MBB: NESCAC

[Pat Coleman]

Undoubtedly Loeffler knows more about Hixon than Hixon knows about Loeffler.

Good call. That's actually a factor I had not yet pondered.

[The Historian]

Pat, did you ponder Trinity not making it out of the first round?

[Pat Coleman]

Sure. But picking four No. 1 seeds would be boring.

[walzy31]

Undoubtedly Loeffler knows more about Hixon than Hixon knows about Loeffler.

Hixon was the head coach at Amherst College before Loeffler was born. Does he know that about Hixon?

[diehardfan]

Hey guys, I just thought I'd pop in to let you know about a little project we did. A group of around 40 posters banded together and created a Unofficial Guide to the 2006-2007 NCAA Tourney, that contains a team-by-team breakdown of the teams in the tournament. This is especially cool given the fact that the official NCAA guide gives you very little insight into the teams, and nearly all of the previews in the Unofficial Guide were made by fans of the team.

The website is: http://wheatonhoops.googlepages.com/ncaatourney and on that website you can find browsable information, as well as a 19 page printable PDF document. This was updated as of this morning.

While I doubt that we'll ever get any posters to submit information for the 11 teams that did not submit previews, it does include previews from 48 of the 59 teams in the tournament, and all of the teams in the Sweet Sixteen. I hope you check it out and enjoy the content!

If there are any corrections or content additions you would like to me, please submit them to me by PM. Thanks!

[nescac1]

I'd say it will be almost impossible for Stevens to overcome Amherst's size advantage ... they give up around 4-6 inches at every position but point guard.  But whatever happens, this is the year of Loeffler ... SLU and Williams with surprising entrances in the tourney thanks in large part to guys he helped recruit, and of course Stevens coming out of nowhere to make the Sweet 16.  Looks like he is a coach to watch for the future ... maybe he can go back and rescue his alma mater's ever-struggling program.   But I wouldn't say he knows as much about hoops as Hixon ... no matter how familiar he is with Amherst's system. 

Amherst has already proven they would be a heavy favorite against RIC, especially at Amherst.  Keene I think could give them a run, but Amherst still is in very good shape to make the Final Four.  They'll probably hit Wooster in the Final Four, although Brockport is looking good after dismantling SLU on the road.  (That made me feel a little better about the Ephs' relatively close loss to Brockport ... still, would have been nice to see how the Ephs could have done against SLU or Fischer).   

[mrmike88]

Stat of the week:

Amherst's starting five had 24 assists and zero turnovers in Saturday's game against Widener, led by Andrew Olson's 12.

[frank uible]

Irrespective of any of the other statements on this board, post #3663 remains true.

[JeffRookie2]

Any thoughts about the breakdown of the league next year? I know its absurdly early but,

Amherst loses Mclaughlin, Wheeler, O'Shea, Salerno
Williams loses basically no one
Trinity loses Pat Martin (i assume) Kino Clarke and Michael Hoar
Colby loses Nick Farrell, Drew Cohen, Pat Featherston, Jon Bandi
Midd loses Evan Thompson, Chris Dowd, Wil Hyatt
Tufts loses David Shepard, Brian Kumf, Brian Fitzgerald
Bowdoin loses Kevin Bradley, John Goodridge
Bates loses Rob Stockwell, Zak Ray, John Lattimer, Damon McGinn
Conn College loses David Greenridge, Jahkeen Washington, Malik Brown
Wesleyan loses Robert Kelly, Jared Ashe, Jimmy Shepard

So, without having seen any of the freshman, I would rank the teams next year as follows:

Amherst
Williams
Middlebury
Trinity
Tufts
Bowdoin
Bates
Conn
Colby
Wes

Just trying to start some discussion. Who disagrees? How would you rank them?

[hoopjunkie]

Jeffrookie , Good startup .I think the biggest losses are the losses
for Bates & Colby followed very closley by Trinity . I dont know who will
be in the backcourt for Trinity ?
I almost agree with your rankings for next year except I would rank Tufts
over Trinity . Tufts returns their 3 top guns & are getting a solid point guard
out of NYC which they desperately need . Amherst & Williams will be strong
but I think Middlebury might drop a little .

[senatorfrost]

Your top four are my top four. I like Williams on top but not by much. Tufts I already said I can't put anywhere. I like Bowdoin 5th. Then Colby, Bates and Wesleyan. Conn College looked like they regressed badly but who knows about next year with them.
 Stevens beat Tufts by 21. Which Tufts showed up? The Tufts that got wiped out by Bates? The Tufts that lost to Amherst in overtime?? Since I don't know i don't know whether to be concerned.
 Even if Bennett is as good as advertised, how much playing time will he get with all those tall seniors coming back?

[JeffRookie2]

Senator, I honestly do think that people read too much into Williams beating Amherst that third time. Williams played out of their skulls and Amherst had a poor game, especially from the line. Time will tell, but I think the Jeffs will still be a good ways ahead of Williams next year. I know I'm an Amherst fan, so its easy to say I'm biased, but I really do think I would feel that way even if I were uninvolved.

Also, hoopsjunkie, im curious why you say that Tufts 'desperately' needs a PG. I thought pg was a strength for them from what i have seen, with both shepard and black playing well. Obviously shepard is graduating, but black seems capable of doing a more than adequate job. Have your impressions been different?

[eclinchy]

I think Black will be great next year.

Tufts returns their three top scorers (Pierce, Weitzen, O'Keefe), and a very solid PG in Black (who is a rising senior!).  Their only potential weakness is at center, but they have a few options there.

-Pat Sullivan (not the most talented guy on the roster, but he's got the height and the experience)
-Tom Selby (not the most experienced, but he's a big guy who looked fairly decent as a freshman)
-Jon Pierce (obviously the best of three players, but making him a center might limit his outside shooting capability)

If one of the first two guys makes the starting lineup, then Tufts probably has the best pair of forwards in the league, in Weitzen and Pierce.  If Pierce becomes a center, then that might open up the possibility that Dave Beyel (who I really liked this year) could start at forward.

JeffRookie, I agree with your point about Tufts not being desperate at the point.  In fact, I don't think they're desperate for guards at all.  Not only are Black and O'Keefe both rising seniors, but they have Aaron Gallant (rising junior), Dan Cook (rising sophomore), Ross Trethewey (redshirting, rumor has it... he'd be a fifth-year senior), Reed Morgan (sophomore), and Galvin on top of that.  It's a pretty deep team of little guys.

I think the big question is not in the backcourt, but it's who Sheldon trusts with the center job.  That may have been a weakness last year, as Fitz had trouble with good big men (see DeLuca, Steve; Wheeler, Dan; Stockwell, Rob; Cohen, Drew; Thompson, Evan; etc, etc, etc).  If Tufts finds an answer in the post, they should be fine next year.  If not... then who knows.  Maybe they'll go 5-4 again.

My gut is telling me...

Amherst
Williams
Tufts
Trinity
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Conn. College
Bates
Colby
Wesleyan

...but I don't trust my gut, since my Tufts bias has steered me astray in the past.

[nescac1]

I am pretty much in agreement w/ everyone else here (and again, frosh / transfers can make a huge impact of course), for the most part.

1. Amherst -- still the biggest, deepest, most experienced, and still with the best player in Olsen.  Goldsmith, Coulibaly, S. Wheeler, Carcieri and Bennett are likely more  talented than the group they lose, just not as experienced. 
2. Williams -- could possibly catch Amherst, but would need Rose to return to his sophomore shooting form (or hopefully better) and hard work and significant improvement from 3-4 of the frosh.   Should be much deeper next year assuming guys like Golia, Weisbrot, Hardy, Meyer and Rubin continue to improve, in fact there will likely be some good frosh and sophomores planted on the bench due to the huge number of promising guys coming back.  Need to attack start of season w/ same mentality they played at the end of this season. 
3. Trinity -- Hasiuk and Rowe should be a solid enough back court, and they have great size and talent up front.  Only question is perimeter scoring outside of Hasiuk and depth.  I'm guessing Trinity will bring in a large, talented frosh group with only one rising sophomore on the roster. 
4. Middlebury -- won't sneak up on anyone any more.  Still, very balanced with three legit all league contenders, and can beat anyone in the league.
5.  Tufts -- could be anywhere from 2nd through 7th but this feels about right.  Never easy to predict as everyone agrees.  I think they will score on anyone but who will play interior defense?
6. Bowdoin -- solid, not spectacular, as usual.  Jackson and Hippert are solid players.
7. Conn College -- really underperformed this year, with Stone and a lot of perimeter shooters coming back they could be as good as 3/4, but hard to elevate them to that level based on performance. 
8. Colby -- Choice is a good foundation plus some solid shooters.
9. Bates -- big time rebuilding year.  Who will play in frontcourt outside of O'Keefe? Hurt by loss of all those rising juniors. 
10. Wesleyan -- ugggh.  No Kelly, no Ashe, the talent level has really dropped.  Need a great frosh class, and badly.

[hoopjunkie]

eclinchy -
I think the key for Tufts is Pat Sullivan 6`9" senior center .

He has been slowly & I do mean SLOWLY improving . He must be able
to play a solid 30 minutes a game to be effective & be a defensive
presence . Selby could suprise ,but needs to get stronger .

Weitzen & Pierce are the best forwards in the league , bar none.

I think Black is totally overmatched at point , but coach Sheldon has help
on the way with soph Reed Morgan who could be a real good one , & highly
touted freshman from NYC .

Based on Sullivan they could be a #2 - If Sullivan does not improve they could be a 5