roles. 

Anyway, I completely agree with you that if Brown and St. Amour were significantly slowed by injury, then that is something that is definitely worth noting. They are established stars on this year's Midd team. (I only caught the last minute of the Midd game so all I saw of MSA was him taking the ball hard to the hoop.)

It is your comments about Matt Daley that I am more interested in.  For a while now, many Midd posters, not just you by any means, have been singing Matt's praises.  I don't know about other non-Midd posters, but to this one, it seems that these evaluations have been more aspirational than anything else.  I know he had a huge game against Alvernia, but when you look at the stat line both this year and last, even on a per game basis, he appears to have been close to a non-factor statistically, both this year and last. (Last year he averaged 6.7 ppg in 13 appearances.  This year Matt seems to have played in 2 games and scored 8 total points.)

I know he has been hampered by injuries. I get it.  I also know that I have never seen him in practice.  But even so it seems to me a real stretch for you to describe Matt as one of Midd's "best players."  I hope Matt gets healthy enough soon to have the opportunity to prove me wrong, but it seems to me that you have to earn the right to use injuries as an excuse.  I just don't think Matt has earned that right yet. (The opposite example would be the 2011 Williams regular season game where Ryan Sharry and that Midd team absolutely earned the right for Sharry's absence to be noted.)

nescac1 can legitimately say that he was without one of his "best players" tonight.  I really don't think that is a fair comment for you to make for Midd at this stage and I think it unjustly detracts from what seems like a great Bates win.  Otherwise, I have a Ray Barry jersey to sell you (if only someone could remind me of his number).

[pinseeking1]

Middlebury was not only unhealthy, but they also had to be negatively affected by the long drive from VT to Lewiston. The Bobcats almost blew it with missed free throws near the end, but made them at the wire. If Merryman shoots his "normal" percentage on threes, the outcome might have been different. However, I don't think the Bobcats are quite as bad as Bucket thinks...

[Bucket]

Bates, aided by a bit of Lewiston home cooking, escapes with 57-53 win.

I'm fully aware that this will sound like sour grapes, and I don't care. If this game is any indication, I don't see the Bobcats improving much on their one-win conference season of a year ago. If they struggle like this to beat a Middlebury team at home with the Panthers playing without one of its best players (Daley) and with virtually the entire team sick and playing on fumes, then I honestly don't see how Bates will compete with the stronger teams in the league. We'll see if they prove me wrong.

Gritty effort by the Panthers. I feel for the kids who gave it everything they had, while clearly having nothing in the tank.

Oddly, last year after the Bates game I predicted a big year for the Bobcats and was soundly proven wrong. After this particular game, I'm predicting the opposite. I guess we'll see what happens.

Smite away Lumbercat and friends.

Bucket, first I guess I need to start with the obligatory disclaimer: injuries are just so difficult to talk about.  I am reminded of the old Australian adage: "If you play you are fit and if you are fit you play."  But while this is a nice ideal, we know that it is rarely true.  Injuries and illness do play a role in determining sporting events obviously, but we can't have asterisk on everything or essentially give teams free roles. 

Anyway, I completely agree with you that if Brown and St. Amour were significantly slowed by injury, then that is something that is definitely worth noting. They are established stars on this year's Midd team. (I only caught the last minute of the Midd game so all I saw of MSA was him taking the ball hard to the hoop.)

It is your comments about Matt Daley that I am more interested in.  For a while now, many Midd posters, not just you by any means, have been singing Matt's praises.  I don't know about other non-Midd posters, but to this one, it seems that these evaluations have been more aspirational than anything else.  I know he had a huge game against Alvernia, but when you look at the stat line both this year and last, even on a per game basis, he appears to have been close to a non-factor statistically, both this year and last. (Last year he averaged 6.7 ppg in 13 appearances.  This year Matt seems to have played in 2 games and scored 8 total points.)

I know he has been hampered by injuries. I get it.  I also know that I have never seen him in practice.  But even so it seems to me a real stretch for you to describe Matt as one of Midd's "best players."  I hope Matt gets healthy enough soon to have the opportunity to prove me wrong, but it seems to me that you have to earn the right to use injuries as an excuse.  I just don't think Matt has earned that right yet. (The opposite example would be the 2011 Williams regular season game where Ryan Sharry and that Midd team absolutely earned the right for Sharry's absence to be noted.)

nescac1 can legitimately say that he was without one of his "best players" tonight.  I really don't think that is a fair comment for you to make for Midd at this stage and I think it unjustly detracts from what seems like a great Bates win.  Otherwise, I have a Ray Barry jersey to sell you (if only someone could remind me of his number).

100 percent accurate post. Thanks for keeping me in check.

I absolutely understand your comment about aspirational evaluations, and I will retract what I said about Midd being without a top player. It is what we think, as opposed to what has been proven.

I will say that all observations of Matt in pre-season had pegged him as having the potential for an all-conference type season, but it is both unfair to the players on the court and to Matt, himself, to bestow this descriptor on him. So, consider it withdraw. I am hoping that he will have the opportunity to prove this in the future, but until then, please chalk up my sentiment to an expression of frustration and disappointment for the young man in not being able to show what Midd partisans believe he can do.

Also, major kudos to you for your depth of knowledge about a team other than your own. From your Daley-against-Alvernia observation to your recall of a Sharry-less loss to Williams in 2011, you have exhibited an encyclopedic grasp of Middlebury history.

Finally, yes, you are right. It was not a fair comment by me, and it did unjustly detract for a great Bates win.

[lumbercat]

Bucket...if 5 was sick tonight I am showing up at Tufts to see him at his best--he looked very good to me but I am not a Panther insider.
Middlebury looks like the best team in the league so I expect them to go undefeated in league play from this point on so chalk this loss up to injury or illness as you choose and move on. Take a page out of the Russ Reilly operating manual...."Never whine about losses, go get the next one"

[Old Guy]

#5 was a shadow of his normal self, so was #11. Courageous performance tonight by the Panthers. I'm proud of them. I was at the game, sat two rows behind the Middlebury bench. It was clear the Middlebury players were sick. Story I heard was that Midd requested a postponement but Bates declined. I don't know more than that.   

Bates played hard, deserved the win. I think they're better than Bucket does. Middlebury had a bunch of threes all but go in. A couple of those late threes drop, and it's a different game.

Take the boys back to the hotel, tell 'em to drink a lot of water, and sleep till warm-ups on Sunday.

[MENESCACFAN]

Given Bates won 11 games in the entirety of last season (11-13), and stand at 10-2 currently, it is unlikely Bucket calling them a worse team than they were last year holds any water.

I was at the game tonight and found it very enjoyable.  For the Bobcats, senior Graham Safford is a very entertaining ball handler and scored 20.  Sophomore Marcus Delpeche was also a big presence and landed a huge dunk on St. Amour.

St. Amour spent the majority of the game complaining to referees with his arms outstretched.  I had heard a lot about what a great athlete he is, but didn't see anything special tonight.  Dylan Sinnickson was a huge presence for the Panthers.  Midd seems a long way below the team they were 2-3 years ago, and Bates seems better than last year in my opinion.

[Old Guy]

Given Bates won 11 games in the entirety of last season (11-13), and stand at 10-2 currently, it is unlikely Bucket calling them a worse team than they were last year holds any water.

I was at the game tonight and found it very enjoyable.  For the Bobcats, senior Graham Safford is a very entertaining ball handler and scored 20.  Sophomore Marcus Delpeche was also a big presence and landed a huge dunk on St. Amour.

St. Amour spent the majority of the game complaining to referees with his arms outstretched.  I had heard a lot about what a great athlete he is, but didn't see anything special tonight.  Dylan Sinnickson was a huge presence for the Panthers.  Midd seems a long way below the team they were 2-3 years ago, and Bates seems better than last year in my opinion.

[Old Guy]

Sorry about that post that went nowhere. We are in a motel in Maine with sketchy internet.

I was taking the bait from MENESCACFAN.

Not a very enjoyable game from the Middlebury perspective. Hardly artistic - poor shooting (31.3 from the floor; 21.4% from three - Merryman 1-13; 40.7% from the line). I'll give the Bates defense some credit for that - the Bobcats played hard and deserved the win. I was proud of the Panther's grit. A good effort indeed, under really unfortunate circumstances. Wouldn't mind getting the Bobcats again - maybe in the tourney.

You're little quick to pull the trigger on St. Amour - hope you might catch another game or two (WHEN HE"S NOT SICK). He did have a nice floater from the right and a terrific baseline drive & hoop. St. Amour's "complaining": As a rule I don't talk about the officiating (always sounds like sour grapes), but Matt had a legitimate gripe - he was assaulted twice with no call. His court demeanor is generally animated and positive. He enjoys himself out there, normally, and is very positive.

I think Bates is better than last year. They have mostly the same players, a year older (especially important for the Delpeches). Yes, they are 10-2 and last year they ended up at 11-13. But at this point in the season last year they were 8-4, not too shabby - and 3-9 in the second half. So the jury's still out, as it is with everyone. But I don't see them going 1-9 in NESCAC play again this year. The key, I think, is Safford and the quality of his leadership: he runs the show and if he can be poised and consistent, they'll make some noise in the league.