MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

Trinity's Coach Cosgrove has to be the front runner for Coach of the Year honors but Coach Gilbride of Bowdoin has to be a consideration.

I might be tempted to give the nod to Gilbride: he did more with less. Maybe if the award went to a coaching staff, then I'd be more quick to give honors to Trin—their assistants are doing the heavy lifting during games while Cosgrove snarls and growls.

[lumbercat]

What about Bates Coach Furbush- nobody on this board  or elsewhere had the Bobcats doing anything this year. Furbush has done a fantastic job and deserves consideration.

[AmherstStudent05]

Spent the weekend out of the country, so unfortunately I missed out on all the action of the past couple of days.  Seems like, in keeping with the rest of the season, it was a topsy-turvy ride.

Good and bad things happened to my Jeffs.

First, congratulations to Coach Hixon and company for capturing Amherst's fourth straight Little III Championship (we also got a share of the Little III title in 2011).  That is a great accomplishment!

Not so great appears to have been our play in Vermont last night. I can't say as anything shocks me in the NESCAC this year, but I considered Amherst a sizable favorite, especially once Midd's season was over.  But if you would have told me that Connor Green would have had 29 points on 10-18 shooting and Sinnickson would have 5 points in 2-11 shooting, I would have given Midd no shot. Instead they won going away. Go figure.

The one bit of silver lining is that our loss sets up a rematch against Tufts. We played inexplicably poorly against them a month ago and I am glad we have the opportunity to make a much better showing against the Jumbos.

(This will be our first road game in the NESCAC Tournament in four years. Also, with our loss to Midd, this will be the first time since 2011 that we failed to record at least one win over every team in the conference)

As for Pool C, I have to agree with nescac1 that yesterday's loss really hurt.  I have to think that if we lose to Tufts we are all but completely done. Even if we make the semis we may well no longer be safe (I do think we will be in very strong position if we make the finals though). Again, the best course, as always, is just to win the tournament outright!

[Bucket]

What about Bates Coach Furbush- nobody on this board  or elsewhere had the Bobcats doing anything this year. Furbush has done a fantastic job and deserves consideration.

Certainly should be in the conversation. Honestly, I think he would be getting much more chatter if he was sharing company with a couple of the "traditional" powers and coaches, such as Amherst (Hixson) and Middlebury (Brown). But when you consider that no one was talking about Trinity (a team with the best record) or Bowdoin (with arguably less talent than the Bobcats), either, then he kind of gets lost in the conversation.

But I agree—the job Furbush did this year should not go unrecognized.

[Old Guy]

Really satisfying win yesterday for the Panthers - it's been dissected well by others. I would have checked in earlier, but came home after the game to pray to the porcelain god, stomach flu, the near-death 24 hour (I hope) variety. I'm writing during an interlude - profiles in courage. Still, amid my misery, a part of me is happy about yesterday's game.

I think Amherst "showed up." They had a lot to play for. When you run into Middlebury's Jekyll, not Hyde, it can be a long afternoon. The first half was terrific basketball, crisp, well-played. The large crowd (on a Sunday!) was very entertained. Connor Green put on a show. Understatement: he can really shoot. A couple of his threes in the first half were total bombs. He was guarded, but the defender said, "he's not going to shoot from there!" Nuthin' but net. Interesting coaching move by Jeff Brown putting 6'0" Jack Daly on Green - get into his shirt, make him work for his points. Midd had Brown, Daly, St. Amour on the floor together for long stretches. I was impressed with Berman running the offense for the Jeffs, hitting open outside shots.

As well as Merryman and St. Amour played, I have to give the premier etoile to Matt Daley. He played very hard and really bottled up the very talented David George. Merryman had his best game (at least of the ones I saw), hitting the outside shot and going hard to the hoop. St. Amour is very creative - he had two threes (2-3), a couple of floaters, and some snake-like moves to the hoop.

[AmherstStudent05]

Obviously we still have the tournament to play, but with the regular season over, I thought I would fill out another all conference ballot. I think there has been quite a bit of movement in recent weeks.

First Team: Hausman, Wohl, Green, Starks, Palleschi

Second Team: Safford, Jann, Boornazian, T. Smith, Davis.

I think Hausman, Wohl, and Green are the three first team locks at this point, and they are also my finalists for PoY. With Wohl's play having slipped just a bit and Hausman continuing his outstanding run, Hausman would actually be my front runner as of now although Wohl is still in the thick of things and Green has a strong chance as well if he leads Amherst on a nice tourney run (still can't believe that Green is shooting nearly 50% from three in conference play given how many threes he takes and how difficult many of them are).

I would love to give the Bantam players more love, but I am not sure what more that can be done other than putting Starks on the first team.

[nescac1]

AmherstStudent05, I agree completely that it is a very close three-man race right now between Wohl, Hausman and Green for POY ... Green's deep shot is the single most unstoppable weapon in the conference, and Hausman is the single most unstoppable overall offensive force.  Wohl has tailed off a bit of late in terms of his shooting, but still carries the Eph offense on his back along with Hayden, and he is also a much stronger defensive player, rebounder, and distributor than the other two guys.  Since he is the most complete two-way player, I'd give him a slight edge, although Hausman's total dominance on offense, along with team success, makes it a very close call between those two guys.  Green's tough start to the season matters -- if ONLY conference play counted, I think he would have a stronger case, but I do think (and correct me if I'm wrong) that non-NESCAC games also matter.   I'd say at this point that if one of the three leads their team to a strong run in the NESCAC tourney and stands out from the other two as an individual, they deserve the award. 

We differ, however, quite a bit on the other awards.  Again, it seems you are looking ONLY at conference play, but I do think non-NESCAC games matter, especially when the majority of the schedule is spent playing non-NESCAC teams.  By that metric, the candidacies of Palleschi, Jann, Smith and Davis all suffer quite a bit.  Jann and Smith I find especially odd choices -- both are fairly one-dimensional players (scorers), are not dominant in that dimension, and both did very little outside of conference play.  Smith I think was sent to the bench because he had such a rough first half of the season -- he reinvented himself as an effective offensive spark plug off the bench, but that doesn't make him an all-NESCAC player.

Hayden Rooke-Ley, Luke Westman, and Joseph Lin all posted much stronger seasons in my view, doing far more for their teams than Jann or Smith.  I realize Hayden missed a few games, but he, in particular, is a much better and much more productive player than either Jann or Smith at this point in their careers.  Lin got injured late in the year, but had some really dominating performances before he got hurt.  Sinnickson is another guy who tailed off late, but his entire body of work warrants a spot on at least the second team, for sure.  Finally, John Swords is such an imposing presence on defense, and so critical to Bowdoin's team success, that he has to be recognized even if his scoring was down (still a very efficient scorer, and underrated passer who opens things up for teammates by attracting a TON of attention in the post every play). 

It is really tough to pick all-NESCAC teams outside of the top three since Hudnut and Sabety, both of whom would have been first-team locks, suffered season-ending injuries, and Lin and Hayden, both of whom might otherwise have been first-team guys, suffered injuries, thinning out the pool. 

I'll go with:

First team: Hausman, Wohl, Green, Starks (agreed that Trinity's team success needs to be recognized), Safford
Second team: Palleschi, Westman, Lin, Sinnickson, Swords

Also worthy of consideration (and my third team): Boornazian, Kuo, Davis, St. Amour, Pavlin

Very, very close call between Cosgrove and Gilbride for COY.  If either team wins the NESCAC tourney, that coach should win the award.  Both are highly-deserving.  Johnny McCarthy has also tailed off late in the year, but there is no other strong candidate for ROY, so he takes it by default -- not a good year at all (relative to the recent pass, in particular) for NESCAC first-year players. 

[Bucket]

Some final Panther reflections before we all turn attention to the games still to be played:

*Surreal feeling in Pepin yesterday, watching the seconds tick off the clock, the crowd standing in ovation, a double-digit win over Amherst—and no more games to be played. Very strange.

*I thought this game would be a statement game for the Panther program—would we be a team that would just go through the motions, the season finished? Or would we be focused, angry, determined to not be in this position again? I was thrilled with the result, obviously, but even more thrilled with the attitude, the level of play. It sends such a strong message to the younger players in the program. As gtr said earlier, it's now incumbent on returning player leaders to continue to set this tone during the off-season.

*It's always sad to see seniors playing their final game. And while Sinnickson and Merryman get the well-deserved ink/pixels, I will miss witnessing Brierly's hustle. And it was great to see Churchill make the most of his minutes yesterday.

*Connor Green shot the ball effortlessly. A pure stroke, hand in his face, NBA-range, ripping the net. he was phenomenal.

*McCarthy will be a big-time player before his career is done. He struggled yesterday, but it's easy to see why LJ fans are so high on him.

*Berman is a competitor.

*We've seen it in spurts this year, but Matt Daley was the player we've been waiting to see, start to finish, going against a very long and athletic David George. Daley dominated the match-up, going for 14 pts (with 10 of the 14 coming on monster dunks), 11 boards, and 3 blocks, while not backing down an inch in the post, harassing George into a 1-7 night.

*17 assists between Brown (8) and Jack Daly (9).

*And yes, Matt St. Amour seems to have progressed terrifically less than a year after reconstructive knee surgery. His last four NESCAC games (Colby, Bowdoin, Trinity, Amherst) saw him as a consistently dependable scorer: 18, 23, 20, 18. This to go along with his usual hustle and savvy play.

*Now, if only we had been healthy when we played Bates, we'd still be playing games. (I KID, I KID!)

*Good luck to all teams heading into the conference tournament. My silver lining is that I look forward to following some great basketball without any emotional attachment. (Though I hope I can't say the same thing next year.)

[polbear73]

AmherstStudent05, I agree completely that it is a very close three-man race right now between Wohl, Hausman and Green for POY ... Green's deep shot is the single most unstoppable weapon in the conference, and Hausman is the single most unstoppable overall offensive force.  Wohl has tailed off a bit of late in terms of his shooting, but still carries the Eph offense on his back along with Hayden, and he is also a much stronger defensive player, rebounder, and distributor than the other two guys.  Since he is the most complete two-way player, I'd give him a slight edge, although Hausman's total dominance on offense, along with team success, makes it a very close call between those two guys.  Green's tough start to the season matters -- if ONLY conference play counted, I think he would have a stronger case, but I do think (and correct me if I'm wrong) that non-NESCAC games also matter.   I'd say at this point that if one of the three leads their team to a strong run in the NESCAC tourney and stands out from the other two as an individual, they deserve the award. 

We differ, however, quite a bit on the other awards.  Again, it seems you are looking ONLY at conference play, but I do think non-NESCAC games matter, especially when the majority of the schedule is spent playing non-NESCAC teams.  By that metric, the candidacies of Palleschi, Jann, Smith and Davis all suffer quite a bit.  Jann and Smith I find especially odd choices -- both are fairly one-dimensional players (scorers), are not dominant in that dimension, and both did very little outside of conference play.  Smith I think was sent to the bench because he had such a rough first half of the season -- he reinvented himself as an effective offensive spark plug off the bench, but that doesn't make him an all-NESCAC player.

Hayden Rooke-Ley, Luke Westman, and Joseph Lin all posted much stronger seasons in my view, doing far more for their teams than Jann or Smith.  I realize Hayden missed a few games, but he, in particular, is a much better and much more productive player than either Jann or Smith at this point in their careers.  Lin got injured late in the year, but had some really dominating performances before he got hurt.  Sinnickson is another guy who tailed off late, but his entire body of work warrants a spot on at least the second team, for sure.  Finally, John Swords is such an imposing presence on defense, and so critical to Bowdoin's team success, that he has to be recognized even if his scoring was down (still a very efficient scorer, and underrated passer who opens things up for teammates by attracting a TON of attention in the post every play). 

It is really tough to pick all-NESCAC teams outside of the top three since Hudnut and Sabety, both of whom would have been first-team locks, suffered season-ending injuries, and Lin and Hayden, both of whom might otherwise have been first-team guys, suffered injuries, thinning out the pool. 

I'll go with:

First team: Hausman, Wohl, Green, Starks (agreed that Trinity's team success needs to be recognized), Safford
Second team: Palleschi, Westman, Lin, Sinnickson, Swords

Also worthy of consideration (and my third team): Boornazian, Kuo, Davis, St. Amour, Pavlin

Very, very close call between Cosgrove and Gilbride for COY.  If either team wins the NESCAC tourney, that coach should win the award.  Both are highly-deserving.  Johnny McCarthy has also tailed off late in the year, but there is no other strong candidate for ROY, so he takes it by default -- not a good year at all (relative to the recent pass, in particular) for NESCAC first-year players.

A typically astute analysis, Nescac1.  Thank you.  I must admit to being incorrectly disappointed in the play of John Swords this year.  Then I have had the opportunity to see him play from the Middlebury game on, and it became very obvious what his presence means to Bowdoin on both ends of the court.  There is so much he does offensively and defensively that don't make it in statistics. 

[old_hooper]

There has not been a year that (at least one) either Amherst or Williams have not made it to the semi finals.  The only year that neither have not been involved in the championship game was in 2008 when Bowdoin upset Amherst in the semi finals at LeFrak and lost to Trinity in the finals.  It would appear that both go into this week as underdogs.  They will have play much better than their last performance in the CAC to advance.  Have to agree with other posters that Wes and Bow have the momentum going into playoffs.

[NothingButNESCAC]

I'm not putting too much stock into momentum heading into the playoffs. It seemed like Amherst had all the momentum going into yesterday with a six game winning streak, five of them by double digits and the sixth by nine points. That didn't show up on the scoreboard though. Wesleyan and Bowdoin played the best last week, but they have both showed themselves to be flawed teams as well.

[WPI89]

I like the chances of your "road" teams winning at least 2 of the 4 games next Saturday.

[polbear73]

I like the chances of your "road" teams winning at least 2 of the 4 games next Saturday.

Beating a team as talented as Williams twice in one year, even if both are at home, will be a big challenge for Bowdoin. 

[Bucket]

I like the chances of your "road" teams winning at least 2 of the 4 games next Saturday.

Beating a team as talented as Williams twice in one year, even if both are at home, will be a big challenge for Bowdoin.

You can say this about every team except for Trinity, probably, but I think it depends on which Williams team shows up: the one who played Middlebury and/or Amherst or the one who played Wesleyan and/or Hamilton.

[P'bearfan]

Has anyone seen Husson play this season?  They have a very good record and I have heard that they are a strong team but haven't seen them.  They only have two players over 6' 4" so I'm curious about their style of play.

Unfortunately I'm boarding a flight back to Atlanta so I will miss most of the game.

GoUBears!!