MBB: NESCAC

[lefrakenstein]

Curious of the posters thoughts of who is the league's best:

Best Team: Williams

Best Coach: Hixon

Best Player: Whittington

Best Point Guard: Meehan (I know most people would say Wang, but as great as Wang is as a scorer and shooter, I think Meehan is better as a pure point)

Best Low-Post Scorer: Whittington

Best Shooter: Wang

Best Dunker: Allen Williamson

Best Defender:Locke

Congrats also to Meehan for winning player of the week. The 4th time an Amherst player has been honored this year, with 2 each for Meehan and Toomey.

[eph partisan]

Curious of the posters thoughts of who is the league's best:

....

Best Point Guard: Meehan (I know most people would say Wang, but as great as Wang is as a scorer and shooter, I think Meehan is better as a pure point)

....

Best Defender:Locke

The best point guard question clearly comes down to how we are defining best. Best classic point, or best overall player who technically plays the position? If we are looking at the earlier, then it is probably Meehan, as you point out, lefrankenstein. What's exciting for the league is that there are a number of younger PGs in the league that could realistically be in the best pure-point conversation; Robertson (3.5) and Toomey (3.0) are first and tied for second, respectively, in AST:TO ratio in league play, and Wolfin (5.32) and Kizel (4.05) from Midd are first and third in overall AST/game.

As for best defender, I haven't seen Locke play this year, but last year, Whittington was a better defender than Locke was. Sounds like Locke did an excellent job on Hanley, though - not something I would have even thought of, so it's a good thing I am not a basketball coach - and Whittington seems to be having slightly less of an impact on that end of the floor, though with this year's team, he's not the only line of defense.

Are there any perimeter guys that are even in this conversation?

[nescac1]

This will be a pretty pro-Williams take, not because Williams is really much better than Midd or Amherst overall, but because its top two players are just so skilled in these areas.

Best Team: Williams, but very close among the top three
Best Coach: I know Hixon has proven more, but right now, I'd take Maker over anyone.  Brown and Gilbride are excellent as well. 
Best Player: Whittington
Best Point Guard: Wang over Meehan, but very close.  Toomey will be eventually. 
Best Shooter: Wang, followed by Barrise, Klemm, O'Connell
Best Dunker: Whittington and Williamson are the only two candidates, and it's close.  Williamson may have slightly more spectacular dunks, but I give it to Whittington since he dunks with force so frequently, and at times over really good players in big situations.  I'd say Williamson would win a dunk contest, but Whittington in a game. 
Best Defender: Locke, although I don't think he is the best one-on-one defender, he makes such a huge impact overall on that end.  Other candidates: Whittington, Workman, Nolan Thompson, Robertson, probably in that order.   

[lefrakenstein]

This will be a pretty pro-Williams take, not because Williams is really much better than Midd or Amherst overall, but because its top two players are just so skilled in these areas.

Best Team: Williams, but very close among the top three
Best Coach: I know Hixon has proven more, but right now, I'd take Maker over anyone.  Brown and Gilbride are excellent as well. 
Best Player: Whittington
Best Point Guard: Wang over Meehan, but very close.  Toomey will be eventually. 
Best Shooter: Wang, followed by Barrise, Klemm, O'Connell
Best Dunker: Whittington and Williamson are the only two candidates, and it's close.  Williamson may have slightly more spectacular dunks, but I give it to Whittington since he dunks with force so frequently, and at times over really good players in big situations.  I'd say Williamson would win a dunk contest, but Whittington in a game. 
Best Defender: Locke, although I don't think he is the best one-on-one defender, he makes such a huge impact overall on that end.  Other candidates: Whittington, Workman, Nolan Thompson, Robertson, probably in that order.   

I haven't seen him play, but maybe a guy like Quezada for Tufts should be in the conversation for best defensive player. He's averaging over 2.5 steals a game.

[Colby Hoops]

By my book Locke is the best defender hands down.  He just impacts so many shots.  Playing him really feels like its impossible to get a layup.  Whittington is in the same mold, but his shot blocking relies a bit more on jumping. Locke just puts his hands up, so even on a rebound or if you get him in the air, he can just reach out and affect the shot.

I would have said O'Connell as best shooter heading into the year, but he's struggled a bit, so I'd go with Wang, which is interesting because most times when you're looking at a best shooter he's more of a one dimensional player.

I know this wasn't a category but best rebounder has to go to Russell.  He's 6'4" and is leading the league and avergaing 12.5 boards per game, and almost 5 per game on the offensive end.

[amh63]

Little to early, 'IMO, to get into this discussion.  End of the regular season would be better time and End of the conference tournament would be the best time.   Stars are best defined during "crunch time".

[Colby Hoops]

Little to early, 'IMO, to get into this discussion.  End of the regular season would be better time and End of the conference tournament would be the best time.   Stars are best defined during "crunch time".

I think we've seen almost every player we're discussing play in big games before.  Only exception being Toomey, although he seems to have played well in that Williams game.

[toad22]

Toomey is too young to get all league consideration, but he is, in my view, the rookie of the year. He can really play. He could turn out to be the best NESCAC player in many years.

[jayhawk]

As far as best guards I think Wang and Meehan are the best two guards in the league. Both can shoot from the outside and drive to the basket. Wang uses speed and shiftiness to penetrate while Meehan is extremely strong. If you go by who is the best true point guard one should consider Toomey. He is extremely smart, knows how to set up other players, is probably a better passer than Meehan or Wang and knows how to "run a team.". At the end of the Bates game when it was close, Toomey literally took over the game. He penetrated and passed well and demonstrated outstanding poise.  Meehan was also clutch. Both hit critical foul shots. Toomey is not super athletic but I was surprised but how he controlled the  game and even make a very difficult drive to the basket at the end of the game. Probably will be a little more difficult with either Locke or Whittington around but we will see.

I think Middlebury's point guards are also true point guards and quite good. ShaSha Brown is more of a scorer also than a true point guard

[jayhawk]

also ultimately I think Nate Robertson of Williams is a true point guard and an excellent guard as well. He play somewhat under the shadow of Wang but he definitely has excellent point guard skills and orientation. He can also shoot and drive as well.

[amh63]

Amherst 79-Brandeis 65....Game was very fragmented.  Amherst started out strong with Meehan taking the lead.  Workman remained out and lineup was different.  Amherst shot out fast with Brandeis not shooting well.  A numer of of subs in and out for Amherst.  Ahead by 16 at the half....Amherst 40- Brandeis 24.  The second half Brandeis started a young squad with many subs.  Amherst lead went up to 21 and slowly Brandeis climbed out of its hole.  Lead went as low as 5 before Amherst put the "starters" in plus Toomey.  Toomey had an off night also.  With 4 minutes to go, the lead was down to 8 and after Brandeis missed a layup, Waller hit a three and as the announcers remarked...."The wheels fell off for Brandeis".
Amherst won their 21th game, but it was not easy for them at the end.  Coach Nixon had hoped to minimize the time for his starters with the key games this weekend.  Brandeis played much better in the 2nd half and gave Amherst a scare.
It is interesting that although Toomey's outside shot was off, he ran the team for most of the second half and made a 3-point shot at a critical time.  Meehan took the lead in the last 4-5 minutes as the Brandeis' players increased their physical play.

[deiscanton]

Spot on analysis of the game, Amh63.  +K

Brandeis was actually within 7 pts with 3:32 remaining in the game.

Amherst's Peter Kaasila hit 1 of 2 FTs to extend Amherst's lead to 8 pts.

Brandeis's Tyrone Hughes misses the layup with 2:39 left, and then Amherst's David Waller made the dagger "3" with 2:09 left.   I heard that exact statement from the JeffCast announcers that Amh63 mentioned to confirm this.

[ephoops]

63

Is there a reason you call him Nixon rather than Hixon?

[walzy31]

63

Is there a reason you call him Nixon rather than Hixon?

I think 63's genesis for the typo is patriotic:

Amherst - Nixon (Hixon)
Wesleyan - Reagan (Reilly)
Williams - Madison (Maker)
Colby - Washington (Whitmore)
Bowdoin - Garfield (Gilbride)
etc

[amh63]

ephoops...nice proof reading.  Don't know Coach Hixon's political leanings....though I do lean towards the Tuft's mascot.  Just hit the wrong row/letter.
My reception of the game was bad here in Florida....had to reboot, etc. to get voice and clear picture.....therefore was not as accurate as the UAA/Brandeis follower and poster....with regards to time events.  Just as well since the stress would be higher.  As an old ACC viewer, I have seen 8 point leads fade within a minute.