MBB: NESCAC

[booyakasha]

Where's our Colby woofer?

I know it wasn't me before, but woof woof

[nescac1]

Walzy, I think this is your best day ever ATS, very impressive. 

[speedy]

Where's our Colby woofer?

I know it wasn't me before, but woof woof

The rare weekend when Bowdoin and Colby fans can get together on anything but here we are celebrating dual beat downs of Amherst!!

[sumfun]

Wow, with the tough weekend that Amherst had in Maine, do you all think that they are going to have to win out or win the NESCAC tourney to make NCAA's?

Also....nice job Walzy on the numbers.

[nescac1]

All of Amherst's losses are in region, and if they don't win NESCAC, they will have at least one more.  I think they could still make the NCAA's if they sweep Midd, Williams, Brandeis, RIC, and win at least one round (likely two) in NESCAC tourney, but the most realistic path for them is to win the conference.  Still, a wounded animal is dangerous, and nobody would want to face an Amherst squad playing with desperation in the tourney.  I see that Meehan only played half the game against Colby, I am guessing his injury flared up?  

Amherst 57 percent FTA btw ... free throw shooting has REALLY hurt the Jeffs this year in losses ... in 4/5 losses, if they hit 75-80 percent from the line instead of 60 or less, they could have pulled out the wins. 

The only question after Colby's big weekend -- will it be Russell or Choice for player of the week?  I'm guessing the former ...

[booyakasha]

Where's our Colby woofer?

I know it wasn't me before, but woof woof

The rare weekend when Bowdoin and Colby fans can get together on anything but here we are celebrating dual beat downs of Amherst!!

True true, actually at this point Bowdoin fans should be hoping Colby wins at least one next weekend in order to keep the chance to host the conference tourney in Maine alive.

[muletrain]

Colby just proved itself to be amongst the elite tonight. Next weekend will prove whether they can continue to elevate their game. If they win 1 of 2 next weekend there chances of winning the league look possible.

I have said from the start that people have been sleeping Colby the whole year. Many on this board have continued to assert that this team is all Choice. Tonight was a classic example of how these haters are wrong. The whole Colby team stepped their game up. This is a veteran team who beat a more talented Amherst team  because of grit and determination.

In regards to individual performances it is hard not to start with Choice. With all due respect to Blake Shultz I would have to say that it would be a travesty if Choice was not POY. He is unstoppable, and if anyone has seen him this year they would know that. Amherst used multiple players to guard him and still had no success. The same was true for Trinity last night. Next, Mike Russell should have put himself into great position to be a 1st or 2nd team all league player. There is nobody in the league who rebounds the ball like he does.

The rest of the Colby squad is what might have been most impressive though, performing like the seasoned veterans that they are. Haylon was snipping as usual, and Sherman did a grade A job shutting down Wheeler. Lastly, Christian Van Loenen has continued to be the key to this team. When Meehan was in, he locked him up, and when Carcieri came in he went to work. Carcieri was over his head as Van Loenen must have scored over double figures in the second half.


As a whole what a win. I look forward to next weeks games and hope that the top 25 wakes up and gives this team the love they deserve

[Bucket]

Bittersweet feelings in the Bucket household tonight. As a rabid Midd partisan, this loss stings. But Coach Maker is a close, longtime friend, so I'm happy for him. His team deserved it tonight.

Intense game between an explosive offense and a tenacious defense. I agree with the earlier assessments of Whittington, Wang, and Shultz--but I don't want to underplay the defensive job of Edwards. He hounded Schultz all night, and it took great ball movement and off-ball screens to free Schultz up for good looks. It was clear that the Williams strategy was to go right Locke, and it was wise. The 6-10 center is much more dangerous patrolling the lane and playing help-side defense.

I feel for Jake Wolfin tonight. He struggled, and you could tell it was eating at him. The shots just weren't dropping for him  (nor for Wholley for that matter) and he's gonna need to just file this away and come back firing next weekend. He's the Panthers' best long-range threat and he'll be needed going forward.

Not having Sharry really hurt; Middlebury doesn't score enough points to be able to absorb the loss of a 14 ppg inside-outside presence. But I don't want to make excuses. Williams certainly was dealt a bum hand last year on the injury front. Good news for Midd faithful is that it appears Sharry will be back on the floor next weekend.

I would love to see these two teams go at it again. Until then, Congrats Coach Makes and the Ephs. Now it's time for the Panthers to buckle down and get ready for two Maine teams that are playing really well.

[nescac1]

Bucket, was that you on the broadcast?  If so, excellent job: very balanced, no homerism, good insight, knowledgeable about both team's players, and for once, someone who can pronounce both "Ephs" and the individual Williams player names correctly (and I was happy that you cited a statistical note I made on this board about Robertson, to boot ). 

Your analysis all seems fair.  Schultz did have a lot of very clean looks from three (his two point makes were actually much tougher and the product of good individual effort) which means that the teammates were helping make that happen through screens and drawing defenders.  Guys like Rubin, Hardy, and Robertson, even when not scoring, do a very good job of moving the ball and reading the defense.  But 5-5 for three vs. DPOY is damn impressive, no matter what.   Really impressed by Thompson, very poised for a frosh, he will be a great building block for them.  I am sure Wolfin will bounce back; everyone has an off day at times, and shooters have to keep shooting. 

Williams vs. Colby and Schultz vs. Choice battling for first place and inside track to POY should be fun next Friday night ... hopefully with students just back from break, Chandler will be rocking. 

LOVE muletrain's posts, really plays the "nobody believes in us card" to the hilt.  I am tempted to post some smack talk before Friday just to light a fire under muletrain, but I actually am convinced Colby is legit, so hopefully another "hater" will bring the noise so that muletrain can make the "all crazy" team as a poster ... I would THINK that, even though they received no votes this week, Colby would have to supplant Amherst in the top 25 next week -- especially since other than Midd, Williams and MIT, no other New England teams are likely to receive any votes at all.  If they do, would that be Colby's first top-25 appearance?? 

[Old Guy]

NESCAC1's analysis nailed it.

Middlebury closed to one (53-52) with nine minutes to go, and Midd fans thought we had a shot, but Hardy (Hardy?) came back and nailed a long two right away and the Ephs were off and running. Middlebury's offense was bad early and late - the last couple of minutes were ugly (we missed, Williams didn't)

With 12 minutes gone in the first half, the score was 17-12 Ephs. The Panthers had four hoops in that span - couldn't buy a basket, and had a lot of open looks, played great D.  Middlebury fought back and looked like they had a chance to go in after a poor half just down 5. Williams ran the clock down from 30 seconds and only could manage a contested three from Wang - Thompson was draped on him. A big, big shot. Down eight instead of five.

Wang and Whittington were terrific. Whittington was 8-9, went right at Locke (and Lynch) with variety of moves (nice little baby hook over Locke's outstretched arm). Edwards actually did a pretty good job on Schultz. It strikes me he never misses: 5-5 from three. I saw Choice last week against Bates, in a bad game for him. We'll see him next weekend, so I'll reserve POY judgment for now. On the basis of today's game (25 points on 13 shots) it would be hard to vote against Schultz.

Really nice crowd at Middlebury, given the circumstances (break, hockey game - BTW, a 5-2 win over Bowdoin). They gym was about 80% full and they got into it when Midd made their second half run.

Sharry was missed but Williams is very good, no question about it. The Panthers didn't play their best by a long shot (unintentional play on words) and were in it for a spell. The players will be able to put this in the rear view mirror. So we'll just have to get after the Mules and Polar Bears next week.

Muletrain, Colby "haters"?

[senatorfrost]

   Looked to me like Meehan was not 100%. He only played 22 minutes instead of his usual 37 or so in a game like this. No question Von Linen deserves extra special kudos as well as thousands of huzzahs for locking down a far less than 100% Meehan. I wonder how many rounds will spring forth from this awesome  feat? Oh, and it was amazing too.
   On the other hand Von Linen or no Von Linen an NCAA bid is starting to look a little less likely. However, there's always next weekend and the one after that etc.

[senatorfrost]

 Colby has less talent than Amherst? Amherst has mostly sophs and frosh in the rotation. Players have missed practices and games. Plenty of potential there but hey if someone wants to talk about how gritty their boys are, far be it from me to argue. I hereby declare Colby to be the grittiest team in all the land. Hip hip==

[booyakasha]

Haha muletrain really got under your skin huh? I mean it must of taken something really stinging for you to resort to Shakespearean sarcasm. Something like and 0-2 trip to Maine and facing the reality that an NCAA bid will only be earned through the Conf. Tourney?

Although, even as a Colby supporter, I will concede that half the basis of muletrain's diatribe came out of thin air. I have yet to hear anyone really call out the mules as a pretender besides Speedo, and we expect that out of the Bowdoin supporter.

If they do, would that be Colby's first top-25 appearance??  

Not sure, how long have the rankings been going on. I know Colby's teams of the early nineties were as good as anyone in the country when the had Matt Hancock and company, but this was before the Nescac played in the NCAAs. I think Coach Whitmore won a couple of ECAC titles back then, which was the best a NESCAC team could hope for.



Regardless, good time to be a mule fan.

[Hugenerd]

Haha muletrain really got under your skin huh? I mean it must of taken something really stinging for you to resort to Shakespearean sarcasm. Something like and 0-2 trip to Maine and facing the reality that an NCAA bid will only be earned through the Conf. Tourney?

Although, even as a Colby supporter, I will concede that half the basis of muletrain's diatribe came out of thin air. I have yet to hear anyone really call out the mules as a pretender besides Speedo, and we expect that out of the Bowdoin supporter.

If they do, would that be Colby's first top-25 appearance??  

Not sure, how long have the rankings been going on. I know Colby's teams of the early nineties were as good as anyone in the country when the had Matt Hancock and company, but this was before the Nescac played in the NCAAs. I think Coach Whitmore won a couple of ECAC titles back then, which was the best a NESCAC team could hope for.



Regardless, good time to be a mule fan.

I think d3hoops started ranking in the late 90s.

Anyone know why Williams is only playing 24 games this year?

[CWM_42]

There have been no national rankings in the past decade for Colby.  However, the 1984-85 Mules were ranked as high as #2 in the country.  Also, the 1982-83 and 1990-91 Colby teams spring to mind as being Top 10 ranked.  There were others in the 90s.

As we wait for next weekend's matchups, which can't come fast enough, I would like to propose a little exercise.  I would be very interested in having our various posters weigh in with what they believe to be their school's best all-time starting five.  That is, not simply the five best players or highest scorers, but in the hypothetical the most balanced starting five.

While many NESCAC member institutions enjoyed great success prior to 1971, when the league was officially formed, I propose that we focus on the period between 1971 and the present.

I would like to begin by throwing out my take on Bowdoin's best starting five:

G-Dennis Jacobi (1988-92)
G-Kyle Jackson (2005-09)
F-Gregg Fasulo (1974-78)
F-Chris Jerome (1979-83)
C-Joe Williams (1984-88)