MBB: NESCAC

ContinentalDomer · February 13, 2018, 09:47:01 PM

Congratulations are in order for Hamilton junior forward Pete Hamilton who reached the 1,000 point mark tonight in a non-conference tune-up. The Continentals finished the regular season at 21-3, and faced a challenging conference schedule that included 4 home games, 6 road games and back-to-back trips to Maine. They also fought through an injury to their PG and senior captain, Jack Dwyer, that kept him on ice into January. The upperclassmen have led quite a climb up the ladder from the 11-13 (2-8 NESCAC) team of two seasons ago.

nescac1 · February 14, 2018, 10:59:56 AM

Nothing But NESCAC has their regular-season all-league picks out:

http://nothingbutnescac.com/?p=5640

For the most part, I agree. Daly is still player of the year right now, but Heskett is closing fast and if he has a better NESCAC tourney than Daly, might snag the award (most likely though it's Daly). Hutcherson is an obvious choice for ROY. App I agree deserves COY for overcoming the injury adversity and putting his team in a strong position. Heskett/Casey/Daly/Gilmour/Pace are all obvious choices for first team all-league, and barring a truly crazy NESCAC tourney by someone else, that will be the all-conference team post-tourney as well.

I would not have picked Folger for DPOY -- he's been very good and makes some true highlight-reel plays, but I'd pick Jordan Sears, that guy is an absolute monster on the defensive end, he seems to shut down everyone. Next year, Folger, O'Brien and Dean Weiner enter the season as the leading DPOY contenders.

Regarding the second team, NBN goes with McCarthy/Bonner/Reynolds/Grassey/Folger. I'd go with McCarthy/Bonner/Reynolds/Riopel/Krill. Wesleyan's team success deserves some love and Krill has been key to Wesleyan's success on offense, especially when O'Brien was out sick. He's also one of the league's leading rebounders and a good defender. Riopel has been up and down for sure, but he has been instrumental in many of Amherst's biggest wins. I also like rewarding seniors like Krill and Riopel when all else is roughly equal.

Grassey, Spellman, and Gendron would be my other contenders, and Grassey and Gendron could squeeze onto the second team with big games in the NESCAC tourney. Folger's overall stats are very strong, but he has struggled a bit in league play: 11.5 ppg on 38/28/83 shooting, 6.5 rpg, .9 apg. Those aren't quite all-league numbers, and too many of his best games came early in the year vs. softer competition. He will surely be an all-league guy as a junior and senior, however, too much talent not to be. O'Brien has missed too many games, otherwise he would be in the mix as well.

Pat Coleman · February 14, 2018, 01:59:01 PM

These things are here:
http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-second

nescac1 · February 14, 2018, 02:21:10 PM

Very interesting rankings in New England. Amherst made a massive leap forward from last week when it was unranked, and is now positioned for a possible Pool C bid with another win or two. Tufts is almost surely out of the running for Pool C and will need to win NESCAC to make it to the dance. I have to imagine that the top four -- all NESCAC teams! -- are very closely grouped and that the results of the NESCAC tourney will determine how they stack up relative to each other. It's hard to imagine any of them dropping below sixth when all is said and done.

Despite the best W-L record, I'm surprised that Hamilton is above Williams and Wesleyan, both of which have more impressive wins. If one of those four teams wins the league, they are almost guaranteed to end up as number one in the Northeast. If another teams wins NESCAC, then it's anybody's guess.

Amherst moving into the rankings helps Williams and especially Wesleyan, which gets two more wins over a ranked opponent. The Ephs now have a slew of games vs. ranked opponents (Hamilton, Amherst x2, Wesleyan x2, Middlebury, Tufts, Springfield, Salem St., Stevens), with a solid record in those games (6-4, including wins over number 1 and 2 in the northeast). If the Ephs can get past Trinity, they will get a chance for one or two more ...

Nichols can't be happy being entirely unranked in the Northeast, but with zero wins against regionally ranked opponents, it is fair. Nichols just didn't play enough really tough opponents this year, with Endicott a bit down from its recent level.

NEhoops · February 14, 2018, 03:40:36 PM

Great to see the NESCAC well represented as always.

I'm also very surprised that Hamilton is in the top spot. What is their best non-conference win?

nescac1 · February 14, 2018, 03:54:08 PM

Hamilton has (unlike Wesleyan, Williams or Middlebury), no wins of any real consequence outside of league play. But in all events, this should all sort itself out over the next two weeks. If Hamilton wins the league, they will be a worthy number one regionally. If not, I imagine someone else will likely snag that spot.

ContinentalDomer · February 14, 2018, 04:32:14 PM

Regarding DPOY, I agree with your take on Jordan Sears. He's outstanding. However, I believe one player was overlooked on the defensive end of the court, and that's Johnny McCarthy. Whatever struggles Amherst has endured, Johnny Mac is simply outstanding as a defender. He never takes a play off and he blankets his opponents' best offensive players night in and night out. He's also versatile in that he can guard all shapes, sizes, speeds, and quicks. If the NESCAC has an all-defensive team, Mac will be named to that squad. Whether he's better than Sears, I think we'd be splitting hairs.

Quote from: nescac1 on February 14, 2018, 10:59:56 AM
Nothing But NESCAC has their regular-season all-league picks out:

http://nothingbutnescac.com/?p=5640

For the most part, I agree. Daly is still player of the year right now, but Heskett is closing fast and if he has a better NESCAC tourney than Daly, might snag the award (most likely though it's Daly). Hutcherson is an obvious choice for ROY. App I agree deserves COY for overcoming the injury adversity and putting his team in a strong position. Heskett/Casey/Daly/Gilmour/Pace are all obvious choices for first team all-league, and barring a truly crazy NESCAC tourney by someone else, that will be the all-conference team post-tourney as well.

I would not have picked Folger for DPOY -- he's been very good and makes some true highlight-reel plays, but I'd pick Jordan Sears, that guy is an absolute monster on the defensive end, he seems to shut down everyone. Next year, Folger, O'Brien and Dean Weiner enter the season as the leading DPOY contenders.

Regarding the second team, NBN goes with McCarthy/Bonner/Reynolds/Grassey/Folger. I'd go with McCarthy/Bonner/Reynolds/Riopel/Krill. Wesleyan's team success deserves some love and Krill has been key to Wesleyan's success on offense, especially when O'Brien was out sick. He's also one of the league's leading rebounders and a good defender. Riopel has been up and down for sure, but he has been instrumental in many of Amherst's biggest wins. I also like rewarding seniors like Krill and Riopel when all else is roughly equal.

Grassey, Spellman, and Gendron would be my other contenders, and Grassey and Gendron could squeeze onto the second team with big games in the NESCAC tourney. Folger's overall stats are very strong, but he has struggled a bit in league play: 11.5 ppg on 38/28/83 shooting, 6.5 rpg, .9 apg. Those aren't quite all-league numbers, and too many of his best games came early in the year vs. softer competition. He will surely be an all-league guy as a junior and senior, however, too much talent not to be. O'Brien has missed too many games, otherwise he would be in the mix as well.

JEFFFAN · February 15, 2018, 09:30:30 AM

To the last point, doesn't the winner of the NESCAC regular season get something other than a second-team all-star? I would argue that as much as most folks don't like Hixon, it was one of his best coaching jobs ever.

nescac1 · February 15, 2018, 09:53:38 AM

JEFFFAN, Amherst may have secured the top seed by virtue of a tiebreaker in a five-way tie, but Amherst had either the fifth or sixth best season among NESCAC teams, at least so far. Amherst had very fortunate scheduling this year, and has been very tough at home, which enabled it to win that tiebreaker. Not to diminish the Mammoths' accomplishments, they won some big games, but they certainly didn't "earn" any major individual awards by virtue purely of team performance. In fact, Amherst didn't beat a single regionally ranked team on the road the entire year, and only one team (Bowdoin) that could even be considered above-average. Meanwhile, the Mammoths lost to Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams, and Trinity (along with several non-league foes) on the raod. Indeed, if Amherst's game at Williams was the league game rather than the game at home, Amherst would have been seeded I believe sixth rather than first. It would be a bit different if Amherst had clearly established itself as the top team in NESCAC during league play.

In all events, there is no player on Amherst who could even be considered for first-team all-NESCAC honors, and while McCarthy had a strong year as always on defense, I think Sears was better -- and on a most successful team. He absolutely shut opposing team's stars down (including in two wins over Amherst). Regarding coach of the year, Williams has a significantly better overall record than Amherst despite the fact that the Ephs lost their likely all-American seven games into the season and starting point guard half-way through league play. A few other rotation guys have also been banged up and missed some time with injuries. As of now, App has to be the leader in the clubhouse for continually adjusting his team's personality on the fly and making due with a far less talented roster than expected. Hixon has done a great job integrating young players, no doubt, but those guys also have ample talent. Honestly, the league is so closely grouped that whichever team wins the NESCAC tourney will likely have the coach of the year, and rightly so. That may end up being Hixon or App, but the odds are just as good it will be someone else.

Colby Hoops · February 15, 2018, 10:55:21 AM

I think in general team performance is a poor way to judge individual awards.

And coach of the year is an impossible award to judge. It almost always goes to an unexpected team or a team or one that overcame adversity. Just look at Belichick or Popovich as examples of why Coach of the Year awards mean very little.

Pat Coleman · February 15, 2018, 12:52:48 PM

Quote from: JEFFFAN on February 15, 2018, 09:30:30 AM

To the last point, doesn't the winner of the NESCAC regular season get something other than a second-team all-star? I would argue that as much as most folks don't like Hixon, it was one of his best coaching jobs ever.

Without trying to rank them as nescac1 did, just reiterating that five NESCAC teams (nearly half the conference!) finished tied for first. That's five schools who would merit all-conference accommodation in the manner you suggest.

grabtherim · February 15, 2018, 01:39:23 PM

It strikes me that going into the weekend, while there are certainly favorites, I will not be terribly surprised by any outcome of the games to be played. It's been that kind of season.

Cards Fan · February 15, 2018, 02:02:35 PM

Any team that can beat Williams and Middlebury, arguably the 2 best teams in the conference in back to back games is a solid team. Scheduling had less to do with Amherst's finish then is being represented. They simply showed up against solid teams. You can make the argument for any of the top 5 teams being worthy of the top spot, but numbers are numbers.

ContinentalDomer · February 15, 2018, 02:07:13 PM

And these are facts. Agree.

Not only did Amherst's frosh improve as the season went on, but JMac got healthy, the team overcame the loss of Timmy Mac (who'd been a significant contributor until his injury), and they adjusted further when Sellew went down.

Quote from: Cards Fan on February 15, 2018, 02:02:35 PM
Any team that can beat Williams and Middlebury, arguably the 2 best teams in the conference in back to back games is a solid team. Scheduling had less to do with Amherst's finish then is being represented. They simply showed up against solid teams. You can make the argument for any of the top 5 teams being worthy of the top spot, but numbers are numbers.

nescac1 · February 15, 2018, 02:17:53 PM

I'm not diminishing Amherst as a team. The Jeffs certainly improved as the season went along, and all five teams tied for first are playing at a roughly similar level right now (even Midd, which recall had a massive winning streak prior to one bad weekend). My point is that you can't really argue that Amherst deserves an individual award (to the extent that argument even carries the day in the first place) based on finishing first in the league, when it was actually a five-way tie for first and when the other four teams had better overall records. I don't think team performance should be outcome determinative of individual awards in all events (except maybe as a tiebreaker when two guys are dead even), but to the extent it is, would anyone really say that Amherst had a better regular season than Wesleyan even though Amherst came out ahead of Wesleyan in the tie-breaker, when Wesleyan had three more wins in total and beat Amherst twice?