MBB: NESCAC

[JEFFFAN]

In more important Lord Jeff hoops matters ...

https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/cult-classic-the-white-shadow-still-resonates-40-years-later/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

[Bucket]

Keene State lost to Springfield 89-81 who got only 5 mins from All American candidate Jake Ross before he hurt his shoulder

Watched the entire Keene State-MIT game.  MIT wins by 20 at Keene State
MIT played without NEWMAC Freshman of Year Hamilton Forsythe & basically played 6 guys. They lead by 19 at half.

Took 42 points from Nichols and OT to beat Albertus Magnus who graduated their All American center last year

Not your typical Keene State squad. Three players Nichols, Anozie, & Prieto take all the shots, Very little offensive talent on bench

If this game is close, Middlebury did not play well.  Ultimate Trap Game

I repeat: Midd-Keene is always a slugfest, and I wouldn't expect anything different on Saturday. I agree that this isn't your typical Keene squad, but they'll be up for this game. And I guarantee you, Mike, that no one on Middlebury is looking past the Owls this weekend. To declare ahead of time that a Panther loss could only be due to poor play is pretty insulting to both squads, in my opinion.

[nescac1]

At Morrissville State, tonight, looks like it could be a challenging game for Midd too, that is what I'd call a trap game more than a regional rival like Keene, which Midd is sure to be up for. 

There are a lot of potentially interesting non-league games for NESCAC teams this week.  We already covered Williams-Weslean and Midd-Keene.  Some others:

WPI at Tufts tonight
Bates at Babson on Wednesday
Colby at Bowdoin on Thursday
Hamilton at Utica on Thursday
Emerson at Amherst on Saturday
Hamiton at Johnson & Wales on Saturday
Tufts at Babson on Saturday

[JustAFan]

Tonight's WPI at Tufts game will be a battle of very similar teams, both young and guard-oriented. WPI starts 4 sophs and 1 junior (the only junior on a roster that also does not include any seniors), with 2 sophs and 2 frosh off the bench.  With junior Eric Savage still out of the Tufts lineup with an injury the Jumbos  will similarly play all sophs and frosh with the exception of junior Patrick Racy off the bench. Two very young and talented teams with a bright future ahead of them.

[NEhoops]

The firing of Satran (from a performance standpoint) is not surprising but based on the timing it must have been something else. I hope the program can turn it around going forward, but it seems like another lost year for the Camels.   

Hoping to put out a weekly power rankings for the conference. First round below is based on games through 11/26, feel free to comment accordingly. They reflect what each team has accomplished to this point in the season. No pre-season rankings are taken into account.

1.   Williams (5-0) Best win: at Manhattanville | Worst loss: None
2.   Hamilton (5-0) Best win: York (NY) | Worst loss: None
3.   Middlebury (3-0) Best win: Endicott | Worst loss: None
4.   Amherst (3-0) Best win: Westfield State | Worst loss: None
5.   Tufts (2-1) Best win: St. Joe's (ME) | Worst loss: at MIT
6.   Wesleyan (2-2) Best win: Western NE | Worst loss: Eastern CT State
7.   Trinity (3-1) Best win: Husson | Worst loss: at Nichols
8.   Colby (4-1) Best win: Southern ME | Worst loss: at UC Santa Cruz
9.   Bowdoin (2-2) Best win: at Worcester State | Worst loss: Albertus Magnus
10.   Bates (2-2) Best win: at Salem State | Worst loss: at Maine Maritime
11.   Conn (1-3) Best win: Medgar Evers | Wentworth

[D3HforLyfe]

Early Season (Top Half of The League) Notes:

*The biggest surprise for me has been Amherst. You would think I would learn my lesson after 800 some odd victories, but I continue to stupidly pick against these guys year in and year out. Any sentiment that they aren't as talented as some of the other top teams in the league is misguided, regardless of the level of their opponents. As a good friend of mine always reminds me, "It's not who you play, but how you play", and the Mammoths have looked sharp. Grant Robinson has been great, and looks like an early favorite to be one of the league's most improved. Stronger, more composed, and is picking his spots of when to go 100 mph much wiser, I think he is looking more like the guard many expected to come in from New Hampton and play right away. He is getting downhill going right whenever he wants, and his finishing around the hoop has been elite. Granted (pun intended), once the competition increases those lanes will be harder to come by as teams will continue to dare him to shoot, but for now that hasn't been an issue. Garrett Day is a more than serviceable back-up point guard that has been shooting the piss out of it early on and plays with great pace. Lastly, what will be the difference with this Amherst team from the past few years is the versatility and size on the wing. Sellew, Che, and Cherry (in that order) have really impressed me in the first three games. All three can guard multiple positions, rebound at a high level, and look comfortable in Hixon's "two-guard" action on offense as perimeter players. This last point is mainly aimed at Sellew who I thought in his first two years looked like a tweener that was a little lost in their schemes, but this year seems to have a newfound confidence on the outside. If this is true, it is really good news for Amherst as it allows the center position to be Schneider and Bachmann's with only a little bit of Sellew if needed at times to create faster and more switchable line-ups. However, it also allows them to play mammoth lineups (okay, i'll stop) that will be able to match well with the other big teams in the league like Williams, Wesleyan, and Tufts.

*Speaking of Tufts, the Jumbos are fun this year! Their 2-1 record might be the most impressive in the league when you take everything into account: (1) Two wins against historically quality programs with neither being in Medford (2)Their lone loss a thriller on the the road to a very good MIT team. (3) Playing freshman and sophomores with little to no college basketball experience everywhere on the court (4)Their Pre-Season All-NESCAC caliber player hasn't played a minute. I'm not sure what is going on with Savage, but once he is back could these guys be a serious league contender? Luke Rogers has been a beast early and can hold down the paint with Racy, Savage and Brennan Morris (who, btw, has one of the cleanest strokes in the league and looked GREAT against MIT) provide first-class wing play, and Tyler Aronson and Carson Cohen are both really talented (freshmen!) guards who play well off each other. Aronson more explosive with a high caliber pull-up and/or catch-and-shoot game, Cohen crafty with a knack around the hoop both in terms of finishing and setting up teammates. That five with Brady really impressed me against MIT. Add in the lefty sniper Kouyoumdjian (best name in the 'CAC) and you have a young core that is certainly going to be problematic in the future, but can also compete now.

*Kena Gilmour is the best player in the league this year. He put on an absolute clinic last week versus Bard. Crafty, herky jerky, smart - he has a lefty, unorthodox game that is just fun to watch. 32 points on 14-22 without hitting a 3 (only attempted 2 of them) - how about that in 2018 from a dominant scoring guard/wing! He scores in a lot of different ways and Stockwell is really having fun with it. Give a bigger (slower) defender the assignment and they are going to have KG running off screens or they will even clear out a side to let him go on a solo mission. Put a smaller defender on him and they are going 4 around 1 and letting him post-up (he had a very impressive 2 hand, 2 feet dunk off an over the top post feed that woulda made you think he was a 6'8" big guy - one of three impressive dunks by him against Bard). I know he struggled a little bit over the weekend in the Carnegie Mellon tournament, but I don't think anyone in Continental country is worried. I still think Doyle is this team's engine (and second best player) even though Grassey has been fantastic so far. If Hoffmann can get back to form, this team is, as expected, a real national contender.

*Gilmour may be the best player, but Williams definitely looks like the best team. Not going to elaborate as smart minds on here who have watched much more Ephs action than I have already broke it down beautifully, but Heskett/Casey/Scadlock/Karp is as good as it gets at d3 level. What a group. Even though, question to the Ephs faithful: are we sure that Williams is better offensively with Scadlock in the line-up? I think it would be hard to argue that they aren't better overall with him because of his size and athleticism on defense and on the boards, but a part of me definitely thinks they flow better on offense without him out there.

*I'm certainly not breaking any news by saying that my Cards have struggled a bit to adjust w/o Kevin O'Brien early on. While losing their primary ball handler, best defender, and premier playmaker would alone be hard enough, what they miss even more is his heart, competitiveness, and overall intensity. In my humble opinion, they just didn't have a guy against Nichols or Eastern Conn with that very cliche "it" factor who demands his teammates to compete at his level. O'Brien, for all of his flaws, has a lot of "it" and that is what the Cards miss most. I think they will be fine and are still a top four team once conference play comes around, but it is going to take some more growing pains. If vegas had betting lines for the NESCAC (!!), I think they would be fairly big underdogs in both of the their next two against Farmingdale on the road and Williams at home. With those hypothetical L's, they would be sitting at 2-4 heading into December (Yikes...might be hitting Mondo on Main Street early for a cold one on Saturday it looks like if any want to join). Guys are going to have to step up and define new roles for themselves and it will have to be one of Reilly's finer coaching jobs to flip it around, but I still have faith. I am conscious of my bias, but I believe there is too much talent, too good of a coaching staff, and too much basketball yet to be played to give up hope on this team this early. Getting Elijah Wilson back from injury will help as he will fill at least some of the defensive gap left by O'Brien (and Sears, for that matter). I'm not sure why Dave Dixon isn't playing much either (I hope it is not injury-based), but I expect him to start contributing more in the near future as well. He can better complement the other big (Bascom or James) offensively with his ability to stretch the floor. This can be important, particularly, to create more driving lanes for Wesleyan's guards who have had to settle for a lot of long, tough shots the last three games. It could also open up the floor for Bascom who has had a tough start to the season (4.2 ppg and 5.3 rpg on only 4.2 shots per game). They have to find a way to get Bascom more involved, and more minutes for Dixon could help with that...even though any combination of Dixon, Bascom, and James yields questions in terms of guarding the more perimeter-oriented basketball that is played nowadays. With such long bodies that aren't necessarily lockdown on-ball defenders like years past, it would be fun to see the Cardinals try a 2-3 or 3-2 zone as well....I might be monday morning quarterbacking a bit too much now lol

*I haven't watched much Middlebury yet, but I probably need to stop betting against Jeff Brown in the pre-season as well. That guy is a great coach. Still skeptical of their roster - from what I remember from last season I think they have considerably less talent than Panther teams in the past and don't have a go-to guy (sorry Folger, you are a very good player but I haven't seen "it" yet) - but I should watch more before I make any broad declarations. Those don't seem to go over too well on the board.

Anyways, that is the top half of the league as I see it. Good luck to all of the teams tonight and in the coming weeks. Hope I can find some time to contribute again soon. Go 'CAC!

[amh63]

D3H...NICE POST....keep posting . Plus K

[JEFFFAN]

D3HforLyfe ... can you pleas post every week?  Objectivity at its best as well as insightful analysis.  Excellent!

[middhoops]

Tough loss on Sunday for the Polar Bears as they fell to Babson 84 - 63.  Babson got off to a hot start that Bowdoin couldn't overcome.  Two interesting notes from the box score:

Sam Grad didn't play - not sure why but hope he'll be back in the lineup soon.

Taiga Kagitomi played 15 minutes against Babson and finished with 6 points.  I saw him last week against UNE and he looked impressive - good size for a guard and he moves well.  Glad to see him getting more playing time.

Bowdoin will be back in action tonight against UM Farmington.

GoUBears!!

Sam Grad is really good.  This is his break out year.
Great length with too many tools for most NESCAC bigs to deal with.
He'll be playing most of the game by February.

[Mr. Ypsi]

In more important Lord Jeff hoops matters ...

https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/cult-classic-the-white-shadow-still-resonates-40-years-later/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

Thanks for posting this - +k!  Count me among White Shadow devotees!

[nescac1]

It seems like we have a pretty clear early-season consensus that Williams, Hamilton, Middlebury and Amherst are the prime contenders for the NESCAC title and NCAA spots (likely in that order), with Tufts and Wesleyan having intriguing talent but early reasons for concern, and everyone else fighting for the last few NESCAC playoff spots (with Conn very likely to finish last).  I basically agree with that, based on the evidence to date and the talent on paper.  Which means, of course, that there is a very good chance that one or two teams make us ALL look silly by February ...

[middhoops]

DH3,

My elderly crew and I would love it if you'd attend the Wes/Midd game this season.  Lunch/dinner/libations on us.
Think royalty reception.
Just don't ever leave this board.

(for the rest of you:  we possibly may remind him/her/they of a prediction here or there....)

[toad22]

In more important Lord Jeff hoops matters ...

https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/cult-classic-the-white-shadow-still-resonates-40-years-later/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

Thanks for posting this - +k!  Count me among White Shadow devotees!

Ken Howard was so well thought of in Williamstown that he has a sandwich named after him at Papa Charlie's!

[Bucket]

Middlebury handles Morrisville on the road, 78-63, in a game that could have been a trap contest, as nescac1 astutely pointed out earlier.

As I wrote earlier, each contest could feature an offensive explosion from any number of Panthers. Tonight it was Max Bosco with a game-high 23 (7-10 from the field, 8-8 from the stripe). Alex Sobel had a nice stat line: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks in 19 minutes. A double-double for Folger (11 and 10), while the starting backcourt of Kornaker-Farrell combined for 21 and 10 assists.

[Mountain Man]

To declare ahead of time that a Panther loss could only be due to poor play is pretty insulting to both squads, in my opinion.
[/quote]

I thought this board is for informed opinion. My opinion based on watching both teams play many games in not an insult.
No one is correct all the time. We just disagree. Why make it personal???