MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Middlebury overwhelmed Plattsburgh tonight with a 54 point second half — 92-68. Pretty good game for 20+ minutes, but with the score 38-34 early in the second half Middlebury went on a tear.

Daly flirted again with a triple double (14 points/9 rebounds/9 assists) and picked up Plattsburgh's best players, Middleton (giving away at least two inches) and Mack. Balanced scoring: Folger -14 (with 8 rebounds and 4 blocks), Dahleh -13, Farrell - 12. Griffin Kornaker played his first minutes of the year and looked very good: 11 points in 15 minutes (3-4 from three).

Coach Brown played his whole roster and the team looked terrific most of the time. Plattsburgh's not bad — quick, agile, but Midd really pushed the ball, shot well from the outside (12-25 from three). Impressive game. Skidmore on Friday should be fun.

[JustAFan]

Bobby Casey and James Heskett led Williams to victory on the road tonight over a solid Westfield State team tonight 70-63.  The good news for the Ephs was the continued stellar outside shooting from Casey and Heskett (6-14, 19 points, 3-8 from the arc), with Casey again providing a big lift off the bench (7-11, 21 points, 4-7 from the arc). The Ephs are still waiting for Cole Teal and Mike Greenman to get untracked from the outside but Teal in particular made solid contributions in other areas with 6 boards and 4 assists.

Kyle Scadlock got injured in the first half and did not return. I did not see the play. Williams once again struggled at the foul line (19-28, 68%) and again struggled to contain dribble penetration from the quick Westfield guards.  Coach App went to a zone for one possession with about 3 minutes left in the game. I wouldn't mind seeing the Ephs continue to experiment with this.

Matt Karpowicz got into foul trouble in the second half, but Mike Kempton stepped up nicely and played very well, recording a couple of key blocks in the final minutes. He is a very steadying force on the defensive end and does not pick up cheap fouls.

Williams is the 3d NESCAC team that Westfield has faced in this young season, having previously lost to Bowdoin by 6 (after leading at the half and being up by 7 with 13 minutes to play) and to Amherst by 36 (the LJ's hit 8 of their first 9 three point shots, and shot 60% from the floor and 61% from the arc in the first half!).  They also lost to Springfield by 11 this past weekend in a game in which Springfield sophomore Jake Ross scored 37 points on 14-20 shooting plus 8-12 from the line and 16 rebounds.  Williams hosts unbeaten Springfield and Mr. Ross on Saturday in what should be a tough pre-exam contest for the Ephs.  Trinity gets first crack at Springfield in 2 nights, and Amherst then hosts them a week from tonight.

[nescac1]

The Scadlock play (saw on replay) looked like a pretty serious foot or ankle injury.  Fingers crossed he is OK, but it did not look great.  He was however able to walk off the court according to the announcers.

Ephs other than Casey still can't find the range.  Really hard to figure.  But of course the big issue is how much time Kyle will miss.  He's worked hard to be the main man and I hope he can return soon.

[amh63]

Amherst won over Anna Maria in Le Frak last night in a blowout...after a competitive first half.  Amherst played a lot of players and in a bunch of combinations.  Primary in a man to man defense.  Seems HC Hixon is seeing how his young players play in different defensive schemes in these early games.  Several injured players saw their first floor time of the season.  Announcer was full of background info on the FY players.... as expressed to him by the HC.  Like FY TMac has the potential to become a better player than Sr JMac.  Both brothers got floor time together again.  The team on the floor likes to run on offense and again out rebound it's opponent.
I watched a bit of the Midd game.  Impressed with the smooth player of Folger and the all around play of Daly.  Two thoughts come mind.  Midd's team is tough for Amherst to match up with...presently.  Second, how the Midd team...as deep as it is...will play without Daly.  Seems he is everywhere and leading by example...so to speak.
Oh forgot, kept looking around at the fans to see see if I could pick out some of my favorite posters.
Camera coverage kept going to the action on the floor...to the game...Shucks.  Should of asked Vandy, Magicman and crowd WAVE!
Amherst has several games ahead that will provide a better snapshot of how the team is progressing before conference games...at Babson, Springfield and ranked ECSU in LeFrak.
Got my fingers crossed that Amherst will be competitive in a much, much competitive CAC.
Will watch tonight how Tufts plays Emerson in the "Rabbitt Hole" in Copley.

[Old Guy]

Wesleyan played with sensational intensity and imposed its will on Williams. Big props to coach Reilly and the Cardinals, who look like a 20-win team. Williams has issues, but inside 5 minutes in regulation, missed six consecutive free throws and at least three open threes. Make half those FTs and one of those threes and the game probably doesn't even go OT. That doesn't diminish Williams's problems, which look a lot like their problems in January of last year -- minus Aronowitz, a big minus -- but this was a very close game that could have easily gone the other way. Still, Wesleyan was better and more determined and will be a very tough out every night.

Wesleyan has given Williams fits for the last few years, that's for sure. The really remarkable stat/fact of last decade or so is the competition between Wesleyan and Middlebury.

Middlebury is 15-0 against the Cardinals in the last 12 years (some years they've played twice — NESCAC tourney). I hesitate to point this out, fearing a jinx. Astonishing really, as Wes has had some very good teams and success against other top NESCAC teams (cf Williams). Wesleyan last defeated Middlebury on January 15, 2005 (79-74) when Midd was 6-18, just before this decade or so of great success.

There were a couple of blowouts, but mostly very close games. In 2013 Midd won in OT, 78-77, and the next year won in two OTs, 77-75.

I realize that the Little Three games bring a special intensity, but I suspect that the Cards will show up with some energy in their home game against the Panthers on Jan 6. 

[Colby Hoops]

Didn't see any of the game, but tough loss for Bowdoin last night. Losing by 20 to a mediocre St. Joe's team. 

Random fun stat from early in the season -- 6'3" Jack Daly leads the league in rebounding by a signifcant margin. Impressive! 

[Bucket]

In case anyone is interested in Midd-Plattsburgh highlights:

http://www.mynbc5.com/article/middlebury-sweeps-hoops-doubleheader-with-plattsburgh/14251244

[Old Guy]

Random fun stat from early in the season -- 6'3" Jack Daly leads the league in rebounding by a signifcant margin. Impressive!

His margin in assists is even greater: 8.8 (second - 5.8)

Can anyone think of a past NESCAC player remotely like Daly: point guard — leader in assists and rebounds?

It's early, but I'm not sure his numbers will drop off much. He plays long minutes and the ball is in his hands most of his time. Last year: 6.5 rebounds per game/5.9 assists, in a different role.

[P'bearfan]

Didn't see any of the game, but tough loss for Bowdoin last night. Losing by 20 to a mediocre St. Joe's team. 

Random fun stat from early in the season -- 6'3" Jack Daly leads the league in rebounding by a signifcant margin. Impressive!

Also did not see the game as I was traveling.  Based on the box score, it appears that Bowdoin was cold from behind the arc shooting only 27%.  The Polar Bears only had 2 players score in double figures (Simonds and O'Neil) which is the first time that's happened this year. 

Hopefully, Bowdoin will be able to return to form when they take on Bates tonight.  Glad this is a home game as traveling to Alumni Gym after a disappointing loss would be tough.

[amh63]

Watched the Tufts vs Emerson game till the half.  Emerson was ahead by double digits as Emersoncontrolled the boards and Pace, Savage could not get untracked.  Peeked in on the game and Emerson was still up by middle of the second half.  Tufts did win by four.  Pace returned to form as he scored 30 points.  Racy impressed me by his blocks and battling the taller front court players of Emerson.
I got the impression that Pace controls the ball for Tufts...a big "PG" for the Jumbos. 
Springfield's Big Guard Ross is putting up numbers like Daly wrt RBs and points.  If their play continues throughout the season, both will be all- Americans, IMO.  Believe they are about the same size.  Will check.
Yelp!  Mr Ross is listed at 6'4", 200lbs.  He is averaging 24 plus points and over 12 RBs.  Less than 4 assist a game.

[polbear73]

Didn't see any of the game, but tough loss for Bowdoin last night. Losing by 20 to a mediocre St. Joe's team. 

Random fun stat from early in the season -- 6'3" Jack Daly leads the league in rebounding by a signifcant margin. Impressive!

Also did not see the game as I was traveling.  Based on the box score, it appears that Bowdoin was cold from behind the arc shooting only 27%.  The Polar Bears only had 2 players score in double figures (Simonds and O'Neil) which is the first time that's happened this year. 

Hopefully, Bowdoin will be able to return to form when they take on Bates tonight.  Glad this is a home game as traveling to Alumni Gym after a disappointing loss would be tough.

I saw most of the game until I couldn't take it anymore.  Taking nothing away from St. Joe's who shot 50% from the field and hustled throughout the game and beat Bowdoin to the ball or spot every time,  Bowdoin came out flat, looked like it was sleepwalking and shot very poorly, particularly from the 3 point arc.  Maybe the loss at Colby before was deflating, but the Polar Bears looked nothing like the club that reeled off 6 staright to start the season.  Let's see which team shows up tonight at home against Bates. 

[Colby Hoops]

Interested in the Bowdoin-Bates game tonight and the Bates-Colby game on Saturday. Should be a good litmus test early in the year for the Maine teams.

The CBB rivalry will have some added juice this year as all three teams look to be fighting for one or two NESCAC playoff berths. If you assume Conn is one of the three teams to miss the conference tournament, then Colby, Bates, Bowdoin and Trinity are probably projected to be playing for the last two spots (obviously early and injuries can change anything).

Bowdoin looked like it was a cut above Colby and Bates heading into the last week, but that was mostly based on a win over Babson who only looks okay this year (4-4 against a pretty tough schedule). I expect Bowdoin rebound with a good performance tonight -- O'Neill should dominate the interior against a small Bates team.

[ContinentalDomer]

Well Amherst fans, that was one of the worst calls in the history of the sport - the foul call, that is, with .5 seconds to play that awarded Babson 3 FTs (down 2 at the time) for the win.  The official should be terminated immediately.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Well Amherst fans, that was one of the worst calls in the history of the sport - the foul call, that is, with .5 seconds to play that awarded Babson 3 FTs (down 2 at the time) for the win.  The official should be terminated immediately.

It was not a foul that is often called in that situation, but I believe this might be a bit hyperbolic.  I was surprised they gave the foul there, but typically a foul could be called on those kinds of last second shots almost every time.  If I were Amherst, I'd be more worried about the overall sloppiness and poor shooting than the final score.

[Old Guy]

Relevant: was it a foul, or not?