MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

A friend has related that Cortland State has more outside shooters than Amherst. Husson's two shooters were scaring me.  Did not catch the Cortland win over WPI.  Am sure Amherst has done some scouting of the Red Dragons.

amh63,
If I am that friend you're referring to I did not say they had more outside shooters than Amherst. I said Amherst will be favored in that game but Cortland has a host of 3 point shooters (as does the team formerly known as the LJ's). They can put 5 guys on the floor that can all shoot the 3 pointer and 2 of them are their 6'6" forwards. If they play each other it should be a good game.

Amherst has went 290x771 from long distance and Cortland has shot 268x764 from downtown so both teams feature the long distance shot more than the average team and both are good at it. Amherst is favored by 8 points in this one but Cortland has been the underdog in games all season long and still managed to come out on top. Their lopsided win yesterday over WPI got Coach Hixson's attention, I'm sure. Should be a fun game to watch. Wish I could see it but I'll be courtside watching Johnson and Wales take on Fitchburg State. Should be another good game to watch even though the J&W Wildcats are favored by 12 points. I think J&W will win it, but it could be a closer game than that.

   

[Vandy74]

Vandy74....Think the little -K buddy has hit me hard too., especially in the last day or so.  Hope it is not because of me...your problem of late.

A friend has related that Cortland State has more outside shooters than Amherst. Husson's two shooters were scaring me.  Did not catch the Cortland win over WPI.  Am sure Amherst has done some scouting of the Red Dragons.

amh63....he's been hitting you too?  In a way that's good news since it removes my suspicions regarding someone else whose posts I enjoy and beside that, it ain't his style.  I hope it's not the return of the junior nerdnutz from 3 seasons back who declared war on the NESCAC for having the audacity to place three teams in the Elite Eight while his favorite (in an unnamed conference) did an early crash and burn.  Enuff on this crapola.

Impressive season opening win for The Hamster in WLAX today, btw.  PolarCat can't be a happy camper.  Much more to talk about on the appropriate board and good reason for me to pick up a legit -K or two for such irreverence on this one at tournament time.

I'm cautiously optimistic regarding tonight's Middlebury-Keene State game.  As OG has mentioned we beat them in their gym earlier this season but except for a stellar performance by SNM neither team played particularly well..  No way of telling how they stack up against each other from that one.

I watched the second half of Amherst-Husson and like AmherstStudent05 was impressed by how well the visitors played in Lefrak.  Always a tough assignment.  Quite a few favorites narrowly escaped in opening round action and several didn't.  Very sorry to see magicman's Cardinals go down.  If not for the Panthers' unexpected tournament berth I'd have been there to witness it with him.  Paired with Trinity's loss to Johnson & Wales it would have made for a long evening on the other side of the lake.

On to round 2.  Best of luck to all 'CAC competitors.

[JEFFFAN]

And after the hoops games are all two point games last night, 5 of the 6 men's lacrosse games today were decided by one goal. What a great conference !

[Old Guy]

And after the hoops games are all two point games last night, 5 of the 6 men's lacrosse games today were decided by one goal. What a great conference !

Total agreement. Just got back from watching a terrific women's ice hockey NESCAC semi-final, Midd over Trinity 3-1, absolutely even game (both teams had 22 shots on goal: Midd had an empty net goal with 15 seconds left). Good sports up and down the conference.

[pg04]

I hope it's not the return of the junior nerdnutz from 3 seasons back who declared war on the NESCAC for having the audacity to place three teams in the Elite Eight while his favorite (in an unnamed conference) did an early crash and burn. 

This made me laugh. 

[Vandy74]

I hope it's not the return of the junior nerdnutz from 3 seasons back who declared war on the NESCAC for having the audacity to place three teams in the Elite Eight while his favorite (in an unnamed conference) did an early crash and burn. 

This made me laugh. 

It didn't take long to rack up the next -k, whoever it is.   No slackers on this board.  This post is just a heads up for any Midd fans choosing between later games to watch after the Panthers-Keene State is over.   Ohio Wesleyan, alma mater of asst. coach Rob Alberts ('82), takes on Lynchburg.  The two competitors were easy 1st round winners over Pitt.-Greensburg and Scranton respectively.

[ContinentalDomer]

Congrats to Johnny Mac and the Hamsters!  Keep it rolling in the Sweet 16.

[pg04]

Congrats to Amherst from a SUNYAC fan. What an exciting game!  Two nailbiters in a row for Amherst. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Vandy74]

Congratulations to Keene State.  A gritty effort by the Panthers on that closing run but too many missed free throws, too many turnovers and shots that wouldn't drop, and basically nobody had the shooting touch giving you the feeling that there was a go to guy for a possible game winner if needed.  It just wasn't our night.  Considering how this season began however, these last two weekends have been like second and third helpings of dessert.  Lots to look forward to next season.

Congrats to Amherst for stayin' alive.

[OldCardinal]

Wes fan here really liking this Tufts team.  Thought the loss of Pace would be too much but they get it done again.  Feldman off the bench hits 4 threes!  They are a fun team to watch.  Wonder if any chance Pace comes back next weekend.  Couldn't agree more about the increased parity in DIII. 

[amh63]

Thanks for the comment  Vandy74.
Watched the last 5 minutes of the game and saw the strong run by the Panthers.  Several comments.
Thought the blocking foul by Matt Daley was a charge by the Keene player.
In the last 5 seconds of the game....both Daley and MSA both touched the ball and tried a shot.  Both attempts did not succeed.....seemed the "magic" dust ran out.

[warriorcat]

As a Middlebury grad and having family ties to the Keene program,  tonight's game was a real treat.  As I said on another board, both teams were playing with house money tonight.  I was very impressed with the fight that Midd displayed throughout the game.  They never entertained the thought that they might lose the game until the final shot went off the rim.  They made good decisions tonight but they just missed shots.  St Amour is the real deal.  He had very few looks tonight but he found a way to get his 18 points.  I am pleased to see a player who suffered a serious injury a couple years ago come back and play so well. 

[Old Guy]

Big party last night to watch the Panthers lick Salisbury - not so tonight. I had obligations - command performance, in the interest of domestic tranquility. I kept checking the score, discouraged for most of the game. Found a quiet spot and watched the heroic comeback on live stats, a very frustrating way to follow the progress of the game, but I was happy for it, and sad when it read "St. Amour - jump shot - miss" with 00.1 on the clock.

I'm sure the team is very disappointed, but they had a terrific season: they improved, and proved to be great competitors. NESCAC Champs! 9-0 at home, Panther fans were treated well. Fortunes for next year are bright, with arguably the best backcourt in the league and young frontcourt of real promise. And the home-away imbalance turns around. Young Young Girl heads to Bates next year and Midd plays all the Maine teams in over there next year. I'm there. Wish the season started tomorrow.

Well-done, Panther team members and coaches - and thanks!

[magicman]

Thanks for the comment  Vandy74.
Watched the last 5 minutes of the game and saw the strong run by the Panthers.  Several comments.
Thought the blocking foul by Matt Daley was a charge by the Keene player.
In the last 5 seconds of the game....both Daley and MSA both touched the ball and tried a shot.  Both attempts did not succeed.....seemed the "magic" dust ran out.

amh63,

I certainly tried my hardest to make my favorite NESCAC school come through again. I even drafted      Matt St.Amour in my fantasy league and really thought they were going to make it at least to the next weekend.

Good season ending run for the Panthers that resulted in another NESCAC championship. I did have faith and told my Middlebury friends that a championship was within their grasp. The NESCAC crown made the Midd faithful quite happy and left them begging for more, which from the looks of things will be quite possible next season.

And congratulations to your Amherst...Hamsters is it now? I had a good idea that the Cortland-Amherst game was going to be a barnburner and as I said earlier they both love to hoist them up from downtown. They combined on Saturday to fire up 68 bombs between them (35 for Cortland and 33 for Amherst) The Red Dragons made 12 and Amherst made 10. All 5 players that I had in mind, when I told you that Cortland can put five players out there that can shoot the 3 pointers, did indeed, bury at least 1 from deep.   The overall stats in this game were quite close in almost every category. One of these years Amherst will have to pay a visit to a SUNYAC gym in the NCAA tournament. That's at least 4 times we've been to LeFrak in the past 12 years, I believe.         

[AmherstStudent05]

Congratulations to Coach Hixon & Co. for returning us to the Sweet 16!  Unfortunately, I was not able to catch last night's win over Cortland (I consider myself as big a NESCAC hoops nerd as anyone, but even for me Saturday night games can be a little tricky).  However, I did want to give a couple of shout outs based on what I was able to gleam from the box score.

First, to Connor Green.  In my post after the Husson game I was quite critical of Connor Green's performance (I think deservedly so).  But I also said that I expect we would be counting on him going forward.  Sure enough, he had a monster game against Cortland, going for 20 and 10, including 12 points in the crucial second half.  With this effort I believe he has now surpassed Steve Zieja as the second all time leading scorer in the history of our storied program (the only person  currently ahead of him is Aaron Toomey, whom Green will not catch).  I know Green has been a reasonably polarizing figure over his four year career but we should not lose sight of the fact that he is, undeniably, a special player as well.  When he is on he can be as unstoppable an offensive force as anyone who has ever passed through LeFrak and we have had a lot of wins these past four years because of that fact.

Second shout out goes to Johnny McCarthy.  I don't know if I have posted this directly, but over the past few weeks AmherstStudent05 has (almost certainly uncharitably) been getting rather annoyed with JMac.  How is such a special player (the foundation of our team, I would argue) and solid shooter so lackluster from the free throw line (mid 60s), I wondered.  Well, with five seconds left and our season quite literally on the line JMac put me in my place in a big way.  Big time props for making the free throws he absolutely had to make.  I have, on several occasions, predicted that poor free throw shooting could be our undoing this season, and I am obviously glad that JMac proved me wrong (at least for a week).

When we played Babson in that OT barnburner back in December I think many of us thought that this would not be the last time these two teams faced off this season.  Sure enough we will be treated to a rematch which I am very much looking forward to.  Apparently Joey Flannery, Babson's star player, was out hurt yesterday.  I do hope he will be 100% by Friday.  I also wish that Amherst would get to try to continue their unbeaten streak at LeFrak, as I believe they have earned the right to do, but it seems like we will be forced to travel to accommodate the women's team which is apparently in the midst of yet another dominant campaign.