MBB: NESCAC

[badgerwarhawk]

Congrats to the Ephs on an outstanding season and a very, very competitive game in the National Championship.  We were very fortunate to come away with the win. 

While I'm sure the loss in the final was disappointing there had to be some consolation in the way you were able to maul Amherst.  Good luck in the future.

[amh63]

Watched the title game on TV last night.  Enjoyed the game.  Surprised it was that close...really..after seeing the games on Friday.  Congrats to Williams for a fine weekend of Basketball.  Amherst plan to return to the Final 4 soon...maybe a rematch with Williams again...but in a. Title game. .  A little bravado here, I know...but some based on Amherst determination shown by the players after the game...as I chatted with them on the floor like an old Groupie.  Good experience for the younger players....fire in the belly determination gained by the more experienced ones like Green and Pollack.

As I watched some Amherst officials check on arrangements for the return trip on Saturday...chartered flight out...I too decided to cut my trip short...and return home on Sat..

Read all the posts today and having recovered enough to post on the good aspects of a trip to Salem.
The schools like IWU and Whitewater do bring their fans...bus loads.  Picking up my tickets I was surrounded by a sea of Green as two buses unloaded with IWU fans pouring out.  Both schools had bands and IWU brought cheerleaders.  As I watched the early game, an Amherst fan wondered if we should hire one of them for the later game.....the Whitewater band stayed around for the second game.   

I realized that almost all the Jeff fans were parents and family and alumnus and others who made the trip down from Mass.  I enjoy their banter.  After the game, I was sad, realizing that I would miss the parents of the seniors that I got to know well enough to discuss other things with.  I did meet Kalema's father for the first time....and the father of C. Wright...the freshman from the Detroit area.
Met again the parents of the Amherst assist coaches who returned as well as members of the '08 team.  You get the picture.  Of course there were a great number of the " cheap" seat crowd that I seat with when I travel to LeFrak.  Almost all of us were disappointed and accepted the loss,...loss for reasons for the spread mostly and did not discuss the outcome much.  Yes, we gathered with the players and others and made some plans to meet later.  The Killian's who came up from Lacrosse matches in Florida...son who plays on the Jeff's team...wanted to take Tom back because his sprained ankle needed rest..happened late in the game...did drop by to say hello to the Gachs and Toomeys at the restaurant.
Me, I stayed up too late, at the bar having a bite to eat with an old Amherst friend, a Williams grad and a bunch of refs from the games.  Aaron dropped by to discuss his possible future, received our thanks..but little BB talk of the game if at all were had....except briefly about what is a foul with the refs...after Aaron had left of course.  One of the refs had speeded for 10 hours to get to the game...from Michigan, another from Texas.  Hey, a fan recognized one of the refs from LeFrak in the first game.

My old Amherst fan, and his Williams friend/fan, both wearing their school baseball cap, talked about recruiting, football, admission officers, etc. The two characters have been watching Williams and Amherst contest together for almost 60 years..sitting together at BB games on the Amherst side; on the Williams side at football games...the sunny side.  Surprising, both are aware of today' players.  My friend and I both were aware of the Colby center that is from a local MD private school.
I realized that many of the older alums at the game that I know well were former "recruiters" of  talent and big donors to Amherst.  I am running with the wrong crowd...really!  I realizedthat when the AD after checking on charter flights out...calmly asked me if I would be coming up in the Spring...and telling me that there was need for a new press box at the WBB lacrosse turf field

Several responses to posts and loose ends as I close down my post on this board and move on..to other boards.
For the poster who asked about Aaron Toomey's future plans...Yes, Aaron is looking into playing overseas for several years.
Vandy74...was sitting next to two Amherst Alums who knows about your family.  They drove down from Deerfield Ma. on Friday...straight. Wore more purple than even me.  Seems that they were frat brothers of your late brother.  Members of the class of '78, played Football and Ruby at Amherst.  Aware of your niece coming to Amherst and the mother's connection to Mt. Holyoke.  Talked some football even...current football situations.
Magicman...among the chats I had in the crowd I was in, I spoke to someone..most likely an alum who knows of Plattsburgh's coach and his daughter playing for Bowdoin.  Also spoke to Connor Gach's mother. She did speak of Gach considering going to play for your Cardinals.
Rlk....seems that Amherst freshman PG Berman's father is a MIT grad...even was in the same Course as you but in VI. 2.  He mentioned that he went to a IWU vs. U. Of Chicago game this season.
Jayhawk...if I missed you...sorry.
Madz...I did briefly say hello to nescac1.  Gave him some impressions of Whitewater...maybe bad impressions, I fear.  It is interesting that this year's title game...as exciting as it was for fans...is also so much like the title loss a decade ago..in '04, when Williams loss by two points to a Wisconsin  team with a Bennett on the coaching staff. 
Will close with several remarks to Williams posters..and my apologies to Old Guy who  I know is annoyed with the Williams vs Amherst topic.
I fully understand Pres. Falk's remark as pointed out by a poster.  It is a clever one for the moment.  I will respond to it on the Football board in the Fall...sort of a tease, I know.
Frank U.... Hope to meet you on the sunny side stands at the Game this Fall.  Drop by my class tent for food and drinks.  Maybe you know my old friend's Williams friend...strong Williams supporter and as well educated and alert as you 
To other posters...if you want to see what a very old rivalry is about...please stop by at the football match up this Fall at Amherst.  Love to meet you all...free refreshments during and after the game are available...free tickets and cheap programs.
Will finally close with a paraphrase of a Walzy remark made on his Hoopsville interview...to get to the Final Four takes hard work, etc.  To win a Title there takes a "little luck".  Here's hoping that a Nescac team gets lucky....next year!!

[magicman]

amh63,

Nice post. Loved all the paragraphs. Sounds like you had a good time even though the LJ's didn't get the title. Plus K. 

[jumpshot]

Noticed in the program from Salem that Williams has been in the Final Four 7 times in the past 17 years, as well as an additional time to Salem in the Elite 8. Tremendous record....

[nescac1]

Now that the sting has subsided a bit, I'm curious with LJ fans think of Hixon's substitution strategy in the semifinal game.  The guy has won two national titles so his record speaks for itself, but I do think, in this game, he made a mistake playing four of his starters without any rest at all (except for one minute at the end of the first half for Toomey due to foul trouble).  Williams was substituting liberally and as a consequence looked really fresh the whole game.  Amherst looked visibly gassed at times, especially in the second half, and was a step slower than I'd seen them before.  I know that depth was not an Amherst strength this season, but Joe Mussachia played well against the Ephs this year, providing a spark with his physical play, and Gach played solid defense all year and also was a reliable three-point shooter who spaced the floor.  Those two guys could have at least spelled the four starters for a minute or two each without really hurting the team.

I also don't quite understand why Hixon buried Reid Berman on the bench towards the end of the year.  I thought he looked really good early in the season, certainly a capable back-up, and we saw how other frosh point guards Mike Greenman and Jake Brown progressed throughout the course of the season.  Last year, Hixon brought his younger guys along masterfully, to the point where Pollack and Green were huge contributors in the Final Four.  Maybe there just isn't that much talent in the Amherst frosh class other than George, but I find that hard to believe given the pedigree of some of the recruits.  Christien Wright for example looked like he belonged out there when given some minutes early in the season.  Hixon has said himself that his assistants have begged him to play some of the younger guys at times.  I think that perhaps this year he should have listened.  Even had Amherst managed to beat Williams in the semifinal, which would not have happened regardless of substitution patterns (but it might have been a bit closer), I think they would have been too gassed to deal with Whitewater's athleticism and physicality the next day if four starters had played 40 minutes each. 

It's not exactly a vote of confidence for guys who are going to be three of the five starters next year when you can't put them in for even a minute ... although I can't imagine, again, that they won't turn out to be very good players. 

[rlk]

Read all the posts today and having recovered enough to post on the good aspects of a trip to Salem.
The schools like IWU and Whitewater do bring their fans...bus loads.  Picking up my tickets I was surrounded by a sea of Green as two buses unloaded with IWU fans pouring out.  Both schools had bands and IWU brought cheerleaders.  As I watched the early game, an Amherst fan wondered if we should hire one of them for the later game.....the Whitewater band stayed around for the second game.   

Rlk....seems that Amherst's freshman's PG Berman's father is a MIT grad...even was in the same Course as you but in VI. 2.  He mentioned that he went to a IWU vs. U. Of Chicago game this season.

I remember very well all the UWW and Cabrini fans who came in.  I was in a small hotel right in Salem, 1.5 miles from the Civic Center (I walked there, with all of my photo gear strapped to my back, because waiting for a cab would have taken too long).  IWU had fans too, but they weren't at my hotel.  There were actually quite a few MIT fans there.  We brought our cheerleaders.  I cut out on Saturday also (2 years ago, of course).  I was on the cheerleaders' and DAPER administration flight for the first leg (ROA-PHL).  One of the cheerleaders was the son of a classmate from the same living group.  We had an interesting discussion about variable pitch propellers, and then I had lunch with the cheerleaders at the PHL food court.  Great kids, and they were very interested in what things were like in my era..  We don't exactly have much of a band these days; just as well we didn't bring them.

If his father was in VI-2, then he's actually younger than me.  Probably young enough so there wouldn't be any overlap (VI-2 started a while after I graduated -- when I was there we only had VI-1, EE, and VI-3, CS).  Scary how old I'm getting

I didn't have a chance to watch the game; my wife and I had a jazz date last night.  It sounds like it was just an incredible game, and I hope I can find it on video to watch.  Whitewater is just plain G-O-O-D, probably better than the team that beat us, and they always seem to peak at just the right time.  These were two well-matched teams, nothing like last year when Mary Hardin-Baylor simply wasn't at Amherst's level.

There's no experience quite like Salem.  I don't go to pro events these days (haven't in years), but there simply isn't the immediacy of being surrounded by people you've shared a major common experience with, yelling and screaming like you're still in college, and watching players that you know (in passing, at least, in my case).  I had been hoping to score a floor pass to photograph the game, but the NCAA apparently has strict rules about that and I couldn't qualify for one.  That would have been quite a thrill.  I did get a chance to photograph the cheerleaders on the floor after the game, and as far as I know they're still using some of those shots.  My wife always wonders why I have only limited interest in the Sox, Pats, C's, and Bruins.  Somehow it isn't quite the same thing, and I suspect I'm not the only one around here who feels the same way.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI - Whitewater did not bring their band (as they have in the past - women in the final four probably had an affect there)... the other band in attendance was the John Carroll band who is the "house" band the City of Salem brings every year.

[middhoops]

nescac1, you ask a very good question.  I was perplexed, watching the LJ starters looking totally gassed and Hixon not even looking down the bench.  Unlike you, however, I don't think it is necessarily a reflection of next season Amherst squad. 
Hixon always reloads.
Like Maker.

[amherstalumn2]

Caveat emptor ... I am an avid, extremely proud, and slightly disappointed LJ fan.  Like all LJ fans, we hoped for a second title in two years and the third for Hixon.   Everyone who watched the Friday game was surprised at the magnitude of the loss to a perfect game played by Williams, although not so much surprised at losing.   Williams had a talented team this year and it is neigh impossible to beat a team four times in a season, especially the way Williams had been playing in the playoffs.  Kudos to the Williams coach for realizing that his team was not quick enough afoot to play man against Amherst and switching to a highly effective 2-3 zone.   But even more kudos to the Ephs for their amazing shooting in the sem--finals.   Zone or man on defense, shooting the way they did was going to win that game for Williams on Friday night.

I question, however, the comment that the Williams president made – if in fact he did make it – that the team will be remembered more for a first win over Amherst in nine games – even a blowout – rather than a last second loss for the national championship.   My guess is that Maker and the players know that the win over Amherst only gets truly "locked in" with historical significance if they win the final game and bring home a title.   As it turns out, they made the finals, lost a historically close game, stopped Amherst from winning a third title, all good things ... but didn't bring home the trophy.  While it is likely one of the best senior classes in Williams history, one that I have great respect for, the LJ senior class boost three straight NESCAC titles (first time ever in NESCAC history) – a national title (their second) – a two time (first ever in the history of D3, I think) national player of the year - and eight of nine wins against their rivals from up north.   Just saying ...

I respect the fact that this site is a "feel good" site that is less about competition than others, which is just fine.  I also think that anyone from the NESCAC knows what D3 is and what it isn't.   We all get that.  But I think that Falk likely did not remotely speak for his team or coach with that comment – they know that they did not bring home the prize that they came to Salem for.   This is not, of course, the first time that an out-of-touch statement has been made by a school president!

Lastly, regarding Hixon's substitutes this year, one can only assume that he had decided a long time ago to use a seven man rotation (last year he used an eight man rotation) and by the time Pollack went down, it was too late to develop a new seventh guy.   Should he have developed younger talent earlier?  Maybe, but his seniors other than Toomey paid their bench dues for a few years and that worked out for them and the program.  They were a bit gassed at the end but the way the Ephs played in the semi-finals, the difference between a seven or eight man rotation was irrelevant.  Williams was just too good on Friday night.

Last word ... Hixon has a guy coming in who he thinks is the next Olsen or Tommey.  Stay tuned!

[Vandy74]

amh63......like magicman I enjoyed your comprehensive post.  Very glad to hear you met some of Brian's classmates and frat brothers.  And yes, Hayley is very excited about attending Amherst in the fall although she isn't much of a sports fan.  I'll have to work with her on that.

I enjoyed your comment regarding the senior parents.  It struck a chord and I expect Middhoops would agree.  It has been my pleasure to know the Jensens these past three seasons and they have graciously included Middhoops and myself in several post game social gatherings involving both players and parents.  I have had the opportunity to talk with Joey Kizel's and Nate Bulluck's moms and learned recently that Jack Roberts' dad ran track at Swarthmore with one of my best friends from high school.  It is with sadness I realize that we have experienced these pleasant get togethers for the last time.

I noticed a few lacrosse references as well.  The Amherst women and Middlebury women sport identical 5-0 records.  You should have little trouble with Wheaton this week.  Middlebury goes south to play RIT on their Spring Break trip and deals with Franklin & Marshall on the way home.  Middlebury at Amherst next Saturday.  I hope LAX is one of those other boards you say you will be posting on.  Madzillagd just learned he has a niece playing at Linfield.

And yes, while we all have our preferences, here's to having a NESCAC team cut down the nets in Salem a year from now. 

[jayhawk]

Williams played a superior game on Friday.
When Amherst played Williams earlier in the year at Williams, on offense Ben Pollack floated to the foul line and below where he received the ball and was able to turn and either shoot, dribble, or pass to a player at the rim- He was extremely effective playing this role. He was tall enough to be able pass down low as the defensive player in the middle of the zone had to either commit to him or stay back to cover offensive players coming to the rim for a pass.
UW Whitewater used this approach very successfully the next night in beating the Williams zone.

So obviously Ben Pollack was out and could not play. However the next big man up  juior Alex Levine has played well recently particularly on defense -in terms hedging up and bodying players and rebounding-- Alex played in the NCAA tournament to spell David George. However Alex had turned his able and was out Amherst had to turn Jacob Nabatoff a developing freshman to spell David but without sufficient experience.

I think the loss of Pollack in particular and somewhat Alex hindered their approach to attacking the Williams zone and also obviously covering Mayer=When David George got into foul trouble . i am not sure how much a difference it would have made but it is not like Hixon had not played some players along the line. Some of the other freshman had played in games and have potential but not sure they were game ready for  the transition to the college game.

[nescac1]

A few responses: Middhoops, I wasn't saying that Hixon's strategy was necessarily a reflection on the potential of the players on next year's squad, as I actually think that some of those guys deserved to be playing this year, and was surprised they weren't.  That being said, if anyone on the current roster was ready to step into Toomey's enormous shoes, at least, they certainly would have warranted a few minutes of playing time as frosh.  Based on what amherstalumn2 said about the next Toomey/Olson headed Amherst's way (and if anyone has more details about him, I'd be curious to hear!), it sounds like Amherst's point guard of the future may not be on the current roster, in any event. 

No surprise that Hixon is reloading in the backcourt, of course, as I know he also has a strong two guard coming in, as previously reported here.  Hixon has brought in one super-duper star recruit (of course some ended up better than others, but all were very highly regarded) like clockwork every year (Olson, Baskauskas, Meehan, Waller, Workman, Toomey, Green, George, with the class of 2015 as the only exception, although had Ray Barry not gotten hurt he may have been that guy), so I have no doubt he'll do so again. 

Also, it wasn't just that Hixon played a tight rotation -- that would have been nothing new.  What I thought was strange was that Mussachia and Gach, veteran players who had played well in big games for Amherst this year, fell totally out of the rotation for the semifinal game.  Toomey, Green, Killian and Kalema all could have used a bit of a breather, and those guys had been able to provide quality minutes all year long.  Again, not outcome determinative, but a surprising decision, I thought. 

Speaking of amherstalumn2, I have no problem with what Falk said (or purported to say).  It's silly to say that for an incredible accomplishment to be "locked in" you have to win a national title.  Do you think the last two seasons of Amherst soccer were not historically significant, for example, because they lost to Williams twice in the Elite 8?  That would make meaningless the seasons of all but one team in Division 3 every year.  In 2004 and again in 2014, beating Amherst in Salem was, believe me, extremely meaningful, and those are games that will always be remembered by the players involved and the fans who watched, especially so in 2014.  Unfortunately, on both occasions, Williams happened to face great teams the next day, in true coin flip games, and in each case an incredible last second play knocked them off in truly epic national title games.  It's brutal to come out on the losing end, but also incredible just to be involved in games like that.  If Williams played Whitewater 10 times, they probably win five of them, and Saturday was just not one of their five.  It doesn't in my mind diminish from an incredible late-season run, and certainly doesn't in any way diminish stunning by 29 points their arch rival in the biggest spotlight in D3 sports, to break a long losing streak and keep the Ephs' own impressive NCAA streak over Amherst alive.  The Williams-Amherst rivalry seems to swing back and forth every few months.  That's why it is such an awesome rivalry.  But today, the Ephs own the upper hand.  The Amherst seniors have had an incredible string of accomplishments over the past four years.  But so did the Eph seniors, national title or no.  And by the way, I would LOVE to see, just once, Amherst run into the WIAC buzzsaw in Salem . 

[Old Guy]

nescac1, you ask a very good question.  I was perplexed, watching the LJ starters looking totally gassed and Hixon not even looking down the bench .

I don't believe they were "gassed" (and I didn't even watch the game!) They're well-conditioned young athletes, but that's not why I have no problem with Hixon's substitution strategy.

With the normal full complement of time-outs, plus a media timeout every four minutes, players are getting a breather, like it or not, all the damn time. Hixon had eight additional timeouts! (Correct me, Dave or Pat, if I have any of this wrong.).

Substitutions are for strategic reasons, other than rest. With all those breaks, no reason to have anybody but your best five out there all the time, and Amherst certainly had reason to keep Toomey & co. on the floor. I think teams with a deep bench and racehorse game that rely on wearing out opponents are at a real disadvantage in the postseason.

I don't know how long the media timeouts are, exactly, in the D3 games, but I would bet they are a full minute at least - or perhaps more in the championship game. I attended the Final Four in Atlanta last year. The D1 semi- and final games are endless. They were taking so long that I started timing the timeouts, and many were between 3-4 minutes. Drove me crazy. The semis started at 7:00 (I believe I'm recalling this right) and ended after midnight. It was like the SuperBowl where the game-action interrupts the breaks for commercials.

I don't know how any team sustains momentum with all those breaks, and why any coach doesn't have all his timeouts left for the last few minutes of the game - and well-rested starters for the whole game.

[grabtherim]

Agree 100%. You play your best especially in a game like this with so many endless timeouts.
Williams simply played a nearly flawless game vs Amherstand the LJs. had their worst game at the worst time

nescac1, you ask a very good question.  I was perplexed, watching the LJ starters looking totally gassed and Hixon not even looking down the bench .

I don't believe they were "gassed" (and I didn't even watch the game!) They're well-conditioned young athletes, but that's not why I have no problem with Hixon's substitution strategy.

With the normal full complement of time-outs, plus a media timeout every four minutes, players are getting a breather, like it or not, all the damn time. Hixon had eight additional timeouts! (Correct me, Dave or Pat, if I have any of this wrong.).

Substitutions are for strategic reasons, other than rest. With all those breaks, no reason to have anybody but your best five out there all the time, and Amherst certainly had reason to keep Toomey & co. on the floor. I think teams with a deep bench and racehorse game that rely on wearing out opponents are at a real disadvantage in the postseason.

I don't know how long the media timeouts are, exactly, in the D3 games, but I would bet they are a full minute at least - or perhaps more in the championship game. I attended the Final Four in Atlanta last year. The D1 semi- and final games are endless. They were taking so long that I started timing the timeouts, and many were between 3-4 minutes. Drove me crazy. The semis started at 7:00 (I believe I'm recalling this right) and ended after midnight. It was like the SuperBowl where the game-action interrupts the breaks for commercials.

I don't know how any team sustains momentum with all those breaks, and why any coach doesn't have all his timeouts left for the last few minutes of the game - and well-rested starters for the whole game.

[AncientSonOfHixon]

The Williams-Amherst rivalry seems to swing back and forth every few months.  That's why it is such an awesome rivalry.  But today, the Ephs own the upper hand.  The Amherst seniors have had an incredible string of accomplishments over the past four years.  But so did the Eph seniors, national title or no.  And by the way, I would LOVE to see, just once, Amherst run into the WIAC buzzsaw in Salem .

Whoa, n1! I'd have expected the endorphins to have regulated back to normal levels by now. (OK, maybe not. If I'd been in your shoes Friday night, I'd probably still be having neurotransmitter issues, too.)

Of course I get the argument for an Eph upper hand; they won the last meeting, in the next-to-last-game of the D3 year, in a performance for the ages—and I'm sure the final D3 rankings will reflect that.

But it would be tough to argue that the resume of the Williams outgoing class matches the one belonging to Toomey's bunch. In fact, is this Amherst class's resume not the best in NESCAC's 15-year history? (I could be wrong; if so, I'm sure folks will point it out.)

-- 3 straight NESCAC championships ('12, '13, '14)
-- 31 straight wins in NESCAC regular season and tourney play (and that doesn't even count their wins during that stretch over Williams and Wesleyan in the designated non-conf games)
-- 108-13 overall record (.901)
-- 64-1 at LeFrak
-- 8 straight wins over Williams (pretty good club, I hear!); I mean, who'd have even THUNK that would be possible
-- And of course a national championship along with other final four and tournament appearances. And the nat'l championship required going through Aaron Walton-Moss and the CCIW—though clearly you judge the CCIW inferior to the WIAC. (See what I did there? TROLLING. Maybe we can we incite some CCIW-on-WIAC crime.)

But hey, the Ephs were spectacular in that last one on Friday night.

Anyway, I'll admit that this note is more for the Amherst kids and their parents and fans than for anyone else. No doubt Friday night stung, but a little perspective helps. They didn't just put up an incredible four-year record. They may have put up the best ever in NESCAC. They deserve to feel enormously proud of it. (As I fully realize you would agree.)