MBB: NESCAC

Red1 · January 30, 2006, 09:06:01 PM

Bates cruised to an 83-43 victory over Main Presque-Isle. Bates looked horrible at the beginning falling behind 15-10 at one point before deciding to actually play basketball. Then the bobcats went on a 39-8 run for the rest of the half. The third stringers played for the majority of the second half and looked pretty good as they outplayed the Owls 34-20. The Bobcats will play Plymouth St. on Thursday in their final regular season home game of the year.

Cheers,
Red1

formerbant10 · January 30, 2006, 10:48:03 PM

Congrats to the Bants for cracking the Top 25, it looks like they are really starting to play some good ball.

Also, congrats to Pat Martin on Player of the Week.

I saw the Colby game, the mules looked tired after about 5 minutes in. Cohen and Farrell have to do pretty much everything for the team, I'm amazed they did so well the next day against Amherst. The Bants just had too many weapons for them and their D on Cohen was great. Mike Hoar did a great job keeping him from making the moves he wanted to and forcing out of his comfort zone. Hoar played a great game, much better than a box score would show.

And personally I thought Bates should've gotten a little more love from the voters. They have been as hot as any team in the country.

senatorfrost · January 31, 2006, 12:18:42 AM

In the first half, Amherst was asleep AND they had a couple of shots (maybe 3-5) go in and out. The second half was another story. I did get to see the 'Leaning Tower of Waterville' though. When he's not leaning, he's a pretty good shot blocker.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · January 31, 2006, 09:06:02 AM

Quote from: formerbant10 on January 30, 2006, 07:19:35 PM
Seeing as though the NE usually gets more Pool C's than the other regions, due to the fact there are more teams in this particular region,

Actually, they don't take into consideration how many teams are in the region when they give out the Pool C bids. The reason the NE tends to get more is because of how many bad teams there are who build up good records by playing even worse teams.

They select Pool C bids nationally, by regional criteria. Which, in english means they pick the teams who have separated themselves the most from their respective regions. Basically, each regional committee does a final (secret) rankings. The number one team in each region not already selected for Pools A or B are judged together. So the national committee is looking at eight teams. When they select one, the next highest ranked team not in Pool A or B from that region takes their place. So the committee is still looking at eight teams. They will continue in that manner until they get 18 teams. Technially they can choose all of them from one region if the numbers work out right.

The NE lucks out because teams like Norwich and Emmanuel can get fantastic records and then Keene and Gordon, etc can beat them and improve their own QOWI numbers and then in turn get beaten by Amherst and Bates and Trinity, which improves their numbers. We just have so many bad teams to beat up on.

rufus · January 31, 2006, 10:40:29 AM

Hoops Fan - you are a guru.

Formerbant - Thanks, the 'cats are hot right now (15 straight)and I was disappointed, but I understand. Bates is a newcomer to this aspect of basketball, and so I suspect it will take some time to convince voters that the Bobcats are for real. But we are up to 8 votes (from 3 last week). With Plymouth State and Tufts on the schedule this week, if the 'cats can pull both of these games off, maybe they will show up in the top 25, or at least garner more votes. Either way, the team is still focused on "the next game" and finding a way to win, rather than national rankings. As we all know, this will all be decided in the next 2 weeks.

rufus · January 31, 2006, 12:17:21 PM

Quote from: Hoops Fan on January 30, 2006, 02:12:57 PM

It's going to be interesting. I think Amherst, Bates, Trinity, Tufts and Williams are all still alive for a tourney spot, but some of them will have harder roads than others. Tufts and Williams may both have to win out for a shot and Tufts and Bates both have tough scheds down the stretch. Then there is the conference tournament on top of that. Its hard to predict, but there should certainly be a decent number of teams in the mix.

Hoops Fan - I think a Bates or Tufts fan could turn this comment around, and say that all of those teams have a tough schedule coming up, since Tufts and Bates are travel partners next weekend to Trinity and Amherst. Of course home advantage goes to Tufts, Trinity and Amherst.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · January 31, 2006, 12:21:25 PM

I based that post simply on record. If anything, it should offend the Middlebury fans because I considered them less of an opponent than the others. Tough schedules to me are those without rests. If you have to be at 100% in every game to win, that's a tough schedule. Even one game where you only have to be 90% can be a big deal when the pressure is on.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · January 31, 2006, 05:16:09 PM

Amherst has Brandeis tonight; that one might be fun to watch.

deiscanton · January 31, 2006, 07:42:23 PM

Halftime from Auerbach Arena

#10 Amherst 47, Brandeis 44

deiscanton · January 31, 2006, 07:48:06 PM

At the half...

Leading scorers for Amherst

John Bedford-- 12 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts
Andrew Olson-- 11 pts, 4 assists

Leading scorers for Brandeis

Steve DeLuca-- 15 pts, 3 rebs
Joe Coppens-- 13 pts, 4 rebs
Rocco Toppi-- 7 pts.

Kwame Graves-Fulgham only had 1 assist in the first half for Brandeis and scored 3 pts.

Amherst shot 17-30 for the half (56.7%), 6-13 from 3 pt. range. (46.2%), and 7-12 from the FT line.

Brandeis shot 15-31 for the half (48.4%), 4-6 from 3 pt. range, and 10-11 from the FT line.

Amherst had 13 assists and 4 turnovers-- Brandeis had 6 assists and 7 turnovers.

deiscanton · January 31, 2006, 08:40:50 PM

Final score from Auerbach Arena

#10 Amherst 82, Brandeis 69

Sticks11 · January 31, 2006, 09:25:04 PM

Quote from: senatorfrost on January 31, 2006, 12:18:42 AM
In the first half, Amherst was asleep AND they had a couple of shots (maybe 3-5) go in and out. The second half was another story. I did get to see the 'Leaning Tower of Waterville' though. When he's not leaning, he's a pretty good shot blocker.

What is this "Leaning Tower of Waterville" stuff you speak of? And I think he's a little more than "a pretty good shot blocker", I would say he's a GREAT shotblocker considering he is averaging almost 5 a game and leading the country in that category. By the way, he's got a pretty good offensive game too, even stroking two 3's in that game

deiscanton · February 01, 2006, 07:50:00 AM

About last night's Amherst v. Brandeis game...

In the second half, both teams stepped up on defense-- however, even though both teams played well, Amherst played the better game and deserved the victory.

Amherst shot 30-60 from the field for the game (50%), and 10 of 29 from 3 pt. land (34.5%). Brandeis shot 25 of 57 from the field (43.9%), and 4 of 14 from 3 pt. land (28.6%)-- 0 of 8 from 3 pt. land in the second half.

Amherst made 12 of 18 from the charity stripe. Brandeis made 15 of 18 from the FT line.

Amherst outrebounded Brandeis, 37-31 for the game, had 18 assists, and only turned the ball over 8 times for the game. Brandeis had 8 assists and 12 turnovers for the game.

Leading shot blocker for the game.-- For Amherst, Dan Wheeler blocked 3 shots. Amherst blocked 5 shots in total to Brandeis's 1 (Stephen Hill blocked a shot.)

Leading scorer for Amherst-- John Bedford-- 22 pts., 9 rebs., 6 assists. He was followed by Andrew Olson iwith 21 pts., 3 rebs., and 5 assists.

Steve DeLuca of Brandeis led all scorers with 25 pts. and 5 rebounds, followed by Joe Coppens with 19 pts. and 8 rebounds.

Amherst proved tonight why the Lord Jeffs are capable of making another deep run in the NCAA DIII tournament. They may or may not get to Salem, VA, but they will be a tough out. I will be very interested to see how other UAA teams fare against Amherst if those teams meet up in the NCAA tournament.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · February 01, 2006, 09:00:33 AM

Thanks for all the info; good win for Amherst and a good showing for Brandeis. It's nice to have a UAA team to play as a means of comparison to some schools out in the midwest.

formerbant10 · February 01, 2006, 02:19:35 PM

Sticks, I completely agree with your opinion of Cohen. He is more than just a pretty good shot blocker. That'd be like saying Rhoten is a pretty good scorer. If you're leading the entire Division III in a stat, that means you're the best at it and should warrant more than a pretty good. I'm surprised he hit a couple of 3's, but we do call him "Treyball" so it's about time he lived up to his name.

Good win for Amherst, Brandeis has been playing very well this year. I'd watch out for them the next few years, a lot of quality young players on that team with a very good coaching staff.

I don't want to jinx anything, but there is a very very distinct chance that the conference could end up in a 3 way tie for first with Amherst, Bates and Trinity all with 1 loss (I hope this doesn't happen). And if Bates beats Trinity and loses to Amherst, they'd all be 1-1 with each other. So what the hell would the tiebreaker be, and don't tell me a coin flip.