MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

"How can a MBB team even in D3 ONLY score 8 points?  MIddlebury fans sometime wish for a return to the days of football games with Norwich". Now I understand why the Panthers does NOT schedule a MBB game with Norwich...an old rival in other sports, it seems.  Coach Brown is too smart." amh63

I'm pretty sure the fact that Norwich is not on Midd's schedule is not our decision. We should play them. They're going through hard times now (I don't know the story). We seem to play most everyone in the state, including St. Joseph's of Rutland, Castleton, Lyndon State, Johnson State (Lyndon Johnson!) this year, and get some criticism for strength of schedule.

It's not easy for Middlebury to put together a full complement of games. Opponents are reluctant to come this distance (in winter) so the Boston-Hartford axis schools can find games closer to home and spare that expense; other schools are committed to a league schedule and have dropped us (Colby-Sawyer); still others (UVM, St. Michael's, Dartmouth) who we used to play are reluctant for obvious reasons to play down a division. For a while, not that long ago, there was an early tournament in Burlington with the four Vermont Colleges (UVM, St. Mike's, Midd, Norwich). For decades, we played Norwich twice, home and home. They had a longtime coach, Ed Hockenberry, who was very well respected and always put a good team on the floor.

When we played them in my day, their coach was early Celtics' bruiser, burly Bob Brannum, and it was a real rivalry (though they usually won). The State Series was a big deal and we played UVM, St. Mike's (they were terrific), and Norwich twice. In my senior year, we player UVM three times (once in a Christmas tourney). For a time we played Williams twice as they are relatively nearby. I'm not sure why some of the upstate NY schools have dropped us (Union, St. Lawrence).

Norwich's decline is unfortunate from our perspective, I believe. Hopefully, they will return to competitive respectability, and we will play them again.

Old Guy,
I understand the difficulty in getting teams to come to Middlebury to face the Panthers. We have the same problem here at Plattsburgh State. This year the Cardinals only have 10 home games in their 25 regular season contests. Nine of those 10 games are conference opponents since we do a double round robin in the SUNYAC. The only non-conference home game we have this year is against your Panthers, since it was their turn to come to Plattsburgh. Coach Brown and Coach Curle have continued to alternate home games between our schools for quite a while now, which helps the SOS for both of us. Fortunately this series should continue for quite a while.

We also have had the problem of NY schools that used to play us no longer doing so. Most of these schools have opted for an easier non-conference schedule, hoping that if they lose the automatic bid they can somehow wrangle an at large bid with a gaudy record. It usually doesn't work out for them but they seem to keep trying that approach. 

And D1 schools like UVM who used to play us will no longer do so. We tried to get a game with a certain DI school this year that came on the D3hoops Basketball Open Dates Board to advertise for a game, which would take place on their court, of course. Coach Curle called them up and the first thing they wanted to know...what was your record last year? When Curle told them it was 24-6 they said they weren't interested. They wanted a D3 team that wouldn't stand a chance of beating them. It's tough to get teams to do a home and home with us as well. We played 2 new teams this year on their court and tried to get them to reciprocate and come to Plattsburgh next year. Both refused to do so and 1 of the schools is only 2 hours away.

We're thankful that Middlebury is where it is...not too far away from us.  I hope you will make the trip to Plattsburgh on January 6th this year and take in the game. I guarantee it will be a good one. Some other Middlebury fans that I know, plan on attending!! As I mentioned before..pizza and drinks on me at Meron's before the game.       
   

[amh63]

FYI...the Tufts game at Plymouth State will be postponed tonight.  Amherst Women's hockey game at home was just postponed.  Went to the Plymouth website and all classes and activities were cancelled due to weather, effective at 12:45pm.
Amherst has a game with Brandeis tonight in LeFrak at 7pm..  Hope that game is not canceled.

[jumbo_hoops]

Tufts game at Plymouth moved back to 5pm

[amh63]

Jumbo Hoops......Where?  PSU is closed if you check the website.  d3 hoops had it scheduled at that time.

[amh63]

Went to the website again....you are correct jumbo Hoops.  Thought the alert stated classes and activities...thus explaining the reason the ice hockey game at Amherst was postponed.  Now the alert refer only to classes!

[nescac1]

Another feather in Hayden Rooke-Ley's cap, to top off what has been just an incredible semester for him since a very rough first two games of the season, he was named national player of the week (the first-ever time this was awarded):

http://d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2014-15/contrib/20141209zpmhv7

Over his last seven games, all Hayden did was (1) set the Williams record for most three points in a half and in a game, (2) score the most points in one game for an Eph in over 20 years,  (3) set the NCAA Division 3 record for consecutive free throws to start the season, (4) average a ridiculous 25.4 points per game, and (5) hit an astoundingly efficient percentage of his threes (over 53 percent) considering that he shot at a very high volume (nearly five makes per game).  It will likely be a very, very long time before we ever another NESCAC player in that kind of shooting zone over an extended period of time.

The bad news for Williams is that he can't possibly sustain that level of offensive production, so several guys will need to step up to help compensate.   The Ephs have two guys playing at an all-NESCAC level, and I expect that to continue; how the supporting task grows over the next month or two will determine whether they can hang with some of the bigger, deeper teams in NESCAC.   

[middhoops]

Tufts withstood a furious comeback by host Plymouth State in the last couple of minutes.  Well deserved and badly needed win for the Jumbos.

[jumbo_hoops]

Tufts played great offensively tonight, and it paid off. Sophomore Hunter Sabety, with 20 points, was extremely deceptive under the hoop with monstrous blocks in the first half and explosive dunks that definitely riled up the team. Powerful player. Haladyna was on fire tonight. With much-needed threes and great footwork in the paint; he showed a lot of urgency and was a crucial player in the game with 17 points.

Plymouth's offense became more powerful toward the end of the first half. The game got a lot more physical in second half among both teams with plenty of fouls called.

All in all, I'm glad to see the Jumbos walking off with a much deserved W.

[middhoops]

Big upset!  Brandeis played great against a flat, poor shooting Amherst in LeFrak tonight.  Wasn't close.  I await the post mortems from the experts.

[howardjp]

Just watched the Brandeis - Amherst game on video, 78-58 'Deis. Big win for the young Judges. Very impressed by the young guys tonight -- Powell, Cooper, Vilmont, be interesting to watch them develop.

[amh63]

Ugly game played by Amherst in LeFrak.  The Judges played a patient game getting scoring from unexpected players as well as the expected players.  I believe it was 78-58....The Brandeis Judges wins in a thrasing in the 2nd half.
It was a 6 point lead by Brandeis at the half.  The lead was cut to one point quickly by Amherst....but the comeback never came from Amherst.  The score was the opposite of what one expected.....based on games to date by both teams.  Amherst averages around 80 points while the Judges in the low 60's.
Inside shots by all the bigs were way off, and the outside shots by the good shooters of Amherst followed suit.  Nabatoff, Amherst big forward actually hit two 3's but never scored around the basket except for a dunk after a baseline drive.
I will label this game as a "Norwich" lost by the LJs...Period. 
Congrats to Brandeis.  Their coach set a good game plan and it worked on the LJs. 
Classes ended today and the players came in from the cold and except for about 10-minutes...the LJs were flat...never got into a flow.  Too many fouls called on the Jeffs.  Not moving their feet on defense...getting picked of, boxed out, etc.
I could make a Bravado statement  and say that Amherst should win the game in a replay game at Brandeis....then again...maybe not.  Coach Hixon will have to figure it out....Tough Babson team coming in on Thursday.
Watched the shooters warming up before the 2nd half...Amherst shooters.  Looked great as the shots went in.  A different story when it counted. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Just got back from a meeting.  What the hell happened there?

[jumpshot]

What happened is that the much ballyhooed amHerst bully got punched in the nose by a well-prepared, unselfish, confident team not intimidated by playing at lefrak. amHerst's opponents' record going into tonight's game with Brandeis 13 wins and 28 losses=typical soft early schedule (Anna Maria 2-5, Johnston State 1-7, Mt. Ida 1-7, etc., give me a break!). Surprise was ljs loss of composure, seemingly bewildered as to where to turn or what to do. Still early enough for a recovery. Will be interesting to watch development of leadership and cohesiveness among an undoubtedly individually talented group....

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's not so much that Amherst lost.  Incredibly weak schedule, high expectations, blah, blah, blah, but Brandeis has been downright awful this year.  They were 2-5 coming into tonight only because they barely squeaked by Tufts two days ago.  And a 20 point game on top of it.

[howardjp]

With all respect, Brandeis lost two of their games by 2 points, the others by 4, 6 and 8. They are fairly young, but totally dominated the second half. Look forward to seeing more good things from them.