MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Tufts -- late game incompetence, worst luck streak EVER, or a bit of both?  This is brutal.  So the sequence was, they have the ball with 35 seconds remaining and a lead, turn it over, give up a shot, then the guy hits a falling-down fallaway put back, then Tufts in turn hits a last second shot but it is waived off as coming after the buzzer ... dang, that is rough.

http://www.d3hoops.com/game-releases/v2.0/2010/Feb/02/Tufts-vs.-Mass-Dartmouth/g0x4wfn160br3csb/32201

[walzy31]

To all NESCAC ballers:

There are still three 1st Team slots and two 2nd Team Slots that are open on the All Crazy Team.
Get Crazy!

[mainehoops]

Muletrain,  thanks for the analysis.  I don't know much about Woodword but it seems like he really needs to step up then.  If you are reading this, use your body Woodword and dominate! 

Those fg% stats for the Ephs can't be right, can they? As a team, 52+% from 2 and 45% from 3?  And their top 3 leading scorers  shoot 52%, .58% and 70%, respectively.  This must be a typo, or I think this has to be something historical going on here.  I'm assuming Wang must be a lightning bolt to get his teammates all these open looks.  Van Loenon is a bullet himself, which might actually make this the most significant matchup of the game.  Keep Wang in front of you Van Loenen, win the game! 

Also, no disrespect to Kyle Jackson, but Petrie was just an impossible guard and cannot be left off the all-time Bowdoin team.  I only saw Kyle play a few times, but anyone who remembers Petrie and his endless array of pivot moves and shot fakes will put him on that list over KJ.

Muletrain, I'll be webcasting the game as well.  I'm hoping for some good commentating throughout, much like the people who do the Jumbocast broadcasts.  I was impressed with them.

[nescac1]

Walzy, you will be pleased to hear that, in discussing the upcoming Colby-Williams game, a coworker / Colby alum suggested a [ahem, non-monetary, ahem] wager on the outcome of the game.  Being that the game is at Williams, he insisted on receiving points.  I informed him that there is an "official" NESCAC line, and he agreed to abide by your spread, accordingly.  So make it a good one ...

I am curious who the five all-crazy members already selected are ...

Mainehoops, the stats are right.  Schultz has been a high-percentage shooter in three of his four years at Williams, and he has kicked it up a notch as a senior.  Wang gets a lot of layups due to his speed, which helps his FG percentage, but his three point percentage has been a big surprise this year; had no idea he could shoot like that.  As for Whittington, virtually all his FG's come within five feet or so of the rim, many are dunks which obviously helps FG %, and as I said he is very hard to defend at this level due to the fact that he is extremely quick, a lefty, takes it to the hoops strong, and his arms are so long that he really plays taller than his size.  A lot of the guys who get little credit relative to those three -- Rubin, Hardy, Robertson, Timmins, etc. -- are heady players who are good at finding their teammates in good position to score easily, which helps. 

[muletrain]

Based on the analysis it looks like Colby will have Woodward guarding Geohegan when he is in but not Wittington. Russell will then be switched on to Whittington with maybe even Choice switching over to guard him occasionally. Although I think Choice is as good of a defender as they come, I wouldnt be surprised if Colby has Sherman play a no help type of defense on Shultz. Sherman was able to do a really good face guarding job on Wheeler last weekend. Whether or not Van Loenen can stay in front of Wang sounds like it might be the story of the game. Against Amherst Van Loenen did a great job on Meehan for the 22 minutes  Meehan played. Out of his 9 points at least 4 came on transition jumpers.

Although it sounds like Shultz is Williams best perimeter defender I think it might be a mistake for him to guard Choice from the start. Many people look at Choice as a slasher/midrange jump shooter, but I think he is at his best when he is posting up about 4ft extended from the low block. He can do so much facing up from there including drawing a tone of fouls. If the refs call the game even remotely close Shultz could be in serious foul trouble.

Colby's offense will probably have to have a better than average game because they are not going to hold williams in the low 60s. In order to do that the 3/4 scorers will have to show up. If Van Loenen, Sherman, and Haylon all are making plays this Colby team will be in very good shape.

[amh63]

The first regional rankings are out.  Unranked Amherst with mainly subs playing in the second half blows out RIC who is ranked 10th and leads their conference.  So much for rankings.
The SID who was in in the announcers' booth provided some insight into Meehan's injury.  He has a deep knee/thigh bruise.  He was out of the Trinity game due to the injury.  In the Colby game he suffered a hit in the same area and was taken out in the second half.  In the RIC game he sat by Hixon and watched Noon and his back-up play.

[walzy31]

Walzy, you will be pleased to hear that, in discussing the upcoming Colby-Williams game, a coworker / Colby alum suggested a [ahem, non-monetary, ahem] wager on the outcome of the game.  Being that the game is at Williams, he insisted on receiving points.  I informed him that there is an "official" NESCAC line, and he agreed to abide by your spread, accordingly.  So make it a good one ...

I am curious who the five all-crazy members already selected are ...

I can't divulge the line yet or who has already been drafted to the All-Crazy team. The lines will come out the day of the game and the All-Crazy Team will come out before Conference Tournament play begins.

Your Colby friend is right to want points, and it makes me happy to hear that the spreads are sometimes going to good non-use. Tell him to peruse my past lines this season as a case study if he has doubts.

[amh63]

Picking the best all time college BB team, all NESCAC all time team, all crazy team, etc. has generated much interest , opinions, and many more pollsters on this board.  Good.  The generation gap discussions of players have also been lively and heated.....in particular over players that few have actually seen.  Those discussions followed the same paths taken for sports other than BB....football, baseball, etc.  Is today's world sprint champion greater than Jessie Owens in his time?
I will add my two-bits here in a personal discussion of sorts for all to ponder.
In the 80's, I joined the late Ed Wall around the D.C. area.  Ed Wall was the Dean of Admission for Amherst at the time (he later went to USC as director of Admission and Fin. Aid)  Ed was a BB player at Yale in the mid 50's and had a talent for picking student-althetes.  In a discussion of his judgement on a person's abilities in a given sport, he laughed on recalling one of his biggest mistakes.  He thought he was a very good BB player at Yale.  He prided himself on his defensive skills.  In a game with Holy Cross, he went head to head with Tommy Heinsohn.  Ed stated that after Tommy scored over 40 points against him, he was never the same player.  I did not help, when I asked him if that was in the first half. 
In short, Ed stated that it is hard to judge a player by just looking at the stats and even watching him play.  You have play against him to get a real sense of the player.  T. Heinsoln went from Holy Cross to the Boston Celtics where he made rookie of the year in 1957.  His talent became clearer as he faced better players/competition.  Tommy was a player in any generation.

[toad22]

Walzy:
I nominate Greg St Jean from wes for all crazy

[TheHerst2and4]

Tommy was a player in any generation.

Tommy point for amh63
A related side note, Heinson has NESCAC connections; his grandson Brian Kumpf was the captain at Tufts in 06-07

[Old Guy]

I saw Colby-Bates and Williams-Midd on successive weekends. Williams is even better than I thought, though Midd did cut it to one in the second half. We couldn't stop Wang and Whittington - and we're good defensively. Maybe they had particularly good games. Schultz, based on the Middlebury game, never misses (5-5 from three)

I don't see anyone on Colby's backcourt that can stay with Wang, and I like Sherman (Tank) and Van Loenen. The're good players, very strong, but I think Wang will give them fits. I love Russell (6'4" bruiser, hard worker, rebounder) but I don't think he can handle Whittington (8-9 against our big guys). Geoghegan didn't do much against Midd, nor did Rubin. Robertson did nothing, looked like an eighth grader had wandered in the gym, but NESCAC1 says he can really play. Wms has lots of weapons.

On the other hand, based on my limited observation, I don't see a natural matchup for Williams on Choice. Schultz is a perimeter player - can he guard Choice? Against Bates in crunch time, Colby went to Choice on the block. Choice could cause some problems for the Ephs, but they've seen him before and will have a plan.

I hope Colby-Williams goes to 4 OTs and Choice plays 50+ minutes and the Mules drive the 100 miles or so up Route 7 from Williams to Middlebury totally spent.

[mainehoops]

Old Guy, I would GLADLY take a 4 OT win in Williamstown if it meant having to take an L in Middlebury.  Is it wrong to say that I'd take a weekend split?  Do I think we can sweep though, YES!     

Wow, I hope Van Loenin is reading this.  My sources tell me he craves these types of challenges, and in all seriousness, I expect that he has been studying hours of Wang video this week.  I personally wouldn't mind a few isolation sets early in the game with Van Loenin on the block going right at Wang.  Maybe that is crazy since Williams has some athletic bigs to block shots, but it would also keep Wang from leaking out in transition.  I'd love to get Wang into early foul trouble.   

What a tough weekend this is though.  All the focus during practice this week goes into Williams, and then lurking is another top 10 team who is returning arguably their best player from injury.  This is the type of weekend that I know Whitmore lives for, and he will have this team as fired up as they have ever been to get the job done!   

[walzy31]

Wow, I hope Van Loenin is reading this.  My sources tell me he craves these types of challenges, and in all seriousness, I expect that he has been studying hours of Wang video this week.  I personally wouldn't mind a few isolation sets early in the game with Van Loenin on the block going right at Wang.  Maybe that is crazy since Williams has some athletic bigs to block shots, but it would also keep Wang from leaking out in transition.  I'd love to get Wang into early foul trouble.    

I'm not trying to offend our female readers, but this cracks me up.

[mainehoops]

Yes, Wang is huge!  If he goes off early, that is trouble

[nescac1]

Article of interest to the Colby fans:

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2010/02/04/sports_notebook_wellesley_pair_prove_to_be_a_force_at_colby/

Old Guy, Robertson definitely looks like he is about 16 ... and he was very quiet against Midd.  But trust me, he can play ... I just think his role on this team is to move the ball, take some of the ball-handling pressure off Wang, pick up a few assists, be a steadying presence to let the scorers make things happen etc., but when he is a bit more aggressive, he can also make things happen on offense for both himself and teammates.  I think that, if he gets stronger and improves his outside shot a bit, next year he will be a 10-12 point / 5-6 assist per game kind of player.  There is a reason he is the only frosh to get PT on Williams, even above Klemm, who is also supposed to have a bright future.    Those two guys, plus Wang, Whittington, Dodson and Emerson, will likely be the core of next year's team.  

New England rankings out, Williams first, Colby third, Midd fourth, so this will be a huge weekend for all three teams.