MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

The third guy is Andrew Brown, he is a top player in the Patriot League.  Pretty insane high school squad. 

Agreed on Reilly -- once he starts bringing more talent in (and it sounds like he is off to a good start with one top recruit already in the fold), Wesleyan should end its bottom feeding days, and the little 3 could finally be a legit 3-way rivalry. 

I'd still love to see a video, but these photos of the game-winning shot show just how incredibly tough it was.  Wow (see the last photos in this sequence):

http://stevemclaughlinphotography.com/20090106-wes-mbb/index.html

[ephoops]

The third guy is Andrew Brown, he is a top player in the Patriot League.  Pretty insane high school squad. 

Agreed on Reilly -- once he starts bringing more talent in (and it sounds like he is off to a good start with one top recruit already in the fold), Wesleyan should end its bottom feeding days, and the little 3 could finally be a legit 3-way rivalry. 

I'd still love to see a video, but these photos of the game-winning shot show just how incredibly tough it was.  Wow (see the last photos in this sequence):

http://stevemclaughlinphotography.com/20090106-wes-mbb/index.html

Thanks for the link...It was a really tough shot...looks like he took it right next to the sideline.

The last photo of Reilly getting hugged by one of his players is fabulous...it depicts what D3 hoops is all about.

[ephoops]

Anyone have a link to a video of Kaminer's shot?  Sounds incredible.  It would be great to get it up on youtube.  If only to torment Walzy ...

Senator, before you get tooo carried away by one loss (even a bad one), I will remind you that you were pretty down on last year's team as well, and they only made the national title game.  That being said, no way last year's team would have lost to Wesleyan.  The good news for the 'Hurst is that the rest of NESCAC is so bad this year, Amherst still has as good a shot as anyone at the conference title.  Williams does have its big three, but no one else on the team is close to averaging even 10 a game -- they really need a bit more balance / production from the supporting cast in conference play.  Dodson and Rubin both have the potential to ignite for more offense but Dodson has been so banged up and Rubin hasn't received consistent P.T.  Midd has the most talent but they still have to prove they can win the big game with a bullseye on their back.  Everyone else has lost at least one game, often more,  to someone pretty terrible. 

I think the EPHS are close to putting it together.  It would have been nice for Joe G to get a few more games under his belt before the Amherst game.  Nonetheless, the game on Saturday will be close, although I believe there's more of a liklihood of Amherst winning by a double-digit margin than Williams winning by double digits.

It would be interesting to see this team if this was Maker's second year coaching rather than his first.  Learning a new system is difficult for the players and establishing a definitive role for each player is difficult for a coach.  I believe that the players have done a good (but not great) job in picking up Maker's system.  I believe that Maker is struggling just a bit in finding the right combinations and rotations for this roster.

[ephoops]

NESCAC1:

I heard that Maker's recruiting a PG from the Midwest, although I don't know if the kid applied early and if he did, was he accepted??

Have you heard anything?

It's a bit surprising that given the importance of early decision with tipped athletes that there's been no news on any recruits.

[ephoops]

some credit is due to joe reilly.  he obviously got his team to play hard and believe they had a chance to win against an undefeated team they hadn't beaten in 8 years.  a definite change is happening at wes. hopefully sooner than later.

Wes has good academics, a very nice new facility for hoops and a coach who has proven his ability to take a doormat program (Bates) and make it competitive in NESCAC.  All very attractive to student athletes at the D3 level.

I believe that Reilly will have Wes in the top half of NESCAC within three years.

It will be nice to see a really competitive Little Three in the coming years.

[nescac1]

Yeah, if Reilly can recruit to Bates (a lot fewer talented prospects in Maine than in CT/MA, and Wesleyan can also draw on NYC / NJ), he'll certainly be able to bring in talent at Wesleyan. 

I haven't heard of any E.D. acceptances for the Ephs.  I guess we'll have to wait until April ...

[CCsalive]

I was thrilled to see Amherst lose. I am happy for Reilly. I despise the Little Three. Talk about antiquated and pointless. The Amherst guys are more pumped for practice than for Wesleyan. Alas, "That's why they play the game."

You bricklayers might recall that I'm a Hamilton grad turned Camel supporter. Last night I traveled to New London for the battle of the blue jerseys. After years of Hamilton hype and Camel struggle, I was proud of Conn's thrashing of the Continentals. The score was 29-4 with 9:15 in the first half. CC started 7-7 for three. The word precision comes to mind. Not only was the frosh bigman, Porter, the NESCAC player of the week after making all-tourney at the W&L Tournament, but after seeing Bernier go 9-11 from the floor and 6-8 from three, I believe he is an all-nescac lock as a junior.
Billy Karis and Ulises Veras make a very experienced senior tandem. Sophomore Dean Lampe is a rising star. The Camels are playing with a full deck. They will struggle against the overall size in NESCAC, but I believe they are a top-half team.
Look for more Camel chatter from me throughout the season. And, again, blow-up the idea of the Little Three and let's play a home and home league schedule for God's sakes. Also, I no longer care if Hamilton becomes NESCAC. They are terrible.

[walzy31]

Also, with regards to their pregame exercise: 1) Is this really worth criticizing?, 2) you obviously need to go to more games because there are teams that do this (I know for certain WPI has done it in the past and i believe I remember at least 1 other NEWMAC school doing this at one point over the last couple of years), albeit it may not be that common, 3) even if the whole team does not practice dribbling, when I was playing at CMU, for example, we always had a block of time when the big men would warm up working on post moves at the basket and the guards would be near half court doing 1 on 1 dribble moves back and forth (and I dont remember anyyone ever criticizing the drill or making a big deal about it), and 4) you are going to have to dribble in the game, why is it so shocking and egregious that someone would do dribble moves in warms ups, its not like Caltech pulled up a chess board and then went at it for the full 20 minutes of warm ups and then transitioned directly into the tip, this seems to me like a legitimate drill, regardless of how basic you may think it is. In reality, this drill likely gets you more "warmed up" than layup lines, where you stand in line and take a shot every 30 seconds to 1 minute.

I agree that 1 on 1 dribble moves back and forth is common and other teams did it. I have never seen it where two players, each dribbling their own ball, dribble head on at each other and then crossover dribble in a prespecified direction. Unless they are planning to change rules in addition to the extension of the 3pt line and allow two balls on the court at once, then I think it is silly. It's not egregious...it's elementary and foolish.

Good call on the Classic having UMD not Whittier.

Anyone have a link to a video of Kaminer's shot?  Sounds incredible.  It would be great to get it up on youtube.  If only to torment Walzy ...

I want to see it too. And yes, it would torment me...although this was only the 10th game of the season and I am pretty sure Amherst is going to put together a nice little NCAA run yet.

I like Kaminer's fist pump after he hit it. "Yeah I knew I was hittin' that the whole way."

[wildwest]

Jimmy Bartolotta and Kevin Snyder (Williams) were HS teammates.  They won the HS state championship in Colorado.  I believe another HS teammate of theirs is playing D1 (not sure who/where).

Bartolotta, Brown, and Snyder were teammates starting in the 6th grade and remain best friends to this day.  They were tri-captains of the HS state championship team and they are each captains of their respective college teams.  Their HS team had no size (no one over 6' 4") but they were very skilled and played extremely well together.  They went 21-2 as juniors (lost in state semifinals) and 27-1 as seniors (only loss was in a tournament in Texas).  A fourth starter from that team, Brian Tracey, is doing very well playing for Bentley College, a top D2 program.  When Heritage won the state championship in 2005, the team they beat in the championship game was ThunderRidge.  That team was led by Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga), Tyler Nading (Washington U.), and Mike Evans (Slippery Rock and the son of former NBA player Mike Evans).  Heritage actually beat ThunderRidge 3 times that season because they were in the same league.  All games were extremely close.

[Hugenerd]

Jimmy Bartolotta and Kevin Snyder (Williams) were HS teammates.  They won the HS state championship in Colorado.  I believe another HS teammate of theirs is playing D1 (not sure who/where).

Bartolotta, Brown, and Snyder were teammates starting in the 6th grade and remain best friends to this day.  They were tri-captains of the HS state championship team and they are each captains of their respective college teams.  Their HS team had no size (no one over 6' 4") but they were very skilled and played extremely well together.  They went 21-2 as juniors (lost in state semifinals) and 27-1 as seniors (only loss was in a tournament in Texas).  A fourth starter from that team, Brian Tracey, is doing very well playing for Bentley College, a top D2 program.  When Heritage won the state championship in 2005, the team they beat in the championship game was ThunderRidge.  That team was led by Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga), Tyler Nading (Washington U.), and Mike Evans (Slippery Rock and the son of former NBA player Mike Evans).  Heritage actually beat ThunderRidge 3 times that season because they were in the same league.  All games were extremely close.

Yeah, Jimmy is a great player and has gotten better every year that he has been in college.  He really loves basketball which is not something you see all the time at MIT (MIT's top 5 big men who are all still at MIT are not playing basketball on the squad this year, which is really disappointing).  He is also a very bright kid and the fact that he would consider transferring from the the top technical school and a top 5 undergrad business school in the country, if not world, (he double majors in physics and business administration), shows how much he truly loves the game and wants to play on the national level (this is no knock on Williams, it is a great school but the fields that it excels in are more in the liberal arts).  I am hoping that MIT can win the NEWMAC this year so that this great group of seniors can leave on a positive note and Jimmy can show what he can do on a national stage.

[nescac1]

Ask and ye / we shall receive:


http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/mbasketball/LastSecondShot.mov

(I can't see on this computer alas). 

[gordonmann]

Very nice.

I linked it off the front page.

[fpc85]

Ask and ye / we shall receive:


http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/mbasketball/LastSecondShot.mov

(I can't see on this computer alas). 

What a great shot! Amherst seems to lose at least one game during this time of the year and seem to bounce back...Hopefully this year will be more of the same for this team.

[BankShotCharlie]

Ask and ye / we shall receive:


http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/mbasketball/LastSecondShot.mov

(I can't see on this computer alas). 

What a great shot! Amherst seems to lose at least one game during this time of the year and seem to bounce back...Hopefully this year will be more of the same for this team.

If anyone was wondering what a bankshot charlie is...

(bank-shot-char-lee) - One who has no purpose being on a Basketball court because of their lack in size, strength, speed, and skill, yet somehow gets by with a few fundamentals and a whole lot of luck.  (See http://www.wesleyan.edu/athletics/mbasketball/LastSecondShot.mov)

[NY Hoopster]

NESCAC 1;

I'm catching up on the board in anticipation of the weekend's games, and saw your post of Jan. 4, that says that Colby is reliant on just a few key guys. They actually have a very solid four in Russell, Choice, Cutrone and Sherman, and the scoring has been spread around pretty evenly among those players. Each player has had at least one 20 pt  game so far. What may make the big difference between a mediocre season and a good season is how fast freshman Kyle Donovan develops. He is a good rebounder, great shot blocker, and can score in the paint.
Colby is also very solid off the bench in the guard position, with Mac Simpson and Christian Van Loenen available. Colby needs to play significantly better defense than last year, however, to win games against the top tier teams in the league.