MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Some interesting results in NESCAC MBB tonight - that Colby game (18 point lead at the half) is interesting indeed - you would think a senior-laden team would be immune from a collapse of this sort.

The Tufts game looked like a good one, tight throughout (Jumbos with a 3 pt win). Likewise, Hamilton won by three over Keuka and CC lost by nine to FDU- Florham (Pavlin - 16 points 14 rebounds) after being up at the half at home. FDU Florham? The Bills with a nice 11 point win (15 point lead at the half) over traditionally strong Salem State.

Amherst won by 50, predictably over Johnson State (the most minutes any Jeff starter was 21).

Now here's the shocker: one can't find the outcome of the Wesleyan home opener against Lyndon State - not on the NESCAC Scoreboard page or the Wesleyan basketball home page. No wonder. The expectation was that Wes, 2015 NESCAC Champs,  would administer a similar early season beating on hapless Lyndon (VT) State that Amherst applied to Johnson (don't you love it - Lyndon Johnson, 50 miles apart in Vermont).

Nay nay, NESCAC hoop fans, Lyndon won 80-78! (http://www.middletownpress.com/sports/20151120/college-basketball-wesleyan-falls-short-in-season-opener). Did the Cardinals snooze or is Lyndon this year's Southern Vt/Husson?

Wish we had Mules-Continentals-Camels-Cardinals posters. Lots of interesting perspectives out there.

We're on, hoop fans!

[7express]

Hey Nescac 1 this is slightly off topic, but I'm planning on going up to Williams on Sunday for the 2nd day of the women's tournament.  How's the parking situation near Chandler??  Is there a lot close to the gym, or am I going to have to walk a couple miles??  Sorry, never been up there, but looking forward to it!

[nescac1]

Wow.  Stunner re: Wesleyan.  Considering that Lyndon State lost to MCLA, I doubt they are anything great.  But there are always a few huge surprises early for NESCAC teams, so I wouldn't read too much into it ... some loaded Amherst teams have dropped the occasional weird early game, and of course the Williams team that played in the title game two years ago lost to SVT in its opener.  NESCAC teams are always behind the eight ball with two less weeks of practice and typically playing their first game vs. teams who have already played between one and three.  These first few weeks are about playing catch up and building up some momentum heading into December. 

7express, you won't have a problem with parking.  If you can't find parking on Spring Street (which is adjacent to Chandler), there is a large public lot at the base of Spring Street, about a two block walk from Chandler.  Enjoy the visit! 

[Old Guy]

I saw the Midd Hoops bloggers picked first team AA Hausman for the second team in NESCAC.  Whatttt??  As we saw tonight, he might put up 30 ppg this year.  It's not out of the question. 

Very nice first win for a VERY young Williams squad.  One thing we now know for sure -- Kevin App can recruit.  The odds of a Williams guy being ROY in NESCAC went way, way up after tonight.  The three top performers were all frosh.  I love Bobby Casey's game -- he is the best PG prospect to come into NESCAC since Toomey.  Beautiful shot, when he misses he does not miss by much and plays with a ton of poise and confidence already.  Clearly has onions.  A magician with his passes.  15 points including two dagger threes late, 3 assists, credited with one steal although I could have sworn he had more.  4-7 from three.  And can drive as well.  Not too shabby a debut.  Kyle Scadlock (14-10 and lots of highlight reel plays in 18 minutes) and James Heskett (11 points, 3-4 from deep in 14 minutes) were also both tremendous.  Scadlock reminds me a bit of Daniel Wohl in terms of length, athleticism, tenacity, ability to finish at the rim, and all-around game, but looks ahead of where Wohl was as a frosh.  Heskett is crazy tall and has a beautiful shot, a perfect stretch 4 for the Ephs system.  Can move without the ball too.  Also playing well was Marcos Soto, looks like a tough, athletic albeit a bit undersized center who can defend, board, and has nice touch.  6'10 Michael Kempton also played substantial minutes.  He is BIG, coordinated, and runs the floor well.  Still a work in progress on offense however, but just give him some time.   

The Eph returning players were overshadowed by the frosh as none had a particularly memorable game.  Galvin and Teal both had some nice moments on both ends.  Greenman struggled a bit with his shot but will surely be fine.  Aronowitz only played 13 minutes -- not sure if it was a physical issue, but I found that really odd.  As good as the frosh looked, he needs to be a go-to guy on the wing.  Edward Flynn did a good job clearing the glass and on defense.  Had several VERY nice moves to the basket, just had some trouble finishing.  IF those bunnies drop he will be an asset. 

Salem State has a lot of individual talent but MAN I've rarely seen a team play such individual basketball.  Almost every shot attempt came off of a one-on-one move it seemed like.  They did hit a lot of high degree of difficulty shots but didn't really help themselves much.  I thought, especially considering how many frosh were out there, the Ephs did a great job of moving without the ball and sharing and getting clean looks.  They missed some bunnies inside, some makeable 3's and some foul shots, but that is to be expected in only the first game of the season.  Ephs played OK on defense but let too many guys blow by them.  The frosh will surely improve over time on that end.

Great effort for a young team!  Casey, Scadlock, and Heskett are going to be very fun to watch for the next four years!

Thanks, NESCAC1. Thanks for nuthin'. Very depressing post - for the rest of us!

[7express]

Also a pleasure to meet p'bearfan before the Bowdoin/Western game today!

[GoWesYoungMan]

It was a bit of a shocker in Middletown. Maybe the Cardinals overlooked Lyndon State...maybe some breaks went the Bobcats' way...but mostly this was about Lyndon making shots (12/27 from three including several contested threes in the late stages of the shot clock). Give them credit. At the end of the season they may not be very good, but they were pretty good last night. For Wes it the effort was there. Wes obviously could have managed the backside rotations a little better but many of those kick outs followed good penetration by Lyndon. Learn from this one and move on.

[P'bearfan]

Also a pleasure to meet p'bearfan before the Bowdoin/Western game today!

7express, it was great to meet you as well.  Good luck to your Colonials the rest of the season.  Based on the way the played last night your team will go very far this year!

[P'bearfan]

It was a tough start for Bowdoin's season last night as they ran into a Western Connecticut State buzzsaw.  The Polar Bears lost: 94-77.

WCSU was all around the much better team last night.  They aren't big but they are very athletic and they shot the ball extremely well (47.9% from the floor; 39.8% from behind the arc).  Two things surprised me about the Colonials: 1) how disciplined they were on defense which is tough to pull off so early in the season when you have that many new faces; 2) how many good shooters they have; the Colonials had 5 players score in double digits. 

Bowdoin was just plain rusty in the first half.  The Polar Bears only scored 23 points in the opening stanza and allowed 43.  While Bowdoin played much better in the second half outscoring WCSU 54-51, the hole from the first half was just too deep.  Bowdoin didn't shoot particularly well through the enitre game (39.3% from the floor and only 17.6% from the downtown).  Lucas Hausman put the team on his back in the second half on his way to scoring a game high 34 points.  The Polar Bears also went deep into their bench which at times meant having 3 freshman and 1 sophmore on the floor.  In the long run we'll be a better team for getting so many players involved but it may be a bit bumpy early on.

Looking forward to the game against Daniel Webster today at 1 pm.

GoUBears!!

[amh63]

Thank you posters for your quality write ups.   
I had a full day of watching D3 games live and online and was so overloaded and tired that I went to bed early....not good to post mixed up impressions of these early CAC games.  I will just post brief comments on the games I saw and some initial impressions of the stats of games...selected ones.
Was up at the Hoopsville Tournament for the early games....wanted to see SJF from Rochester and the Southern Vermont game.  SJF beat Amherst by 17 points in the post season last year and Southern Vermont will play Bates and Midd later this season.  Those games are covered well by NEhoops on the cover column of D3hoops.com.  I will only add that as good as SJF looked this early in the season, they may have trouble against Amherst if the two teams meet again this season....has size but not quickness/speed.  Wrt to Southern Vermont....another team with not much size....their style of play could cause problems for the Bobcats and Panther teams.
Got back for dinner and caught most of the first Amherst game...at least when there were still a few of the starters in. The stats of the game were not available but the game ended with four freshman on the floor...no....Big Joe S. was out...and a little used upperclassman on the floor.  Johnson St. was undersized and played poorly against Amherst whose players wanted to play against anyone else than teammates.  The announcers were impressed with big Joe S.....need to get a handle for him as I am bad with names,,,spelling.   The big center seemed to block every inside shots and get any loose rebound missed by a teammate.  Moved well up and down the floor..athletic.  Worked with his fellow FY center well......did I say the opponents were smaller?   Today's game should be challenging.
I danced around the web to catch pieces of the other games.  Followed Midd a little on Stats; could not figure out what was up from Middletown; surprised by the Colby game and watched the Bowdoin game the most.
Impressions: Seems more teams are allowing their players to wear bright colorful shoes...a trend?.  Looked for 7Express but the webcast seemed off in color tone and definition at times.  Interesting color uniforms at WCSU.
In the case of the Polar Bears and Panthers.....doesn't look good to me to see star players carry the load and get very little offense from the other starters.  Yes, J. Brown was in double figures. 
Oh well, it was the first game and there are reasons for playing these out of conference teams.  Do expect all the CAC teams will be much improved in play when conference games roll around.....barring injuries. 
I'm awake...clearer head...more games today plus WBB games too.    Maybe watch a little soccer too.  Ooops, game on!

[Bucket]

In the case of the Polar Bears and Panthers.....doesn't look good to me to see star players carry the load and get very little offense from the other starters.  Yes, J. Brown was in double figures. 

Offense wasn't the problem for the Panthers—I'll take 87 ppg any day. Yes, St. Amour had a game- and career-high 33, but if Middlebury is to get 14 and 5 from Jake Brown this year, then Midd should be more than fine offensively. Matt Daley was an efficient 6-8 from the floor, though struggled from the line (1-5) for 13 points.

Midd lost to Baldwin Wallace because the Panthers gave up 97 points. Yikes. BW blistering from three—15-26. I'd like to think this game proved to be a perfect storm: a team in rhythm playing its third game and getting hot and team in its first game, still struggling to get up to speed. Time will tell.

[7express]

Some interesting results in NESCAC MBB tonight - that Colby game (18 point lead at the half) is interesting indeed - you would think a senior-laden team would be immune from a collapse of this sort.

The Tufts game looked like a good one, tight throughout (Jumbos with a 3 pt win). Likewise, Hamilton won by three over Keuka and CC lost by nine to FDU- Florham (Pavlin - 16 points 14 rebounds) after being up at the half at home. FDU Florham? The Bills with a nice 11 point win (15 point lead at the half) over traditionally strong Salem State.

Amherst won by 50, predictably over Johnson State (the most minutes any Jeff starter was 21).

Now here's the shocker: one can't find the outcome of the Wesleyan home opener against Lyndon State - not on the NESCAC Scoreboard page or the Wesleyan basketball home page. No wonder. The expectation was that Wes, 2015 NESCAC Champs,  would administer a similar early season beating on hapless Lyndon (VT) State that Amherst applied to Johnson (don't you love it - Lyndon Johnson, 50 miles apart in Vermont).

Nay nay, NESCAC hoop fans, Lyndon won 80-78! (http://www.middletownpress.com/sports/20151120/college-basketball-wesleyan-falls-short-in-season-opener). Did the Cardinals snooze or is Lyndon this year's Southern Vt/Husson?

Wish we had Mules-Continentals-Camels-Cardinals posters. Lots of interesting perspectives out there.

We're on, hoop fans!

Not to be confused with the Florham women's team who won the championship in 2014, the men's team finished like 2-22 last season.  Really bad loss for CC.  Florham's best known as the practice facility for the Jets.

[Old Guy]

It was 58-57, St. Lawrence, with 30 seconds to play. The Saints hit their foul shots (pg Willie Zachery 4-4 in final half-minute), Middlebury missed from the floor - game over. Panthers came from behind to make it a game (down 14 early in the second half), but fell short. Lots of second-half opportunities, but poor shooting (5-26 from three, 10-19 from the line) did us in.

Hard to draw conclusions from this tough weekend far from home. Not easy watching the game at all - very poor feed, constantly freezing (the problem was apparently not at this end, as I could get the other NESCAC games).

Lots to work on. A day of practice then back on the bus Tuesday for New Paltz and Friday to Rochester.

[amh63]

Amherst won its tournament as expected.  Opponent  Worchester State kept it interesting in the second have with full court press and fine outside shooting.  They prevented Amherst from scoring 100 plus points.  Amherst played a lot of players but only put in one freshman in the game with a few minutes to go.  He matched up with opponent's big man...same height at 6' 10".  Closed out the game with a big block! 
Next game early in the week.....Monday.  Amherst won by 18 or so.

[nescac1]

Narrow 69-62 win for the Ephs.  Not a work of art, but 2-0 with a very young team against two game opponents is certainly a great start for the Ephs.  After the veterans struggled  and the frosh excelled last night, today was the opposite story.  Mike Greenman 14 points on 4 threes, 4 assists, and Dan Aronowitz, 15-6-4 and a number of very strong, aggressive drives to the hoop, were the top guys for the Ephs.  Aronowitz needs to keep taking it into the lane because otherwise, the Ephs end up doing a lot of passing around the perimeter.  Cole Teal had 17 points but after a hot start was JUST missing on his three point shot; he had a lot very clean looks and just needs to take his time a bit more on those.  Still, another solid two-way effort for Teal, you can feel the break-out shooting game coming.  Flynn and Galvin also had solid all-around contributions.

The frosh had their moments but generally had a much tougher day than game one.  As hot as James Heskett was in the first game, he was that cold today, but a shooter has to keep shooting and he didn't hesitate.  Those shots will fall.  Kyle Scadlock was the best of the frosh today, he had a few frosh mistakes, careless TO's and avoidable fouls, but also made several great plays on both ends.  His arms are CRAZY long.  Once he figures a few things out, he is going to be a star.  Finishes with 7 points including his first triple as an Eph.  Bobby Casey hit a big three in the second half but was generally very quiet today.  He needs to be a bit more aggressive, like he was in the first game, decisively looking to make plays when he gets the ball.  Today he deferred to the vets for the most part.  Still, he clearly looks like he belongs out there and was on the floor for the key second half run that put it away for Williams.  Marcos Soto once again provided great work on the glass and on defense as the back-up center.  He's just solid. 

The Ephs still have PLENTY of room for growth -- missing too many open threes that as they get into a rhythm will start to drop, losing track of guys on the defensive end of the floor at times, forgetting to box out guys on the perimeter, and forcing passes into crowds in the lane that lead to TO's.  Still, the team is surprisingly poised and organized considering that four of their top nine are frosh, and two are sophomores.  They handled backcourt pressure very well and will be a very tough team to press since they almost always have two point guards on the floor.  They don't have any superstars but are a legit nine deep with all nine guys able to make substantial contributions.  They have a long way to go but a lot of time to get there. 

[pinseeking1]

The Bates Bobcats opened the season in style on Saturday with a 79-49 win over an outclassed Norwich team on a neutral floor in Waterville, ME. Norwich's lone 6'11" big man was unable to counter the double threat of the Delpeche twins. Combined, the twins were 14 for 18 from the floor and had 10 rebounds. (Malcolm alone was 9 for 10 with 8 rebounds.)

The Bobcats are trying to fill in the missing piece of point guard after Graham Stafford's graduation, so two different PGs saw the floor for most of the game. Sophomore Shawn Strickland and Junior Jerome Darling split most of the time and Strickland ended up with 10 points after shooting 2 for 3 from long range. As a team, other than Strickland and Josh Britten (also 2 or 3 from deep), the Bobcats continued last year's woes from 3-point range, shooting only 26% as a team. If they can improve the long-range shooting, it will open up the floor even more for the double Delpeches, making them an even bigger threat. They just need to be a little more selective in 3-point shooting.

Today, the Bobcats finish out the weekend with a game against Univ of Maine - Fort Kent. Take a look at a map to see where Fort Kent is. Just go straight north from Colby for about four hours and you'll find it on the very top of Maine, on the Canadian border. They're only about six hours from Montréal... Talk about a long winter...