MBB: NESCAC

[nescac24]

Middlebury up 35-29 over Skidmore at the half.  It's good to see this young Panther team playing well against a quality opponent.

A good effort by Middlebury. In fairness, Skidmore was playing its third consecutive game without 6-4 senior point guard Aldin Medunjanin, the reigning Liberty League Player of the Year and pre-season 4th team All-America.

It was a very winnable game for Middlebury, although the addition of Medunjanin into Skidmore's lineup certainly could have changed that scenario.  It's interesting to note however, that Medunjanin's Liberty League POY season did include one 35 minute effort against Middlebury in which he was good for a modest 6 points, all from the FT line.  He did dish out 5 assists but he also turned the ball over half a dozen times.  You're right.  He could have been the difference maker.

Vandy, as you can see, I'm new to posting here, but longtime NESCAC watcher. No offense to Midd intended. That was a good game yesterday for Panthers, even in loss. Didn't realize Medunjanin stunk it up in VT last year; probably part of reason why Skidmore blew a lead and lost. Skidmore was strong; missed Sweet 16 by a few points. Medunjanin is legit, as measured by his pre-season All-American selection, but Skidmore is deep and good, even without him. Beat Wooster on the road. Would be in the upper 1/3 of NESCAC for sure.

[Vandy74]

Vandy74....did you have to pay to watch?   
After watching Amherst's surprising easy win over Emerson, I went CAC surfing a bit.  The Hamilton game at Vasser and the Midd game at Skidmore both gave me trouble...seems payment was required...or my ineptness. 

Amh63.......There was no payment required but the feed was lost off and on throughout the contest.  It went offline for good the last 3+ minutes of the game leaving only the live stats to follow the action.   It's too bad because I had few such problems a week or so back watching the Skidmore-Plattsburgh game.  The  Skidmore commentator is also very good.  Enthusiastic regardless of which team is doing well and very knowledgeable of the game itself. 

The end result was an L but if Middlebury had played every game this season like they played this one they would have a winning record.   

[Vandy74]

Middlebury up 35-29 over Skidmore at the half.  It's good to see this young Panther team playing well against a quality opponent.

A good effort by Middlebury. In fairness, Skidmore was playing its third consecutive game without 6-4 senior point guard Aldin Medunjanin, the reigning Liberty League Player of the Year and pre-season 4th team All-America.

It was a very winnable game for Middlebury, although the addition of Medunjanin into Skidmore's lineup certainly could have changed that scenario.  It's interesting to note however, that Medunjanin's Liberty League POY season did include one 35 minute effort against Middlebury in which he was good for a modest 6 points, all from the FT line.  He did dish out 5 assists but he also turned the ball over half a dozen times.  You're right.  He could have been the difference maker.

Vandy, as you can see, I'm new to posting here, but longtime NESCAC watcher. No offense to Midd intended. That was a good game yesterday for Panthers, even in loss. Didn't realize Medunjanin stunk it up in VT last year; probably part of reason why Skidmore blew a lead and lost. Skidmore was strong; missed Sweet 16 by a few points. Medunjanin is legit, as measured by his pre-season All-American selection, but Skidmore is deep and good, even without him. Beat Wooster on the road. Would be in the upper 1/3 of NESCAC for sure.

Nescac24.....My Medunjanin comment was half tongue-in-cheek.  I know he's a very good player.  He lit it up for 31 points against us as a sophomore and was his team's leading scorer as a fy with 17.  He did, however, have another feeble 6-point effort against Plattsburgh in a game I attended with middhoops and magicman.  Maybe I jinx him.

Middlebury basketball fans have followed Skidmore's progress over the last four seasons.  Connor Merrill played his high school hoop just 10 miles up route 7 from Middlebury at Vergennes.  I heard recently that he has joined ex-MC asst. coach Alex Popp's program at Vermont Academy as an assistant.  Best of luck to him.  That prep school has an excellent basketball reputation.

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin will play two more games this week before the winter break.  On Tuesday the Polar Bears will travel to Maine Maritime (2-3 on the season) and Friday they will host UM Farmington (0-6 so far this year). With Maine Maritime there has been only one common opponent so far - USM, whom Maine Maritime lost to 82-50 in their first game of the season.  I wouldn't want to draw too many conclusions from that.  UM Farmington lost to UNE 78-62 (also first game of the year) and will play USM on Tuesday.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Coach Gilbride try out different rotations and work on various schemes etc during the games this week.

GoUBears!!

[amh63]

Amherst will have two games on the road that MAY be ones that will indicate how strong they are this time of the season.  Amherst meets Brandeis tonight and heads for Babson on Thursday.....two teams that Amherst lost to last season at home.  Babson will be ready after two recent close losses.
P'Bearfan....read your post on the transfer player on the football board.   He is a big person and do not know his built,,,but even in football carrying 300 plus lbs at his height can be tiring.  For basketball, I expect he will need to be under 300 with the faster pace of the game.  Agree he can indeed be a "presence"...a space eater down low

[P'bearfan]

Hmmm...Bowdoin's game at Maine Maritime is supposed to be webcast but there's no feed so far.  Game scheduled to start 10 minutes ago.  Anyone else having this issue?

[P'bearfan]

Knock and it shall be opened to you....webcast just kicked in. Game starting 15 min late

[P'bearfan]

Halftime: Bowdoin leads Maine Maritime 49-20.

Bowdoin came out shooting well and has used its size advantage down low to control the boards and get some easy baskets. No stats available but Matt Palecki had a great first half and may be the leading scorer.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Amherst gave up a good sized lead, but held on to beat Brandeis.

[amh63]

Yep!.....watched the game.  There was a period that foul shots were missed, and inside shots....all shots were not to be.  Brandeis changed their defenses and up its energy level.  Conklin in the second half came back in and played well.  George was taken out of the game by the inconsistent calls by the refs...yes those in the striped shirts.  Amherst coaches had more than several discussions with them as to what was the deal?  George lost his game focus but did play hard. 
It was one of those away games....The Judges did have several players that gave Amherst all they could handle.  At the end....with less than a minute to go...Amherst made its foul shots and Brandeis missed theirs.
Next game...Babson on the road!  Score?...think it was 72-65.

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin cruises to a 84-54 win over Maine Maritime

Bowdoin came out in the second half and extended its lead to 30 points in the first 7:30..  The bench did a nice job of closing out the game.  Unfortunately the webcast didn't come back on until the 12:30 mark so I missed the first part of the second half.

[JustAFan]

Two days after defeating #11 Babson in overtime, Tufts handed visiting Plymouth State (8-1) its first loss tonight, 91-80. The Jumbos improve to 6-2.  Tufts shot 61% from the field and 47% from 3-land in the friendly confines of Cousen's gymnasium to offset 19 turnovers. Very few teams will beat Tufts at home when they are shooting like that!

The Jumbo's great play over the past 3 games following last week's disappointing loss to WPI in large part is due to sophomore Vincent Pace coming into his own, becoming more confident and assertive on the offensive end. Pace scored a career high 26 points tonight on 9-11 shooting from the field (3-5 behind the arc, 5-5 from the line), his 4th straight game of 20 plus points, coming on the heels of a 25 point effort vs. Babson on Sunday, another 25 against Salem State on Saturday and 20 points vs. WPI last week. Unfortunately, Tufts is now off for exams until December 29th.

[pinseeking1]

Bates jumped to an early lead against Husson Univ (Bangor, ME) and never looked back to win 86-67 at Alumni Gym in Lewiston. The Bobcats offset poor shooting in the first half with a huge rebounding edge (something like 30-14 in total rebounds for the half). Boornazian had a strong game and finished with 26 points. The Delpeche brothers dominated the boards and fed each other for massive dunks in the second half. They can be very exciting to watch!

One very positive note was the 3-point shooting defense by the Bobcats. They did a great job of playing tight defense on Husson outside of the 3 point line and contested Hudson's shot attempts very well.  The Bobcats held Husson to a 22% shooting percentage from deep. Husson made a few runs in the second half but could never get closer than 8-10 points. Surprising that Husson beat Southern Maine, considering the whooping Southern Maine gave to Bates. I guess it's all about matchups and teams that get a hot shooting hand...

[Vandy74]

Middlebury looked good last night winning 96-74 over a game Castleton squad.  The outcome was never really in doubt 15 minutes into the game.  Matt St. Amour closed the first half with a swish from about 65 feet out.  Jake Brown lead all scorers with 16 points to go with 8 assists in 21 minutes of playing time.  Matt St. Amour added 12 points along with 7 assists.  Adisa Majors lead the bench scoring with 11 points while frosh Zach Baines and Hilal Dahleh contributed 10 and 9 respectively. 

Plattsburgh will be a much tougher opponent come Saturday but this Panther team looks ready.  The 17-9 Panther squad two seasons back that was considered a disappointment by some fans, although 5 of those losses were by 3 points or less, was truly only beaten badly by Plattsburgh, at Pepin, before Amherst did the same in the closing game of the regular season.  If any extra motivation is needed, there it is.

[amh63]

Watched a bit of several CAC games ....with out of conference teams.  Good night for CAC teams. I too had some trouble with the feed from the Bowdoin game and left it.  The Bates game feed would freeze on me at times....wonder if it's the Maine area? . I have a sat feed and weather conditions can cause difficulties. 
I did watch the Trinity game the most...time of broadcast helped...and ECSU won.  Disclosure: I was rooting for the Warriors.  Amherst will play the Warriors in Jan.   ESCU seems to have found their grove and this season has had contributions from their very large players..both 6'11" or taller.  They will play Conn on Thursday, I believe.  Seems that the HC of ECSU, a Hamilton grad and player of note, has put a heavy slate of CAC teams on his players' menu.
Several more observations from the Brandeis game.  George had 5 blocks in his limited time on the floor...Amherst was credited with 9 blocks.  George did have a chat with the ref when he returned to the court...seems to me he wanted clarification on what would be OK with his moves down low.  Both teams had 20 plus fouls called.  It seems that the new rules...especially the hand checks and the blocking area underneath the box...are causing players/coaches problems....more so in terms of how the refs at games interpret them,IMO.