MBB: NESCAC

[CCsalive]

Walzy,
Am I correct in reading that not only do you have CC beating Tufts, but you favor the Camels by 1.5? Couldn't you at least have us in an upset? We'd prefer the role of underdog, please.

Agent_Zero, you're stats are amusing if not logical. I've never seen Pierce play(except maybe as a frosh when Tufts had Ronny Turiaf), but if he's as good as people say then I am sure CC would be happy to see him take either 7 shots (not enough) or 24 shots (he ain't Kobe).

If CC can control the tempo. Pierce will take closer to 7 shots and the Camels will ride the Mountain of Stone to victory.

[daoustian]

Chris Rose has gone from carrying the team his sophomore year to being dead weight more often than not in his senior year. What is his shooting percentage since league play has started? I saw he was 2-7 tonight.

If you just count the league games (Amh, Trin, Col, Bow), which is a fairly small body of work, Rose is 11-44 (25% for those non NESCACers on the board) from the field over his past four games.  If you throw in the non-league games (Lasell, Hamilton), he bumps his field goal percentage up to 26.2% (16-61).  By comparison, Shalvoy is 47.3% from the field over those six games. 

I have no problem (quietly) rooting for Williams when they're not playing Amherst -- like you say, it keeps the quality wins high.  As long as the two teams meet down the road at some point to straighten things out, fine by me. 

[frank uible]

It seems to me that for the current season things do not require further straightening.

[fpc85]

wow, my karma is taking a dive....i have been nice lately and i am still taking hits. btw, what is karma?

[Agent_Zero]

CC, the logic seems pretty simple to me. Pierce takes more shots, Tufts usually wins. Pierce takes less shots, Tufts usually loses. Both amusing AND logical...

[JeffRookie2]

I'm worried a little about the Bowdoin game this Saturday. Jeffs are the better team, but if they get caught underestimating the polar bears hippert, fleigel, sargenson and co have shown they can do some damage.

[eclinchy]

I've never seen Pierce play(except maybe as a frosh when Tufts had Ronny Turiaf).

Stovell graduated in '05.  Pierce was in high school.

He also didn't attend Tufts as a freshman.

[formerbant10]

Give him some credit, he did say maybe.

Jeffrook,

Haven't seen Bowdoin play, but looking at their numbers they seem to control the ball well and get good shots.  Wouldn't be surprised if they grind out possessions till they get a great shot.  They also rebound the ball well.  But I don't know if they have faced a team the size of Amherst or Trin.  That being said, I'd expect Bowdoin to give a good showing this weekend.  At least in one of the games.

[golflax99]

Look for Middlebury to pull off the upset this weekend against Williams. Although Harris is out, Aaron Smith has 46 points and 23 boards over his last two games. He is one of the hardest workers in the NESCAC, and how can you not like a big white guy with a fro?

[nescac33]

This BOW/COL vs. AMH/TRIN weekend is huge weekend, especially for the Bears, Bantams, and Lord Jeffs.  Currently bowdoin and trinity are tied for 2nd in the league at 3-1, with Amherst holding on to the top spot at 4-0.  On a side note, the last 3 conference games should be wins for these 3 teams with the toss up being the Amherst vs. Trinity game.  Bowdoin plays tufts, bates, and colby, all of them at home, all very winnable games for the bears.  Trin and amherst play CC and wesleyan which should be wins for them as well.  The bears only conference lost, to Middlebury was without their leading scorer Andrew Hippert, who made his return against CC and Wesleyan, playing and shooting well in both those games.  Trinity beat Middlebury, but lost to Williams, granted that was on the road.  These 3 teams are arguably the top 3 teams in the NESCAC this year and therefore could be the top 3 seeds, especially if Williams and Middlebury accumulate one more conference lost (currently they are both 2-2), which is very possible considering they do play each other and still have to go on the road to play Tufts and Bates.  It will be a very interesting weekend as I expect both these games (AMH vs. BOW and TRIN vs. BOW) to be close.

[fpc85]

Look for Middlebury to pull off the upset this weekend against Williams. Although Harris is out, Aaron Smith has 46 points and 23 boards over his last two games. He is one of the hardest workers in the NESCAC, and how can you not like a big white guy with a fro?

you mean like the kid on room 222? who remembers him?

[walzy31]

I expect both these games (AMH vs. BOW and TRIN vs. BOW) to be close.

FINAL LINES
Friday
Away        Line           Home         Score                    (Total)
Colby         +17.5       Amherst      Amh 82 - Col 64        (146)
Wesleyan   +11.0       Bates          Bates 70 - Wes 59     (129)
Conn Coll   -1.5         Tufts           Conn 65 - Tufts 64    (129)
Bowdoin    +6.0         Trinity         Trin 66 - Bowdoin 60  (126)

Saturday
Wesleyan   +20.5       Tufts         Tufts 88 - Wes 68       (156)
Colby          +18.0      Trin           Trin 73 - Colby 55       (128)
Bowdoin     +9.5        Amh           Amh 74 - Bowdoin 65   (139)
Middlebury  +1.0        Williams      Williams 67 - Midd 66   (133)
Conn           +8.5       Bates         Bates 64 - Conn 56     (120)

[eclinchy]

These 3 teams are arguably the top 3 teams in the NESCAC this year and therefore could be the top 3 seeds, especially if Williams and Middlebury accumulate one more conference lost

You go to Bowdoin by any chance?

[NY Hoopster]

waltzy;

I think you have overdone it on the spreads this coming weekend with respect to the Colby games, and that Colby may be the X factor down the stretch if teams take them for granted.

They have already played Middlebury and Williams, and lost by 5 and 6 respectively in games that were truly tight-they led Williams at halftime, and were within 3 with 35 seconds left. They lost to Bates and Bowdoin preseason by 2 and 3 respectively. These were all 1-2 possession losses.

Perhaps more significantly, Colby was supposed to get killed by he quality big guys in the league because of their lack of size. That hasn't happened; Stone had 14, Geohegan had 19, and Smith had 15. On the guard end of things defensively, Shalvoy had 9 against them the day after a 30 point performance, and Rudin had 8. My point is that Colby is playing quality basketball, that allows them to win on any given night, although they have come up short (3.8 on average, to be precise) so far, except with respect to Wesleyan.

On the offensive end, each of their starting guards has scored more than 15 points in conference games so far, and Adam Choice has been scoring above that, on average, per game. Their worst loss was to Conn (11pts), which played some monster D on them, with a lot of help from the refs, and then throw in some great foul shooting by Conn, and some uncharacteristic poor shooting from the field by Colby. If Colby plays that poorly again against Amherst or Trinity, then your spreads are probably ballpark. If they hit on all cylinders, then there could be a nasty surprise in store for some teams, if not this weekend, then down the stretch.

Nescac1- I wish I could have put this Colby stuff up sooner to save you from that Spanish language lesson that was going on yesterday.

[walzy31]

NY Hoopster,

Those are all great points. Worth one or two points off each line (17.5 and 15.0).

Maaaaybe Colby will play Amherst/Trinity close, but the line is fair considering Colby plays their two games against the defending national champion, at their gym, followed by the other NESCAC team that got an at large birth to the NCAAs last year, at their gym. They have not beaten either one of those schools since 2000-2001 season when the beat Trinity in Maine. It obviously goes back in further to find the last time they won on this road trip

Colby also has lost four of their last five, and eight of their last twelve.