MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Quick posts before the Hoopsville webcast with Magicman, so will make several responses to posters.  Will make some personal observations about the RIC game and corrections...having read the box score of the game this morning.

Vandy74....sorry about your difficulties finding my reference.  It was my "bad", my error.  The post was on the NEWMAC board where WPI plays....not the LEC..little east...where RIC plays.  A karma point for your troubles...not enough really.

Pat C....I do not blame you as my post on the matter states.  The problem is elsewhere and I will see if it can be corrected.

[amh63]

Back to discuss the RIC game after reading the box and Amherst writeup...therefore some corrections to my previous game post.
First Aaron Toomey scored all of his 22 points in the 2nd half..playing 27 minutes.  At RIC last year he torched RIC  for 34 points in 40 minutes in a way that impressed announcers, coaches and AS05.
Agreed with Midhoops and others wrt to Tom Killian who led the team with 26 points and 5 steals.  Carried the team in the first half until Toomey took over the effort.
George is credited with 4 blocks in the game.  The Pollack/George combo had 10 rebounds and 8 points and played the post well against a physical "big" RIC team.  Lucky for Amherst, there is a 6'7" 290 lb freshman on the roster that did not play?
Was impressed with RIC team speed and quickness all around.  Toomey and Killian both had 4 fouls trying to to stop RIC's aggressive style of play.
Two observations before my "head game" observations so to speak.
First, the announcers were having trouble picking out the RIC players due in part to the dark markings on the dark uniforms.  The first one was a freshman guard who is the leading scorer.  He was the one with the bright red shoes that helped the announcers pick and identify  him.  So the shoes are identification aids really!
Second, did pick out several fans in the stands...including  Willy Workman's dad and Killian's dad.  Tom Killian's brother is a freshman at Amherst...a lacrosse player of note. Oh yes, saw Pollack's dad too.
Now for my particular head game notes... Points that caught my interest.
Coach Walsh and Coach Hixon respect each other greatly, IMO , and thus have scheduled this yearly contest.  The rising well respected young coach and the old hand Coach Hixon.
During the lineup announcement, the RIC starters did not go over to acknowledge Coach Hixon (I may have missed it).  As his team made their circle, Coach Walsh stood by the circle alone with his head down...preparing himself for the game.  When he positioned himself to greet the Amherst starters, he seemed to me to warmly acknowledge Aaron with a full handshake.  During the game, he tried many tactics to change the flow of the game to his favor.  He wanted a fast pace...run and shoot game  and substituted whole teams to keep the pressure on Amherst.  A bigger team to start and a smaller quicker team to follow.  I believe he used a man to man defense with the bigger team and a zone defense..match up zone?...with the smaller line-up.  In the 2nd half it was a pressure full court press that caused TOs...mainly to the Amherst subs for Toomey, Green, etc.
In the second half, the game pace gave RIC the 9 point lead as Amherst relied on their outside shots too much.  Toomey came in and in part slowed the pace down.  Coach Wash had put a big long player on Toomey to interrupt his passes and stop his jump shot.  Toomey adjusted and took his defender inside to make short shots and made long outside shots.   As the game turned Amherst way, I was puzzled with one sequence late in the second half.  Kalema had the ball to one side and was dribbling, while Aaron and Green  were on the perimeter  at the top of the key...Killian was on the other side outside and unguarded.  Kalema tried to dribble inside, it seemed, double teamed only to turn it over.
Why?...I put it to the defenders getting to Kalema's head with some trash talk.  Whatever the reason, I believe he was taken out of the game briefly.   Just as Gach was taken out after being picked from behind in the RIC press...while bringing the ball up the court.
In summary, I believe Coach Hixon did well in his substitution and game tatics.  Amherst players got lessons taught to them...they will learn from those lessons...playing against a quick physical team.  That is why the game is scheduled yearly.  Clever Coach Walsh making the game a challenge every year...different styles,changing styles every year it seems.

[AllStar]

amh63:

Those RIC uniforms are awful.

[madzillagd]

Do the Midd games get archived on NSN?  I know for Williams it's a 48 hour wait after the game and then they only remain up for 48 hours.  Does Midd have any similar type of restrictions?  Sounds like I won't get to watch tomorrow night. 

Awfully quite around here about Friday night.  I think the Panthers sense their prey is a bit wounded right now and they don't want anything to alert them before they pounce on Friday night    At the beginning of January I would have predicted Williams to pull it out but with the way Epley has struggled and the injury to Rooke-Lay, it's hard not to expect Midd to handle the Ephs tomorrow night.  As good as Mayer and Robinson have been recently, you can't beat a deep team with only two guys playing well.  Hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing a 8-10 point win for Midd in this one.

[middhoops]

Do the Midd games get archived on NSN?  I know for Williams it's a 48 hour wait after the game and then they only remain up for 48 hours.  Does Midd have any similar type of restrictions?  Sounds like I won't get to watch tomorrow night. 

Awfully quite around here about Friday night.  I think the Panthers sense their prey is a bit wounded right now and they don't want anything to alert them before they pounce on Friday night    At the beginning of January I would have predicted Williams to pull it out but with the way Epley has struggled and the injury to Rooke-Lay, it's hard not to expect Midd to handle the Ephs tomorrow night.  As good as Mayer and Robinson have been recently, you can't beat a deep team with only two guys playing well.  Hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing a 8-10 point win for Midd in this one.

We Middlebury fans are quiet for a reason.  Plenty of comments late Friday night.  Trust me.

[Bucket]

Do the Midd games get archived on NSN?  I know for Williams it's a 48 hour wait after the game and then they only remain up for 48 hours.  Does Midd have any similar type of restrictions?  Sounds like I won't get to watch tomorrow night. 

Awfully quite around here about Friday night.  I think the Panthers sense their prey is a bit wounded right now and they don't want anything to alert them before they pounce on Friday night    At the beginning of January I would have predicted Williams to pull it out but with the way Epley has struggled and the injury to Rooke-Lay, it's hard not to expect Midd to handle the Ephs tomorrow night.  As good as Mayer and Robinson have been recently, you can't beat a deep team with only two guys playing well.  Hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing a 8-10 point win for Midd in this one.

I think Daley's absence is as big as RL's. When he's been healthy and on the floor he's had such an impact—witness the 2nd-half shutdown of Sabety (to go along with 15 big second-half pts) against the Jumbos.

Honestly, absolutely no idea what to expect Friday, other than I anticipate both teams coming out and playing very hard.

[Pat Coleman]

Pat C....I do not blame you as my post on the matter states.  The problem is elsewhere and I will see if it can be corrected.

I wasn't taking it that way, no worries. I did wonder if perhaps you were laying blame solely on the NESCAC office, though, so I wanted to try to clarify.

[madzillagd]

I see the St Joes/Midd game is still out there so not sure if there is a delay on when they post the game to the archives but I'm sure I'll get to see it eventually.

I'm not as worried about the R-L absence because Greenman has been playing well, the issue I see for the Ephs is the Epley drought.  Last five games from 3:  2-8, 0-4, 0-4, 2-8, 0-8.  The Ephs just won't be able to survive another night like that and win on the road (either at Midd or at Stevens on Tuesday).

[AmherstStudent05]

Do the Midd games get archived on NSN?  I know for Williams it's a 48 hour wait after the game and then they only remain up for 48 hours.  Does Midd have any similar type of restrictions?  Sounds like I won't get to watch tomorrow night. 

Awfully quite around here about Friday night.  I think the Panthers sense their prey is a bit wounded right now and they don't want anything to alert them before they pounce on Friday night    At the beginning of January I would have predicted Williams to pull it out but with the way Epley has struggled and the injury to Rooke-Lay, it's hard not to expect Midd to handle the Ephs tomorrow night.  As good as Mayer and Robinson have been recently, you can't beat a deep team with only two guys playing well.  Hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing a 8-10 point win for Midd in this one.

I think Daley's absence is as big as RL's. When he's been healthy and on the floor he's had such an impact—witness the 2nd-half shutdown of Sabety (to go along with 15 big second-half pts) against the Jumbos.

Honestly, absolutely no idea what to expect Friday, other than I anticipate both teams coming out and playing very hard.

Is it confirmed that both Daley and Rooke-Ley will be out this week?  If so, is there any word on when either of them may return?

I have gotten to see a few Williams games recently, and I think Greenman has made significant strides over the past few weeks.  I think a reasonable argument could even be made (don't think I would quite buy it though), that Greenman is a more dangerous offensive player than Rooke-Ley in light of his long range and quickness.

Madz, I think the concern with Greenman -- which has been touched on previously by nescac1 -- is on defense.  Rooke-Ley is a physical guard -- particularly by NESCAC standards.  Greenman is not.  That difference can have meaningful consequences.  For instance -- and observant Eph posters can feel free to correct me -- it seemed like Mayer was happy to leave Rooke-Ley on Toomey for long stretches during Amherst's first meeting with Williams.  In the second meeting, with Rooke-Ley out, I am not sure Greenman guarded Toomey at all -- it seemed to me to be almost entirely Wohl and the zone.  Similarly, I am not sure that Maker will want Greenman to cover Kizel.  I would expect Greenman to mark Brown/St. Amour (if Williams in fact plays man as it appears that they only played zone against Castleton).

I know I said I would avoid making any predictions about Midd since it seems like they are capable of almost anything.  However, since this is a Midd-Williams game, I feel like I can safely make the following prediction:  With a minute left to play, the game will be a one, or at most two, possession game.

Okay, enough about Williams-Midd.  I need to focus on Friday's most important game: Amherst-Colby.

[madzillagd]

I wouldn't expect R-L back anytime soon.  I don't disagree about Greenman, he's still adjusting to the college game.  I'd guess we are going to see a lot of zone tomorrow because if I remember correctly it was the Midd game last year where Maker played zone nearly the entire game for the first time.

[7express]

Coach Walsh and Coach Hixon respect each other greatly, IMO , and thus have scheduled this yearly contest.  The rising well respected young coach and the old hand Coach Hixon.
During the lineup announcement, the RIC starters did not go over to acknowledge Coach Hixon (I may have missed it).

Amh, they do this for every opponent, so it wasn't a 1 game thing for Amherst.  For RIC's starting lineup, they form a circle at the foul line, with the 5 starters sitting on the bench, and as the starters are called one by one, they join there their teammates in the circle.  No acknowledging the refs or the other coach, go straight from the bench to the circle.  And Bob Walsh always walks back and forth on the baseline when this occurs too.  They've been doing this ever since I've been at Western Connecticut (spring semester of 2010), it's not like they just started this, this year either, they've been doing it for quite a while.

And also, both yourself and Allstar are correct, those RIC uniforms are horrendous.

[P'bearfan]

And also, both yourself and Allstar are correct, those RIC uniforms are horrendous.

Yeah, on the webcast it looked like whoever designed the RIC uniforms was aiming for a psuedo-Oregon vibe.....but they missed.  I was wondering if the refs could even see the players numbers clearly.

[Vandy74]

Vandy74....sorry about your difficulties finding my reference.  It was my "bad", my error.  The post was on the NEWMAC board where WPI plays....not the LEC..little east...where RIC plays.  A karma point for your troubles...not enough really.

Amh63....no need to apologize.  Anyone who posts on several boards as you do needn't worry about confusing them from time to time.  I confused two teams during a post regarding coaches a short while back and last season made a rather lengthy post about the game Middlebury played with Cortland St. and referred to them as Curry, or the other way around.   Life goes on.....

[magicman]

Through a generous $1500.00 donation by this person...ctmchugh0699, Dave McHugh's Hoopsville campaign was at $10,010.00 last night when his marathon program ended. Happy to see that his goal was met on the day that he spent so much time on the air. Would have preferred to see a donation of that size put him $1500 over the top. 

As Dave has mentioned, the $10,000 figure was a goal and by no means is his campaign over. With 10 days left he will continue to welcome additional contributions so his "Rainy Day" fund will have a balance to fall back on if needed. Let's keep the overall total on the rise for the next 10 days.


PS: A walzy31 sighting was reported, not on the pages of this board, but on the Hoopsville funders list, with a sizable donation. Good job walzy!!      

[Vandy74]

Through a generous $1500.00 donation by this person...ctmchugh0699, Dave McHugh's Hoopsville campaign was at $10,010.00 last night when his marathon program ended. Happy to see that his goal was met on the day that he spent so much time on the air. Would have preferred to see a donation of that size put him $1500 over the top. 

As Dave has mentioned, the $10,000 figure was a goal and by no means is his campaign over. With 10 days left he will continue to welcome additional contributions so his "Rainey Day" fund will have a balance to fall back on if needed. Let's keep the overall total on the rise for the next 10 days.


PS: A walzy31 sighting was reported, not on the pages of this board, but on the Hoopsville funders list, with a sizable donation. Good job walzy!!      

Magicman,

Good news indeed on the fund raising goal being met with plenty of time to contribute further.  I just took an hour+ to catch what I'd missed in prime time.  Great interview with Coach Curle  and you riding shotgun.  And thanks for the mention on the show of that very enjoyable evening in Middlebury although on the short term it was more enjoyable for you and the lads.  I rather wonder what people make of the Vandy moniker for a D3 poster.  Nonetheless good luck to Plattsburgh as well as the Panthers in their striving to secure ncaa postseason bids, perhaps even to continue the rivalry in the early rounds.  Can you say "payback"?   BTW, I also enjoyed your "sit on part" in the latest "Road to Salem" video.  You do realize that two more of those on-camera instances require you to become a card carrying-dues paying member of SAG.  You might want to start finding seats further back in the stands where the picture definition is fuzzier and the identification of bit players (albeit extremely talented ones) is harder to verify.