MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Went over to the Midd side at halftime to look for some particular fans .
Sat with a number of old Amherst fans....those who have sons that are now alums....Toomey's mom, Big Kasilla's parents, etc.  Berman entered the game at the correct time.  The pass first PG had a game high 7 assist and went 2-2 from outside...a bit overlooked by posters.
Conner Green was checking the scores after the game and was excited to see Hamilton got to OT at Hartford.
Conklin played a fine game and JMAc, Riopel.."rio"....also showed his guard ability...and Green went inside for baskets.  It should be noted that JMac was guarding MSA for the most part and vice versa?
Both teams wanted to push the ball, IMO. Liked when Riopel took it coast to coast for a layup.
Last comment....it was a physical game and may have impacted Matt Daley...saw him sitting alone on the bench during halftime...with his thoughts...as I went by back to the Amherst side.
Berman and one of Midd's young guards were chatting as both families  left the gym....forming a bit of relationship.  Nescac players often do that, IMO.

[Bucket]

Lots at stake at the bottom of the table.

Winner of Conn-Bowdoin is in. If Colby wins, they're in.

If Colby, Bates, and Hamilton all lose, then Mules get the 8th spot if Bowdoin beats Conn; Bowdoin gets the 8th spot if Conn wins.

If Colby loses and Bates and/or Hamilton win then my head starts to hurt figuring out the 8th-seed among all of the 3-7 teams.

---

Elsewhere, Trinity earns the top seed with a win against Middlebury. If the Bantams lose and Amherst wins, then Amherst 1 and Trinity 2. In this scenario, Middlebury would be third and Tufts 4th.

Were Hamilton to upset Amherst, then Tufts would get the 2 seed and Amherst the 3rd, if Midd were to lose to the Bantams. If Amherst, Tufts, and Middlebury all finish at 7-3 they will all have beaten each other, and I believe the order would then be Trinity then Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts due to records against Top 4.

Wesleyan and Williams are easy. They are locked into the 5th and 6th seeds, respectively, regardless of outcomes today.

[Bucket]

Went over to the Midd side at halftime to look for some particular fans .

Sorry not to be there, my friend. Little Bucket playing in his final 3rd/4th-grade game of the season yesterday afternoon. Proud dad moment when LB, running point, drives by his man and pulls up and drains the tying shot with 1:30 left, then assists on the go-ahead and winning basket with :20 to play. (And he showed far more humility than his dad is exhibiting right now!)

[polbear73]

Went over to the Midd side at halftime to look for some particular fans .

Sorry not to be there, my friend. Little Bucket playing in his final 3rd/4th-grade game of the season yesterday afternoon. Proud dad moment when LB, running point, drives by his man and pulls up and drains the tying shot with 1:30 left, then assists on the go-ahead and winning basket with :20 to play. (And he showed far more humility than his dad is exhibiting right now!)

No worries, Bucket.  Love to hear those stories. Congrats to your son (and you too!).

[AmherstStudent05]

So am I right in concluding that tomorrow's game between Williams and Bates is completely irrelevant for seeding purposes and that the seeds are locked in as follows:

1: Trinity
2: Amherst
3: Tufts
4: Midd
5: Wesleyan
6: Williams
7: Bowdoin
8: Colby

[AmherstStudent05]

Amherst beat Hamilton today in a rather ugly 65-53 contest.

I think the game tipped off a little before 3 but I was glad that I still got to catch Ben Pollack be honored with 2 minutes of game time to start the contest. Very disappointing of course that his promising career was cut short by injuries. As the broadcasters rightly pointed out, Ben was a key contributor to our national championship team.  By all accounts he is also a tremendous leader. He and Connor Green have been more than worthy standard bearers for Amherst hoops.  While this was almost certainly the last we will see of Pollack in action, here's hoping we will still have several more games to enjoy Connor Green's talents.

Speaking of which, today's win gave us 20 for the season and I have to think that at this point our place in the NCAA tourney is secure no matter what happens in the NESCAC tournament.  Still, as ever, Pool A is always the preferred means on entry to the Big Dance.

As for today's game, the main storyline was that Hamilton just could not buy a bucket all game long.  They shot just 29% from the field and more than that, many of their misses were downright ugly.  Give Amherst's D a lot of credit as well as they were persistently harassing Hamilton's shooters.

Amherst played a pretty sloppy game as well but was saved by some hot three point shooting.  Racy did finally miss a couple of threes but he did make four more as well. Also, while our free throw shooting woes continue, at least we shot over 50%.

Congrats to Coach Hixon & Co. on another terrific regular season. 20 wins, a sweep over Williams, and the top spot in the regional rankings are all great accomplishments.  While we obviously would have loved to have earned the top seed in the NESCAC tournament, I have to credit Trinity for taking care of business and completing a second consecutive dominant NESCAC regular season.

But, most of all, congrats and thanks to our seniors!

[Bucket]

So am I right in concluding that tomorrow's game between Williams and Bates is completely irrelevant for seeding purposes and that the seeds are locked in as follows:

1: Trinity
2: Amherst
3: Tufts
4: Midd
5: Wesleyan
6: Williams
7: Bowdoin
8: Colby

You are correct—that's the field!

[Old Guy]

Seeds one and two looked pretty darn good holding serve this weekend against the Panthers. Midd's inexperienced big man unsurprisingly had difficulty with Trinity's big guys today, Ogundeko and Ajayi. We defensed poorly the high pick and roll particularly: Trinity made one pass, big guy rolled to the hoop with the defender on his back, pass inside from a good angle, easy lay-in. Not sure why Matt Daley was unavailable today, but his height and experience were missed. Trinity's is deep. Starks had an excellent game. For the Panthers, the play of Bryan Jones was especially noteworthy - 14 points in 14 minutes (three 3s). He's instant offense, kept the score as close as it was.

Looks like Midd at home next week against Wes, right? The Cardinals will be fired up, having lost to Midd on opening night this year at Wes and by 37 at Midd last year (then winning the league championship). Can't wait.

[NEhoops]

Looks like TRI; AMH and TUF are in. WES needs some help. Cosgrove or Sheldon is my pick for coach of the year. Very impressed by the Jumbos, at the same time I thought the Bobcats under achieved.

[Bucket]

Looks like TRI; AMH and TUF are in. WES needs some help. Cosgrove or Sheldon is my pick for coach of the year. Very impressed by the Jumbos, at the same time I thought the Bobcats under achieved.

Gotta be Cosgrove as COY.

[jumpshot]

Williams up by 13 at the half over Bates. Ephs would have had more except for (guess what?) 10 turnovers, including 3 unforced in the last minute of the half.

[middhoops]

No expert here, but as I have watched Bates all season I can't help but appreciate Graham Safford far more than I did when he was playing. 
Ok, yeah, he beat us the last two years.  Stipulated.
Regardless, this team lacks a a 'go to' scorer and court general.  The twin towers were so much more effective with his ball handling skills as a clutch scorer.

[jumpshot]

Ephs defeat Bates by 20 in a modern gym (Chandler) by making 14 of 22 three-pointers (64%), despite committing 18 turnovers. Ephs played more freely today, albeit versus a less intensive defensive team, and appeared to be having more fun, of course.

Perhaps the good elements from today will carry forth next season for this young team ....

[nescac1]

The Ephs end the regular season with a very strong performance vs. Bates.  Now, granted, Bates is not what it was last year -- in addition to missing Safford on offense, they really miss the pressure applied on the perimeter by Safford and Selmon on D.  Those guys were so long and physical and disruptive, and then with the Delpeches on the back end, they were very hard to score against.  This Bates squad plays far, far worse defensively on the perimeter -- the Ephs had more open threes than they've had in almost any game all season.  And boy did they drain them (14-22 as a team).  Bates returns a nice group of bigs in the Delpeches and Eaton off the bench.  But they badly need a serious infusion of talent on both ends on the perimeter.  They need their well-regarded frosh guards to play well right away.  Also, the Delpeches haven't really turned from great athletes into great scorers the way Ed Ogundeko has.  Perhaps as seniors they finally will ...

Williams was led as usual by a strong all-around two-way game by Dan Aronowitz, 21 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks.  Bobby Casey had a badly needed hot shooting game, very much hope that carries over to the postseason because the Ephs really need him to hit triples.  Today, he poured in 16 points in only 19 minutes, including 4-4 from deep and a beautiful finish on the inside.  Kyle Scadlock added 13-6.  But did have 4 TOs.  Scadlock is at his most effective when he plays slow -- his strides and arms are so long, and he has ability to finish from crazy angles with either hand, so when he takes his time he seems to get great shots even with a defender right on him, without needing to try to blow by guys.  When he goes with a full head of steam, however, is when he sometimes gets out of control and turns if over via charges or losing the ball.  The Ephs in general need to figure out when to play slow and when to really push the pace.  Something that will come with experience, and I think help resolve some of the unforced TO issues which are often a function of lack of patience.     

Congrats to the three seniors on a tremendous senior night.  Luke Thoreson, who has been in an out of the rotation all season but always plays hard and brings great intangibles to the table on both end,  put on a show with three treys -- great to see him have a big night in front of the family.  Likewise, Adam Harrell added 5 points, a board and a steal in nine minutes of action.  And Ed Flynn has a solid all-around game with a 4-4-5.  All three have been good leaders on a very young team which, while still sloppy with the ball at times, has been moving the ball better and playing more unselfishly over its past five halves of ball. 

Next week will be a huge challenge for the Ephs.  While they could have beaten Tufts very easily on Friday, the Jumbos missed a LOT of open shots in that game that I think are likely to probably go down at home.   Williams will need to pay better attention to detail than they have all year in terms of taking care of the ball.  If they get into a crazy, up-and-down, full court game with Tufts, they have no chance.  But when they run their half-court sets, or VERY selectively push the ball, they can get quality looks vs. Tufts.  They just can't give up loads of transition points (or second chance points) on the other end.  If the Ephs have 18 turnovers (as they did today) or anything close on Saturday it's going to be a long day.  But when they take care of the ball, they can do some very good things.  Hopefully they save some of that hot shooting for Saturday!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It might be a holiday for those romantically inclined, but it is also getting down to the end of the Division III basketball season. Just two weeks remain between now and the end of the regular season and nothing has been determined.

On Sunday night's Hoopsville, Dave McHugh will talk to some teams who have emerged from no where to be in a position to surprise when their conference tournaments begin. McHugh also talks to a few teams who can't seem to be knocked off their conference pedestal, but still feel they have something to prove. And the hectic schedule of conference travel can take it's toll.

Sunday's show start at 7:00 pm ET and promises to go well into overtime. You can watch the show here: www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2015-16/feb14

Guests included (in order of appearance):
- Tara Macciocco, Marywood women's coach
- Dr. George Barber, Greenville men's coach
- Ruth Sinn, No. 8 St. Thomas women's coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Rusty Eggen, Northeast Region Report, WPI Sports Information Director
- Angela Santa Fe, Regis (Mass.) women's coach
- Andy Partee, Colorado College men's coach

You can also tune into the podcast(s) after the show has aired:
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hoopsville/id1059517087

Don't forget you can always interact with us:
Website: www.d3hoopsville.com
Twitter: @d3hoopsville or #Hoopsville
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hoopsville
Email: hoopsville@d3hoops.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/d3hoopsville

And a reminder the Hoopsville Fundraising Project is halfway to the deadline but we are not that close to the goal. Please consider helping us cover Division III basketball the way it deserves to be covered: http://igg.me/at/hoopsville-fundraiser/x/6029509.

Thanks!