MBB: NESCAC

[lemonjello]

I guess WashU's loss makes the Jeffs #1 then. 
In a 99-54 shellacking of Southern Vermont, no Amherst player played more than 19 minutes.  Some highlights in the box score:
Lil' Wheeler was efficient again, putting up 12 points (4-5 shooting, 2-3 from downtown) in 14 minutes.  Brandon Jones racked up 13 points (and 3 fouls) in 14 minutes.  Matt Goldsmith pulled down 11 boards, and Kurt Bennett got 7 rebounds in just 8 minutes of play.

[emmanuelfan]

Ok...as good as Amherst is, it is not surprising they beat Southern Vermont by 50. It is after all Southern Vermont. Why not invite a team which will be more a bit more competitive to your tournament.

[nescac1]

Nice start to the season for the Ephs.  It appears the Ephs are incredibly deep up front with Dodson, Meyer, Weisbrot all very capable, plus some other guys with potential (Whittingon, Timmins, etc.).  Assuming Rubin and Golia (who both appear to be injured, anyone have details?) return healthy, they will have solid depth in the backcourt as well.  Good to see Shalvoy continue playing at the very high level he ended last year.  The rest of the Ephs' fall schedule is pretty soft, so as long as they continue to stay fairly healthy and play well, they should (hopefully) cruise through 2007, until things get rougher with Keene and Amherst on the horizon.  

A few other early season observations:

-- Rookies who appear to be for real: Dodson, Conor Meehan, and Brian Ellis all living up to the preseason hype, and a dark horse, Ashton Coghlan from Midd who put up huge numbers in limited minutes.  Probably Bennett as well, although it looks like he won't get any burn outside of garbage time this year.  
-- Steven Wheeler continues to put up insane numbers, it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up once Amherst's exhibition season is over.  
-- Trinity looks to have a solid starting five but little depth ... injuries or foul trouble will really hurt them.  
-- I am sure Tufts will do better on offense when Weitzen is not in foul trouble, but giving up 96 to Bridgewater isn't a great sign for a team with a purported recommiment to defense.
-- Wesleyan is a very long shot to win any league games.   Where will the scoring come from?  Kevin Scura, a transfer from Williams who I believe did not make the varsity, is getting the second most minutes on the team.  
-- Jury is still out on Midd.  One huge win over an awful team, and then a loss, but to a very good Stevens team, and Midd's big guy Smith did not play (I assume he is hurt), plus Midd's shooters had an off day.
-- Very impressive opening weekend for Conn.  Like Trinity, strong starting five but depth questions, but they may fare better than expected (and certainly much better than last year) in league play.    

[nescac hoops]

I also think that Williams will have a letdown after a great run at the end of last year.
I think Middlebury will beat either Amherst or Williams as will Tufts .
Just some random thoughts

Junkie,
while the season is still VERY early, your "random thoughts" have proved to be just that...random. Amherst still appears pretty dominant, though against pretty weak opponents, with players (e.g. lil Wheeler) finally getting their chance after spending earlier seasons on the bench. Williams beat a pretty good opponent their first night and appears to be stronger, deeper and more balanced than they were last year. Meanwhile, Shalvoy seems like he hasn't missed a beat since his run at the end of last season. I know it's early and you can't get too excited or too down on a team's opening weekend (especially considering NESCAC teams only have two weeks of practice), but Tufts biggest weakness last year was their defense...giving up 90+ pts. to Bridgewater doesn't seem like much of an improvement from last year and defense is not something that is too excusable this early on. Again, the season is VERY early, but so far this Tufts team doesn't seem too different from last year's team. Sure Weitzen was in foul trouble...but how did he get those fouls? Helping out on guards beat on the perimeter...like Tufts got beat on all last season?

[eclinchy]

In Weitzen's defense, he got at least one foul (you could argue it was as many as 3-4) from horrible officiating.

The particularly bad one:

O'Keefe misses a three; Weitzen and Roland Millien set up for the rebound; Millien boxes him out perfectly; Weitzen backs down; Millien gets the rebound; he lands; he slips and falls down.  At no point in the play does Weitzen touch Millien.  Obviously, he gets his third foul.

I know this sounds like loser talk, but... story of the Jumbos' night.

[JeffRookie2]

In Tufts' defense, Bridgewater only lost by 5 to Brandeis, so they must be a fairly legit team.

[nescac hoops]

In Tufts' defense, Bridgewater only lost by 5 to Brandeis, so they must be a fairly legit team.

legit in the sense that brandeis was essentially sans deluca. he played only 8 minutes and didn't score. i know there was talk of a pre-season injury to deluca, but i don't know why he started and only played a few minutes. anyways, perhaps i'm being too tough on tufts or not giving bridgewater enough credit, but i'm not convinced this is a "new" tufts team this season. but again, the season is extremely early....time will tell.

[feces monkey]

Elms 65, Bowdoin 60

The Polar Bears make an early-season statement: the eighth seed goes through Brunswick. Again.

[JustAFan]

I'm not sold on Tufts at all but the Jumbos did a nice job regrouping to beat Kenyon today.  Ryan O'Keefe had a huge game with with 25 points on 9-15 from the field but the Jumbos are going to have to find some other offense because Jon Pierce was the only other player in double figures with 14 points (6-10 from the field) and everyone else shot very poorly (Weitzen was 2-9 from the floor but on the other hand he had 5 assists, and the team shot 7-12 from 3-land). Turnovers were a little better (15 total, 7 by the backcourt starters) but the Jumbos clearly are a work in process.

Bridgewater State is breaking in some talented freshmen and should get better and better as the season progresses. They had Brandeis by 11 with 9 minutes left only to get outscored 24-6 over those final minutes. Look for them come tournament time. Bridgewater will get another early season test this Tuesday night when they host Rhode Island College.

I see from the Williams/Drew box score that Blake Schultz had a big game for the Ephs last night, shooting 8-10 from the floor en route to 20 points. The Ephs again got balanced scoring, with 4 players in double figures. Chris Rose had 8 boards to go with his 12 points. And Grant Meyer made a big contribution off the bench, grabbing 8 rebounds in 21 minutes of time, his longest stint in a while. Finally, the NESCAC leader in points per minutes continues to be Williams freshman Harlan Dodson, who scored 12 points in 18 minutes, including 7-8 from the line and one three pointer.  There's going to be a real battle for time up front for Williams this year, but Shalvoy could use some relief at the point. Golia didn't play at all this weekend but will certainly get minutes when he's ready to return. As an aside, the Williams team picture is now up on the website and Dodson looks like quite the free spirit. It's obvious he's yet to visit St. Pierre's barbershop! Then again, if you saw pictures of Harry Sheehy from 35 years ago, you'd say the same thing, but all that mattered was he could play!

[lemonjello]

Dodson NESCAC leader in points/minute?  You'd better check that math.  Dodson: 24 points in 38 minutes.  Steve Wheeler: 26 points in 26 minutes (albeit against inferior competition).  That said, Dodson looks like a nice player so far, and with Geohegan could form an intimidating set of Twin Towers for the next 3 years.

[nescachoopsfan]

2 comments to the brandeis tournement,
congrats to ryan okeefe scoring his 1000 point against kenyon.

on a more sad note, bridgewater st.'s best player went diving into the stands in the second half and had to be taken off on a stretcher, and was not moving.  hope he turns out to be ok.

[JeffRookie2]

Brandon Jones with 28 points in 30 minutes for second place.

[Friar T]

Typical start for the Jeffs. Hixon still can't get anyone to come to the 'Herst for the Ken Wright '52 Invitational! I don't really blame teams though, who wants to start their season 1-1 or 0-2?

Interesting notes from the Jeffs' box scores:

Steve Wheeler 10-12 in the openers, 4-6 from three, not going to keep this up, but scary nonetheless...

Walters comes out with 3 blocks and 3 steals, his defense must be improving a little?

No sign of the defensive mastermind, DJ Carcieri??? He hurt?

My boy Ben "Buckets" Kaplan goes 3-3 from behind the arc. Nasty...

Interesting start for the 'CAC across the board. We'll see where it goes...

[The Historian]

Friar, yeah, Carcieri did not dress for either game.  He was carrying crutches, although it didn't appear he was using them all that much.  I haven't heard any specifics about his injury.  Hope he's able to recover soon; however, Meehan looked to be a more than capable backup at the point.

[nescac hoops]

Just to keep some of the Amherst stats frmot his weekend in perspective, walzy qualifies Southern Vermont as a "cupcake". I didn't say it, Walzy did...but perhaps before he realized they were on Amherst's schedule too.

And if I can't make it up to Amherst til mid-season, I can always comment about the Williams College Bake Sale they got going this season.
Have you seen how many cupcakes they have on their schedule? It has to be one of the softest non-conference schedules in New England.

Drew
Ursinus/W&L
RPI
Framingham State
Southern Vermont
Springfield
Lehman
CCNY
Keene St.
Mitchell
Souhtern Vermont/Nichols
Lasell


Hey. At least they have a shot at playing So. Vermont twice. That's something.
Williams will go 20-4 regular season (finish 3rd in nescac). Lose in NESCAC semis or finals. Host the opening round of NCAAs and get upset in Round of 32 or smoked in sweet 16.