MBB: NESCAC

middhoops · February 28, 2018, 05:10:11 PM

What a junior class Williams has!
Their best player goes down for the year and a classmate steps up to win the POY.
Good news for the Ephs but hard on the rest of us when you consider that Scadlock may yet still win the same award. Seems like those guys have already been around for more than four years.
Williams has a good shot at another Final Four this season.
Next year they are going to be seriously scary.

P'bearfan · February 28, 2018, 07:58:02 PM

Quote from: nescac1 on February 28, 2018, 12:34:59 PM
All league picks released: http://www.nescac.com/sports/mbkb/2017-18/honors/allconference

The coaches had Reynolds and Hoffmann, while I had Gendron and Krill, on the second team. Those last few spots were a pretty big toss-up, and those two guys were surely worthy, but I am surprised to see Krill edged out.

Congrats to all! For James Heskett, to go from a seventh man to POY in one year is a testament to his tremendous hard work and the massive growth of his game.

Congrats to David Reynolds! Great to see him receive recognition for his stellar performance this year!! Glad we have two more years to watch him.

nescac1 · March 01, 2018, 10:42:28 AM

The Eph junior class will definitely go down as one of the Ephs' all-time bests, if not THE all-time best. Barring injuries, the class is a lock to have three 1000 point scorers in the class (Casey is at 932, Heskett is at 860, Scadlock 818), something I'm not sure that any previous group has achieved. All three guys should finish very high in the Williams all-time scoring annals. Right now, I'd have them second as a trio after Coffin/Crotty/Abba (and just ahead of Mayer/Epley/Rooke-Ley), but when you consider that the class has two other significant contributors in Soto and Kempton, plus a guy in Porath who plays at 95 percent of D3 schools, overall I'd call it the top class of recruits in Eph history. And crazily, the best recruit in the class, Miye Oni, bailed at the last minute. Not too shabby for App's first effort at recruiting.

Speaking of Eph recruits, Jovan Jones put up 39 points last night as seventh-seeded Belmont Hill upset Willison in the NEPSAC playoffs. He looks like he's gonna be an impact guy early in his career. Along with Jones, a total of three confirmed future NESCAC players were named to the all-ISL team: Will Phelan, headed to Amherst, and Tyler Aronson, headed to Tufts. There is a long history of ISL guys going on to tremendous success at the NESCAC level, and all three are likely to make an early impact in the NESCAC. https://twitter.com/NEPrepBB/status/968843946737700865

One other notes on the long, slow day before the tourney starts. Congrats to two former NESCAC guys on being named all-league at their new schools. Ethan Feldman (formerly of Tufts) was second-team all UAA for NYU, and Tyler Rowe (formerly of Conn) was first-team all Little East for Western Conn. I haven't seen all-SCIAC released, but I'm guessing Zach Baines will represent Occidental on that squad, as well. With Feldman, you have to think Tufts would have squeezed out a few more wins and an NCAA birth. With Baines, Midd might well have won the NESCAC. It's kind of crazy how much success NESCAC teams have had despite how many big-time stars have left NESCAC in recent years (Hart, Robinson and Sabety of course being the biggest three). I don't recall (until the last 3-4 years) that sort of exodus of transfers across the league. Maybe that's just the nature of hoops now, with guys moving around more regularly.

nescac1 · March 01, 2018, 01:57:06 PM

Two Northern California players headed to Colby next year: 5'9 PG Walter Lum and 6'5 forward Sam Onche

Lum is yet another undersized guard for Colby, but he is very athletic and could be a fun guy to watch down the line ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WEyq3jEgjg

They both play for the Bay Area Warriors, along with future Eph Spencer Spivy. Current NESCAC players Henry Feinberg and Sean Gilmore played for the same AAU squad:

http://www.bayareawarriors.org/alumni/

Bucket · March 01, 2018, 02:12:03 PM

Quote from: nescac1 on March 01, 2018, 10:42:28 AM

I haven't seen all-SCIAC released, but I'm guessing Zach Baines will represent Occidental on that squad, as well.

It was released a week or so ago, and Baines was, indeed, a first team selection.

Bucket · March 01, 2018, 05:17:15 PM

He's too modest to share, so I'll do the honors.

Old Guy writes about 100 Years of basketball @ Middlebury in his column in the local paper:

http://www.addisonindependent.com/201803karl-lindholm-century-hoop-middlebury-college

D3HforLyfe · March 01, 2018, 10:34:12 PM

Really shows how wide of a net NESCAC schools can cast for recruiting when only one player out of ten all-league selections comes from New England.
[/quote]

I thought this was a great point - Cool to see the NESCAC web get geographically bigger and bigger.

Excited for the action to start back up tomorrow. I think all four 'CAC teams are in a good position. Williams is rolling right now, and I think they cruise through first two games. I know Ramapo is good, but they are going to try to speed Williams up and I don't see it happening. Wesleyan should beat Southern Vermont for which would set up a great matchup with Swarthmore Saturday (I think Wes wins this one too). I think Hamilton beats Nazareth, and then gets a good one against either York or the story of the tournament, Yeshiva (a part of me is certainly pulling for the Macs). And, lastly, interested to see how Middlebury comes out. I think they are still good enough to make a push to Salem if they get back to their groove, but it is really hard to play in one (or possibly two) big NCAA tournament games in essentially 24 hours after not playing a real game for 2 weeks.

Good luck to all, may the NESCAC roll!

Mr. Ypsi · March 01, 2018, 11:39:54 PM

Duncan Robinson does it again. His OT 3-pointer propelled Michigan past the upset-minded Hawkeyes of Iowa.

Bucket · March 02, 2018, 07:05:57 PM

Jack Daly records a triple-double—13 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds—in Middlebury's 20-point win over Lebanon Valley. Not a bad way to start the tournament.

Old Guy · March 02, 2018, 09:31:37 PM

Middlebury played very well and Jack Daly showed why many thought he was the POY in NESCAC: do read nbn's analysis of Midd's tournament prospects in Willimantic (scroll down one piece "Middlebury NCAA Opening Round Preview") for a very nice presentation of Midd's end of the year struggles and Daly's role. Young Guy has graduated and will be handing off nbn leadership to young 'uns (including Eph Karpowicz) when the hoop season ends. http://nothingbutnescac.com/?cat=4

Got to watch the whole game on-line and thought from a distance that the Panthers played confidently after the end of the season wobble. Just took over in the second half: 20 rebound edge; 21 assists. It was clear our guards could match up with theirs. We had trouble with the big guy Andy Orr in the first half, a very nice player, but double-teamed him in the second and Lebanon Valley couldn't convert when he passed out to the perimeter —a good adjustment at the half.

Nice sweep for NESCAC teams tonight. Tomorrow will be tougher.

nescac1 · March 02, 2018, 09:41:54 PM

Congrats to the Nescac teams for the sweep. Williams played like Williams for about ten minutes in the middle of the second half. For the other 30 minutes, they were a team I didn't recognize. But they got the W and hopefully got the tourney jitters over with. Tomorrow will be far tougher and they will need to play with far more poise on both ends.

Kudos to Bridgewater State for playing tough defense and pushing Williams out of its comfort zone. The Eph big men could get very little going at all on the interior all game, just about all the inside scoring was off penetration and dishing. Neither the post-up action nor the back-door cuts were working at all. Joseph Carty was stellar for Bridgewater and controlled the paint until he got gassed late in the game. James Heskett had a nightmarish first half, wasn't close on many of his shots and missed some easy ones, but to his credit he hung tough and had a tremendous second half. Bobby Casey had a solid game all around, and Marcos Soto had five big points in the first half when Williams was massively struggling. Much of the team however simply had off nights.

On defense, the Ephs seemed to lose some guys on missed assignments or mental errors, which is not characteristic. They were fortunate that Bridgewater missed a bunch of very makeable shots on plays that the Ephs seemed discombobulated. The Eph D was too tough for Bridgewater otherwise, however. Williams also had a slew of sloppy, avoidable turnovers in this one. In short, while the effort was certainly there, the Ephs weren't crisp enough on either end to beat a top-tier tourney team. If they play like that in any other tourney games, they are very likely to lose. But, they did come out with the win, which is never guaranteed in the NCAA tourney -- just ask Wash U!

ON another note, just saw Austin Hutcherson's line score for Wesleyan -- wow. When he has it going he REALLY has it going. He is going to be an all-American down the line for sure.

AllStar · March 03, 2018, 12:42:46 AM

Here's how it looks heading into Saturday (two NESCAC teams in each bracket):

WPI89 · March 03, 2018, 07:10:41 AM

Congrats "big brother NESCAC". Love the NEWMAC.

TOUGH MATCHIPS ONBTHE BOTTOM BRACKET RSPECISLLY. GOOD LUCH THIS EVENING.

D3HforLyfe · March 03, 2018, 08:26:16 AM

Yup, love the clean sweep night one by the 'CAC!

Big time first performance by the whole Wesleyan team, but obviously last night was Austin Hutcherson's show. 33 Points (13-17, 7-9), 6 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 0 Turnovers, and 2 Steals - the best performance I've seen from a freshman at the d3 level since I have started following closely. Duncan Robinson and Joey Flannery certainly had better start to finish freshmen seasons, but, in a single game, I dont think they reached a level Year 1 like AH did last night. Robinson's 30 Points (13-18, 4-6), 6 Rebs, and 1 Ast in the Final Four against Amherst could certainly be argued, particularly with the circumstances, or Flannery's 43 and 10 in a mid-season affair against Emerson, but I still might go with Hutcherson's on Friday. He completely dominated the first 25 minutes without forcing, and at that point (with the game out of hand), he was incredibly unselfish and decided to get his teammates (who don't usually play as much) involved. He could have pushed for 40, but instead he really impressed me by recognizing that it wouldn't have been the best thing for THE TEAM. Hutcherson's demeanor and maturity seem well beyond his years and hopefully we can have an encore tonight versus a tough, tough swarthmore team.

Also, can't wait for Jordan Sears' putback dunk from last night to circulate. As the Wesleyan announcer appropriately mentioned, it would have been an incredible play at ANY level of basketball.

Bucket · March 03, 2018, 10:32:01 AM

Quote from: D3HforLyfe on March 03, 2018, 08:26:16 AM
Yup, love the clean sweep night one by the 'CAC!

Big time first performance by the whole Wesleyan team, but obviously last night was Austin Hutcherson's show. 33 Points (13-17, 7-9), 6 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 0 Turnovers, and 2 Steals - the best performance I've seen from a freshman at the d3 level since I have started following closely. Duncan Robinson and Joey Flannery certainly had better start to finish freshmen seasons, but, in a single game, I dont think they reached a level Year 1 like AH did last night. Robinson's 30 Points (13-18, 4-6), 6 Rebs, and 1 Ast in the Final Four against Amherst could certainly be argued, particularly with the circumstances, or Flannery's 43 and 10 in a mid-season affair against Emerson, but I still might go with Hutcherson's on Friday. He completely dominated the first 25 minutes without forcing, and at that point (with the game out of hand), he was incredibly unselfish and decided to get his teammates (who don't usually play as much) involved. He could have pushed for 40, but instead he really impressed me by recognizing that it wouldn't have been the best thing for THE TEAM. Hutcherson's demeanor and maturity seem well beyond his years and hopefully we can have an encore tonight versus a tough, tough swarthmore team.

Also, can't wait for Jordan Sears' putback dunk from last night to circulate. As the Wesleyan announcer appropriately mentioned, it would have been an incredible play at ANY level of basketball.

Great game by Austin—he's a special player. But as far as individual performances and comparisons: you have to consider opponent and stage. 1st round against Southern Vermont or Final Four against a bitter rival and NESCAC champs? There is no comparison here.