MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Really interesting night of non-conference action tonight for NESCAC squads.  The two toughest games are clearly Williams at Stevens and Wesleyan hosting Eastern Conn.  Stevens beat Williams last year, and is 14-5.  Stevens is red hot, with six straight wins, five of which were by at least 17 points.  They are small but get a lot of steals and shoot the three very well.  Williams will need to play the same type of intense, attentive man-to-man defense they did in the second half vs. Middlebury, and really work hard to get the ball inside to Mayer and Epley in the post to utilize their interior size advantage.

Eastern Conn is 15-4 and clearly the class of a slightly down LEC this year.  It will be interesting to see if Wesleyan, which has been playing and shooting very well of late, can give the LEC's best a game.  Eastern Conn's top player, Brian Salzillo, missed his last game due to illness, so if he sits another one out Wesleyan's odds of pulling the upset improve substantially. 

Tufts-UMass Dartmouth looks like a fairly even match-up, but the rest of the LEC-NESCAC battles seem, on paper, to heavily favor the NESCAC team.   

Amherst at Lasell could also be interesting.  Amherst has to be a bit tired from a long and difficult road trip to Maine.  Lasell is a decent team, playing at home, and likely to be fired up.  If Amherst doesn't come out sharp Lasell could at least make it interesting (although, Lasell is absolutely tiny, so hard to see how they can deal with Amherst's huge size advantage at every position). 

In the new top 25, Amherst dropped down to 9 after the loss to Colby, and Williams moved up a slot to 10.  Bowdoin despite the narrow loss to Amherst actually moved up a spot, to 18.  If Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin all lose no more than one more regular season game, I think that all are very well positioned for at-large NCAA bids.  No one else in NESCAC, however, has any chance of a bid other than from winning the conference tourney. 

[NYHOOPS8]

I am interested in seeing the Williams/Stevens game as well. You don't see many NESCAC/E8 matchups and Stevens should be up to task considering they went up to Williamstown last year and took the victory.

[nescac1]

Unfortunately, I don't see any link for either video or live stats for the Williams/Stevens game, so we may just have to hear about the game after the fact. 

[amh63]

Nescac1.......nice post on tonight's games.  See that you did some homework.....ECSU's top 3-point shooter out with illness in last game.  Some differences with 7-Express take on the matchups with the LEC.
I'm more concern with the CAC teams travel...winter storms in the region.....NYC expecting 6" and all.  Have a daughter-in-law traveling back to NYC from Denver....so am aware of the NY/NJ weather reports.
Surprised about the lack of a webcast of the Williams vs. Stevens game.  Even thought about checking in on it, being it is at 6PM.  In the late 70's spent some time working at one of the Stevens labs in Hoboken.  SIT as it was known then.  Home of the initial Blimpie sandwich store...yes before places like Subways.  Wonder if it is still there since Hoboken is becoming a "Foodie" spot...or at least the home to many young chefs of note.  Being a conference "homer"...good luck to  all the games tonight.   Sorry ECSU   Need to have the conf. rep up....helps in regional rankings and all.

[7express]

Amh, my sister player soccer at Stevens.  The store is horribly over-priced but as far as I know the first Blimpies is still there in Hoboken on Washington St.

[NYHOOPS8]

Unfortunately, I don't see any link for either video or live stats for the Williams/Stevens game, so we may just have to hear about the game after the fact.

My mistake; I was under the impression both Williams and Stevens webcast their games. I have watched both respective schools' webcasts prior.

[Colby Hoops]

A link to some highlights from Colby's weekend wins. Two reasons to watch: Some funny bench celebrations and and absolutely insane play by Trinity's Hart Gliedman to send Saturday's game into OT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-kKZXOlfY&feature=youtu.be

[nescac1]

Colby Hoops, that is fantastic.  Colby looks like they are playing really well as a team right now.  Strahorn has done a great job turning that program around very quickly.  As soon as next year, and definitely in two years, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. 

The Gliedman shot was indeed insane, that is ESPN top 10 worthy.   And the Colby bench collectively earns my vote for the "All Crazy" team based on that performance.  The choreographed extra point was particularly impressive, fantastic stuff.  I would love to see them, in a future game, pull out the Key and Peele "three pumps" celebration.  I will say, though, that if Colby plays Amherst again in the NESCAC tourney, I have a feeling that those antics won't be forgotten ...

NYHOOPS8, Williams does webcast all of its home games.  I just checked again, and there IS a link on the Stevens site for a webcast for tonight's game ... it wasn't up earlier. 

[madzillagd]

The have now added the link for the Williams-Stevens game

http://www.empire8.tv/

[ECSUalum]

Really interesting night of non-conference action tonight for NESCAC squads.  The two toughest games are clearly Williams at Stevens and Wesleyan hosting Eastern Conn.  Stevens beat Williams last year, and is 14-5.  Stevens is red hot, with six straight wins, five of which were by at least 17 points.  They are small but get a lot of steals and shoot the three very well.  Williams will need to play the same type of intense, attentive man-to-man defense they did in the second half vs. Middlebury, and really work hard to get the ball inside to Mayer and Epley in the post to utilize their interior size advantage.

Eastern Conn is 15-4 and clearly the class of a slightly down LEC this year.  It will be interesting to see if Wesleyan, which has been playing and shooting very well of late, can give the LEC's best a game.  Eastern Conn's top player, Brian Salzillo, missed his last game due to illness, so if he sits another one out Wesleyan's odds of pulling the upset improve substantially. 

Tufts-UMass Dartmouth looks like a fairly even match-up, but the rest of the LEC-NESCAC battles seem, on paper, to heavily favor the NESCAC team.   

Amherst at Lasell could also be interesting.  Amherst has to be a bit tired from a long and difficult road trip to Maine.  Lasell is a decent team, playing at home, and likely to be fired up.  If Amherst doesn't come out sharp Lasell could at least make it interesting (although, Lasell is absolutely tiny, so hard to see how they can deal with Amherst's huge size advantage at every position). 

In the new top 25, Amherst dropped down to 9 after the loss to Colby, and Williams moved up a slot to 10.  Bowdoin despite the narrow loss to Amherst actually moved up a spot, to 18.  If Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin all lose no more than one more regular season game, I think that all are very well positioned for at-large NCAA bids.  No one else in NESCAC, however, has any chance of a bid other than from winning the conference tourney.

nescac1,

Nice review of the LEC-NESCAC games tonight, It's interesting when I went on to the NCAA.org site a couple of weeks ago, to look at some of the historical stats on Eastern Connecticut State College, (that is way back ), Eastern was playing in the NESCAC, obviously before the LEC was formed and the name taken for what I like to call the little ivy league schools.

I think if Salzillo does not play tonight Wesleyan can defeat the Warriors, especially at home and as you mentioned they have been playing well.  Should be an interesting game to watch.  I hope its being streamed tonight.

BTW, good luck to the Ephs tonight!

[Pat Coleman]

What they were playing in, though, was the New England State College Athletic Conference:
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/A/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_College%20Division_1971_200_Eastern%20Connecticut%20State%20University.pdf

[gordonmann]

Our conference guidebook lists the former members and former names of each conference.

http://static.psbin.com/m/j/tc73dbud823pqc/2013_Conference_Guidebook_-_New_England.pdf

The NESCAC was formally established in 1971, has only existed by that name and only has one former member (Union).

[7express]

If anyone wants to place bets for the LEC-NESCAC matchups today:

Bowdoin -16 vs. Plymouth state
Over/under 125

Tufts -5 vs. UMass-Dartmouth
Over/under 140.5

Wesleyan +9.5 vs. Eastern Connecticut
Over/under 142

Middlebury -7.5 @ Keene State
Over/under 164.5

Colby -8 @ Southern Maine
Over/Under 143.5

[ECSUalum]

What they were playing in, though, was the New England State College Athletic Conference:
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/A/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_College%20Division_1971_200_Eastern%20Connecticut%20State%20University.pdf

You are correct Pat!!  State vs Small  my bad

[amh63]

Several bits of info coming out of Amherst that maybe of interest to folks here.
First, I have seen another Walzy "sighting" of sorts.  He is in his other "life roles" is still involved with Amherst...in sports, in particular.  There is an article on the website to promote the Amherst Community to return to the school to catch the last big multi-sport weekend in the conference this weekend.  It is also a fund-raising event for the Friends of Amherst Athletics.  Walzy is a member of the Executive Commitee of FAA.  I know Walzy is also involved in fund raising for Amherst in general.  I have been involved in general school fund raising...in a very, very small manner....for years

Second bit of info.  The Amherst AD is stepping away soon for another position at Amherst.  The AD came to Amherst from Bates where she was also the AD.  Before she was selected, HBC Hixon was the interim/acting AD for almost an year.  HBC Hixon is presently also the Senior Associate AD.  The interim AD is the present Associate AD and the Offensive coordinator of the football team.

I present this info in that there is a possibility that Hixon may seek the AD job.  Coach Hixon's connection follows in many ways with his friend and rival at Williams...Sheely?.  Hixon and Sheely played against each other in college, and captained their respective teams.  Both became the HBC of their schools.  Sheely moved up to the AD position at Williams about the time Hixon was acting AD and is now the AD at Dartmouth.

I also maybe in trouble with Coach Hixon ...again and even Walzy