MBB: NESCAC

[SpringSt7]

Having seen a decent amount of the Ephs, it's a two way street. Their top shooters, mainly Spencer Spivy, have yet to really get going, but they're also yet to execute the offense at a good enough level of comfort to continuously generate good looks. One would hope that is at the top of the list of the many things they would hope to improve upon as the year goes on.

[Colby Hoops]

Colby tops Thomas 87-69 in a relatively easy win. Sam Jefferson with 25 points on 7-13 from deep. Colby is exactly a third of the way through the season and he's averaging 25.8 on 66/57/92 -- just ridiculous. He's going to have an off game or games at some point, but that's one of the best 8 game scoring stretches I've ever seen.

Noah Tyson dominated the boards, pulling down 18, and after missing his first 9 threes (all great looks that he usually makes a good percentage of), he hit his final two of the night to hopefully break out of a mini shooting slump. Wallace Tucker had a nice first half as well, finishing with 15.

Kind of a blah game overall, Colby in control but a bit sloppy at points. Only 9 total free throws in the game combined, so it moved quickly. One more to go on Saturday against Colby-Sawyer (the battle of the Colbys) to hopefully close out an excellent first semester for the Mules.

Looked like an impressive performance by WPI against Tufts. Holding the Jumbos in the 60s is an excellent defensive performance. Good news for Tufts is that Justin Kouyoumdjian is back.

[Bucket]

Colby tops Thomas 87-69 in a relatively easy win. Sam Jefferson with 25 points on 7-13 from deep. Colby is exactly a third of the way through the season and he's averaging 25.8 on 66/57/92 -- just ridiculous. He's going to have an off game or games at some point, but that's one of the best 8 game scoring stretches I've ever seen.

Noah Tyson dominated the boards, pulling down 18, and after missing his first 9 threes (all great looks that he usually makes a good percentage of), he hit his final two of the night to hopefully break out of a mini shooting slump. Wallace Tucker had a nice first half as well, finishing with 15.

Kind of a blah game overall, Colby in control but a bit sloppy at points. Only 9 total free throws in the game combined, so it moved quickly. One more to go on Saturday against Colby-Sawyer (the battle of the Colbys) to hopefully close out an excellent first semester for the Mules.

Looked like an impressive performance by WPI against Tufts. Holding the Jumbos in the 60s is an excellent defensive performance. Good news for Tufts is that Justin Kouyoumdjian is back.

That WPI-Tufts score caught my attention. New England College won at WPI, yet got stomped by Colby. Very positive comparison for the Mules.

We get a look at NEC in Pepin on Friday; fascinating results for the Pilgrims so far. Beat WPI by 5 (WPI's only loss!), lose to Nichols by 3, lose to Colby by 36!

[Colby Hoops]

Colby tops Thomas 87-69 in a relatively easy win. Sam Jefferson with 25 points on 7-13 from deep. Colby is exactly a third of the way through the season and he's averaging 25.8 on 66/57/92 -- just ridiculous. He's going to have an off game or games at some point, but that's one of the best 8 game scoring stretches I've ever seen.

Noah Tyson dominated the boards, pulling down 18, and after missing his first 9 threes (all great looks that he usually makes a good percentage of), he hit his final two of the night to hopefully break out of a mini shooting slump. Wallace Tucker had a nice first half as well, finishing with 15.

Kind of a blah game overall, Colby in control but a bit sloppy at points. Only 9 total free throws in the game combined, so it moved quickly. One more to go on Saturday against Colby-Sawyer (the battle of the Colbys) to hopefully close out an excellent first semester for the Mules.

Looked like an impressive performance by WPI against Tufts. Holding the Jumbos in the 60s is an excellent defensive performance. Good news for Tufts is that Justin Kouyoumdjian is back.

That WPI-Tufts score caught my attention. New England College won at WPI, yet got stomped by Colby. Very positive comparison for the Mules.

We get a look at NEC in Pepin on Friday; fascinating results for the Pilgrims so far. Beat WPI by 5 (WPI's only loss!), lose to Nichols by 3, lose to Colby by 36!

That was a strange weekend in Waterville for New England College. Losing to U Maine Farmington was a little alarming, so I figured they'd come out ready to play against Colby the next day. Instead, they came out as if they didn't expect Colby to shoot threes (even though they were in the stands for the Colby game the night before). Colby blitzed them from the start and they seemed to fade after that. They have some talented players (Winston-Brooks in particular) and definitely embrace an up tempo game, but didn't seem to have much defensive discipline.

I'd expect a more competitive effort from NEC against Midd, but I don't think NEC will be able to get many stops against Farrell/Bosco etc. They also aren't very big and Dean Weiner had his way on the offensive glass, so I expect Sobel could have a nice game.

Some good games tonight: Amherst/Babson, Trinity/Springfield and Hamilton/Hartwick should all be interesting.

[nescac1]

Pre-season, I picked Amherst, Middlebury, Colby, Tufts, Williams, Hamilton, Trinity, Wesleyan, Bates, Bowdoin, Conn, in that order.

About a third of the way through the season, I feel like I underestimated Hamilton, but I wouldn't change any of my other rankings. 

Yeah, Amherst lost to Westfield, and has played very few games, period.  A win at Babson - no easy task this year - will get them right back on track.  Still, the talent and experience is too much to knock them down based on one game.  Middlebury has been playing better of late it seems despite a key injury, they should cruise into the conference season, I expect. 

Colby, I feel VERY good about putting them third, if anything, might end up being too low.  Sam Jefferson as noted by Colby Hoops is posting simply ridiculous first-team all-American type numbers, and Matt Hannah is posting first team all-NESCAC type numbers.  That duo reminds me of the Heskett / Casey duo for Williams when they were really humming as Juniors.  And I like that Colby already has an eight-man rotation, which includes four seniors and two juniors, and all guys who seem to understand their exact roles really well.  Colby is about to enter a VERY soft patch of its schedule, and has I'd say about a 50-50 chance of being 14-0 and surely a top-ten ranked team heading into a brutal eight-game stretch in the winter (a six game road trip including the Midd-Williams weekend and two rivalry games, followed by the Amherst-Hamilton weekend at home). 

Tufts, despite losing to a tough WPI team on what seems like it was an off-shooting day, has been impressive, and good to see that Justin K. is back, I figured he was likely out for the season.  Williams has been struggling a bit, and a spate of injuries certainly has not helped matters, but there is enough talent to make a surprising run in league play if a few of the many young guys in the rotation start to mature quickly.  Still, somewhere in the 5-7 range feels about right for this particular version of the Ephs, who may just be a year away.  Hamilton, very impressive start, I definitely underrated them in part because I (and I imagine most folks) did not foresee just how impactful the frosh class would be to start the year (three frosh making a significant impact including potential ROY Cooper).  If Denloye returns (?) that just makes them deeper and more explosive, to boot.

Trinity, I'm a bit surprised they haven't been better, three losses to the three capable teams they have faced.  But I'd still keep them seventh over Wesleyan, given how Eastern Conn and Williams have looked so far, the Cards losing handily to both is not a great sign.  Bates has played very few games, Bowdoin has three losses vs. an underwhelming schedule, and Conn is Conn ...   

[Colby Hoops]

Good thoughts Nescac1 -- I generally agree.

Re:Colby -- I'm still curious to see how the Mules do in league play. I think they've blitzed some teams this year who were unprepared for the three-point barrage. When it gets to league play, they won't be catching anyone off guard and I expect there won't be as many one or two pass wide open looks. A lot of reasons to be optimistic, but, when you haven't been a consistent winner in a long time, it's hard to not have a few questions!

I do think there are some real concerns for Amherst. Last year, they succeeded because they had one of the very best defensive teams in the country. They'll still be very good defensively this year, but I think it's safe to think they take a step back (from best in the country to merely very good) with the loss of Schneider. What we expected is that the offense would improve enough to offset this. More space to operate with Sellew at the five and another year of improvement for Robinson, Che, Day, etc. But, other than Sellew, none of those guys have proven to be particularly efficient scorers (despite being great players). Robinson impacts the game with his passing, defense and shot creation, but he's yet to post efficient shooting percentages. Similarly, Che has yet to post particularly efficient shooting percentages. Day is unstoppable when he's hot, but also has some long cold stretches. Allen and Chery are more defensive-minded players, and McCarthy has yet to put it all together.

There is unquestionable talent, and they'll definitely still be very good, but I continue to wonder if they'll struggle more than anticipated. They've played so few games it's hard to tell, but I'm very interested in the Babson game tonight.

[SpringSt7]

My biggest concern for Colby is simply how they will be able to defend when they encounter the size and athleticism of NESCAC teams. It will be tough to get out and run as much if you are taking the ball out of the hoop every trip down. They also don't seem to be a great matchup against the other supposed top teams in the league--Amherst (Sellew), Middlebury (Folger), and Hamilton (Kendall) all have guys who are capable of playing the 5 and defending Jefferson. But if they keep shooting like this, it won't matter much.

[SpringSt7]

An absolute shootout in Wellesley, with Babson leading Amherst 53-49 at half. Amherst shooting 51% from the field but Babson shooting 60% and a scorching 65% (11-17) from 3. A combination of really good ball movement and tough shotmaking for the Beavers, hard to tell how much of it is Amherst's fault defensively. Toomey seems to have a pretty good sense for the game and is utilizing his deep bench well--so many shot creators and defenders on this Mammoth team.

[SpringSt7]

Amherst drops their second in a row, 87-82 to Babson. Nothing to worry about for the Mammoths outside of maybe Grant Robinson's continued struggles to start the season--just two really good teams going at it in a really, really good game. Babson should have a number next to their name next week and looks every part of an NCAA tournament team at 7-0.

[ContinentalDomer]

Hamilton moves to 7-0 with a road win over Hartwick.  Kena Gilmour had five points at halftime, and then dropped 26 after the break.  With the spread at three late in the game, he hit two very deep threes on consecutive sets to put the game away.  His range and accuracy from the arc have improved, and he's making 89% of his FTs.  No McEnaney and Kendall spent the evening in foul trouble.  Sophs and frosh were solid.

[maineman]

The tipoff for Bates at Bowdoin is minutes away.  I am picking Bates, but the home court advantage be enough to put the Polar Bears in the win column tonight.

[lumbercat]

That was a good post Maineman- you covered all the bases. I understand your neutrality as a resident of the Pine tree state.

Bates looked OK tonight against the Black and White. They have a small athletic guard in Baxter who could be a force for the Bobcats.
Spellman is among the best in the league.
FY Omar Sarr- shot blocker- also has some potential.

[SpringSt7]

It's early, but Bates seems to be trending closer into the Wesleyan/Trinity range of the NESCAC than the Bowdoin/Conn range. Spellman is a legit top option if he can keep up this efficiency, and their guards all offer a good combination of abilities and ways to score the ball. They just need to find more ways to score easy points---layups and post touches. Their scoring is all in the backcourt and quite frankly, those guys just ultimately aren't quite top notch enough for that to be sustainable every game.

[lumbercat]

good point- Bates front court players are young and big which serves the Garnet well on defense - in time I think they they will develop some scoring ability in the paint but it is not there now as you state.
6'9" FY Riley looks to have some promise offensively but it's all a work in process for Coach Furbush.

[NEhoops]

Colby Hoops, I agree that things will get more challenging for the Mules (as it did for Tufts against a strong WPI team) once conference play comes around, but there's reason to believe that they'll continue to shoot the ball at a high percentage and are making a strong case to finish as one of the top four teams in the conference. It will be very exciting when they go against Hamilton, Middlebury and Tufts – I can see both teams putting up 90+ points. Not for a lack of defense but related to the elite shooting and focus on pushing the pace.

SpringSt7, I think your assessment of the offense for Bates is spot on. They can put up points in transition/off of turnovers (like most teams), but in this conference you have to be able to score in the half court and without a post presence it can be a constant challenge. 

Upcoming games of note:
MID vs NEC (Fri) – this could be a 15+ point win or come down to the final few possessions, depends which NEC team shows up.
WIL vs Springfield (Sat) – big game for the Ephs from a momentum standpoint, and also a resume standpoint.
TUF vs Brandeis (Sat) – Brandeis will be competitive, they beat RIC a few games ago. Game is part of a tournament at Salem State; winner would most likely play Babson on Sunday.
MID at Stevens (Sun) – this would be a resume building win for the Panthers.