MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Slow morning so I was scanning the conference websites to see if any more schools had posted their preliminary teams before start of the preseason on Monday.  I was struck with the fact that Bowdoin had listed only eight(8) players to date.  They have need for a large first year class to have any depth.  I know of only a guard from the DC/Baltimore area going to try out for the team.  Met him and his Amherst parents at the Amherst-Stevenson BB game last year.  His parents knew the Amherst coach and chatted with him after the game.  The Amherst coach also chatted with the player.  I got the impression that he wanted to play early and selected to go to Maine.  I kidded with his alumnae mother that he could also transferred to Amherst if things did not work out.  The player is around 6' and appears to be a point guard candidate.  At the time, Amherst needed a future point guard.  Does anyone have any info about the coaching changes around the league?

[Bucket]

For folks who didn't catch the Butch Varno piece on ESPN's E:60 news magazine program last night, here it is online.

http://espn.go.com/espn/e60/index

Even if you know the story well, you'll be challenged not to cry. If you don't know the story at all, you are in for a special treat.

[nescac1]

Thanks for sharing Bucket, truly a wonderful tradition and one that deserves to be focused on. 

Another NESCAC roster posted, Trinity:

http://athletics.trincoll.edu/sports/mbkb/2010-11/roster

The years are wrong on the roster as they haven't been changed from last year.  Although Trinity graduated no seniors, they seem to have lost one of their leading front-court scorers, Jon Pike, as well as back-up center Tim Dunn.  That leaves them with only one guy on the roster over 6'5, and only two true forwards or centers.  They could really struggle againt teams with a strong inside presence.  The timing of hiring the new coach undoubtedly hurt recruiting, as they didn't bring in anyone over 6'2.  One of many NESCAC teams that seems to be in a transition year. 

I think that the overall talent in the conference is as weak as its been in recent memory, with only three teams looking like legit NCAA tourney contenders, and maybe two dark horses in Bates and Wesleyan depending on how quickly their young players improve.   Part of the issue is that, after a VERY strong class of 2010 across the conference, there aren't a ton of really noteworthy seniors this year (Whittington, Ellis, Meehan, Russell, Locke, that's about it), indeed, I don't think any team has more than one all-conference level player who is a senior. 

[Old Guy]

NESCAC 1 is right - Middlebury has only one senior (Locke) at the all-conference level, but the Panthers do have a strong senior contingent in Andrew Locke-Jamal Davis-Ryan Wholey, three of our top six. The Middlebury success over the past half-decade has demonstrated, I believe, the importance of senior leadership. Winning tough games in other people's gyms takes strong kids, good leadership (Edwards, Rudin, Aaron Smith, Mike Walsh, Andrew Harris). Middlebury's had it and it's crucial.

[Old Guy]

The Middlebury roster is up: http://www.middlebury.edu/athletics/sports/mensbasketball/roster.

A name you won't see on the Middlebury roster, unfortunately, is Ashton Coghlan. He had hoped to play this year, but suffered an ankle injury in preseason pickup play. On top of his hip surgery last spring, it just made sense to call it quits. He's now a volunteer student assistant coach for this year's club.

I had hoped that he would be Middlebury's secret weapon this year. He was as talented an offensive player as I have seen at Middlebury in nearly four decades. At 6'3, 175, he played at 2 or 3. He only played one year for the Panthers. He was open when he had just one man on him. He had great range from the outside, and was unstoppable going to the hoop. As a frosh, he had 31 points (in 19 minutes) in a win against Union, 23 against Bates, 19 against Colby coming off the bench. He could fill it up.

It's okay. He has a life outside basketball, like most NESCAC athletes. He's living in a first year dorm as a first year counselor (peer mentor) and is a committed student, writing his senior essay in history. He has a bright future. Still, it woulda been nice . . .

[walzy31]

However, I consider this as "fantasy BB" time.

Anyone down for some Fantasy NESCAC Hoops?  I am winning my NESCAC Football Fantasy league (Hartwell and Dwyer were late round steals).  First pick overall is likely Wang, but Sharry could sneak into the top spot.  Not a fantasy hoops vet, so Wang's turnovers scare me.

In case you are serious about said fantasy NESCAC league, you should know that it takes a ton of time to organize and run (unfortunately Yahoo! and ESPN don't let you use their systems). Last year, Choice was the #1 total point gainer, Porter was #2. Schultz was #3, and Sha Brown was #4. Pierce, Wang and Ellis were not far behind.

[Colby Hoops]

The Middlebury thing on E:60 was pretty cool, had no idea it was on just happened to be flipping channel when I saw a familiar court.

Was up at Colby for the alumni basketball weekend.  Colby squad beat an alumni team by a point on a Russell layup with 15 seconds to go.  Not a great performance from the team, but the alumni did have Choice, Farrell, and Cutrone back.

Met a couple of the freshmen, one or two who may see some minutes, but no players who will make a huge impact to start the season.  Definitely worried about a lack of depth, a lot of unproven players, and defenses will be keying on Russell big time, something he didn't necessarily see last year with Choice getting a lot of attention.

It seems that the league is wide open after the top 3, but I think a 5 or a 6 seed for the NESCAC tourney would be a solid season for the Mules.  They kick off their season against Curry and Brandeis at Brandeis, and I'm interested to see how that goes, Brandeis is still a decent team despite losing Hollins and others from last year.

[Hugenerd]

James Wang (Williams) and Brian Ellis (Bates) named 2nd team preseason All-American, only 2 NESCAC representatives.

[nescac1]

Congrats to both Wang and Ellis.  Wang expected of course, but as good as Ellis is, I'm a bit surprised he made second team, nationally, particularly when I'm not sure if he is better than fellow NESCAC forward Ryan Sharry.  If he stays healthy, I am confident Troy Whittington will be a post-season All American (at least one of the five teams), and I am surprised he didn't receive pre-season recognition after the dominating performance he put on in the NCAA tourney last year.  But center does look to be a very deep / strong position this year. 

[Colby Hoops]

Not quite sure how they vote on those awards, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Ellis to be second team and Russell to not even be honorable mention.  Ellis average 15 and 6.9 while shooting 51% from the field.  Russell averaged 14.1 and 9.9 while shooting almost 59% from the floor. 

Colby had a better record last year and Russell has to rank up their in terms of rebounding numbers nationwide. Obviously a little bias here, and I'm actually not sure that either of them deserve to be on any of the preseason All-American teams, but if you have Ellis on the second team it's pretty hard for me to fathom leaving Russell off of the list entirely.

Also completely agree on Whittington, I think him and Wang have a pretty excellent shot at both being first or second teamers at year's end.

[jumpshot]

Not including Troy Whittington on these pre-season teams detracts from the credibility of these lists. Anyone who watched him play so well throughout last year individually and as an unselfish team member, particularly against top competition during the regular season and in the tournaments, will agree. In addition, Troy is an outstanding young man.

[nescac1]

With apologies to resident NESCAC line guru Walzy, and to get some chatter going with the season about to begin, figured I'd borrow an idea from Bill Simmons and propose some over-unders for regular season (excluding NESCAC tourney) wins for the NESCAC squads.  Thoughts on over or under?

Williams, Middlebury: 21
Amherst: 20
Wesleyan, Bates: 16
Trinity, Bowdoin: 14
Colby:12
Connecticut College: 7
Tufts: 5

A few others. 
ROY: Aaron Toomey vs. the field, pick 'em. 
Conference champ: Williams, 5:2, Middlebury, 3:1, Amherst, 7:2, field, 12:1
A Williams player will be POY: 3:2

How am I doing Walzy?

[FISHERMAN]

Bone jarring picks set by Peter Kaasila (Amherst) per game: +/- 7.5

It's going to be a pleasure to watch Jamaal Magloire 2.0 this season!

[walzy31]

With apologies to resident NESCAC line guru Walzy, and to get some chatter going with the season about to begin, figured I'd borrow an idea from Bill Simmons and propose some over-unders for regular season (excluding NESCAC tourney) wins for the NESCAC squads.  Thoughts on over or under?

Williams, Middlebury: 21
Amherst: 20
Wesleyan, Bates: 16
Trinity, Bowdoin: 14
Colby:12
Connecticut College: 7
Tufts: 5

A few others. 
ROY: Aaron Toomey vs. the field, pick 'em. 
Conference champ: Williams, 5:2, Middlebury, 3:1, Amherst, 7:2, field, 12:1
A Williams player will be POY: 3:2

How am I doing Walzy?

nescac1,

Not bad, I am still locked in on College Football (where I can actually make real money), but as soon as I can I will look at each team's schedule more closely. I would set the lines with half games rather than full games, but on the cursory 19.5 looks like a great spread for Amherst. Also, you must be a horse bettor or craps player based on the 5:2, 7:2 and 3:2 odds.

There is going to be a lot of good hoops played this season. I am very excited.

[frank uible]

The smart money would eagerly take the field in that 3-2 proposition.