MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Some updates:
The MBB webcast for the Friday game is off.  The webcast at Amherst goes to the hockey games.  That's what happens when you are the reigning national champions.   Will have to turn to some local Div 1 games.  Oh well.
In one of my earlier posts, I referred to an under 6' guard.  The guard I was referring to was the freshman from Va.  I thought that I noticed he was listed at 5'10" in an earlier listing of the roster.  It had caught my attention when he was listed.  I had to go to my list of students admitted in the MD/DC/VA area to find him.  His last name appears to have been shorten on the roster from my list.   In the latest roster, he is now listed as 6'1".  Oh well, I will attribute this to old age and poor eyesight.
If the men's soccer team wins this weekend up in Maine, Mr. Noon will be late to upcoming "games".  Last year, his joining the team was also delayed by NCAA play and an injury that required major "dental work"...thereby slowing his contributions to the team.

[Old Guy]

Panthers defeat Baruch, 63-60.  First game. Defense comes every night. Middlebury shoots 1-13 from three; 14-24 from the line; under 40% from the floor. Still wins. Baruch (about which I know nothing but are pretty good I'm told) shoots worse. 

Box score reveals some interesting details. Locke comes off the bench, scores 17 (7-9), 10 boards, 5 blocks. Could be his year. Sharry: 12 points (4-13), 13 rebounds. Thompson plays 38 minutes (11 points, 5 rebounds). Panthers win the battle of the boards, 51-39.

Like I said. Strong kids. Win tough games on the road.

[lefrakenstein]

Panthers defeat Baruch, 63-60.  First game. Defense comes every night. Middlebury shoots 1-13 from three; 14-24 from the line; under 40% from the floor. Still wins. Baruch (about which I know nothing but are pretty good I'm told) shoots worse. 

Box score reveals some interesting details. Locke comes off the bench, scores 17 (7-9), 10 boards, 5 blocks. Could be his year. Sharry: 12 points (4-13), 13 rebounds. Thompson plays 38 minutes (11 points, 5 rebounds). Panthers win the battle of the boards, 51-39.

Like I said. Strong kids. Win tough games on the road.

Amherst is going to win 0 of these types of games this year. Defense today left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, a win over a tournament team last year, which is at least a step in the right direction.

Also, 21 points for Toomey is his college debut. I'm going to pencil him in for 1,000, barring injury.

[ac08]

...a little early for "never"-talk.

[lefrakenstein]

lefrankenstein, I would guess Amherst goes smaller, with Holmes and Kaasila sharing the center position (and perhaps playing a few minutes here and there together, but generally not) and Bennett providing depth behind them in case of foul trouble, injury, etc.  Then they could do a three guard rotation of Toomey, Meehan, Barrise (no way Toomey is limited to only 10 minutes a game based on what everyone seems to be saying), and a three forward rotation of Waller (who will play a lot more than 20 mpg if healthy), Workman, Williamson, with Holmes sliding to the four when needed.

This was pretty dead on. I was surprised and honestly, kind of disappointed, to see that Holmes didn't start. I've always been kind of big Holmes homer. I think Waller has bigger upside than Holmes, but to this point in their careers, I think Holmes has played a little more consistently.

To be fair, Holmes did play way more in crunch time, including the entire overtime session, with Kaasila, proving they can be effective on the court together. I wonder if it's possible that Holmes and Toomey find their way into the starting lineup soon. they were certainly out there when it counted.

Also, very good to see Connor Johnson get some PT and make the most of it, hitting 3 huge threes in the second half. It's only one game, but I wonder if Hixon plans to continue to give Johnson a lot of Williamson's time to get another shooter in the lineup. Williamson is definitely a talented player, but he seems a little redundant with Workman.

[nescac1]

A few observations from the first night of NESCAC play.  It is hard to take TOO much from the first game, especially when other schools have been practicing for two extra weeks, while NESCAC schools are just finding their groove.  But interesting to see which frosh are in the rotations, etc.:

Bates had the most impressive win I thought.  Babson is usually decent and Bates handled them easily, despite the fact that two key guys (Weston and Squires) just finished the football season and will need a few weeks to round into form.  Matarazzo lived up to the hype as the top-rated New England frosh in D-III, with an efficient 3 points (on one fga), 3 boards, and five assists.  He is probably the best bet to challenge Toomey for ROY.  Between Ellis, Brust, Matarazzo, and Gallant, that is a really nice core for Bates, who could be a real sleeper, especially once their big guys get into hoops shape.   

Hard to take too much from the Williams game since due to a blow-out couldn't really see who the rotation would be.  Surprised that Emerson and Whittington started together, with Dodson coming off the bench.  Not sure if that will be a permanent starting line-up, but they certainly played spectacularly together last night (a combined 14-17, 3-3 from three, 18 boards, seven assists, three blocks, 34 points, in only 36 minutes, against what I imagine was a totally outmatched SVT front-court).  The Eph first years struggled a bit shooting from the field but hopefully that was first game jitters, as otherwise it sounded like they made some nice all-around contributions.  Klemm showed his range in his first game as a starter with four threes.   The Ephs can't possibly match last year in terms of shooting after losing Schultz and Rubin, but with Emerson and Klemm added to the rotation, they are still going to be the top three point shooting team in NESCAC. 

Middlebury's three point shooting woes continued from last year but they toughed it out with a big rebounding advantage.  They will have to shoot better to beat better teams, but I think they will as Wolfin and Sharry are both much better shooters than they showed last night.   Seems like Kizel will be the key new addition to the rotation, taking many of Edwards' minutes. 

Maine-Farmington is a good (though not spectacular) team.  Eric Taylor is for real, the Ephs had no answer for him in the NCAA tourney last year if I recall.   Still, Amherst's overall defense will need to improve substantially.  Toomey is obviously the real deal and he and Meehan together are going to be a very, very difficult back-court to guard.  I think Workman and Waller will contribute more than last night, generally, they are just too talented.  They SHOULD be able to present match-up nightmares with their size and quickness.  Other than Connor Johnson (who seems to be ahead of Williamson now and validated that with a big game), Amherst really struggled from three, which will be its biggest concern, offensively, all year most likely. 

Based on the box score, a few of Wesleyan's top players (Fogel and St. Jean) must be injured, as they did not play.  If neither can go on Tuesday that would be a big advantage for Williams.  St. Jean is especially important as he could be the heir to Tim Edwards as the top perimeter defender in NESCAC. 

Colby and Bowdoin did not do anything to show that they will be challenging the big three.  Neither looks to be very deep after the top three players or so. 

[Colby Hoops]

Colby struggled with an extremely mediocre Curry team. Russell had 22 and 15 boards, but the story of the game was turnovers.  It's not often you shoot 62% and lose, just a crazy amount of turnovers (32) with not a single player who entered the game recording less than 2.  Not a good start at all to the Mules, and could be a long year with absolutely zero depth. The reality is, if they beat Newbury today they'll be 1-1 in the tournament, which is what they would have been anyway, as the winner of last nights game plays Brandeis.  Brandeis has 10 freshman, but they are extremely talented, I expect them to be very solid this year.

That is not a good U-Maine Farmington team that Amherst had to go to OT with.  Taylor is a hard worker, but there is absolutely no way that a team with Amherst's size and talent should have no answer for him.  I saw UMF play several times last season, and I never thought they should give any Nescac team trouble.  Obviously they made a little run at the end of the season lat year, but they play in a pretty poor conference and don't have very much talent.  UMF lost to Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Amherts last year by 20 and unless they got some new freshmen I would be worried if I were and Amherst fan after that one.

[amh63]

Followed the game last night and it gave me heartburn....maybe it was the dinner time that contributed to my problem...and the Amherst duo of Waller and Workman.   Five turnovers by Waller and only 2-12 shooting by both players.  With its size advantage, I could not understand why there were so many three's taken early.   Maybe UMF was playing a zone defense?  When the bigs began to get touches, IMO, Amherst's offense seemed better.  Still, there appears to be a problem with defense, turnovers and foul shooting.  At least Toomey is a good foul shooter, along with Meeham.  Holmes, IMO, is an indifferent foul shooter.  It was nice to see him hit the winning foul shot in OT, when he missed his second foul shot that could have won the game in regular time.  Also it was smart of him to miss his second foul shot in OT...thus preventing UMF of a last second shot.
Barrise's shooting was also a concern as he took several 3's in OT.   I believe, Connors may be taking time from Barrise rather than Williamson.  Connors last year played in the backcourt some when Meeham was out.
I do take comfort from nescac 1 wrt to it being the first game.
Old Guy, any thoughts why Locke is coming off the bench?

[Bucket]

Middlebury blows out UMass-Dartmouth, 86-62.

Once again, the Panthers are strong on the boards (42-27) and stifling on D, holding the opponent to 38 percent from the floor.

Unlike in its season-opening win against Baruch, Middlebury shot very well this afternoon: 63 percent from the field, including 7 for 11 from beyond the arc. Much better at the charity stripe, too: 21-26.

Senior swingman Ryan Wholey led all scorers with 21. Ryan Sharry recorded his second straight double double (15 and 11) in just 23 minutes of action. Nolan Thompson shot very well and chipped in 10, while Jake Wolfin uncharacteristically attempted only two shots (making one, his first trey of the season), while apparently focusing on distributing the ball. He had 6 assists (vs. 3 turnovers).

Nice all around game from the freshman Joey Kizel, too: 9 points, two assists, two boards, and a steal in 18 minutes of action.

As the rapper Jay Z says...on to the next one.

[grabtherim]

Anyone know where I would find the postings for the UAA? 

[magicman]

Anyone know where I would find the postings for the UAA? 

Go to the Multi-Rregional Topics page. The UAA board is listed there.

[nescac1]

Based on the first weekend of action (combined with high school pedigree), list of potential impact first years / transfers in NESCAC this year (by impact I mean making a substantial contributions to their teams this year ... obviously there are frosh on deeper NESCAC teams who won't see floor time, but who are probably stronger players than some of those listed below):

Amherst -- Aaron Toomey
Bates -- Luke Matarazzo
Bowdoin -- Matt Mathias, Andrew Madlinger
Colby -- Uzoma Orchingwa
Conn College -- Jethro Anilus, Taylor Hanson, Matt Vadas
Middlebury -- Joe Kizel
Trinity -- Kevin Lubin
Tufts -- Alex Orchowski
Wesleyan -- Glen Thomas
Williams -- Hayden Rooke-Ley

Toomey remains the overwhelming favorite for ROY heading into NESCAC play.  Orchowski, the D-1 transfer at Tufts, had the most impressive debut, with 13 points (6-9 from the field), 17 boards, and two blocks.

[ALJ2010]

After this weekends games, what are everyones predictions now on the conference standings?  Will Williams still be at the top?  Can Amherst overtake them?
Could the NESCAC get 2 teams in the Final 4?
Could the NESCAC have multiple teams in the tourney?

[Colby Hoops]

A little early for final four predictions I would say.  I still thinks its Williams and Midd well above everyone else.  Amherst has the talent but until they prove that they can defend against legitimate opponents I'm not buying it. 

Colby took care of a weak Newbury team in game two, and beat them handily, the final score was closer than the game ever was.  Eric Bealieu stepped up with a career high 22 pts.  COlby will need him to step up offensively, as last year he was the 7th man and played quite a bit but was more of defense and rebounding type. He has skills and with everybody paying attention to Russell he could step up. 

Colby is shooting a blistering 60+% for the season, which really just mean they turn the ball over a ridiculous amount.  Russell had 17 and 7 against Newbury despite missing much of the first half with foul trouble (an enormous concern).  I'm pegging Colby as a team that will be fighting with Bates, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Trinity for the 4-8 slots in the Nescac.  I'd say Bates/Bowdoin might be the favorites out of that group.

[toad22]

After a weekend of play, not enough to really know much, I still think Midd, Amherst and Williams are the top 3 teams, but I am leaning toward an order of Middlebury, Amherst and then Williams. Williams has so many players to replace, that there are just too many uncertain things that have to go right to make them the top pick. Amherst and Middlebury have more solid veterans. As of right now, Middlebury seems to be the toughest of them all. They are deep and talented everywhere. I saw both Williams games this weekend, and a worrisome aspect to it was that neither Wang nor Whittington was at their best. They need to be if Williams is to avoid several early season losses, particularly tomorrow night vs Wesleyan.