MBB: NESCAC

[Pat Coleman]

Wish we could have watched it.

[amh63]

I would like to have caught some of the Midd. game myself Pat.  Saw Midd. was in a battle and went to watch the action but could not.  The connection was not on the normal LEC network..it seems.
After the Amherst game, I tried to see the Keene score and the Amherst vs.RIC score was wrong.  Thought my eyes was deceiving me.  Did not know one can control the scores on the website/board.  Just thought it was a human mistake that would be corrected shortly....and it was.

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah -- I watched the last few minutes of the first half and apparently the internet connection conked out at Keene. Awful time for that to happen.

[walzy31]

Tuesday January 31st NESCAC Vs. LEC Showdown Spreads

Amherst Vs. Rhode Island College
Amherst -4.0
O/U: 157.5

Keene State Vs. Middlebury
Middlebury -5.5
O/U: 129.5

Tufts Vs. UMass Dartmouth
Tufts -3.0
O/U: 148.5

Western Connecticut Vs. Conn College
Western Conn -15.0
O/U: 132.0

Amherst 79 Vs. Rhode Island College 69
Amherst -4.0 (Amherst Covers +6.0)
O/U: 157.5 (Under +9.5)

Keene State 77 Vs. Middlebury 76
Middlebury -5.5 (Keene State Covers +6.5)
O/U: 129.5 (Over +23.5)

Tufts 84 Vs. UMass Dartmouth 82
Tufts -3.0 (UMD Covers +1.0)
O/U: 148.5 (Over +17.5...18 points scored in OT)

Western Connecticut 78 Vs. Conn College 62
Western Conn -15.0 (Western Conn Covers +1.0)
O/U: 132.0 (Over +8.0)

Worth the drive to and from LeFrak for playoff caliber hoops. The game was much like last year's Sweet 16 game and Amherst played a hell of a second half. Choice picked up two fouls in the first 3:30, sat until the 14:00 mark of the 1st half before coming back into the game for about 30 seconds...which was enough time to pick up his 3rd foul on the first RIC defensive possession. RIC outplayed Amherst in the 1st half but Amherst took momentum into the locker room and kept it close. Mason Choice found his groove very abruptly with 5 minutes left in the game...scoring what seemed like all 14 of his points in a 2 minute span.
Toomey (25 & 5), Barisse (12 & 3), Kaasila (10 & 5), and Workman (8, 11, 6 & 2) all had very strong games. Williamson and Kalema "played normally" and Holmes/Killian/Waller had quieter nights. I put "playing normally" in quotes because Williamson did have this dunk in the 2nd half: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WfcRGDYD-A (the first time I saw it I thought it was Blake Griffin). I think this is Allen's 3rd best dunk of his career but it may be tied for 2nd.
#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opGMN3gF3lQ&feature=related
#1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUQMSSwy8I&feature=fvsr
(I guess someone should run an analysis on why all three of his best dunks are going towards the hoop with the purple and white backdrop)

Most people pointed out the biggest takeaways from the Midd/KSC game. What was crazy to me is that Midd shot 69% from 3pt and 88% from the line and lost. The secret formula for how to shoot that well and lose have already been discussed (turnovers & rebounding).

[walzy31]

Amherst and under
Keene and over (can I double down on the over??)
Tufts and under
West Conn and over
No USM/Colby line??

7-2 including your 2x bet on the KSC/Midd over. West Conn covering by a point helped you. Tufts OT hurt you.
+4.8 units which I will round down to +4K since you asked for a Colby line (hah, just kidding...rounding down because the house makes up the rules. Didn't realize USM was a LEC team).

I love Midd and the over, despite Keene's Ewing-theory improvement following the departure of its leading scorer (especially on defense).  Amherst and RIC, sounds just about right on both lines, so I will abstain.

1-1 essentially pushing

[7express]

Didn't realize USM was a LEC team).
------------------------------

Your probably not the only one.  The only reason I know that is because I go to West Conn, and that's the trip I always dread the most.

[magicman]

Did I mention that these guys are BIG. In watching these young guys, who aren't getting much PT because of who's in front of them, during warm ups, they all appear to have lots of potential.

Any potential All-Crazy candidates up there in Vermont? It's almost that time and I have a few roster slots still available.

walzy,
Bucket or Old Guy would be the ones to ask about your All Crazy team. I only get to see Middlebury once a year. However I did see 6'9"
freshman Chris Churchill practicing some real fancy post moves on phantom defenders during 1st and 2nd half warm-ups. Hope he's that good next year when the real deal occurs.

[nescac1]

Wow, stunned at the Midd-Keene result after how Keene got shredded by Williams earlier in the year, my prediction was way off on that one, I thought Midd matched up particularly well vs. Keene ... I guess Keene really has improved its defense over the course of the season, and of course playing at home and being fired up to face number one helps.   I still believe that overall Midd is the top team in New England and that they will generally beat the others when they play at their top level, but after the last few weeks, it is clear that anytime anyone from the top ten or so (which seems to includes Midd, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Wesleyan, MIT, WPI, Keene, Western Conn, Eastern Conn, RIC) meet up, anything can happen ... it's going to be an interesting battle to see who can make the NCAA's from that group, and how they do once they get there. 

[frank uible]

But we all know (despite unwillingness to acknowledge by some) how the smart money will bet and in the long term will get rich at the expense of the emotional money.

[amh63]

I'm glad that you are posting more regularly now Frank.  I know...your response will be....I aim to please.
It was interesting that someone remarked that maybe you were not a "real person".  Got a smile from me.
Reminded me of the true story that a group of Harvard undergrads put a fake person through Harvard for 4 years...taking the tests, etc.
Back in the late 50's...during my older brother's days.  Cannot do it today....too expensive.
Now back to reality....so to speak.  Amherst needs to focus....on Bates next.  Amherst's WBB team was really flat last night.  After 10 minutes scored only 4 points....going 1-17!  Needed a spark off the bench.
Forgot....I posted last night about a strange call...for me.....Mason Choice was "injured" in the mind of a ref. and action was stopped. Mason gets up and tells the ref, I believe, he is ok, while still holding his head.  He stays in the game.  Amherst now has to take the ball out again under heavy pressure from RIC.  My question here is...does Choice have to leave before he enters the game again?

[amh63]

There is a nice write-up of the RIC game on the Amherst website....just like the fine RIC recap of the game on the D3hoops site last night.  There is also a video highlights of the game on the Amherst website.  Though it is edited to show Amherst's highlights....including the Williamson's dunk following Toomey's missed 3-point shot and Barrise's record making shot.....there are some revealing comments from Coach Hixon about the impact of the game on his team.
One revealing stats of last night's game...as RIC had better shooting % and better 3-point shooting.....Foul shooting!  RIC shot only 61%, while Amherst made 26-28....almost 93% as a team.  RIC was fouling near the end of the game to get the ball.

[Bucket]

Had not realized until now how close Ryan Sharry's shot at the buzzer came to going in last night against Keene.

D3hoops has posted a fan's video of the last shot: http://www.twitvid.com/IFDSA

Again, hats off to Keene and their kids. Would have been nice for Midd to have pulled out a win, obviously, but as Larry stated earlier, the team's biggest games are ahead of them.

[booyakasha]

Back in the late 50's...during my older brother's days.  Cannot do it today....too expensive.
Now back to reality....so to speak.  Amherst needs to focus....on Bates next. 

Amh63's abuse of the ellipsis makes me think it is Ray Lewis typing these messages

[frank uible]

amh63: Thanks for corroborating my existence. After all I did play for Conn College in '51 against Kazmaier. As Casey used to say, you can look it up.

[pjunito]

Wow, stunned at the Midd-Keene result after how Keene got shredded by Williams earlier in the year, my prediction was way off on that one, I thought Midd matched up particularly well vs. Keene ... I guess Keene really has improved its defense over the course of the season, and of course playing at home and being fired up to face number one helps.   I still believe that overall Midd is the top team in New England and that they will generally beat the others when they play at their top level, but after the last few weeks, it is clear that anytime anyone from the top ten or so (which seems to includes Midd, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Wesleyan, MIT, WPI, Keene, Western Conn, Eastern Conn, RIC) meet up, anything can happen ... it's going to be an interesting battle to see who can make the NCAA's from that group, and how they do once they get there.

nescac1 - I agree with your assessment, Midd is still probably the best team in the region. The fun part of college athletics is that anyone can be beat. I think the region has some strong teams. I feel that Albertus Magnus flies under the radar because they play in a weak conference and did not make the tournament last year. However, I have seen them play many games the last 5 years and I believe they are as good as some of the top tier teams in the region. Ray Askew, may be the best player in the region. Currently he has over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career. He can score whenever he wants. He shoots well from long distance and jumps higher than anyone in Connecticut when finishing. He is a star who can will his team to win. I think they will be a tough out if they go to the tournament. The beat West Conn this year by 20 already. They have won 7 out of their last 13 games by 20 or more points. If anyone has seen them play, they have size and quickness, and a strong leader. Oliver is doing a great job with the program.