MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Oh, believe me, Midd won't take Western Conn lightly (and my comment was trying to suggest that they will be a tough second round opponent), after all, Midd was upset by RIC last year!  At the same time, I don't see how a VERY small Western team can possibly deal with Middlebury's massive size advantage, they will have to press like crazy and try to speed up the pace of the game, but even still, who on Western (biggest guys are 6'6 and 6'4) could possibly guard 6'8 Sharry and 6'11 Locke? 

Anyone know anything about Husson, the Ephs' first round opponent?

WPI, who Amherst will likely play in round two, has talent, but they are a bit beat up, missing two key players vs. MIT, not sure how serious those injuries are though. 

[Marty Peretz]

Caught the Amherst-Midd game this weekend and here are a few thoughts.

Amherst is one of the most talented teams I've seen in D3 in some time, but Middlebury is a classically championship-calibre Division 3 basketball team. The distinction is important because I think it's ultimately what propelled Midd to the title. Amherst had more talent and athleticism on the floor, but Middlebury won the game by playing tougher and more poised team basketball down the stretch. Bucket (nice meeting you by the way) made a lot of great points about the team's strengths and while I was rooting for Amherst, I couldn't help but rave about Midd once I got to reflecting on the game. They just relentlessly go at teams and make opponents have to work incredibly hard to the point of being demoralized. And, more impressively, they stay true to their sets throughout the game. Never once did I think Middlebury would win that game on Saturday. I figured Amherst would come up with a key bucket and ultimately put the nail in the coffin. Yet Midd kept coming back on every single possession until they had quite literally willed their way to victory. They remind me a lot more of the midwest teams that make national championship runs than of some of the great nescac squads that have won it all (though I see some similarities to the Williams 03 squad). There is no Andrew Olson or James Wang on their roster and yet they just get it done. I'll still be pulling for the Jeffs in the tourney (and hoping they find a bit more toughness down the stretch, frankly) but if they fall, the Panthers will be my squad this year.

[Marty Peretz]

sorry, meant to post this in nescac forum.

[Marty Peretz]

Caught the Amherst-Midd game this weekend and here are a few thoughts.

*Amherst is one of the most talented teams I've seen in D3 in some time, but Middlebury is a classically championship-calibre Division 3 basketball team. The distinction is important because I think it's ultimately what propelled Midd to the title. Amherst had more talent and athleticism on the floor, but Middlebury won the game by playing tougher and more poised team basketball down the stretch. Bucket (nice meeting you by the way) made a lot of great points about the team's strengths and while I was rooting for Amherst, I couldn't help but rave about Midd once I got to reflecting on the game. They just relentlessly go at teams and make opponents have to work incredibly hard to the point of being demoralized. And, more impressively, they stay true to their sets throughout the game. Never once did I think Middlebury would win that game on Saturday. I figured Amherst would come up with a key bucket and ultimately put the nail in the coffin. Yet Midd kept coming back on every single possession until they had quite literally willed their way to victory. They remind me a lot more of the midwest teams that make national championship runs than of some of the great nescac squads that have won it all (though I see some similarities to the Williams 03 squad). There is no Andrew Olson or James Wang on their roster and yet they just get it done. I'll still be pulling for the Jeffs in the tourney (and hoping they find a bit more toughness down the stretch, frankly) but if they fall, the Panthers will be my squad this year.

[amh63]

Saw and heard the bracket announcement.  If it plays out, there is a great chance that two conference teams will arrive in Salem.  Amherst and Williams will have to play each other to reach the Final 4.  Hope both will get the opportunity. Last weekend was in my mind....payback weekend.  I felt that Amherst would beat Midd. and it was good until the last few minutes.  Midd just played to well and with too much determination.  I really wanted to have Amherst meet Williams again and beat them.  I guess it may happen in the elite 8.
It is strange that Coach Nixon wanted to travel in the NCAA tourney....he got his wish....going about 20 miles East to WPI.  Oh well, the players can sleep in their own beds.  Hope Skidmore has learned their lesson after their mugging of Middlebury.  Maybe Coach Brown will share some info with Coach Hixon.

[7express]

The size advantage is a bit scrary.  Mike Akinrola dominated us in the paint in the 2 meetings against us this year.   I just want to get through Salve first, if we can do that I'll post my thoughts on Mid afterwards.

[WPI89]

I have seen Mid once and WestConn a few times this year.  If we were talking about the WestConn team from December, I would be very intrigued by the classic size -v- quickness matchup.  We are not however.  the Westconn team I have seen the past 2 times will struggle with Salve.

Will be fun though - can't wait until next week.

PS - NOBODY knows how limited WPI's big (Matt Carr) will be next week for a potential match-up with Amherst.

[toad22]

The brackets seem quite balanced. All three NESCAC teams will have to play very strong teams to get to Salem. Though Amherst does seem to have slightly easier potential opponents, they will be away for the entire tournament. That makes things more difficult. The bye helps Middlebury, because it means that Locke will only need to play one game the first weekend. His knee was visibly bothering him and a little more rest will help. I am very pleased that Williams will be at home, and won't have to play Middlebury again, except if both make it to Salem. Playing Amherst at home in the elite 8 is very fair to both teams. Given how close the competition was between these three teams this year, these pairings are about as good as they could be for everyone. Everybody has a reasonable chance to go deep into the brackets.

[toad22]

Regarding Marty Peretzs comment about Amherst, John Wooden cemmented once that sometimes a team has too much talent. Amherst might be in that situation. If I were Holmes, Waller, or Williamson, I might be pretty pissed off at my lack of playing time. These guys are really gifted players, yet they spend an awful lot of time on the pine.These three guys played 7, 9, and 9 minutes respectively on Saturday. David Waller led the NESCAC in 3 point shooting this year. Jeff Holmes led the team in rebounding. Allen Williamson is arguably the most gifted athlete in the NESCAC. Yet, these guys can't get time in the lineup in a big game. Too much talent? I don't really think so, but since nobody else in the league even remotely has this problem, I thought I'd ask the question: too much talent?

[walzy31]

The brackets seem quite balanced. All three NESCAC teams will have to play very strong teams to get to Salem.

Well except for the upper-right hand corner that has Augustana, Hope, UW-SP, St. Thomas, Ill-Wes and UW-RF...that seems a little unbalanced to me.

[toad22]

Walzy: I was only really commenting on the NESCAC teams, since this is our site. I think I agree with you regarding the upper midwest teams.

[nescac1]

Walzy, that bracket is probably the toughest, but not by as wide a margin as you might think, and it is not nearly as stacked as the WIAC bracket usually is ... lots of big name programs, for sure, but IWU was one of the last teams in and hasn't exactly been killing it this year, and Hope isn't the powerhouse it was in years past.  Not sure that group is any better, overall, than Williams / Amherst / VWU / F&M / Oswego State / WPI.  

Each of those groups has three teams in the top 12, and three teams in the 20-30 range.  And Williams, VWU, F&M and Amherst have all been in recent final fours, and have in the last eight years, three titles and four more second place finishes among them.  In fact, from 2003-2010, only twice, I believe, has one of the VWU, Amherst and Williams trio failed to make it to the title game ...

[jayhawk]

Saw games on Saturday. I thought Trinity did an excellent job on Williams. The critical factor was that Trinity hedged all screens for Wang and then attacked him- sometimes with two defenders. Wang had significant issues with this. Wang is excellent and great in the open court but this defensive approach stiffled Williams to a surprising extent. The Williams offense sputtered except for Whittington who could jump over his defendeer. If Trinity had a person who could score beside their one scorer and another big (their only big was in foul trouble) which left a shorter defender  to cover Whittington this game had the potential to be an upset.

Unfortunate loss for Amherst who clearly have the talent. The goods news is that Amherst can play with anyone and knows they have the ability to beat Williams and Middlebury and therefore anyone else.  There are probably several things Amherst could have done in that game to help themselves in the second half. which I am sure they learned.  Amherst got away from driving and passing to an outside shooter.  So far it appears to me that Kaasila has had no problem scoring against Middlebury's Locke and Sherry and also used his body well  against Whittington. So offensively his amibdextrous hook and lower body strength is impressive at locking defenders. As far Holmes, Waller, and Willliamson. Waller picked up several quick fouls taking himself out of the game (really in part due to the refs). Holmes had four fouls which limited his playing time. Williamson will get more time,he is coming on. One problem in the second half was that Middllebury played both Sharry and Locke and Willamson had a mismatch. Williamson will continue to progress and be a force. He appears to have an 18 foot jumpshot and drive to the basket. He was a center in high school. It would be somewhat analagous,but not a perfect analogy, to making Whittington an outside player.
Middlebury was persistent and tenacious with the Sharry/Locke combo big off the boards at the end.
Amherst has had few away games and tough games - These contest between Middlebury, Williams, and Amherst will serve them well in the tournament. Hope to see Amherst play Williams again.

[Colby Hoops]

Not having seen Wester Conn play, it seems from the comments that it could be an eerily similar matchup to the one that Midd had last year with RIC.  While this year's Midd team is better than last year's, it seems that a complete opposite style could be at least some type of advantage for Western Conn.  Every Nescac team plays a pretty similar style of basketball, as not many teams showcase any sort of press, and most team's have a fairly conventional lineup as far as guards and big men go.  RIC last year, and perhaps Western Conn this year both play a variety of quick smaller players who like to pressure defensively and get out in the open court a bit.  I think the loss to RIC last year might help in preparing the team for a similar matchup this year.

As for the Williams matchup against Husson, I'd bet it will be a pretty easy one for the Ephs.  Colby beat Husson earlier this year in one of the Mules bigger wins of the season, but nonetheless, any team Colby can beat shouldn't give Williams much of a problem.  Husson has two players who do the variety of their scoring, and both guys are extremely talented.  The rest of the team doesn't have much talent.  Both Jones and Uhrin (the two best players, averaging over 18 ppg apiece) can really fill it up and Jones in particular should be a somewhat decent matchup for Whittington.  Uhrin could be more of an issue for the Ephs as he's a very athletic and sizeable wing with deep range.  Williams doesn't seem to have any great wing defenders on the team, and containing Uhrin could be somewhat of an issue.  Still, Williams should cruise if they hit shots.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

West Conn is quick and tiny.  I imagine keeping Locke back and playing 4-5 for offense would equal a blowout.