MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

The Amherst MBB team has a new member.  L. Lewis, a 5'11" guard, is listed on the roster.  He is a football defensive back/ return man which point towards quickness/speed.  He is from N.J. but his prep school is one in Va.  Hope he works out, especially as a defensive guard......maybe to counter/lockdown Mr. Wang of Williams.   Interesting.   Roster is now 10 vice the 17 from last season.

[Colby Hoops]

Even if the new guy is a defensive stud, it seems that Amherst wouldn't play him.  The team already barely plays their best defensive player (Williamson), not to mention Meehan and Toomey at the point.

[lordjeff82]

I have to take exception to calling Allen Williamson Amhest's best defensive player.  He may well be the most athletic but he often seems lost playing defense.  He often stares at the man with ball,  gets turned around and loses contact with the man he's guarding. 

[amh63]

Need to correct typo error in the last post.  Meant to type 19 vice 10.  The size of the roster ties Colby.  Bates also has a large roster.  Williams and Bowdoin may have the smallest team roster in terms of number,,,,that is.

[Colby Hoops]

Re: Williamson, I'll change my comment to best on-ball defender, can't comment much about his help defense and the like.  Still, I believe he's a significant upgrade from Barrise, and while Workman has his moments I wouldn't call him a shutdown defender either.

[ac08]

Even if the new guy is a defensive stud, it seems that Amherst wouldn't play him.  The team already barely plays their best defensive player (Williamson), not to mention Meehan and Toomey at the point.

I think 'Herst will play whomever provides the best chance of winning. That may be subjective, but the best Jeff teams played guys who were solid/disciplined defensively and versatile offensively.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Even if the new guy is a defensive stud, it seems that Amherst wouldn't play him.  The team already barely plays their best defensive player (Williamson), not to mention Meehan and Toomey at the point.

I think 'Herst will play whomever provides the best chance of winning. That may be subjective, but the best Jeff teams played guys who were solid/disciplined defensively and versatile offensively.

And how exactly does that differ from any other team in the country?!

[ac08]

I'm not so familiar with the rest of the country, but I hear they like winning, too.

[nescac1]

Williams escapes -- barely -- with a four point win vs. Wesleyan.  Gutty performance to maintain composure on the road vs. a rival.  

Williams was down 13 early in the game, and down by as much as seven in the second half, but stormed back on the strength of outstanding three point and free throw shooting.  Strong showing by Wesleyan who still seems to be missing a few key players due to injury I imagine, but ultimately they could not withstand the Eph shooters firing down the stretch, and had no answer at all for Whittington inside.  As usual, Sha Brown torched the Ephs, this time to the tune of 25-5-6.  

On the plus side for Williams, they continue to get consistent scoring out of what seems to be their new big three, which is the same as last year's version, except with Klemm stepping in for Schultz at the three.  All three had monster games, especially Whittington, with a ridiculous line of 22 points, 13 boards, 6 blocks, 8-10 shooting from the field.  Klemm and Wang both shot really well.  Nate Robertson also had his typical nice all around game, with 8-4-4, plus a block and a steal, and based on the stats he made some clutch plays during the key stretch when the Ephs seized control.  

But there are definitely concerns -- last year the big three was complemented by consistent big contributions from Joe G. and Alex Rubin.  So far this year, no one else has emerged as a consistent fourth scoring option, and Williams has gotten VERY little bench scoring.  Emerson, Dodson, and Rooke-Ley (as well as Robertson) all have that ability and each has shown flashes, and it's very early in the year, so hopefully they will start to get more looks on offense, because Klemm/Wang/Whittington can't ALL be on every game.  The other HUGE concern for the Ephs is that they only forced three turnovers, but committed 15, and also gave up more second chance points.  Again, it is early in the year so some offensive choppiness isn't a big shock, especially on the road, but the Ephs can't expect to win very often when they are taking 20 fewer field goal attempts.

Still, Williams can breath a sigh of relief after this one.  

Looks like based on its score Amherst is really finding its groove ... although I don't think Western New England is much of an opponent, as is usual for Amherst in its first semester scheduling.  The Jeffs always seem to stack their tougher non-conference games later in the year, for some reason.  

[walzy31]

Amherst's increased emphasis on athletics is reflected in the "marquee sport" of men's basketball whose roster carries 18 players, 5 first-years, 9 of 6'6" or taller, etc. Same figures for Williams, for instance, are 13 players, 4 first-years, and 6 of 6'6" or taller. Amherst now exceeds the rosters of the teams of many other NESCAC schools in various sports, touts the prospect of at least 4 NCAA national championships this year, accepts more athletic transfers, enrolls international players in certain sports, etc. What is going on?

In response to your question, the answer is simply that Amherst has too many players on its team and that your argument is lacking substance.

Amherst has too large of a roster and many of them are tall, thus the school has an increased emphasis on athletics?
No other schools in NESCAC accept international athletes?
Amherst accepts more athlete transfer students?

I saw the Amherst / WNEC game tonight so Walzy is now back.

[walzy31]

Williams escapes -- barely -- with a four point win vs. Wesleyan.

Looks like based on its score Amherst is really finding its groove ... although I don't think Western New England is much of an opponent, as is usual for Amherst in its first semester scheduling.  The Jeffs always seem to stack their tougher non-conference games later in the year, for some reason.  

Let the team gel together and improve before facing off with Brandeis, RIC, Elms etc.. We still play the same teams, and they get to improve in the first semester just like we do. Look at last year...didn't help us. Most years it does.

[walzy31]

Amherst beats WNEC by 29. It was a tough game to really get a read on the team as all 18 players that dressed got playing time.

Good news:
A lot of players looked very smooth on their 3-pt stroke (Barrise, Waller, Workman, Edwards).
The first half, which featured the current "rotation," held WNEC to 22 pts and held Castleton St to 34 in Saturday's the game (yes, I realize that I referenced three halves played against WNEC and Castleton St).
No player had more than two turnovers.
Jeff and Pete combined for 22, 12, 2 and 3.

Bad news:
Still can't make Free Throws

I think as the season progresses the team will improve more and more on the offensive side of the ball and continue to rely on its athleticism on defense to win games early on.

[nescac1]

Things continue to get worse at Conn College as former NESCAC ROY Demetrius Porter is no longer on the roster.  I wonder if he will try to go and play elsewhere?  Crazy.  Although they seem to have some good frosh, it could be a historically bad year in NESCAC for Conn College.  Then again, a few other teams are looking to be in pretty rough shape as well.  I'd like to say I feel better about Williams struggling vs. Regis (who did seem to have some talent) after they pounded Tufts, but I think it is just as much a reflection of a very thin Tufts team.  And Colby seems to be hurting as well.  Not a ton of guys contributing much from the last few recruiting classes, and you have to wonder what happens once Russell and Van Loenen graduate  ...

Surprised to see Bates lose to Southern Maine, I thought they might go on an early season roll.  Only four NESCAC teams remain undefeated, and I'm not sure how long Bowdoin, who has beat up on some bad teams but whose schedule soon get tougher, will remain so.  Looks like Midd, Amherst and Williams could all put up some gaudy win totals this year in what seems to be a very shallow conference. 

[lefrakenstein]

In an effort to A)justify my unending love of Jeff Holmes and B) give Hugenerd a run for his nerdiness crown, I went back and calculated PER's for the entire Amherst roster using the conference season stats. (you cant use the other stats, b/c you need to know aggregate level data for the league, and out-of-league play is, well, not in a league).

Usually a PER of 15 represents an average player in the league. However, I didn't have the time or desire to do this for every player in the league, so here a PER of 15 represents average production for an amherst player.

Here were the rankings of the players:

1. Holmes (25.6)
2. Meehan (24.5)
3. Kaasila (17.3)
4. Barrise (15.8)
5. Waller (15.4)
6. Williamson (13.1)
7. Workman (11.9)
8. Wheeler (10.9)
9. Noon (10.1)
10. Carcieri (5.8)
11. Bennett (5.6)

A couple of observations... First, Meehan and Holmes were the run-away best players on the team from a statistical perspective. Granted, PER doesnt really capture defense, and I cant watch the games live, but unless Holmes is vastly inferior defensively to his big man competition, this analysis would suggest that he should get the majority of playing time.

Second, the addition-by-subtraction theory with Wheeler probably has legs. Although he was a great shooter, Wheeler's PER was hurt a ton by the fact that he had only 2 assists and 12 boards in 213 minutes of play during the conference season. You would think that just by standing on a court for 213 minutes of game action you would be guaranteed that more than 12 rebounds would just sort of carom into your hands without your even having to try. And clearly he was not much of a passer. I have high hopes that Toomey can be much more productive than Wheeler was last season.

[lefrakenstein]

Quick question: For the people who have seen Toomey play in practice and over the summer, can he shoot? It's kind of worrisome that he has shot so poorly from behind the arc so far, especially since he is clearly not shy about throwing it up. Hopefully it's just a bad run?