MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Should be interesting to see the brackets come out.  With WPI and Becker both losing, Amherst will have to sweat a little, but I still can't imagine they would be left out, there haven't been THAT many upsets ...

Now that the season is over, my shot at all-NESCAC.  Hasn't really changed much from pre-season:

First team: Whittington, Sharry, Hanley, Wang, Meehan
Second team: Locke, Ellis, Russell, Brown, Workman

POY: Whittington (Sharry is great, but this is a no-brainer)

All defense: Locke, Whittington, Workman, Thompson, Robertson
DPOY: Locke (another no-brainer)

COY: Jeff Brown
ROY: This is really tough.  Up until three weeks ago, Toomey seemed like an absolute lock.  Toomey, Vadas, and Kizel can all make a case, with Rooke-Ley not far behind in a great group of frosh guards, but due to how he played in big games, and with Toomey's late-season swoon, I have to give it to Kizel. 

[Major Hoople]

   Panther pride this weekend.  It can't be quantified as Walzy, a really great handicapper, who had an off tournament weekend, knows.
   Midd defense in the 2nd half against Amherst and all game today vs. Williams was fierce and effective.  It took Wang and Wittington off their games. Davis played with great energy and Sharry and Locke were exceptional.  Midd's backcourt, Wolfin, Thompson and Kizel, outplayed their rivals on both days. The team deserved the championship and has certainly earned the #1 ranking.

[walzy31]

Congratulations to Middlebury for winning the NESCAC title. I certainly didn't quantify them as the favorites going into the weekend, but had I woken up today before tipoff time, you would have seen Midd favored by 3 in the Championship Game (still a ways off from nailing their 9 point win).

It seems likely Middlebury gets a bye and hosts a Saturday game, Williams gets to host two games, and Amherst will be sent somewhere to win on someone else's court. I could live with that.

Coach Brown did a great job tonight on Hoopsville.

I like Toad's prediction of either Middlebury or Williams being moved and Amherst playing the one that stays in region in the Elite 8.

[Old Guy]

My 15 year old son, Young Guy, insists that the premier etoile (hockey term) today must go to Jamal Davis, who guarded Whittington and harassed him honorably. Jamal is such an interesting player, quick and long, and I think he gave Troy some trouble. Nobody at this level will stop him, but Jamal made him work for everything he got (4-7, 13 points).

Speaking of Whittington: his dunk in the last couple of minutes of the game when Williams was making its final push was the best dunk I have ever seen in person, at any level. I hope someone got it on video. It was a put back of a missed shot. I thought he jumped too early, but, no, he got the rebound at the peak of its flight, at least eighteen inches above the rim - he was eyeball to the hoop, and slammed it home. The crowd went nuts, deservedly so. But Kizell took the inbound pass and went the length of the floor for a hoop. No blood. They still only give two points for a dunk.

I hope some dispassionate observers will analyze today's game (Walzy?). I'm too emotionally involved to be very analytical - I don't notice who's playing whom. My sense today was that there was a great strategic battle going on in the coaching, primarily having to do with match-ups, who was on the floor when. I haven't seen enough of the Ephs to calculate the loss of Robertson, but it strikes me to compare it to Sharry's absence earlier in the year is a stretch. Also, I agree that Whittington is POY but I wouldn't call it a "no-brainer." Sharry deserves consideration (cf. today!). Coach Brown - COY: absolutely.

The deuxieme etoile goes to Thompson with 15 big points in the first half and a game long wrap-up of Wang, and the troisieme etoile to Kizell - ice water. The Ephs shot 31.5 % for the game. Locke was not really a major factor - four fouls, one rebound, one block, four points in 16 minutes. Balance: Thompson - 15 points; Sharry - 14 (12 boards), Kizell - 13; Wolfin 11.

A perspective: feel good for the Panthers. We haven't been here before (25-1). The Ephs and the Jeffs have a national championship in the past decade. Our goal over time has been respectibility, competitiveness (which we have achieved - thank you, Coaches Alaimo, Lawson, Reilly). Middlebury is, has been, a winter sports haven: ice hockey, skiing.  Basketball? C'mon. For those of us devoted to Middlebury hoops, who have followed Panther basketball over time in relative obscurity, the level of success achieved in the last few years is beyond reckoning, unprecedented. It's unimaginable. The current Midd players and their families don't have long memories - they are like the Red Sox in 2004: what's the Curse of the Bambino to them? For those of us who have been around for a while, . . . sheer delight.

As I've said here before, Williams is the gold standard. We beat 'em today. In their gym. Not close, this time, an outright win. Middlebury.  

[toad22]

Old Guy:
I don't mean to take anything away from Middlebury and their win today, but from my perspective as an Eph fan, that game was up for grabs until about 50 seconds left in the game. When Williams got the ball with about 1 minute to go and down by 3, I was sure that we were going to win (reverse the outcome from yesterday). We turned it over with less than a minute to go and our chances started to wane. Clearly Middlebury deserved to win, but that sentiment was validated, in my opinion, in the last minute. By the way, my favorite candidate for "unsung hero" on the Middlebury team is Jamal Davis. He is a warrior. He is the kind of guy anybody would want in a foxhole when the bullets start to fly. Good luck to the Panthers!

[Bucket]

Back from Williamstown, head still abuzz.

What a weekend of basketball. From the unimaginable excitement of Saturday to the heavyweight championship battle that went on today, I firmly believe that we saw Division III basketball at its very best—great kids, talented, unbelievably dedicated and hardworking.

I think both teams were terrific today; each team had big runs, each team then stole momentum away from the other. My thoughts are far too discombobulated for me to write halfway coherently tonight, so let me take the easy way out and offer up this string of bullets:

*Williams missed Robertson more than many may think. While he's not one of the Eph's two All-American candidates, he is, many ways, their Connor Meehan. He can control the flow of the game, he's as steady as they come, and, as another poster pointed out, he allows Wang to shift totally into scorer mode. That said, injuries are a part of the game. Our one loss this year was without our leading scorer and rebounder, and boy was he terrific this weekend, the MVP of the tournament. I just hope all teams are healthy when the NCAA tourney begins.

*We talk and write so much about the way Middlebury plays defense, but to see this effort in person is a wonder to behold. Davis's athleticism allows him to check both perimeter players and the most athletic post player in the country; Thompson may very well be the best on-the-ball perimeter defender in the country; Kizel, Wholey, and Wolfin have never met a screen they haven't fought through, and all three are ball hawks, making passing lanes the narrowest of avenues; Sharry is a terrific post defender; we have the luxury of bringing a guy like Alvarez off the bench to lock onto the opponent's best guard; and then there's Locke. I have to disagree with my good friend Old Guy—Andrew Locke is a major factor every minute he is on the court. The stat sheet may show just one block, but that doesn't count any number of shots he altered or forced to another defender for their blocked shot.

*Nolan Thompson put on an offensive show in the first half. Middlebury is so well balanced offensively, that we rarely see any one player carry the offensive load on his shoulders, but Thompson showed a standing-room-only crowd what he can do. With the way he plays defense and with his explosive offensive potential and deft shooting touch on the other end of the floor, he very well may become an All-American candidate by his senior year.

*I'm obviously biased, but Joey Kizel is my rookie of the year. Yes, I've only seen Rooke-Ley and Toomey twice, but Kizel has been a major factor in Midd's success this year, and it's not a stretch to say that the Panther's don't win this weekend without him.

*That Whittington dunk? Best I've ever seen in person, and I've watched not only years of ACC basketball but the very best of what the Washington, DC high schools have had to offer. I said to Coach Maker after the game: "I bet you haven't seen anything like that since you were at West Virginia." His response: "Are you kidding me? We didn't have anyone at West Virginia who could do that."

*The hospitality of the Ephs was much appreciated. The wonderful Erica Maker ran a flawless tournament; the Ephs' parents who I met or who I became reacquainted with are great people; and I enjoyed, as always, catching up with my friend Mike Maker and his coaching staff after the games on Saturday.

*For me, personally, though, the moment I'll never forget? I've written plenty about my little boy, four years old, who loves these Middlebury Panthers as much as one can, who has been embraced by the team and the entire Middlebury family like he is one of their own, who was carried into the locker room after a big win earlier in the year, and who was carried into the team picture after the championship was secured. Well, he now has a moment that I'm sure he will never forget and that moved his mother and I beyond words. It came during the ceremonial net cutting, the twine was all but snipped, when the big fella, Andrew Locke, came up to me and asked if John would like to cut a piece of the net. My son was a little intimidated at first (there was the noise and he might have thought he was going to have to climb the ladder like everyone else had), but then Andrew said, "John, I'll do it with you." And with John perched on my shoulders, he and Andrew Locke cut off a part of the net.

And to show that the moment was not lost on John, he later said this to Nolan Thompson and Albert Nascimento: "At my school, my friends and I gave Valentines to each other, and this piece of net is like a Valentine to me from the team." Yes, it is. Midd parents: you have raised amazing kids. This has been a wild, exhilarating ride. Let's keep this thing going into March.

[ephoops]

Bucket and Old Guy -

As a former Eph player and captain, I honestly hate to see the Ephs lose to any team.

However, after reading your posts since you've joined this board, and especially your respective posts above, if the Ephs had to lose the NESCAC championship, I'm glad it was to your beloved Panthers.

Thanks for your contributions to this board. I wish both Midd and the Ephs all the best in the tournament.

Here's hoping that the two teams get the opportunity to play the rubber match, with everyone healthy, on a Saturday afternoon in Salem in March...

[walzy31]

Bucket and Old Guy -

As a former Eph player and captain, I honestly hate to see the Ephs lose to any team.

However, after reading your posts since you've joined this board, and especially your respective posts above, if the Ephs had to lose the NESCAC championship, I'm glad it was to your beloved Panthers.

Thanks for your contributions to this board. I wish both Midd and the Ephs all the best in the tournament.

Here's hoping that the two teams get the opportunity to play the rubber match, with everyone healthy, on a Saturday afternoon in Salem in March...

As a general rule in life, I try to limit the number of times I agree with anyone who has a Williams College Basketball affiliation to less than two times per year/season. I have to agree with ephoops' last post. Bucket & Old Guy make it hard to hate Middlebury Basketball.

Enjoy the championship net from Chandler. I'm hoping Amherst can cut down some net of their own en route to Salem.

*That Whittington dunk? Best I've ever seen in person, and I've watched not only years of ACC basketball but the very best of what the Washington, DC high schools have had to offer. I said to Coach Maker after the game: "I bet you haven't seen anything like that since you were at West Virginia." His response: "Are you kidding me? We didn't have anyone at West Virginia who could do that."

A video of this dunk needs to be posted to the D3hoops.com NESCAC forum tomorrow.

[Old Guy]

"Not close, this time, an outright win."

Toad: just to clarify - I didn't mean the game wasn't close. It was. Intense, hard-fought, exciting. I meant that "this time," Midd didn't just come "close" to defeating Williams (as we have in the last three meetings), we actually came away with "an outright win." Victory as opposed to honor in defeat.

[nescac1]

A few random thoughts while waiting for the brackets:

N. Thompson is indeed a tremendous perimeter defender, I think he does the best job on Wang of anyone ... certainly, it is night and day what Wang can do vs. him than vs. Amherst.  Of course, having the big guys behind him (especially Locke) helps as well, but Thompson I do imagine is among the best one-on-one perimeter defenders in the country.  The only guy I've seen who can compete with him is Krull on Stevens Points, not as quick but much bigger, can guard pretty much anyone on the floor, reminded me a lot of former Eph John Botti when I saw him.  I imagine there are others as well that we in the northeast just haven't seen. 

Davis did an excellent job on Troy as well -- I imagine they are VERY familiar with each other's games, since they were in the same league in high school so have been going head to head for 7-8 years.  But Locke also guarded Troy effectively a lot, and really the combo of Locke/Sharry/Davis together makes Midd very tough to score on inside.  Midd paid a LOT of attention to him, packing the lane leading to open looks that the Ephs' just didn't hit.  Williams hasn't really been shooting tremendously from three for a few weeks now, and in order to go far in the tourney they need to turn that around, because with so much attention on Wang and Troy, they will continue to get good looks from deep. 

Troy's dunk was indeed insane.  I hope someone can post a video eventually. 

Like Toad I was very impressed that Williams went toe-to-toe with Midd on the boards, especially the offensive boards.  Williams is a better defensive and rebounding team than last year, although not nearly the same in terms of shooting.  Other than Troy and Nate none of the Ephs jump out individually as defenders, but they play tremendous team defense.  If Klemm, Rooke-Ley, Epley, Emerson and Dodson (or at least 3/5 from that group in any given game) can consistently hit open shots, Williams will be very tough to beat. 

[eph partisan]

Panthers deserved the win. I echo all the things that have been said (eph hoops, walzy) - and good luck to the team in the tournament!

The Robinson loss was of a different sort than the Sharry loss, but it really was huge. It let the Panthers control the tempo of the game - E.G. the full court press that they pulled out that the Ephs had trouble with at the start of the game - and it was part of the reason that Williams looked so sloppy on offense - part because Midd's defense, as has been noted by many, is truly exceptional. James provides the energy, while Nate is the calming force on the floor. Hopefully he'll be back for the tournament.

Kizel would get my vote for ROY, too. That guy can play.

I think this will be a wake-up call for the Ephs - and I doubt they'll play a team that good on the defensive end of the floor unless they meet Midd. again. I will be shocked if Midd. doesn't go deep in NCAAs.

[Bucket]

I imagine they are VERY familiar with each other's games, since they were in the same league in high school so have been going head to head for 7-8 years. 

They were actually on the same team in high school, so they are probably as familiar with each other's games as two people can be.

And thanks, all, for the kind words. This forum is just another part of what makes both NESCAC and DIII hoops so much fun.

[hoya73]

As an avid reader but only occasional poster, I have to throw my two cents in.  I am both an Amherst Hoops fan and parent and a Midd football parent from their 2000 championship team.  So I root for Midd in almost all things anyway.  But when you can get Amherst and Williams partisons to agree on something, Old Guy and Bucket, that is an accomplishment.  I saw the double header on Saturday and watching Midd just staying patient and climbing back, while it killed me, was astonishing.  Now they need to follow it up with some tournament success.  No reason why they can't.  Hopefully all three teams can make a deep run (OK, that's a little insincere re: the Ephs but you gotta love the 'CAC).  Hopefully the Jeffs can get late game leadership from a number of players and make some noise.
That was quality Hoop this weekend.

[nescac1]

Bracket is out ... when all is said and done, I'd say that Amherst had the easiest path to the Elite eight of the three NESCAC teams.

Williams will likely earn hosting rights if it can win its first two games, which would be an advantage, but they would have to play a VERY tough Virginia Wesleyan team in the Sweet 16, while Amherst would likely get either RIC or Oswego State (kind of funny that Amherst and RIC cancelled their game, and now they may get a chance to play each other in the tourney). 

Middlebury gets a first round bye, but will likely hit Western Conn in round two, and potentially Rochester in the next round.  Midd could end up playing Randolph Macon in the elite eight, a game in which the first team to 50 might win it -- two defensive juggernauts.  Not an easy bracket at all. 

[7express]

Middlebury gets a first round bye, but will likely hit Western Conn in round two, and potentially Rochester in the next round.  Midd could end up playing Randolph Macon in the elite eight, a game in which the first team to 50 might win it -- two defensive juggernauts.  Not an easy bracket at all. 

I wouldn't count out West Conn just yet.  Yes, their are internal issues with the team (in-fighting, players wanting the seaon to end, playing individual then playing team ball) but hopefully this bid gives them second life.  IF they decide to play team ball (something they haven't done since late January) this team is more then capable of beating Mid, even at Mid.  They may not win, but it will be close.  Hopefully, we decide to show up against Salve on Thursday.