MBB: NESCAC

[JustAFan]

The NERR site reports that 6-4 Philips Exeter swingman Perry DeLorenzo will be heading to Middlebury next fall. He's a tough, physically mature, defensive minded player with a nice shot from the perimeter. Good fit for both player and school.

[Bucket]

The NERR site reports that 6-4 Philips Exeter swingman Perry DeLorenzo will be heading to Middlebury next fall. He's a tough, physically mature, defensive minded player with a nice shot from the perimeter. Good fit for both player and school.

I'm sure local folks are thrilled that Perry will be a Panther. We watched him grow up—his mother is the coach of the national champion field hockey team—and even in middle school it was apparent he'd be a player on the collegiate level.

[Bucket]

And for those interested in MSA's halftime buzzer-beating, 65-foot three, here are the game highlights:

http://www.wcax.com/story/30705364/middlebury-men-beat-castleton

[jumpshot]

Duncan Robinson continues playing well, scoring 15 points on five three-pointers last night in 22 minutes, as Michigan loses to 19th ranked SMU.

[jumpshot]

Williams losing by 10 at the half to Oneonta due to poor passing, inadequate defense, inability to finish inside at the hoop, inadequate offensive rebounding ---and probably several other factors.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Duncan Robinson continues playing well, scoring 15 points on five three-pointers last night in 22 minutes, as Michigan loses to 19th ranked SMU.

I watched some of that giant mess last night.  It's amazing that Robinson seems to be the one directing the team vocally on the floor.  He's telling guys where to go and what plays to run.  He's making a place for himself at Michigan for sure.  I'd like to see him do more than just spot up, though.  He passed up a lot of good driving lanes.

[nescac1]

Made it home in time for the second half.  Williams ends up losing by 13 but game was really closer than that as the Ephs had it down to four a few occasions, before a big late three by Oneonta and then some intentional fouling to close it out.

The Ephs have some reasons for optimism and some reasons for pessimism at this point.  The team badly, badly misses its starting backcourt.  They just don't have enough poised playmakers and ballhandlers creating easy looks out there for other guys.  Casey is the only facilitator who is playing major minutes and he really is needed to be a scorer at this juncture.  Right now, the offense is basically three guys -- Aronowitz, who continues to play great and really carry the team, but tonight Oneonta was (smartly) all over him, shading help his way whenever he was near the basket.  He finished with 16-7-3, very solid considering how much attention he was getting. 

Kyle Scadlock and Bobby Casey continue to both look like future stars, but both are frosh so they are, unsurprisingly, inconsistent.  Casey had some really nice drives to the lane and finishes inside, and was shooting well (his numbers were hurt by a few attempts towards the end of the game).  He looked more patient out there than he has been playing of late and he is better when he plays more to drive and take open jump shots than pull up from 3 at every opportunity.  He finished with 14 points and 3 assists.  Scadlock had 16-6 but struggled with his 3 point shot today.  His length inside creates a lot of problems for opposing teams, when he plays under control.  I think both will really have some big games in the second semester but are likely to be inconsistent until they mature a bit as players.  Both need to gain more consistency in particular with their 3 point shot but I think that will come over time as both have shown they can hit them. 

No one else seemed to do much of anything tonight.  (The rest of the team combined for 16 points).  The Ephs badly, badly need someone, anyone to become a consistent three point shooter.  Hopefully Greenman can provide the shot-making, and Galvin the playmaking, that is missing out there when they both return at some point.  And hopefully the young big guys will continue to improve.  Soto and Kempton both show signs of being good players in the future, but it's very rare of course to make a major impact at the 5 as a freshman and both have a long way to go in terms of their development and ideally would be sitting and learning behind more experienced guys -- the Ephs just don't have that luxury right now. 

Williams played very good half-court defense in the half I watched, for the most part, but gave up WAYYYY too many transition buckets, typically off of some very sloppy TOs and failed, futile attempts to grab offensive rebounds.  Every time the Ephs would hit a few shots Oneonta would seemingly get two straight quick buckets on the go to extend the lead.

If the Ephs can start hitting threes, the offense can be good but that's been the if all year and they haven't done it yet.  A few guys are mired in some rough, rough shooting slumps and all the Ephs can do is hope they snap out of it because they are shorthanded and very, very young right now. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Duncan Robinson continues playing well, scoring 15 points on five three-pointers last night in 22 minutes, as Michigan loses to 19th ranked SMU.

That year off with the strength coaches did wonders for Duncan!  Last year he would have been dead meat for D1 opponents; this year he is knocking on the door of stardom.  He has still never been a starter (I think Beilein is going with the Piston's strategy for Vinnie 'the microwave' Johnson - instant offense off the bench), but he is the second-leading scorer, third in minutes, second in 3-point %, and first in FT %.  Two concerns: he is very low in rebounds per game, and is second on the entire team in fouls - suggesting he still has quite a way to go on the defensive end.

I'm pretty sure the Big 10 only has a freshman of the year (not 'newcomer' of the year) award, so he would be ineligible for that.  I think he has a shot at third team all-conference, and MUCH higher awards starting next year.

[Vandy74]

I found this yesterday researching something else.  I don't know if there is anything Williams fans don't already know here but this was recently posted on the Michigan basketball site.

www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120715aaa.html

[nescac1]

Great article, Vandy74!  The greatest what-if in Williams sports history, and probably in NESCAC sports history, will be how many national titles Williams would have won had Maker not left (and then in all likelihood, Robinson stayed as well).  Over-under is probably 1, maybe 1.5.  Oh well ... while as an athlete he's be seriously outclassed, it's, amazingly, not out of the question to think the NBA could be on Duncan's radar in the future.  The league is more than ever a 3-point shooting league given what GSW and San Antonio have done in recent seasons, and if Duncan can keep building his body over the next few years to the point where he could do at least a passable job of guarding NBA forwards (still very much in question, as he will likely never have the quickness to guard an NBA wing, and he probably needs another 20 pounds of muscle at least) his distance shooting could be such a weapon in the league that he could find a spot on the bottom of a roster as a designated sniper off the bench. Hitting 25-foot three is now the single most marketable NBA skill.   

The Ephs right now are a team built on a system that requires great (or at least good) three point shooting, which so far this season can't buy a shot from deep, collectively.  Considering that there are five frosh in the rotation, including two starting right now, and the starting backcourt has been out for awhile, 5-2 is honestly better than I would have predicted.  They just need to survive until the vets return and the frosh get some more experience and confidence in the system.  In an ideal situation Scadlock and Casey would be 4th/5th options not 2nd/3rd as they've been forced to be as frosh, and the four other frosh forwards, who are various degrees of raw, would have a year on the bench to sit, learn, and add strength.  But the Ephs don't have that luxury due to a variety of factors -- the injuries in the backcourt have made Casey into the main man by default, and Duncan's transfer, a few lean frontcourt recruiting years, and two back-up centers who didn't return to the program this year have left simply no other options up front.  The talent is there, but a lot of guys are still adjusting to the college game.  This is very much a young team building towards the future; if that future comes in February, that would be a bonus! 

[magicman]

Thanks for posting that link Vandy.  Plus K. Sure gives us a glimpse into DR's journey. How can you not root for him? I watched him play the other night against SMU, when they were on ESPN. Getting more minutes with each game it seems.

[JEFFFAN]

For all of the Bates fans out there ...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/12/10/the-simpsons-took-some-glorious-shots-bates-college/Q1TwI58xDQC4BnVO4LR12O/story.html?s_campaign=bcom%3Asocialflow%3Afacebook

[lefrakenstein]

Quick question: Does anyone know if Dylan Groff, the Amherst freshman, is related to Yram Groff, class of '89 (and 6th leading scorer in school history)? I've heard some former teammates of Yram's claim that they still feel that he's the best to ever don the purple and white.

Also, I know it's early, but it's pretty amazing that Riopel, Racy and McCarthy for Amherst would all be in the 50/40/90 club through six games. Racy is currently in the 50/50/100 club (membership:1). That's hard to do in an empty gym. Let's hope they can all keep up the hot shooting tonight.

[JEFFFAN]

Quick question: Does anyone know if Dylan Groff, the Amherst freshman, is related to Yram Groff, class of '89 (and 6th leading scorer in school history)? I've heard some former teammates of Yram's claim that they still feel that he's the best to ever don the purple and white.

Also, I know it's early, but it's pretty amazing that Riopel, Racy and McCarthy for Amherst would all be in the 50/40/90 club through six games. Racy is currently in the 50/50/100 club (membership:1). That's hard to do in an empty gym. Let's hope they can all keep up the hot shooting tonight.

http://thejewishchronicle.net/bookmark/22792324-For-Yram-Groff-Israeli-basketball-brought-romantic-score

[amh63]

lefrakenstein.....the freshman Groff...from Pittsburg, Pa. was noted to have a father that played at Amherst....did not specify what Class.  My guess is that the parent is your man.  Has a younger brother that also plays BB.  Both sons invited to the Jewish Games this Summer....played in Europe instead of The Middle East.
Agree with you wrt to Babson.
The Babson preview mentioned that the recent wins on the road were a sort of redemption for earlier season loses to the same teams....My read.  It is amazing going back to last season and looking at the box scores of the loses to Brandeis and Babson in LeFrak at this same part of the season...on a Tuesday and a Thursday.  The Tuesday lost was by 20 points and the Thursday lost was by 19....and Amherst was ranked 2nd at the time.  Believe HC Nixon will point that out since we are talking about the same LJ players.  Do not want to indicate the missing starter who is unable to play tonight and was missing in the Brandeis win....starter last season that is.