MBB: NESCAC

[whoarewebobcats]

We're getting along toward Friday now...where are the predictions?

I have a hard time thinking about how Bates will do this weekend--Williams and Middlebury both seem a little dangerous, though after losing to CC everyone seems dangerous. Sad that my confidence in a 16-3 team has dropped to hoping for a split...

...any of the Williams or Midd. people on here have an idea of how the teams should match up?

[walzy31]

Friday:

Amherst 86
Conn College 63

[BooBallsCasRay]

I'm gonna do my best to match Walzy's spot-on predictions...

This week:
Amherst - 196
Conn College - 38 (only due to a desperation Rock 'n Jock 25 pointer at the buzzer)

basically, pure domination..

nescachoops - I'd be careful, I hear Dr. S is sporting a mean goatee these days, reminiscent of one Jay Buhner - I would not mess with that

[CCsalive]

BooBalls- I'll take the under and  Conn +158.

Is Adolphe gonna play? He wouldn't have played for Coach Miller at CC back in the day either when we were undefeated. CC's Coach Tom Satran has been in  Amherst's shoes all the way to Salem.

Camel's hit a rough stretch post New Years but they deserve more respect.

No prediction from me, but a split for the Camels this weekend is not impossible. They will be well prepared.

[BooBallsCasRay]

tough weekend for the camels, let's see if they can get over the hump...

[frank uible]

If they are bactrians, then they will need to get over the humps.

[La Verdad]

Amherst's Andrew Olson is one of seventeen finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top PG.  Show some love for D3 and the NESCAC and vote for him.

http://www.cousyaward.com/results.html

[Dr E. Spengler]

CC, think before you talk...tuck your tail between your legs and walk away. 

And may God have mercy on your soul.

[Red1]

Bates home games are being audio cast once again.  The men only have two home games left, but you can listen to the women in the mean time.  It's at www.batescast.com and yes we stole the website name and design from jumbocast (at leat I assume we did because it's identical, I, personally, don't have any direct connection to batescast).

Cheers,
Red1

[nescac hoops]

with all of the talk in regards to the nescac's out of conference records/scheduling/explanations, i have to say that i just think that this is a rather down year for the conference. yes, amherst is very good but take any other team in the nescac and match them up with a top 4-5 team in a tough midwest conference and the nescac would probably have 0 out of conference wins. i love the nescac, but this isn't a good year for us. even amherst, who is a VERY good team, probably wouldn't even make my "top 3 amherst teams" and i've only seen amherst play every season since '96. olson and harper are two very good but VERY different pt. guards. i happen to like olson better. however the jones, hopkins, o'shea rotation just doesn't compare to fitzsimmons, zeija, schiel. ill take bedford over "t-mac" any day of the week, although tmac is very good. salerno seems to be quite the fan favorite in lefrak but ill take russell lee as my backup pt. guard - i don't think salerno will score 31 pts. in any conference seminfinal game against a very good trinity team. perhaps some don't agree but put this year's amherst team in the '02-03 or the '03-'04 conference and i think they finish third behind those williams/amherst teams and maybe even behind one of those trinity teams. this may be a somewhat flawed example, but i think olson is the unanimous POY this year - the year that crotty was up for the cousy and josten's awards (d3 award) he didn't even win the conference POY award, it was awarded to ben coffin. i heard that crotty finished third that year in the conference votings behind coffin and a player i can't recall. i just don't think the conference has many great teams this year. the williams team this year would probably finish 7/8/9th and not fighting to host a conference tourny game this weekend. i would like to believe that last weekend's shockers are a result of teams like bowdoin and conn college getting better, which may be true to some extent, but i think it's more a result of the top team's having a down year. yes, there is parity which makes every game very exciting/meaningful but it's not for good reason. during the '02-'04 seasons i always felt bad for trinity and thought that they should have gotten a bid fo the ncaa tourny. i always use to say "put trinity in any other new england conference and they'd win it easily. it's not fair." however, i don't feel that way about the teams finishing second or third in this year's conference

[nescac1]

It does seem like a somewhat down year for NESCAC.   A lot of teams have performed below pre-season expectations.  Tufts, in particular, and to a lesser extent Conn College, Colby, Williams, even Bates.  On paper, it seemed like Bates was poised to have a dominant team, Tufts seemed to be about as good as last year, and Conn, Colby and Williams all seemed to be improved, but it hasn't worked out that way.  Even Middlebury,hich looked strong early,has struggled of late.  And barring some amazing talent coming into the conference, the gap between Amherst and everyone else looks to be even bigger next year.  Williams, theoretically, should be much improved with all five starters, including two frosh, returning, but they have a lot of ground to make up.  And look at everyone else: Colby loses two all-conference caliber players with no obvious replacements, Wesleyan loses three of its four scorers from a bad team, Tufts loses three starters (including the only rebounding / defense minded guys from a squad that already struggles in that respect), Bates loses 2/3 of its rotation including its two stars, Trinity loses (I think) all of its perimeter scoring and ball handling, although it should have a fearsome frontcourt.

There are a pretty solid group of seniors and juniors in the league, but it seems like there has been a lack of big-time talent coming in, with only a few exceptions, the last few years.  Frosh can be hard to project, but look at the sophomore class across the league: outside of Baskauskas, not a single sophomore will even be in the all-league conversation this year, or maybe even next year.  And Baskauskas is for certain the only potential all-american among the sophomores barring a stunning improvement from someone.  Outside of Middlebury, no team appears to have more than one major impact / all conference caliber player in their sophomore classes.   And outside of Williams, Bates and Amherst, early indications don't look that much better for the league-wide frosh class, although guys may develop and surprise. 

Maybe it's athletic admissions standards tightening up at many schools (as happened at Williams) or perhaps the New England talent pool has just been a little dry the last few years, or maybe with so many older, established coaches in the league, the recruiting enthusiasm isn't what it once was, but if this year is a down year for the league, the next two years look even bleaker,  absent a major infusion of talent. 

[geronimo]

with all of the talk in regards to the nescac's out of conference records/scheduling/explanations, i have to say that i just think that this is a rather down year for the conference.

I'll agree with that (oops, the baby just kicked).

olson and harper are two very good but VERY different pt. guards.

I'll agree with that as well, especially since Harper wasn't a point guard (I think my water just broke).

even amherst, who is a VERY good team, probably wouldn't even make my "top 3 amherst teams" and i've only seen amherst play every season since '96.

This may be true as well, although debatable.  However, this Amherst team has the advantage of drawing on the experience of the three Amherst teams you mention.  For those teams, the type of success the Jeffs are now accustomed to achieving was still very new.  Look at it this way:  you're a little unsure the first few times you go skiing, but like every other Swede on the slopes, you eventually get used to it.  Amherst has now had its three or four trips down the slopes.  They now know where the moguls are.  They're more accustomed to navigating the slopes.  They know where to buy hot coco, and they know where the bunnies like to hang out.  That's the advantage this team has that those other Amherst teams did not.  Put two units on my aunt and now I have two uncles, na-mean?

• War Harper's mustache.


• La Verdad is the father of my unborn child.


• walzy31 will predict the birth weight within one or two ounces.


• Dr E. Spengler, you may perform the C-section.


• Friar T will administer the baptism.


• BooBallsCasRay will be drunk at the after-party.


• All party food will be eaten with spifes.


• mrmike will speak Vulcan and blather on about Harry Potter books.

[nescac hoops]

geronimo,
was harper really not the pt. guard? or are you just saying that he wasn't a pt. guard in the sense that he should have been a shooting guard? i know both he and donovan handled the ball a lot but i guess i wasn't watching close enough to see who the real pt guard was. either way, i would take olson over either of those two. however, the harper/donovan backcourt was a nice one.

[geronimo]

geronimo,
was harper really not the pt. guard? or are you just saying that he wasn't a pt. guard in the sense that he should have been a shooting guard? i know both he and donovan handled the ball a lot but i guess i wasn't watching close enough to see who the real pt guard was. either way, i would take olson over either of those two. however, the harper/donovan backcourt was a nice one.

Faulkner/Corrigan manned the pg (Faulkner started every game at the point in 02-03, Corrigan started every game in 03-04).  The mustached one was more of an off-guard who could handle the rock, defend and rebound.  I wouldn't compare Olson and Harper.  Two totally different players.  Harper's defense very often created his offense.  He had $#&# locked down like Robert Redford in Brubaker.  And he had a mustache, whereas Olson sports what I'd call a modified Hotel Del Coronado mullet.  I'd take Don Quinn or the spife over both of them at the point anyhow.

I can't find any pickles in this damn cabinet. 

[The Historian]

geronimo,
was harper really not the pt. guard?

And you feel qualified to comment on which was Amherst's greatest team?  Are you serious?