MBB: NESCAC

[frank uible]

d3: We will do our best or nearly our best. As you probably know, we aim to please.

[nescac hoops]

I don't find Frank hurtful. His posts are just stupid and not nearly as witty as Walzy or Nescac1's.

[Old Guy]

Bates - worst?  C'mon!

It's a beautiful old gym, well-lighted, brick walls - great shooting backgrounds. A stage at one end, balcony at the other. Fans close to the floor. It's the D3 version of the Butler gym. It's the Wrigley of gyms. It's not a dump by any means. The entrance is beautiful. It's classic, a trip back in time. I must be in Maine next weekend, so I'll miss Middlebury-Trinity in VT, but my consolation is that I'll catch Bates-Bowdoin in that timeless atmosphere. Ask Dick Whitmore - if he's honest, I bet his attitude is love/hate. You can have your new, multi-purpose gyms with lots of space for the crowd noise to disappear into, and white or yellow walls, as antiseptic as the rest rooms. (I better stop now, or I'll start advocating a return to half-moon backboards.)

The Middlebury gym is the same one (well, the same shell - two renovations) that I played in, decades ago. For a long time, it was pretty much a neutral court because of the absence of fans. Now my sense is that it's a pretty fun place to play. No?

[Sticks11]

I agree with Old Guy.  I think the Bates gym is actually a great place to play as a visitor (and this is coming from a rival alum).  I liked the old feel and the small confines.  Tufts was another place I liked - soft rims, scoreboard above the court.

The old Wesleyan gym never impressed me much, neither did Conn College's.

All in all, I would say many of the NESCAC gyms are great places to play.

[O-Boards10]

The redeeming quality of the Bates atmosphere is that the fans make the experience worthwhile. The gym may not be state of the art, but they make for a great home court advantage.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Williams is now only 3 points away from the number 1 ranking.  WashU just barely beat them out this week.

[nescac1]

Pretty tough to get leapfrogged in a week when you beat Amherst and Trinity on the road, both by 15 plus points ... but hey, in the end, all that matters is the ranking at the end of the season.  Ephs have a very challenging road ahead in NESCACs, where they could potentially face three rivalry-type games against three very different styles (Wes, Amherst if they can top Colby, Midd) to win the title ... but as Amherst has proven in recent years, a NESCAC runner-up can still go far in the post-season ...

[topoftheworld]

so as the jumbos season comes to an end, it brings the end to the career of one of tufts all time greats.  Jon pierce has finished as the all times leading scorer, 7th leading rebounder, top 5 in career blocked shots, as well as many many other statistical records.  keep in mind, those records include defensive, rebounding, scoring, and scoring percentage records.  my question is this.  do you think tufts' struggles since pierce began his college career has anything to do with him, or is it something else?  his out of conference record through his 4 years is 41-55.  his conference career record is 9-28 including missing the tournament 3 times.  the 2 seasons before his arrival tufts went 17-10 and 7-2 in conference, and 23-7 and 6-3 in conference.

whats the verdict?

[Hugenerd]

Pretty tough to get leapfrogged in a week when you beat Amherst and Trinity on the road, both by 15 plus points ... but hey, in the end, all that matters is the ranking at the end of the season.  Ephs have a very challenging road ahead in NESCACs, where they could potentially face three rivalry-type games against three very different styles (Wes, Amherst if they can top Colby, Midd) to win the title ... but as Amherst has proven in recent years, a NESCAC runner-up can still go far in the post-season ...

Could be worse, at least they moved Midd up a spot, right?

so as the jumbos season comes to an end, it brings the end to the career of one of tufts all time greats.  Jon pierce has finished as the all times leading scorer, 7th leading rebounder, top 5 in career blocked shots, as well as many many other statistical records.  keep in mind, those records include defensive, rebounding, scoring, and scoring percentage records.  my question is this.  do you think tufts' struggles since pierce began his college career has anything to do with him, or is it something else?  his out of conference record through his 4 years is 41-55.  his conference career record is 9-28 including missing the tournament 3 times.  the 2 seasons before his arrival tufts went 17-10 and 7-2 in conference, and 23-7 and 6-3 in conference.

whats the verdict?

This is coming from a rather neutral observer, who has seen Pierce play a couple of times over the last 4 years.  His story is a nice one about how he came out of a troubled past to achieve the things he has.  And I really am glad for the guy that he has had the opportunity, through basketball, to get another chance at life.  I had read his story coming into the first time I saw him play, so I had some respect for the guy, felt bad for what had happened to him in his childhood and thought it was great that he was doing so well.  However, after watching the game from the first row, I came away with some other feelings as well.  I dont know a better way of putting this, but the guy seemed somewhat out-of-control.  I had never seen someone talk so much (not to his teammates on defense), complain about calls so much, or be so inflammatory on the court in my life  (just as an observation, in my opinion. Again, I have only seen him play a couple of times and he also didnt have very good performances in those games).  I will say I did not see him play this season (although he did set a career high with 4 techs this season), but I can see how someone like that could be a negative influence on a team that does not have any other strong voices among their players.  There is no doubt the guys is a great player and he has had a very prolific career in terms of the numbers, but you raise an interesting point/observation. I would also say that, usually, one player cant make a team and, therefore, it is likely that the teams they had before he arrived were more balanced. Anyone else have thoughts on this who has seen him play more often or is more familiar with the team?

[ephoops]

Williams will be webcasting the Wes games at Saturday at 4:00 pm for FREE.

http://williams.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2009-10/News/021610_NESCAC_Quarterfinals_Ticket_and_Webcast_Info

[nescac1]

These numbers seem to suggest that Colby, despite its recent slump, has a very good chance of making it into the NCAA tourney if it beats Amherst on Saturday (Midd and Williams are both almost certainly in, no matter what happens in the NESCAC tourney ...).  If it loses, more of a long shot, but still possible if there are few-to-none upsets in conference tourneys.  

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1176184#msg1176184

Even if Meehan is back, you have to wonder how effective he can be after several weeks of not playing / practicing.  Still, I think the game should be a toss-up if he is moderately effective (I am assuming he plays).  

[Hugenerd]

Knightslappy's numbers, although a good resource, are obviously not definitive.

For example, Colby was ranked below Bridgewater last week, despite those numbers, and that was before the loss to Conn. College.  I think they drop below Brandeis this week.  I am not sure what happens in the NE rankings overall, because a bunch of teams lost (everyone 4-10 lost, although Brandeis lost to WashU so I doubt that will be counted against them too much).  Of the ranked teams, only Williams, MIT, Midd, and WPI did not lose last week.

As always, I think a lot will depend on "sure shots" that get upset in conference tourneys.

[Old Guy]

Middlebury had its final regular season game of the year last night, a win over Green Mountain, not a powerful adversary.

Of note was Tim Edwards' line: 11 rebounds, 9 assists (0 tos), 2 blocks, a steal ( and just five points). He goes hard to the glass on the defensive end. An unusual pg, but the heart of the club. He'll be missed next year. .

[mainehoops]

Good morning everyone –

Walzy – Your all-crazy team is legendary.  And being the Colby observer I am, you hit the nail on the head with your #4 pick, Chaz (or Chas?) Woodward.  An old teammate of mine sent me the YouTube link this morning.  I was at this game, but seeing this again has me in constant disbelief.  Also, your all-crazy team is referenced in the video's description.  You have quite the following. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-mxa4wYrk     

Thank God this didn't cost Colby the game.  Wins against Amherst are hard enough to come by.  Stay cool this Saturday CHAZ!

[topoftheworld]

wins are hard enough to come by against amherst when you get t'ed up, and when you get hit in the nuts by your own player.  that is high comedy.