MBB: NESCAC

[Pat Coleman]

We were hoping to get video together for this game but it doesn't look like tech is working with us today. Audio only from Amherst-Stevenson:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/division-iii-basketball-amherst-at-stevenson

[nescac1]

I am a bit surprised that the middle-tier NESCAC schools have been struggling a bit of late, I figured Colby, Trinity, Bates, Bowdoin all had a shot to make some noise this year ... it seems more likely now that it will be a three team race between Williams, Amherst, and Midd.

Speaking of Williams, I realize that his system is a four out -- one in type of deal, but I'd love to see Maker try going with two physical big guys together on the court at times.  The Ephs have plenty of firepower on offense, but RMC's Danny Jones took advantage of his bulk inside, and I imagine it won't be the last time.  Defense and rebounding is where the Ephs have room to improve.  The Ephs could be really intimidating defensively if they played two out of Geoghegan, Emerson, Cates, and Whittington together at times.  Other than Emerson, none of those guys are outside shooters, but the Ephs really have plenty of guys with shoot-first mentalities, and I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if Maker goes to a two-big-guy line-up to mix it up at times.  It would also allow more PT for Whittington and Geoghegan, who are two of the most effective guys on the roster, but each are receiving limited minutes since they have to share the five.  Will be interesting to see how the Ephs' rebound from the RMC heartbreak.  A few easy games this weekend to get ready for the big match-up against Amherst ...   

[Old Guy]

Middlebury beats Hamilton 62-47 at Midd - now the Continentals have to return to Clinton tonight in a blizzard (9-14 inches of snow here by tomorrow noon). Long bus ride - glad I'm not driving.

Very misleading score. Game was tied at the half 27-27. Tough defense. Ragged play. Hamilton had a five point lead, 38-33, eight minutes into the second half. With three minutes left in the game, and Middlebury up by eight, Hamilton's best player, Jay Simpson, missed a breakaway, wide open lay-up - and the Panthers came back and hit a three (Wolfin) for a lead of eleven - game over.

Hamilton is big (three 6'7"s and a 6'8" frosh - Ken Click who plays a lot) and quick in the backcourt, and deep. They pressed fullcourt the whole game. The game was very physical. They gave us fits in the first half. This was a real game until the missed  layup.

Edwards only scored five points but had a fine game, played 38 minutes. He's the glue. Sharry and Thompson had teriffic sercond halfs. Thompson hit some big shots, in traffic. Wolfin too made important baskets (though had six TOs). He's ice water - makes a bad pass, hits a three. Sharry's line: 13 points, 11 boards, 6 blocks.

Hamilton shot 26% for the game. It may be that they're not very good (they're 4-4 now and I'm not knowledgeable enough to evaluate those losses), but I'd be careful taking them lightly. This Middlebury team really plays defense. They had a group out there in the second half, playing a man defense - Sharry, Davis, Wholey, Thompson, and Edwards - that was a joy to watch if you like the game.

Plattsburgh next - then Colby-Sawyer. 

[nescac1]

Seems like Midd's offense may not be overwhelming but they have the potential to dominate teams with their D.  Not surprising with the best perimeter and interior defenders in the league in Edwards and Locke, plus tons of other physical, tall guys up front.  Not many teams in D-III can put three athletic guys 6'10, 6'8, and 6'6 out there.  Williams, on the other hand, seems to have the most explosive offense in the league but a far less imposing D than Middlebury.  Other than Whittington, no real defensive intimidators out there for the Ephs, and he's only on the court half the time.  Amherst is probably in the middle of both teams in both dimensions.  When Ephs / Midd play I'd imagine a high scoring game would favor the Ephs and a low scoring slug fest would favor Midd. 

Sha Brown has REALLY cooled off from his hot start and Wesleyan has been struggling as a result.  He is no longer a lock for ROY especially as Robertson has played more and more effectively for Williams and two impact frosh have continued high level play for Middlebury. 

Surprised to see Amherst struggle a bit with Stevenson.  Meehan has been playing a TON of minutes in close games.  I guess Hixon is not worried about him wearing down but you'd think he'd try to sneak a few more minutes for Carcieri / Noon; lots of pressure on Meehan as primary ball-handler as well as second leader scorer.  Trying to get him in early foul trouble may be the best strategy against Amherst ...

[amh63]

Made my way to the Stevenson/amherst game.  A live game is great to observe players, the flow of the game, and to pick up info from "insiders".  The interview with Hixon and Wheeler by D3hoops after the game was also interesting.  I think you can pick it up by hitting audio on the game on the Stevenson web site.
Waller is recovered from his injury in the Elms' game.  DJ Carcieri is injured again and was in street clothes.
The backup point guard is underway.  Noon plays only a few minutes so far but is coming along.  He came in when Meehan was taken out for a few minutes.  Noon's father stated that his son had the wires on his teeth removed recently.   Stevenson was pressing the entire floor when Noon entered.
The Amherst team did not shoot well the first half against the zone.  Kassila entered the game early and did not play well.  Holmes came in and was the difference in the second half.  Great game for him.  I believe that Hixon wants to develop his big men quickly so he can return to the offense he had when he had top centers.  The inside/out game and the transition game started to click in the second half for awhile when Stevenson players got tired.  Stevenson is not a very deep team.  They are a very physical team for their size however.  There were many times when Amherst got the rebound only to have the ball stripped. 
Waller's time was limited due to early fouls.  Of course, I will state that there were too many questionable fouls called by the striped men.  In one sequence, a Stevenson player was called for a block only after he threw his third body block.  To me and others, it became a game whenever there was a whistle ..to see what the call would be. 
All in all, Amherst has to shake off their "rust", and improve quickly.  They will face Wes on Wed. and follow up with Williams.  Amherst has great potential if Hixon can get his young players to play as a team night in and night out. 
It was fun and it will be an interesting season.  Happy New Year to all.

[walzy31]

I'll echo Amh63's sentiments and say it was good to see the guys live. However, Amherst is going to need to step it up a couple notches to beat Middlebury and Williams. Hopefully the game on Wednesday against Wesleyan gets them going again and they can step into Chandler and play with the undefeated (in region) Ephs. The atmosphere will be rocking there no matter what.

[Bucket]

I've been really impressed with the poise of the Middlebury freshman, especially Nolan Thompson. He's good off the dribble and can also knock down the open shot. Very quick, too, with quick hands on D. He has the potential to be every bit the lockdown defender that Tim Edwards is.

[nescac1]

Ephs continue to put up crazy offensive stats this weekend (now averaging over 91 points and shooting .52 / .44 / .77), but giving up 88 to Colby-Sawyer (who did beat Bowdoin, but doesn't seem like an offensive juggernaut overall) is cause for concern heading into the Amherst game.  Rubin continues his hot shooting of late, and Wang and Schultz both have their usual big games.  Good to see Schultz bounce back from an off couple of games by his high standards ... the Ephs can clearly score on pretty much anyone, but can they tighten up the defense in big spots against tougher opponents -- that remains to be seen.   

Ephs -- Colby Sawyer combine for 189 ... C-S plays Midd in three days, and the combined point total will probably barely top half that ... should be an interesting contrast ... 

[toad22]

Williams may or may not be a team that can play at the very top of D3, but boy are they entertaining! The game tonight against a good Colby-Sawyer squad was fun from start to finish. Williams got the better shot opportunities most times down court, but C-S hit everything. I'm sure that lax defense was somewhat to blame, but I'm not inclined to take too much away from C-S. They really shot it beautifully tonight. Williams did the same. It was a lot of fun, and a good game to have ahead of Amherst on Saturday. The Ephs had to focus for 40 minutes to come away with a win.

[nescac1]

Thanks for the insight, Toad.  Maker seemed to echo your thoughts in the game recap, giving a ton of credit to CSC's offensive performance while also noting that defense will need to improve. 

The good news for Saturday, Williams-Amherst will be webcast.  The bad news, from what I understand, is that it will be pay-per-view.  Athletic budgets are tight nowadays, alas ...

[nescac1]

Still three NESCAC squads in the top 11 ... that will change after this week with either Amherst or Williams picking up a second loss, although I can't imagine either dropping lower than 15 unless they get blown out ...

Reprinted from the front page 10 questions feature for those who missed it, see below.  [My two cents on this question -- I think the Ephs are so long as "prominence" is defined as at least two out of three of > 20 win season, an NCAA appearance, and/or an appearance in the NESCAC final.  Yes, the 07-08 team started fast as well, but there were lots of troubling warning signs, namely certain key players in prolonged shooting slumps and several close escapes against bad teams, and once things turned for the worse they kind of snowballed down the stretch ... this team has been taking care of business against the bad teams, playing far more efficient offensively, seems to have great team chemistry / morale, and showed that it could compete evenly with one of the top teams in the country]:

Northeast: Is Williams ready to return to prominence?

If you've only been following Division III basketball since 2005, you may wonder "what prominence?" The Ephs have been a respectable 83-46 the past five years, but are just five games over .500 in the NESCAC with one NCAA tournament appearance (1st round loss to Brockport State in 2008). But go back farther and Williams came within one shot of winning consecutive national championships. This years' team has started 10-1 with the lone loss at undefeated No. 4 Randolph-Macon 79-74. In that game the Ephs had a 16-point second half lead before the Yellow Jackets rallied. Williams' margin of victory has been impressive but just one of those wins come over a team with a winning record. The next big test comes in a visit from current No. 11 Amherst on January 9.

My two cents: The Ephs have started fast before. Let's see what they do in the NESCAC.

[Pat Coleman]

Not going to speak for Gordon, since it was his question, but I would bet that prominence means something more in March than in January and February.

[nescac1]

I'd consider last years' Wheaton (IL) and Middlebury teams to be prominent, even if their tourney runs were shorter than they hoped for (in Wheaton's case, of course, owing to a rough draw).  One bad day or one unlucky draw doesn't undermine a great year overall, necessarily. 

If, however, the only definition of prominence is making a Final Four, I'd say this team may have a shot at that, but a bit early to judge; still need to see how they come together for conference play and if level of defense can approximate the level of offensive prowess.  I don't think they are at the juggernaut level of 03-04, at least not yet, but I do think they'd be competitive with other Williams teams that have managed deep tourney runs and/or been in the running for NESCAC titles.   I'd certainly be pretty suprised if they fell apart and fell out of contention the way the team two years ago did after a great start; this is an almost entirely different team, with an entirely different coaching staff ...

[amh07]

The good news for Saturday, Williams-Amherst will be webcast.  The bad news, from what I understand, is that it will be pay-per-view.  Athletic budgets are tight nowadays, alas ...

Could you please tell me from where I can view that webcast?

[nescac1]

Nice win for Middlebury.  Now that they've handled some credible teams, I think it's fair to say they are for real.  I'd give them better than a 50-50 shot of remaining undefeated until at least the last six games of the schedule, when the sledding gets a bit tougher.  Until then, hard to imagine anyone really testing them. 

Williams-Amherst webcast info:

http://athletics.williams.edu/sports/General_News_Items/WATCH_-_HEAR_Ephs_vs._Amherst_in_5_events_Jan._8_-_9