MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Atlanta trip?  Should not make promises that are in the hands of others. amh63

Graduation present for Young Guy - a trip to see the Big Boys (D1) Final Four. Already have tickets, other arrangements. D3 Final is a bonus.

[Bucket]

Midd may be the best whole-greater-than-sum-of-parts team I've ever seen. Not that lots of the parts aren't superb, but what's better about basketball than seeing how a genius "team" can maximize its talents? Those guys will never forget the feeling of what it was like to play together.

Indeed, what a ride it has been for the Midd seniors.

To date: A composite 104-13 record (that's not a typo), four consecutive trips to the dance, a conference championship, two Elite Eight trips in three years, a Final Four berth. And the season is still alive.

There's not another current DIII player in the country who can say the same.

Remarkable.

[middhoops]

Did a college hoops double header yesterday.  Saw Vermont lose in their conference tourney at home to Albany.  Bummer.  Then saw Midd eke out a win (thank you Mr. & Mrs. Kizel) over Ithaca.
In the Sunday morning Burlington Free Press, largest paper in the state; there were four stories about the UVM loss and nary a word of the Middlebury win, advancing to the Elite 8.
Is it that way in every media market? 
Does this mean we are "fringe" folk?

[toad22]

It probably is true. Not enough basketball fans care about D3 teams. It's certainly not about the quality of the play. I watched much of that VT-Albany game. Slightly better athletes, but certainly not better basketball.

[LarryBasketball33]

Hard not to appreeciate a league which puts 3 teams in the Sweet 16.  The Middlebury win was all about guts and players stepping up when the moment called for it. That has been this team's MO for years now.  Jensen played his best game as a Panther yesterday.  7/7 from the line and had the biggest rebound of the season for Midd late.  Lynch was bottled up for much of the game, so what does he do late? Hit the winnning basket.  Wolfin proves once again that Senior leadership is all about leading.  He goes O-fer shooting in the 1st half, but Midd still has a 9 pt half time lead.  Cortland who is a fine team, turns it around and goes up 7 with 6 or so to play. At this point many players with that bad shooting ringing in their head would run away from the ball.  In one of the key moments of the game, he drains a 3 late in a possession, then ten seconds later picks a Cortland guards pocket and makes a hard semi breakaway layup.  Midd is now down 2 and it becomes a one possession game the rest of the way until the very end.  Thompson hit some big shots and played good D on a kid who can score as well as anyone Midd saw all season.  Kizel did what he seems to do every night, find a way to get his when it looks like he cant.  He has a knack for the big shot or creating chicken salad out of chicken you know what.  No one knows what next week or beyond holds for any of these teams.  Hey, I would like to see another trip to Salem and beyond, but this team has given Panther fans everything you can ask for: the willingness to let it all hangout no matter the circumstances and see where it takes you.     

To add to what I said last week, it is impossible not to appreciate a conference which put 3 teams in the Elite 8.  Big props to Williams and Amherst, but I am a Panther backer and what I saw yesterday surpassed what these Panthers showed at Cortland which I for one thought would be darn near impossible to do. What I appreciate most about this group is that there is no one or even two go to guys.  This is a team which has a full rotation of important contributers.  Dare Wolfin to shoot early?  OK, he accepted the challenge and forced Ithaca out of the triangle and 2.  Leave Thompson open?  OK, like Wolfin he hits the biggest of 3-pointers going 6/10 from beyond the arc as Wolfin did.  Drive inside on Roberts? Find the ball coming right back at you.  Test Peter with the clutchest of free throws when fans had a hard time not hyperventilating?  No problem, count 'em.  Score what should be the winning basket with 9 seconds left?  Uh uh, Kizel had other ideas darting up court and forcing a foul, once again in the biggest spot he makes something out of nothing.  Salem is a great unknown for all 8 teams even if you have been there before.  While I want this squad to win as much as anyone, I have to admit they have already given all real fans of basketball more than most other fans willl ever get. 

[old_hooper]

Bucket, it is a typo...it should be 104.  I read the article yesterday from Panthernation.  It is very impressive stat.  Looked up the great runs that Amherst had in the 07 and 08 classes that had 111 wins and those teams were in the final 4 3 times so they obviously played more games.  It is a tribute to those seniors for being consistent.

[trixiep]

Did a college hoops double header yesterday.  Saw Vermont lose in their conference tourney at home to Albany.  Bummer.  Then saw Midd eke out a win (thank you Mr. & Mrs. Kizel) over Ithaca.
In the Sunday morning Burlington Free Press, largest paper in the state; there were four stories about the UVM loss and nary a word of the Middlebury win, advancing to the Elite 8.
Is it that way in every media market? 
Does this mean we are "fringe" folk?

Actually, Bruce Bosley (Midd webcast play by play guy), has a nice write-up on the Midd-Ithaca game in the Free Press.  It's on pg 17A. Great pic of Pete Lynch as well.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

amh63, many thanks for the Cabrini data. I also came across this from our D3hoops friends a year ago: http://d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2012/from-open-gym-to-salem. Not to mention discovering that if I'd paid attention to *last* season's final four, I'd need no intro to Mr. Walton-Moss. A less lazy man would have Googled before he trolled. Apparently I am not that man.

[nescac1]

Nice first post, AncientSonofHixon, and welcome to the board.  And I have to agree with other posters that Midd's run both this year and in past years has been pretty remarkable.  A lot of credit has to be given to Coach Brown in instilling a mentality of never taking a possession, and certainly not a game, off, which leads to a team that basically NEVER loses a game to an inferior opponent.  And they never panic.  You have to in almost every case be at least as talented as Midd to beat them, and even then, it's far from a sure thing.  Not to say Midd doesn't have talent, of course the Panthers do have loads of talent, but even when seemingly irreplaceable guys like a Ryan Sharry depart, the team just reloads.  Which is why despite another batch of seemingly insurmountable losses on paper, I think that Midd is a very good bet for another 20 plus win season next year.  It would be pretty incredible to have all three teams advance in next weekend's NESCAC invitational ... unlikely considering only Amherst will be favored, but Midd and Williams have both shown this year that neither can ever be counted out, and they have a knack for making huge plays at the end of games. 

The Mayer / McHale comparison is interesting.  A lot of talk lately of NESCAC players being the D-3 version of an NBA equivalent (and outside of NESCAC, Williams recently had to face the Charles Barkley of D-3, from Wesley, and his billing was accurate).  Any others?

Here is a list to get folks started, going back to the mid-90's:

Mike Mayer -- Kevin McHale (per sonofhixon)
Mike Nogelo -- Larry Bird (easy)
Jamal Wilson -- Kobe Bryant
Andrew Olson -- Steve Nash (another easy one)
Willy Workman -- Lamar Odam (per JeffCast)
Andrew Locke -- Dikembe Mutombo
Mike Crotty -- John Stockton
Troy Whittington -- Dwight Howard

Having more trouble for recent stars like Toomey, Coffin, Sharry, Rudin, Rhoten, Wang, Schultz, Kizell ...

[WPI89]

Toomey = Jimmer Fredette

[walzy31]

Here is a list to get folks started, going back to the mid-90's:

Mike Mayer -- Kevin McHale (per sonofhixon)
Mike Nogelo -- Larry Bird (easy)
Jamal Wilson -- Kobe Bryant
Andrew Olson -- Steve Nash (another easy one)
Willy Workman -- Lamar Odom (per JeffCast)
Andrew Locke -- Dikembe Mutombo
Mike Crotty -- John Stockton
Troy Whittington -- Dwight Howard

Having more trouble for recent stars like Toomey, Coffin, Sharry, Rudin, Rhoten, Wang, Schultz, Kizell ...

This is fun. I will take it with some of the recent stars Nescac1 named:

Wang -- Jeremy Lin (easy)
Coffin -- David Robinson c. 1994
Toomey -- Derrick Rose (always explain Olson as Nash and Toomey as Rose)
Rhoten -- Carmelo Anthony
Schultz -- Kyle Korver
Kizel -- JJ Barea
Sharry -- Kevin Love
Rudin -- (I've got nothing...whoever has a big heart in the NBA)

Adding:

Tabb -- Russell Westbrook
Baskauskas -- Dan Majerle
Thompson -- Gary Payton
Bedford -- Ray Allen
Cole -- Norris Cole
Stovell -- Ronny Turiaf
Kain -- Mike Miller
Harper -- Gary Payton
Dan Martin -- Omer Asik
Zak Ray -- Tony Parker
Petrie -- Dirk Nowitzski
Halas -- Chauncy Billups
Williamson -- Vince Carter
Pierce -- Amare Stoudemire
Sha Brown -- Allen Iverson (very easy)
Weitzen -- Oliver Miller
Taylor III -- Latrell Spreewell
Goldsmith -- Brandon Roy
Hopkins -- Chris Anderson
Kalema -- Fred Jones

[Panthernation]

This is fun. I will take it with some of the recent stars Nescac1 named:

Wang -- Jeremy Lin (easy)
Toomey -- Derrick Rose (always explain Olson as Nash and Toomey as Rose)
Kizel -- JJ Barea

Congratulations, Walzy. You have successfully cemented yourself as the D3boards equivalent of Skip Bayless with your lazy, borderline racist, antagonistic comments.

[middhoops]

I saw JJ Barea four times live in his Northeaster career.  He was a thug.  Barea verbally abused his team mates on the floor, threw punches at opponents and mocked lesser players.
You compared him to whom??

[toad22]

Shucks guys, isn't this supposed to be in good fun? I seriously doubt that Walzy is trying to degrade or denigrate anyone with his conparisons. I write this as a guy who is suspicious of all things Amherst.

[Old Guy]

While I want this squad to win as much as anyone, I have to admit they have already given all real fans of basketball more than most other fans willl ever get. Larrybasketball33

Amen, brother.

Larry's another Midd fan - I don't know who he is, but he's speaking for all of us here.