MBB: NESCAC

[P'bearfan]

Well, win #400 for Coach Gilbride wasn't very pretty but we'll take it.  Overall it was a real slog - Bowdoin only shot 43.9% from the floor and 26.3% from the 3 pt line.  That poor shooting from the floor includes Swords' ridiculous performance (12-13 from the floor for 25 pts plus 16 rebounds).  He simply carried the team on his back tonight.  His game has made real strides this year and hopefully he continues to develop as he faces bigger and more skilled competition.

[lefrakenstein]

AmStudent, great point about the team's depth issues. I will say that Nabatoff played well today in Pollack's absence, and Berman has been getting consistent minutes, albeit at the end of halves and in garbage time. They might be added to the rotation eventually. It would be even better though if a freshman wing would step up, but it looks unlikely than any one of the Wright/Magana/Racy/Holding quartet is ready for prime time. More generally speaking, the most successful Amherst teams have always had pretty evenly distributed scoring loads. I think the Williamses and Middleburys of the world will force the Jeffs to find other guys to carry the load. Not sure yet who can do that.

Regarding St. Amour, I've noticed several 'he was off from the field tonight, but I'm sure that won't happen regularly comments' so I looked up his shooting percentages for the season. He's shooting 29.6% from 3 and 28.8% from the field. Those numbers are brutal, especially the second one. The sample size is small, but it's not that small - Middlebury has played nearly a third of its regular season and St. Amour has played starter's minutes. I'm not trying to rattle the cage too much, but if I were a Middlebury fan I would definitely be starting to have concerns, especially regarding his ability to score from inside the arc.

[JustAFan]

Tufts showed some grit coming back from a 17 point deficit halfway thru the second half in its 3 point loss to WPI tonight.  Tufts had the ball with 6 seconds left but Firempong couldn't squeeze off a last second 3 after going the length of the court.  He's really improved over the course of his 4 years at Tufts and is a legit all-defensive team guard to my eyes, especially the way the refs are calling the game this year and the need to have great lateral movement to defend well.

As nescac1 noted, Tufts played without Ferris and Haladyna tonight.  Despite their preseason hype, the Jumbos are not yet a top 4 nescac team and will remain a middle of the pack team until they get better backcourt leadership.  It's hard to determine if the return of Ferris and Haladyna will improve things.  They are lacking a true point guard who will unselfishly distribute but who also has the ability to create his own shot when needed.  WPI came at them very hard defensively tonight, with an aggressive, swarming halfcourt man defense, and Tufts really struggled with it.  Their guards are not great ballhandlers and they often ended up starting their offense too far away from the basket and with too little time left on the clock.  I also am not a fan of the Jumbo's offense, which seems to be a relic of the 1950's and rarely gets the ball inside or creates room on the wings for their shooters and also does not consistently get the ball in the hands of their best shooters.  It involves way too much dribbling by the Jumbo point guards and too little ball movement. If I was one of the Jumbo big men I'd be very frustrated with my lack of touches, and the same goes for outside threats like Spadaford, who is the best outside shooter for Tufts and didn't take one 3 point shot all night largely because he never got the ball on the wing to try one.

On a positive note, I was very impressed with Sabety--what a physical specimen who is going to be 20 pounds stronger and tougher in a couple of years and a monster inside (if his guards ever get him the ball down low on the blocks).  Sabety rotated down low in the first half with fellow freshman Drew Madsen, who is not as polished but has some good moves close to the basket and some promising toughness inside. Sabety played a little at the beginning of the second half but did not play the last 12-15 minutes and I don't know why since he didn't appear to be injured.  Tufts freshman guard Tarik Smith also got a lot of minutes tonight.  He is a shooting guard by instinct in a point guard's body, and if he matures and develops like Firempong he might add a little backcourt depth in time.

Tufts will graduate Cohen and Firempong at the end of this season.  Unless they bring in a couple of true point guards with Twomey, Kizel or Robertson-type talent, toughness and leadership they are going to struggle to get out of the middle of the nescac ranks in future years despite their talent up front and on the wings.  Of course, what team isn't looking for that type of point guard leadership!! As for this year, until they get better play and leadership from their backcourt and a re-tooled offense that plays to their strengths and makes sure their best offensive players consistently touch the ball each time downcourt they will struggle to match the hype they garnered at the beginning of the season. This was a solid but not great, and certainly not a top 20, WPI team that they played tonight and they were out-toughed for most of the game and struggled with the defensive pressure that WPI threw at them.  The good news is they had the character to fight back and nearly steal a win, but much work remains to be done in Medford. 

[middhoops]

AmStudent, great point about the team's depth issues. I will say that Nabatoff played well today in Pollack's absence, and Berman has been getting consistent minutes, albeit at the end of halves and in garbage time. They might be added to the rotation eventually. It would be even better though if a freshman wing would step up, but it looks unlikely than any one of the Wright/Magana/Racy/Holding quartet is ready for prime time. More generally speaking, the most successful Amherst teams have always had pretty evenly distributed scoring loads. I think the Williamses and Middleburys of the world will force the Jeffs to find other guys to carry the load. Not sure yet who can do that.

Regarding St. Amour, I've noticed several 'he was off from the field tonight, but I'm sure that won't happen regularly comments' so I looked up his shooting percentages for the season. He's shooting 29.6% from 3 and 28.8% from the field. Those numbers are brutal, especially the second one. The sample size is small, but it's not that small - Middlebury has played nearly a third of its regular season and St. Amour has played starter's minutes. I'm not trying to rattle the cage too much, but if I were a Middlebury fan I would definitely be starting to have concerns, especially regarding his ability to score from inside the arc.

Statistically, a good point.  However, if you watch Matt St. Amour play, I think you'll see it in a different light.  He hasn't found his stroke yet, you're right.  However, there are so many things he HAS been doing to earn that playing time that few Midd fans are worried.
We worry about an absence of ability to keep absolutely anyone from scoring.  Our bigs give up embarrassing numbers offensive rebounds to the smallest of teams.  All the hype regarding Nolan Thompson's defense last year turns out not to have been hype at all.  Someone needs to step up and lead the defensive effort very soon or the Panthers are going to be looking up at the "Big Two" this year.

[nescac1]

AmherstStudent05: "George backs up Pollack at the point."  That would be something to see ... the world's tallest point guard combo!   

Thanks for the perspective on Tufts, JustaFan05.  One thing I will note about their lack of true point guards going forward is the absence of CJ Moss, who was supposed to be the answer at the point -- he seems to have left the team at some point during the season last year, and not returned.  Of course, the team fared better in his absence last year, so perhaps he was not the answer after all.  Still, that has definitely hurt their ball-handling depth a bit. 

But of course the biggest issue is injuries ... take away the top three projected scorers heading into a season for any single game vs. a decent team (Ferris, Palleschi, and for at least one game, Haladyna) and I don't see any NESCAC team doing well.  How would Amherst fare in any game without Toomey/Green/Kalema, Williams without Mayer/Epley/Wohl, or Midd without Kizell/Jensen/Merryman?  Those are of course the breaks, and that is the way hoops goes.  I remain convinced that Williams would have likely won a national title in 2011 but for several key injuries, most critically Whittington's broken hand which made him a shell of himself, and the start of Wang's back woes.  Before that, both players simply could not be stopped.  Amherst had the best talent in the league the last few years -- but it didn't hurt that they lost only, incredibly, a total of NINE combined games to injury from established rotation players over a two-year period.  When you consider the impressive early results from Tufts' recruiting class, it is clear that the Jumbos had as much if not more talent than any returning NESCAC team heading into the fall (as others have alluded, they didn't however have the best coaching).  But alas for the Jumbos, they have suffered the most bad breaks ... if either Amherst or Williams are at full strength heading into the post-season, I like both their chances for a deep tourney run based on early results.  Midd on the other hand clearly still has work to do to get to that level if they are struggling to put away the likes of RPI at this point in the season, although plenty of talent is on hand. 

[AmherstStudent05]

A couple of clean up points to my post above.  As usual, nescac1 beat me to it, but I do hope that it was obvious that when I said "George backs up Pollack at the point," I meant the 5 and not the point.

Speaking of which, LeFrak, you were quite right to mention Nabatoff.  I should have mentioned him also.  In admittedly limited minutes, he seems to show great promise.  Also, reading the tea leaves, it seems as though he has made a positive impression on Coach Hixon during those all-important practice minutes.  The trouble of course is that he is firmly behind Pollack and George at the 5, and so the question is whether there is enough room for three 5s in the Jeff rotation.  In recent years, the answer to this question has been a resounding no -- for a long time, we have had great success playing exactly one big at all times, no more and no less (not a radical concept to be sure).  The question going forward -- both this season and beyond -- is whether Pollack, George, and Nabatoff are so talented that Coach Hixon will find ways to manufacture minutes for all of them (probably meaning that two of the three can share the court at times).  We have been burned by athletic 4s on the perimeter before, however, so if Nabatoff wants to benefit from such an arrangement he will have to demonstrate enough athleticism and effort to hold his own on the perimeter.

As for Middlebury and Thompson, no doubt the Panthers miss Nolan.  However, I see that last night Middlebury held Castleton's best player to a grand total of 0 points (he fouled out at some point in the second half).  Not sure even the great Nolan Thompson could do much better than that.  I didn't see the game, but I assume that this was the work of Jensen? 

This got me to return to a topic that I thought about a little last year.  Does Coach Brown embrace the philosophy often ascribed to Coach Belichick?  That is, do whatever you can to take away your opponent's best weapon and make them beat you with someone else.

[nescac1]

I figured you meant as much .  Speaking of injuries, this is where the loss of Ray Barry, who by all accounts was the top Amherst recruit in the class of 2015, really hurts.  He would have likely been the third guard this year if he was as good as reputed, and the heir-apparent to Toomey next year.  Now, Amherst will have incredible uncertainty beyond Green on the perimeter next year.  At some point you have to play your best guys and make the system fit the players on hand if the differential becomes extreme, and it seems crazy that Amherst wouldn't go with two bigs next year with the likes of Nabatoff, Sanderson, Pollack, and George all returning.  If memory serves Nabatoff and Sanderson were both late-growers with perimeter skills, so I would expect both to be groomed as stretch fours (it's not unheard of for Hixon, I believe he has played very big stretch fours in the past at times, like Schiel from your era AmherstStudent05), allowing Mussachia to move to the three and Green to the two.  At least that would be the way, seemingly, to maximize the playing time for the best guys on the roster (assuming Berman takes over the point and a few of the other frosh develop over time into rotation back-up guys on the wing). 

[WPI89]

Thanks for the recap, Justafan.

Bartley always has his team play really tough D for 40 minutes.  As you saw in the last 10 minutes - take away our best and most consistent scorer (Coppola) and we will go through long stretches where if the D does not cause turnovers, we will struggle to score.

I think we should be the class of the NEWMAC but as I stated pre-season, the loss of Coppola takes the upper end off of a potentially special season, IMO.

Dare I say we have an "Amherst-ian" schedule for the next 6 until league play starts - so hopefully we will have a little wiggle room come the end of February.  (yes I know this may cause some karma deductions, but I could not resist).

[AmherstStudent05]

Very good memory, nescac1.  In addition, the '08 team started Hopkins, Brandon Jones, as well as Fletcher Walters (who I don't actually ever played the 5 even though he had the size for it), so Coach Hixon has definitely used bigger lineups in the past when the available talent so dictated, it has just been a while.

Of course, while the '03 and '04 teams had tremendous success (first with Zieja and Fitzy and then Schiel and Tim Jones starting up front), I have to say that Williams gave us fits in those years with smaller lineups.  First, in '03 when Folan came on for DeMuth, and then, in '04 with Tucker Kain starting at the 4. It is not rocket science, but obviously if you are going to play a bigger lineup, you have to make sure they can get out and cover the perimeter.  To be honest, I didn't see the '08 team play that much, but evidently Walters/Hopkins and Jones were up to the challenge.

Anyway, all I know is that I will enjoy watching it unfold (especially if it is successful!).

[Bucket]

Regarding St. Amour, I've noticed several 'he was off from the field tonight, but I'm sure that won't happen regularly comments' so I looked up his shooting percentages for the season. He's shooting 29.6% from 3 and 28.8% from the field. Those numbers are brutal, especially the second one. The sample size is small, but it's not that small - Middlebury has played nearly a third of its regular season and St. Amour has played starter's minutes. I'm not trying to rattle the cage too much, but if I were a Middlebury fan I would definitely be starting to have concerns, especially regarding his ability to score from inside the arc.

Concerns? Hardly. Speaking solely of his shooting percentage, the kid is seven games into his college career. Seven. And I shouldn't have to explain this, but his value is so much more than his shooting percentages. St. Amour is bringing so much to the court, even when he's not shooting well (as I mentioned in my earlier post). The idea of being concerned about Matt St. Amour is laughable.

[Panthernation]

As for Middlebury and Thompson, no doubt the Panthers miss Nolan.  However, I see that last night Middlebury held Castleton's best player to a grand total of 0 points (he fouled out at some point in the second half).  Not sure even the great Nolan Thompson could do much better than that.  I didn't see the game, but I assume that this was the work of Jensen? 

This got me to return to a topic that I thought about a little last year.  Does Coach Brown embrace the philosophy often ascribed to Coach Belichick?  That is, do whatever you can to take away your opponent's best weapon and make them beat you with someone else.

Strategy-wise, Brown is more analogous to when Belichick puts Talib on the top WR (and he shuts him down) than when he does things like double Gonzalez in the red zone, play exclusively sub against the Broncos, etc. That is, Thompson being a shutdown defender meant the top scorer was limited, but beyond smart match ups we rarely see a big change in coaching strategy aimed at limiting that one guy. So, no more than the stuff we see most coaches do in this regard.

Jensen was good on Green last night, but Green also just didn't play that well. Partly thanks to Jensen getting him in foul trouble on the other end. From a larger sample size, it looks like the aberration with regard to how Middlebury has fared against top scorers post-Thompson: The opponent's leading scorer on the season scored above his season average against Middlebury in 5 of the 6 games before Castleton.

[grabtherim]

Regarding St. Amour, I've noticed several 'he was off from the field tonight, but I'm sure that won't happen regularly comments' so I looked up his shooting percentages for the season. He's shooting 29.6% from 3 and 28.8% from the field. Those numbers are brutal, especially the second one. The sample size is small, but it's not that small - Middlebury has played nearly a third of its regular season and St. Amour has played starter's minutes. I'm not trying to rattle the cage too much, but if I were a Middlebury fan I would definitely be starting to have concerns, especially regarding his ability to score from inside the arc.

Concerns? Hardly. Speaking solely of his shooting percentage, the kid is seven games into his college career. Seven. And I shouldn't have to explain this, but his value is so much more than his shooting percentages. St. Amour is bringing so much to the court, even when he's not shooting well (as I mentioned in my earlier post). The idea of being concerned about Matt St. Amour is laughable.

Amen Bucket.  Hard to believe any real fan would have concern for a freshman after 7 games, especially on a team in transition from playing with two heavily relied upon four year starters.  There are obvious areas which should improve, most notably cutting down on opponent's offensive rebounds, better team defense, and getting Kizel in position for some easier shots.  Jensen showed some real jump last night, a very good sign for Midd.  If the Panthers have a healthy Daley and Sinnickson in the mix when league play starts I see them being a factor in the league again.  Funny, not too long ago a 5-2 record this time of year with freshman contributing would have folks around Otter Creek doing cartwheels, now it's "reason for concern".   

[nescac1]

I think the incredible (and incredibly unusual) success experienced by some of this year's first year players has made us forget just how long it typically takes guys to adjust to the college game.  Speaking from a Williams perspective, some guys who played barely at all and/or didn't show a fraction of their future production as first years include James Wang, Mike Mayer, Daniel Wohl, and Troy Whittington.  I'm sure there are other similar examples across the board in NESCAC.  Lots of guys only start to really show what they can do late in their first year (like Conor Green who really exploded late in the season for Amherst) or when they are sophomores.  That is why Duncan Robinson's first seven games are so remarkable ... I can't recall seeing such an impressive combo of production and efficiency to start a NESCAC career (even Toomey struggled in a few of his early games if memory serves, although he also had a very strong start overall).  George and Sabety have also posted really unusual numbers for first-year players. 

[amh63]

Good memories by posters all.  Me, I tend to forget how to spell names correctly.  Anyway, some random comments on things I picked up searching the web and box scores.
First, it was noted on a D3 wrap up story that the Jumbos reserves out scored the " starters".  I used the quotes to also note that at this time of the season and injuries, I suspect Tufts' coaches are trying to figure their team out.  Still, if Tufts had shot better from the foul line, the game may have ended differently.
Did watch the Middlebury game with several minutes to go. Announcers mention that Jake Brown was being rotated with someone wrt to defense and offense purposes.  Liked the way Roberts played defense...9 blocks!  Enjoyed his glee and passion when he made his 9th..jumped up and down a little.
Middhoops..looked for you and your cuz in the stands.  Do you all sit behind the player bench side?  Wear purple and I will find you
Now back to Amherst.  First, going back to last season, do any posters remember how many new players were inserted into games at this time of the season...even for evaluation purposes?  My guess, is fewer than this season.  Of course Willy was around and he never wanted to leave the floor
Having said that, the young man from Charlotte NC seems to me is still learning to play defense in college.  He allowed his man down low to get easy baskets.  Needs work.
Berman is indeed a pass first score second PG.  However, he seems lost when he doesn't have the ball in his hands.  Kalema was having a bad day offensively and Berman came in.  When Toomey had the ball and set up the offense, Berman was outside standing still...no movement like Kalema.  No movement to provide an offensive option, IMO.  Needs to be more assertive on the offense or teams will play Amherst 5 on 4...defensively.
Liked the way Killian is attacking the inside. Two alley-oop passes to him resulted in a dunk and foul line shots.  One ally-oop pass did come from  Berman. 
Liked the dunk by George off a missed foul shot.  Quick step to the ball and a dunk .  His offensive move caught the announcers attention...yes indeed. 
Liked the way Green moved inside to contribute when his outside was missing. 
As to a two big man front court...like to see a Pollack George combo to stop a Swords or big big front line.  George has quickness but no weight to seal his man so to speak.

[jayhawk]

Good dialogue even though early in season -
I think one thing to think about the role of freshmen and their ability to contribute  is the quality of their high school competition and whether or not they did a postgraduate year at a prep school. Duncan Robinson, David George, and Connor Green all did a postgrad which allowed them to gain a year of physical maturity, improve their game and be better prepared to be college student.
Obviously not always true but one thought.

Lots of time for teams such as Amherst to develop players ( as well as other schools) , after all they lost 3 starters from last year and need to be sure to integrate players who have a more prominent role. For example Tom Killian is involved in a different way on the offense. He received two alley pop passes for dunks against he zone and he drove much more. Last year he was mostly a 3 point scorer with other players driving to hoops.  Last night players coming off a lay off and there was definitely some rust.