MBB: NESCAC

[Sticks11]

First time poster here but I've been reading what people have been saying for quite some time now...Nescac1 - I was wondering why you had Colby finishing 9th in the league, especially behind Middlebury, Bowdoin and Conn.  While I don't think Colby will win the league this year, I think they will fall somewhere in the middle.  They have a really good center in Drew Cohen, who is a beast on the defensive end.  The kid is the human eraser and seriously alters the game with his shotblocking skills and in my opinion, probably the most underrated player in the league.  He also is a very good shooter.   Also their PG Nick Farrell is a very good playmaker and is also underrated.  Throw in Andy Jenkins who can make the 3 and mid range shots and they have 3 pretty good players there.  Now are they gonna beat Amherst and the other big guns? No, I don't think so.  But I don't think they are any worse than a Conn, Bowdoin or Middlebury

[nescacfan33]

I think trying to do seedings 2-10 of the NESCAC right now is pretty silly. There have been too many ups and downs, big Ws and strange Ls all around. Amherst, #1 no question. But after that, give me a break. Trinity lost to East. Conn, who Bates handled easily and Wesleyan did as well. Trinity has another bad L against Curry. Are Wes and Bates able to handle Trinity? Possibly as those results would show. Bates lost to a very average Endicott team. Bates can be beaten by a lot of NESCAC teams this year. Williams and Tufts are as hot as can be. Are they 2-3 in the NESCAC? Possibly, but who knows at this point. Colby, Wes, Midd can't be separated either. I still think Midd will finish at the bottom of the Nescac. Posts have shown that we might be able to distinguish some clear spots and I would say that besides the top being Amherst (who is even played so-so at times) it is way to early. It is going to be a wide open year from 2-10. I could see so many different combinations. It's an exciting season. 

[JeffRookie2]

I know it's a crapshoot trying to rank the league now-but hey; it's fun, so here goes:

1.Amherst-doing just enough early
2.Tufts-I was really impressed that they beat Brandeis the other day. The Judges should be really solid this year, and Tufts played them hard all the way even without Dan Martin. So they get a close nod over...
3.Trinity-I know I shouldn't take last year's performance into consideration, and I know they have at least the second, if not the most, talented team in conference, but eventually you just want to give up on them after losing all of these close games to teams who they should mop the floor with. Someone told me Rhoten re-injured his ankle the other night. Is that true?
4.Bates-Zach Ray is really good. One of the most underrated players in the NESCAC. Stockwell is pretty solid as well. Those two kept the bobcats in alot of games last year and adding having another season under their belt can only help.
5.Williams-I don't know if I'm even comfortable putting them this high. If you remember last season they got off to a pretty good start until they collapsed-and that was with Tucker Kain, Jaris Cole and Michael Graham. Who knows about Newtons health, and I haven't seen enough of Kuntz to be convinced that they will beat any of the teams I have ranked above them.
6.Bowdoin- I think they could be higher than this, much higher even if anyone steps up to play around Petrie.
7.Conn-Higher than Middlebury and Colby because Stone can be a premier player in this conference.
8 and 9- No idea. Colby should be more talented, but Middlebury has looked good early.
10-Wes. They are going to be bad. I'm sure their AD is looking forward to explaining to alumni the last place finish in football and basketball.

[ChesterGreen]

I got a chance to see the Amherst - Springfield game and it was no cake walk for the Jeffs it was actually a 2 point game with a little more than a minute left.  And lets not fool ourselves Springfield for whatever reason is not a very good team.  If it wasn't for Olson taking over in the last 5 minutes it would of been a Jeffs lost.  However like in years past Amherst is very poised in close games and makes very few mistakes down the stretch but their weakness looks to be interior defense.  They don't have a dominant rebounder or on the ball post defender, but if they get hot from the outside it can matter very little in the Nescac, but you can see how they will struggle when they face strong big men in the NCAAs. 

[formerbant10]

JeffRookie, I didn't see Rhoten get hurt at all....but it is possible that he may have been hurt sometime in practice that week.  I don't think it's likely though, he was getting up and down the floor at his usual pace beating everyone (guards included) down the floor.

I'm holding off on any type of rankings till after the semester is over...absolutely no way to tell if any of these teams, Amherst included, are for real.  Way too many close games against traditionally weaker opponents.

[All-around]

I know many of you have said Williams will be fourth or somewhere around there in the leauge this year, but i want to come out and say that I believe Williams can possbily be right up in the 2 spot. I wont say better than amherst because i cant believe it, but i do believe they will have a very good rebound year.

[nescachoopsfan]

as many people have said earlier, it is impossible to tell who will emerge at the top middle and bottom of the league right now.  especially when so many teams play ridiculously easy scheduals their first 5 games or so, even more than that for some schools.  middlebury's record and williams's record i feel are both pretty misleading along with other nescac schools.  few coaches challenge their teams early whether its because they want to have a good record with automatic wins or if they want to get their teams ready by playing easier teams. like bowdions win over maine-presque isle which was a 100 to 30 victory or bates's win over maine-fort kent which was a 45 point win.  another like williams over mass college, an 81-48 win, the examples could continue, but just wanted to prove that the records are very misleading, while some teams are 5-1 or 5-0 they probably only have 1 or 2 real w's except for playing high school j.v. teams

[senatorfrost]

 Middlebury beat Union. Union went to the NCAA last year and did not lose much from that team. Williams came withing 2 points of WPI. Trinity may have lost a few but they beat Babson by thirty. Tufts has beaten some VERY good ones and without Martin. Amherst has beaten Endicott and i would have liked to add Springfield but Springfield seems to be a in bit of a funk.
Amherst beating Westfield was a bit like shooting practice. The Westfield defense was not inspired. If any NESCAC team shows up in the same manner they too will die by the 3. I agree with Former Bant-McLaughlin has to hit the open jumper. (He does do a LOT of other things)
    I agree that Amherst interior defense seems to be a bit of a problem at this moment. I would like to see Coulibaly operate  around the basket more. The team has plenty of 3 point shooters. Whether it would be better that if he drove to the basket or kind of set up shop there, is something I am not sure of.

[senatorfrost]

 Some NESCAC schools are too academically oriented to have good websites. Tufts for example takes their time and sometimes takes days to but up box scores. This is a sign of great academics I am sure. Same thing with Colby, Conn, Wes, Bates, and Trinity. Their sites are a little more prompt but they are still woeful compared to Amherst Williams, and Middlebury. Bowdoin is almost at that level most of the time but the best is clearly MIDDLEBURY.

They get the home scores up right away AND they have the stats/box scores up really soon. When it comes to away games they have the result up quick and the often have stats and boxes for those AWAY games (though not always) Still a note of gratitude must go out from my office to Brad Nadeau-Russ Reilly, Noreen Pecsok and Jeff Brown-Congratulations you have proven it can be done.
    I have heard that $ is a problem at Conn and tufts and maybe Bates. I guess it costs to do it right.

[walzy31]

Senator's last post was for the members of the boards of trustees at various NESCAC schools who spend their sunday nights perusing D3hoops' "posting up".

MIDDLEBURY

[JeffRookie2]

Senator, I used to edit the sports section of the Amherst College newspaper, so I have spent a ton of time looking up information on all of the school's athletic sites. I don't think you can argue for any correlation between level of academics and quality of website. First of all, Amherst's site is really good, but only got that way recently, when a web designer completely overhauled it, and Amherst is typically considered a slightly better academic school than Tufts. (I'm not talking about the new look for the whole Amherst site that happened a few months ago, but rather the change in just the sports section that is a few years old.)  I just don't think academic standing has much to do with it. Besides, all the NESCAC schools have very solid academics.

[rufus]

Walzy - 

nescacfan33 - "Bates can be beaten by a lot of NESCAC teams this year".  I guess in a generic sense I agree with you.  There has been a great deal of information on this post regarding the "level playinig field" that appears to be NESCAC this year.  So yes, I agree, any NESCAC team could beat any other NESCAC team this year. 

However, I do disagree that Endicott is a "very average team".  No doubt you saw them play at your WES tourny and maybe they played poorly against, what appears to be, a good Hamilton team.  The last time I checked, Endicott had lost to Keene State, Amherst, and Hamilton.  No shame in that.

I was at the Endicott/Bates game and it was a great (defensive) competition.  It was a close game all the way, and Endicott got a basket in the final seconds to win by one.  Again, no shame in that.

  I think most posts here agree that despite a "level playing field" that Amherst is the top team right now.  When Endicott played Amherst - for whatever reason- the score was 26/22 Endicott, at the half.  Amherst came away with the win in the end.  I'd like to hear from the Jeffs fans who saw the Endicott game.  I could be off, but I just don't see Endicott as a "very average team". 

[Denton]

Tomorrow will be interesting as Bowdoin (6-1) goes down the road to Bates.  Da Bears have not fared too well at Bates, but last week they beat both U of S Maine as well as Colby-Saywer.  Bowdoin did let S Maine come back in the 2nd half (something that has happen a few times this year) but put them away at crunch time.  Not many posts on the 3 point win over a strong CS team, but again holding on at the end.  Huge amount of fouls for both sides.

Bowdoin also has Colby over the weekend (first half of the CBB) which should give a better sense of the middle of the NESCAC.

[nescac1]

To answer a few questions, NESCAC is definitely down from two years ago, sure, but two years ago NESCAC got a win over a Div-I team, had two teams in the final four, and a third very strong team.  NESCAC may never have another year like that.  I think that, compared to last year, NESCAC is stronger overall.  The bottom of the league has improved somewhat -- Middlebury and Conn College were losing consistently to the type of teams they are beating with ease this year.  Wesleyan is a little down, but otherwise, every other team in the bottom half of the league has a shot to be as good or better than last year.  Amherst in my mind should be just as good and is probably built for a longer post season run, very balanced and a lot bigger than last year's squad.

Why Colby 9th?  Look at their results, some bad losses already.  Losing at home to Babson, who Williams handled pretty well on the road, is not a good sign.  Bates, too, has to be downgraded -- they have played a VERY easy early schedule, losing twice already, including a loss to the only pretty good team they played (Endicott).  Bates-Bowdoin will be interesting indeed.  If Bates can't win that game at home, they may be headed for the second half of the league standings.  They have two great players, but it remains to be seen if the rest of the team can provide enough offense against better competition. 

Williams has to rebound as well.  If they don't beat Union at home coming off a loss, when Middlebury was able to beat Union, their early season may start to look like a mirage.  But, if they can beat both Union and Springfield, they will be looking solid heading into league play.  Springfield's record is deceiving -- they have played a brutal schedule, and have hung tight with all the top-25 caliber teams they played in their losses.  And now they are healthy. 

Other big game is Tufts-Plymouth State.  If Tufts can win that, they should be considered the second best team in NESCAC at this point in the season, as they have played the toughest non-conference schedule in the conference with solid results. 

I also say that NESCAC is stronger this year in relative terms -- last year LEC, usually the second best conference in the northeast, had a lot more strong teams.  This year it's just Keene and, perhaps, Plymouth, although we'll see about them tomorrow.  NEWMAC has no one other than Springfield and WPI, and Colby-Sawyer and Lasell, perennial challenges, haven't exactly been lighting it up this year.  I would be surprised if NESCAC didn't get at least three into the NCAA's, with a shot at 4.  But teams like Trinity, Bates and Williams can't afford to lose many more out of conference games for that to happen. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Three with a chance at four?  That seems a little high, but you never know how this new format will play out.  There will be 18 at-large bids this year and a team is still going to have to have 6 maybe 5 in-region losses or less.  Trinity's already got two.  I don't see how any conference can get four teams in, let alone in the NE region where there are so many teams to choose from.