MBB: NESCAC

[lefrakenstein]

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.

Amh63, I went back to check last year. It seems that all of the freshman last year played at least a few minutes in the early games, with the exception of Curtis, who I believe was injured. Of course, there are so many freshman this year that the number is indeed higher.

I also really liked the Killian baseline ally-oop play that they ran twice last night. Toomey throws those ally-oop lobs from waaaaay outside; very impressive. To me, the big question now is to see how well Killian, Kalema and Pollack can adjust to their expanded roles. Green is clearly ready, but both Killian and Kalema have struggled from the field. Hopefully they will both be able to find their three point shots soon. Pollack is shooting well when he shoots, but that has been very rare. To be honest, Amherst has been very lucky that Toomey and Green have been absolutely on fire. If not for that, the early season may have gone much less smoothly.

As for St. Amour, I readily admit I have only seen him play a couple of times, and that was via webcast, so I don't have a full grasp of how much he's contributing outside of the box score. But when he committed the board was abuzz with talk about what an offensive force he would be in the NESCAC, particularly. Looking around at the guys who are offensive forces in the league now, I think you would struggle to find a single seven-game stretch for any one of them in which they shot as poorly as St. Amour has, even early in their careers. I'm not saying he won't be a good or even an elite offensive player, and a big part of this could be the steep learning curve he faces coming from the Vermont HS leagues, but so far his results on the court certainly haven't indicated that he has that type of potential.

[middhoops]

LeFrak buddy, throw out the history book.  During his tenure, Matt St. Amour is going to cause all NESCAC teams some serious head aches.  The kid came in as a shooter because he had to carry a really bad high school team, and as you'll eventually see; he can shoot from outta town.  However, he has shown an ability to take it to the rack, get steals and rebounds and particularly....take nasty physical hits.
He can struggle from the field for a couple more months and Midd fans will be just fine, given the rest of the package.  I've heard not one complaint, yet.
No one can dispute your stats, but I'll predict he'll break your historical precedent.

[toad22]

This board is really heating up! I'm feeling small in simply worrying about Springfield on Saturday. Seriously, freshmen players are always going to do surprising things. St. Amour was a very highly touted player out of high school for a reason. He won't be remembered for what he does early in his first year.

[Bucket]

Just for kicks, I decided to go check out Aaron Toomey's stats at the beginning of his career. Against far inferior teams (nobody ranked, like St. Mary's or Alvernia), Toomey shot a torrid 34 percent in his first four games—6-15, 2-7, 0-3, 4-10.

He had a great game in his 5th game against Westfield State—10-12. Then back in the 35 percent range for his next two: 3-9, 3-7.

All to say that it's foolish to try and make any sort of player prognostication based on a first-year's shooting percentage in his first seven games.

Honestly, if Matt St. Amour was shooting 40-odd percent from the floor after 7 games, but playing no defense and showing no semblance of court savvy, I'd be a hell of a lot more concerned than by the 28 percent shooting percentage, when factoring in the charges he's drawn in each game, the tough rebounds he's gotten, the passes he's made.

As others have pointed out, there are plenty of things for Panthers fans to find concern in; Matt St. Amour is not one of them.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Honestly, if Matt St. Amour was shooting 40-odd percent from the floor after 7 games, but playing no defense and showing no semblance of court savvy, I'd be a hell of a lot more concerned than by the 28 percent shooting percentage, when factoring in the charges he's drawn in each game, the tough rebounds he's gotten, the passes he's made.

He looked pretty out of his depth the two games I saw at the Hoopsville tournament - but he really turned it on in the OT.  I suspect he'll be able to handle the steep learning curve and improve quickly.  That's one of the great things about watching NESCAC basketball - there ain't no idiots on the floor - you get to see a lot of smart basketball.

[P'bearfan]

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.

I couldn't agree more.  This is probably my personal soap box issue but I think the quality of competition you played day in and out in HS, plus how defensive minded and disciplined your own program was has a huge impact on how fast you adjust to NESCAC play.

[AmherstStudent05]

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.

Thanks, as always, for your response, PN.  It is much appreciated.  You guys would obviously be in a much better position to know, but it seemed to me that there might be more to Midd's "lockdown" defensive strategy that just simply trying to take advantage of favorable match ups.  I only saw Midd play a handful of games last year from start to finish (and never live), and, naturally, the game I studied most closely was the showdown against Amherst.  In that game, it seemed quite clear to me that while Thompson never seemed to leave Toomey's side (except for the last 20 minutes or so when he guarded Workman pretty much full time), other Midd defenders would often go help on Toomey, especially when he drove in the lane (often unnecessarily in my opinion).  As a result, Kaasila seemed to have a field day putting back missed shots, Toomey's in particular (and yes, Toomey provided a lot of misses in need of rebounding during that game, but I prefer not to dwell on that specific detail).  Thus, I wondered if Coach Brown put a special emphasis on shutting down Toomey (beyond the most important decision, which was of course to sic Nolan on him).

Of course, there could be many other explanations.  First, I may just be flat wrong about Toomey receiving more "help" attention from Midd defenders (though it did seem rather pronounced to me).  Alternatively, any disparities could have been the result not of a conscious coaching decision, but rather of the idiosyncratic defensive tendencies of the relevant Midd players.  Lastly, that game could have simply been an aberration.  (To be fair, I don't remember Midd helping at all on Raridon, although Thompson basically just shut him down entirely so I am not sure if the opportunity even presented itself.)  Anyway, I just thought I would provide a little more background for my earlier comment.

As for Midd's defensive performance this year.  The statistic you cite about the six games prior to Castleton obviously does not account at all for a healthy Jensen.  My point/observation, which I guess I should have made clearer, is that Midd may still do a consistently good job shutting down the opposition's top perimeter scorer with Jensen back in the lineup.  Again, to be clear, I am NOT saying that Jensen is Thompson, just that, if he can stay healthy he may well give wing scorers a lot of headaches (don't take this the wrong way, but believe me, I hope I am wrong about this, particularly on February 16!).  While it is still VERY far off, one positive from an Amherst perspective (the perspective I am most interested in) is that no matter how good a lockdown defender Jensen turns out to be, I highly doubt he will have Thompson's defensive range/flexibility.  That is, I don't think he will be able to cover Toomey.  I would guess that Jensen would draw Green (still no easy task), leaving Toomey for Kizel.  Oh well, only have to wait two more months to find out.

[amh63]

Another game to watch....as Amherst plays Anna Maria at home.  Suspect that Connors' outside shooting will improve.
Before going into D3 coaching tendencies like others are touching on here, did any poster watch the Trinity vs Springfield game.  I had to watch via stats...only for so long.  Quit when Springfield was ahead....yet Trinity came back only to lose in OT.  The two teams seemed to match up well, size wise.
Anyway, did watch a number of Div1 games...ACC vs Big Ten games.  A number of surprisingly close games that went against the rankings...for awhile.  Interesting to see how storied coaches deal with the new rules and limited personnel....aka UNC with only 11 players presently.  Overall, in my mind, it seems the coaching challenges are the same between divisions.....except the case of Northwestern who was playing NCState in Raleigh.  The purple clad Northwestern players tried but does not have the talent...speed, quickness, etc of the public funded schools.
I now return to make several comments about NESCAC BB.  Many of the posters, including myself, have touched on areas that I will present now..... the progress/adjustment of talented FYs.  Adjustment of players to college level play....yes, the level of H.S. competition and extra year of school, etc. are key factors.  However, remember many of the new players did have AAU experience.  In our "shout outs" of new recruits each Spring, we stress the offensive stats primarily and though we do caution on the videos, etc.. we all tend to return to offensive stats to support new players.  Where am I going, who knows really.  I feel that the biggest adjustments FY players have is on the defensive side.  Learning how to  defend players that may be quicker than they are and just as big but with more experience.  Like the announcers of games I watched last night, like to remind viewers........defense wins championships.  I truly believe that the NESCAC is a conference that stress defense....at least the top tier team coaches.  It is where matchups are important....see the discussion of posters on this board between Amherst and Middlebury.  The defensive effort of a team can dictate the offensive flow.  RIC last season won many games with a great defense and a self admitted lack of offense..a conf championship, I believe.  Players offense can change because of many things such as strange gyms, fouls etc., but defensive efforts needs to prevail to win games.  I smile when people talk about getting into an "offensive rhythm" but never one on the defensive side.
I best stop here.  Wanted to discuss the topic of guards vs big men....but will leave it for another slow day.

[jayhawk]

Quietly ( at least by board chatter) Tom Killian of Amherst has averaged 12.5 pts and 8 rebounds per game so far
Very solid contributor !!

[amh63]

Jayhawk....thanks for the post with specifics....plus Karma....in spite of the fact that you revealed something that in my selfish mind wanted to keep quiet about for as long as possible.....the emerging role of Killian as a valuable front court contributer.  In Tuesday's game against Westfield State, the assists was distributed around for Amherst with Killian being the leader with SIX!  Very Willy like

[Vandy74]

I was unable to post on the Middlebury-Castleton game in timely fashion.  There's no need to offer any new insight that Bucket and Co. haven't already supplied.  Just a few random thoughts perhaps.  Despite the slow start by much of the team, the trailing at halftime and the fact that Castleton, obviously a pretty talented squad when they choose to be, refused to go away until the last few minutes of the game I was surprisingly calm throughout.  I'm often more like Old Guy, rechecking the final score and clock for the third time before accepting the fact that the game has been won.  But not Tuesday night.  Jensen's steady performance, especially in the first half as several others struggled to find their game made a sense of panic impossible.  While grabbing nine boards, Roberts was also hitting 6-7 from the field.  He's done that before but he doesn't do it often.  St. Amour (I'm not worried about him) was 1-7 but he was 6-6 from the stripe when it was needed.  Only those who saw the game know that the 0-2 came at the end when it hardly mattered.  And they weren't clunkers.  They just couldn't quite find the hole.  And did Bulluck really only play 11 minutes?  While he was out there he always seemed to be doing what had to be done.  10 points.  11 minutes.  Kizel had his numbers when it was over.  Merryman too.  Jake Brown is also a freshman nobody is worried about.  Keep in mind that Daley was unavailable.   Middlebury beats a very game opponent by 10.  A fun game to watch.

Amh63....Middhoops was a no show but since it seems you were watching during the second half you probably saw me.  Sister-in-law Missy was doing a coach's evaluation of Coach Brown, something they do in all sports at MC.  Naturally she was sitting behind the players' bench.  The shortish-haired brunette with the clipboard was her.  The blonde was HFC Ritter's wife.  The tall lean gentleman was my brother, Missy's hubby.  The not so tall fellow who has not been described as lean in quite some time was me.  None of us were wearing purple.

[amh63]

Amherst wins in a blow out.....as expected 97-65 against a game but outmanned Anna Maria team in LeFrak.
Connor Green was the high scorer with 27 points and 9 boards.  Toomey had 8 assists and a bunch of points and steals.  Kalema, Green and Toomey all were hot from outside and they caused the opponent coach to call many time outs.  Four starters had double figure points.  Killian had a head to head collision and was taken out early in the game. 
Must report an error on my part.  Pollock is out because of a back problem and was on the bench tonight. 
I must refer posters to the official Amherst recap since I am confused about particulars.....with the help of technology, I tried to follow the WBB game down in ECSU in Willamatic CT.  Note the word...tried.  Amherst women beat a tough Warrior team....a team that was blown out by the Williams women's team in Willy Town.  Why do they play these games at the same time? 
I forgot, FY Berman played a great deal of the game....Kalema go into foul trouble but still scored well.  Berman had 5 assist and 9 points..needs to improve his foul shots if he continues to get fouled when slashing to the basket.  Tough love here for the young PG

[P'bearfan]

An interesting weekend of Maine basketball has just kicked off this evening with Bates defeating Colby 88-76.  I suspect that Bates will be fired up when they visit Brunswick tomorrow night. 

Bates will be the first team with two athletic big men that Bowdoin will have to face.  Hopefully Swords will stay out of foul trouble and deliver another strong performance.  The Bowdoin-Colby game on Saturday will also be interesting as Hudnut is off to a very strong start averaging 18 / 6 / 3/ 5.

Bowdoin will need to shoot better than they did against USM to sweep both games.  Good luck P'bears.

[nescac1]

I note that Matarazzo played a few minutes in the first game for Bates and has not played since.  Did he sustain some sort of injury in that game?  Safford and Boornazian both seem to be playing at a very high level and both are talented, highly-touted guys who have really come into their own this season.  If Matarazzo can return, that perimeter trio is certainly in the running for the best in NESCAC.  But how far Bates can ultimately go will still depend on whether they can get more interior support as the season goes along out of their frosh big guys.  Just amazing how many key players across NESCAC have missed a lot of time (or been otherwise limited by injury) so early in the season. 

[amh63]

It is surprising to see the Maine schools play each other so early in the season.  I assume that these "CBB" games are the non-conference games...like the "little three" games for Williams, Wesleyan and Amherst...being that there are so early.
Caught a few minutes of the Bates at Colby game.  Two things struck me...the small crowd and the "dark" video feed.  Saving energy on the lighting?....exam reading period?  Thought the Maine rivalry and the closeness of the schools would get a crowd.
Disappointed in the result of the game in Middletown last night.  Thought The Cardinals had the making of a solid team.  Westfield has some quick players but no real size, IMO.  Based on my watching the Amherst win at WSU on Tuesday.  Any posters catch the game?