MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Home for another week before heading back to West Africa till next summer (so I will miss the Panther pastimers too - I've been going to Arizona with that club for their spring trip the last few years. It will be interesting to see if St. Amour chooses to play baseball with Merryman and Sinnickson. If every baseball game was accompanied by a hoop tilt, Middlebury would fare pretty well).

Pretty quiet on the NESCAC front. I won't be able to get to the Salve Regina game on Friday, alas, though I should be able to catch the video from here (Rhode Island - "you can't get theyah from heah": head from Vermont to Boston and take a right - or head to Hartford and take a left. Over five hours either way). SR looks like a pretty good club. They're 6-2 with only one D3 loss, 13 pts. to RIC, in a game that was tight for three quarters. I hope Panther Nation will provide a preview of the match-up.

No one reported on Sunday's Bates-Salem State game, a one point road loss for the Bobcats on a jump shot at the buzzer, the second one in a row as Bowdoing beat them on Dec. 6 before break on a 30' prayer. Bates was down 17 at the half to Salem, then came out in the second half and went on a 26-4 run to even things up: back and forth till the end.

Bates was hurt by a questionable offensive foul call in the backcourt (push-off, really ticky-tack) with five seconds to go. White for SS hit the first, missed the second. Delpeche rebounded and was fouled immediately. He missed the front end and Akanni did his Joey Kizel impression, dribbling the length of the floor, hitting (as Johnny Most would say) a running one-hander (actually a conventional jump shot) as time expired.

Frosh center Malcolm Delpeche had ten points (5-5 from the floor) 10 boards and four blocks in 31 minutes. He's not bad: 6'8", doesn't try to do too much, had a pretty move from the left block in the second half. Safford, handling the point with Capt. Matarazzo still out, had  four assists, six steals, and 26 points. Boornazian had 23, including four 3s. He's impressive.

Bates came back yesterday and whomped Berkeley (Brooklyn), 97-63. Boornazian had 23 points again - four 3s, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals. He creates some match-up headaches for opponents: he's 6'5", 205, and plays the 2 or 3 position, having an inside and outside game. The Delpeche twins had 21 points and 17 rebounds in 34 combined minutes in this blowout. NESCAC leaders should not expect an easy W against the Bobcats, especially in venerable Alumni Gym. I'm glad we get them here at home.

[Old Guy]

As a native Californian that has spent his life listening to and speaking Spanish I got to ask why it's BU-na Vista and not "bwena vista" as it would be pronounced here and in Mexico?

Probably the same reason that in Vermont the town of Charlotte is "sha-LOT" and Calais is "cal-us": just to confuse the tourists, flatlanders, and newcomers, so we can make fun of 'em.

[Bucket]

As one who grew up in Lexington, I would say that Robinson hit that three from "BV"...the next town over being Buena Vista, pronounced BU-na Vista if you're keeping track of such things.

As a native Californian that has spent his life listening to and speaking Spanish I got to ask why it's BU-na Vista and not "bwena vista" as it would be pronounced here and in Mexico?

Because of rural Virginia...

[middhoops]

As one who grew up in Lexington, I would say that Robinson hit that three from "BV"...the next town over being Buena Vista, pronounced BU-na Vista if you're keeping track of such things.

As a native Californian that has spent his life listening to and speaking Spanish I got to ask why it's BU-na Vista and not "bwena vista" as it would be pronounced here and in Mexico?

Because of rural Virginia...

Umm, so why is there a college with a Spanish name in rural Virginia?
(You guys all know that Bucket will know this one....)

[magicman]

As one who grew up in Lexington, I would say that Robinson hit that three from "BV"...the next town over being Buena Vista, pronounced BU-na Vista if you're keeping track of such things.

As a native Californian that has spent his life listening to and speaking Spanish I got to ask why it's BU-na Vista and not "bwena vista" as it would be pronounced here and in Mexico?

Because of rural Virginia...

Umm, so why is there a college with a Spanish name in rural Virginia?
(You guys all know that Bucket will know this one....)

Don't think that there is a Buena Vista College in Buena Vista, Virginia, but  Southern Virginia University is there.

Buena Vista University is in Storm Lake, Iowa though.

[middhoops]

Just found this link on the Nova Southeastern hoops site for live video of today's Amherst game.

http://www.nsusharks.com/showcase/#liveevents

[amh63]

Thanks Middhoops!   There is another link on the Amherst athletic website that has appeared recently.
The time for the game is 6pm.  The time on the D3hoops chart is 2pm!  Will check further but I suspect the later time is correct.  The Nescac website is never correct on time, games, etc.  Add a layer of management and things go wrong IMO.
The game is on at 6PM.  Went directly to the host school website.  There is a nice writeup/preview of the game...coach's preview of key players to watch on the Amherst team and a return of the "sharks" PG, etc.   drumming up fans for a day filled with football games, I guess

[Bucket]

As one who grew up in Lexington, I would say that Robinson hit that three from "BV"...the next town over being Buena Vista, pronounced BU-na Vista if you're keeping track of such things.

As a native Californian that has spent his life listening to and speaking Spanish I got to ask why it's BU-na Vista and not "bwena vista" as it would be pronounced here and in Mexico?

Because of rural Virginia...

Umm, so why is there a college with a Spanish name in rural Virginia?
(You guys all know that Bucket will know this one....)

Don't think that there is a Buena Vista College in Buena Vista, Virginia, but  Southern Virginia University is there.

Buena Vista University is in Storm Lake, Iowa though.

Correct. The town's name is Buena Vista. BV (as us Lexingtonians refer to it) sits along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which does, indeed, afford quite a view.

The college in BV is Sourthern Virginia, the former Southern Seminary College for Women (affectionately known as Sem).

[warriorcat]

Looking forward to seeing how the Salve Regina/ Middlebury game plays out.  I graduated from Midd in the 70's. Played soccer for Tom Lawson and my work study job was to work for the Communications Office keeping statistics and stringing game stories and box scores to the newspapers for the basketball team.  Those basketball teams were far different than those today.  My son joined the Salve coaching staff this year and they are off to one of their best starts so I have started following them on line this year.  They are a solid well  coached team but I am not sure where they are relative to the elite level that the Panthers have played at over the past few years.  I hope that no matter how the Seahawks fare today, that they remain focused on their conference games.   

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks Middhoops!   There is another link on the Amherst athletic website that has appeared recently.
The time for the game is 6pm.  The time on the D3hoops chart is 2pm!  Will check further but I suspect the later time is correct.  The Nescac website is never correct on time, games, etc.  Add a layer of management and things go wrong IMO.
The game is on at 6PM.  Went directly to the host school website.  There is a nice writeup/preview of the game...coach's preview of key players to watch on the Amherst team and a return of the "sharks" PG, etc.   drumming up fans for a day filled with football games, I guess

Our site and the NESCAC site run off the same database, so we will always have the same times. All schools have access to that database to keep it updated, so there shouldn't be a reason for it to be wrong but sometimes with neutral-site holiday tournaments and other games far from home, game times change and schools don't bother to update their conference.

[nescac1]

Watched the second half of the Amherst game, going to OT.  It's pretty hard to judge, but I'd estimate that 2-8 D-II Nova Southeastern would likely be a top 25 caliber, but not a top 5 caliber, D-3 team.  They are very quick but actually smaller than Amherst. 

Much like rusty Williams, Amherst has been extremely sloppy with the ball vs. the press.  Amherst has 25 turnovers in regulation!  Nova Southeastern has a good press, but not THAT good.  Amherst has been saved by incredible outside shooting, as usual, from Green and Toomey.  Green put up a monster offensive game -- 40 points so far, including 8-13 from 3 (including some deep ones), he did have 8 turnovers however (all of which came in the first half).  Toomey has also been huge -- 23-7-7 so far, plus 6 steals.  Toomey, Kalema, and Green have incredible stamina, sitting despite playing an aggressive pressing team for only a total of three minutes, and two of those minutes were due to foul trouble for Toomey.  They MUST be exhausted. 

Hixon clearly doesn't trust his bench much -- zero bench points, and only Mussachia played significant minutes.  Notably Reid Berman played only one minute in regulation even though his ball-handling could have really helped give the starting guards some help vs. the press -- surprised he didn't play more.  Pollack continues to not play for Amherst so presumably he is still injured.

[amh63]

Following the game via live stats as the video feed is out.  Nova ahead 48-43 at the half.  Tom Killian gets two fouls early and sits.  Conner Green carries the load with 22 plus points.  Toomey and Green have too many TO....though Amherst wins the battle of the boards.  Nova shooting over 50 percentage from outside.  Both teams shooting well.
Amherst takes the lead in the second half with 14 minutes to go.  Biggest lead by Amherst at 68-63.  Last Amherst lead at 81-80.....Amherst behind by 4 with 2 minutes to go.  Conner carrying the team with 40 points.  Killian and Toomey both have 4 fouls as Amherst picks up 11-4 fouls in the 2nd half.  Aaron makes two threes and the game goes into overtime at 92-92.  Killian picks up the offense in second half along with Green and Toomey.  Kalema and Toomey both have 7 assist and Toomey has 6 steals.  Green and Toomey do not have TOs in the second half.  George has 10 rebounds.  Both teams shooting around 53 percent from the field and around 43 percent from outside.  Blocks and assist are about the same.  Amherst is winning the fast break points and the boards so far.

Amherst loses in OT...105-102...close enough for now.  I am sad...but there are positive areas.  Amherst did put in 4 players into the game in the first half.  Three were FY players....one to give George a rest.  Mussachia did not score , but did get 5 rebounds in his time. 
NESCAC1.....am not too concerned at this time...we will see who wins the "CAC" title

[nescac1]

Well a clearly spent Amherst team loses in OT.  Again, hard to judge how good a performance that is but I do think that Nova, despite its record, would be an upper-echelon D-3 squad, so not a terrible loss.  But the Jeffs clearly have some things to work on before first NESCAC game.  If I was strategizing vs. Amherst, I would NEVER, ever leave Green open.  He is just a deadly shooter.  Toomey always has the ball in his hands and is going to get his points and assists no matter what, but if you can do everything possible to take Green out of the game, it just puts incredible pressure on Toomey to create for everyone else.  Amherst's defense was not terribly impressive in this game, but I think that was a product of playing such a short bench and playing an exhausting game after such a long layoff -- hard to stay in front of good offensive players after 40-plus minutes on the court, when you aren't back in full game shape. 

amh63, I think it may be a BIT premature to worry about another national title appearance for the Jeffs -- the biggest difference between this year and last year is that last year, Amherst had two top-notch scorers that it brought in off the bench and were huge difference makers.  This year, while the Jeffs have a great starting five once again, they don't seem to have any scoring punch off the bench, particularly with Pollack hurt.  That puts an ENORMOUS amount of pressure on the (offensively awesome) starting five, in particular, Toomey and Green -- who are two of the very best offensive players in Division III, but can't possibly do it alone game after game, especially when Amherst gets into a stretch of road games. 

[jayhawk]

only focused on game to game for Amherst, defense  was porous but what was more telling in a game like this was the remarkable number of turnovers - I don't have access to final box score but I would guess Amherst may have had 25 turnovers or more.
effects of long layoff before going to Florida telling
predict Amherst will never schedule a situation like this again

reduce turnovers Amherst wins , instead started out behind and turnovers kept them behind

[middhoops]

The LJs fall in OT against a D2 team in Florida.  Good showing for Amherst.
Tomorrow gives us a couple of very good games on video with Williams/Hampden Sydney and Middlebury/Salve Regina.