MBB: NESCAC

[Voyeur]

FBant,

The amount that Olson plays will be directly affected by the matchups that occur on the floor.  Watching him play for a couple years, I know that he is a far superior defender. Even though Olson can make the "impossible" pass better than Ray, Corrigan can make the best pass better than Olson can.  I think Olson will start but Ray will get between 15-20 minutes a game.   I think Amherst's best lineup is Bedford, Olson/Corrigan, Wheeler, Casnocha, and Coulibaly.  When playing against Cohen and Martin, O'Shea and Hopkins will get more time for taller, defensive matchups.

I get a feeling that Hixon has a strong commitment to his older players so I doubt that O'Shea will leave the starting lineup, though on some nights he should.  People looking for the 8ish man rotation that Hixon usually goes with should not look for it.  In the big games, Amherst will still play 10 players, as Hixon should not keep players like Goldsmith or Hopkins on the bench. 

[walzy31]

Voyer sure knows his Amherst hoops. I'm impressed. You also included something in your post which reminded me of something.

Coach Dave Hixon ('75) has 499 career wins at Amherst college. Unfortuantely for Hixon he will have to sit tight for over 2 weeks before Amherst gets their first crack at their 8th win this season. When it happens, D3hoops.com will surely have a cover page release about it.
Over the past 4 season Amherst is averaging between 24 and 25 wins per season. 400 plateau in December 2001. 500 in January 2006.
Congratulations!

[bob_holdcamp]

Anyone watched Trinity play this year?  Curious if they are playing any D.... I went to a few games last year and couldn't believe the amount of easy buckets they gave up for a "top team".  They did get the ball down court in a hurry and run their stuff for Rhoten but I thought they were beyond soft inside defensively.  Wondering if that has changed....

[formerbant10]

Bob,

Trinity's post defense is much better this year.  Russ Martin is turning into a very good shot blocker.  He erases quite a few of the mistakes that the young perimeter players do make.  Overall, I'd say their defense in the post is better this year than last.  The team is a lot healthier this year than last year, and that has a lot to do with it.  4 of the 5 starters for the Bants last year had very serious injuries during the season.  It seems, and I hope, they got most of their injuries out of the way during the summer and have already adjusted to it.

I'd expect them to get better as the season goes on and the freshman who are playing big minutes continue to get better.  Aaron Westbrooks did a great job at the end of the Springfield game on Derek Yvon, he's going to be a very good defender.

They're giving up 64 points a game so far this year on 40% shooting.  Last year they 69 points on 43%.  Not much difference as both squads were about +10 on the ppg difference. 

While they may have given up some easy inside buckets last year, 69 points a game isn't terrible.  But you're right, it could've been better.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, I would agree, the Trinity squad seems to be slightly improved all around (for the players who remain anyway).  Their fundamentals are better and guys seem to be more at home on the defensive end.  We probably won't be able to tell any signifigant difference until conference play starts and their level of competition remains consistent.

[formerbant10]

I don't completely agree with that Hoops....they are definitely more committed to playing D as a team this year than last.  But I don't know if their individual fundamentals are better than last year.  But as we know, basketball is a team game and you need all 5 guys to play together to win.  So far as a team, they are marginally better....but the competition has been slightly down as well.  Which is why the numbers from last year are not quite as good as this year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That's basically what I was going for; just trying to make it a little nicer, you know, in the spirit of the holidays.

[eholmes]

aside from former bant, I'm not sure if anyone here has seen the improvements ty rhoten has made this season, not only is he the most dominant scorer, but hes been quite a good passing big man this year making nice passes out of the double n triple teams for buckets, whereas in the past he may have been more likely to shoot it himself.

The freshmen are coming along nicely for trinity as well, both westbrooks n rowe are great defenders, and there offensive game will do nothing but improve in the future. Westbrooks showed some of what hes capable of doing against springfield (i think it was that game at least). And the other rhoten is a great rebounder and inside post presence whos been workin real hard all season, its just hard to get minutes in the post with his older brother getting so many minutes (and deservedly so).

as far as the fundamentals thing goes, with losing rob taylor, formerbant, farrell, and hasiuk this year, thats a tough thing to say. More athletic and harder working on defense maybe, but not fundamentally better than last season.

[gordonmann]

Here's an interesting story on recruiting in the NESCAC and other liberal arts school conferences. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/sports/ncaafootball/25sidebar.html

[formerbant10]

G Mann, great article......nothing about Trinity using too many athletic factors for their football team, maybe some of those other guys will now realize that hard work had more to do with the win streak than anything else.

Eholmes, hope the northern country is treating you well.  From the games I've seen , I'd have to agree with the all around improvement of Rhoten with his passing.  And as long as his teammates keep making open shots, he'll keep giving it out to them.

The one thing that might come back to haunt the Bants is defensive rebounding.  Too many 2nd chance opportunities led to some of those games being too close.  That's been the Bants' achilles heel for quite some time now.

[walzy31]

Heading to Worcester soon for Clark Williams. First time seeing the Ephs...not anticipating seeing anything that would make me become nervous for the game on January 7th in Amherst. I will report back here though.

[dman]

formerbant,

  that article in the times isn't meant as an expose', but merely informs the public how the nescac treats recruited athletes....perhaps there are differences among the schools in the conference as to how much weight they give each sport in terms of "factors".  just for the sake of argument,  if amherst gives 4 "tips" each year to basketball and 12 to football, wouldn't there be a perceived difference if williams gave 2 to basketball and 14 to football???  whereas, trinity might give 10 to football, 2 to squash, and 4 to basketball.....

[formerbant10]

They way I look at it....each school has the right to do what it wants with their "tips"

There was a lot of banter on the football board about Trinity bringing in all types of "students" not up to par with the rest of the class, and I just like that this article shows that every school does it.

And for the sake of argument, yes that would be a difference if they distributed the "tips" to the teams differently.  Each school has the right to do that, and clearly the NESCAC is doing very well with their athletics. 

The only problem that could arise is when certain sports have many qualified student athletes who do not need the "tips" and the "tips" are then used to bolster another program.  I'm sure that happens, but if the kids are paying money to go to school there, they should be given the chance to play.

[ephoops]

Rose had a monster game against Clark tonight for Williams -- 26 points and 16 rebounds.  Williams hit their foul shots in the final minute and beat a pesky Clark team at Clark 77 - 69.

[gordonmann]

...PROGRAMMING NOTE...
The newly established Centennial Conference Basketball Network (CCBN) broadcast Tuesday's night's game between Trinity and Ursinus live at www.broadcastmonsters.com.  The link will be available at that site on game day.

Pregame coverage begins at 7:15 PM with tip-off at 7:30 PM.  If you can't make the trip to the Greater Philadelphia area, please tune us in for the fun.

Programming on BroadcastMonsters.com requires Windows Media Player which is available for free download here.