MBB: NESCAC

[toad22]

When you couldn't play for more than two weeks, most of that time practicing with only 7 players, missing three of your top guards and your top two centers, this is the kind of game you can get. I hope the rest of the team gets to practice for four days before the Saturday Tufts game. They need to play well, and have their whole team back, to hope to beat Tufts and Bates away. We especially need Nate Karren and Spencer Spivy back, and with a few days of practice. I think Cole Prowett Smith only practiced for one day, after missing almost two weeks. I hate the COVID protocols in place at Williams.

[Old Guy]

It is going to very interesting how Midd is dealt with in awards season unless they make a surprising run to the NESCAC final or something.  Midd looks like right now the third or fourth best team in NESCAC.  Yet, they have the runaway contender for ROY, the leading contender for POY, a top contender for COY, and with three guys in the top four scorers to date in league play, a great case for three players on the all-conference teams.  In the very rare cases where a heavy concentration of league awards (like three all-league guys or two all-league guys plus player and coach of the year) go to one program, that program tends to be one that is not just regionally but nationally dominant (Amherst 2013, Williams 2010).  Midd is just a very weird team in that we've never seen a team be quite this successful with only three guys who are responsible for nearly all of the offensive playmaking.  I don't see how they can get POY, ROY and COY if they end up as, say, a third or fourth place team in the league.  But right now, they might just have the most deserving guys for each. 

And if Noah Osher keeps it going like this the rest of the year, he has to be an all-league guy.  Over his last six games, he's averaging 23.5-4-3, while playing nearly every minute and shooting it very efficiently (49 / 43 / 90).

COY is going to be stacked this year as well.  Wesleyan and Williams are of course very talented but it's easy to forget that they both had quite down years (especially by those programs' standards) in 2020, so Reilly and App both deserve a ton of credit for how much they have improved those teams this season.  Both have also struggled with plenty of injuries and/or COVID-related absences.  Wesleyan has obviously nevertheless thrived, as for Williams, the most challenging stretch is still to come: if it survives high-stakes Wesleyan/Tufts/Bates (maybe more?) games this week after a two plus week layoff and missing (we will see exactly who tonight) some key players due to COVID protocols, that would really be a feather in App's cap.  It's impossible to know what to expect for tonight's game vs. Wesleyan, although Williams surely will be the underdog if down a few starters. 

He won't be COY, but Alex Lloyd at Bowdoin really deserves a shout-out.  He inherited a roster thin on talent, with no fifth-year seniors and none of his own recruits, and many of Bowdoin's top recruits over the last few years ended up, for one reason or another, elsewhere.  To sit at .500 at this point of the season, with wins over Colby, Conn and Hamilton, is really impressive all things considered.

[nescac1]

Just hard to take much from this game for Williams.  Even beyond the many guys who were missing, Wesleyan has been in three absolute wars with Tufts, Amherst and Midd during the time Williams has played zero games and barely even practiced.  They were just so much faster and more aggressive in every facet.  The Ephs clearly didn't have their legs at all and didn't have a prayer against a team whose physicality and quickness are tough to deal with under the best circumstances. 

Agree that James looks awesome of late.  He, Peek and Johnson are a damn tough trio to deal with.  What a year for centers in Nescac - Karren, Sobel, James, Jorden, Rogers, there are gonna be some wars inside in the Nescac tourney.  Also agree that Williams needs to utilize Roughley more on offense.  He's such an unusual player and no one can really guard him both in the post and off the bounce (though guarding opposing centers will be a learning process, but of course it was his first time playing the position). 

I think a healthy Williams team and Wesleyan are still the two best teams in the league.  If the Ephs can get it together over the next two weeks, I think they will have one or maybe even two more post-season battled.  But they have a big hole to dig out of to get their rhythm and precision back.  A shame because they were playing so well when COVID struck. 

[Old Guy]

(Sorry, hit "post" unintentionally. You know, Old Guy.)
I agree with NESCAC1, Midd is a "very weird team," though I might use the term "unconventional." Of the Midd candidates for post season awards, I think Jeff Brown has a very strong case. He had no one back from the 2020 team (that is, no one who was in the rotation, played significant minutes at all). There are a number of gifted players on other teams that, were they given 35 minutes of playing time a game, would have much more impressive numbers than they have. But what Jeff Brown has done with this "weird" team, bringing the frosh along, maximizing the bench talent he has, is remarkable, a different kind of test from coaches of deeper, more experienced clubs who are searching for the right mix among many very talented players. I wish I could go to practice and watch first-hand.

Sorry that the Ephs were short-handed — that should have been a great match-up.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

When I talked to Jeff a couple weeks ago he said he'd never had as inexperienced a team as this one, nor one who's developed so quickly. He's pretty proud of what they've done so far. It's quite impressive.

[JEFFFAN]

Maybe it is just me but is anyone taken back a bit by the magnitude of the beatdown last night?   Sort of seems like piling on to me ...

[jumpshot]

jefffan: aren't you a bit disingenuous as evidenced by a sampling of amHerst scores and margins this season?
100-38 (62); 90-29 (61); 79-41 (38); 89-52 (37); 92-56 (36) 

[SpringSt7]

Maybe it is just me but is anyone taken back a bit by the magnitude of the beatdown last night?   Sort of seems like piling on to me ...

The last person in the world I would expect to let up in a blowout would be Joe Reilly coaching in Chandler Gymnasium.

[toad22]

Maybe it is just me but is anyone taken back a bit by the magnitude of the beatdown last night?   Sort of seems like piling on to me ...

The last person in the world I would expect to let up in a blowout would be Joe Reilly coaching in Chandler Gymnasium.

How about up 40 with less than 5 minutes left, subbing Jordan James back in to run an alley-oop play for him. Very bush league.

[amh63]

Random thoughts after the Williams vs Wes game in Willytown.  The "little three" games this season have all been won by the visiting team!
Guess there is no Homecourt advantage in a Covid year.....though there was a nice student crowd last night.
Amherst lost to Wes early in triple OT at home...but won in OT in Middletown in the NESCAC conf. game.  Amherst lost to Williams at home, but won in the NESCAC game later.  My take....Amherst won the Little Three title this year.
Yes, Covid has impacted the season this season...big time...key injuries to key players too!  Amherst has an entire new coaching staff this year.  It had to mix and match FYs' with returning injured seniors, etc....in building a capable team for conference play.  That's what coaches do; both old and new Head coaches. 
Amherst has two all-conference Senior guards....both 1000 plus scorers.  Amherst has to date, built a deep team for the upcoming conference title run.  I wish Amherst makes a long post season run.  I will be watching!

[jumpshot]

I sense a "Son of Hixongate" developing for joe reilly .... Toad is a highly credible source ....

[jumpshot]

amH63, your take is wrong ... the Little Three men's basketball is a three-way tie this year. Nice try ....

[JEFFFAN]

jefffan: aren't you a bit disingenuous as evidenced by a sampling of amHerst scores and margins this season?
100-38 (62); 90-29 (61); 79-41 (38); 89-52 (37); 92-56 (36)

Not in the least.  They were not league games.   Kicking the crap out of a fellow league player is vastly different than beating up on Vassar.

[jumpshot]

jefffan, respect for human dignity and sportsmanship are not bounded by conference structure.

[JEFFFAN]

jefffan, respect for human dignity and sportsmanship are not bounded by conference structure.

Very true.  And I guess I should not have even raised the question since the margins on Wesleyan's first five games were 43, 24, 49, 62 and 24.   So I guess it is a NESCAC thing.