MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm sitting courtside enjoying the Midd-Williams game today.  Both teams started out slow, some pretty poor shooting, and a lot of travels, but both seem to have settled down now and it's a really great game.

[jumpshot]

EPHS down by 6 at halftime due to Mid holding Karp scoreless, and Williams committing 9 turnovers, failing to get back on defense again this year versus Mid, missed layups, not blocking out, leaving their feet to basic up-fakes, etc.

I suggest next fall the returning players do some simple self-administered drills, rather than simply spending all their time playing pickup (which is important for conditioning).

Just saying fundamentals do matter ...a lot.

[jumpshot]

Mid plays well today with a good defensive game plan, sharing the ball on offense, shooting well, and playing with pace and quickness.
Williams does not play well today, with the exception of the younger players, who show good promise, if they individually and collectively can improve their passing and ball-handling, defense, and strength and quickness.

As a result, Mid wins by 18 at Mid ...unfortunately both Mid and Colby, while playing well in a down-year for NESCAC, are likely to be challenged in post-season NCAA play by Midwest teams with size, strength, and a hard-nose versus "pretty" style. as well as a few others featuring the City Game....

[nescac1]

Karp clearly didn't have his usual burst today.  I imagine 40 minutes of getting roughed up by those Amherst big guys may have left him beaten down.  Just wasn't himself.  Midd was doubling early before the pass into the post got there which was smart and threw him off as well.  But yeah beyond that not Williams' best effort.  Missed wide open layup, two guys knocking into each other on a rebound, lots of telegraphed passes, failure to box out, too much hero ball, getting confounded by pump fakes, losing guys in transition (which granted is tough vs Midd, plays so fast).  As jumpshot noted, fundamentals.   The Williams frosh at least all had moments.  The problem is they are frosh and all still learning.  But a lot of hope for the future.  Arnold has been great two games running and I'd say has earned more minutes.

Midd was very crisp as a team.  Made it look easy on O.  Kornaker, Farrell, and Eastman all had tremendous games.  Midd is a better team than Williams but for the second year in a row the Ephs unfortunately had one of their worst efforts of the year vs the Panthers.  After an especially brutal stretch the last few weeks (Midd, Colby, Amherst x2 in two wars, St Joe's) the Ephs finally gets a few days to recover.  Hopefully a learning experience.   

[Cards Fan]

Trinity hits a full court buzzer beater off the inbound to send it to double OT. Maybe the most clutch shot I have ever watched.

[middhoops]

Hate to inject computer ratings stuff here, but check out what the Massey computer thinks of Colby's chance of going undefeated.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=1659&s=309912

[lumbercat]

Mid plays well today with a good defensive game plan, sharing the ball on offense, shooting well, and playing with pace and quickness.
Williams does not play well today, with the exception of the younger players, who show good promise, if they individually and collectively can improve their passing and ball-handling, defense, and strength and quickness.

As a result, Mid wins by 18 at Mid ...unfortunately both Mid and Colby, while playing well in a down-year for NESCAC, are likely to be challenged in post-season NCAA play by Midwest teams with size, strength, and a hard-nose versus "pretty" style. as well as a few others featuring the City Game....

Jumpshot-
Sounds like a tough one today for the Ephs. I can feel your frustration, I watched my Garnet Bobcats lose a tough one in Medford. What is pretty style? Haven't heard that one.

[toad22]

It was great fun to see Ryan Scott and my Middlebury friends at the Eph-Panther game this afternoon. That was where the fun ended. Williams looked like they were fed downers before they played the game. Midd was very energized and very efficient. My congratulations to Middlebury.

[7express]

Hate to inject computer ratings stuff here, but check out what the Massey computer thinks of Colby's chance of going undefeated.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=1659&s=309912

Never take the rivalry games for granted, and I know Amherst is down AND they have to travel, but don't overlook them.  I'll say 23-1 for Colby, they drop one from the quartet of @ Bates, @ Tufts, Amherst, or Hamilton.

[Cards Fan]

2. Conn College is a freebie, to every team. There is no way a NESCAC team will lose to Conn this year. They are steadily declining year by year, and this is the worst I have seen. Reminds me of Wesleyan before the Joe Reilly era. Watching Wesleyan go up by 8 points in a minute, and never drop below that margin, was hard to do. They seem lost at times, and really have no solid leadership on the court. They can be dropped from upset consideration almost entirely, pending a crazy scenario.

Wow, harsh buddy. Don't speak too soon anymore, please.

Seriously, there needs to be a "Jinx" section to post all takes that come too early. I would have at least 3 this year.

Anyway, with Wesleyan playing out of conference early, I had time to check in on all other games. Tufts vs Bates seemed like it was all Bates for a while, as they held a steady 10-12 point lead with about 15 minutes to go. Tufts stormed back and really fought with them, both teams back and forth for the remainder of the game. The eventual dagger was a 3 with about 15 seconds to go. Staying unbeaten in the NESCAC is hard, and Colby and tufts have proven themselves adequately.

Hamilton, at 1-4, has solidified themselves in danger. They're not out by any means, but really need a win over Wesleyan to have a solid shot at the tournament - losses to Wesleyan and Colby would surely put them almost out without winning out.

[Pat Coleman]

Trinity hits a full court buzzer beater off the inbound to send it to double OT. Maybe the most clutch shot I have ever watched.

Here's the video:

https://twitter.com/d3hoops/status/1221224197072080896

[Vandy74]

Middlebury's win over Williams was a great team effort, especially without Max Bosco's services being available.  Starters Kornaker, Farrell, Folger and Eastman played a combined 114 minutes and scored 67 points.  Spot starter Will Ingram pulled down a season high 6 rebounds.   He and Perry DeLorenzo split 45 minutes of play greasing the smooth running machine while drawing crowd attention several times for things that don't show up in the box score.  Fouls limited Cahill's playing time but his stat line belies his value to the team while he was in there.  This game was as much fun to watch as any has been all season. 

The 18 point victory margin, however, belies the fact that there were four ties and seven lead changes in the first fifteen minutes of play.  The Panthers came back from as many as 8 points down before taking a 6 point into halftime.  With that in mind let's give a mention to fy Charley Moore's performance.  He entered the game at 10:59 with the Panthers trailing 15-20.   Half a minute later the Ephs' Michael Myers made it 23-15.  At 9:10 it was a Charley Moore layup off an assist from Ingram who had collected the defensive rebound that cut the deficit to four at 23-19.  Another layup by Moore at 6:48 cut it to one and twenty-three seconds later he hit from behind the arc to put his team ahead 28-26.  Henry Feinberg answered with a trey of his own to give the lead back to Williams at 6:01 but fifteen seconds later Jack Farrell scored three off an assist from Moore and although Williams would tie it up at 31-31 Middlebury never again trailed.  Moore went to the bench at the 4:04 mark with his team leading by a score of 35-31.  During his seven minute stint the Panthers had scored 20 points to go from 8 down to lead by 4.  Charley Moore scored 7 of those points and dished the assist that led to 3 more.  Not too shabby.

Like I said, this was a fun game to watch.

[Vandy74]

Trinity hits a full court buzzer beater off the inbound to send it to double OT. Maybe the most clutch shot I have ever watched.

Here's the video:

https://twitter.com/d3hoops/status/1221224197072080896

WOW!!

[amh63]

Enjoyed the chatter here.  It is a bummer wrt the scheduling of women and men games this season. Have watched a lot of games though...even the pro debut of Zion, the 19 year old phenom from Duke that took off in a 17pt scoring spree.  His coach tried to control Zion's court time in 3-4 minute pieces, but Zion's spree, both inside and out, was over a longer period and continuous.
Ok....back to some d3 comments....Amherst comments.
First...Amherst won at home over Hamilton....another game without Sellew...relatively easily.  Hamilton's Star player scored 26 tough points but Amherst controlled the flow of the game with a combination of players on the floor.  Believe Toomey is preparing for conference play.
Congrats to Williams wins over Amherst.  Must note that both games were tight...home and away and with and without Sellew.  Must also note that both Midd and Amherst writeups of games without their "big" front court player DID not mention their absence.
The goal of Amherst now is to lock down a Nescac tourney spot and play well enough to win the title.

[Old Guy]

Trinity hits a full court buzzer beater off the inbound to send it to double OT. Maybe the most clutch shot I have ever watched.

Here's the video:

https://twitter.com/d3hoops/status/1221224197072080896

WOW!!

Dominant emotion for me is to feel bad for Conn College. To lose because a guy made a 70' shot is just sad. I know they lost it in the 2nd overtime — but that's miracle shot. Player could shoot for most of an afternoon and not repeat it.