MBB: NESCAC

[jayhawk]

I believe Southern Vermont may have recruited some students who had previously been in the Armed Forces. Could be very physical powerful presence against college students who are still physically maturing

[jayhawk]

tough about Ferris. Spadaford the transfer from Navy is also a good shooter and can help in his absence

[madzillagd]

I believe Southern Vermont may have recruited some students who had previously been in the Armed Forces. Could be very physical powerful presence against college students who are still physically maturing

Not sure.  I was curious so I did a search, looks like he played at Chesapeake College in 2008-2009 but suffered a knee injury the following year and has been coaching JV HS at some point in between.  Sounds like one of those feel good stories that only happens at DIII.

[madzillagd]

Midd 33, Alvernia 31 at the half.

Midd has a 31-16 advantage on the boards and at one point were up 21-4 on the boards.  That being said, doesn't seem like they are doing a very good job of utilizing their size.  When they have posted guys up it has been the wings and not the bigs.  Daley is pacing them with 10 pts, 8 rbs (I thought he had 12 pts but Stats shows 10). 

[Bucket]

The kind of score you'd expect to see when two ranked teams face off—Middlebury leads Alvernia by 2 at the half.

Alvernia doing their damage from beyond the arc; Midd with a big advantage in the paint. The Panthers missed a number—at my count, at least 5 or 6—of shots at close, close range, otherwise, Midd would have a slightly larger margin.

With one definite starter (Jensen) and another potential starter (Jake Brown) in street clothes w injuries, Midd started Kizel, St. Amour, Bullock, Daley, and Roberts, though Coach Brown went deep into his bench in the first half, trying different combinations—Sinnickson, Merryman, Pendergast, Huff, and Nidenberg all seeing time. Sinnickson was just getting into his groove—knocking down a three, taking the ball to the rack w/authority when he was sent to the bench w/ a bloody mouth. Hopefully, he'll be back in the 2nd half.

For Midd to win, they'll need to keep going inside and converting—huge size advantage for the Panthers—and on the defensive end, will need to contest the long-range shots of Alvernia, while holding them to one and done.

Good contest to start the season.

[magicman]

Middlebury wins 81-71 over Alvernia led by Matt Daley's 24 points and Joey Kizel's 14. As expected the Panthers won the battle of the boards 51-37.

[nescac1]

Watched the last ten minutes.  Beautiful-quality webcast, wow.  Also very good announcers.  Nice win for Midd against a quality team. 

Midd used its size advantage to good effect when I was watching, had their way inside with Alvernia.  The refs blew a few goaltending calls that could have made the final margin even wider.  Only big problem for Midd is that they had a bit of trouble with the press (granted, vs. a much quicker team than any they are likely to play save for St. Mary's) and desperately need another primary ball-handler to help Kizell out.  No one else looked particularly comfortable bringing the ball up.  Sounds like Jake Brown will make a big impact in that department.  Although he didn't have a great shooting game, it is clear that St. Amour belongs and he is going to put up some big scoring games this year, he is very confident with his shot, quick release.  Merryman looks improved to me, his game looks more well-rounded, a nice offensive player now.  Kizell wasn't at his best but he had too much on his shoulders, and it showed. Still made a few key plays when it mattered.

Most impressive was Daley who was easily the player of the game during the portion I watched.  Easy to see why Midd folks are so high on his talent.  He scored inside and out and has tremendous skill, agility and great shooting touch for his size.  He did get abused on defense a few times and needs a bit of work on that end, but one thing Jeff Brown can do is teach defense and with his size and skill he should be fine once he gets stronger and more experienced.  He will be a mainstay for Midd going forward as he is by far the best offensive player they have up front.  Once Midd gets healthy a Roberts/Daley/Jensen trio up front and a Brown/Kizell/St. Amour trio on the perimeter, with Sinnickson/Merryman sharing the three, should be a very nice primary rotation. 

[Bucket]

Nescac1 nicely dissected the game; not much I can add.

I do expect Jake Brown to be that other ball-handler, and he was sorely missed (strange to say that about someone who has yet to play a collegiate game!) tonight vs. Alvernia's pressure. Joey was pressing and struggled from the field (4-14) but he made big plays when it counted. I was very happy to see him find open guys late—that was something that Jake Wolfin did time and again over the course of four years. And Joey did have a couple of statement scoring plays, the and-1 in the waning minutes being the biggest.

Daley was just that player we all thought he could be—versatile inside and out, knocking down shots from long-range and hitting the boards hard. 24 and 11 on 11-15 shooting for the sophomore. He does need to be quicker and tougher defensively, and I think that will come.

St. Amour has moxie. Panther fans are going to love this kid for 4 years.

Quietest double-double ever for Jack Roberts? 10 pts, 13 boards and 3 blocks?

Jake Nidenberg—he might turn out to be the Peter Lynch of this group down the road.

Soooo glad hoops is back. 

[nescac1]

Upset watch in Williamstown.  Southern Vermont, behind a very spirited SVT-heavy crowd, would be blowing the Ephs out but for Daniel Wohl, who has been great and all over the court with 19 points.  The rest of the Ephs are quite simply playing poorly and lethargically.  The Ephs have really struggles with SVT's pressure defense, rushing poor shots.  Ephs have had very few good looks from three and those they have had, they've missed (other than Wohl).  Mayer had a bit of a nightmarish half, missing a bunch of bunnies.  Southern Vermont playing with a ton more energy than Williams and deserves to be ahead.  The Ephs also an atrocious defensive half.  The Ephs' zone is simply not game-ready, and SVT exploited it with ease.  I'd be surprised to see as much zone in next half.

Although the Ephs have played poorly, SVT is IMMENSELY improved.  I don't know where they found all these guys, but they can definitely play.  They are going to beat a lot of teams this year.  They are physical and aggressive on the offensive boards and have several very dynamic offensive players.  Also very well coached and shared the ball well.  Kudos to the new coach there who did a masterful rebuilding job somehow attracting a slew of real ballers to a tiny school in Southern Vermont, and also getting seemingly the entire student body to attend a road game.  Ephs better wake up or they will start the year 0-1. 

[nescac1]

One other thing: this is the first full game I've seen with the new reffing.  Wow it is horrible to watch.  A touch foul called (both ways) on nearly every play it seemed like.  No rhythm whatsoever to the game and tons of guys seem to be in foul trouble.  I really, really hope this does not last the entire season or it is going to be a lot less fun to watch hoops. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I guess the S Vermont coach wasn't dreaming too big when he said their goal was to compete with Williams in Williamstown.  This could be interesting.



Edited to add: I know they're not in Williamstown tonight, that was just the quote he gave.

[amh63]

Had some fun watching the Panthers finally overcoming all the fouls called on them and pulling ahead.  I remember two years ago when Amherst was in that gym playing against the host team and Aaron and Willy were getting fustrated by the calls against them.  Midd played a good game on the road.  Agreed that the Panthers need someone to step up and provide some backup at the guard spots.
Watched the first half of the Williams game...late start?.  Seemed that SVT was having all the foul calls going against them in the middle of the first half when Williams pulled ahead and had a 5 point lead.  Then, SVT seemed to go inside and score.  Was it when Williams went to a zone?  In any case, Wohl had almost half of the Ephs' points, scoring inside and outside....impressive.  The rest of the points seemed to be from the foul lane for Williams.  Mayer may have bulked up but looked slow up the court and was not playing good defense down low, imo.  Is it possible that he is  sick?  Williams really misses Nate at the PG position.  No one to run the offense really at this time.  The FY guard from NJ came in to help break the press but was taken out near the end of the first half.
All the other conference teams have won tonight.....Williams needs to step up....expect them to be more aggressive.
Many of the SVT seems to be from the MD area and even one from Australia?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

amh63, are you going to make the Middlebury game(s) next weekend, too?

The SVC coach has tied to the DC area - that's been his recruiting base this season.

[Charles]

Break up Southern Vermont!

[nescac1]

Williams loses by one after just a ridiculously bad series of calls that went against Williams.  Mayer gets absolutely clobbered on one end, no call, meanwhile four unbelievably soft fouls inside called on Williams down the stretch that were all just totally phantom calls.  But the Ephs got their share of calls earlier in the game.  I (like many others) really, really hate how tight games are being called this year, we are going to see a TON of foul shots in every game unless the refs dial it down a bit.

Williams just was not sharp as they missed a slew of (for them) very easy threes and free throws down the stretch which could have put the game away (definitely looked tight out there, playing not to lose a bit perhaps), instead allowed Southern Vermont to hang around and hang around and come back from seven down late. 

Williams will be fine.  Southern Vermont is legitimately good.  I guarantee they will be an NCAA team.  Williams was not ready for a game of this intensity and had no idea what SVT had.  They could not defend SVT's three big guys who all were very bulky, very physical, with loads of moves, and the way the game was called, simply could not possibly be defended.  They all looked like they were in their mid-20's. 

For Williams, Wohl was absolutely awesome, just a monster game, too bad it was in a losing effort, Duncan Robinson was as good as advertised with two beautiful threes, a great put-back basket, and a big dunk, all in the second half -- he actually was too unselfish at times and needs to look to shoot a bit more.  Mayer had a more typical second half for him (although good eye am63, as I do believe he was under the weather a bit).  Rooke-Ley looked very teady at the point (the reason amh63 Williams looked so discombobulated is that he sat much of the first half with foul trouble) but definitely showed some rust in terms of his offensive game.  He missed some shots that he will make later in the year.  Epley always seems to start the season slow and today was no exception. 

The biggest long-term concern for Williams was the lack of any bench production, that is something Williams will have to work on as it plagued them all last season.  I hope this game serves as a big wake up call for an extremely talented Williams team, much like Amherst's two early season losses seemed to spark them in a big way last season.  This is a combination of a talented sleeping giant in SVT with a great crowd behind them and nothing to lose shocking a Williams team that wasn't quite ready to play its best ball, and just could not make an open shot from deep down the stretch.  The Ephs will learn and grow from this game and are still going to be an elite team this season.  And SVT is going to win a LOT of games.  Williams actually played fairly well in the second half, overall, other than three-point shooting, and still could not pull away as SVT kept making plays.