MBB: NESCAC

[grabtherim]

Agree with Bucket's points on the bench, but for me watching the 2nd half what stood out more was a less than impressive defensive performance especially in the 2nd half.  Clearly, Endicott deserves kudos for their inspired play, but I thought Midd's defensive intensity left much to be desired.  Endicott swung the ball around several times in a very similar way with the same result; Endicott shooters ended up wide open when Midd reacted slowly.  That's the bad news.  The good news, is this was a November game which the kids can learn from and improve on.  Over Midd's run under Brown, defensive intensity has been a hallmark as much as anything. I think we can expect to see this team improve on this.  After all it has more to do with effort and communication than skill anyway.  On another front, the scoring will have to come from others in addition to St. Amor, otherwise it will be far too easy for teams to key on him and shut the Panthers down.  I think they have the firepower to overcome this as well.  They showed that last season.  Long way to go.  This team's best basketball is way in front of them.       

[whyDiii]

Endicott does play well together and is a team that can really get hot offensively. Bettencourt does a really good job with what he has, too bad they don't have too many other "ranked" opponents on the schedule to prove their worth.

Midd- I had completely forgot about Baines-- St. Armor obiously an elite scorer, but bench must step up in nescac play.

[WPI89]

Any Tufts v WPI thoughts - I was only able to 'watch" the live stats as I was on a train.  Pretty obvious that when WPI was hitting shots, they were hanging and winning - then went cold and could no longer hang.  Be very interested in any insight from attendees or video watchers.............

[P'bearfan]

Congrats to Bowdoin who defeated USM in their home opener 86-79.  The Polar Bears had five players in double figures: Ahn, Simonds, Fuller, Farley and Reynolds.  That's exactly the type of offensive balance Bowdoin will need to be competitive as conference play begins.  Looking forward to the Colby game this weekend.

[ContinentalDomer]

Interesting game.  WPI's PG went off (28 pts) in his homecoming (Medford High School grad).  WPI was very good for most of the game, but when #13 was hit with his 4th foul (after scoring on 3-4 consecutive possessions), their offense slowed down.  As that happened, Vinny Pace began to find his range.  Pace (wore an ACL brace) did not shoot well in the first half, but played big minutes in the 2nd half and showed an array of 3s (spot-up, step backs) and a great baseline drive.  In my opinion, Pace does not look like himself at the defensive end.  Palleschi blocked a bunch of shots and was a force on the boards, but was held under 10 points.  Tarik Smith played well, including some strong finishes and an occasional outside shot.  My read on the game is that Tufts did not play all that well for an extended period of time (because WPI is good), but hung around and simply looked like a team that knew it would eventually win the game if they were close during the last 10 minutes.  Tufts made a run and got ahead by 7.  WPI could never get within one possession on the scoreboard until it was too late.  Tufts is dangerous.  WPI is also a force to be reckoned with.  On a neutral court or at WPI, the outcome could easily have been different.

Any Tufts v WPI thoughts - I was only able to 'watch" the live stats as I was on a train.  Pretty obvious that when WPI was hitting shots, they were hanging and winning - then went cold and could no longer hang.  Be very interested in any insight from attendees or video watchers.............

[middhoops]

Any Tufts v WPI thoughts - I was only able to 'watch" the live stats as I was on a train.  Pretty obvious that when WPI was hitting shots, they were hanging and winning - then went cold and could no longer hang.  Be very interested in any insight from attendees or video watchers.............

WPI played their typical disciplined, winning style of basketball.  Which was all fine until Vinny Pace came in from the bench.  Pace was a total wow.  His scoring, which appeared to be scarily easy, was the difference.
The video stream of the game is probably still available on the Tufts site.

[amh63]

WPI....Middhoops points maybe your best bet.  Kept an eye on the game and was intrigued that WPI was ahead and the game was tight.  When the Amherst games were over, went to watch online.  It was tight to the last few seconds...10 seconds.  With a few breaks going the other way, WPI would have the win..  Almost like the tight one up in Maine between Bowdoin and Babson.
Do have a couple of thoughts but they are limited somewhat due to my ignorance of the WPI players.
Building on Middhoops remarks wrt to Pace...as the key or go to guy at the end of a close game, I believe that WPI needs to have such a player.  With a key player, games against higher ranked teams at home or away, WPI should see a post- season run.  Coaching is fine.  I met WPI's coaches several years ago at a Tourny in the Baltimore area.  During the last five minutes of the game as the teams battled hard, your HC was standing tall...literally..and calm in his dark suit and shock of white hair watching the flow of the game and his players performance.  Sometimes, I watched him vice the game looking for his reaction.  In short, have little to add that the running live states cannot give you.
Based on the single game, I can state for now that Tufts maybe overrated and WPI under rated in the top 25.  Have stated somewhere that early season ratings is not my thing...especially when making judgements on players and/or team progress.

[WPI89]

Thanks for the thoughts guys - AMH63 - very literary - you should start your first novel - if not already done!

[whyDiii]

I was at the game and really agree with those posts, WPI's energy was huge to gain a double digit lead. With that being said Tufts seemed calm and collected throughout WPI runs and fought back hard from the 10 minute mark on in the 2nd.  Only took them a few minutes to regain control of the game-experience! 

[whyDiii]

Was able to get down and check out the Bates @ Babson game. Strickland is out with some sort of foot injury for Bates, and it really hurt them. Jeff Spellman- also hurt for Bates will need to get back to action to provide a spark for the Bates backcourt. Babson was able to turn their focus towards the Delpeche twins and have their way with Bates from the start. Babson had a nice spread out attack and Bates had no answer for Babson's wide array of weapons. Comenale led the way with 20 and 7, and boy has he been an ISSUE thus far for Babson opponents. This is my second game I've seen Babson play, and they look extremely dangerous playing both sides of the ball.

[Old Guy]

Shocker of the day is Middlebury losing at home to Endicott. The Panthers had a 17 point lead early in the 2nd half but the Gulls down 55-38 with 18:22 left to play, went on a 12-0 run in a little less than 3 minutes to pull within 5 points at 55-50. Matt St. Amour put an end to the Panther drought with a 3 pointer to make it an 8 point lead but Endicott reeled off 13 more unanswered points to go in front 63-58 with 12:38 to play. The Panthers could never regain the lead and trailed by as may as 8 points.They pulled within 2 points at 91-89 with 11 seconds left but then had to foul and the Gulls knocked down the free throws to make it a final of 93-89.

St. Amour led the Panthers with 33 points. Jack Daly had 22, Adisa Majors had 16 and Zach Baines had 12.

Endicott also had 4 players in double figures led by Kamahl Walker with 28 points. Daquon Sampson had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Max Montroni had 18 points and Chris Lipscomb tossed in 14.

I'm not sure how much of a shocker a 4-point loss is to a very good team. Disappointing for Panther fans, yes. But shocking? Not really.

Endicott is a very good team, head-and-shoulders better than an Eastern Conn team that I thought was pretty good, when Midd beat them down at their place. Middlebury was playing exceptionally well in getting out to that 17-point lead, and then the Gulls played exceptionally well in reversing it. Very evenly played game in just about every statistical category. Middlebury won't see a better guard than Kamahl Walker this year. Daquan Sampson did his damage on the boards and at the free throw line. Midd had too many defensive lapses and gave up too many second-chance points. This type of game is exactly what one wants–aside from outcome, obviously!—early in the season, and I'm confident it will make Middlebury a better team as the season progresses.

Agreed.  Having both Brown and Daly playing with 3 fouls early in the 2nd half didn't help matters any but Endicott simply played Middlebury's 1st half game back at them and did it better.  This was the preseason #24 vs the preseason #26 so there really isn't anything shocking about it.  I noticed Max Motroni when I passed him in the locker room hallway as I was leaving and took the opportunity to congratulate him on a great performance.  His trey at :56 which extended the Endicott lead to 6 points was really the game ending dagger.  The Panthers twice narrowed the deficit to two in the final 18 seconds but each time Daquon Sampson answered by sinking a pair from the charity stripe.  Good teams learn from their mistakes.   Middlebury learned a few things tonight.     

Vandy,

I didn't say Middlebury losing to the Gulls was an upset. I stated it was a shocker. I know that Endicott is a good team with all 5 starters back from last year's NCAA team. They are capable of beating a lot of teams with higher profiles, just as they did in the NCAA tournament last year to Catholic and then took Wooster to OT.  But how often have the Panthers, at home, with a 17 point lead, walked off the court a loser? That was the shocker. I may be wrong, but when midd hoops and you left Pepin yesterday, I bet you were more than a little shocked.  

How do you protect a 17 point lead with 17-18 minutes to go in a game against a good team - slow it down, take time off the clock? I wasn't counting hatched any chickens. I've seen lots of 12 point leads with three minutes left go up in smoke. Good crowd at the game - that was the revelation to me, 2-300 people. Middlebury has become a basketball town. Whodathunk?

[middhoops]

Having seen Old Guy play in his day, I know what he references.  Back in the 60s, on nights when the basketball and hockey teams (only men, then) played on the same night; the hockey rink was full of fans while Vandy and I would be two of the 3 dozen fans or less at the basketball game.
Between periods of the hockey game, people would pour into the (MUCH warmer) gym.  Regardless of the score or quality of the game, when the hockey game resumed, the fans returned to the rink.
Middlebury HAS become a basketball school in the past decade or less.  All of us old guys appreciate that.

[warriorcat]

I,too, am one of the old guys who appreciate the difference. I can speak from my days at Midd in the mid 70's. Hockey was the king particularly with the fans from town. That was too bad as they missed seeing some great Panther student athletes - Dave Pentkowski, Kevin Cummings, Dave Nelson, and others playing in an almost empty  pre-Pepin gym. I worked for Sports information so I was being paid to be there.

When I returned to Campus to see my son play in an NCAA game in Pepin in 2012 I could not believe the difference. The gym had been spruced up and the seats were filled.

[nescac1]

Very nice win for the Ephs over an undersized but game Vassar team.  Vassar has three good players -- the difference tonight was that the Ephs got contributions from about 10 different guys.  Shout-out first to Alex Seff of Vassar, who starred for my local high school and looked very good tonight.  Represent Arlington! 

For the Ephs, Bobby Casey, who has been scorching hot the last three games, finally had an off night.  And Dan Aronowitz had what I expect will be one of his very few off games ... never really got into the flow on offense, but a lot of that was purposefully sitting back and letting teammates get involved.  Although he didn't do much on offense, he did do a great job on D, holding Vassar's talented Jesse Brown to 5-14 shooting and picking up three big second half steals plus a block.  Any game where the Ephs can win by 20 plus with Casey and Aronowitz combining for only five points, they have to very pleased. 

Cole Teal had a fantastic game, 22-7 with an assist and only one turnover.  Teal is now shooting from deep like he did last year, but the rest of his game seems significantly improved -- his turnovers are way down, he's driving and finishing much better, using all the attention his outside shot garners to either draw fouls or drive in for layups.  Also doing an excellent job rebounding from the guard position.  Now a well-rounded player instead of primarily a gunner and far more effective for it.

The Ephs, after a weekend of virtually no inside scoring, did a MUCH better job working the ball into the interior -- Soto, Kempton, Heskett and Scadlock were all looking for their shots much more aggressively, and it paid off.  Heskett and Kempton seem to be developing some magical chemistry on the second unit, with a few beautiful give-and-go's.  In two years I think no one in D3 is going to be able to guard Heskett -- some nights he is very quiet, but on nights like today (13 points in 15 minutes) when he shows the whole package, outside shooting, posting up and slashing to the rim, you can see what the future will hold.  His defense has also become an asset as he moves very well for a 6'9 guy and plays hard.  Scadlock was also excellent, playing very much under control and finishing with patience tonight, while being a general menace on the defensive end with two monster rejections.  That's exactly what he needs to do since so few teams have wings who can match up with him physically, really he can only beat himself. 

Finally, Mike Greenman looks like he is all the way back, he's been playing better and better and was stellar tonight  -- 10-4-3, with two triples and no turnovers, in only 16 minutes. 

Good to see Chris Galvin playing his first game of the season returning from injury.  He is still working off the rust, obviously, but is a great asset as the second guard off the bench.  The Ephs' second unit of Galvin, Greenman, Heskett, and Kempton/Karpowicz will get stronger and stronger as the season goes along, I expect. 

Only nine turnovers total for the Ephs tonight ... any game that the Ephs can keep in single digits in TOs, they will be very hard to beat.  The offense is already worlds better than it was at the start of the season ... and there is still room for improvement.  The Ephs need to be an inside-out team with all their size and depth inside, and tonight they made good progress towards that goal.  When they play like that, the open looks from deep will always be there. 

[jumpshot]

Ephs' defense improved tonight, especially in the second half with more energy, sustained effort, and better team coordination. One unusual fact ---the Ephs are 6 and 0 while being credited with only 2 fast break points to date.