MBB: NESCAC

[ECSUalum]

Two losses in three games for Amherst.  Sadly for Williams, Amherst will be a desperate, angry team Friday.  But obviously something isn't clicking right now for a Jeffs team loaded with talent.  Friday should be a fascinating night.  NESCAC looks wide open this year ... there will be plenty of upsets in league play.

How about a suffocating defense, balanced scoring and only 4 TO by the Warriors.  Amherst averages 85ppg. Give us a little credit for playing an outstanding game!

[nescac1]

No doubt.  Eastern Conn was awesome on both ends.  Lindo in particular was everywhere. 

[ECSUalum]

No doubt.  Eastern Conn was awesome on both ends.  Lindo in particular was everywhere.

Thanks nescac1!  We all know NESCAC is the premier conference in the country, IMHO, and Williams Amherst, and Middlebury are the reason for their dominance!  After getting zipped by NESCAC teams earlier this season, it feels good to finally get a quality win!!  Eastern is still 1-4 against Amherst!!

[iwumichigander]

Nice NYTimes story on Duncan Robinson, discussing time at Williams and Michigan.  While I can easily believe that Duncan is one of the better shooter currently in college hoops, Mike Crotty might be guilty of just a little bit of hyperbole in this article ... he might need to spend a bit more time watching the Warriors, for starters . 

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/sports/ncaabasketball/duncan-robinson-michigan-williams.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

If Robinson was shooting upwards of 50% plus from three this year, Crotty might have a point... instead he comes off as a little crazy.
I have a question about Robinson's eligibility. He is listed as a senior, but he sat out a year because of transferring which I thought counted as a redshirt. Is he a senior because he took a post-grad year at Exeter and is therefore ineligible to redshirt?

My guess would be he is a senior academically, but a junior by eligibility.

yiu are correct Mr. Ypsi .  He is listed as "RS JR " on the UM roster page.  He is in all probability a senior academically.  I suspect he will either stretch his academics, change majors or go the grad school route for final year of eligibility .  I just do not see him as "NBA" ready until he improves his defense.

[Old Guy]

Two losses in three games for Amherst.  Sadly for Williams, Amherst will be a desperate, angry team Friday.  But obviously something isn't clicking right now for a Jeffs team loaded with talent.  Friday should be a fascinating night.  NESCAC looks wide open this year ... there will be plenty of upsets in league play.

How about a suffocating defense, balanced scoring and only 4 TO by the Warriors.  Amherst averages 85ppg. Give us a little credit for playing an outstanding game!

I give Eastern CT tons of credit for their non-league schedule. They play five NESCAC schools: lose to Midd (83-74), CT College (83-81), Williams (82-72); beat Trinity (72-65) and Amherst (87-75). Only Amherst and Middlebury were played at home.

Also, they bludgeoned RIC, who vanquished undefeated Wesleyan tonight, at RIC (90-63). They also played 9-2 WPI in their first game, and Buffalo State (7-3). ECSU is 8-5 with as good a early schedule as it gets. Kudos to the coach, who should see the fruits of his labor pay off in the conference.

[JEFFFAN]

Amherst once again hasn't come close to figuring out the point guard situation.  17 turnovers!  And only one assist for the starting point guard who really is a 2 guard. Also, what has happened to David George - only 14 minutes tonight?

Something is amiss in the town formerly known as Amherst Massachusetts.

[amh63]

Hot off the press sort of post wrt to ECSU whippingof Amherst in Willimantic tonight.  ECSU took it to Amherst in the second half as Amherst made a "tired" attempt to catch up. 
I will be blunt about the state of this TEAM...the starting team on the floor for Amherst...made up of four seniors and JMac is Not a team that will go far in the Nescac or post season...if they make it!

I pause to congrat ECSU for their fine play.  Lindo made history tonight and own the boards, as usual.  The Warriors guards came through with points and steals and Low TOS.    They  played hard and well with intensity and energy.

Back to the Amherst players that the Amherst coaches want to put go with.  First, looking at Coach Hixon who I have great respect....he looked tired and "confused" to me.  Too much time arguing with the refs on calls.  His best player on the Amherst team tonight was Conklin...check his time and stats. JMac played hard but played tired to me with his outside shots going short and blocked.  The two Captains provided little contributions on both sides of the floor.   George is a puzzle to me.  He cannot score inside now when matched against bigger centers and provided few defensive stats.  He runs the floor late to the post on offense and just disappeared in recent games I watched.  Captain Racy is another player that seems to get lost in the offense, especially when Dawson is on the floor.  Now Dawson is a player that is Not a team player, imo.  Yes he is a scorer but a ball hog on offense.  When he shoots, other players are not in position to rebound.  He is the weakest defender on the starting five.  He ls often out of position on defense.  He fouled out tonight.  He is quick on offense with the ball to the basket, BUT tends to be out of position when he doesn't have the ball, etc.
The combo of Berman and Dawson works at times, with Dawson being the SG.  Dawson should be a sixth man off the bench player?..not a starter.  I would also groom Big Joe as the backup center behind Conklin asap.  George needs to start competing for a starting role.  Against bigger front court players, he is ineffective on offense and contributes little NOW on defense. 
The deep team of talented players is not an asset if you have a short rotation of talented players that are not playing as a team at this point...especially against good teams.

[ECSUalum]

Hot off the press sort of post wrt to ECSU whippingof Amherst in Willimantic tonight.  ECSU took it to Amherst in the second half as Amherst made a "tired" attempt to catch up. 
I will be blunt about the state of this TEAM...the starting team on the floor for Amherst...made up of four seniors and JMac is Not a team that will go far in the Nescac or post season...if they make it!

I pause to congrat ECSU for their fine play.  Lindo made history tonight and own the boards, as usual.  The Warriors guards came through with points and steals and Low TOS.    Hey played hard and well with intensity and energy.

Back to the Amherst players that the Amherst coaches want to put go with.  First, looking at Coach Hixon who I have great respect....he looked tired and "confused" to me.  Too much time arguing with the refs on calls.  He best player on the Amherst team tonight was Conklin...check his time and stats. JMac played hard but played tired to me with his outside shots going short and blocked.  The two Captains provided little contributions on both sides of the floor.   George is a puzzle to me.  He cannot score inside now when matched against bigger centers and provided few defensive stats.  He runs the floor late to the post on offense and just disappeared in recent games I watched.  Captain Racy is another player that seems to get lost in the offense, especially when Dawson is on the floor.  Now Dawson is a player that is Not a team player, imo.  Yes he is a scorer but a ball hog on offense.  When he shoots, other players are not in position to rebound.  He is the weakest defender on the starting five.  He ls often out of position on defense.  He fouled out tonight.  He is quick on offense with the ball to the basket, BUT tends to be out of position when he doesn't have the ball, etc.
The combo of Berman and Dawson works at times, with Dawson being the SG.  Dawson should be a sixth man off the bench player?..not a starter.  I would also groom Big Joe as the backup center behind Conklin asap.  George needs to start competing for a starting role.  Against bigger front court players, he is ineffective on offense and contributes little NOW on defense. 
The deep team of talented players is not an asset if you have a short rotation of talented players that are not playing as a team at this point...especially against good teams.

+k amh63, for your comments, however, I would not worry too much about Amherst, they have one of the best coaches in college basketball, and he will most definitely get the Jeffs, (can I still call them Lord Jeffs), back on track.  And, as you stated a deep selection of outstanding players!!  Look at last year they had lost 2 of 3, (Wesleyan and Colby) and that was just a little bump in the road!!

[gordonmann]

Trinity beats Plattsburgh!

(Excitedly books trip to Final Four in Salem..remembers he has to be there any way)

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin secured a solid win tonight on the road at  Bridgewater State 88 - 81.  The game was not nearly as close as the score might indicate as Bowdoin opened up a double digit lead mid-way through the first half.  The P'bears got a little sloppy very late in the game and BSU kept fighting which tightened up the score.

Overall better play on both ends of the floor though the defense still need work - too many missed rotations lead to easy baskets for BSU.

Bowdoin shot the lights out tonight: 55.6%  / 62.5% / 90%.  That's 62.5% from behind the arc on 16 attempts! Also, there was more balance in the offensive attack tonight as the P'bears scored in the paint with some nice passes to men cutting down low.  Bowdoin also did a much better job of rebounding tonight as they were almost even with BSU.

Many kudos to Jack Bors who came off the bench to lead all scorers with 23 points and Blake Gordon who scored 14 including 4 treys.  Simonds and O'Neill added 17 and 15 respectively.

Hopefully Bowdoin can build on this win as they prepare to face Tufts and Bates this weekend.

GoUBears!!

[P'bearfan]

Also want to recognize BSU for a very good webcast.  They had 3 cameras filming the game and instant replay - a real treat.  The 2 student announcers did a nice job as well.

[nescac1]

Amherst loses two road games to quality opponents and suddenly Hixon (who only coached his team to the Final Four last year and beat the number one team in the nation this year) is "tired and 'confused'" to amh63?  Ummm, you think you might be overreacting just a little bit?  If Amherst beats Williams at Williams on Friday (and believe me, I hope they won't, but they will certainly by very, very motivated to do so), all will be back on track.  If they get up to 4-5 losses before February, then you can start to worry a bit (and even then, not about Hixon's fitness as a coach).  Amherst is a flawed team.  They were last year, too, and it turned out OK for them.  So is every team, it seems, in Division 3 this year.  Every team has shown vulnerability at times.  But 99 percent of D3 coaches would trade their rosters for Amherst's, for certain.  Now, Amherst has more cause for concern about the future considering the lack of non-seniors making a major impact for the Jeffs right now.  But for now, they are still a senior-loaded team with loads of big game experience that is at least two-deep with talented guys at every spot.  Some guys aren't getting enough shots in the system right now, no doubt, but Hixon is a smart guy and I'm sure can make some adjustments.

Wesleyan, ouch.  Just one of those days I guess where nothing is falling for anyone and it gets contagious.  Wesleyan-Middlebury will be a huge test for both teams.  Both seem a bit shorthanded, Wesleyan still down Bonner (who I'm guessing now is out for the year) and Reed, Midd perhaps still down Baines and Dahlel, it's unclear.  So I expect short rotations for both in what may be a war of wills and attrition.  Midd has more scoring punch for sure, even without Baines, but Wesleyan's defense can disrupt anyone (although again, Reed is a loss on that end of the floor). 

Williams-Amhert will be interesting.  Jayde Dawson is the kind of guard who has given Williams fits all year.  The Ephs don't have a great match-up for him.  But on the other hand, it's not necessarily a good thing for Amherst when it becomes the Jayde show.  Interesting decision for how to approach the game.  For Williams, for the first time in a long time, the Ephs are longer and more athletic at forward than Amherst.  Scadlock, Aronowitz and Heskett will, like in every game Williams play, need to have a big collective day for the Ephs.  Hopefully Williams gets a bit more out of its center trio than it has on the offensive end of late to help the forwards out inside.  Karpowicz continues to show a nice scoring touch close to the rim in limited opportunities.  The Ephs are at their best when they are patient moving the ball and working it into the paint.  One of these days the Ephs are due for a three point shot explosion as well.  Friday sure would be a nice time for it to come!  McCarthy will likely make things difficult for Aronowitz so he won't be able, most likely, to bail the team out by himself as he does so many times this year. 

[JEFFFAN]

I think that it okay to be worried about Amherst right now.   Their two-year captain and big man is barely making a dent on the court, either offensively or defensively.   Their point guard would prefer to shoot rather than look for the pass first and the shot second.   Their best player, McCarthy, does not appear to be a player at this point who can take over games even though I believe the talent is there.  It is too easy to talk about their talent level as being overwhelming, but if we give Hixon the benefit of the doubt as an outstanding coach - which we absolutely should do - then what does it say about the talent that such a great coach is struggling to get them to play together more effectively? 

[amh63]

I wanted to post last night after my coffee and dessert....but did it at the time noted.  Did correct my errors in spelling, etc. today.  Expected some negative responses and will respond and clarify on my blunt points/comments now.
First, Nescac1, I do not need you to interpret my comments here wrt Coach Hixon.  I respect your opinion as shown in posts, BUT you are going down the path of another EPHs fan here.
My comment wrt Coach Hixon has two parts.  The " tired " part was the online shots of him that was based on a Viisual interpretation of the moment.  The second part of "confused" was an interpretation of what players to keep on the floor as the his team was being outplayed on the floor, especially on defense.  A FY guard was making steals, and left unguarded outside for shots and getting into the head of Dawson.  George was taken out early for his ineffective play but was put in again near the end when he did get another block and a RB when the game was lost.  Earlier in the game when Berman was receiving the ball, George nearly ran into Berman on the pass in.. Berman took the ball to the front court with George following behind with no urgency.  I believe Coach Hixon wants get to the Final 4 with his senior class taking the major load.  IMO, he is slow to blend in his younger players...for them to gain floor experience...because he is still puzzled why his present starters are not jelling against tough physical teams on the road.  I  used the term "confused" in that sense.
Coach Hixon has my full respect and I have been to Salem to watch his magic in all his final 4 visits.  He has e-mailed me before and chatted before.

[jumpshot]

amH63:

The plague will win more games this season, including some against good teams, without fulfilling its potential as long as any point guard continues taking one-third of all shots and 70 % more than the nearest teammate,as was the case last night.

Way too much of your self-worth is invested in the athletic performance of 21 year-olds, for whom it is really all about their education, development and life experience in any case.

Take a deep breath ....