MBB: NESCAC

[PolarBear16]

Aint nobody crying for the Jeffs, but it is interesting that Hixon has not been able to find a Toomey / Olsen type point guard over the past few years.  I know that is a huge chore since we are taking multiple first team AA awards for those two, but Hixon loves the traditional model over what Jayde and Berman have been able to bring to the table.  One is shot first, the other is never shoot!

Agreed. It is now year three of Dawson and Berman fighting for who the starting point guard is, and neither one has shown themselves capable of seizing the position fully. And just as notable is that there is no young player on the roster that appears to be pushing for playing time at the point guard position. Freshman guard Tommy Mobley is highly touted but hasn't seen much of the floor this year. Judging from the fact that his highlight tape does not feature him making a single pass but instead draining shot after shot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH1dIZyVFPg), he looks more like a shooting guard than point guard.

The Amherst roster is absolutely loaded. Seems like the best young talent on the roster for Amherst is at the forward and center position in Sellew and Schneider. However, the penchant of Hixon is to often only play one big, meaning their playing time is limited. Yet the team's greatest weakness the past two seasons, point guard play, is still right there.

[amh63]

Interesting posts by some wrt the Amherst PG situation in particular and the Amherst team in general, especially to the Thursday night game.  I have some opinions based on my limited observations on the Amherst games to date and some early pre- season posts on the season ahead.  I have been watching the WBB games recently since there are many similarities between tha Amherst's teams wrt to post season goals and team makeup and depth.  Last night after a game in Va. on Sat., the women's team beat RIC by 55 points, 80-25!  Amherst played every healthy player and the score kept growing.  Amherst played future PGs with three senior starters. No. 1 national ranked Tufts stand in the way of no.2 ranked Amherst team for the CAC title...yes, a little bravado here, but Amherst is very, very good.
Now some comments on the Amherst men's team that will qprobably put me in Coach Hixon' s doghouse again.  First, the PG situation.  I am an advocate of a PG that distribute the ball around to a high octane offense, especially from outside..therefore Berman is my choice to start the game.  I mentioned previously that Amherst wants to go inside first on offense and Berman will look to feed it inside and around the perimeter for others to get the ball inside.  I am encouraged that Berman is taking his outside shot more when he is left unguarded and his defense is much improved.  In fact, the man to man defense by all players is good to date.  So is the offensive rebounding by ALL players on the floor.  Amherst is starting two bigs..both 6'8"..now.  Starters or bench players is now a bit hazy and for me, a mute distinction. Amherst can go 8-9 deep with little drop off on offense and defense.  In a game against Emerson, where Emerson used a 7-footer..a hunk of a big man... the shorter but bigger Conklin was more effective than George inside.  The same can be said for FY Sewell coming in for starter Nabatofff.
Now wrt guarding Flannery, I believe that Riopel can/will share that difficult task with JMac.  Both are the same size..or taller...than Flannery  and have the quickness and outside shot that should challenge Flannery on defense...both outside and inside on the boards.
Now wrt PGs in the future...I believe here are some sitting on the bench...but that is another post.

[JEFFFAN]

Interesting posts by some wrt the Amherst PG situation in particular and the Amherst team in general, especially to the Thursday night game.  I have some opinions based on my limited observations on the Amherst games to date and some early pre- season posts on the season ahead.  I have been watching the WBB games recently since there are many similarities between tha Amherst's teams wrt to post season goals and team makeup and depth.  Last night after a game in Va. on Sat., the women's team beat RIC by 55 points, 80-25!  Amherst played every healthy player and the score kept growing.  Amherst played future PGs with three senior starters. No. 1 national ranked Tufts stand in the way of no.2 ranked Amherst team for the CAC title...yes, a little bravado here, but Amherst is very, very good.
Now some comments on the Amherst men's team that will qprobably put me in Coach Hixon' s doghouse again.  First, the PG situation.  I am an advocate of a PG that distribute the ball around to a high octane offense, especially from outside..therefore Berman is my choice to start the game.  I mentioned previously that Amherst wants to go inside first on offense and Berman will look to feed it inside and around the perimeter for others to get the ball inside.  I am encouraged that Berman is taking his outside shot more when he is left unguarded and his defense is much improved.  In fact, the man to man defense by all players is good to date.  So is the offensive rebounding by ALL players on the floor.  Amherst is starting two bigs..both 6'8"..now.  Starters or bench players is now a bit hazy and for me, a mute distinction. Amherst can go 8-9 deep with little drop off on offense and defense.  In a game against Emerson, where Emerson used a 7-footer..a hunk of a big man... the shorter but bigger Conklin was more effective than George inside.  The same can be said for FY Sewell coming in for starter Nabatofff.
Now wrt guarding Flannery, I believe that Riopel can/will share that difficult task with JMac.  Both are the same size..or taller...than Flannery  and have the quickness and outside shot that should challenge Flannery on defense...both outside and inside on the boards.
Now wrt PGs in the future...I believe here are some sitting on the bench...but that is another post.

Jeffs up by three at half after being up by 12.   Not sure that I fully understand the offensive philosophy entirely.   Amherst shoots threes and shoots threes and shoots threes.  Despite being a good defensive rebounding team, they rarely, if ever, run.  I understand that George doesn't have much of an inside game, but I remain perplexed as to why they don't run more when they have more depth than virtually every other team they play.

[middhoops]

Jefffan, agreed.
Seems like Amherst has an opportunity to exploit an advantage in the paint.

[JEFFFAN]

Jefffan, agreed.
Seems like Amherst has an opportunity to exploit an advantage in the paint.

Hixon must have listened to us - HAH! - as they cut down their three point attempts in the second half to 8 after taking 15 three point shots in the first half.   Still ended up shooting close to 50% from three point range.   Used their depth to completely wear down Brandeis in the second half and their defense was also very good. 

Tough loss for Tufts.  The big man from UMass-Boston hit a very tough two pointer at the end after a spirited comeback from Tufts tied it up at the end.

[middhoops]

Huge and unlikely upset.  UMass-Boston nips Tufts with 1.9 seconds to go.  76-74

[amh63]

Yes, there must been some talking in the locker room at halftime.  David George and others start to run the floor and more points inside via drives and rebounds.  JMac scores more inside and Racy gets his shots to drop...etc., etc.  Major concern is the "ankle injury" by Riopel...twisted in a battle for a rebound with Sellew.  Hope he can bring a spark again on Thurs.
Looked over the Stats in the Tufts lost.  What stood out is the apparent "poor stats" associated with the TWO big guns for Tufts. 
Maybe the CAC teams do not like to play OOC games on Tuesday.  Amherst woke up in the second half.  Anyone guess what happened to Tufts.  Tufts HC is too good of a coach...must be scratching his head.  Looking at the playing time for Tufts player, does not provide an answer for me.  Is Mass-Boston that good?  Bad question on my part...is Tufts that much overrated as Mass-Boston underrated in NE is a better question.  Any comments posters?

[7express]

Yes, there must been some talking in the locker room at halftime.  David George and others start to run the floor and more points inside via drives and rebounds.  JMac scores more inside and Racy gets his shots to drop...etc., etc.  Major concern is the "ankle injury" by Riopel...twisted in a battle for a rebound with Sellew.  Hope he can bring a spark again on Thurs.
Looked over the Stats in the Tufts lost.  What stood out is the apparent "poor stats" associated with the TWO big guns for Tufts. 
Maybe the CAC teams do not like to play OOC games on Tuesday.  Amherst woke up in the second half.  Anyone guess what happened to Tufts.  Tufts HC is too good of a coach...must be scratching his head.  Looking at the playing time for Tufts player, does not provide an answer for me.  Is Mass-Boston that good?  Bad question on my part...is Tufts that much overrated as Mass-Boston underrated in NE is a better question.  Any comments posters?

No.  And their conference (LEC) certainly isn't very good either.  Every once in a while these things happen (2007 Stanford over USC football, Gardner-Webb over Kentucky, etc) which you chalk up to good luck for Boston, and bad preparation by Tufts.  Probably thought they were going to cruise, and by the time they realized they weren't, it was too late.

[warriorcat]

I watched most of the game online. UMass Boston was more energetic and aggressive throughout the game and Tufts seemed to just be playing without any emotion or urgency.  In spite of a serious size disadvantage the Beacons attacked the offensive boards aggressively and out rebounded the Jumbos on the evening. Tufts trailed by 7 with 1:33 left and rallied with some Beacon turnovers and two Tarik Smith 3's the second one tying the game with19 seconds remaining.  The 6'4" post player from UMass Boston hit a baseline jumper with less than two seconds to seal the deal. 

When you carry a national ranking you get everyone's best shot.  The Beacons came to play and Tufts did not.

[whyDiii]

Yes, there must been some talking in the locker room at halftime.  David George and others start to run the floor and more points inside via drives and rebounds.  JMac scores more inside and Racy gets his shots to drop...etc., etc.  Major concern is the "ankle injury" by Riopel...twisted in a battle for a rebound with Sellew.  Hope he can bring a spark again on Thurs.
Looked over the Stats in the Tufts lost.  What stood out is the apparent "poor stats" associated with the TWO big guns for Tufts. 
Maybe the CAC teams do not like to play OOC games on Tuesday.  Amherst woke up in the second half.  Anyone guess what happened to Tufts.  Tufts HC is too good of a coach...must be scratching his head.  Looking at the playing time for Tufts player, does not provide an answer for me.  Is Mass-Boston that good?  Bad question on my part...is Tufts that much overrated as Mass-Boston underrated in NE is a better question.  Any comments posters?

I have to say after watching several Tufts games thus far, (1) in person, this Tufts team does look a bit overrated for its #3 national ranking. Not sure if this team has the firepower and grit to live up to that pre season ranking.

[Vandy74]

Yes, there must been some talking in the locker room at halftime.  David George and others start to run the floor and more points inside via drives and rebounds.  JMac scores more inside and Racy gets his shots to drop...etc., etc.  Major concern is the "ankle injury" by Riopel...twisted in a battle for a rebound with Sellew.  Hope he can bring a spark again on Thurs.
Looked over the Stats in the Tufts lost.  What stood out is the apparent "poor stats" associated with the TWO big guns for Tufts. 
Maybe the CAC teams do not like to play OOC games on Tuesday.  Amherst woke up in the second half.  Anyone guess what happened to Tufts.  Tufts HC is too good of a coach...must be scratching his head.  Looking at the playing time for Tufts player, does not provide an answer for me.  Is Mass-Boston that good?  Bad question on my part...is Tufts that much overrated as Mass-Boston underrated in NE is a better question.  Any comments posters?

I have to say after watching several Tufts games thus far, (1) in person, this Tufts team does look a bit overrated for its #3 national ranking. Not sure if this team has the firepower and grit to live up to that pre season ranking.

I attended the Middlebury women's game tonight and didn't see this one but I too have watched Tufts play several times this season.  I haven't seen Palleschi show up yet.  When has that happened?  Twice in eight games?  I think Tufts is a very good team.  Mass-Boston stopped Pace tonight, if he didn't stop himself, but the Jumbos still have had consistent and solid production from 5-6 players in almost every game since he's been ready.  If Palleschi can return to form they'll be fine.  Why he hasn't done that is puzzling.  Is it possible that he really has been around for as long as it seems to non Tufts fans?  Maybe the dude really is getting old.  One can always hope.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Was anyone watching the game?  Palleschi only played 20 mins and didn't have foul trouble - is he hurt or just not playing well?  It seems like this shouldn't have been a bad matchup for Tufts.  Allowing 47% shooting is troubling.  I agree #3 is probably too high for this team, but they're still very good - much better than that performance last night.

[nescac1]

Craziest early stat line of the year in NESCAC -- through six games, Bowdoin guard Blake Gordon has made 14-15 FGA (93 percent) and 7-7 three pointers (100 percent, obviously).  Obviously he is bound to cool down, but quite an upgrade from his frosh year (when he made no three pointers and shot 33 percent overall) and sophomore year (44/27 percent, respectively). 

[whyDiii]

From what I have seen, Palleschi has not been himself. He appears to be showing a limited arsenal in the post, and has not had great success. I think Sheldon has gone with smaller lineups quickly when TP is not affecting games as much as he wants him to early on. Look for Palleschi to regroup and start to show his true post game as well as his face up mid post game. Palleschi is a smart player, and once he settles in, Tufts should be able to get going. Definitely a tough skid for Tufts, but it may be the wake up call they need.

[Bucket]

Middlebury pulls away from a scrappy Southern Vermont team on the road, 86-72.

This Southern Vermont team is down a fair bit from their recent successes, but they're not exactly pushovers. They've beaten Trinity this year, and lost by a bucket to Bowdoin.

Like Midd's game with Salem State, it's nice to see the Panthers win by double-digits on a night when Matt St Amour has a difficult shooting night and is held 14 points below his average: 7 points, 2-14 from the field.

Jack Daly comes tantalizingly close to a triple-double: 20 pts, 8 boards, 7 assists.

Jake Brown does achieve a double-double: 11 points, 10 assists.

Adisa Majors w/ 18 in 24 minutes of action. (His floor time was limited due to foul trouble.)

One other stat that I love to see: Middlebury with 22 assists on 34 made baskets.