MBB: NESCAC

[AllStar]

[amh63]

All star...nice!  Plus K
Bucket...whatever.  Hoping for a rematch with Midd. 

[Bucket]

All star...nice!  Plus K
Bucket...whatever.  Hoping for a rematch with Midd.

What a strange reply. Did you take offense at that?

You said the only poor thing about Amherst's defensive efforts was allowing 60% shooting in the first half. While I agree that that was probably the most concerning defensive stat for Amherst Saturday, it wasn't the only variable that indicated defensive deficiency. Not sure why it bothers you for someone to point out the obvious. I'm certainly not gloating.

Between the complaints about the officiating and this schoolyard retort, it seems you're taking the loss especially hard. Enjoy the sunshine, my friend, and don't let one game bother you so much. Amherst can't win them all!

[toad22]

Just back from a very long weekend of basketball with the Ephs. I am very satisfied with a split of our two games. It was great fun being back in the Bobcat den. Bates played a very spirited game, and it made for a great atmosphere. Williams got down early, but really scrapped to get it back, and ultimately get a win. I'm now looking forward to another game with Amherst.

[jumpshot]

Bucket ....agree with your earlier comments regarding the pace at which Mid plays ---a pace that is currently a differentiating advantage in NESCAC, not unlike Coach Maker's innovative offense a few years ago.

Also, great respect for Mid's consistent level of effort and fair play in all sports observed over the years.

Finally, go easy on amH63 whose entire self-worth is seemingly determined in his old age by the athletic performance of plague students ....

[P'bearfan]

Got back late yesterday afternoon from our trip to CT.

Friday the Polar Bears came out strong on defense stopping the Cardinals on their first four consecutive possessions.  Unfortunately, Bowdoin's early shots were not falling and then the team starting settling for shots instead of working for good ones.  All-in-all a disappointing loss that knocked Bowdoin out of the conference playoffs.

Saturday was a much better story as Bowdoin came out and took it to the Camels from the opening tip off.  The story of the game was Jack Simonds who put up 23 points in the 2nd half after going scoreless in the first half.  Bowdoin played well the entire game - they never broke even when Conn made a run early in the second half.

This was the last competitive basketball game for my son. (That will take some getting used to!)  While it would have been great to make the tournament, it was terrific to go out on a win and a strong personal performance.

I cannot speak highly enough of my son's experience at Bowdoin.  The players, parents and coaches have created a great environment and we thank them for letting us be a part of that for four years.   We wish them all the success in the world in the years to come.

GoUBears!!

[nescac1]

P'bearfan, congrats on your son's completion of his career, and I hope this will not mark the end of your contributions here!  Bowdoin had a very young team this year yet were very competitive against a lot of stacked teams, including the road games at Babson and Amherst.  And unfortunately from an Eph perspective, your best win doubles as the loss that for Williams that could keep the Ephs out of the tourney.  The future is bright for the Bears. 

Peeking over at the Pool C board, folks seem to think that Tufts, Midd, Wesleyan and Amherst are all near-locks for Pool C.  The first three do not surprise me, but the last one does.  Still, assuming the RIC game does not get rescheduled, Amherst would certainly at least have to worry about Pool C if they finish with 17 wins and a first-round NESCAC loss.  Will they really take five NESCAC teams?  Williams, I think, very likely needs a win vs. Amherst to make it into the tourney, although there is an outside chance the Ephs still get in if there are very few upsets in conference tournaments.  Williams does have a large number of quality wins: neutral court wins vs. Hope and Eastern Conn, home wins vs. Midd, Wesleyan, SNUY Oneonta, and road wins vs. Bates and Eastern Conn.  All of those teams were regionally ranked last week, although a few might drop out.  Still, three wins over teams (Hope, Midd, Wesleyan) likely to be in the top 25 this week is a solid resume.  A fourth though is what the Ephs REALLY need to make their case.

Williams has not beaten Amherst on the road since 2010.  The Ephs have lost nine straight overall vs. the Jeffs at LeFrak, including two NESCAC title games.  Several of those have been hearbreakers: two OT losses, and two others that came down to the last possesssion.  Other than the Tufts fiasco, Williams has been defending very, very well in recent weeks.  But even when they win games, the Ephs have been struggling in a major way on offense.  Williams has won four out of five games, but in three of those wins they scored in the 60s -- fortunately, the defensive effort really carried Williams in those games.  Take out the Conn College game, and the Ephs have been averaging over 15 TOs per game since mid-January, including as jumpshot discussed 37 (1) over the last two.  They come in a wide variety of ways -- travels, charges, telegraphed passes, trying to force the ball into really tight spaces, bad decisions, etc.  Amherst plays very aggressive in term of its perimeter defense and they know the Williams offensive sets well.  Sometimes a really difficult shot is better than trying to make a perfect pass, and if Williams wants to beat a motivated senior-dominated Amherst team in what is sure to be a raucus home environment, the Ephs will need to start with taking care of the ball and ideally limiting turnovers to 12 or fewer. 

[amh63]

Monday....leaving the beach area and watching surfers...heading back to Winter Park. Going to try to watch the UConn WBB game...going for 100 straight wins, a record.  Talk about consistent level of play!
Top D1 teams...rankings and/or comments...seem to get behind and often lose to unranked teams.  Similar trends seen in D3 in general and in the CAC.  Wonder at times if it is the trend of building the offense on outside shooters and less so in points "in the paint".  Random thoughts that lead me to look at the Final stats...fouls shots made, TOs, points in the paint when watching games online vice in the the live crowd.
Bucket...your last post requires a response, my friend.  My "whatever" was that the defense topic chat was not a matter to further pursue.  Sort of the same feeling at the time with respect to fouls.
Midd shot at a very high level overall and from the outside and from the foul line.  They did the same thing against Trinity on Sat.  Kudos to the Midd team.  Looked at the fouls called in that game. They were quite even . In the Amherst game the difference was noticeable...25 fouls called on Amherst and 13 on Midd. Midd shot great on the foul line, as did Amherst, and got 17 more points there.  Thus from this stat, I made my home court.comment. Enough on this matter.
I do like the trend of better team play by Amherst in recent games.  Encouraging in the games ahead.

Nescac1, thanks for the info wrt the win streak of Amherst over Williams in LeFrak.  Thought about it but was to lazy to figure it out.  Amherst does get up for the Williams game.  Enjoy the "baiting and taunting" between the student fans.  Hope Williams bring down a lot of students.  Bonus is that the Amherst WBB game follows.

[Cards Fan]

Got back late yesterday afternoon from our trip to CT.

Friday the Polar Bears came out strong on defense stopping the Cardinals on their first four consecutive possessions.  Unfortunately, Bowdoin's early shots were not falling and then the team starting settling for shots instead of working for good ones.  All-in-all a disappointing loss that knocked Bowdoin out of the conference playoffs.

Saturday was a much better story as Bowdoin came out and took it to the Camels from the opening tip off.  The story of the game was Jack Simonds who put up 23 points in the 2nd half after going scoreless in the first half.  Bowdoin played well the entire game - they never broke even when Conn made a run early in the second half.

This was the last competitive basketball game for my son. (That will take some getting used to!)  While it would have been great to make the tournament, it was terrific to go out on a win and a strong personal performance.

I cannot speak highly enough of my son's experience at Bowdoin.  The players, parents and coaches have created a great environment and we thank them for letting us be a part of that for four years.   We wish them all the success in the world in the years to come.

GoUBears!!

Simonds seriously impressed me against Wes. His numbers weren't killer, but the way he shot was out of this world. He is seriously underrated.

[nescac1]

I think St. Amour locked down POY this weekend.  And I'd say he and Ogundeko are the only absolutely locks for first team all-NESCAC right now.  After those two, there is a big mishmosh of guys fighting for the remaining eight all-conference spots: Simonds (who I think gets plenty of love on this board, Cards Fan, and I agree, he's fantastic and he managed to produce despite a massive amount of defensive attention all year), Aronowitz, Brown and Daly, Tarik Smith, the Delpeche brothers, Harry Rafferty, Dawson and McCarthy, and Hoffmann.  Eleven legit conenders for eight remaining sports ...

My best guess of how it will end up: St. Amour, Ogundeko, T. Smith, McCarthy, Aronowitz first team, Simonds, Brown, Marcus Delpeche, Rafferty, and Dawson second team, with either Jack Daly or Malcolm Delpeche possibly squeezing one of the other guys out.   Tufts has so much balance, but someone has to be recognized individually and Tarik Smith seems like the best guy who has been healthy on the team. 

[Bucket]

Bucket...your last post requires a response, my friend.  My "whatever" was that the defense chat was not a matter to further pursue.  Sort of the same feeling with respect to foul shooting topic.
Midd shot at an very high level overall and from the outside and from the foul line.  They did the same thing against Trinity on Sat.  Kudos to the Midd team.  Looked at the fouls called in the game and they were quite even in the Trinity game.  In the Amherst game the difference was noticeable...25 fouls called on Amherst and 13 on Amherst.  Midd shot great on the foul line, as did Amherst, and got 17 more points there.  Thus from this stat, I made my home court.comment. Enough on this matter.
I do like the trend of better team play by Amherst in recent games.  Encouraging in the games ahead.

Understand; thanks for the clarification. I'd hate to think any ill feelings were festering!

[NEhoops]

For the sake of the league I hope WIL and AMH get an at large bid, but if it is only one team, it will probably be the winner of Saturday's match up.

I think Middlebury's success playing fast is a credit to their current trio of guards - also when the bigs are able to efficiently outlet the ball on makes or misses. Roy Williams always wants to play fast, but he looks like a better coach when he has Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson running the break.

[nescac1]

Great story on former Eph coach Curt Tong, who recently passed away:

http://www.si.com/nba/2017/02/13/gregg-popovich-coach-mentor-curt-tong-williams-pomona-pitzer

[grabtherim]

Great story on former Eph coach Curt Tong, who recently passed away:

http://www.si.com/nba/2017/02/13/gregg-popovich-coach-mentor-curt-tong-williams-pomona-pitzer

This is a great article, written with great sensitivity and emotion, a must read.  It really hit home for me, someone who is lucky enough to have had a coach who's voice still rings in my ears decades after I first heard it.   

[Old Guy]

Great story on former Eph coach Curt Tong, who recently passed away:

http://www.si.com/nba/2017/02/13/gregg-popovich-coach-mentor-curt-tong-williams-pomona-pitzer

This is a great article, written with great sensitivity and emotion, a must read.  It really hit home for me, someone who is lucky enough to have had a coach who's voice still rings in my ears decades after I first heard it.   

Wonderful piece by a terrific writer.

Coaches: My coach in college was Gerry Alaimo, a great player at Brown and an exuberant young coach whom we liked very much. My senior year we were having a difficult time of it though it was the best team I had played on in three years in terms of personnel - and also in terms of teamwork and mutual respect. Gerry had upgraded the schedule, taken off all the easy wins (Canadian teams who got lost on the way to the hockey rink), and we were struggling, losing close games, etc.. My playing time had diminished drastically. I was talking to Gerry after practice one day and told him frankly that I could beat the guy playing ahead of me 1-on-1 nine times out of ten. He put his hand on my shoulder, looked down at me (he was 6'4"), and said straightforwardly, " I believe you, Karl. But you're a senior, he's a sophomore, and we're 0-11." Impeccable reasoning. I then kept track of fouls and time outs (he had no assistant) and wrote the basketball newsletter. 

P'Bearfan: ask an old-timer at Bowdoin about Gilbride's predecessor, Ray Bicknell, wonderful man, Yankee, dry sense of humor (nephew was a friend at Middlebury). Bobo played for him - I bet he has some stories.