MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

amh63,
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your question about the New Paltz team.     I responded over on this board so you wouldn't have to travel.

The Hawks have been an up and down team this season. They lost a lot of talent (3 starters) from last year's team including All Conference performers Matt Devine and Shareef Taylor. Still they had a solid of core of returning players or were supposed to but big man Deveino McRae, who was the Rookie of the Year in the SUNYAC last season didn't return to school and that meant the coaching staff had to replace 4 starters. McRae averaged 7.9 ppg and 6.2 rpg as a freshman, good for 3rd best on the team in both areas.

I didn't give the Hawks much chance of making the league playoffs this season (the top 6 teams qualify) as I had them coming in 8th place in my preseason preview of the conference. They did gain a seasoned player as graduate student, guard Nick Taldi, who missed last season with an injury, returned for a final year. Taldi, who has averaged right around 10 ppg for his career, began the year as a starter but for the last 6 games has been coming off the bench. The Hawks opened the season with a trip to the west coast and surprisingly went 2-0 against a couple of teams in the SCIAC conference, Redlands and Whittier. Their return home though, was followed by 4 straight losses, all by double digit margins, to teams that all possessed winning records. The best of those teams was Eastern Connecticut and current Liberty League leader Vassar College, the Hawks local rival.

New Paltz opened conference play with a win over conference cellar dweller Fredonia and a loss to a decent Buffalo State team. Next came the win over Hamilton which was somewhat surprising since it was on the road but the Hawks followed that win with a pair of home losses that they had to have, in my opinion, in order to have any chance for a playoff spot.

However they did have a major upset on Tuesday when they went to Oswego and took down the Lakers, 83-75, for their first win against them in 13 years. The hero of that game was none other than that grad student, Nick Taldi. Taldi once again came off the bench to hit 8x10 field goals and was 5x6 from downtown. That was the story of the game. Thanks to Taldi the Hawks shot 50% from the field and had nine 3 pointers. Oswego shot 38% and only went 3x19 from long range. 

New Paltz is not a very big team as their tallest player is 6'5", occasional starter, sophomore Alex Periman, but the Hawks manage to hold their own on the boards. Their leading scorer and only player averaging double digits (15.8 ppg) is junior Taylor Sowah, a 6'4" guard/forward. He and senior point guard 6'3" Andrew Joseph are the only 2 players that have started every game, as the coaching staff has started 9 different players in the course of the season. Sowah and Joseph also lead the team in rebounding as they both average a little better than 6 boards per game. Taldi is the 2nd leading scorer on the team at 9.7 ppg, and is closely followed by another 6'4" guard/forward, junior R.J.  Rosa at 9.4 ppg.  The Hawks have 4 other players that average between 6.5 ppg and 8.1 ppg.

Tonight they take on one of the top teams in the YAC when Plattsburgh invades the Hawk Center. I'm sure that New Paltz is feeling pretty good about their win on Tuesday so Plattsburgh better get off the bus looking for trouble. The Cardinals found out last year that the game is 40 minutes long, not 38, as they gave up a sizable lead and lost to the Hawks on a last second 3 pointer. That game was one the Cardinals were expected to win and it ended up costing them a chance to host the playoffs. And just in case they forgot about that game, Brockport gave them another wake up call regarding the length of a contest this past Saturday, when they came from 7 points down in the final few minutes to walk off the Cardinals court with a win.

I think that Plattsburgh had some pretty intense practices this week after their performance in that Brockport game. I'm sure the team was reminded of their collapse last year in the Hawk Center gym. Once again Plattsburgh is a substantial favorite to win this game and I believe they'll take care of business. I look for them to come away with an 80-71 win.

I see that the coach is a former Amherst assistant so I'm sure he'll have the Hawks on the right path. If McRae, the big guy he recruited 2 years ago that was the ROY, had come back, I'm sure there would be a few more games in the plus column. Young team will only lose 1 player off this year's team. New assistant last year, Keith Hack, should be a big help. A good player from Medaille College, I saw him play a few times, including 2 NCAA games his Senior year.                           

[ECSUalum]

Wait 'til Vandy74 wakes up.  He's an encyclopedia of Pistol Pete and updated stats.  As a freshman at Vanderbilt he got to see Maravich light 'em up.

Hmmm....It seems I missed my wake-up call but yes I did see The Pistol in action.  He only put in 38 that night.  It was Dale Brown, who succeeded Pete's dad Press as the LSU HC, who did the research on his shots to determine that with the 3-pointer Pete would have averaged an additional 13  points per game.  That is remarkable in a number of ways.  In his senior year Maravich averaged 17 buckets a game.  That means he practically lived outside what would become the 3-point arc.  Also, the college record for 3-pointers in a single game is 15.  Maravich would have averaged only 2 fewer than what is now the all-time single game best. 

There is one more thing to consider.  He was an 80% FT shooter who averaged 11 ppg his senior year.  Since a foul on a missed shot outside the arc results in a 3 FT penalty it is safe to assume that would also have added a few more ppg to his scoring average.  13 added to his average of 44 is 57.  Would 80% of the additional FT he would have taken each game put his average over 60?

A remarkable basketball player.

Saw the Pistol play with the NO Jazz in Hartford Civic Center vs Celtics,( 3/9/1976).  I was a huge Maravich fan at the time. He took over the game scoring  37 points, 11 rebounds vs a Boston team of White, Havlicek, Cowens, Silas et al.
Although his D was lacking at times, his ball handling skills were amazing and as you say not only could he shoot, (3 pt distance), from anywhere, he could go to the hoop as well, and when fouled, a career 82% Free Throw Shooter, (actually more like 85% later in his career)!!  Do not see players like him anymore!!  Sorry for getting off topic here.

[Pat Coleman]

Like Magicman said some of the data supplied on the site he provided is rather sketchy.  Sadly enough this is true of the Middlebury info regarding the seasons from 1959-65.  '65 was Old Guy's sophomore year. This is must have data.  Hopefully the MC powers that be will get on this posthaste.

Yeah, unfortunately all of the data is based on the reports filed by the schools at the time. Some schools only have midseason reports for some sports in some seasons as well.

Had a great chance to talk with the former statistical guru of the NCAA a couple of years ago (since retired) about this project. He was pretty excited about getting all of those postseason reports scanned and uploaded.

[ECSUalum]

Pat
Nice job on the new D3 Hoops web page... looks great!!!

[Old Guy]

Midd vs Wesleyan in Middletown: a toss-up, but I have Midd by six in a good game - 68-62.

Bowdoin at Williams: I have had a chance to watch Bowdoin on-line a couple of times this year - watched all of the Babson and Wesleyan wins. I am impressed with their suffocating zone defense. I like Swords. I like Pieri, tall, versatile. Mathias is capable at the point, but the Polar Bears are not an offensive juggernaut. I don't think they match up with the Ephs. I have the Ephs by 10-15 in Williamstown, 69-56.

I think Bates gets by Trinity tonight, 68-60, in Alumni Gym, but gets thumped by Amherst tomorrow. The Amherst-Williams game convinced me. I think the Jeffs have separated themselves from the rest of the league. They're really good, and confident. They will go into other people's gyms and still have a swagger. Bates will be a madhouse - they love their hoop. We'll see. I would like to be wrong, but I think the Jeffs are that much more talented, 81-69 tomorrow.

Hamilton over Colby tonight in a tight one, 71-66. That's a long drive from Waterville, ME to Clinton, NY. Outcome based solely on home court advantage.

[7express]

Anyone want to do spreads??

[middhoops]

You know how, on this board, we have titles based on the volume of our posts?  I think I'm a starter and amh63 is an All-American.  magicman needs a whole separate designation.  "Research Guru"?  "Most Informed Poster"?  or  "Fearless Defender of the YACs"?
I don't bet any more, but if someone offered a wager that magicman couldn't name the starting five for Fredonia State in 2003-2004, I sure wouldn't take it.

[middhoops]

Swords just picked up his fourth as Mayer went at directly at him per game plan.  Mike Maker knew exactly how to play Bowdoin.  Good time for the Ephs to have Mayer step up his game.  nescac1 is smiling now.....

[Mr. Ypsi]

You know how, on this board, we have titles based on the volume of our posts?  I think I'm a starter and amh63 is an All-American.  magicman needs a whole separate designation.  "Research Guru"?  "Most Informed Poster"?  or  "Fearless Defender of the YACs"?
I don't bet any more, but if someone offered a wager that magicman couldn't name the starting five for Fredonia State in 2003-2004, I sure wouldn't take it.

Nah -  I don't doubt he could name the starters, but he'd have no clue on which year they started!  After all, he's even (months) older than I am!

[middhoops]

Whoa!  Bowdoin still in it, down four with 3 minutes to go. Great game.

[middhoops]

bowdoin didn't win at Chandler but they sure proved they can play with the big boys.  I'd rate them higher now than last week. 

[magicman]

Bonus basketball at Wesleyan as the Panthers and Cardinals are tied at 55 and head to overtime.

[magicman]

Middlebury 77 Wesleyan 75 in Double OT


Huge 3 pointer by Joey Kizeel with 19 seconds left in OT to tie the game at 67.  Wesleyan will take the ball out of bounds undeneath Midd's basket  with a last chance to win the game.

Wesleyan used most of the clock just dribbling and threw up a shot with 2 seconds left that didn't draw iron as it went out of bounds under their basket. Still the Cardinals ball and 1.2 seconds to go and they inbound it but fail to get a shot off in time.

Now going to a 2nd overtime.

Middlebury hanging on to a 3 point 74-71 lead with 1:46 to go and the Panthers have the ball coming out of a time out. Midd having trouble inbounding the ball and they take another time out to avoid the 5 second call. Fortunately Coach Brown had plenty of TO's to use. Still with 2 left in reserve.

Midd uses a little clock and Kizell drives the baseline and feeds a player inside who misses a short jumper and the Cardinals get the rebound. But the Cardinal player loses the ball and it goes out of bounds and Midd gets it back. They miss another short jumper and Wesleyan goes down and scores to make it 74-73. They immediately foul St.Amour on the inbounds and he misses the first but makes the 2nd to make it 75-73. Wesleyan goes the length of the floor and scores to tie it up with 11 seconds left. As the Panther bring the ball down the court St Amour gets fouled from behind  with 8 second to go, which wasn't at all what the Wesleyan coach wanted. This time Midd makes them both and the Cardinals come up short on their attempt to tie the game. Middlebury wins it 77-75.
 

[AmherstStudent05]

Amherst bests Tufts 75-67.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the webcast to work, so I don't have much to add.  From the live stats, it looked like an incredibly sloppy game.  Amherst had 16 turnovers and shot 4-19 from three, while Tufts had 10 turnovers and was a dreadful 3-20 from behind the arc.

It's always nice to get a road win in the NESCAC, but the big news tonight belongs to Aaron Toomey.  With his 28-point effort, Aaron has surpassed the superb Steve Zieja as the all-time leading scorer in Amherst history with 1,715 points (Zieja has 1,708, and Jim Rehnquist, mentioned earlier, is 5th all time with 1,512).  Tremendous accomplishment for this living Amherst legend.  Congratulations, Aaron!  (I won't lie, part of me was hoping that Aaron would wait until tomorrow to break Steve's record, because I remember back in 2003 when Steve broke Jamal Wilson's record in Lewiston -- it would have been nice symmetry, but we sure did need all of Aaron's 28 points, so I am not complaining.)

Since I couldn't get the Tufts feed to work, I treated myself to the Bowdoin-Williams game.  Nice win for the Ephs.  Credit Bowdoin for hanging tough when it looked at times like Williams was going to finally run them off the court.  We have all said it before, but I just have to say it again: Duncan Robinson is an absolute beast.

Maybe I should have been watching the Wesleyan-Middlebury game instead.  What on Earth is going on up in Middletown?

[amh63]

Amherst beats Tufts in Melford in a game that lasted too long as Amherst had a 10 point lead with 53 sec. To go and with the fouls and timeouts by both teams....it took more than 5 minutes to finish.  Amherst wins finally by 8.  Amherst had four starters with double figures scoring while Tufts had five players in double figures.  Amherst out rebounded Tufts but turned over the ball more. Blocks were the same.  Both teams did not shoot great.  Amherst in the end won on the foul line.
Killian was one short on rebounds to repeat having a double-double.  Aaron was the high scorer for Amherst and the game with 28 points and had seven rebounds.
Ben Ferris' return sparked Tufts offense.  Tufts surprisingly had more steals than Amherst.  Sloppy at times for both teams. 
Another "lunch bucket" win on the road.  Take it,
Close games around the conference...except at Bates where the score looked like a blowout of sorts.
Tufts video feed was terrible...watched the live stats.  watched the Bowdoin game on the IPad...surprised by the close score.  Mayer seems to be running well and Robinson's play was the difference.  Swords not really a factor in the game, IMO.
Believe Aaron Toomey now holds the Amherst record for total points.  It had to come sometime this season.
Tufts' feed of the games were not available basically...many complaints by hopeful watchers of the women's game.  Seemed the live stats even froze...in the top WBB game of the night!