MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Looking at Amherst's sports schedule on the college website.  X-country NCAA regional meet and the Williams Football game are this weekend.  THEN there is the first basketball game...on the 20th!!
A whole bunch of games for that weekend...men and women.  Remember the good old days when a weekend trip up for games in LeFrak would mean both men and women games...two in a day.
Anyway, just a post to point out that basketball season is Very close...really close!  Need to have a chat with my wife and a look see at the airline schedules.
Anxious to see how the teams play in games that count...in games where some young players MAY contribute.  Have chatted with several of Amherst's FY players only...around the campus.
Anxious to be a regular poster on this board again. 
Right now, trying to see how to catch the broadcast of the football game in Willytown while killing time in Annapolis, MD....wife has business nearby

[pinseeking1]

I took a quick look at the NESCAC schedules for 2015-16 and it looks like Trinity and Wesleyan, with 6 home games each, have a scheduling advantage over everyone else this year. It all evens out in the long run, but more home games do make a difference in the short NESCAC season. Unfortunately, Bates and Colby get the short end of the stick the year, with only 4 home games each. Here's the breakout of Home (H) games and Away (A) NESCAC games for everyone:

Trinity 6H, 4A
Wes 6H, 4A
Amherst 5H, 5A
Bowdoin 5H, 5A
Conn 5H, 5A
Ham 5H, 5A
Midd 5H, 5A
Tufts 5H, 5A
Williams 5H, 5A
Bates 4H, 6A
Colby 4H, 6A

[ronk]

I took a quick look at the NESCAC schedules for 2015-16 and it looks like Trinity and Wesleyan, with 6 home games each, have a scheduling advantage over everyone else this year. It all evens out in the long run, but more home games do make a difference in the short NESCAC season. Unfortunately, Bates and Colby get the short end of the stick the year, with only 4 home games each. Here's the breakout of Home (H) games and Away (A) NESCAC games for everyone:

Trinity 6H, 4A
Wes 6H, 4A
Amherst 5H, 5A
Bowdoin 5H, 5A
Conn 5H, 5A
Ham 5H, 5A
Midd 5H, 5A
Tufts 5H, 5A
Williams 5H, 5A
Bates 4H, 6A
Colby 4H, 6A

So, why doesn't everyone have the same # of home/away games?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I took a quick look at the NESCAC schedules for 2015-16 and it looks like Trinity and Wesleyan, with 6 home games each, have a scheduling advantage over everyone else this year. It all evens out in the long run, but more home games do make a difference in the short NESCAC season. Unfortunately, Bates and Colby get the short end of the stick the year, with only 4 home games each. Here's the breakout of Home (H) games and Away (A) NESCAC games for everyone:

Trinity 6H, 4A
Wes 6H, 4A
Amherst 5H, 5A
Bowdoin 5H, 5A
Conn 5H, 5A
Ham 5H, 5A
Midd 5H, 5A
Tufts 5H, 5A
Williams 5H, 5A
Bates 4H, 6A
Colby 4H, 6A

So, why doesn't everyone have the same # of home/away games?

Because NESCAC schedule-makers are less intelligent than NESCAC students?

[pinseeking1]

The schedule is uneven because of the travel partner factor. There are five sets of travel partners in the league plus Williams, who doesn't have a partner this year. So, each team plays two sets of partners at home and two sets away. That accounts for 8 games. Then, the remaining two games are against your own travel partner and the other is against Williams.

In the cases of Bates and Colby, they are both playing Williams away and they each play their own travel partner away.

By the way, last year, I think Bates had six home NESCAC games. I don't know about Colby...

[ronk]

The schedule is uneven because of the travel partner factor. There are five sets of travel partners in the league plus Williams, who doesn't have a partner this year. So, each team plays two sets of partners at home and two sets away. That accounts for 8 games. Then, the remaining two games are against your own travel partner and the other is against Williams.

In the cases of Bates and Colby, they are both playing Williams away and they each play their own travel partner away.

By the way, last year, I think Bates had six home NESCAC games. I don't know about Colby...

Then everyone that plays their travel partner at home should play at Williams and those that play their partner on the road should play Williams at home.

[pinseeking1]

Well, it turns out that if Williams played Bates and Colby on the road, they'd only have three home games. There must be some way to optimize this, but the 11 teams in the league (combined with having travel partners) must cause the difficulty. I guess we can blame Hamilton for being the 11th team in the league! 

[booyakasha]

It would work out if Williams @Bates/Colby and Home vs. Trin/Wes, but that would cause the weekends in which Trin and Wes traveled to Williams also have a home game (Trin and Wes) in the same weekend (Trin and Wes are not travel partners). Always going to be something strange when you have 11 teams

[amh63]

The scheduling of games....also on the women teams...is the result of many " historic " factors as well as the unusual traveling partner arrangement...due in part to the odd number of Schools with basketball teams.  My take which could be completely out of whack.
The conference is relative young, with respect to older historic rivalries combos...The Little Three and the Maine CBB.  During the regular season, for example, Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan will play each other twice...home and away...with only ONE game counting towards the conference standings that determine the Tourny seeding.  The game that counts are rotated each year wrt to home and away.  The traveling partner situation is another matter...since the conference decided to play conference games back to back on the weekends.  They are on Fri night and Sat afternoon.  The school that has no traveling partner plays on Fri and on Sun, I believe.  Then there are other factors that I put in the "historic" box.  Those are more Coaches choices.  There are the opening tournaments at schools...like the Ken Wright Tourny at Amherst.  Then there are the ones between conferences that the HC likes to play.  Amherst has played ECSU and RIC  of the Little East yearly.  Those schools have historically been well coached and tough. Those games are also rotated, home and away.  It should be notated that both schools had HCs that are Hamilton alums...the RIC coach only recently left for a D1 job.
Given those factors... Yes the CAC schedules can be a little confusing at times.

[John Gleich]

Well, it turns out that if Williams played Bates and Colby on the road, they'd only have three home games. There must be some way to optimize this, but the 11 teams in the league (combined with having travel partners) must cause the difficulty. I guess we can blame Hamilton for being the 11th team in the league! 

My alma mater (and major) have a service that may be helpful:

UWSP Center for Athletic Scheduling

[booyakasha]

Well, it turns out that if Williams played Bates and Colby on the road, they'd only have three home games. There must be some way to optimize this, but the 11 teams in the league (combined with having travel partners) must cause the difficulty. I guess we can blame Hamilton for being the 11th team in the league! 

My alma mater (and major) have a service that may be helpful:

UWSP Center for Athletic Scheduling

That is awesome!

[toad22]

For me, the best part of the year is upon us! Anticipating the beginning of the season is particularly great because there is always a reason to be optimistic. At Williams it is a complete turning of the page. The big stars of the last era are all graduated, and a whole new group of players are about to have their time in the sun. I have no idea what will happen to Williams this season. I can only name two starters with reasonable certainty - Greenman and Aronowitz. There is plenty of talent among the other players, but many have never even played a minute of college basketball, so it is really impossible to know how they will fare. I guess you can make a reasoned case for anywhere between 10 and 18 wins in the regular season. More than 18 wins would require the first year players to play really well from the opening gun. Fewer than ten wins would mean that a lot of bad things have happened. The only prediction I will make is that Williams will be a lot better at the end of the season than they are at the beginning. I just hope that the injury bug doesn't hit us too badly this year, and that the team plays with a lot of joy. Good luck to all of Nescac.

[P'bearfan]

For me, the best part of the year is upon us! ....

Couldn't agree more!!

....The only prediction I will make is that Williams will be a lot better at the end of the season than they are at the beginning. I just hope that the injury bug doesn't hit us too badly this year, and that the team plays with a lot of joy...

I have the same prediction for Bowdoin this year.   Looking forward to the start of the season.

[amh63]

The Amherst roster for this season is posted.  All the returning players have last season pics.  The four freshmen have no pics presently.  The only weight change noticed is Last season's ROY Johnny McCarthy.  This year's roster has the two freshmen bigs listed as Centers..a change from last season where there were no bigs listed as centers.  This position labeling is also a change from the Fall 2015 newsletter.
No preview story provided yet on the Amherst MBB website. This comment made for contrast to the info on the WBB site that has a preview story but no roster for this season yet . The SIDS are busy producing info wrt to the Amherst Fall teams hosting and/or playing in NCAA matches.

[maineman]

This was a very nice gesture by the Ohio State and Michigan basketball teams that I had not heard about.  It would seem that Duncan Robinson participated in this.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25370816/michigan-and-ohio-state-put-aside-rivalry-for-lloyd-carrs-grandson?FTAG=YHF7e3228e




The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is one of the most intense rivalries in college sports.

But, at least for a night, it didn't seem that way.

The Ohio State and Michigan hoops coaches get together to spread some cheer. (Facebook) The Ohio State and Michigan hoops coaches came together to spread some cheer. (Facebook)

    "Special thanks to the michigan men's basketball coaches and staff and the Ohio state men's basketball team's coaches and staff. They came together to do this for chad. Amazing!!!! Love and thanks to you all!! Bigger than the rivalry!!"

That's a Wednesday night post from Tammi Carr -- the mother of a 5-year-old little boy named Chad Carr. And though there's a good chance you've never heard of Chad, I'm certain you know his grandfather, Lloyd Carr, the legendary former Michigan football coach.

Sad story coming.

Chad was diagnosed with a rare and inoperable form of brain cancer in September 2014. He was initially given about nine months to live. Courageously, he beat that projection. But things have taken a bad turn recently. Chad can no longer walk. His breathing has worsened. His speech is sporadic. Doctors think the end is near. So Tammi and her husband, former Michigan quarterback Jason Carr, started Chad on hospice care this week.

"We believe it's time to stop fighting and to let him relax and be at peace," Tammi wrote.

At this point, frankly, there is little anybody can do. But that didn't stop the Michigan men's basketball staff and the Ohio State men's basketball staff from coming together Wednesday night to try to lift Chad's spirits in even the smallest way. Representatives from both schools -- it was OSU coach Thad Matta's wife, Barbara, who came up with the idea, I'm told -- arranged to have Chad's home decorated with Christmas lights, proving that even rivals can put aside their differences when their differences don't really matter in the real world.

It's not a cure, obviously.

But it's cool.

And it's sweet.

More than anything, it's just cool and sweet.