MBB: NESCAC

[lildave678]

Yeah nescac, the SportzEdge has actually done a pretty good job of following AMC this year. I know they have a bunch of other smaller videos out there just recapping the games late in the season, just not sure if they're on YouTube.

[amh63]

The WBB sectionals have just been announced....see the D3hoop story.  Do not know if the NCAA money pot for D3 is the same one for MBB and WBB.....seems that 3 WBB teams will have chartered flights to Whitman due to the upsets that have occurred.  Is that an impact on the men's site selection?   Since Tufts is one of the 4 sites....looks like Amherst will get to host a sectional.

Nescac 1....a hour to get to Mary Washington?  Cautious driver?
Watched the video on AM....thanks.  Seems that the HBC is doing the same thing that the SVT HBC wants to do....but using a different recruiting pool by going to Wash. D.C. vice CT.

Amherst played the Cardinals of upper New York State last year in an Sweet Sixteen game.  Had played ECSU earlier at home.  Wonder if Coach Hixon had anyone watching the game live in Plattsburgh.

Several loose end comments with respect to the game with York (NY).  The last two years, Amherst has opened the season in NYC with two teams from the same city conference that York plays in.  In fact, two years ago in Lancaster PA. at the Sweet 16 site, Staten Island was one of the teams playing.  That year, Amherst was shipped there because the Amherst WBB had the right to host the sectional.

My point here is that many on the team has played against NYC type BB players....talented players with its somewhat unique style..., imo.  I even think that the D.C. area has it's unique style...at least in the old days...Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, etc.   With the local private schools/parochial schools recruiting...some of the uniqueness is missing these days.
Yesterday, Killian and Toomey were not shooting well from outside but played well in other areas...including defense.  It seems that York's big three players with respect to rebounds, scoring, etc.  were also having a tough time.  It maybe because of having to play a Friday game...tired legs as Coach Hixon would put it coming out of playing back to back games. Checking the stats of the game, Mr Woods who averages 28 plus pts a game, Omar who comes in with an 18 plus average and Williams who is a rebounding machine and a blocker...all were shut down.  Mr. Woods went 8 for 28 in shots and hit only 1 outside shot in the game.  I do believe that Coach Hixon and staff made the adjustments at the half.  Amherst had 9 TOs in the first half....only 3 in the second half.  York had 4 TOs in the first and also the same in the 2nd.  George had 5 blocks in the game!  George had 4 blocks in his first game playing against Brooklyn College.  George seems to know the Big City game...being a Philly player.  Williams and rebounds?  Heck Toomey and Killian both had more rebounds than Williams who is bigger than the listed 6'4".  Guess, I want to say that Amherst played fine defense.

[nescac1]

As expected, Amherst and Mary Washington host. 

[nescac1]

Now that Williams has officially played its last game of the year in Chandler, I want to give a shout-out to Caroline Sinico '14, who has been singing the national anthem, and doing it unbelievably well, prior to Williams home games for the past four years.  She is the equivalent of having a professional singer perform, and I believe sang the anthem in Salem a few years back.  She will be greatly missed by Eph fans.  Here is an article on Caroline from last season:

http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20130320vi2l0m

Amh63, if you can get from the D.C. area to Fredericksburg in less than an hour, you must get a LOT of speeding tickets.  On a Friday afternoon, it's probably more like two hours, actually.

Thanks, lildave678, for the tip.  Here are some more of those AMC highlight videos.  Hard to tell much from small snippets, but clearly the three stars are very much the real deal ... wow.  Davis is as fast as advertised, electric player, look forward to seeing him in person.  I can't think of another guard quite like him Williams has seen this season.  I can see why Watson is a scoring machine, kind of reminds me of Connor Green in his build, athleticism, range and inside-outside game. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFjCxS0OqEU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBQeFtZnLAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpdN-Z2Gmp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kga-HkfupfE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kga-HkfupfE

[lildave678]

Absolutely nescac...guys like PJ, GNAC, and D3 all had a chance to see Eian play live before I did and I thought what they were saying was an exaggeration but they were dead on. Dude can fly and has unbelievable handle. But as they've also said, sometimes he's too fast for his own good and can get a little out of control.

Purchase has a big 3 similar to Albertus with Nixon, Haughton, and Neri but I think it's safe to say Williams will be the most balanced, sound team the Falcons have played all year. Hopefully AMC can come up with a 2nd half-WPI defensive performance instead of one like the one against Elms where both teams were over 100!

And yeah, I figured pointing you to more videos of Albertus couldn't hurt. I'm sure it's all stuff the Williams players and coaches have watched 

[amh63]

Nescac 1.....just pulling your leg.  In the days before the Route 66 and Tyson Corner subway expansions in Northern Va., I could make it to the Mary Washington exit within an hour from north of D.C.  Even with the toll rd and durning rush hour it is indeed a crawl at times.  Do avoid the beltway when going to Dulles A/P...back roads can prove faster.  Remember that you live in NVA...about 10 -15 miles South of me.

Real nice facility at Mary Washington....now that it has added the University label...State has put money into the school.

[jumpshot]

NESCAC 1--and everyone,

How gracious and true for NESCAC 1 to recognize Caroline Sinico's, Williams '14 superb performances of the National Anthem at Williams' basketball games for the past four years!

Just electric each time, as evidenced by the looks and applause by everybody from opponents and their fans, to coaches, referees, and visitors.

So refreshing and Williams-like to have a student exhibit such excellence. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

nescac1... you are dragging your heals if it takes you longer than an hour to get from DC to Fredericksburg. Just drove it this weekend... and returned today... and it was less than an hour and I passed numerous cops who didn't care I was doing 9 miles over the limit (SSSSHHHH!). Even Google Maps puts the trip from the heart of DC to the heart of Fredericksburg at 60 minutes (53.5 miles). Now, I will admit traveling south through the "mixing bowl" and down I-95 on Friday afternoon is a b**ch! Friday I wanted to hurt other drivers since the slowdown had absolutely no reason behind it... but I still think I did the mixing bowl to Fredericksburg in less than an hour (it took me four hours to get from northern Baltimore County to Virginia Beach despite that slowdown and nasty weather in Virginia). Just something to think about.

By the way, Albertus Magnus only seats 600 in their gym... their chances at hosting pods are pretty slim if not none.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

To the flights on either side... we don't usually see one side impacting the other, except I think the fact the women were able to go with a third flight (they were guaranteed two) may be a sign the NCAA was allowing the extra flight since the men were guaranteed three. I can't confirm or get it confirmed, but I could see that happening in the front offices. However, we have also not seen that kind of even-handed approach in the past as one side has usually ended up with less flights. Who knows the exact nature of the decisions (and how the NWC being screwed in the first weekend may have played a roll), but it is nice to see a little flexibility from the NCAA especially considering how over budget they are right now.

[pjunito]

nescac1, Williams will be a tough test for Albertus. Williams can score like no other team Albertus has played. They have the ability to score from different areas of the court, at least it seems that way reading their play by play. Albertus has the big three, but Davis will be the fastest guard williams will see all year. Watson is a senior and took over the Purchase game, he played sound defense and made big shots. And Victor L is a very skilled big man. He is a very sound defender. But, Coach Oliver is a very talented coach. He will sit in his office for hours and hours breaking down Williams tape. Albertus will be very prepared to play Williams. I am not sure if they will win, but they won't be afraid and they will give it their all. It will be a fun game!

Victor and Eian won the junior college divison 1 championship last year, Eian was named player of the year. They have big game experience.

I know Williams will be prepared as well. This team went to Elite 8 last year. They have good coaches, athletic big men, and experience players.

Can't wait for Friday.

[magicman]

The front page article announcing the Sweet 16 hosts has a list of Sectional hosts since 2000. The article states that the only year that all 4 hosts advance to the Final Four for the men was 2008 . They show the Sectional hosts that year as Amherst, Ursinus, Hope and Washington U. The article is correct in that they were the teams advancing to the Final Four, however Amherst didn't host a sectional that year. Amherst had to travel to Plattsburgh State, who hosted the sectional. Amherst played Richard Stockton and won in the Sweet 16 game, while Brandeis defeated Plattsburgh in the other Sweet 16 matchup. Amherst then defeated Brandeis the next day to advance to the Final Four. So in reality, since the year 2000, all four sectional hosts for the men, have NEVER advanced to the Final Four. I imagine the article will get corrected as I sent Pat an email.  

[amh63]

AmhStud05.....Assume you have seen the video of the NESCAC title win on the Amherst website.....in between your posts elsewhere defending the conference    I just noticed that you were sitting next to Walzy behind the Amherst bench in the expensive seats.   FYI, Walzy has his special distinctive Amherst  BB T-shirt on.
Anyway, as Vandy 74 pointed out....there comes a time when you will have appeared in enough videos that you are required to join a union/association of sorts.  You may have reached that limit.  Were you in the last PN video?

 

[AmherstStudent05]

Thanks, amh63.  I had actually missed it.  Thanks as always for the heads up.  Its not the Road to Salem, but that was fun video to watch indeed.

I think if you have a magnifying glass and freeze frame technology you can confirm that I appear to have made a brief cameo in the latest road to salem video.  Nothing like the first time though.

[Vandy74]

Thanks to the Albertus fans for the comments.  Eian Davis sounds like a guy Williams will have a tough time matching up with.  There aren't a lot of particularly quick guards in NESCAC, and Williams has definitely had a difficult time dealing with quickness at that position (David Kalema of Amherst for example).  I think the Ephs' greatest advantage is balance, with six guys who are capable of scoring points in a hurry.  I have a feeling that it will be a very competitive game.

I found this video about Albertus, including just a few highlights of the star players: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4kN7m8j0ic

I watched the videos from your other post as well.  Albertus is a tough out. No doubt about it.  Here's another you might want to watch.  Impressive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPrKkRaICY

[lildave678]

Nice find Vandy! Even I hadn't seen that one yet.