MBB: NESCAC

[AmherstStudent05]

First off, huge congratulations and thanks to Joey Kizel and the other Midd seniors.  I'll surely have more to say about Joey in a few days after he is named First Team All NESCAC for the third straight season. But what a great player and competitor. He will surely go down as one of the greats in modern NESCAC history.

As for the game, what can you say? When Midd took an 11 point halftime lead I am sure I wasn't the only one who saw it as a 50-50 game still. Given the history between these two teams, I bet the whole gym saw the Williams comeback from a mile away (I have to think the Midd bench did too). Still nothing could be done.

First, you have to give Williams a lot of credit for tightening things up a lot defensively. They were much better defensively and Maker was very wise in playing HRL over Greeny, a decision that really paid dividends on the defensive end for the Ephs.

But, I think a lot of Midd's woes were self inflicted.  It seems like we see the same story game after game.  This year's Midd team just has displayed about zero consistency from half to half in any given game against a tough team. One half they look like world beaters worthy of the Road to Salem, and the next half they look, frankly, kind of lost.

As has been said already, Midd played a GREAT first half. They were not the Midd of the last few years -- the Midd I saw in the first half against Amherst, the Midd that has never ending intensity and plays aggressive tough D and hits their open looks.  I think the Midd team that came out in the first half was the Midd team that PN and company envisioned in their "optimistic" version of Midd at the beginning of the season.  A big, athletic team that was explosive on offense and could burn you in a hurry in transition.  Midd was really something in the first half.  If Williams made even the tiniest mistake or hesitation in their defensive assignments, Midd spotted it, exploited it, and almost always capitalized on it.

I saw virtually no traces of that offensive play in the second half.  "Offensive stagnation" would be putting it mildly. Midd was just incredibly puzzling this year.  They showed their true ability on plenty of occasions and always battled, but they just could never sustain it. But congratulations to Joey and his fellow seniors. Really great competitors.

Anyway, really looking forward to tomorrow's Championship game.  I thought last year's game was one of the best games I have seen--and it was by far the closest test Amherst had all postseason. Can't wait to find out how this year's game will unfold.

Any word on why Epley did not start today? Any chance he doesn't start tomorrow.

[middhoops]

Tomorrow's game is the LJs to lose.
The Ephs have to get the ball to Robinson and let him create.
Mayer has to get the ball low on more than half the early possessions.
Defensively, Williams is in trouble.  Too many athletes to match up with.

Can anyone from Amherst cover Duncan Robinson like James Jensen did today?
It may decide the game.

[nescac1]

Middhoops Killian is basically Jensen's twin as a defender. Not quite as long but stronger and both are great athletes.  Nevertheless Duncan will likely need to have a big game for Williams to win.  Mayer has been carrying too much of the load of late although boy has he been awesome.  Two weeks ago I was saying Duncan was the Ephs' MVP.  Mayer has made me look silly and he has to be the best center in the country right now.  He just dominated the last two do or die games. 

Eastern Conn goes down. Final nail in Bowdoin's coffin. Bummer. 

[jayhawk]

Mayer did look great today. When he has back to the basket he seems to predominately pivot to his left to shoot.

David George of Amherst today had 7 blocks, I think he has a few others that were called for fouls

Toomey was very impressive offensively

[lordofthejeffs]

Great set of games today -- again, congratulations to Joey Kizel and the Midd seniors, the Kizel-Toomey rivalry has really been something special (also shout-out to The Road to Salem series, really enjoyed watching these).  Agree with nescac1, Killian can guard Robinson -- the issue for Tom is to stay out of foul trouble.  Anyone else see Coach Cosgrove on the sidelines today -- haven't seen that kind of passion in LeFrak since Willy Workman...

Amherst -3.5 tmrw, I'll take the Jeffs

[toad22]

Tomorrow's game should be a fun affair. Both teams are in the NCAAs, with only seeding at stake. Both teams should come out loose, with less than everything on the line. Amherst should, of course, be favored, but Williams hasn't played well against Amherst the first two times, so I'm looking for a much better game from them. That Toomey is something else. He probably has the greatest career in the history of NESCAC.

[ECSUalum]

Toomey unreal tonight!!! He really is a special player in how he can completely take control of a game  ,  Good Luck to Am'erst, , tomorrow and in the NCAA Tourney!!

[nescac1]

Interesting tidbit: Williams and Amherst have played for a NESCAC championship on four prior occasions.

2003: Williams beats Amherst, Williams wins national championship
2004: Williams beats Amherst, Williams is national runner-up, Amherst makes Final Four
2007: Williams beats Amherst, Amherst wins national championship
2013: Amherst beats Williams, Amherst wins national championship

So, this match-up bodes well for at least one of them to make a deep tourney run ... regardless of who is victorious. 

A few other notes while waiting for tomorrow's showdown:

(1) At long last, Connor Gach attempted his first two-point shot of the season!  I'm not sure what the record is for most three pointers made or attempted without a single two-point attempt, but he had to be threatening to break it.  Oh well ...

(2) David George seemed to be regressing from his early season form once Ben Pollack returned mid-season.  But since Pollack's injury, it seems like he has turned into an absolute monster on the defensive end.  It will be quite a battle down low between his defense and Mayer's offense tomorrow.  Drawing a few early fouls on George would really help Williams' chances. 

(3) One final note: it is interesting to see Hixon and Maker's different philosophies on handling players with fouls.  No matter what is happening in the game, Hixon will almost always sit a star player for the duration of the first half once he picks up a second foul.  Maker rarely does so.  Arguments could be made in favor of either strategy.  Hixon seems to trust his team to hang in without star players, even if (like in the Midd game) the team struggles a bit for a stretch, and then figures his starters will dominate the second half without having to worry about serious foul trouble.  Maker, on the other hand, trusts his players to play with two fouls without picking up a third (although today, Wohl did pick up three first half fouls).  Both exhibit trust in their guys, just in a different fashion.   

[AmherstStudent05]

Not to be an Amherst homer, but is it really crazy for me to think that my Jeffs should be "seeded" ahead of Williams regardless of what happens tomorrow (barring, perhaps, an Eph blowout)? Of course, Amherst has already ensured that it will win the season head-to-head battle with Williams with two convincing wins.  And, even if you take the head to head contests out of the equation (which I would hate to do) Amhersf has more wins against regionally ranked opponents (as of the most current ranking) and just as many losses (zero). I think Amherst has made a strong case to be the top team from New England regardless of what happens tomorrow.

Still, I am really hoping that my Jeffs make this point moot tomorrow.  I completely agree with nescac1 that George will be a key player in tomorrow's contest.  I am really looking forward to seeing how he will respond to the challenge. Candidly, any offense we get from him is really a bonus. Even when Pollack was healthy and providing us with some key buckets, offense from the 5 seemed to be mostly an afterthought to us (in contrast to last year when Big Pete was often asked to shoulder a significant burden on offense).  But David will have to play great D and rebound.  We also need the same from Alex Levine (who seems to have supplanted Nabatoff as David's backup).  Our depth at the 5 really hasn't been tested all that much since Ben went down, but between Mayer and Kilcullen Williams has to have as talented a battery at the 5 as their is at d3.  This will be a great test for our guys.  Looking forward to it!

[jumpshot]

Williams again demonstrated resiliency, poise, and character in its win over Middlebury yesterday. Midd scored 50 points in the first half by making 10 of 14 threes and shooting 65% overall making 20 of 31 shots. In the second half Midd scored only 25 points on just 2 of 11 threes and 28% shooting overall (8 of 28), after having a 13 point with 19 minutes to play.

Excellent defense by Williams in the second half obviously contributed to these results.

With the game tied at 70 with 3:41 to play, 5 of 6 final shots by Midd were missed three-pointers (Jensen's long two with 1 second on the shot clock the lone exception).

In the final six minutes Williams teamwork enabled four different players to make key plays.

Finally, a tip of the hat and a "quiet well done" to Joey Kizel, a fine competitor. Best of luck after Midd ....

[Bucket]

Always hard to watch your team's last game and say goodbye, so to speak, to the seniors and their families l, great people we've gotten to know over the past 4 years.

Yet another classic Midd-Williams match-up. Not much to say other than what has already been said. Williams D was intense in the 2nd half--and some of the Midd shots that were falling in the first weren't falling in the second, making each possession critical.

Mayer was a bear, as stated. Jensen on Robinson a joy to watch. Gutty play on both ends.

With both teams playing excellen lockdown defense in the second half, points at the free throw line made all of the difference. 18-22 for Williams in the second half vs 7-8 for Midd.

Well played game. Sorry to see the season end for Midd.

Good luck to Ephs and Jeffs going forward.

[madzillagd]

I hope someone in the AD office is paying attention to the NSN service for games this year because there really should be some refunds/discounts handed out.  Yesterday couldn't get the site to work for much of the first half.  Today the Men's final link is taking you to the Women's final.  I understand these issues when it is student/school run, but when you are paying a pro outfit to take care of it these things shouldn't consistently happen. 

[nescac1]

Yup.  would be nice if someone at NSN at least checks to see if the links are correct.  If anyone figures it out, please post here. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I can't even get their page to load in the first place... let alone link to the game I want to watch.

[lemonjello]

Same here, just getting the women's final.  Frustrating.  Judging by live stats, it's a tight one so far, 15-14 Williams.  Tom Killian is going off for the Jeffs, with 12 points on 5/5 shooting.

Update: Killian's now 6/6 with 17, ridiculous.

Update: Another potential storyline to watch in this one is foul trouble for the Ephs.  Rooke-Ley has 3, and Mayer and Greenman each have 2.  The Ephs doing fine so far (up 37-28), but this could hurt them in the second half.  Dunca Robinson and Taylor Epley are doing work offensively (10 and 12 points respectively)  For the Jeffs, Toomey and Green are struggling (both 1 for 5) and Killian just missed his first shot.