MBB: NESCAC

[P'bearfan]

Headed up to CT for Bowdoin's match-ups with Wes and Conn College.  Looks like our timing is good from a weather perspective and with a little luck we'll miss the brunt of the snow storms.

GoUBears!!

[amh63]

Will be Florida on Friday...will be watching the games on line.  Does any poster know if any planned sporting events...been delayed this weekend due to traveling conditions?
Is it possible to get to Hamilton and or Middlebury?  There are also Nescac events ...swimming and diving events.
Meanwhile watching Duke and UNC play in Cameron!  Close game.

[7express]

Regional rankings posted.  This does not include last night, and I think Amherst and Wesleyan would now be flipped.  ENORMOUS week ahead with Williams playing at ranked Tufts and Bates, Middlebury/Amherst playing in a huge clash, and UMD and Eastern Conn playing in essentially a Pool C elimination game.  These rankings could shake up quite a bit depending on the results. 

1   Babson   20-1   20-1      
2   Middlebury   18-3   18-3      
3   Amherst   16-4   16-4      
4   Tufts   17-5   17-5      
5   Wesleyan (CT)   16-5   16-5      
6   Williams   16-6   16-6      
7   Eastern Conn. St.   14-7   14-7      
8   UMass Dartmouth   14-7   14-7      
9   MIT   16-5   16-5      
10   Keene St.   14-7   14-7      
11   Bates   15-8   15-8

The LEC is eliminated from pool C discussion anyways no matter which teams win the conference, or however many teams may finish unbeaten the rest of the way.

[7express]

Will be Florida on Friday...will be watching the games on line.  Does any poster know if any planned sporting events...been delayed this weekend due to traveling conditions?
Is it possible to get to Hamilton and or Middlebury?  There are also Nescac events ...swimming and diving events.
Meanwhile watching Duke and UNC play in Cameron!  Close game.

Everything should be fine for Friday.  When do NESCAC teams usually travel, Thursday night and stay over Thursday, or do they leave Friday morning for away games??  Assuming Amherst doesn't leave until Friday, they should be fine to travel.

[ContinentalDomer]

Clinton, NY is fantastic this time of year . . . Friday/Saturday roads will be clear for hoops. Heard some teams, including Hamilton, were stuck en route to Bowdoin for swimming event as the snow rocked New England today.

Will be Florida on Friday...will be watching the games on line.  Does any poster know if any planned sporting events...been delayed this weekend due to traveling conditions?
Is it possible to get to Hamilton and or Middlebury?  There are also Nescac events ...swimming and diving events.
Meanwhile watching Duke and UNC play in Cameron!  Close game.

[P'bearfan]

Will be Florida on Friday...will be watching the games on line.  Does any poster know if any planned sporting events...been delayed this weekend due to traveling conditions?
Is it possible to get to Hamilton and or Middlebury?  There are also Nescac events ...swimming and diving events.
Meanwhile watching Duke and UNC play in Cameron!  Close game.

Everything should be fine for Friday.  When do NESCAC teams usually travel, Thursday night and stay over Thursday, or do they leave Friday morning for away games??  Assuming Amherst doesn't leave until Friday, they should be fine to travel.

NESCAC teams typically travel on Fridays.  Even when Bowdoin makes the long trek to Hamilton, they leave mid-late Friday morning.  It's one of the reasons that road wins are so coveted - and hard to come by.

GoUBears!!

[middhoops]

Disclaimer.
These are NOT my predictions.
The Massey computer determines the probability of the outcome of each game well in advance.  Somehow, they add a score to the prediction.  (Like magicman but not as artful or well explained.)
These are today's Massey predictions for NESCAC games.

Tufts 80  Williams 75   giving Tufts a 66% chance of winning
Wes 74    Bowdoin 63  with an 85% chance
Conn 78  Colby 71       with a 73% chance
Hamilton 76  Trin 71    with a 67% chance
Midd 82    Amh 76       with a 71% chance

Sure ain't Walzy, but that is what some computer I've never met offers up.
Who wants to step up and challenge Mr. Massey's machine?

[Cards Fan]

Disclaimer.
These are NOT my predictions.
The Massey computer determines the probability of the outcome of each game well in advance.  Somehow, they add a score to the prediction.  (Like magicman but not as artful or well explained.)
These are today's Massey predictions for NESCAC games.

Tufts 80  Williams 75   giving Tufts a 66% chance of winning
Wes 74    Bowdoin 63  with an 85% chance
Conn 78  Colby 71       with a 73% chance
Hamilton 76  Trin 71    with a 67% chance
Midd 82    Amh 76       with a 71% chance

Sure ain't Walzy, but that is what some computer I've never met offers up.
Who wants to step up and challenge Mr. Massey's machine?

Trinity or Hamilton could go either way, Hamilton has lots of talent and has certainly outplayed my expectations, but Trinity has been cruising lately.

Amherst could get hot and top Midd, but it's a tough road game, that's for sure.

[Canvas Hightops]

Guaranteed I won't miss a moment of Midd/Amh but keeping a close eye on Williams at Tufts.
The Ephs may have found their groove.  Without Palleschi, Williams' size could be a big factor.
But, as Cards Fan says, it's a tough road game. 

The Hamilton/Trinity game should be a battle.  NESCAC fans should get ready for Hamilton being really good the next couple of years.

Bring on a big NESCAC night.

[jumpshot]

Ephs play poorly in trailing Tufts 47-26 at the half. This season opponents routinely exploit Ephs deficiencies as to fundamentals, including endless stream of unforced turnovers (9 in first 20 minutes tonight), slow getting back on defense, weakness defending simple pick and rolls, failure to protect the rim, giving up lots of open threes, erratic rebounding, 1 made foul shot,etc.

I'll take hard-nose, error free fundamentals as a base supplemented by consistent sound offense over an acute and chronic dependency on elegant offense every time.

Something is missing in Williamstown .... and it needs to be corrected in order to regain competitiveness.

In the interim, warm up the bus ....

[nescac1]

Definitely the worst Eph defensive effort of the year.  Tufts had a notable speed advantage going with five smalls most of the game and the Ephs were unfortunately the most sluggish they have been on D basically all year -- not getting back in transition, not getting out on shooters, and not putting hands up to contest shots.  Tufts was just way too quick for the Ephs.  Didn't help to be missing Cole Teal on the defensive end, but he would not have come close to making a difference.  Tufts was also just red, red, red hot from deep, especially Garrett and Savage, who were absolutely scorching, but really the entire team was.  The Ephs when they got the ball inside were able to exploit their size advantage but they were so desperate to do so that they kept forcing passing creating more turnovers and more transition points.  Just an ugly game for Williams and a tremendous game by Tufts in all aspects.  The Eph team who has been playing quite well in recent weeks was nowhere to be seen. 

Ephs need a serious gut check heading into the Bates game which is now a must-win for Williams if they hope to keep Pool C hopes alive. 

[magicman]

Nice win by Middlebury tonight over Amherst by a 106-91 final score. The Panthers controlled this game from start to finish.

68 points, 20 rebounds and 17 assists from the Panthers 3 starting guards.

[jumpshot]

Mid crushes what has become an over-rated plague 106-91 with balanced scoring, excellent pace, and typical hustle. Plague's point guard scores 24 points by taking twice as many shots as any of his talented teammates. Surprised this issue has remained throughout the season much to the frustration of plague players and fans. Helpful only perhaps in earning an opportunity to play in Europe ....

[nescac1]

NESCAC tourney picture: Tufts 1, Midd 2, Amherst 3 with a win or a Trinity loss.  Trinity-Wesleyan is very likely the 4-5 game in what would be a tough CT battle.  Hamilton, Bates and Williams battling it out for the 6-7-8 seeds and very tough first round road games in the tourney no matter how it shakes down. 

After tonight, regardless of what happens in the NESCAC tourney, Midd and Tufts are locks for Pool C, and Wesleyan is a near-lock (and will be a lock with a win over Colby tomorrow).  Williams and Amherst will probably be scrambling for at most one Pool C spot -- and there is a decent chance (if Trinity loses to Midd and if Williams beats Bates, e.g.) that they will face off in the first round of the NESCAC tourney.  No one else has a realistic shot at Pool C. 

If both Amherst and Williams both lose their next two games, which is certainly in play, Williams is eliminated from NCAA contention and Amherst is very likely out of the NCAA tourney, too.  I am almost certain that, incredibly, that has never happened in all the years that NESCAC has been eligible for the NCAA tourney (starting in 1994)*

*edited: in 1999 both Amherst and Williams missed the NCAA tourney. 

[Cards Fan]

My cardinals easily defeat Bowdoin 93-73.

They could get a home game in the tournament with a win over Colby and a loss from either Amherst or Trinity. Trinity is on the road against Midd, so that's the one I'd imagine a loss in. Hoping for a 3 seed, but most likely that won't happen, so I'd settle for a 4 seed for sure.