MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

My vote for consideration for Midd representative to all-conference teams (1st or 2nd) is Tim Edwards. Middlebury has extraordinary balance. Who determines post-season honors - coaches? They'll like Edwards too. Lots of basketball left before these honors are decided.

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cI3RsGRu4g

[walzy31]

My vote for consideration for Midd representative to all-conference teams (1st or 2nd) is Tim Edwards. Middlebury has extraordinary balance. Who determines post-season honors - coaches? They'll like Edwards too. Lots of basketball left before these honors are decided.

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cI3RsGRu4g

Love the dunk Old Guy. I think that is the best NESCAC dunk I have seen all year (Carcieri to Wheeler for an alley-oop being second). I am still slightly disappointed that there is no Crazy Team info in the post that immediately trailed my plea for help.

[nescac1]

That is an outstanding dunk.  Davis really impressed me against Williams.  He is strong, athletic, has some nice post moves, and fairly good touch as well.  He, Sharry, and Locke, with another year of experience and strength (and likely better health, as 2/3 had injury issues this year), will be VERY intimidating next year.

I wish there were Youtubes of some of Whittington's posterizing of opposing big men (loved his and-one over Kaasila), but alas ... it takes some work, but if you go to the 1/27 Williams men's basketball show on its website and fast forward to the Wesleyan highlights (a few minutes in) you can see two very nice Whittington dunks, one off a an alley-oop from Wang. 

I hesitate to even say it as I'll probably jinx it (but really, it can't continue much longer, anyway) ... Schultz is 12-12 from three over his last three games, all against solid NESCAC opponents.  Crazy. 

Speaking of crazy, look forward, like the rest of NESCAC, to the all-crazy announcements. 

[ac08]

I'm partial to the Williamson dunk from the beginning of the season http://www.youtube.com/user/AmherstBasketball#p/a/f/0/VjOU_FX6kLk

[Old Guy]

This Jamal Davis dunk on the break off the Wolfin feed was exciting, creative, and I liked it (as I said) even though my Old Guy sensibilities worried that the exuberant reaction would have an effect on concentration. Davis, at 6'4" or so, isn't really a dunker, but he was flying.

The best dunk I've seen this year was a Whittington slam against us, in our gym, when he got the ball at the wing, on the left on a clear out, and went right at our big guy with a dribble or two and slammed it. So quick. The Williams bench went wild. Our fans were respectfully silent. A dunk at home is great; a dunk on the road is great too - it quiets the home fans for a while.

Nice moment in the Colby game when Choice and Edwards went down in a heap at midcourt, helped each other up, patted each other on the back, and went back at it. Mutual respect.

Choice is so versatile. Here's my all-star team at this point, players I have actually seen play (I've seen all the Middlebury home games, Bates three times, Colby and Bowdoin twice, Williams and Tufts once):

G. Wang
G. Edwards
F. Choice
F. Schultz
C. Whittington

Honorable mention - Hanley, Ellis, Russell, Sharry. Pierce didn't have a very good game against us. Middlebury's balance works against them in this kind of game.

[Old Guy]

Upon further review, I would add Phillips (Bowdoin) to my second team. Very reliable.

Don't look now, but the Bobcats are playing well: 4-4 in the league with only Tufts left, a 9 point loss in our gym, and OT losses against Bowdoin and Colby (and a bludgeoning at Williams). Five game win streak. They play hard and the frosh point guard (Brust) seems to get better every game. They could create some havoc in the tourney.

[muletrain]

Hard to believe that Colby is the third best team in the NESCAC - their offensive sets v. MIDD consisted of three sometimes four guys literally standing around the perimeter  

If a person only saw last weekend I dont think anyone would say Colby was a top three team. Over the season, however, their body of work speaks for itself. They have beaten every team below them in league play and, despite this terrible weekend are the leagues best hope for a third NCAA bid.

Tonight the Mules escaped with a 2 point win over Thomas College. Thomas is really scrappy and have already beaten Bowdoin, Bates, and Tufts. Colby looked really stagnant on offense in the first half but Choice and Russell took over in the second (each had 27). If the mules take care of business this weekend I would imagine all they would need is to win the quarterfinal. Obviously the quarterfinal game is a big if, but this team, despite their offensive woes, is really good in the clutch.

In respect to Russell in the all league discussion, the only reason he would not be on the first team is because the league didn't want two Colby players. Statistically he is the best post player other than maybe Pierce. Also, if Colby lost Russell they would be in much worse shape than if Midd lost Sharry or Williams lost Wittington.

[magicman]

Looks like Brandeis handled Amherst rather easily tonight, 71-55. Amherst hits a triple by Wheeler 6 seconds into the game for the only lead the Lord Jeffs would enjoy. Judges up by 10 with 7:00 mins. left in the 1st half and coast into the break up 35-28. A 13-2 run to open the 2nd half and Brandeis extends the lead to 19. Amherst closed to within 9 at the 6:40 mark but Brandeis quickly builds it back to 15, and extends lead to 20. Amherst, with 2 guys in double figures, Wheeler, and Williamson with 14 each. Judges place 4 players in double figures, led be Hollins with 21 pts and 11 rebounds. Kenny Small has 16 pts, followed by Hughes and Roberson with 11 each.

[nescac1]

Can't recall Amherst ever having a stretch like this ... Meehan is obviously critical to that team, but even still, something more must be going on there.  On the bright side for Jeff fans, seems like their frosh group continues to perform well, especially Williamson of late, so they should turn things around at some point.  I still wouldn't want to face them in NESCAC's, especially if Meehan is back. 

As for Russell, again, I'd put him on the second team, but he is clearly the second option on that team, as opposed to Pierce who seems to face triple teams all the time, and has really carried a Tufts team that has actually managed to win a few games.  Hard to put two guys from the third-best team on the first team unless the statistical case is overwhelming, and Russell's stats are roughly the same or worse than lots of other guys in contention for the third forward spot.   Moreover, if you look at numbers alone (not to mention asking anyone who has seen both of them play) Whittington is just much better.  His numbers are insane ... in only 17 minutes per game, he averages 11.5 points, 6 boards, 1.5 assists, .5 steals, and over 2 blocks, while shooting 69 percent from the field and 66 percent from the line.  Now, I doubt the coaches will honor three Ephs, especially when one of them is a bench player.  But you can't say Russell has better stats when Whittington is better on a per-minute basis in EVERY category, and despite playing fewer minutes, still manages to beat out Russell in an absolute sense in a number of categories (fg percentage, free throw percentage, blocks, and assists, while rankings only a few ppg behind). 

It is a really deep year for NESCAC front court players, so lots of very good players aren't even going to get recognized ... most of the Ellis / Hanley / Phillips / Sharry / Locke / Whittington / Porter / Beyel group, all of whom can make a strong case, will be left out.  As for the guards, the pickings are far slimmer this year: with Meehan hurt, after Wang, Edwards and maybe Bernier, who has really produced at an all-conference level in the back-court?  Just a very competitive year for all-conference honors at forward ...

[booyakasha]

Nescac1, I haven't seen Whittington play but agree from all the buzz that Whittington may be a better player than Russell, but per minute stats don't go a long way in supporting this. In fact, it begs the question, if Whittington is so good then why does he only see 17 minutes a game? Obviously, being on a very talented and deep team curbs his PT, but if he  was really a 1st team caliber player I assume Maker, who obviously is a very intelligent coach, would have him on the floor more than 17 minutes a game. Is he a younger guy which might explain part of it?

[toad22]

Whittington and Geohegan split time at the center position and Maker doesn't really like to play them together, given the Ephs offensive style. Lot's of Williams fans wish Maker would play Whittington more minutes, but Maker likes playing them both. Geohegan is a really strong rebounder, so if you add the stats of the two primary centers, you get great numbers and you don't worry about fouls as much. Next year, Whittington will get more minutes, and a great chance to win POY in the NESCAC, he really is that good.

[nescac1]

What Toad said, and I'll also add that the high number of blow-out wins by Williams has limited Whittington's minutes -- I imagine that he'd average around five more minutes p.g. if Williams had been consistently involved in close games ...

[mainehoops]

Now that I've had some time to decompress after last weekend, I'm finally reenergized, refocused and ready to post again.  Thanks to all those who encouraged me to stay on.

Machine24 – I can't say I blame you for questioning Colby's legitimacy as a 3 seed after what you saw.  All I can say is I've seen them a dozen times this year and the things they do well, particularly defending on the perimeter, were all sorely lacking for one weekend.  (A lot of that obviously has to do with playing 2 great teams on the road)  Either way, I'm not going to defend them and give all the reasons I think they are a legit NESCAC *contender*.  They will have their chance at REDEMPTION, and I have a feeling this past weekend was the WAKEUP call they all needed. 

Old Guy – I couldn't agree more with your All Star Team (Edwards, Wang, Choice, Shultz, Whittington).  Edwards SWARMS out there.  Wang is FAST.  As for Whittington, I can't remember a human highlight real like this before in the NESCACS.  These are not dunks in transition, these are POSTERS.  Whittington, I hope you are overconfident now and play recklessly come NESCACS.  Why don't you start lowering your shoulder some!  Also, feel free to shuffle your pivot feet a bit more! OFFENSIVE FOULS and TRAVELS.

Choice is my POY but if Shultz gets it I understand.  Choice has helped bring a level of excitement back to Colby basketball that Whitmore's teams used to have every year.  I hope they can build off this for years to come.  Not only that, my sources tell me Choice is a great human being, I know he is a great leader and has great sportsmanship, but he is also active with a ton of local Waterville stuff, etc. etc.  Yes, maybe some will roll their eyes but in my mind if you are going to be NESCAC POY you better be a good person too, and Choice is. 

NOW BRING US A NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP CHOICE!

[Old Guy]

I wondered too why Coach Maker didn't play these two talented big guys more together, but upon reflection it's clear he gets 40 pretty good minutes out of the 5 spot - and he puts 4 other good players on the floor with the big guy who's in there. As it is, they get 19 points and 14 rebounds from these two guys, basically alternating. They're always fresh. Whittington coming off the bench six minutes into a game is a scary sight.

As Toad pointed out, he also gets ten fouls out of that spot (more if you count Timmins-Schiffmann and Emerson - a Middlebury dad told me that Emerson, 6'8", tore up his league in h.s. - lots of teams would be starting him at center). Whittington had four fouls against us in his limited time. Having Geoghan and Whittington in together changes what they can do on offense. - and offensively Wms seems to be doing just fine.

Colby's Russell was compromised by Middlebury's length. Whittington saw it as a challenge, went 8-9 from the floor.

As we consider good coaching jobs, let's keep Jeff Brown in mind. He lost Edwards early in the season to a broken bone in his hand; Locke studied in South Africa this fall and reported late; Wholey injured his foot in preseason; Sharry missed three games and was gimpy last weekend. He melded those three frosh guards (Wolfin, Thompson, Alvarez) in with the returnees. Now he's getting Lynch important minutes. He hasn't just rolled the balls out.

[jesseowenssmoked]

Whittington and Geoghegan combined play 36.6 minutes score 18.5 and rebound 14.2 a game. Russell plays 28.9 minutes a game and averages 14.7 and 10. Play him for 8 more minutes per game and give him the stamina of two people and see how his stats would improve... If you mathematically extended his stats he'd have 18.7 points and 12.8 rebounds a game.