MBB: NESCAC

nescac1 · January 31, 2009, 09:14:51 AM

I watched a little bit of the Amherst video. Barrisse, Holmes, and Waller are going to be the core of the Amherst team for the next four years -- all three look talented -- tall, athletic (especially Waller), and can shoot. Considering that Amherst has only two scorers in the soph / junior classes combined, those guys should all easily wind up as 1000 point scorers if they stay healthy ...

Anyone know the story on Mendell at Wesleyan? He is putting up ridiculous numbers for a frosh. Did other schools just miss on him? Must have been hard to get a top recruit to Wesleyan given they had a bad team with an interim coach ... in any event, forget Porter, Mendell is a lock for frosh of the year if he continues at this rate. too bad for Wesleyan that Kaminer went down, they might have stolen a few of these close games with him. They have a nice core with Kaminer, Maltz, and Mendell all returning, and Reilly is sure to bring in a strong recruiting class in his first year back in CT ... it will be nice for the Little Three to turn into a true rivalry again ...

CCsalive · January 31, 2009, 12:56:28 PM

forget the little three. Let's hope conn can beat tufts to create some competition for the #8 seed. Of course, if the Camels can't win a Friday night home game when the desperately need a win, why would they beat Tufts or Wes? I will say this. Conn's motion Offense requires defensive discipline. Let's hope tufts has none.

For the record, how do teams view the trip to New London? Do visiting teams find it depressing? They don't seem to play uninspired, but the gym and crowd are a huge snoozefest. These are hard times for a camel fan. We'd love to have Charles Stone right now.

nescac1 · January 31, 2009, 02:57:16 PM

Ughhh, Ephs down by 11 in second half. Game was even until Geoghegan left mid-way through first half, and he has not returned. Guessing he is hurt again, hopefully not too badly. Will the Ephs EVER catch a break?

nescac1 · January 31, 2009, 03:36:12 PM

Gutty comeback from the Ephs, getting as close to four after being down 15 at the half ... but it looks like the deficit will be too much to overcome. Rubin for some reason only plays 10 minutes despite making both of his shot attempts ... hopefully Joe G. is not badly injured ...

eclinchy · January 31, 2009, 04:33:43 PM

With 3 minutes left in each game:

Colby 66, Amherst 57
Conn 70, Tufts 57

...and Middlebury already polished off Williams earlier today. Looks like the race for #1 just got a lot clearer, and the race for #8 has become even more of a mess. Interesting day.

Old Guy · January 31, 2009, 04:48:09 PM

Midd 67-62. Appears that Geoghegan is badly injured. He went down in great pain, couldn't put any weight on his left leg, never came back, presumably was taken to the hospital for x-rays. I couldn't tell if it was an ankle or a knee.

Close for the first 12-15 minutes of the first half (22-20), then Midd exploded for a 15 pt lead at the half. Williams quickly got it under ten and hung around. 4 point game with three minutes to go. Huge foul differential in the 2nd half - Williams was in the bonus with 12 minutes left - and they shot fouls well. This had a bad feel for Panther fans with a couple minutes left, but we hung on. Well played game: Middlebury had 8 turnovers; Williams 10. Tough, tough defensively: everything earned. Ephs definitely missed Geoghegan. Dodson is impressive - so tall and fluid, great stroke. Schultz (21 pts) was very good, played nearly the whole game. Snyder too. Williams played terrific defense in the second half. Double team in the post in the second half really disrupted the Panther offense. I was let to believe that the 1 spot was weak, but Rubin and Hardy looked like they belonged out there, played confidently. Smith (14 pts) continues to come back, even made two clutch free throws with a minute left (though one was of the glass - they counted it anyway). Rudin (7-17) very solid; Edwards too. Locke had four blocks in the first five minutes.

Two good teams playing hard. Good game.

lefrakenstein · January 31, 2009, 05:28:01 PM

Man, that is a really bad loss for Amherst. They are going to need to be great the rest of the way if they plan on making the NCAAs. Definitely need to win all three games next week.

nescac1 · January 31, 2009, 06:24:13 PM

I wouldn't call at Colby, on the back end of a Maine trip, a "bad" loss; that is a game pretty much anyone in the country could lose. Still, Amherst has a tough road ahead with three more road games coming up, and then a the very tough home weekend against Middlebury and Williams. Any more than one loss in that stretch and they may need to do very well in NESCAC tourney to make the dance. IN fact, the way things are going, Midd may be the only team (if they don't win the conference) who is Pool C material from NESCAC.

Thanks for the break-down, Old Guy. Man, just a rough year for Joe G. -- first knee surgery pre-season which kept him out all pre season, then just as he is finding his groove he breaks his arm, and now this. He easily would have been the dominant big guy in the conference were he healthy this year, hopefully it was just an ankle sprain and he can play again this season, and if not, he can come back strong and fully healthy for a big senior season. The Ephs' big guys just can not stay healthy this year -- Whittington missed a few games and most of pre-season with various ailments, and Dodson has been banged up all year. Still, they showed a lot of guts not folding down 15 on the road against what is clearly now the best team in the conference -- but the difference in the game, based on the stats, was that the Ephs just couldn't compete on the boards w/out big Joe.

Outside of the top four, things continue to be hard to figure. seems like anyone can beat anyone on any given night ...

toad22 · January 31, 2009, 06:27:08 PM

The rumor on the Williams side is that Geohegan either broke his ankle or has a severe sprain. After he went down in the first half, Williams went into shock till the half. To their credit, the played reasonably well in the 2nd half, but never shot it well enough to win the game. Midd was too tough on the boards for us, and shot it surprisingly well. They appear to me to be a little better than Amherst, but not by much.

toad22 · January 31, 2009, 06:34:09 PM

I forgot to mention that Maker's offense has made a huge difference in the number of foul shots taken vs last year. This year Williams has made more foul shots than their opponents have taken. That has never been the case, at least in the recent past.

eclinchy · January 31, 2009, 06:53:07 PM

Speaking of foul shots...

Artie Cutrone made 19 of them today, out of 24 attempts, in Colby's win over Amherst.

From what I've seen of him, he's not much of a drive-to-the-basket scorer... anyone at today's game have any idea how this happened? His production was a huge part of Colby winning its biggest game of the year... love to hear some insights on this.

JustAFan · January 31, 2009, 08:38:21 PM

Another curious boxscore for Williams. Geoghegan goes down 10 minutes into the game and his minutes get split among Whittingham, Hardy and Timmons-Schiffman. Whittingham has 7 rebounds when he's in there but only plays 14 minutes in a game Middlebury won on the boards. Rubin hits both of the only shots he takes and only plays 11 minutes. I didn't see today's game, but I'd be curious why these 2 guys aren't getting more playing time.

Old Guy · January 31, 2009, 09:20:48 PM

A couple of further impressions, based on one game: Whittingham seemed overmatched today; Timmons-Schiffman was more active and effective at the 5 (even though he had no rebounds). Williams doesn't seem to need a true point guard in this offense: Schultz and Snyder handle the ball well (and Dodson too). Kearney seems a pretty versatile player. I was impressed with the way Williams runs their offense: they always cut hard off their picks, very crisp. Keep in mind, Middlebury is very good defensively. With Geoghegan, this is a very good club; without him, it's still good. Middlebury could not have played a better half than they did in the first half.

I don't know enough to comment on the coaching, but Maker's courtside manner is easy to respect. He's in charge, spends most of the game standing, but is hardly a manic presence on the sidelines. Talks to the refs, but doesn't berate them. His players certainly seem to respond to his direction.

With students on break, still a nice crowd at Middlebury. Gym was two-thirds full, animated but not obnoxious.

CCsalive · January 31, 2009, 10:17:30 PM

Go Camels baby. Tufts' defense was just what Conn needed! The Camels haven't scored that many points since the Final Four team of the late 90's. Conn needed Bates to beat Wes, but now next week's Conn/Wes matchup all the more critical for me and the Camel nation.

Rick Vaughn · January 31, 2009, 10:48:09 PM

To go further into the Williams-Midd matchup...First time seeing the Ephs live this year, but I was impressed by Maker. His demeanor on the sideline is completely different than Paulsen.

Rubin did not see more minutes despite shooting well because his decision making on both ends of the floor was shaky. Whittington is the most impressive rebounder I have seen in the NESCAC and made a nice move late that would have cut the lead to 5, but the ball would not go in.

What I would have liked to see more of Williams posting up in the 2nd half, even without Geoghegan. Locke is tough in the paint, but Whittington is a good enough athlete to attack him. This made Williams even more perimeter oriented, but Schultz bailed them out and knocked down some tough shots.

Good stuff from both teams. Midd is for very good and Rudin has to be the favorite for POY.