MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

I had about a dozen people over to watch the games. Many of the truly faithful this year made the trek to Beantown. Midd-Trinity: not a pretty game. No one could hit a free throw, first half anyway - and no one could shoot it; I guess that's what happens when you play the Bantams.

So glad Middlebury advanced: should be a great game tomorrow - Midd-Wms. I know the Panthers are anxious to wipe out that stinker they played against the Ephs in January. Worst game of the season. Midd hung in there today - a gritty bunch.

It will be fun to watch Folger develop in the next few years. Talented guy, really gave us a lift today.

What a great job Bruce Bosley does on the NSN play-by-play.

Jake Brown - 9 points, 4 assists, 31 minutes, looked pretty good for the Panthers. That's big.

The three-pointer by (Middlebury native) Perry Delorenzo as time was running out at the end of the first half gave the Panthers a big lift.

Interesting stats: Midd outrebounded Trinity 45-31 - and had 31 bench points (compared to 8 for the Bantams).

Could be a barnburner tomorrow! Hope both teams come with their A game.

[AllStar]

[nescac1]

Should be a fun matchup today in what has become a great rivalry over the past decade.  A few game notes:

Williams and Midd have incredibly met seven times in the past ten NESCAC playoffs.  Appropriately, they are 3-3 in the prior six, with Williams and Midd each beating the other once in NESCAC championship games.  Williams won the last two meetings, in the 2013 and 2014 semifinals (both on neutral courts, like today's game). 

Over the past decade, the rivalry has been fairly even, with the Ephs holding a 9-7 edge, but the last few years Williams has been fairly dominant, winning 6 of the past 7.  That stat is very deceptive, however, as three of those wins came by a total of 7 points, and another was in OT. 

This game shapes up to be a contest between Midd's insanely dominant offense and the Ephs' increasingly dominant defense.  In the Ephs' last nine games, they have allowed 65 or fewer in 5 of them.  In one of them, they allowed 72, and another, 69.  The only hiccup defensively was the first Tufts' matchup.  And Williams has played a very tough slate of opponents during that stretch: including Amherst twice, Tufts twice, Midd, and Wesleyan.

Midd on the other hand, led by an absolutely scorching St. Amour but with plenty of support from the entire roster, has been unstoppable offensively since the Eph loss: during their 10 game winning streak the Panthers are averaging over 90 points, including THREE games going over 100 (two of which came vs. quality opponents).  The only team to hold the Panthers below 70 all SEASON?  You guessed it, Williams. 

Anything can happen today.  I seriously doubt the Ephs hold the Panthers to fewer than 70 points again.  But I also doubt Midd scores above around 85 vs. the stingy Williams D.  Both teams are comfortably in the NCAA tournament (and I think even Amherst and Wesleyan are likely in too, given how few upsets there have been in conference tourneys so far) so they can play loose and free.  But I'm sure both badly want the NESCAC title -- Midd would love to repeat, and the Ephs haven't won since 2010 despite three teams that made deep NCAA tourney runs (including a title game appearance) in the interim.  Should be a fun one! 

A few keys to the game for Williams:

-- I imagine Scadlock and Heskett will mostly guard St. Amour, with some help from Aronowitz.  Williams almost never doubles so those guys need to stay out of early foul trouble so they can hotly contest his three point shot all day with their tremendous collective length while at the same time staying in front of him off the dribble.  St. Amour will get his, but he needs to be shooting contested jumpers over the long arm of the law all day. 

-- Brown and Daly are the type of guards who have given the Ephs trouble all year.  Williams did a great job preventing them in the first game from setting up teammates for easy buckets, especially in transition.  They need to try to duplicate those efforts -- Midd thrives on the guards penetrating and getting everyone involved with easy looks in the paint and from 3.  Williams needs to get back on D, pick up their men quickly, and once again avoid turnovers on the perimeter which can lead to easy fast break opportunities.  Midd will have much more trouble scoring vs. the Ephs' stingy half-court defense.

-- On the other end, Williams needs to do what it did in the first Midd game and vs. Tufts -- move without the ball well (back door cuts and pick-and-rolls) to create easy scoring opportunities on the inside and open threes on the perimeter, and continue to share the ball freely so that they don't need to rely on too much one-on-one play.  And of course, make sure the vast majority of possessions end in shots rather than turnovers.   If they do that, and they shoot reasonably well, they should be fine.  Individually, it almost seems like Williams rotates guys in featured roles.  Yesterday was Scadlock, Soto, and Greeman's turn.  Bet on Teal, Aronowitz, and/or Heskett to step up today. 

[JustAFan]

In their first meeting Middlebury only got to the line 10 times.  Look for that to be a point of emphasis today.  And Brown and St. Amour took almost 50% of Middlebury's total shots (31 of 65).  Daly only took 5 shots. 

Williams shot 48% from behind the arc in the first game. Hard to replicate that again today. But they also got to the line 21 times, which they need to do again today. Yesterday the Ephs shot 21% from behind the arc in the second half, starting the half going 2 for 13.  Hopefully they got those bad shots out of their system.

Will Williams depth wear down Middlebury given the back to back nature of the tournament and the early start to the finals?

With the cold weather returning to Boston today I don't expect Cousens gym to have the Boston Garden in June condensation problems it experienced yesterday. Hope both teams bring their A games.

[nescac1]

Really fun, really well-played first half in Billsville. 

For Williams, Kyle Scadlock was an absolute monster on both ends, for the third straight tourney game he's been the Ephs' best player.  Aronowitz and Heskett provided nice scoring support although Midd has done a great job collapsing on Aronowitz every time he sniffs the lane.  Midd is very good at taking teams' top options away.  Cole Teal did a great job defensively on Matt St. Amour.  The Ephs have done a nice job taking care of the ball and getting back on defense, and yet Midd has still to its credit found ways to score.  Very explosive team. 

For Midd, Brown and Daly have both likewise been monsters on both ends.  Brown sure doesn't look hurt out there and he's been scintillating from inside and out.  Daly has been his usual tireless, ferocious self especially on the defensive end.  That guy plays with unbelievable energy, and yet never seems to get tired. Tarantino and Folger have also been excellent inside at both ends. 

For the Ephs, the guards need to start hitting some outside shots -- Teal and Casey have struggled despite being open a fair amount from deep.  Williams also needs to get its centers (only two combined points) a bit more involved offensively.  For Midd, obviously, St. Amour needs to shoot and score more.  He's been very quiet and I expect that to change in the second half. 

[JustAFan]

Middlebury already has gotten to the line more this half than they did in the entire game in the teams' first meeting (13 vs. 10). In contrast, Williams has settled too frequently for 3's and has not attacked the basket the way they did yesterday (17 three point attempts already out of 32 total shots taken, only 6 visits to the line). I see some tired legs already among the Williams guards, who are not used to playing back to back games due to their Friday/Sunday league schedule, and who generally don't have the other-worldly stamina of the Middlebury guards. Advantage Middlebury in the second half if the Ephs try to win this game from behind the arc rather than attacking the basket. The Panther guards are a joy to watch. They just play HARD all game long. Folger and Tarentino are doing a great job down low against all of the Eph bigs.  Good first half for the fans.

[nescac1]

Ephs falling apart in the second half.  I don't really think Williams is so much settling for 3's as Midd is taking away the Ephs' two best plays -- Aronowitz going into the lane and the back door cuts / pick and roll finishes.  Part of that has been via grabbing and holding, leading to a lot of fouls, but the Ephs can't take advantage as they are missing free throws (including two front-end of one-and-one misses).  But most of it has been been via five defenders aggressively crashing into the lane whenever Williams gets inside, and never allowing a single back-door cut.  Otherwise, they are daring Williams to shoot 3's.  Williams has had plenty of good looks, by good shooters, this game.  They just can't throw the ball in the ocean.    Meanwhile, Middlebury is scorching hot this half, in particular St. Amour, who is showing why he is an all-American. 

[nescac1]

Midd up by 20 and doing to Williams in this half what the Ephs did to Midd in the second half in the first match-up.  Williams just got deflated by its horrible start to the half (no fgs in the first five minutes) and you can just see the defensive will leak out of them as St. Amour starting hitting shot after shot.  An ugly half for Williams but it should not diminish the last five halves of hoops, all of which have been excellent. 

[toad22]

St. Amour .... St. Amour .... St. Amour .... he's a senior, right?

[nescac1]

Congrats to Midd on a well-earned victory and championship.  Clearly the best team in NESCAC this year and maybe not all that close.  Middlebury's defense really picked up a notch of intensity in the second half and gave Williams nothing.  And the Ephs picked a bad night to be ice, ice cold from deep, and also to struggle a bit at the line.  Meanwhile Midd was able to generate open looks on offense the entire second half and they drained basically all of them.  Clinical.  Brown, St. Amour, and Daly, the usual suspects, were all spectacular both setting up teammates and scoring on their own, but Midd's big guys also played with a ton of energy and were strong on both ends and gave plenty of support.  St. Amour in particular could not miss in the second half but that is nothing new for him and Williams didn't do enough to deny him the ball.  Kyle Scadlock was really the only Eph who had a good game, he was spectacular but of course not nearly enough. 

Williams has bounced back in a huge way from each of its most discouraging setbacks this year, taking two steps forward usually, and I hope this will happen again.  They lost to a veteran, battle-tested team that's been playing at an extremely high level over a month, and just fell 20 minutes short.  The Ephs will learn from this experience and I hope will get a chance to show what they can do in the NCAA tourney.  As a Williams fan, I'm happy to see Brown and St. Amour graduate, certainly. 

After this game, St. Amour is a lock for POY and Jeff Brown a lock for COY.  Jake Brown and Jack Daly should both be second-team all-league guys, at least.  I think the last few weeks of stellar play has earned Kyle Scadlock a spot on the all-NESCAC second team as well.  He's been a revelation but Williams needs more guys to step up (as they did vs. Amherst and Tufts) and today much of the team really struggled. 

My all-league thoughts, revised from the post-season:

First team: St. Amour, Aronowitz, Ogundeko, Johnny McCarthy, Tarik Smith
Second team: Brown, Daly, Scadlock, Marcus Delpeche, Simonds

Just missing: Dawson, Malcolm Delpeche, Rafferty. 

POY St. Amour, DPOY Daly, ROY Gilmour.  No question. 

[jumpshot]

Midd earns a win and NESCAC championship by outscoring the Ephs 48-22 in the second half with balanced scoring and shooting 55%. Ephs shoot 20% in second half. Overall, the Panthers have 19 assists, and score 34 points in the paint, often by simply beating the Ephs back down the court for high-percentage shots.

As mentioned, Midd's game plan was to shut down the lane and still contest 3-point attempts. The Panthers astutely commit 24 fouls, often by simply impeding movement by cutters early in an Eph possession, including 16 times in the second half alone, thus disrupting rhythm and momentum. Ephs fail to score for about the first 6 minutes of the second half. Midd guards play quite well today, and throughout the season.

So, in a season in which each of these two teams have a blowout win over the other, it's on to the NCAA tournament for both.

Will the NESCAC get 5 teams in?

[nescac1]

I think all five NESCAC teams are likely in.  Amherst is probably the one who needs to worry most since if it comes down to them and Wesleyan, Wesleyan has more wins and beat them twice head-to-head.  Amherst I'm sure will root hard for Babson today.  If Babson wins today, I can't imagine the committee taking fewer than four Pool C's from New England, and those would all be NESCAC teams.  But honestly, no matter what all five are likely in. 

If Babson loses today Midd is probably a top seed in one quarter of the bracket.  If Babson wins, Midd is either the number 2 or maybe gets its own bracket, but that is unlikely.  Whitman, Babson (with a win) and CNU are all clearly top seeds.  The fourth is down to Midd, River-Falls, Ramapo and Marietta.  I'd guess River-Falls (deservedly) gets a top seed as well, with Marietta essentially a second seed in the Midwest, Midd second in the Northeast, and Ramapo second in the CNU bracket.  That makes the most geographic sense and would be fair. 

Williams and Tufts MIGHT get first-round home games.  Wesleyan and Amherst I am guessing are in, but on the road.  At least one, maybe two, NESCAC teams will be sent outside the Babson/Midd bracket. 

[Cards Fan]

There are a few overlooked players this year I see in the nescac.

First, Jordan Bonner of the cardinals. Now, I don't think he should be all nescac by any means, as he was out for so long. However, in the games he played he shot lights out.

Second, Tyler Rowe of Conn. The guy hit for 32 this season and averaged 15 points per game as a sophomore. You can't say these aren't great numbers.

Third, and in my eyes the most overlooked player, Peter Hoffman of Hamilton. In games he played, he averaged 17 points per game and shot over 50 percent from the field. He's just a sophomore, and could take over the nescac for 2 more years.

Finally, Patrick Stewart of Colby. He is likely overlooked due to his team. He averages 16 points per game and 5 rebounds per game. He is a major factor in their team.

[jumpshot]

MIT takes down #1 rated Babson thereby taking one Pool C off the table.

[nescac1]

MIT stuns Babson, which has been missing two (I assume injured) starters from an already thin team.  Midd now should be a top seed and likely will host until Salem.  Things suddenly get a bit more nervous for Wesleyan and especially Amherst with another New England team in.  Tufts and Williams should both be safe.  Still likely that NESCAC gets five due to small number of conference tourney upsets overall.