MBB: NESCAC

[Titan Q]

Good game, Middlebury fans.  I was hoping for OT there obviously but your guy made a huge shot.

Two good teams...great game to watch.

[Vandy74]

Nothing about IWU surprised me having watched their win over Washington U. a week or so back.  Strong and balanced scoring. Physical play.  Very good shooters from behind the arc, at the stripe, under the basket and anywhere in between.  I'm very impressed by how everyone stepped up for the Panthers in Baines' absence.  6-6 and 12 of his 14 points coming in the first half for Adisa Majors.  Jack Daly coming on stronger in the second half.   Steady production from St. Amour throughout.  The fact that someone who played the game Jake Brown did (10 points, 4 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot) comes up #4 on the "to mention" list speaks volumes about the overall effort displayed by the Panthers tonight.  Good to see Tarantino playing more.  Good to see McCord healthy.  Good to see FY Folger's steady progress.   I do wish I knew the story on Baines.  I'm not sure I want to see IWU again come the post season.

[middhoops]

Large contingent of Midd fans at CSI vs IWU tonight.  Similarly sizable crowd from IWU.
It was a story of halves, runs, defense, shooting and chippiness, if that's a word.
In the end, the Panthers put their faith in Jack Daly.  Worked out well for Middlebury and the NESCAC.
Couldn't ask for a better game. 
And it's a LONG Uber ride from the Staten Island Ferry to CSI.  Don't let those maps fool ya.

[gordonmann]

There must be a rematch.

Hey, how about next year at the D3hoops.com Classic?

What do you say, IWU and Middlebury? Heck, let's do the Hope/Williams game over again too!

Signed -- Management

[Vandy74]

There must be a rematch.

Hey, how about next year at the D3hoops.com Classic?

What do you say, IWU and Middlebury? Heck, let's do the Hope/Williams game over again too!

Signed -- Management

NESCAC vs CCIW games should be scheduled on a regular basis.  It's a good match-up.

[grabtherim]

I'll pile on and agree the IWU vs Midd game was a treat to be at and watch.  Both teams had runs and times where it looked like they were either going to pull away or be swamped only to be followed by nail biting close moments.  IWU runs great disciplined sets freeing guys up underneath or for backdoor cuts, and when they don't work they have a few guys who can nail the 3s, last night it was #10 and #40 in particular.  I thought Midd while getting a bunch of very nice individual performances really won this one playing their strongest team game of the season, especially on the defensive end.  Lots of defensive help  covering for guys when needed. Brown went deep especially in the 1st half with Baines out, maybe only two practices since Finals had something to do with that, in any case it seemed to energize the team.  No time for the Panthers to rest on their laurels.  Hopefully they got a good night's sleep, and can finish off this short business trip with a tournament win tonight.  Finally, kudos to the folks who run this tournament for the classy and poignant way they recognize the Heroes from their team who perished in 9/11.  The program before the second game was respectful insuring that all three will be remembered for who they were, choked me up big time.   
         

[Middfan]

Two good interviews on the IWU Men's Basketball website, one with Middlebury's Jack Daly on the win and hitting the winning shot and one with Coach Rose.

http://www.iwusports.com/news/2016/12/29/mens-basketball-last-second-shot-sinks-titan-comeback-effort-in-new-york.aspx

[nescac1]

I think a CCIW-NESCAC challenge (maybe with the top two teams from each facing off in back-to-back December games) would be really fun, coaches, make it happen one year! 

Williams cannot afford to rest on its laurels as the Ephs play a tough road game vs. Mount Union on a short turnaround today.  Fortunately Mount Union had a tough game last night too (albeit not an overtime nailbiter) so both teams may be running on fumes a bit.  Mount Union is 8-2 with its two combined losses by three points, and they play in a very strong conference.  They seem to be led by two dominating seniors, who do the bulk of the heavy lifting: DeAllen Jackson, who has a ridiculous 20-9-2.6 50/52/79 stat line plus adds 2.3 steals per game.  JJ Kucera helps out with 20 ppg and 5 rpg.  I'm guessing Cole Teal will have to tackle primary duties guarding Jackson, a pretty rough back-to-back after dealing with Dante Hawkins last night. 

Mount Union's starters are very bulky but also on the short side -- 6'5, 6'4, 6'3, 6'2, 5'10, so hopefully the Ephs will keep doing what has been successful the last few games, which is get the ball into the paint consistently.  This might be a good night for a fresh Matt Karpowicz to see more minutes and see what he can do in the post.  I'd like to see Scadlock, Heskett and Aronowitz all do some posting up as well.  Although the Eph guards didn't pour in a ton of points last night, they threw a lot of very good entry passes on pick-and-roll plays and to back-door cutters, consistently setting up the Eph forwards for rolling layups.  Hopefully tonight they can clean up the cross-court perimeter passes that too-often led to turnovers.   It's really good to see that Willaims can beat quality teams this year by emphasizing the inside game even on nights where the 3's aren't falling.  It will make Williams much more dangerous when they get hot, which they are certainly capable of. 

With tired legs for the shooters, the Ephs' defense may need to do some heavy lifting.  I think Williams wins if we can hold Mount Union below what their football team would put up vs. ours -- which is likely around 72 points . 

[NEhoops]

Some great recent wins for the NESCAC, continuing to show their strength.

Kudos to what Coach Reilly has done at Wesleyan. They look really strong going into conference play. A key for them will be how well Rafferty shoots the ball. He is over 40% from three on the season, but last year was closer to 30% against NESCAC foes.

St. Amour is the top threat from three for Middlebury and his shooting can carry the team. It comes back to being able to make shots from the perimeter (and space the floor), particularly in NESCAC games when the level of play goes up on the defensive end.

Interesting update from Bates (excerpt taken from the recap of last nights game) - the final 10 minutes of the game featured the collegiate debut of first-year guard Jeff Spellman (Boston, Mass.), who had missed Bates' first nine games with an injury. The 6-foot-2 Spellman scored the first of his nine points with a breakaway dunk on a feed from Frater, and he later cashed in on a spectacular up-and-under layup to finish off a drive down the lane.

[nescac1]

Very nice win for Conn College over a solid UMass Dartmouth team.  Conn is now 8-1 and could surprise a few teams in NESCAC this year -- a veteran, balanced squad with three senior starters up front who rebound a ton, plus a lot of athleticism on the perimeter. 

Last night, Hamilton and Bates, both now fully healthy, blew out two credible opponents.  Neither will be a pushover this year it seems, Hamilton is probably at least a year away from contending still but has a scary amount of young wing talent, and Bates has some very young talent in the backcourt that will likely start to contribute more as the season progresses, and the Delpeches are a handful for anyone.  Plus it's never fun playing in Bates' gym.  NESCAC is going to be a war this year and it could easily be a 4, maybe even 5, bid league come tourney time, given the sheer number of wins teams are piling up in non-conference play. 

[nescac1]

Ephs down two at the half.  Not playing as sharp overall as they did most of the game vs. Hope.  Dan Aronowitz with a big half, 15 points, and went over 1000 for his career today.  Awesome that he got to do it less than an hour from his home -- nice scheduling there by Coach App!  At the rate he is scoring, he will rise quickly in the all-time Williams scoring leaders list. 

The Ephs are having a lot of trouble getting the ball inside -- telling stat is zero shot attempts for the three-headed center rotation.  Ephs need to figure out a way to get into the teeth of the defense, although Mount Union does seem to be packing the lane a bit. 

For Mount Union, both stars have played very well.  JJ Kukura has been scorching hot going for 17 points many on quite difficult attempts.  He did push off a few times to get open, and he is really strong -- not terrible no-calls except that Teal and Galvin were both called for offensive fouls for exactly the same play.  App seemed less than thrilled on the second of those by Kukura.  Still, he's been impressive draining shots over the much taller Kyle Scadlock, including some mid-range contested jumpers that you just have to live with. DeAllen Jackson's quickness poses problems for Williams much like Hawkins yesterday.  Galvin has probably had the most luck but he has blown by a lot of different guys. 

Ephs will hopefully get the big guys a bit more involved (including Scadlock and Heskett, who have done more damage from outside the pain) in the second half.   

[nescac1]

Phew.  Big, gutty win for Wiliams.  The Ephs seemed to be in control of the game up 10 with the ball with maybe three minutes to go and then Mount Union came nearly all the way back thanks to some missed FTAs by the Ephs, a few TOs, and some spectacular individual play from DeAllen Jackson.  I sure as heck hope the Ephs don't play back-to-back PGs as good as Hope's PG and Jackson anytime in the near future!  Jackson certainly looked like an all-American caliber guard to me, doing everything in his power to keep his team in it as basically a one-man gang, hitting deep threes and brutally difficult off-balance driving shots, and also passing the ball well.  Best PG I've seen this year, certainly! 

The Ephs were clearly fatigued in the second half -- the shooters couldn't get anything going and there wasn't the typical sort of crisp quick cutting the Ephs usually exhibit.  They won because they were absolutely stifling on defense -- Mount Union went something like TWELVE minutes without hitting a field goal, going from a seven point lead to a ten point deficit in the process.  Kyle Scadlock and James Heskett, but especially Scadlock, absolutely hounded Kukera in the second half, never giving him a clean look and forcing lots of bad forced shots and TOs (he had eight on the day and the ball pressure clearly got to him).  Showed how effective their combo of length and speed can be out there.  On offense, Williams once again couldn't throw the ball in the ocean but in this half they did the smart thing and pounded the ball down low again and again, simply overpowering the much smaller opponents.  Kyle Scadlock in particular couold not be stopped in the paint.

The Ephs' Ohio trio of Scadlock, Aronowitz, and Heskett were once again the story, combining for 40 points and 17 boards.  I seriously doubt that any team in the country has a trio of two-way forwards better than those three.  But going forward, they need a bit more help.  For the second game in a row the guards really struggled to hit shots from deep, and today the center trio was very quiet (albeit much better in the second half than the first).  If the Ephs start shooting like they are capable of, they will be very, very tough to beat.  As is, the inside game will make them competitive versus anyone. 

[magicman]

Middlebury wins the Staten Island Tournament by defeating the host Dolphins, 70-59.

[pinseeking1]

Bates beats Farmingdale State and Framingham State at NYU Holiday Classic played at the Hunter College facility on the Upper East Side. (NYU is building a new facility, so they will be without a home for a year or two.) Both Delpeches earned spots on the all-tournament team with strong play at both ends. It's the last year for these twins and it seems that they are looking to make the most of it.

As another poster noted, Jeff Spellman looked strong in his first minutes as a Bobcat. With Spellman in the mix, there will be fierce competition at the guard spot as we head into NESCAC play. Also, guard Shawn Strickland will be back from a foot injury in a few days, making it even more competitive for those minutes. Overall, the guard play is much improved over last year.

[middhoops]

Attached please find the Massey Ratings for D3 basketball.
Computers do the strangest things.  NO ONE reading this board thinks Amherst in the 4th best team in the NESCAC.  Or the country for that matter. 
Data.
Check it out.

http://www.masseyratings.com/cb/11620/ratings