MBB: NESCAC

[Bball3 Fan]

Any newly committed talent for next year in the NESCAC other than the Amherst recruit?

[Friar T]

Only the Lord can judge me Baller...

Just to keep the board on task and ignoring foolishness, David Litt was a golfer at Amherst for the last four years, not an Amherst recruit. A hilarious joke for those Amherst readers who knew him...

FormerBant, good call on the numbers and time not being completely reflective. However, I do think that some of Olson's numbers will inflate with his PT. I feel like he has enough talent and depth around him that his assist numbers could skyrocket, while his points should stay similar if not decrease. If teams are really concerned with him scoring, what are Wheeler, McLaughlin, etc. going to do? Not even C4 could make a boom like that...

Eclinchy, yes Bowser... the Amherst/Trinity vs. Tufts/Bates weekend will be a big one on this board. I'm sure Walzy is already calculating his predictions. Dude is like Nostramdamus...

[strokes69]

I always enjoy reading the NESCAC message board because it is always filled with fresh, insightful comments each and every day, after reading this board for many years I felt it necessary to throw my 2 sense in there, now believe me I can't stand Amherst, hate everything about them, their nickname, colors...with that being said I hate to burst the bubble of any other fan of an opposing NESCAC school, especially during the holiday season, but no, and I mean NO ONE is going to come within 15-20 points of beating the Lord Jeffs this year, they are that good, strong on all fronts, too many weapons, barring no one gets hurt, academically ineligible, or no one from the NCAA sees Olson driving his new BMW recently received from an Amherst alum, the Lord Jeffs will dominate the entire conference, night in and night out, Hixon had the right idea placing the date of the NCAA tournament on the schedule from the get go, he should have placed the date of the Final Four on there as well, cuz that is where they are headed, I know alot of ass kissing for a first-time poster who hates Amherst huh? Im just speaking truth, so all you bates, trinity, tufts,williams, and maybe conn college(?) can hear it here first...cuz you know soo enough that tufts/amherst game will be played and the jeffs will dominate them and then we will hear some jumbos fan ranting and raving about how they didnt show up or shepherd had a bad game, or weitzen went into cardiac arrest at halftime, bottom line is: they are on a complete different level than the rest of the league...talk amongst yourselves...

[formerbant10]

Just because Amherst beat the common opponent of the aformentioned teams by a greater margin than everyone else doesn't necessarily mean they will destroy all of those schools.  In the past 5 years no matter what happened in the Trin-SPFLD game, the Bants and Jeffs had great games.  All within 7 points, and most of the time the visiting team taking the win. 

[eclinchy]

NO ONE is going to come within 15-20 points of beating the Lord Jeffs this year

STRONG words coming from a guy that Conn College held to five points, a week after he dropped 10 on Amherst.

I think you're drastically underestimating the parity -- as well as the overall strength -- of the NESCAC.  You can't compare Amherst's performance against a bunch of scrubs in November to how they'll do the next semester.  It's a completely different game.

Here's a little statistical analysis for you.  Let's compare the fall of 2005 to 2006.

Last year, before winter break, here are the Jeffs' scores.

98-43
68-57
80-74
102-77
78-57
94-65
99-69

Do the math -- that's good for a total of 619-442 and an average game of 88-63.  The following season:

101-66
98-64
84-45
92-56
91-52
79-47
84-74
70-42

Scores which total 699-446, and average 87-56.  So despite scheduling a LAUGHABLY cushy tip-off against NYC Tech and Thomas College, they're only negligably better than they were last year -- they're scoring a point fewer, and allowing seven fewer (which doesn't mean much, since those games hit garbage time for most of the second half anyway).

So here's what I'm getting at -- this year's Amherst team is not significantly better than last year's.  Dispute that if you want, but I'm fairly positive that it's true.

That being said, look at what happened last year in the spring semester!  The Jeffs lost to Trinity, barely won the NESCAC in overtime over Tufts, and barely (they were one absolutely ridiculous off-balance jumper away from defeat) beat Tufts again in OT to make the Elite Eight.  Last season was anything but easy for the Jeffs.

So you're saying that despite playing both Trinity and Tufts on the road this season, those games aren't even going to be close?  That's incredibly short-sighted of you, and history begs to differ.  It's not just those two teams, either.  Look at Amherst's schedule!  They have all three Maine teams on the road too; there's not a single pushover on their NESCAC schedule that's not at home.  This year is going to be very tough for them.

That's not to say that they won't go 9-0; in fact, I think smart money would bet on them to do just that.  But to say it won't be close is just crazy.

[JeffRookie2]

Not significantly better? I'm sorry, but when did we decide that they were better at all? I still think they are struggling to score in the half court with the departure of bedford. I was hoping Adolphe would step up in this capacity but so far he hasnt. I also think they are having trouble finding a secondary ball handler after the departure of bedford. The defense I think is significantly better, but is the team as a whole better? Too early to say in my opinion.

Oh, and I hope you all (even the Williams fans) had a merry Christmas.

[senatorfrost]

  There are some who insist on portraying Amherst as a Super power! In my opinion they lost 3 starters from last year. I think that by the end of the year Goldsmith had become, if not a starter, then the one who got the crunch time minutes. Looking at the last two Tufts games and the Wittenberg game I believe Goldmsmith saw about as much time in the Wittenberg game as ALL!!!! the other Frosh and Sophs (except Olson of course) saw in ALL!!! 3 of those games. Yet I read glowing accounts of Amherst the Super Power and all the talent they have.
   My guess is that Coach Hixon knows/knew something about the team and he gave us his opinion with the minutes played in the close games at  years end. I think Jeff Rookie gave a pretty good analysis of the team and if I cared to I could mention another glaring weakness or two but I am not here to give a free scouting report.
   I wonder where the folks who keep saying Amherst is a Super power get their information from. Did they see many Amherst games last year? Did they see how folks fared in the "big" ones, so to speak. In my opinion there wasn't much to see among the returnees in those "big" ones except for Olson and the 3 who are now Seniors. Yet these folks have been speaking out very forcibly and positively about how Amherst stands out etc. etc.
   Now these folks are NOT idiots. They are very bright people and that makes me think that they are being fed this 'Super Power' nonsense by someone who has something to gain if Amherst should falter. I say this because they are talking about Amherst as if they KNEW something Jeff rookie and I do not. Also they would not be so bold if they did not have some sort of 'authority' behind them in some way. After all if the team with talent that lays over the field falters, it then, may be said that either the team is somehow defective or the coach is. So I asked myself who could benefit most from an Amherst failure and would concoct this "Super Power" notion? Well I tried for hours and I could not come up with even one name.  Well I will give it many more hours of thought as to who could be brewing this myth of superiority
but I will probably come up with nothing. Hmmm, this is a real tough one.

[senatorfrost]

  I miss watching Bedford. Someone to 'go to' in the half court game and from what I could tell, a very good leader. There are players on the team with a lot of potential but so far it has yet to be realized, in my opinion. Some of the players have one or two things that they do exceptionally well and fans like myself can only hope for a repeat of the Brandeis game. Keep in mind that brandeis had two first year players who hung around in the middle near the basket. The game was at Amherst and Rexhepi saw fewer minutes than last year. Rexhepi also sat out a game or two before the Amherst game.
  Baskauskas shows signs and from the little I have been able to tell so far, Steve Wheeler is going to be really good. However this year has a deadline, like all years, and as has been stated, all the tough NESCAC games are away. This is very far from a cinch.

[nescac hoops]

senator,
i think you ought to lay off the egg nog b/c your post-holiday posts have all been convoluted, stupid and not worth reading. did you go to amherst or are you just a townie from the town of amherst?

january 6th.....amherst 84  williams 68. a healthy chris rose, a cream puff schedule for amherst, and a williams home game (where the atmospher/student crowd is MUCH tougher at williams) will lead to a surprisingly close 1st half with amherst overpowering the ephs in the 2nd half.

[fpc85]

senator makes some valid points......a lot of the players haven't had significant time......bedford, casnocha, corrigan and zaleski are missed. But the talent is there to continue the standard they helped establish. I think the success will continue. Will it translate into a NESCAC championships?A NCAA final four appearance? Only time will tell. A lot can happen during the course of the season. I remember the Rochester game of 05 and the two instant classic games against Tufts in 06. All of those games could have gone either way.
Good teams/programs will always have high expectations. Fans and players will settle for nothing less. That's why the Williams fans are so critical of a team that most schools would be very happy with. I say enjoy the ride.....it can't get much better than it has been for the last four years.....I know the players are having a blast and relish the opportunity to sieze the moment. They are amped for the challenge.

To the 06-07 Jeffs, Never listen to the riders. Good luck in Texas...ball up....man strength.....honor the game you play so well. See you at Williams.

PLAY WITH HONOR

[nescac1]

Nescac Fan, I think you're being a little harsh -- not  ALL of Senator's post are worthless, as fpc points out.   What IS a little bizarre is his conspiracy theory about certain posters (almost all of whom seem to be Amherst students or rival fans who have been impressed after watching the Jeffs destroy their teams) trying to bring down the Jeffs via too much praise.  I just think people are commenting on what they see based on the results and statistics so far.  Believe me, Senator, being one of the few Eph posters active on this board, I have every incentive to take the Jeffs down a notch, and even my Williams education has not made me clever enough to think of any comment I could make on "posting up" that would diminish Olsen's passing ability or weaken Wheeler's outside shot. 

So after filtering through the various joke posts, it sounds like the Jeffs already have two promising big guys committed -- an unnamed 6'6 guy who was also looking at Princeton and Bennett, supposedly the best big ever recruited at Amherst?  Scary stuff for the long term, considering the Jeffs will still have Baskauskas and Wheeler to fire away from the outside in future years.  I have to say Hixon has done an amazing job recruiting, bringing in at least one and often more all-league caliber guy every year since the class of 2003, even though most of them have to realize that they will get very limited pt until their junior year.  It seems like Williams' huge (both in size and height) current group of frosh have some potential to develop, based on the fact that 4-5 have already made some contributions and 2 are in the top 7 in the rotation, although I haven't seen them play yet (I'd be curious to hear from someone who has).  Schultz in particular seems to be coming on strong, and while Geoghegan has struggled from the field, that is to be expected for a frosh big man.  Timmins got a lot of hype from some folks who had seen him play in high school but his playing time has been limited so far.  In any event,  Paulsen clearly needs to bring in 1-2 impact players next year (ideally a quick point who can penetrate and play tough D and a strong, physical inside player with post moves -- the Ephs have no shortage of 6'2-6'5 guys who can shoot from the outside) if the Ephs hope to keep up with the competition ...

By the way, if you guys think inane debates are limited to the NESCAC board, check out all the Dave Votta back-and-forth on the NEWMAC board ... interesting stuff

Good luck to the Ephs on their west coast trip ... nice that parents of the four California kids on the roster will get a chance to see them play (and I imagine the entire roster should get plenty of PT against Cal Tech ... Occidental, obviously, will be a different story). 

[Friar T]

Senator, I'm so glad that you decided not to reveal all of the Jeffs' "glaring" weaknesses to the d3hoops post board. I'm sure that Paulsen, Reilly & Co. have all been anxiously checking the posts in hope that you'll enlighten them with the chinks in Amherst's armor that you seem to have discovered. And your conspiracy theory, really now. Get over yourself...

No one ever said Amherst was better this year than last, and to say so is stupid b/c that's a question that could never be answered. The two teams can never play each other, and in order to compare them you have to compare everyone they've played against. All in all, it's a highly inaccurate science. Simply put, this team brings in a whole different group of strengths and weaknesses from last year.

On the one hand, I think that some of you naysayers are right, a "go-to" guy hasn't emerged. However, who have they needed one against? How does one pick out a "go-to" guy in a 30+ point blowout?

On the other hand, the balance has been incredible. Five different leading scorers in eight games, and five different leading rebounders. To be averaging over 87 points per game and have your leading scorer dropping in just 11 points per game is pretty amazing.

As for Amherst being a Super Power, it seems a little late in the game to question their strength. They're No. 2 in the country, hold the longest streak of consecutive top 25 appearances and are just KILLING teams. Seven straight NCAA appearances, five straight sweet 16s and two final fours in three years... Let's face it, until someone plays them within single digits, the naysayers should pipe down.

Do I think they're unbeatable? No, that would be silly to say. But I do think that it would take an extraordinary effort and the right set of circumstances for them to fall. I'm very curious to see what the long trip and foreign territory of San Antonio does to the Jeffs.

Jan. 6 will NOT be that close, although I would like to see the Ephs muster a little effort. I'm waiting for Walzy's Texas prediction...

[formerbant10]

Friar,

As we've seen recently, never underestimate who reads these boards. 

[Marty Peretz]

People need to get off of Hixon's proverbial nuts with respect to his alleged coaching prowess. When he and Paulsen both had good squads in 01-04ish, Paulsen ROUTINELY out coached the man. FLAT OUT OUTCOACHED HIM. I think anyone who saw those games could agree. I will, however, concede this: no one wants to play the Jeffs. It's not as if Hixon is Jim Calhoun, scheduling patsies. I once thought that the case, but after talking to some knowledgeable NESCAC folks, I realize it's not Hixon's fault that people simpy won't play him. Still, I'd challenge him to battle some tough UAA squads out of New England (Carnegie, NYU, Chicago, WashU). I'd bet they'd be willing to play you.

I also don't like how Hixon militantly sticks to his upperclassmen philosophy. The only reason Olsen got run as a frosh was because that overrated kid in front of him got hurt. Olsen SHOULD have been starting the whole year and might not have played much until his jr year if it weren't for the injury. ABSURD.

If I'm a top knotch hoops recruit looking to go D3, why the hell would I go to Williams? It's a great school, probably more appealing than Amherst to many, but Tufts and Amherst  (and maybe Trinity but hartford is so ****ty it doesn't count) are the only urban-ish schools in the nescac and the modern college hoopster would much rather go to a school like that than wiliams, bates, colby, etc. Basically, Amherst has a much larger recruiting base from which to draw, in spite of its academic standards. As such, they can steal potential D1 guys a lot easier than the Bates' of the world can; they still rely on the same type of kid they did 20 years ago. I mean, let's be serious. The best kid to come through Bates in the last decade is Matt Garvey, a Tim Legler-like gunner. Amherst? Jamal...the last name alludes me, but the bottom line is he was an athlete who wanted a great education. Amherst's academic prestige enables its success on the court.  Basketball players who could go to Columbia don't want to get stuck in Williamstown and that's why Amherst is the one getting the athletes.

Lastly, THE UAA IS BETTER THAN THE NESCAC PERIOD. Six of its 8 member schools are ranked or receivign votes. Don't even try to come on here and talk about the nescac's national prominence. There's been no such thing for 4 seasons.

[feces monkey]

Amherst is considered urban? Interesting. The Pioneer Valley must have really exploded in the last half decade since my last visit.

Does this mean Northampton is now a suburb of Amherst?