MBB: NESCAC

[lumbercat]

Visiting in-laws in Mexico. Long story. I happily watched the Bowdoin-Hamilton game yesterday on line (with the other games as back-ups). Now about to turn on Bowdoin-Amherst, and intending to watch Midd-Trinity tomorrow. Didn't seem long ago that I waited till the next day's newspaper to find out the score of the previous day's game. Tomorrow we'll hook up the Midd game on the big screen with a simple cable and have a few Tecates. It's a miracle.

Go figure....Old Guy is down in Mexico basking in some beautiful weather and enjoying a couple of cold ones while watching all the NESCAC games on the internet.
I'm 100 miles from Conn College and can't get the Bates game.
The feed did come up for the second but they don't have an announcer. Would think they could find someone on campus and pay a small stipend to call the game.

Envious of Old Guy yesterday.....and today!!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Visiting in-laws in Mexico. Long story. I happily watched the Bowdoin-Hamilton game yesterday on line (with the other games as back-ups). Now about to turn on Bowdoin-Amherst, and intending to watch Midd-Trinity tomorrow. Didn't seem long ago that I waited till the next day's newspaper to find out the score of the previous day's game. Tomorrow we'll hook up the Midd game on the big screen with a simple cable and have a few Tecates. It's a miracle.

Go figure....Old Guy is down in Mexico basking in some beautiful weather and enjoying a couple of cold ones while watching all the NESCAC games on the internet.
I'm 100 miles from Conn College and can't get the Bates game.
The feed did come up for the second but they don't have an announcer. Would think they could find someone on campus and pay a small stipend to call the game.

Envious of Old Guy yesterday.....and today!!

He's scouting.  D2 voted to allow mexican schools to apply this year, so...

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Wesleyan's theatrical loss to SUNY Purchase is going to lower their RPI, so probably not going to raise them in the rankings as the Bates win can't compensate for it given their (and SUNY Purchase')  SoS.
Wesleyan is good enough to win the conference tournament, regardless.
Plenty of games left.

Good thing the RPI isn't used in DIII. LOL

[middhoops]

Midd beats Trinity in a tough, physical game in CT.
Others can recap the grind it out game.

Let me take this opportunity to say what a joy games with no announcers can be. 
The NSN announcer spent virtually the entire game complaining about the officiating.  On every free throw that Middlebury took, he informed the viewers how unfair the refs were being to Trinity.
Heck, I'll stipulate that maybe he was right on half the calls.  Fine.
It's ok to state the running statistics, including free throws and fouls.
However, there is no need to complain and blame constantly.  It was unprofessional and obnoxious.
Having both reffed many games and done radio work for basketball, I know neither job is easy.  But there are standards.
And Johnny Most didn't set the best one.  Nor did today's announcer.

Middlebury fans are spoiled by the always calm and objective Bruce Bosley, former SID at the University of Vermont.  Sure do appreciate Bruce more than ever, today.

Sorry for the rant.
Congrats to Coach Brown and his team for making so many free throws.

[maineman]

Midd beats Trinity in a tough, physical game in CT.
Others can recap the grind it out game.

Let me take this opportunity to say what a joy games with no announcers can be. 
The NSN announcer spent virtually the entire game complaining about the officiating.  On every free throw that Middlebury took, he informed the viewers how unfair the refs were being to Trinity.
Heck, I'll stipulate that maybe he was right on half the calls.  Fine.
It's ok to state the running statistics, including free throws and fouls.
However, there is no need to complain and blame constantly.  It was unprofessional and obnoxious.
Having both reffed many games and done radio work for basketball, I know neither job is easy.  But there are standards.
And Johnny Most didn't set the best one.  Nor did today's announcer.

Middlebury fans are spoiled by the always calm and objective Bruce Bosley, former SID at the University of Vermont.  Sure do appreciate Bruce more than ever, today.

Sorry for the rant.
Congrats to Coach Brown and his team for making so many free throws.

The announcer stated almost verbatim that it was a poorly officiated game and that the disparity in the free throw shots awarded (51-17 Midd) was ridiculous.  He also said that every time down the floor that Middlebury was being "bailed out" by the officials.  Midd did make 41/51 FT to Trinity's 12/17 so in 6 point game, I can understand the concern, but I didn't notice a plethora of bad calls out there.   Does anyone that was at the game think there were a lot of unwarranted fouls called?

[NCF]

Midd beats Trinity in a tough, physical game in CT.
Others can recap the grind it out game.

Let me take this opportunity to say what a joy games with no announcers can be. 
The NSN announcer spent virtually the entire game complaining about the officiating.  On every free throw that Middlebury took, he informed the viewers how unfair the refs were being to Trinity.
Heck, I'll stipulate that maybe he was right on half the calls.  Fine.
It's ok to state the running statistics, including free throws and fouls.
However, there is no need to complain and blame constantly.  It was unprofessional and obnoxious.
Having both reffed many games and done radio work for basketball, I know neither job is easy.  But there are standards.
And Johnny Most didn't set the best one.  Nor did today's announcer.

Middlebury fans are spoiled by the always calm and objective Bruce Bosley, former SID at the University of Vermont.  Sure do appreciate Bruce more than ever, today.

Sorry for the rant.
Congrats to Coach Brown and his team for making so many free throws.

The announcer stated almost verbatim that it was a poorly officiated game and that the disparity in the free throw shots awarded (51-17 Midd) was ridiculous.  He also said that every time down the floor that Middlebury was being "bailed out" by the officials.  Midd did make 41/51 FT to Trinity's 12/17 so in 6 point game, I can understand the concern, but I didn't notice a plethora of bad calls out there.   Does anyone that was at the game think there were a lot of unwarranted fouls called?

The announcer made me wish I could turn the sound down. Not a lot of unwarranted fouls, but definitely some. 

[toad22]

I would say the fouls all depend on the officiating crew. I watched Trinity play Williams on Friday night, in person, and just watched Trinity play Middlebury, on the computer. In terms of physicality of play, I thought the games were quite similar. Trinity was called for 22 fouls on Friday, and 32 today. It was, in my opinion, mostly a difference in reffing crews. Trinity dares to have the refs call fouls. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.

[amh63]

I watched the Midd vs Trinity game for a half....it was Senior day for Trinity.  Yes, it was a game in which TOO many fouls were called!  Trinity goes up 9 against a taller bigger team...a ten point run...only to have Midd counter with a 9 point run.  Midd's comeback aided by Panther's walks to the foul line.  2nd Trinity game...in a row in which posters made remarks about fouls.
I switched to the WBB game....yes, I like to see WBB games...and it seemed that ONLY three fouls were called in the game...heading into halftime.  Not an competitive game to watch...turned the screen off and picked up a SPY novel...one I put down years ago due to hard reading.
Going to watch Golf being played at Torrey Pines.  Walked the upper course years ago before the upgrade and visited the nearby tourist attractions for me....Salk Insitute and the first Hang Glider Cliffs. I have digressed again.

[Vandy74]

It's always a concern how well a team will play coming off a seven day rest.  When it was pointed out that it was Trinity's senior day I knew Middlebury was going to have to earn this one.  I thought the Panthers looked very sharp right from the start, all things considered.  I finally did turn the sound off halfway through the second half.  Daly was Daly backed up by strong performances from McCord and Farrell, but I'll leave the game analyzing to the pros except to say I hope when we face Nick Seretta again in Hartford two years from now that it won't be on his senior day. 

[Old Guy]

I watched the whole game — tremendous presentation. Very few lapses. I often watch with the sound off and did today, 3/4 of the game anyway — not because of the announcer, but because I prefer it that way. I know the Middlebury roster and I print the opponent's roster and follow along, do my own play by play. Less anxious-making.

I have a hard time evaluating officiating from the online video. I'm a long way away. Trinity does lead the league in personal fouls and some smart person on this board observed recently that officiating is crucial in Trinity's games: if the refs get tired of calling the Bantams' grabbing and holding, then they have a real advantage.

The fouls were 32-20, hardly an outrageous disparity, especially when the fouls committed at the end of the game (maybe as many as a half-dozen) are taken into consideration. The disparity in attempts (51-17) and points (41-12) was in part because Midd was shooting in the bonus so much and shot pretty well from the line (80.4% to Trinity's 70.6%).

Midd played well today against a determined opponent playing at home. Good win. Daly's foul shooting woes seem to be over (18-20
today). Farrell's three with Trinity's hot breath advancing with a couple minutes left was the game's big shot. Big win.

[ContinentalDomer]

I watched the entire Middlebury-Trinity game.  it's no secret that Trinity plays tough, physical, aggressive defense.  I also love the challenge Trinity poses on a nightly basis.

However, Middlebury is obviously quicker, bigger, more fluid and more skilled.  The way the game is called today, almost any offensive player who is moving forward and is in any way impeded by the defense will get the call 8/9 times out of 10, absent a clear charge.  The Bantams stepped in front of drivers, they reached and they picked up some silly fouls from the latter stages of the first half and into the second half.  Frankly, Trinity never seemed to adjust to the officiating.  Trinity simply could not stay in front of Middlebury's cutters and drivers, and they couldn't handle the Panthers' bigs in the post.

Trinity also struggled because the Bantams do not have the offensive firepower to go toe-to-toe with Middlebury in a contest played in the 80s.

As to the announcer, isn't that a Trinity guy by definition? He's not an NSN employee.  He was a homer a la Johnny Most, without the gravel in his voice box.  I don't blame him.  Homers can be fun to listen to.  And to be sure, he was right about some poor, tight calls.  But Trinity spent most of the last 25 minutes trying to crawl back from behind with physical defense.  That's a tall order, given the Bantams manpower deficits against Midd.

[nescac1]

With two weeks to go, looking at the Pool C board on this site, more than half the league is still in contention for a Pool C bid: Midd and Hamilton are near locks barring a total collapse by either, Williams and Wesleyan both control their own destiny, and Amherst and Tufts have outside chances if they go on big winning streaks to end the season (neither can really afford more than one loss outside the NESCAC tourney to have a shot, and even one might be too many - Friday's showdown is almost a Pool C elimination game).  Everyone else is pretty well out of contention (although if Bowdoin gets a road sweep of Midd and Williams -- a long shot but anything is possible right now -- they probably work their way back into the picture).  NESCAC is very likely to end up with at least three teams in the tourney, there is probably a good shot at 4, and an outside shot at 5. 

Individual award contenders are coming into focus as well.  With Hamilton and Kena Gilmour slipping a bit of late, I'd say James Heskett and Jack Daly are in a two-way battle for player of the year, with Daly having the edge right now.  Vinny Pace could make a run if he really lights it up over the rest of the season, but he is a tick behind those two.  Gilmour and Pace are good bets for the other first-team all-league spots, after that, a big drop-off, with a 7-8 man free-for-all for the last spot (Jeff Spellman, Bobby Casey, Jordan Bonner, Michael Riopel, David Reynolds, Jack Simonds could all state a case, one or two of them will likely pull away from the pack over the next few weeks). 

Grant Robinson's improvement has been key to Amherst's recent surge of excellent play and I'd say that he's now made it a two man race for ROY with Austin Hutcherson.  Both are putting up strong numbers as key players on teams in the top-half of the league standings, and both look like future NESCAC stars to me.  Dan Draffan is also having a really nice rookie year but Conn has struggled so much that he isn't a realistic candidate at this point. 

[amh63]

Interesting out of conference games for Amherst, Midd before key games this weekend.
Amherst host RIC and Midd heads to Keene St.  Both should be contests against Little East opponents that have been up and down in games to date.  Will check in on the game in LeFrak.  Hope for NO injuries for all players in both games of Interest.

[nescac1]

Midd-Keene State could be interesting.  I'd be pretty surprised if 4-14 RIC gives Amherst much of a game.  RIC used to be at least good and usually better nearly every year, but has yet to really recover from the blow of their long-time coach moving up to D1 ...  the LEC in general has been on a bit of a downward trajectory as formerly solid programs RIC, Plymouth State and UMass Dartmouth have really been struggling.  Now it seems like basically a two-team league, with Keene and Eastern Conn as the dominant forces in the league the last few seasons ...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Midd-Keene State could be interesting.  I'd be pretty surprised if 4-14 RIC gives Amherst much of a game.  RIC used to be at least good and usually better nearly every year, but has yet to really recover from the blow of their long-time coach moving up to D1 ...  the LEC in general has been on a bit of a downward trajectory as formerly solid programs RIC, Plymouth State and UMass Dartmouth have really been struggling.  Now it seems like basically a two-team league, with Keene and Eastern Conn as the dominant forces in the league the last few seasons ...

Down, man - down to D1.  Three is higher than one.  The NESCAC isn't slacking off the math requirements that much, are they?