MBB: NESCAC

[lumbercat]

NESCAC expansion is probably unlikely. The conference tradionally resists change in almost any form as we know.

If there was an expansion Brandeis could be a logical candidate.
The UAA is a great conference but with a home and home series with every UAA team the travel schedule for Brandeis is very difficult.

They are the only New Engalnd based member in the UAA. Their closest rival is NYU in New York City.
Other teams are located in Cleveland, Pittsburg, Rochester, Atlanta, Chicago and St. Louis . That's a tougher travel grind than the Ivies.

At some point if the Judges were to balk at travel issues and expenses they may be a willing candidate for the Neacac. They have always maintained a rivalry with Tufts in past years and usually schedule a number of Nescac teams.

This opens up another perennial Nescac question.....why can't the Nescac trim back some of the non league games and play home/home with all Nescac teams.

Like a ninth Football game, something we will probably never see.

[quicksilver]

.....This opens up another perennial Nescac question.....why can't the Nescac trim back some of the non league games and play home/home with all Nescac teams.

Like a ninth Football game, something we will probably never see.

The NESCAC is doing it in ice hockey (both men's and women's) -- It started about five years ago and has been great as it brings a balanced schedule to men's hockey (a home-and-home series each year; women's hockey does not do the home-and-home for reasons that are not clear) and has strengthened rivalries.

It wouldn't work for things like lacrosse and soccer because of the low outside caps on number of games but would work for basketball although it would leave only 4 OOC games (Bates does not play hockey so the home-and-schedule produces 18 league games per year for men's hockey).

[GoWesYoungMan]

Agree with the discussion above re Vassar as a possible NESCAC addition. Without looking too deeply into their programs I think they might initially struggle but I would not be surprised if such a move would result in significant overall improvement in the Vassar athletic program. Everyone benefits but they benefit the most.

Getting way ahead of ourselves, if Vassar were included I would argue for doing everything possible to collect the Little Three in the South and CBB in the North primarily for scheduling purposes. In this scenario Wes (and Williams and Amherst) would only add four games to get to 16 conference games: Vassar (2) plus additional games against Trin and Conn. The additional games vs Amherst and Williams are already on the schedule (and would be more meaningful as part of the NESCAC).

With regards to Hixon's coaching philosophy in last night's non-conference game, I can tell you from my Wes perspective I was not worried so much that Hixon might turn to his bench and find a hot hand as much as I was worried that McCarthy and Racy might at any moment start playing like they usually do and turn the game around. Even when Wes went up 20 with about ten minutes to go I could not feel comfortable. With regards to Little Three competition I think Hixon wants to win in league and out of league, at home and away, in a box with a fox in the rain on a train.

[booyakasha]

Stewart back in limited action last night for Colby after an ankle injury kept him and Hudnut out of the Williams game. Hudnut not in the box score though.

[Bucket]

If there was an expansion Brandeis could be a logical candidate.
The UAA is a great conference but with a home and home series with every UAA team the travel schedule for Brandeis is very difficult.

They are the only New Engalnd based member in the UAA. Their closest rival is NYU in New York City.
Other teams are located in Cleveland, Pittsburg, Rochester, Atlanta, Chicago and St. Louis . That's a tougher travel grind than the Ivies.

At some point if the Judges were to balk at travel issues and expenses they may be a willing candidate for the Neacac. They have always maintained a rivalry with Tufts in past years and usually schedule a number of Nescac teams.

Well, since the incoming Brandeis president will be none other than former Middlebury Prez Ron Liebowitz, the conditions are ripe!

[nescac1]

Hamilton's frosh center Andrew Groll has exploded of late, and against solid competition (Tufts, Bates, Ithaca).  His last three games he has averaged 18 ppg, 11 rpg, and over 4 combined blocks plus steals per game, while shooting over 75 percent from the field!  The Ephs have struggled this season to contain physical guys in the paint, so they will need to game plan for Groll it seems.

Hamilton's three prominent frosh (Grassey, Groll, and Hoffmann) combined for 61 of Hamilton's 88 points in its win vs. a decent Ithaca team last night.  When Hamilton and Williams meet Friday, frosh could well dominate much of the action for both teams, and we'll probably see as many as 7 frosh combined on the floor at the same time.  Although Hamilton is 0-4 in NESCAC, three of those losses are by six points or less, and Williams lost to Hamilton last year, so the Ephs can't afford to look past this game to Middlebury. 

Hopefully for Colby's sake Hudnut can play this weekend, because otherwise Ogundeko and the Amherst bigs will absolutely shred the Mules inside.  Getting Stewart back is certainly big, however. 

[amh63]

Little less grumpy today....stopped watching news and reading all the bad news in the paper.  Turning to sports and see that human flaws has entered here.  Oh well, will put on some binders.
GoWesYoungMan......liked your "nursery " rhyme?.  Where is it from?
Nescac1....thanks for the Hamilton info.  Watched a bit of the Ithaca game but switched to the Conn game and it was hard on my vision.  In any case, Hamilton is traveling East.  Hope they do not get caught in bad weather.
Bucket....I thought of Brandeis in the topic of possible conference additions too.  Your news wrt the new Brandeis prez is surprising and somewhat puzzling to me.  It begs the question...why did he leave Middlebury?
In a surprising year in Div1 BB....Duke not ranked is one....a year of increasing parity...I watched No.3 Kansas get blown out by Iowa State in Iowa.  It was not so much the home site..third time Kansas lost there...but the play of a freshman guard who dominated the last five minutes of the game. A 6' PG, was the high scorer, had mucho RBs and assists.  This maybe the year of the freshman.

[Bucket]

Bucket....I thought of Brandeis in the topic of possible conference additions too.  Your news wrt the new Brandeis prez is surprising and somewhat puzzling to me.  It begs the question...why did he leave Middlebury?

Ron was president of Middlebury from 2004-2015, announcing in early 2014 his intention to leave Midd on June 30, 2015. These days, 11 years is a long time to be president of one institution, and I believe Ron was ready for new challenges. (He'd been at Midd for 31 years, having joined the faculty in 1984.)

He and his young family (3 kids under the age of 12) moved to Boston last summer, and Ron and his wife Jessica (also an academic) have been spending a sabbatical year working on a research project at Harvard. Shortly before the new year, Brandeis announced that he'd be their next president.

I certainly can see why Ron would be an attractive candidate for them—he's a proven fund-raiser and highly regarded within the academy as an innovative thinker—and I think that Brandeis is a good next step for him (new challenges, opportunities to lead a larger institution).

[amh63]

Weather wise, some good and some bad news.  Good news....seems the bad weather heading north MAY not be so bad for teams traveling east....Hamilton....and Northeast.....Amherst and Trinity.
The bad news is that it will impact Both Nescac1 and Me in the D.C. Area. . 
Bucket....appreciate the response.  Plus K
Something I picked up....nosing around.  Looking at the D3 hoop board where Coaches are looking for future opponents...to fill out their schedules.....I came upon the Williams' Coach inquiry!  On the single game section, it appears that the HC is looking for a number of single games.  Working the front end of the schedule it appears to me, based on the info.  Upgrade the OCC games is my thinking.  Maybe a Keene State vice a Johnson St.?... . Could not help myself on that last remark.

[nescac1]

This is awesome.  Jack Mackey is now my favorite non-Eph in NESCAC.  I realize that certain folks in the Amherst hoops fan community seem to believe that Hixon, not Naismith, invented the game of basketball and that the rest of the league should feel privileged to even share the same floor as the Team-formerly-known-as-Jeffs, but every so often that level of arrogance comes back to bite you in the ass:

https://twitter.com/j_mackey24/status/689283838443433984

[GoWesYoungMan]

Amh63...The rhyme is pretty much a direct lift from Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. I haven't read it in forty years but could still recall most of the rhymes. Your question prompted me to do some wiki-checking. Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs in 1960 after the success of Cat In The Hat, but parsed the vocabulary from over 200 words for Cat to 50 for Green Eggs (thus my ability to recall). Turns out it is regarded by kid readers and "experts" alike as one of the classics of kid lit. I used the rhyme to emphasize Hixon's distaste for losing. The wiki editor refers to the main character in Green Eggs as Grouchy Guy. Seems like an appropriate description of Hixon at the end of those uncommon Jeff losses. I actually mean that as kind of a compliment since I think most really successful coaches hate losing more than they love winning. Seems like Dr. Seuss would be a natural fit for the NESCAC, but he is actually of the mean green from Dartmouth.

[toad22]

Wow, the arrogant JEFfFan post got pulled very fast!

[JEFFFAN]

Wow, the arrogant JEFfFan post got pulled very fast!

Yup. It was too arrogant so I grabbed it back!  Age provides discretion over time if not immediately.

[amh63]

I believe some posters here need to relax a bit.
Yes, in the town of Amherst there are actually some non Amherst fans...possibly the dentist in the dental group who also spends a great deal of time on Twitter.
On Main Street, near Hastings...local shop to pick up college stuffs, newspapers, etc.....there is a fine jewelry shop and period furniture store.  Owner's son who works there after closing his place in Cambridge is a Williams grad.  We have discussed woodblock prints, and the period furniture pieces he sells....I bought one for my living room...Art Deco period/ Stixkley style.  We also chat about sports and who will win a sporting event in town between Amherst and Williams.  My wife on occasions shops at a nearby women clothing store that is owned by a lady who is a Tufts fan...grew up near Medford.  In short, they are probably numerous local residents that are not fans of Amherst sports!...who tweet too.  Let's see....one mile down the road is UMass-Amherst with over 20 plus thousands students!  There is also Smith, Mt. Holyoke College and even Hampshire College about a mile the other way.  Yes the town is loaded with people residents with many different opinions on all matters...including politics and climate change.

GoWestYoungman.....thanks for the reply.  It was only in the last decade or so that I found out that there is a Dr. Suess statue in Springfield...the home of Basketball and the noted writer of Children/ adult books.  Oh yes,...nearby was the home of the Springfield rifle maker and the Indian motercycle.  Can I mention such items these days???

[toad22]

Wow, the arrogant JEFfFan post got pulled very fast!

Yup. It was too arrogant so I grabbed it back!  Age provides discretion over time if not immediately.

Don't worry, I've done the same thing. I think I understand.