MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

Middlebury played Curry on a neutral court in the '11-12 season.  Sedale Jones was 3-12 and 0-2 from three pt range.  Papalambros fared not much better, 2-6/1-2 in a Panther romp, 83-54.
Lynch was 6-6.
Nolan Thompson didn't suit up for the game.

Middlebury has the easiest region/draw in the tournament. Stop complaining. It would take an enormous upset or choke for Middlebury to not reach Salem.
Sit back and enjoy the games, sheesh.

Jesus, Charles. Is reading comprehension not your strong suit?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Wow!....hope we are back on track here. 
There are some movements of the Top 25 D3hoops polls.  IMO, the "Big Dance" announcements have been made and any poll rankings are bragging rights dressing only at this time.  However, any thoughts on the polls are most welcome to fill in the "dead" time before Amherst's next game.
The Monday Hoopsville program proved interesting....Dave M.'s thoughts about who would be in the final 8 when asked by Pat C., Dave's question to Coach Hixon on Amherst's bye (Amherst had a bye last year and lost to F & M), and in particular,  Hixon's view on Aaron's play late in the season last year and of late.  First.....Dave M....Aaron is a Junior now....I know it was a long show and much on your mind
Dave hesitated about Amherst moving forward pass  WPI.   Hixon welcomed the extra time so that Willy and Aaron could recover.  Workman did not practice all week before the games last weekend!   In the game at F & M, Hixon mentioned that 2-3 players were in "Boots" before...I knew about one but 2-3?  Maybe he will change his practice/workouts this year.   On the question of his handling of Aaron when his pg seems to be pressing in games..., I thought Coach Hixon did a little dancing around the question....but recovered well.   Other listeners' thoughts?

The moment I said sophomore a little voice in the back of my head asked "are you sure?" I just didn't have the secondary response quick enough at the time to get that web page open to double-check. Of course Coach Hixon didn't correct me so I thought I was then safe LOL. By the way, F&M had a bye, then won their second round game before losing at F&M... in case you were worried they would lose after the bye for the same reasons this time.

I also think having the bye this year is probably the worse thing that can happen to a team. You almost wish they would give it to just the geographically isolated teams... because it is such an easy reason to give them a bye... but only one team really deserved the bye in that case this year (though, Pat and I did have a creative plan with Whitworth...)

[madzillagd]

The road to the Final Four for these 3 teams would potentially look like something like this, if they end up playing the best teams:

Williams:  Wesley, #9 Catholic, #25 Virginia Wesleyan, #1 St. Thomas

Amherst:  BYE, Plattsburgh St, #4 WPI, #16 Hampden Sydney

Midd: Curry, #23 Cortland St, #18 Rochester, #3 North Central

[middhoops]

Thanks, Madzillagd. 
Interesting that #2 Amherst would meet # WPI so soon in the tourney.  It would appear that Midd got the best draw, but it rarely works out that way in tournaments.  It's kind of a shame that all the games are scheduled for the same time.  With all the streaming video, D3 hoops junkies hope to watch as many as possible.  Almost, but not quite, enough to make me stay home.

[toad22]

In looking at Williams' road to Salem, I doubt any Eph fan will complain too much about our pairings, but they are not easy. Wesley appears to be a very good team, but Williams is probably favored. The likely matchup, if they can get by Wesley, is Catholic. That game appears to be a tossup. If they win that game, the Va. Wesleyan matchup is very tough. Williams will be an underdog in that one. Though Va. Wes. is ranked #25, most of their losses were when their best player, DJ Woodmore was hurt. He is back now. I would judge them to be a top 10 team now. Looking beyond that, #1 St. Thomas potentially looms. No complaints, It isn't supposed to be easy!   

[grabtherim]

Is their a stated reason from the NCAA or does anyone know why there is a 62 team field versus 64 each year?  From a coaching standpoint, I am not a fan of byes with that point made even more acute this season.  I would hate having a team not playing for two weeks.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is their a stated reason from the NCAA or does anyone know why there is a 62 team field versus 64 each year?  From a coaching standpoint, I am not a fan of byes with that point made even more acute this season.  I would hate having a team not playing for two weeks.   

It's a formula.  Number of total teams divided by a multiplier and rounded down.  It's why the women's tournament has more teams.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

All NCAA tournaments (except for the D1 basketball ones among a short list) are based on a simple formula: one spot for every 6.5 participating programs. The women's tournament grew to 64 faster than the men because they have a number of single-sex institutions. The men are at 62 and will grow soon to 64.

However, neither tournament will grow any further because there is a gap at 64. Football has a cap at 32, for example.

[amh63]

Toad22.....Thanks for pointing out the return of a key player on the Va. Wesleyan's  team.  In my look at Wesley,  noticed that they had played and beaten some tournament teams....Va, Wes., and St. Mary.  Aside from the big forward...6'4" 245#, the team has another all conf. player in a FY guard with size who was also selected ROY.  The big center of "Big Pete"'s height and weight is no Big Pete with respect to scoring and rebounds, etc.
Other triva facts found/remembered....Hampden-Sydney is still an all male institution of about 1100.  Unfortunately, they are not playing the caliber of BB when Amherst was all-male and around that size...my time.   WPI still has a 7' plus player on the team.   Is he someone Amherst should worry about WPI89?
Getting ahead of myself again....hope Husson upsets the upstate NY team with quickness.   Quick teams are a challenge for Amherst.

[frank uible]

As I recall, Hampden-Sydney went to the Final Four in 2003.

[WPI89]

AMH63 - no not this year.  He (Mark Overdevest) is from New Zealand and is not in the rotation this year.  He is by all accounts every bit of 7'3".

I believe he played some in New Zealand but steady hoops is new to him - perhaps he will contribute the next 3 years?

In fact - our first round opponent (SUNY-Purchase) starts a 7 footer so it would interesting to see if Coach B plays Mark a few minutes?

[middhoops]

Amh63, the 7-3 kid on WPI is not a factor.  I think he may be from Australia (NZ?) and appears to be new to the game.  I saw him play a couple minutes and he looked lost.  Clearly, WPI's strength is not on the inside.

[Charles]

Toad22.....Thanks for pointing out the return of a key player on the Va. Wesleyan's  team.  In my look at Wesley,  noticed that they had played and beaten some tournament teams....Va, Wes., and St. Mary.  Aside from the big forward...6'4" 245#, the team has another all conf. player in a FY guard with size who was also selected ROY.  The big center of "Big Pete"'s height and weight is no Big Pete with respect to scoring and rebounds, etc.
Other triva facts found/remembered....Hampden-Sydney is still an all male institution of about 1100.  Unfortunately, they are not playing the caliber of BB when Amherst was all-male and around that size...my time.   WPI still has a 7' plus player on the team.   Is he someone Amherst should worry about WPI89?
Getting ahead of myself again....hope Husson upsets the upstate NY team with quickness.   Quick teams are a challenge for Amherst.

Have seen both Husson and Plattsburgh play, Plattsburgh has alot of NYC kids. Sometimes Maine players can get chippy. Plattsburgh likes to run up and down and are very fast. Should be an interesting contrast in style. Tournament basketball.

[7express]

Middlebury played Curry on a neutral court in the '11-12 season.  Sedale Jones was 3-12 and 0-2 from three pt range.  Papalambros fared not much better, 2-6/1-2 in a Panther romp, 83-54.
Lynch was 6-6.
Nolan Thompson didn't suit up for the game.

Middlebury has the easiest region/draw in the tournament. Stop complaining. It would take an enormous upset or choke for Middlebury to not reach Salem.
Sit back and enjoy the games, sheesh.

I didn't realize Middhoops was complaining in his post    I must need glasses or something.  Charles, care to bold where he says he's complaining about the matchup because I sure can't find it.

[7express]

Is their a stated reason from the NCAA or does anyone know why there is a 62 team field versus 64 each year?  From a coaching standpoint, I am not a fan of byes with that point made even more acute this season.  I would hate having a team not playing for two weeks.   

Wasn't it 61 last year or in 2011??  At least they added another team.  The reason the women have more spots is because they have about 45 to 50 more schools then the men do, hence why they get more teams.