MBB: NESCAC

[polbear73]

(10) Bowdoin -- Jack Simonds is the real deal.  He's also going to receive an inordinate amount of defensive attention this year now that Hausman has graduated. 

nescac1 - thanks for posting.  Many good insights and hard to argue with your pre-season ratings overall. 

Personally, I think the P'bears have considerable upside and may surprise people this year.  As you mention Jack Simonds is definitely the real deal and a tough match up but he'll likely draw more than his share of defensive attention. 

From my perspective, there are two keys for Bowdoin this year:

-Continue playing the high level of team defense that they played in the final two weeks of last season.  It took a while for last year's squad to gel defensively - not surprising given the number of FY's playing - but once they figured that out the P'bears were much more competitive.

-More offensive balance.  From what I understand FY David Reynolds is a legit shooter and will likely see the floor which could help.  But Bowdoin will need everyone to step up offensively so that opponents cannot simply key on Simonds.

Looking forward to the start of the season this Friday.  I'll be traveling up to UMass-Dartmouth for the weekend tournament.

GoUBears!!

P'bearfan, I too look for the Bears to surprise this year and it will be interesting to see how Coach Gilbride adjusts yet again to changing personnel, having gone from two 7 footers for 6 years to a team with a dominant scorer to one which will have to have more balance and is on the small side. 

[amh63]

Caught bits of a number of D1 featured games..Duke, Md, Kentucky the last few days.  More interesting were the number of pundit comments on the games as they talked about returning players and the injured players, etc.  The Duke bench had 4 players in suits and ties..all black suits.  One was a FY injured player that has a history of injuries.  Pundits were discussing his future playing time...whether to sit out this season so as not to hurt his NBA future earnings.  Boy, the D1 player discussions has changed!   So has the paid experts of former players and coaches topics in this the start of the season.  Hope this board remains the same as we discuss D3 games/players in general and the Nescac in particular.
Watched the Babson game last night since Amherst will meet Babson again at home soon enough.  Babson had a tough time in the first half but led by their all-american won handily in the second half. Expect the Babson- Amherst game to put perspective on their preseason rankings.  Maybe revive the heated board discussions after last season NCAA game at Tufts between Babson and Amherst .
Looking forward to Amherst's first game this Friday in LeFrak!  Refurbished floors.  Former Mascot name is gone from the floor...but must say not in the heart of this old alum .

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin's roster is available now on the website.  This year's squad will have 13 players which is fairly typical.  The P'bears will still be a fairly young team with only two seniors - co-captains Jack Hewitt and Neil Fuller.

A couple of points worth noting:

-Bowdoin will lack a true center / pure post player.  However, Hugh O'Neill is now listed at 6'-7" and he is very athletic so he may be asked to play this role

-While the P'bears lack a traditional big man they do have size at many other positions.  The roster lists 7 players between 6'-5" and 6'-7".  This could result in some favorable match-ups.

-There are 3 FY's: Steven Ferraro (G); Drew Gagnon (G/F); and David Reynolds (G/F).  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Reynolds is apparently a very good shooter an is likely to see the floor.

-This year's roster is the most geographically diverse in the last 4 years.  When this year's seniors were FY's the P'bears' roster was dominated by players from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.  Now there are players from GA, CA, IL, NC and Switzerland.  Great to see that Bowdoin has been successful recruiting more broadly.

My projected starting 5(ish): O'Neill, Simonds, Fuller, Ahn and Farley/Reynolds. 

Can't wait for tip-off tomorrow evening.

GoUBears!!

[nescac1]

Here is a sure-to-be-wildly-wrong stab at the top NESCAC ROY contenders (in no particular order):

Nick Gilpin, Kena Gilmour, Sean Gilmour, Jason Bird, Henry Feinberg, Perry DeLorenzo, Joe Bell

First-year players to watch across the league:

Amherst -- all four first-years look potentially interesting, but with so much experience on the huge (19 man!) roster, I'd be surprised if any saw the floor much this year.  Stephen Clapp and Eric Sellew are perhaps the most likely candidates.

Bates -- Nick Gilpin is a leading candidate for ROY and should play a lot right away.  Thomas Coyne is also one to watch.

Bowdoin -- as noted above, David Reynolds seems likely to provide some badly-needed wing scoring for the Polar Bears.

Colby -- According to the Colby season preview, two frosh will be starting: Ethan Schlager and Sean Gilmore.  Considering that Colby enters the season with only seven healthy non-frosh on the roster, plenty more will likely see serious playing time.  That's not a good sign for Colby's prospects this year.

Conn College -- Jason Bird could be an early impact player off the bench for Conn.

Hamilton -- Kena Gilmour looks like another ROY contender.

Middlebury -- Perry DeLorenzo and Matt Folger could add scoring punch to the Panthers' second unit.

Tufts -- Patrick Racy is one of only three non-guards on the Tufts roster, so is likely to see the floor if either Palleschi or Madsen misses any time.  Miles Bowser looks like an interesting player as well.  Transfer KJ Garrett looks to be the top new Jumbo to watch. 

Trinity -- the Bantams seem to have a very strong group of frosh, led by guard Joe Bell, wingman Nick Seretta, and C Jadikas Brooks.  All could see court time this year after the Bantams graduated four starters. 

Wesleyan -- Kevin McDonald could provide some outside shooting off the bench on the wing.

Williams -- Matt Karpowicz and Henry Feinberg both look very promising, but will have to beat out talented veterans for playing time.  Vince Brookins is another talented frosh who may have to bide his time. 

[amh63]

Something has been bothering me wrt to CAC game scheduling for several years.  As a fan who enjoy live games on hard stands watching players closeup, I try to get up to NE as often as I can.  In days pass, the Fri-Sat games allow me to watch four games...two WBB and two MBB...over a weekend trip.
Yes, the on-line coverage is getting better and free.  In most recent years, the men and women games are not played together. 
Does anyone know the reason behind the change.  I remember the order of the men and women games were switched in order to increase the attendance ...for the women games, I believe.  Must ask the Amherst AD next time I'm up....his time was limited at Homecoming with the football game and Amherst hosting NCAA men and women soccer games.

[P'bearfan]

It looks like Trinity will also be playing at UMass-Dartmouth this weekend though Bowdoin and Trinity will not play each other.  Any Trinity posters making the trip?

[amh63]

Middhoops...... at the ECSU tournament, if you and your cuz can, sit behind the panther team so I can check your behavior .  Seems the row of benches will be out...based on the WBB game...for the Tourny.  Camera view online has the team benches and score table in coverage. 
Drive safe guys, behave and wear goofy hats!

[Vandy74]

amh63, for the Dean of the Board; anything.  Vandy74 will be waving to you.

I look goofy enough as it is.  I don't need hats to emphasize it.

[nescac1]

The Ephs come away with a 12 point victory in their traditionally brutal-shooting first game. 

The negatives for the Ephs: they could not buy a shot from 3.  8-38 overall, and the top perimeter threats on the team ALL really struggled.  They missed a bunch of WIDE, I mean WIDE, open threes and had what seemed like at least 4-5 rattle in and out.  But it's the first game, and guys like Teal, Heskett, and Casey will surely shoot it much better.  The Ephs generally played well on defense but did give up a few too many perimeter blow-byes. 

The positives: Aronowitz looks to be in all-American form already, doing it inside and outside on both ends, finishing with 23-7-2 plus a steal and a block.  Scadlock has three spectacular plays -- a massive block, a beautiful sequence in which he dribbled twice behind his back in the open court then hid Soto for a wide open three, and finished with a big dunk the Ephs' best sequence of the game, four touch passes in rapid succession.  He did get a bit out of control at times close to the basket and like last year needs to work on slowing down just a bit and using his huge size advantage.  But he is going to have some big games this year, for sure.   

The Ephs' center trio looks MUCH better than last year's version.  Soto in particular looked really good, showing off his silky smooth finishing and making all four of his shots. He looks far more confident than last year. Kempton, who rarely looked to score last year, hit two beautiful old-school hook shots in the lane.  That shot is unblockable at his size.  He has good hands and needs to get the ball more close to the rim.  Frosh Karpowicz looked like he belonged in his first college game as well.  Those three guys are going to be quite the trio in another year. 

Great to see Mike Greenman back and looking like he did not miss a beat after a year off from injury. 

Finally, the Ephs did a very nice job on the boards. This team is HUGE and will get a lot more second chance points than we have seen from any Eph squad in years.  Bringing three guys in off the bench up front who go 6'10, 6'9, 6'8 is a nice luxury to have. 

Overall, a nice way to start the season despite the rough shooting night.  I would be very surprised if the Ephs beat any good team with Teal, Greenman, Heskett, Feinberg, and Greenman combining to go 4-25 from three.  But all are ace shooters so it's unlikely that will happen very often this season (hopefully never) as they get into their rhythm on offense. 

[JEFFFAN]

After weeping the NESCAC in football, Trinity starts the hoops season as the only NESCAC school to lose tonight.  Ever other NESCAC school is victorious !

[middhoops]

Middlebury wins easily over Salem St. at the Eastern Connecticut tourney. 
Matt St. Amour didn't find the range tonight but soph Zach Baines had the break out game many Midd fans hoped for/expected.  His 22 pts, 6 boards and 3 blocks in 25 minutes was spectacularly efficient.
The Panthers' 5 man front court rotation scored nearly 20 easy buckets off good ball movement.
Jack Daly had a quiet 11 boards, 6 assists and 5 steals.

Tomorrow Midd faces the hosts.  Should be a great game.

[7express]

I'm planning on going to the Amherst tournament tomorrow.  Anyone know whether they kick you out between the end of the men's second game and the first women's game Saturday, and make you buy separate tickets for both sessions, or whether you can hang out in the gym for about an hour between games (since I assume the Amherst game will begin about 3).

[JEFFFAN]

I would be very surprised if they recharged. I have been to in unerable doubleheaders there with no recharge.

[amh63]

7Express....cannot help you wrt such info since I never been to any opening Tourny and a WBB opening Tourny. Best I can do for you is put the cost on my tab...really my friend!  Catch up with you at a game in Danbury.
Middhoops...saw you and Vandy online at EConn!  A bit lonely, the pair.  Were there any other Midd fans nearby?  Saw you chat with some fans at halftime.  Midd did look strong inside.

Some comments wrt the Amherst first game.  This year's Green Mountain team was overmatched...period.  Amherst was too big, too deep, etc. 
In spite of Racy missing his first six threes...he finished with 3 straight and Amherst scored over 80 points.  JMac had a poor shooting night too but rebounded well.  In fact, Amherst had 61 RBs and 8 blocks.  TOs were high for both teams...and Amherst put in 18 players into the game.  Amherst "front court " players were tough on defense and Amherst played strictly man to man defense. 
Amherst faces St. Lawrence this afternoon, a team that is expected to challenge in the Liberty League this season.  They have a tall active Center and a beefy backup center.  Should be interesting to see what happens.  One thing for sure, all the Amherst players are hitting the boards and defending. Expect the rotation of players to continue as Amherst's coaches continue to evaluate players in games that count.

[nescac1]

I just watched Amherst totally dismantle a solid St. Lawrence team in the first half.  Amherst looks much-improved from last year.  Playing much more as a unit, almost no rushed or forced shots, relentlessly working the ball down low to both the big men and the big wings on back-door cuts, setting up very clean looks from 3.  Dawson (playing with a lot more poise), George, Riopel all looking like dynamic individual players on offense, and McCarthy is McCarthy.  They are so long, strong, and aggressive on defense, really flummoxed St. Lawrence.  The frosh Sellew looks like he belongs, a smooth player, and everyone in the nine-man rotation made strong contributions.  The Jeffs are going to be very tough this year.