MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Its Monday and here is your morning weather report from maryland...icy but warming up....area schools closed
My wife daily calls our daughter and grandchild in the morning before the school bus pickup and the call often starts with the weather report in the finger-lake area of New York State....a place that may get more snow than VT! Our WSJ arrived on time...scary how technology allows companies track you these days.  Got an e-mail from the WSJ that stated that my paper may not be available because of the weather conditions.  Wife wants to tip the delivery person.
The paper has the first article  of a series of life style changes for older people...like me.  Talked about a "Gap Year" for retired? people...wow, thought the gap year term is used for a HS person to take before their FY in college.  The man decided to take his year to hike the Appalacian Trail....hopefully the correct way for the time of the year.  Me, I crossed the trail when I visited the park on Mt. Greylock, the tallest peak in MA....very near Williamstown.
Enough about my lifestyle and something related to BB...to this board.
Nescac 1....I do miss Walzy's special Team awards.  Was honored to win the All-Crazy award.  Wanted to be a repeat winner
On the subject of announcers.  Remember Old Guy's post about a Maine student announcer calling the Polar Bears the Black Bears.  Maybe a little "harsh" post   Hope Old Guy doesn't mind the reference.
Did like the William announcers of the last game.  The pro NSN announcer was good, but the in-depth announcer, a Williams Alum, I believe...was good at pointing out good plays by Springfield players.  I enjoyed the remarks about two players that had the same listed size....one Williams, the other Springfield.  Looking at them after a play, they laughed when stating that one player was "lying" about his weight.

[amh63]

Jayhawk...wanted to expand a little on your last post of the Emerson game.....appreciated your observations and points that I also noticed but did NOT post and could not reveal as well as you.
On the play of Connor Green.  Yes, he is a scorer.  In an earlier away game...at Westfield State, I believe, when he went 0-5 from outside, he went inside to get his points...and battle for the ball.  Got his career high to date 9 rebounds then.
Connor did that in the Title Game last season when he scored 16 points..going to the basket and making the basket and getting fouled in the process.  The Emerson announcers did notice his play to the basket...almost unstoppable...referring to his "meat and potatoe" size/body.  It is interesting to note that in the pre-season Coach's report, Hixon praised Connor on his conditioning.  Yet, because of the HD of the broadcast, I did notice that many of Amherst players was breathing hard late in the game, including Green. 
This brings me up to your point of George's play.  I do believe that George was also tiring during the game.  He was only playing around 20 min. in the earlier games while getting his double-doubles.  Trying to guard the basket alone it seems, he tired and only had 8 boards while playing more minutes.  I did like the coaches having him take some shots away from the basket.  If he starts hitting the mid range shots, it will open up the driving lanes, imo.
Absence of Pollack at the 5 position.  Pollack was a backup to give Big Pete a rest last season  but as the season went on he became an inside scorer...especially during the post season. More important, imo, he was also a very valuable distributer of the ball down low.  He would get the ball down low and if guarded, often dish off to an open Green coming down the lane.  I believe Green misses his team mate's assists and play.  Last season, two FY players working together well.
Last thoughts wrt to the Emerson game.  Your observation of Mussachia is "right on".  I believe Coach Hixon sees him as a key player for the team.  When he was pulled out of the game, for whatever reason at the time...he did not just go and get a drink or whatever.  Coach Hixon sat him down near the coaches and spoke to him directly and for some length, it seems....coaching him.  When Mussachia came back in, he started to take his shots when opened....as you pointed out Jayhawk.
I like Mussachia....maybe because he is physically the same size as Willy Workman and also a left handled shooter from outside.  He doesn't have Willy's outside shot yet and Willy's "Crafty" competative nature   I believe he does have a fine mid-range shot...saw him working on it during my Homecoming visit.  Remember, Williamson in his senior year changed defenses with his mid-range shots....even took some outside shots in the post season games. Too often, to date, Mussachia tries too hard to pass the ball down low...like Willy, and needs to look for his shot.
Post getting too long.  Still like your clever reserve comments about the calls.  Saw Aaron on the floor late in the game, a result of a moving pick that was not called.  Aaron remained on the floor a bit to "discuss/point out" the missed call.  One thing you can not miss about Toomey, he like Willy are competitors to the end.

[middhoops]

amh63; just wondering.......when players from visiting teams voice or otherwise show "their opinions" at LeFrak, are they 'competitors to the end'?  judging from the reaction of the crowd, I have sensed it's not viewed in such a positive light.   could be wrong, though.  I am often wrong; seldom in doubt.

[amh63]

Middhoops.....interesting question and I hope I understand your question in context.  In general or in very competative battles with Williams and Middlebury.....in LeFrak?  in any case will try an an answer in a case by case....way and from my limited live games and the recent video viewings.
First, if players of both teams play clean and hard, no one seems bother if a player argues a call.  Do see players on the bench and on the floor react to a hard foul that may injury someone...one side wanting an intentional foul called vice a regular foul.  Sometimes near the end of a game when players are fouling to get the ball back, players react at times.  Now if you are talking about the people in the stands....that is another matter.  Most of the parents and adults react to hard fouls in the normal way....yelling at the refs, if it is missed or goes against their thinking.  In normal games and even in conference counting games, the crowds are not large and the audience are not so reactive to competative type plays that result in a foul.  Grownups are more understanding than students.  Remember a tournament game against Tufts and there were some rough play going on underneath.  When a particular Tufts player who had a rep for hard play...not a finesse player...but used his size and bulk to get rebounds and points in the paint.  That player caused reaction expecially when his play was let go by the refs.
Now if you are talking about a packed house as are the case of Middlebury and Williams games....games when the winner of the game gets to host the tourny....that is another matter.  In those cases, if it is among the players that respect the other team players...do not expect any reaction.  Now the audience can get very loud over a call and a hard foul....especially if the students on one side are baiting the students on the other side.  Normally parents and us older folks remain sitting....do not have the energy or flexibilty.  In the case of a Williams game, one can not hear onself and I often am blocked by standing bodies in front and miss to much of the critical action.  If something happens on the floor and a player is down....I often react by saying....what happen?  If it is a Williams player, I ask who fouled him before knowing the state of the player on the floor.  If it is an Amherst player, my concern is on the player and not too much about the foul specifics, etc.  That is just me.
You are not talking about the game at LeFrak two seasons ago that involved Sharry in the last seconds of a lost?  If so, I believe there is a video of the play somewhere in the Amherst video archives .

[P'bearfan]

Tonigth Bowdoin plays Maine Maritime.  I have to admit I don't know much about the Mariners but on paper Bowdoin should have a big advantage.  The Mariners are 1-6 so far this season with their last game being a blowout loss to Husson (103-57).  The Mariners do have some decent size with 4 guys on the roster between 6-5 and 6-8.  Still if Bowdoin continues to play well they should have an opportunity to get some of the younger players significant minutes which is great for their development.  Hope to catch most of the webcast.

[P'bearfan]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week3

This week's D3 top 25 poll is out. UW Stevens Point is the new #1 team in the land.  Below is a quick run down of the NESCAC teams:

5 Williams

7 Amherst

18 Middelbury

...and most importantly Bowdoin got 5 votes     Go P'bears!

[nescac1]

With Bowdoin entering the soft part of its schedule (after tonight four straight home games, all of which Bowdoin should be favored in), and with the number of undefeated teams rapidly dwindling, the Bears have a very good opportunity to break into the Top 25 in early January.  Starting in mid-January the schedule gets a lot tougher for Bowdoin, but there is still a very clear path for the first NCAA berth in quite some time ... even if they lose three out of five games vs. Williams/Midd/Amherst/Bates/Tufts (with four of those games on the road, that seems like a fair prediction) the rest of the schedule looks very soft; in particular, the remaining non-conference games are basically all gimmes. In all events, Bowdoin has supplanted Tufts as the best hope for a NESCAC team to break the Williams/Amherst/Midd stranglehold on NCAA bids for the league. 

Amherst at Brandeis should be interesting tonight.  Amherst will be very motivated after the Emerson loss and because Brandeis beat them last year.  Brandeis is hard to figure -- they got absolutely embarrassed by Babson, losing by 30 points just two games ago, but then came back to beat Tufts, at Tufts.  I think that is more a reflection on just how depleted Tufts' line-up is at this juncture than anything else -- Brandeis has no other quality wins.  Still, with injury woes of its own, this could be a tough game for Amherst.  Brandeis features one of the best guards in New England (if not all of D3), Boston College transfer Gabriel Moton.  His early season stat line is incredible: 19.8-7.6-2.8, shooting 53/50/83.  I'd say this is a great individual match-up between him and Toomey, except that David Kalema, who is Amherst's best perimeter defender by far, is sure to get the assignment.  If the Jeffs can keep Moton relatively in check, they should be able to handle Brandeis this year.  Babson is on deck for Amherst so this game is one they need to take care of. 

[AmherstStudent05]

With Bowdoin entering the soft part of its schedule (after tonight four straight home games, all of which Bowdoin should be favored in), and with the number of undefeated teams rapidly dwindling, the Bears have a very good opportunity to break into the Top 25 in early January.  Starting in mid-January the schedule gets a lot tougher for Bowdoin, but there is still a very clear path for the first NCAA berth in quite some time ... even if they lose three out of five games vs. Williams/Midd/Amherst/Bates/Tufts (with four of those games on the road, that seems like a fair prediction) the rest of the schedule looks very soft; in particular, the remaining non-conference games are basically all gimmes. In all events, Bowdoin has supplanted Tufts as the best hope for a NESCAC team to break the Williams/Amherst/Midd stranglehold on NCAA bids for the league. 

Amherst at Brandeis should be interesting tonight.  Amherst will be very motivated after the Emerson loss and because Brandeis beat them last year.  Brandeis is hard to figure -- they got absolutely embarrassed by Babson, losing by 30 points just two games ago, but then came back to beat Tufts, at Tufts.  I think that is more a reflection on just how depleted Tufts' line-up is at this juncture than anything else -- Brandeis has no other quality wins.  Still, with injury woes of its own, this could be a tough game for Amherst.  Brandeis features one of the best guards in New England (if not all of D3), Boston College transfer Gabriel Moton.  His early season stat line is incredible: 19.8-7.6-2.8, shooting 53/50/83.  I'd say this is a great individual match-up between him and Toomey, except that David Kalema, who is Amherst's best perimeter defender by far, is sure to get the assignment.  If the Jeffs can keep Moton relatively in check, they should be able to handle Brandeis this year.  Babson is on deck for Amherst so this game is one they need to take care of.

Actually, nescac1, we beat Brandeis last year.  According to Coach Hixon, that game really turned our season around as we had lost to Babson the game before and Springfield shortly before that.  Of course, the Brandeis game started a winning streak that continued throughout the rest of the season (and into this one, until it was unceremoniously ended by Emerson).  Amherst/Brandeis games are often a battle, however.  Agree that it will be very interesting to watch.

[amh63]

Thanks NESCAC 1 for the name of the Brandeis guard that I watched earlier.  Good size scoring guard who is not afraid to get rebounds....8.7....that is a front court player number.  If Killian is back, he may be the one....because of his length.
It is good to see a full slate of conference games on tap.  For awhile, I seemed to be posting to my own amusement...me going into the 2nd decade of my GAP period.
On the subject of rankings at this time of the year......The Polar Bear's WBB team has also got recognition in the D3hoops poll.  Interesting to me in that as the men's program of a school gets stronger, there is also a rise in the women's programs.
Need to go out and shovel the walkway and ponder what is so newsworthy about the story in today's WSJ that women and men do not think alike.....brains are "wired" different.  I know that!  My wife always tells me as she goes off shopping   Just kidding here...do not want any lawsuits by posters.
Do want to relay a comment by a respected HBC in response to endless questions about injuries on his team and impact to the season forward.  The Coach is "Gino" the almost ledgendary coach of the UCONN women's team..that has suffered a series of injuries so far in the season, including to All American players...for those that do not follow WBB.  Down to only 6 players capable to play in a game....a little paraphrasing here...Players coming into our program want to start....to play 40 minutes of a game.  Now many of them will get their chance.

[7express]

Brandeis beat them @ Brandeis 2 seasons ago, Amherst beat them in LeFrak last season.  I believe it was Babson that beat Amherst in leFrak last season.

[nescac1]

Woops, yeah, my bad, I was confusing Babson and Brandeis. 

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin defeats Maine Maritime 92-44.  Not too much of a contest after the first few minutes.  Haven't seen the stat line but it was another big game from Swords and also Pieri.

The other thing that stood out was how well the P'bears moved the ball around.  Really impressive.

One more game Friday before the semester break.

[lemonjello]

Amherst wins a tight one in Waltham, 75-70 over the Brandeis Judges.  Some missed free throws down the stretch helped Brandeis narrow the gap, but the final outcome was never in doubt.  Tom Killian was back in the lineup, which is good news for Amherst fans, though Ben Pollack is still out.  I only caught the last few minutes of the game, so I'll leave it to the regulars to provide a more detailed recap of what they say.  Toomey was the leading scorer, with Green, Killian, and Kalema all in double figures (according to the announcers).  After the disappointing Emerson loss, it was nice to see the Jeffs get back on track, though it certainly wasn't an easy win.

I haven't posted here in quite some time, though I have been reading more regularly of late.  I always enjoy the conversations and passionate dedication to NESCAC basketball.

[P'bearfan]

Just saw the Bowdoin - Maine Maritime stats.  As expected playing time was well distributed through the team.  No one played more than 22 minutes.  Nice balance on offense with 5 P'bears in double figures - 3 of them coming off the bench (Hausman, Palecki and Fuller).  Pieri led all scorers with 16  on 6-10 shooting form the field.  Swords had another strong game with 10 pts and 8 rebounds in just 22 minutes.  The most surprising stat may be that Bowdoin only shot 25% from the 3 pt line.  A big difference after the last 2 games.

Bowdoin did a nice job on defense, playing aggressively for the full 40 minutes.  They held the Mariners to 25% shooting from the field.  Bowdoin also had 11 steals and 4 blocks. 

Have to give props to the Mariner's Garrett Libby who was their leading scorer with 16 points on 5 of 11 from behind the arc.  An impressive job.

[amh63]

lemon...nice post for only seeing the last part of the game...the tension filled part as good foul shooters for Amherst were missing....as the students were yelling at them.  Yes it was nice to have Killian back for his defense, rebounding and even outside shooting....key player for Amherst.
Nescac1 was correct in that Kalema was guarding Moton...the big scorer and rebounder for Brandeis in the first half.  Connor Green did NOT score in the first half because of fouls.  He did come back to score from outside and inside.  Still he had to be careful and went out some in the 2nd half.  The Judges big scorer had 22 points but was only 1-9 from the field but 9-10 from the foul lane....until he led the comeback late in the game with a couple of 3's.  It is interesting to hear the announcers state that Moton drives not so much to get a basket but to get a foul.
A close back and forth game in the first half with Amherst leading by 3 points at the half.  Amherst in the 2nd half started to hit the 3 ball led by Green, Killian and Toomey.  Amherst had a steady 10-14 point lead until the last 4 minutes when it went down to 6-8.
The big scorer was Aaron with 27 points.....missing a long 3 that went in and out of the basket late in the game.  The announcers were amazed by his range and the fact that he never went out of the game.  He would get the ball and milk the clock and then drive and pass the ball to a team mate for a shot.  Brandeis would foul and Amherst would then go to the line.  George, Green and even Toomey missed foul shots.
Still it was a good Road win.  Mussachia came in and played well.  So did Berman and Wright...another FY player from Detroit Country Day, I believe.  Wright played a few minutes in the Emerson game.  The particulars I will leave to the LJ's website.  Liked that Amherst won the battle of the boards...getting 9 offensive boards in the first half.  Still, Amherst left too many points on the foul line in the 2nd half, late in the game.
First win hopefully of a looong win streak.  Tough game with Babson on the road on Thursday.
Watched the last 12 minutes of the Hamilton game. Hart who only scored 2 points in the first half, led a comeback...come from behind barnburner win in the 2nd half.  He scored 7 straight points in one short period and another 5 points in another.  He took over the offense for Hamilton.  Very questionable call in the last 1.9 seconds.  After Hamilton takes a lead of 4-6 points, Morrisville State got the lead back, only to have Halmilton tie the game at 80 apiece.  Hart comes back with a 2-point shot with 1.9 seconds to go.  SUNY-Morrisville throws a long pass only to have Hart catch it in the air and comes down with the ball on his back.  He was called for traveling!..slipping and falling down.   The opponent team gets the ball under the basket with less than half a second left. Hamilton intercepts the throw in pass for the win.  The three refs quickly runs off the court...before the handshake line forms.
Forgot to point out that  Killian did cover Moton when Kalema was not in the game.  A little confusing since the Brandeis star was in and out of the game...for rest?  Believe Aaron even guarded him a little.