MBB: NESCAC

Old Guy · January 10, 2009, 11:20:37 AM

I saw the Middlebury-Colby Sawyer game in NH Thursday night. I don't attend many away games (mostly in the interest of domestic tranquility), but my cousin's son is a frosh at Colby-Sawyer and a good player (Will Bardaglio, 11ppg, a shooter). Midd won by ten 65-55 in a tough game. C-S plays hard - good defense and Middlebury played a stinker of a first half (21 pts, 2-10 from the line). Edwards played well, brought the Panthers back into the game. Midd's front court was better than C-Ss - Locke, Sharry, Smith. Still shooting inconsistently. Skidmore at home today, only the fourth home game (in 14 games) so far this year

fpc85 · January 10, 2009, 05:51:24 PM

Congrats Amherst! Nice win today.

Pat Coleman · January 10, 2009, 09:12:23 PM

Quote from: Old Guy on January 10, 2009, 11:20:37 AM
I saw the Middlebury-Colby Sawyer game in NH Thursday night. I don't attend many away games (mostly in the interest of domestic tranquility), but my cousin's son is a frosh at Colby-Sawyer and a good player (Will Bardaglio, 11ppg, a shooter). Midd won by ten 65-55 in a tough game.

+1 for use of "domestic tranquility"

mrmike88 · January 10, 2009, 10:16:48 PM

18 offensive boards for the Herst, if I read that right. Wow.

JustAFan · January 11, 2009, 12:38:43 AM

I wasn't able to watch the game and can only comment from what I saw in the boxscore, where I was amazed to see that Williams only took 39 shots all game (vs. Amherst's 61), and even though they shot well (21-39 overall, 13-19 in the first half) Amherst won this game on the boards, as the Ephs only had 7 offensive rebounds compared to 19 for the Jeffs, which translates into too many one and done offensive efforts for the Ephs, and too many second chances for Amherst. I give Williams credit for staying in the game as long as they did given their poor effort on the boards, coupled with a mediocre 5-12 night from 3 point land, but Amherst wasn't lighting it up from the arc either (5 for 21). The Williams point guard (Kearney), didn't take one shot in 25 minutes of play and only had one assist, while Harlan Dodson also was rather quiet on the stat sheet in his 29 minutes of play (2-4 from the field and only 1 rebound) while Whittingham (3 for 3 from the field and 2 blocks and 2 steals in 9 minutes of play) and Rubin (4 rebounds in 12 minutes) had productive efforts in short minutes.....did they deserve more playing time?

dman · January 11, 2009, 01:25:15 AM

....was at the game. ephs were really done in by very poor foul shooting in the second half and several costly turnovers.....

topoftheworld · January 11, 2009, 10:03:35 AM

tufts loses to wheaton at home. not a great sign for tufts as it seemed like they were starting to roll a bit (although against average comp. at best). Wheaton was also on a bit of a skid and turned it around on the road at cousens. after looking at the box score a few things really stood out to me. tufts out rebounded wheaton 44 to 28 for the game, a huge difference, but couldn't capitalize due to the team's 22 turnovers compared to wheaton's 10.

also for a team that has been dubbed a 1 man show, Pierce has been outscored by Beyel a and Gallant a few times this year. i point that out because it is really astonishing to me that pierce shoots 8-23 in the game and gallant goes 7-10. doesn't it seem like maybe gallant had the advantage that game and they should go with him? while Beyel goes for 8-17 and a team high 21 pts. 17 shots is still a lot especially when you aren't shooting at least 50% but he seemed to have it going more than pierce. pierce also only had 1 assist. 23 shots and 1 assist? i know they say shooters have to shoot their way out of a slump but come on. he was 1-7 for 3. maybe take it inside, or try and get some offensive boards for easy put backs or free throws to get back on track.

Hugenerd · January 11, 2009, 10:09:18 AM

Quote from: topoftheworld on January 11, 2009, 10:03:35 AM
tufts loses to wheaton at home. not a great sign for tufts as it seemed like they were starting to roll a bit (although against average comp. at best). Wheaton was also on a bit of a skid and turned it around on the road at cousens. after looking at the box score a few things really stood out to me. tufts out rebounded wheaton 44 to 28 for the game, a huge difference, but couldn't capitalize due to the team's 22 turnovers compared to wheaton's 10.

also for a team that has been dubbed a 1 man show, Pierce has been outscored by Beyel a and Gallant a few times this year. i point that out because it is really astonishing to me that pierce shoots 8-23 in the game and gallant goes 7-10. doesn't it seem like maybe gallant had the advantage that game and they should go with him? while Beyel goes for 8-17 and a team high 21 pts. 17 shots is still a lot especially when you aren't shooting at least 50% but he seemed to have it going more than pierce. pierce also only had 1 assist. 23 shots and 1 assist? i know they say shooters have to shoot their way out of a slump but come on. he was 1-7 for 3. maybe take it inside, or try and get some offensive boards for easy put backs or free throws to get back on track.

I thought the same thing about Pierce when they played MIT. It appeared as though he would be able to physically dominate in the post but he decided to take a lot of forced shots from outside.

fpc85 · January 11, 2009, 10:31:56 AM

Quote from: JustAFan on January 11, 2009, 12:38:43 AM
I wasn't able to watch the game and can only comment from what I saw in the boxscore, where I was amazed to see that Williams only took 39 shots all game (vs. Amherst's 61), and even though they shot well (21-39 overall, 13-19 in the first half) Amherst won this game on the boards, as the Ephs only had 7 offensive rebounds compared to 19 for the Jeffs, which translates into too many one and done offensive efforts for the Ephs, and too many second chances for Amherst. I give Williams credit for staying in the game as long as they did given their poor effort on the boards, coupled with a mediocre 5-12 night from 3 point land, but Amherst wasn't lighting it up from the arc either (5 for 21). The Williams point guard (Kearney), didn't take one shot in 25 minutes of play and only had one assist, while Harlan Dodson also was rather quiet on the stat sheet in his 29 minutes of play (2-4 from the field and only 1 rebound) while Whittingham (3 for 3 from the field and 2 blocks and 2 steals in 9 minutes of play) and Rubin (4 rebounds in 12 minutes) had productive efforts in short minutes.....did they deserve more playing time?
i saw the game. whttingham should have played more...not as sure about rubin. the offense the run doesn't lend itself to having gurds with a high number of assists. the offense is will provide few offensive rebound opportunities. they play slower and are less post oriented. the big should have gotten at least 20 shots that game.. if that doesn't change then the ephs will struggle to score. the help defense wasn't what it should be they are going to struggle to get important stops...on the plus side, do run the princeton offense well. the perimeter players who are shooting get most of the shots and that is a good thing. if they make FT it might have been a different outcome.

the jeffs are a good team. nice blend of youth and expeirience. nice to see holsey, bradley and wong get important minutes and contribute like i knew they could. meehan is growing by leaps and bounds. he is heady tough, appears ready to part of the fraternity of great amherst guards. Waller is very athletice with serious perimeter skills i suspect as he get more comfortable they will be calling his number more often on offense. holmes has the potential to be a stud in the post. wheeler and bausky will lead the team in scoring and provide that leadership the jeffs are used to.

The video stream was great! I didn't have to fight the weather and the sheep crossing the road to see the jeffs beat william...again. I hope the jeffs follow suit for some games at Lefrak

hoya73 · January 11, 2009, 01:58:19 PM

Just got back to Jersey after yesterday's tussle in Williamstown between two good, but not great (at least not yet) teams. Both teams played hard. It was intense, as this year's Jeff squad is looking to create its own history and this year's Eph squad looked to me like they are really playing hard for the new Coach (who, I heard an Eph's fan say, loves the D3 atmosphere and players but can't get used to the refs). I like the offense he runs--it gets good rolls to the hoop for his bigs when it's run well.
The Jeffs young guys will be good. Holmes has great hands and some nice skills and will be a very good player in the 'Cac. Waller has skills--they ran one clear out that the Williams defender was embarassed, and an alley-oop off an in-bounds play. Barise looks tough too (had an airball and then came back with a three in the first half). Best part of the game for me was watching Schultz cover Basky--man, that was intense. Two great players going head to head. A fun game all around.

Old Guy · January 11, 2009, 04:10:39 PM

Middlebury beat Skidmore by ten at home - the expected result but a well-contested game. Middlebury came out like gangbusters (21-5) but Skidmore hardly folded, reduced it to seven at the half; then it was even after five minutes in the second half. Rudin was the difference - 19 pts, 8 boards, 6 assists, perhaps his best game of the year, certainly the best of the five I've seen. He's shooting nearly 10% better this year from the line than last year (8-11 yesterday). That could be big in close NESCAC games. Edwards was solid again (10 pts, 8 rebounds), and Dudley was 4-8 from three (16 pts overall). Good guard play.

Skidmore was a surprise. I can see how they extended Amherst. They're young and athletic and played hard. The refs let a lot go and Skidmore was game. Langford, 6'7" had three or four shots blocked early by Locke (six blocks for the game) but kept on ticking and prevailed (18 pts, 13 rebounds). They have eight frosh on the roster. You have to believe they'll be formidable next year, and will surprise someone higher in the food chain in their league this year.

Bates and Tufts next week in snowy VT. Here we go.

duffer · January 11, 2009, 04:41:28 PM

Check Pierce's assists for the season. Assists are not in his repertoire. Also keep in mind Beyel as a 3 plays mostly outside or baseline and while he didn't hit 50% last night, he is the only player shooting over 50% for the season. I agree Gallant is also shooting well and could see the ball more. Pierce on the other hand, would better serve this team by banging inside but he likes to be everywhere and shoot from everywhere. This team is also averaging 22 turnovers a game. Can't win with that. Last night was the 2nd time this season where they started out early with a 15 point lead and can't hold on - disappointing

ephoops · January 12, 2009, 09:54:35 AM

Quote from: hoya73 on January 11, 2009, 01:58:19 PM
...Best part of the game for me was watching Schultz cover Basky--man, that was intense. Two great players going head to head. A fun game all around.

Schultz is from Atherton, CA (The Menlo School) and Bask is from Palo Alto, CA (Palo Alto HS). They live about 10 minutes apart from each other. They play pick up games together in the summer. Thus, they are very familiar with each other's game...

Pat: It would be an interesting feature for D-3 Hoops. Two guys compete 3,000+ miles from home, each is arguably the best player on their respective teams, and participate in the most intense rivalry (sorry Hope/Calvin fans) in D-3 hoops.

walzy31 · January 12, 2009, 01:13:05 PM

Quote from: walzy31 on January 07, 2009, 12:04:36 AM
Huge game on Saturday for Amherst. They need to bounce back with a well played game. Williams will certainly be gunning for them.

Amherst -7.5 in a game that neither team leads by more that 14 at any point and is single digits with 5 minutes remaining. Ahhh I hate Williams.

Amherst 65
Williams 60 (cover +2.5)

Largest lead was 6 points.
It was tied at 50 with 5:00 remaining on the clock.

I was in Vegas and unfortunately the Encore sports book didn't have the streaming video on the screens. Luckily for me, they didn't accept my spread on the game so I was spared some money.

walzy31 · January 12, 2009, 01:14:48 PM

JeffCast will be the new home to free live webcasts of select Amherst home sporting events.

Tonight, JeffCast will make its debut as the Amherst's men's basketball team takes on visiting Babson College at 5:30 p.m. in LeFrak Gymnasium.

https://www.amherst.edu/athletics/jeffcast for a schedule of planned upcoming webcasts.

Is Bowdoin going to roll out a PBearCast?