MBB: NESCAC

[Smitty Oom]

I think that Dave was referring to the fact that the usually chatty NESCAC board was relatively quiet considering that the conference has 3 teams playing tonight. In fact the only topic that was being discussed was the University of Michigan story, which is what brought me here again to inform you all that they upset the #1 seed Purdue right now. They were in their normal jerseys today instead of their practice jerseys they wore yesterday.

[amh63]

Smithy Oom....beat me here wrt to the UnMich win in OT over Purdue
Several things to add that might interest the posters here.  First, Duncan Robinson made his two foul shots that sealed the win in OT.  Second, the announcers mention Duncan's Williams connection, his Williams coach departure and call to the Michigan HC to recommend Duncan, etc.  Pics of the crash, plane, etc.  If Michigan advances further and gets into the Big Dance....the "Legend" of the team will be etched in stone and maybe the story of D1 MBB in 2017...imo.
Now back to D3..in about 2 hours...maybe?

[nescac1]

Ephs up by five at the half despite struggling on offense.  Williams' D has been tremendous, although they need to be sure to get out on the Susquehanna shooters on tip-outs and restarts.  But otherwise, they've totally locked them down.  On the other end, Williams has really struggled to get the ball into the paint, and they have missed a few too many of their ample open looks from 3, plus missed a few good opportunities on their rare forays into the lane.  Susquehanna's 2-3 zone press gave them a lot of problem and they weren't patient enough swinging the ball against it.  Scadlock and Greenman have both played very well on both ends for the Ephs, and Scadlock's offensive boards in particular were huge.  Aronowitz has really struggled and Williams needs to find ways to get him involved in the post and driving to the hole.  Ephs are certainly capable of better, and to be up only five despite two early fouls on Susquehanna's star big man is concerning. 

[JustAFan]

Congratulations to Keene State for coming back from down 12 in the second half to upset Christopher Newport and avenge last year's sweet 16 loss to CNU.  Keene will be a formidable opponent for Babson or Tufts tomorrow night.

[nescac1]

Go Ephs -- on to the Elite 8!!!  At around the five minute mark of the second half, Williams finally figured out Susquehanna's defense and started getting into the paint again and again.  From that point on, Williams was in total control. 

For the Ephs, Kyle Scadlock carried them for much of the game, 22-12-5, critically 12-12 from the line.  He continues his all-American level play that began several weeks ago.  Tremendous effort from him.  Scadlock, Heskett and Kempton were all huge on defense tonight -- their length and athleticism prevented Susquehanna from getting many open looks at all.  Kempton for the second straight game shut down a top-flight big man; while Traub (who is a handful down low) scored 12 before fouling out, almost none came vs. Kempton

While Williams played better in the second half, the Ephs did struggle to finish, both from 3 and inside at time.  Fortunately, they were nearly perfect from the line, making 27-31 including many late intentional foul shots to seal the game. 

Tomorrow's game will be a bigger challenge, whoever wins next.  Williams was just too quick and athletic and big for a game-but-outmanned Susquehanna squad.  The next game will be played at a faster pace and Williams will have to up its level of play accordingly.  One game away from Salem, who would have thunk it even a month ago?  Congrats to Coach App and the team -- what a run and I hope it keeps going.

Two other comments.  With Keene and Williams winning, that's four New England squads in the Elite 8, and 2 guaranteed to be in Salem.  What a spectacular tournament for the region.  Keene in particular has upset two of the top teams in the country, on the road, despite being one of the last two New England squads into the tourney. 

Last comment: that's I believe two straight games where the play-by-play man has commented on Aronowitz's (undeniable) resemblance to Jimmy Chitwood.  Hopefully he can shoot like Jimmy tomorrow as the Ephs will need to convert some tough shots to win! 

[nescac1]

Here we go, triple overtime, here we go! 

[middhoops]

Middlebury on fire.  48-24 at the half.

[nescac1]

Midd-Williams tomorrow is gonna be fun!  Midd looking scary-good but the Ephs will certainly put up more resistance than Endicott is doing right now. 

Babson-Tufts on the other hand is really entertaining.  Eric Savage is en fuego for Tufts.  Two NESCAC frosh (Folger too) really bringing in in a MAJOR way tonight.  Both those dudes are gonna have great careers.  Love both of their games. 

Ethan "Basketball Jesus" Feldman hits a crazy clutch off-balance three as the buzzer sounds to give Tufts a one-point lead after starting the game down by a ton.  Both teams playing at a very high level, great atmosphere, great crowd, great D3 game going on.  Anyone who is not a Midd partisan should be watching! 

For Babson, Flannery has been absolutely brilliant as usual and Nelson had a strong half, but they've gotten zero half.  They need some help badly, especially from Comenale, if they hope to keep up with Tufts' much deeper squad in the second. 

[nescac1]

Tufts playing with a huge lack of discipline now, already have 7 fouls in the first nine minutes of the half, most of them totally needless (and obvious) fouls committed far from the basket.  Tufts also very impatient on offense, taking the first available shot nearly every time instead of working hard for better looks.  Babson has only four guys even trying to score the ball and one of them is ice cold, but Tufts' head-scratching play has allowed Babson to pull ahead. 

[nescac1]

Nick Comenale with an insane throw-down over Palleschi, gets t'd up for hanging on the rim but Tufts missed the FTA anyway. 

Tarik Smith with no points so far ... the Jumbos really need him to step it up. 

[nescac1]

Tufts totally falls apart after being up six in the second half.  I can't believe Sheldon didn't call more TOs to get his team composed.  The fouls were killers for the Jumbos, but also, Babson patiently works the ball around every possession, controlling the tempo and waiting for good shots, where Tufts guys were going 1 on 2 or 1 on 3 seemingly every possession, shooting within the first few seconds of the shot clock.  Tufts pretty clearly the more talented team, but Babson has the best guy on the floor and then has really grinded away, while Tufts has not played smart ball at all tonight.  Way, way too much hero ball.   

[middhoops]

Not a whole lot to say about the Middlebury/Endicott game.
The Panthers dominated the boards, especially on the offensive end. 
I will leave further analysis to sharper minds.
Suffice to say, Endicott walked into a hornets' nest.  Wasn't pretty.

Williams will have to step their game up a notch tomorrow night.  Should be a great game.
Needless to say, I am very happy to have Saturday's game played so close to home.

Cold day tomorrow.  Chili Fest in downtown Middlebury, womens' D3 NCAA hockey in the afternoon and a NCAA (NESCAC) Elite 8 game in the evening.  Can life get any better?

[Brownee]

What a delight to watch this Middlebury team redefine itself over the past several weeks. To see McCord, Tarantino, and Folger come into their "Bigs" game has been exciting. Yes they have lost players that were expected to be producers, but this team digs in, finds the hot hand, selflessly pushes the ball that way and demonstrates what Team greatness is all about. You can shut down a team that is grounded on a super star, you cannot stop a rough and tumble team like the Panthers because they continuously work together. Of course St. Amour is a scoring force, Daily is a leader like none other, Brown is a play maker, but the team together is a force that produces unexpected outcomes. If nothing else Panthers you have given your fans a season to remember regardless of the Big Dance. Wonderful young athletes with very bright futures, much appreciated.

[AllStar]

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Well, one NESCAC team at Salem at least.  I knew Middlbury was going to go all out to avenge that loss, but that was something else.  Endicott did help by going 9-41 from the three point line, but still, pretty crazy.  It could've been a 50 point win if the Panthers kept the pedal down.