MBB: NESCAC

[lefrakenstein]

Anyone know why David Waller didn't play for Amherst tonight?

Precautionary day off was the word from the gym tonight. Everybody is hype for the showdown Saturday afternoon!

Definitely hyped. Four ranked, undefeated teams in the double-header in LeFrak. I'm pretty sure that's never happened before.

Not sure how to feel as an Amherst fan about the Wesleyan win. we basically held the lead wire-to-wire, but it got tight there in the second half, and the defense was a little lapse in the second half once again. Honestly, would have liked to have seen a little bigger margin, it kind of made me nervous for how the game will go in Middletown. Brown burned us for 22, which definitely doesn't bode well for what Wang will do.

On the other hand, I love how the offense is developing. Everybody can hurt you. 5 guys averaging double figures, much like in the year we won the title. Not a real deep rotation, but everybody brings something a little different.

Also, what a game from Willy Workman. 20, 10 and 5, all career highs. If there was a NESCAC most improved player award, he would be a lock. His shooting is SO much better this year. It makes me wonder if he just wasnt 100% last year, or if he spent literally the entire summer in the gym shooting. On top of that, he leads the team in rebounding. And just a sophomore. Scary to think where he could be in two years.

[nescac1]

In watching the second half, Workman clearly stood out from any player on the floor, on both ends.  He is indeed much improved (and I remember him killing Williams in Williamstown even last year) and is now one of the top players in NESCAC.  He has definitely slid into that open slot in the projected all-NESCAC teams.   Toomey is certainly as good as advertised as well.  Those two and Meehan have developed into a powerful core.   And Barrise has been shooting something like 60-65 percent on threes after a few super-cold games to open the season. 

Wesleyan will be very good next year.  Losing St. Jean to injury was a huge blow this year and has probably cost them a few wins among their many close games to date.  He provided toughness, defense (clearly their best defender and arguably the best perimeter defender in NESCAC with Edwards graduated, although I'd put Nate Robertson up there as well), and hoops savvy.  Frosh C Thomas is a beast and will be tough to deal with if he can improve his touch a bit.  Thomas-Callaghan-St. Jean-Brown-Beresford-Mendell is a really nice top six for next year. 

Tremendous group of forwards, yet again, in NESCAC this year -- Hanley (who is rarely talked about here, but has a ridiculous stat line right now), Workman, Ellis, Russell, Sharry all having first-team all NESCAC type years.  Center is a bit thin after Whittington and Locke, and guard is, likewise, thin: outside of the Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan and Middlebury backcourts, not much to speak of there.   

I see that Elms beat Plattsburgh last night.  Makes me feel a bit better about Williams' margin of victory vs. Elms.  Assuming Troy doesn't play, Williams will be the underdog in a regular season game for the first time in a very long time.  It won't be easy, but they can beat Amherst if they play the way they did in the first half against Elms for an entire game.  But it will be an uphill battle.  I imagine Williams will get virtually all of their production from non-seniors, so this will be a preview of next year's squad.  As much as they need Troy back eventually, it is a great opportunity for Emerson and Mayer to get tons of PT against elite competition.  Hopefully after a few weeks of practice and with a few games experience, they will ready to do battle against Amherst's post guys, who aren't more skilled, but who are much bulkier.  Still, what was a major edge for Williams going in is now, at best, an even match-up. 

[jayhawk]

Appreciate the comments of NESCAC1 about all of the teams in NESCAC.
Important to remember how young Amherst was last year.
Will Workman was anticipated to get stronger as he could not play his last two years of public high school which led to his postgraduate year. See http://www.gazettenet.com/2009/03/31/exdevil-play-amherst
Last year at Williams, for the second half of the game Workman covered Wang and caused problems for Wang because of his length.
Workman is very athletics, a very quick leaper and one of the better defenders in NESCAC - this year both he and Meehan have improved their outside shooting.
One person who is coming on is Peter Kaasila- shooting percentage is I believe over 65%. Peter was highly rated in high school as a center but played on one of the best prep high school programs in America-St. Marks where three of the frontcourt players- all as tall as Peter - now play for Florida, Georgetown and Iowa- which limited his game experience.
Kaasila is extremely effective at using his body to seal big men to shoot his effective hook. Last year against Middelbury, Kaasila came into the game and Locke could not block his hook shot Peter was 8 for 12 and Locke fouled out. With the difficulties at point guard last year, the ability to throw the ball into the post was limited.  I would anticipate as Kaasila gets playing time his footwork on defense and rebounding as well as limiting fouls and knowing how to use his physical strength he will improve.

[Major Hoople]

   Where are the projected all-NESCAC teams, referred to by NESCAC !  posted? When, and by whom, were they selected?

[nescac1]

There was some discussion awhile back of likely all-NESCAC contenders on the board.  Folks basically agreed that, barring injury, the likely first team will be Whittington at center, Wang and Meehan at guards, and some combo of Hanley / Ellis / Russell / Sharry at forwards (two of those on first team, and two on the second), with Locke a second team center, Sha Brown a second team guard, and one spot on second team wide open.  I'd say that Workman, given his individual as well as Amherst's team success of late, has now become the leading contender for that final spot as a swingman.  Again, conference play hasn't even started yet, but those ten guys seems to be way ahead of the field right now, so long as Whittington's injury doesn't keep him out from too many more games.  And while there are a lot of strong frosh in the league, I think Toomey is still the leading contender for ROY.  

Those ten guys are 8/10 top scorers in the league, with the only exceptions being Locke, a massive contributor on defense, and Workman, who has a tremendous all around game and fills up the stat sheet in virtually every category. 

[Colby Hoops]

As far as Workman being in that last spot for all-league I'm not so sure.  While I agree he's been much improved this season and is coming off of an extraordinary game, I think we tend to get a bit too Amherst, Williams, Middlebury-centric on this board.  Rightly so considering those are the best teams and the teams that most posters support.  But Workman is the third leading scorer on his own team and I'm not sure he stands out head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates like Kaasila, Toomey, etc.  What about a player like Luke MacDougall from Trinity who's putting up pretty good numbers for a team that is only okay but is 8-4 and has a good of a chance as anyone to be the 4-seed for the NESCAC tournament.  I'm not saying that Workman definitely isn't deserving of that spot, I'm just cautioning against getting too hyped up about his last game.

[lefrakenstein]

 What about a player like Luke MacDougall from Trinity who's putting up pretty good numbers for a team that is only okay but is 8-4 and has a good of a chance as anyone to be the 4-seed for the NESCAC tournament.  I'm not saying that Workman definitely isn't deserving of that spot, I'm just cautioning against getting too hyped up about his last game.

I agree MacDougall is overlooked. He's having a heck of a year. Also, in a close situation, I think it's hard for a team to get a second player in over the first player from another team.

Agreed that the top nine players seem pretty clear, after that it gets dicey. Although if Ellis or Whittington or both end up not playing much in the conference season, that would obviously open up spots.

[grabtherim]

Saw Kaasila play at camps before his Senior high school season, and again last season.  In my opinion,  he can and will be dominant in the NESCAC sooner rather than later.  Very strong, and has skills.  Needs to avoid unnecessary fouls so he can stay on the floor.  One of if not the best soph in the league.   

[amh63]

Nice to see all the chatter after last night's game.  I too watched the game on the web.  The results are posted on the amherst website.....so I will only add some of my comments wrt to last night's game.
 1. Last night's game compares closely with last year's game with Wes. in LeFrak when Amherst won by 11.  Both teams had about equal numbers of TO, rebounds and 3-point shooting. This year, Amherst shot better overall and on the foul lane.  This year, the 3-point shooting was spread over the team vice last year when Wheeler was the primary outside shooter.  In the first game with Wes., last year, at Middletown,  Amherst won by 7, I believe.  In that game,  Amherst shot much better from outside and dominated the boards.....but had five times the TO (16 vice 3) compred to Wes.
2. The FY center for Wes., is from a small private school In D.C., which explains his play.....tough on the boards, but picks up too many fouls which limits his time.   Watch out conference teams in the future.
3.  Meehan seemed to have a down game, partly due to his picking up fouls early.  The best lineup against Wes. was when Toomey was at point and Meehan took S. Brown down low to post him.  S. Brown flopped a couple times and got fouls called against Meehan.   Though it doesn't matter, S. Brown is not six feet tall.  He is too quick for all the conference teams to defend and he has a better outside shot this year, in my opinion.
 4.  Surprised that no one picked up on the improved play of J. Holmes lately.....especially on his foul shooting.  Still would like his rebounding to improve.
 5.  The refs seem to be calling traveling more this year.  Hope the refs. do not determine the outcome of conference games this year.
 6.  Seems Amherst is going to have a 8-10 player rotation in the games ahead in conference.
Nice to hear your comments on-line during the web-cast Walzy!

[lefrakenstein]

 4.  Surprised that no one picked up on the improved play of J. Holmes lately.....especially on his foul shooting.  Still would like his rebounding to improve.
 

I definitely noticed, just didnt want to jinx it. Don't understand the comment about his rebounding though. He's tied for the team lead while playing just 15 minutes a game. He's been a monster in rebounds per minute ever since he was a freshman.

 6.  Seems Amherst is going to have a 8-10 player rotation in the games ahead in conference.

What makes you say that? Amherst has had a 7.5 man rotation outside of scrub time all year (not really sure if Williamson should be included, seemed like he played mostly junk time) , and played only seven guys against
Wesleyan. (granted, Waller did not play)

Not sure how we would play a 9 or 10 man rotation...

[jayhawk]

lots of Amherst chatter so will be brief
Jeff Holmes has excellent fundamentals with a better outside shot that people realize. He always gets rebounds in high numbers, needs to limit his fouls (two early on helping out on Brown last night) and understand when he get his shot off on the inside without it being blocked. He will continue to improve.

[amh63]

Has anyone notice that Tufts is playing well.  They lost to MIT by only two last night......granted that MIT  lost one of their star players recently......they are still ranked 19th on D3hoops.   Are there any Tufts followers on this board?
It appears that some of the "soft" opponents that conference teams had played earlier in the seasons are now winning games. 
This trend should help NESCAC team ratings in the NCAA number crunching games for post season selections.
Lefrakstein....  In my count on team rotations, I am thinking of another "post" player like Bennett and possibly another ball handling guard  like Noon.  My definition of rotation players, are ones that the Coach can put in during the game to get rest for other players with confidence.  In tight games when both Kaasila and Holmes get into foul trouble, Bennett's experience will be needed.  Likewise for the point guard position when injury/fouls will limit "starters".   Last night, Workman at times had to bring up the ball.

[toad22]

Saturday will be fun for Eph and Jeff fans. I feel badly that Whittington will likely not play. He is the most extraordinary player to play at Williams for a long time. It will be tough to make up for that loss. Williams is a fragile team this year in that they rely so heavily on two players. Amherst has experienced talent throughout the lineup. They are, however, heavily dependent on Meehan, as we saw last year. I look for a reasonably competitive game that will turn on assists and turnovers. If Wang and Robertson can play strong games, it will go down to the wire. In any case, it will be a good time.

[Old Guy]

I couldn't get to the Midd-ColbySawyer game tonight. I followed it on live stats, always an interesting experience. reminds me of the days when fans followed away pro baseball games via a telegraph recreation (cf. Ronald "Dutch" Reagan). We watch the game in our heads.

Panthers avenged one of their two regular season losses - a blowout from the outset. CS is down a bit from last year but still a real team.

Locke had a triple double: 10 blocks (7 in the first half), 15 points, 10 rebounds. Sharry played 14 minutes in the first half and had 14 points and 8 rebounds - and played not at all in the second half. I hope that was just a precaution - why play your best guy in a one-sided game with big league tilts coming up. Wolfin had five assists and Kizell, the rookie pg, had an efficient 12 points.

Panthers are playing up to the hype this week.

I believe there will be a few suprising results in league play: Wes, Trinity, Bates, Tufts all have enough to play the spoiler, especially at home in that Saturday afternoon game.

[Bucket]

Middlebury rolls over Colby Sawyer, 80-54, avenging last season's upset loss.

I didn't travel to the game, so I'm worried about Ryan Sharry not playing at all in the second half. He was dominant in the first half, recording 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting (2 of 3 from behind the arc), while pulling down 8 boards in 14 minutes of action. If he did tweak something, here's hoping his rest in the second half of the game was purely precautionary.

Speaking of dominant--Andrew Locke posts a triple double: 15 points, 10 boards, 10 blocks. The freshman Joey Kizel continues to impress. He was perfect from the field, contributing 12 points. Jake Wolfin appeared to have another nice night running the offense, scoring 7, while assisting on 5 buckets.

And on a evening when Nolan Thompson had an uncharacteristically cold shooting night (0-9), he still logged 29 minutes, which suggests to me that he continued to bring it on the defensive end. On that note, Colby Sawyer, as a team, shot just 28 percent from the field; 25 percent from three.

Another nice road win. Am just holding my breath that Sharry is healthy.

Old Guy, I think you were going to the game. Anything to report?