MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Hamilton goes to 11-0 with another rout of an overmatched opponent, but the bigger news is PG Jack Dwyer, a big addition to the rotation, made his first appearance of the season.  The Conts are now (it appears) fully healthy and seem to be firing on all cylinders on offense, averaging an insane 96 points per game with tremendous balance (four starters over 13 ppg).  With games against by far the best defenses they've faced coming up (Trinity and Wesleyan), we will find out soon enough if that offensive level is sustainable .. but with 11 wins in the bank, and three more likely non-conference wins ahead, even a 6-4 league record would be enough to secure their first NCAA bid since 2006.   

[JustAFan]

We should learn a lot about Williams this weekend, especially on the defensive end. The Ephs are coming off 2 west coast games in which they allowed a 4-5 opponent to shoot 54% from the field and then allowed a 2-6 opponent to shoot 50%. Hopefully their defensive intensity and toughness improves tonight in a tough environment against an opponent that always plays hard. Williams needs one of its 3 senior backcourt mates (Greenman, Teal and Galvin) to really step up and provide a 3d scoring option and, as importantly, some defensive leadership on the perimeter.  The Ephs are likely to be a work in progress throughout January, as they were last year before they "found" themselves mid-way thru league play. The good news is that Coach App has demonstrated the ability to get his teams to be much better in February than they were in December and I am counting on that happening again this year even though there might be some bumps along the way as Coach App continues to mix and match and redefine roles post-Skadlock.  I think a lot will depend on how his 3 seniors play and if they are able to assume bigger roles in addition to continuing to provide great leadership.

Nescac1, I'm not so sure a 6-4 league record will result in an at-large bid this year for any NESCAC team. As you ably pointed out earlier this week, the NESCAC doesn't have a lot of great out of league wins this year, and the top of the league hasn't dominated the way it has in the past despite some gaudy records. Based on play to date I'm not convinced it's a 5 bid league this year, or a slam dunk 4 bid league, especially if the teams beat up on each other in league play. Much too soon to speculate, however--lots of game to play that will sort things out on the court. Should be fun to watch since there appears to be lots more parity this year.

[Bucket]

Don't bother following live stats for Midd-Conn.

Watching the video, it's a 19-15 game with 9:37 left in the first half. Live stats shows the same time, but an 11-9 score. Live stats is also filled with shots and fouls by players not on the floor.

Good luck with a coherent box score at the end of the game!

Well, they've corrected the scoring at halftime: 46-23 Midd. We'll see if the live stats crew keeps up in the second half. However, the box still has stats for guys who haven't played. Who knows how accurate the rebounds, assists, etc are. Makes stats coming out of Conn pretty suspect!

[nescac1]

Williams and Wesleyan going to OT, what else is new.  Both defenses really bore down in the last five minutes and neither team could get anything going. The usual grind-fest between these two.  Wesleyan has generally been pulling these out.  Hopefully the Ephs are due, we will see! 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Don't bother following live stats for Midd-Conn.

Watching the video, it's a 19-15 game with 9:37 left in the first half. Live stats shows the same time, but an 11-9 score. Live stats is also filled with shots and fouls by players not on the floor.

Good luck with a coherent box score at the end of the game!

Well, they've corrected the scoring at halftime: 46-23 Midd. We'll see if the live stats crew keeps up in the second half. However, the box still has stats for guys who haven't played. Who knows how accurate the rebounds, assists, etc are. Makes stats coming out of Conn pretty suspect!

Just FYI - sometimes the live stat issues aren't human error, but software issues. What you describe doesn't sound like human-error because a lot of that is hard to fix as quickly as you describe. There is a chance StatCrew (or whatever they are using) was on the fritz with what was being sent out.

I was watching a game the other day that had all the right info per players, but the wrong teams. In other words, I am playing for Team A, but live stats indicated I was with Team B. The kicker was, a Top 25 team looked to be winning a game the entire time until we discovered they were actually losing. Something in the "live" part switched things to cause that glitch. Once fixed, it was just fine.

Heck, maybe that is what happened in this one. The teams were flipped in the system somehow. One change in the settings or resetting the data fixed it.

Just a theory... it isn't always the crew screwing things up that badly.

[Cards Fan]

That's the game.

Jordan Bonner and Nathan Krill couldn't carry Wesleyan forever, and it showed down the stretch. I'll leave the game analysis to someone else, as I would use some colorful language in my breakdown.

[nescac1]

Tremendous come-from-behind win for the Ephs, as they get some overtime payback.  They were down 11 in the second half and from that point forward the game was all Ephs thanks to some clutch shooting and tremendous perimeter D.

MVP for Williams was undoubtedly Bobby Casey, who had in my view the best overall game of his Eph career.  23 points including 8 points in overtime (two big threes and a beautiful two in the lane), four boards, two assists, 9-13 from the field, 5-8 from distance.  Just as importantly, after Jordan Bonner put up 20 points in the first half and absolutely TORCHED Williams (largely against Greenman -- why you have a 5'7 guy on Wesleyan's best shooter by far, I have no idea, Greenman tried but there was very little he could do with the massive height disadvantage, of course, O'Brien is a tough matchup for him as well) totally shut Bonner down.  Credit to App for making the adjustment at halftime and to Casey for making it pay off.  Casey is not known as a defensive stopper but his D has gradually become an asset and tonight he simply locked Bonner down.  He finished with two blocks and many close contestations.  In the second half, Ephs put Greenman either on Hutcherson when he was in the game -- smart, he was clearly limited and not looking comfortable -- or O'Brien, and again smartly played way off O'Brien.  Despite that, O'Brien was his usual effective self getting into the lane but better that than easy looks for Bonner.

Nathan Krill was stroking it early for Wesleyan but finally did cool down.  Still, he had a great overall game for the Cards.  Also very impressive was Jordan Sears -- who has my vote for DPOY based on what I've seen so far vs. Williams -- and Jordan James, whose ridiculous length and athleticism just killed any chance for Williams' big men to go to work inside.  Sears had five blocks including one on Karp the likes of which I haven't seen since Troy Whittington was patrolling the lane.  I am not sure I've EVER seen Karp have his shot blocked before and he was blocked at least three times today.  Glad to see him go hard to the rim, frankly not many teams are going to bother him, but vs. those dudes you need a little nuance and have to employ some fakes, and also use your bulk a bit better to avoid them having a free swat at it.  A learning game for him.  James Heskett played well on the perimeter but, again, did not get his accustomed looks at the rim thanks to Wesleyan's stellar interior D.  Great also to see Cole Teal continue his resurgence for the Ephs with three huge triples. 

One other point -- kudos to Kempton for a huge hustle play running back hard on defense in a key situation (I can't recall if late in regular or OT) to draw a charge on Bonner on a transition play.  Great heart there shown by the big man. 

Overall, shooting won this game for Williams -- the Ephs shot it great from 3 and Wesleyan really struggled after the first half to hit anything.  But credit must go to the Eph defense which improved dramatically over the course of the game and gave Wesleyan very few good looks in the last ten minutes or in OT. 

[polbear73]

Bowdoin opened with a 14-4 run at Bates and never looked back in a 21 point victory.  Bowdoin showed balanced scoring with 5 players in double figures led by 14 by David Reynolds off the bench.  Jack Simonds was scoreless in the first half but finished with 10 points; Bowdoin is certainly not one player dependent in terms of scoring as many had feared in the pre-season.  With students away on break, Alumni Gym was maybe a quarter full and the stage had no bleachers, so the tremendous home court advantage usually enjoyed by Bates was mitigated.  A complete effort by the Polar Bears, who will need that kind of performance today as they travel to Tufts. 

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin opened with a 14-4 run at Bates and never looked back in a 21 point victory.  Bowdoin showed balanced scoring with 5 players in double figures led by 14 by David Reynolds off the bench.  Jack Simonds was scoreless in the first half but finished with 10 points; Bowdoin is certainly not one player dependent in terms of scoring as many had feared in the pre-season.  With students away on break, Alumni Gym was maybe a quarter full and the stage had no bleachers, so the tremendous home court advantage usually enjoyed by Bates was mitigated.  A complete effort by the Polar Bears, who will need that kind of performance today as they travel to Tufts.

Congrats to the Polar Bears!  Nice start to NESCAC play.

[amh63]

Flipping between the WBB and MBB games between Amherst and Trinity last night.  The women game was closer than expected.  Seems the Amherst ladies did not arrive back to Amherst from a flight delay until after Midnight.  Trinity fought hard and used many players.  Amherst now has a shorter bench and played tired....but won!
Amherst lost at Trinity due to Trinity defense and two threes in the last few minutes by Trinity after Amherst made a comeback and tied the game at 61 apiece late in the game. 
The senior Amherst Captains shot well in the lost to ECSU...a high scoring game.  The seniors Riopel and JMac were off in the low scoring game in Hartford.  Seems Riopel fouled out.   Amherst won big on the rebounds but low on the assist.  Key stats was the TOs.  Like the game against the Warriors, Amherst made too many TOs...20 plus in both.  Coupled that with low assists and you have a problem that the Amherst coaches need to fix quickly.  There are some perimeter defensive problems also.  In both games this week, outside shooters made threes that were not challenged!  Amherst coaches did show dismal with Some late game calls. 

[jumpshot]

mammAmouth63 ----

Go read even a sample of your own posts ... a continuous steam of small and large excuses ... in various sports ... rarely failure due to anything related to those formerly known as lord jeffs .... Clear contrast with Mid, Eph, Mule, polar bear, etc. posters who accept true causes and generally report them without whining.

[middhoops]

mammAmouth63 ----

Go read even a sample of your own posts ... a continuous steam of small and large excuses ... in various sports ... rarely failure due to anything related to those formerly known as lord jeffs .... Clear contrast with Mid, Eph, Mule, polar bear, etc. posters who accept true causes and generally report them without whining.

We don't need this kind of post on this board.  An apology is in order.

[OldCardinal]

Go read even a sample of your own posts ... a continuous steam of small and large excuses ... in various sports ... rarely failure due to anything related to those formerly known as lord jeffs .... Clear contrast with Mid, Eph, Mule, polar bear, etc. posters who accept true causes and generally report them without whining.
[/quote]

Agree with Middhoops.  Very unfair and unnecessary. 

[JEFFFAN]

mammAmouth63 ----

Go read even a sample of your own posts ... a continuous steam of small and large excuses ... in various sports ... rarely failure due to anything related to those formerly known as lord jeffs .... Clear contrast with Mid, Eph, Mule, polar bear, etc. posters who accept true causes and generally report them without whining.

It is clear that I am a Jeff fan but ... regardless ... what a silly cheap shot.  Amh63 clearly loves Amherst (as we all do with our alma maters) and his comments in this case were reflective of reality.  "Amherst lost due to tough defense and two threes in the last threes in the last few minutes .." is how he started his thread.   Isnt that giving sufficient credit to Trinity?  Then he finished by discussing the realities from the Amherst side - poor shooting and too many turnovers.   Having watched the game, this is an entirely objective assessment of the game.

Lighten up, dude.

[polbear73]

Let's not lower the standards of this board to the depths reached by the football board this fall.