MBB: NESCAC

[jumpshot]

Agree with nescac1 as I watched as well ---conference is the plague's to lose ....

Ephs up by 15 at half today ....with 9 turnovers.... same issue as last year. Must catch and pass, as well as shoot, the ball much better.

[nescac1]

Different day, almost exactly the same story for Williams.  The D was mostly good (vs. a very weak opponent), the rebounding was excellent, and once again, Aronowitz and Soto were great on offense and the rest of the team was mostly pretty bad.  Soto is very SMOOTH out there, nailing three triples and making the play of the game, a beautiful around the back and up finish in transition.  He is so improved from last year. Scadlock once again alternated some spectacular plays, including two thunderous dunks, with some confounding ones.  6'10 C Kempton hit a 3 -- didn't know that was in his arsenal!

The big concern for the Ephs right now continues to be the outside shooting by the backcourt.  For the second straight game, Casey, Teal, and Greenman all struggled to hit open threes, and missed some shots going to the rim as well.  When (and I'm confident it's a "when" situation) those guys start to nail shots, the team will score a lot more efficiently.  In the meantime, the Ephs need to be patient and work the ball inside to their huge front court which will present a size mismatch for almost everyone.  Still, good to start 2-0 and the Ephs are likely to improve the offensive flow over the next few weeks. 

[NEhoops]

Good to see a young Colby teams get a couple wins. Still too early to tell how competitive they're going to be. Stewart is off to a strong start.

Bowdoin pulls out a win vs Southern VT - I think they're a little down this year. Their game later tonight vs UMD will be interesting, they beat Trinity yesterday. Wouldn't be surprised if Simonds averaged 20+ppg this year.

Two good wins for Tufts against out of region competition. We know the Jumbos can score.

Williams - see nescac1 posts

Same old story for Amherst. They look really good and very balanced

Wesleyan moves to 2-0. Still too early to tell how competitive they're going to be as well. Kuo will anchor the team on both ends. 

High-powered Middlebury with two good wins. Big expectations this season for St Amour and the Panthers.

Tough start for Trinity - they are young though. Currently down 1 to Southern VT at half.

Solid weekend for Bates. Lost to OT to DeSales - they'll be at the top of their league - and took care of Salve Regina. Delpeche duo averaging a combined 30ppg and 20rpg.

Hamilton battled on the road vs a strong Catholic team - next game is Sunday.

Conn just tipped against MCLA - also playing Sunday.

[pinseeking1]

Nice win for Bates today in the WPI tournament in Worcester, beating Salve Regina 83-63 after a tough overtime loss yesterday to Desales. Senior Malcom Delpeche led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Quin Leary and Shawn Strickland added 14 points each. The biggest surprise in the early season so far for Bates has been the stronger three point shooting (over 50%) of the team, today led by Leary and sophomore Max Hummel. Last season, this was a huge problem area for the team. Salve is now 0-3, so it remains to be seen if the Bobcats can shoot as well versus stronger teams.

[lumbercat]

Pinseeker-
I was thinking the same thing - Bates has some talent inside but last year the Bobcats couldn't shoot worth a lick from the outside at all. If they can develop some perimeter shooters they may surprise this year.

[Old Guy]

I'm waiting for Vandy, MiddHoops, and Bucket to post on the Midd wins - hey all went to CT. I watched both games on the big screen (still blows me away). I thought they beat a good team today. Eastern CT had size, quickness, agility, and were playing at home.

St Amour scored three points last night (1-11) - I'd never seen that, but had 22 today to make the all-tourney team. I was impressed that Matt could be that off and Midd would still romp. Baines was the MVP (15 and 12 today; 22 and six last night). Jake Brown also made the all-tourney team with two very solid games, especially today: he was 10-10 from the line, important because the ball is in his hands so much. His defense on the other teams' point guards was relentless.

The new face is Matt Folger, a lanky (6'8") stretch 4 (that seems to be the new term!). He seemed very comfortable on the floor, hit a couple of nice jump shots (10 points in 24 minutes). The announcers butchered his name, which is not that tough: last night he was "Fall-grr" (hard g) and today he was "Fog-ler": they're too young to remember Mrs. Folger's coffee. (How hard is it to go over to the scorer's table before the game and get the pronunciations of any tricky names?)

Unlike last year, off to a good start. Four home games in the next eleven days!

[ContinentalDomer]

Hamilton faced a strong first test as Catholic has good balance and two very good players, including an All-American candidate (Jay Howard).  Hamilton looked like a team playing its first game.  The Continentals missed easy buckets and had too many turnovers.  The team showed toughness and closed the deficit to 6 a few times in the second half, but just couldn't get over the hump.

Hamilton's 4 sophomores each played a major role.  Tim Doyle (14 points) took a step up from last year.  Peter Hoffman looks stronger (14 points, 6 rebounds).  Andrew Groll (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Michael Grassey (12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists) were solid. Junior PG Jack Dwyer put pressure on the defense with his driving game.  Freshman PG Vincent Conn looked good and appears ready to contribute.

The Continentals will play Kean today in the tournament final.

Good to see a young Colby teams get a couple wins. Still too early to tell how competitive they're going to be. Stewart is off to a strong start.

Bowdoin pulls out a win vs Southern VT - I think they're a little down this year. Their game later tonight vs UMD will be interesting, they beat Trinity yesterday. Wouldn't be surprised if Simonds averaged 20+ppg this year.

Two good wins for Tufts against out of region competition. We know the Jumbos can score.

Williams - see nescac1 posts

Same old story for Amherst. They look really good and very balanced

Wesleyan moves to 2-0. Still too early to tell how competitive they're going to be as well. Kuo will anchor the team on both ends. 

High-powered Middlebury with two good wins. Big expectations this season for St Amour and the Panthers.

Tough start for Trinity - they are young though. Currently down 1 to Southern VT at half.

Solid weekend for Bates. Lost to OT to DeSales - they'll be at the top of their league - and took care of Salve Regina. Delpeche duo averaging a combined 30ppg and 20rpg.

Hamilton battled on the road vs a strong Catholic team - next game is Sunday.

Conn just tipped against MCLA - also playing Sunday.

[amh63]

Got to watch a little of the Middlebury game...the part when they pulled out to a "large lead".  Saw Middhoops...likes "Carolina blue" shirts...and Vandy.  They were sitting among the fans behind the scorer table.  Since I too had the game on the big screen, was able to point out the two die hard Midd fans to my wife.  EConn gave Amherst a real battle in the NCAA game last season in LeFrak.  Big fan of Lindo, the 6'5" jumping jack/shot blocker of the Warriors.  Little history to follow up on Old Guy's Folger coffee comment.  The Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill in D.C....the place that sent a first folio of Shakespeare's plays to Midd as part of the bard's 400th anniversary...is the same Folger coffee family.  Happens that Folger of the library was the CEO of Standard Oil of NY of the "Robber Baron" Rockefeller.  Amherst College Trustees runs the library's endowment since Folger the book collector was an Amherst alum. Oops, his wife was a collector too.

Now, some comments wrt to the Amherst vs. St. Lawrence game.  St. Lawrence's top scorers were held down primarily due to foul troubles.  Both of the St. Lawrence's big men fouled out as Amherst rotated its big front court players to guard them. Amherst again dominated the boards and had 20 plus leads throughout the game, even while 17 players got into the game.  JMac and Racy, both again had quiet nights on the scoring side.  Again, the outside shooting was spread around and strong effort to score in the paint.   FY Sellew played well guarding St. Lawrence's big man and tried his outside shots.  Amherst's Soph 6'10"" center...Big Joe...aroused the crown with a big block and his strong play.  Amherst's big men are running the floor well and beating the defenders for easy baskets.  I believe that barring injuries, Amherst can go at least 10 deep and be competitive in the Nescac.
It seemed to me that Assistant Coach Aaron Toomey was taking the lead in the St. Lawrence game though HC Nixon was up as usual to question some calls and chatting with the refs.

[nescac1]

Recruiting news for Williams: https://twitter.com/TheHoopGroup/status/800413751145103360

Mike Myers, a 6'4 combo guard out of Gonzaga in D.C.  Perhaps Amh63 has seen him -- a role player on an elite team stocked with D1 talent.  Seems like a nice pickup for the Ephs. 

[nescac1]

Individual players who had massive statistical lines in the first week of NESCAC play:

Jack Simonds, Ed Ogundeko, Dan Aronowitz, Zach Baines, Joseph Kuo, and Malcolm Delpeche.  No huge surprises there ... four seniors with a strong track record and two of the most highly-regarded sophomores in the league. 

This looks like a very good year for athletic senior big men in NESCAC, between Ogundeko, the Delpeche brothers, George, Kuo and Palleschi ... considering big men take the longest (typically) to develop, that group could post a lot of dominating two-way performances as the season goes along.  All are established defensive anchors, and based on early returns, we might be seeing more offense than in past years from the Delpeches and Kuo.  And for the teams in NESCAC that are weak / green at the five, they could be in for some tough nights on the interior. 

[jayhawk]

I am not sure if this future Amherst student is a recruit or just a really good student. Roxbury Latin is the oldest school in America and really difficult to get into. According to their site Tim McCarthy who is a shooting guard has committed to Amherst pending acceptance.
I believe he was injured last year but had good sophmore year with 3 pt shooting and had a track career. Also won some academic awards at RL.

see: https://twitter.com/rl_athletics?lang=en

[JustAFan]

Nescac1, based on the clips available on-line Myers looks like a great recruit for the Ephs, a scorer who is also unselfish and likes to put it on the floor and attack the rim rather than just hang out on the 3 point line waiting to shoot a jumper, which he also appears to do well.

To your list of players who had a great opening week add the name of Tufts first year swingman Ed Savage, who came off the bench in the Jumbos opening game win over FDU Florham to score 18 points on 6-9 from the field and grab 5 rebounds in 28 minutes of play, and then contributed 10 points and 3 assists the next day in Tufts win over Southern Virginia in 22 minutes of play. He's a 6-3 guard from South Brunswick (NJ) HS.  Looks like he's quickly thrust himself into the Jumbo's rotation and given them some needed depth on the wing while they await the return of Vinny Pace.

[ContinentalDomer]

Tim is a basketball recruit and he is also Johnny McCarthy's younger brother.

I am not sure if this future Amherst student is a recruit or just a really good student. Roxbury Latin is the oldest school in America and really difficult to get into. According to their site Tim McCarthy who is a shooting guard has committed to Amherst pending acceptance.
I believe he was injured last year but had good sophmore year with 3 pt shooting and had a track career. Also won some academic awards at RL.

see: https://twitter.com/rl_athletics?lang=en

[nescac1]

JustAFan, agreed that Myers looks like a solid recruit for Williams. 

Savage looks like another strong Central Jersey product for Tufts.  Savage and Vinny Pace surely knew each other well from local basketball rivalries ...

For Tufts though the real question is when Pace returns.  Although they looked good against less-than-stellar competition in the first weekend, the Jumbos' upcoming schedule is brutal, featuring games at MIT and Brandeis, a home game with WPI, and a likely match-up with Babson, if they can get by Brandeis.  If they can survive that grueling stretch without Pace, it bodes well for the long run ...

[30 for 30]

How bout Matt Hart knocking down 5 treys on his way to 17 points v Georgia in Hall of Fame Classic tonight. Fran Fraschilla gave Hart many props during the ESPN broadcast. Tough loss down the stretch for GW.