MBB: NESCAC

[quicksilver]

@NESCAC1 -- for your rolling list of NESCAC recruits -- 6-6 SF Jack Shea (Glastonbury (CT) HS is a new Bowdoin commit. He is the 5th Bowdoin commit that I know of . .

[NEhoops]

This breakdown might not be anything close to what is factored in to the regional rankings or tournament selections but figured it would give a good perspective either way. 

1 MIT (19-2): Solid regional wins against UM-Dartmouth and #10 Keene State; will play at #9 WPI who they've already beaten once
2 Williams (19-3): They're winning games but don't have a great out of league win on their resume; will play #11 Amherst and #6 Hamilton   
3 Nichols (19-2): Solid regional wins against #7 ECSU and #8 Wesleyan; will play at #5 Gordon     
4 Middlebury (16-5): Better out of league wins than Williams (not by much) and beat them head to head; appropriately ranked at this point; will play #6 Hamilton and #11 Amherst     
5 Gordon (19-2): Hanging their hat on wins over #3 Nichols and Colby; rematches against Nichols and Endicott loom large   
6 Hamilton (19-2): Solid out of league win against #10 Keene State; sink or swim time for their last three games against #4 Middlebury/#2 Williams/#11 Amherst     
7 Eastern Connecticut (16-5): Solid out of league win against #8 Wesleyan and probably the reason they're ahead of them; not sure if the LEC will get at-large at this point; will play at #10 Keene St     
8 Wesleyan (15-6): Out of league win against Plattsburgh (#2 in the East); not much of a chance to improve their resume but have already beaten #11 Amherst, #6 Hamilton and #4 Middlebury   
9 WPI (16-5): Don't have a great out of league win on their resume; rematch against #1 MIT is huge   
10 Keene State (15-7): Solid out of league win against #4 Middlebury; see above re: ECSU         
11 Amherst (17-3): Solid out of league win against #7 ECSU who I think they should be ahead of; it will all come out in the wash - on the road against #6 Hamilton, #4 Middlebury and #2 Williams
   
*The Amherst win against Wesleyan on 2/5 is not reflected in the above rankings. The argument could be made that Amherst could move up to #7. I believe any other teams listed that played earlier this week won, but it wasn't against a regionally ranked opponent.   

[Conts Fan]

Hamilton came on strong, overcoming a 15 point deficit to take a 5 point lead in the last couple minutes, only to lose on a 3 with 3 seconds left. That's going to be a tough one to swallow. If they don't come back strong against Williams and Amherst, their playoff chances might get dicey. With both teams coming off losses, tomorrow's Hamilton/Williams game will have a hint of desperation for both teams.

[amh63]

Good night for Amherst in Willytown.  Amherst wins by more than they in LeFrak and sweeps the series. 
On to Midd on Sat., as the Panthers hold on to win over Hamilton. 
Colby does it again as the beat the Cardinals in Middletown.
A most interesting finish to the regular season.

[Colby Hoops]

Crazy game in Middletown, which the Mules held on for dear life to win 90-80. A massive win for Colby.

Colby jumped out to a 28-8 lead on ridiculously hot shooting (7 of their first 8 from deep) and led by a whopping 26 at halftime. Matt Hanna, Sam Jefferson and Alex Dorion were unconscious in the first half and Wesleyan looked sluggish and uninterested. Jefferson hit a couple from about 8 feet behind the line.

The second half was entirely different. Wesleyan came out pressuring the Mules and absolutely dominated for the first 14 minutes of the half. Colby couldn't come close to getting a clean look and Hutcherson took over -- after a 2-12 first half he was 7-10 in the second half and finished with 26 points. Wesleyan looked like they were going to charge back and win the game cutting the deficit to just 1 point. Colby showed some unbelievable poise to right the ship and came up with some huge stops and some timely shotmaking to win. Noah Tyson was nails down the stretch hitting four threes all in the second half and two huge buckets in the last three minutes. Matt Hanna iced the game with a contested step back 3 as the shot clock ran down, another big shot. Big win for Colby, who now look poised to make the conference tournament if they can take care of business against Conn tomorrow.

Kind of a perplexing game for Wesleyan -- if they were even half as engaged on defense in the first half as they were in the second half they would have likely won. Colby played very well to start and shot great, but it took Wesleyan wayyyy too long to start closing out on shooters. In the second half they looked unbeatable.

In terms of final standings:

• It looks like Midd vs. Amherst tomorrow is basically for the regular season title. If Amherst wins they'd also need to beat Hamilton or it would come down to a three way tiebreaker between Midd, Amh and Hamilton or Midd, Amh, and Williams.
• Bates has now been officially eliminated
• Bowdoin, Tufts and Colby are the teams most at risk of being the final team not making the tournament. Although there are very possible scenarios where there are 4 or even 5 teams that all finish 5-5!!!!
• Bowdoin needs to beat Wesleyan or they are out -- unless Colby loses to Conn.
• I don't know all the tiebreakers but there's a small, but real chance that Wesleyan or Hamilton miss the league tournament. What a crazy season!

[Conts Fan]

I think you could actually get to six teams at 5-5

[middhoops]

Hamilton and Middlebury are as evenly matched as two teams can be.
Kena Gilmour had spurts in the game where it appeared he was practicing a one man layup drill.  Then long stretches where he wasn't integrally involved.  When he's on his game, Gilmour is the most dominant player I've seen since Hutcherson.  Pick 'em.

Midd led the whole game until coughing up a 17 pt lead.  Hamilton went up five. The Conts led by 4 with 38 seconds left.
Jack(Rabbit*) Farrell steals and scores.  No one runs him down from behind.
Hamilton misses.  Folger fights for the board.  To Farrell.  To Bosco.  Long 3, nuthin' but net.  And he's fouled.
Rarely been as entertained as this game.  Really sad there had to be a loser in this one.  Both teams battled down to the wire.
Just, wow.

The former LJs come to town tomorrow.  No predictions.
Looking forward to another barn burner.

*named credited to Rob Tarantino, father of Nick '18.

[Colby Hoops]

I think you could actually get to six teams at 5-5

You're right! Trinity should also be included in the teams that can technically lose out on this 6-way tiebreaker.

I'm not going to try and do the tiebreaker scenarios, but there's likely at least 1 of those six teams who probably can't lose those tiebreakers no matter how it goes.

[Conts Fan]

I've never seen so many NESCAC teams on such an even playing field. You can take Amherst, Midd, Williams, and Hamilton and have no idea who is going to win on a given night. Until recently, Wesleyan was in there, too, and Colby might be there, as well.

[jayhawk]

Present at Amherst Wiliams game. As always great atmosphere. Amherst big men got into early foul trouble and sat early
Williams won first half. Second half Amherst was more aggressive on both offense and defense. Karpowics (not sure spelling correctly) of Williams with several nice moves but ball just could not drop.
Heskett of Williams seemed to have several injuries during game and near end went down with what appeared to be a significant injury  causing him to limp off, maybe an ankle injury
Amherst was fortunate to hit their foul shots at the end as Williams attempted to come back from a 12 point deficit

[Brownee]

I am only into the third season of D3 Panther hoops but the game tonight Hamilton vs Midd. will stay with me for a very long time! Panthers dominated the first half, the front court with Farrell and Bosco was (as always) faster than most teams can handle. Oh but Hamilton has #24 Gilmore and he is as fast and talented in the front court, more than the Panthers have dealt with. What Gilmore did not have is the stamina of the dynamic duo of Farrell and Bosco, add strong physical game by Dahleh, Folger and Sobel blocking and intimidating with their speed, McCord with core rebounding and outlet passing, a fans delight! It is everything a College b-ball game is meant to be, exciting, fast paced, great defense, and at the end of the game you leave knowing neither team deserves to lose. Hamilton is a worthy opponent, great team, well coached, and the Panthers led by Jeff Brown walk away with the most entertaining win of the season! Thank You Panthers for giving the Midd fans such a memorable event!

[Old Guy]

Hamilton and Middlebury are as evenly matched as two teams can be.
Kena Gilmour had spurts in the game where it appeared he was practicing a one man layup drill.  Then long stretches where he wasn't integrally involved.  When he's on his game, Gilmour is the most dominant player I've seen since Hutcherson.  Pick 'em.

Midd led the whole game until coughing up a 17 pt lead.  Hamilton went up five. The Conts led by 4 with 38 seconds left.
Jack(Rabbit*) Farrell steals and scores.  No one runs him down from behind.
Hamilton misses.  Folger fights for the board.  To Farrell.  To Bosco.  Long 3, nuthin' but net.  And he's fouled.
Rarely been as entertained as this game.  Really sad there had to be a loser in this one.  Both teams battled down to the wire.
Just, wow.

The former LJs come to town tomorrow.  No predictions.
Looking forward to another barn burner.

*named credited to Rob Tarantino, father of Nick '18.

Fabulous game. Doubt I can improve on Midd Hoops summary (but I'll provide my $.02 anyway). Hamilton looked pretty secure, up four with the ball with 39 seconds left. Farrell's steal took only a couple seconds off the clock. Midd rebounded with seven seconds to go and headed full-steam up  the floor — Bosco had a good look 2-3' behind the arc — swish and a foul. Crowd erupts. Hamilton was out of timeouts. Middlebury wasn't. Coach Brown called a TO, instructed Bosco to miss, he complied. No one on the Midd side took a breath (you could hear a pin drop) until Gilmour's 60' heave, on line but long (I worried the bank might be open), bounced high off the backboard and fell harmlessly to the floor, then the crowd erupted for the second time in the last seven seconds of game time.

The first half was as entertaining as good hoop can get. Midd played a great half to be up eight. Hamilton won the second half, came roaring back, played terrific defense; Midd got nothing easy and we had a hard time with Gilmour (9-15) and Hoffman (8-22) going to the hoop. Hamilton had the rebounding edge (43-36; 16 OR) for the game and a big edge in the second half.

For Midd, Dahleh had his best game of the year —14 points on 5-7 shooting. He's a versatile player, a very good defender. Folger had his eleventh double-double (16-10, 4 blocks). Farrell was his aggressive self — 18 points from all over. McCord had 9 rebounds in play limited by foul trouble (20 minutes): he's leading NESCAC in rebounds. Sobel also had four fouls.

Senior day tomorrow: McCourt and Dahleh playing their last regular season game. They have provided stability and leadership, great models for younger players.

This is basketball alumni weekend. It will be fun to watch the recent grads (and John Flanagan '71) go at it tomorrow morning. Jack Daly is back, also Matt St.Amour. They're both working in NY and playing on the same team in a league called "New York Urban." Another team in the league features Ben Rudin '09 and Tim Edwards '10, also terrific Midd players. Ryan Sharry is back and it's always fun to watch him play in these games. Rudin, Daly, St. Amour, and Sharry all received national recognition. Our cup runneth over.

[frank uible]

At long last the real Williams men's basketball team has stood up.

[jayhawk]

A last note from Williams Amherst game. Casey is an excellent player, played tough, made several difficult drives, and his three point shooting is what kept Williams in the game.

[Middfan]

At long last the real Williams men's basketball team has stood up.

As usual Frank, your attempt to be obtuse, interesting and provocative has failed.