MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

jayhawk...good points, however I believe Mr Ross's performance was hindered more by Mr Che's defense.  Che is equal in size and quickness to Mr. Ross.  Liked the Amherst's front court players' effort last night.  Hixon's is still checking out who he wants in his rotation when Nescac games occur...biased towards players who will put in the defensive effort, IMO.  Non league games are the games to experiment with players.  Deep squad to rotate and insert who has the " hot" hand from outside.  Outside scoring will open the inside game for Amherst.  Liked the inside scoring last night.
Will look at the Tufts game tonight.  Tufts lost to UMass-Dartmouth the other night....with balanced double digit scoring by Jumbo starters. 

[toad22]

For Williams, the biggest first semester bet was the one that moved Kyle Scadlock to the backcourt. It appears to me that the gamble is working well. Kyle is really good, partly because he is the best rebounder on the team, and also the best player at leading the transition game. He has been great at those roles. Maybe this move is part of the bigger movement toward position less basketball. If that is true, Williams has not fully embraced that philosophy, because they still play centers. For the first nine games, the play of Williams has been very good. The Ephs lead the NESCAC in a great many offensive and defensive categories. Now, of course, no league games have been played yet, but for what it's worth, this start is the best for Williams in many years.

[jayhawk]

Wth all due respect Amh63 it was not Fru Che's defense


I have not sure how many times you have seen Jake Ross play

Amherst played good team defense because their defnese was lacking in the loss to Babson
s

Amh63 please do not comment on my posts
Thank you

[nescac1]

Noah Osher, from hoops power New Trier (he sat behind two future D1 guards last year, and this year's starting five already has guys committed to Wash U and Harvard), commits to Middlebury:

https://twitter.com/noahosher4/status/1072244360891244547

On another note, Wheaton's Aston Francis, who is arguably the best D3 player in the country, absolutely went off on a very good team last night.  If you get a chance to watch him play or see highlights, do so, he is the prototype of the type of kid D1s miss on because of his size/athleticism combo but who can REALLY play ... he's short and not especially quick, but his shot is incredible (tremendous range and very quick release in tight spaces) and he has a wild array of unorthodox moves, he can get the ball into the hoop from seemingly any angle.  Does not need separation to score over bigger guys.  Really fun player.   

Here is the list of all the ED NESCAC commitments I've see reported here or elsewhere (and I'm sure there must be others).  A number of guys who should be impact players are on this list:

Amherst: F Dan Schleckman and F Beluo Oranye

Bowdoin: G Dylan Lien and G Manav Randhawa

Colby: G Kevin O'Boy

Hamilton: C Patrick Mogan

Middlebury: G/F Jackson Pitcher and G Noah Osher

Tufts: G/F Casey McClaren

Williams: G Cole Prowitt-Smith and F Brandon Arnold

[amh63]

jayhawk....a little sensitive.  With all due respect, I will post what I viewed.   Mr. Ross is an All-American and had a good all around game in support of his team....but he passed off more from outside...his outside shots were not falling.  Yes, it was due in part from Hixon's team defense....and Che was part of the defense, thank you.  Ross's effort was competitive to the end...his steals...but he appeared a little down on the bench late during timeouts,IMO. 
I have watched Mr Ross play on line since his FY...thank you...and in both the Trinity game and William's game this year.  Remembered when he was listed at 6'4" on the Springfield roster .
Watched the Tufts' game last night for awhile.  To much run and shoot and poor defense by both teams.  Tufts' HC seems to be mixing and matching his players.  Good outside shooters, but slow and ineffective front court players.  Racy, the younger brother of Amherst's Racy, who played in the front court for Tufts last season, was not used much in the first half....or his name was not mentioned by the announcers.  Quit watching early in the second half.   Tufts' appears to be a team in transition/rebuilding....will have to see them play in a Nescac game before making further judgement. 

[jayhawk]

Amh63
I have not read your response but I did not mean to get personal last night
Having a bad day
You were right about Fru Che he did play great defense
I do think it best if you just express your comments
I do not know you
I do respsect that you really do love D3 basketball

Have a good new year

[MiddWatcher]

Thanks to nescac1 for admissions updates. Pretty amazing stuff - he is all over it ! Thanks again. Midd admits certainly interesting - another 6 foot shooting guard !  He looks quite good, especially in the AAU stuff. ( more so than the HS team .... isn't that always the way it goes ? ) Midd has had a curious blend of guards who do not shoot so well, but with tons of offensive rebounding abilities in the past ( Tarantino, Majors, et al ) they have done just fine.  And, this year, they have some excellent shooters who do not necessarily see that much playing time. Will be interesting to see how the next one blends in with some guys who are doing a nice job thus far this year for Midd. Viewers should not overlook how much Farrell and Folger have improved their overrall games. Even though they have both been recognized for excellence in previous years, they are both playing extremely well. Farrell has been guarding the opponent's best player - regardless of size - and his shooting has improved markedly. Folger has improved his overrall D, his handling is much better and he has been shooting lights out. ( has been 50% or better in 6 of 8 games ..... last year, that total was only 9 of 28. A significant improvement ). I definitely note the overrall excellence of the guys at Wesleyan and Trinity who are noted for their outstanding defense ( deservedly so ) but both Farrell and Folger have been playing huge defensive roles ( albeit somewhat differently ) for Middlebury. Midd will have an interesting " second half ".  The hope will be that the starters not named Farrell and Folger can pick up their shooting a bit; and the role players coming off the bench ( all who are shooting extremely well ) can keep up their contributions. But the upper echelon of NESCAC will be tough to beat, for sure, IMO. There are some really good NESCAC teams..... as usual.

[middhoops]

Impressive analysis by Middwatcher.  Understatement, there.
Looking forward to his analysis of other conference teams. 

[nescacfaninbos]

A couple of the commits that nescac1 lists above are listed here....

https://newenglandrecruitingreport.com/in-the-news/top-prospects-in-the-miaas-2019-class?platform=hootsuite

Looks like Tufts and Hamilton are getting a couple of good players, Tyler Aronson is listed here but it should be his brother Spencer Aronson, if so, maybe another NESCAC commit in the future?

[nescac1]

Another NESCAC commitment, Kyle Butler headed to Colby, which adds yet another perimeter player to its seemingly limitless pool of smallish, sharp-shooting guards:

https://twitter.com/CoachZalaski31/status/1073608534733008896

That Zalaski notes his work ethic is a good sign, given that (if memory serves) he was tough-nosed dude who maximized every ounce of his ability while at Amherst. 

[Old Guy]

Noah Osher, from hoops power New Trier (he sat behind two future D1 guards last year, and this year's starting five already has guys committed to Wash U and Harvard), commits to Middlebury:

https://twitter.com/noahosher4/status/1072244360891244547

Another guard! Someone suggested to me that Midd might benefit from a 5 Out offense (like Colby). With Midd's abundance of good-shooting backcourt players (and 6'8" Folger perhaps the best outside shooter of all), and Colby's surprising success so far, it's an intriguing thought. I found good websites with lots of sophisticated back and forth including: https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/cutters.html

After the Skidmore game and McCord's stirling performance (18 points on 8-11 shooting, 16 rebounds), the attraction has waned somewhat. Still, it's a new game, and coaches have to be open to innovation and unorthodox thinking.

[lumbercat]

OG
From my limited perspective the Panthers always seem to have come at NESCAC opponents with a balanced attack....always strength down low.....I may be mistaken.
Isn't the 5 out scheme a product of roster deficiencies? Not sure. Spoken by a football guy who places value on a balanced attack.

Nice to see the Snow Panthers reincarnation of Clyde Lavellotte and Wayne Embry back on track for the Blue and White. I'm inclined to give credit for McCords quick recovery in righting the ship to Middlebury big man guru aka Russell QF Reilly. Russ has evolved into the Jack Ramsey of Middlebury- a true renaissance man.

[MiddWatcher]

Nice to see a bit of chatter on a slow college hoop weekend with Final exams taking precedence! OldGuy's thoughts are energizing, for us old guys. I give him credit. Would suggest that the Golden State Warriors and their version of " 5 Out " is perhaps a bit of a better example than Colby. With all due respect to Mules current and previous : ).  It can be a great change-up; 4 or 5 minutes at a time would be interesting for any team - not just a particular NESCAC team in Vermont. In Midd's case - they have run the same stuff for almost two decades .... in this era of Synergy Sports and Hudl and Krossover and the like, video is everywhere with the analytics to boot. They, like others, become readable.  It might be intriguing to see something like Farrell, Leighton, Bosco, DeLorenzo and Folger on the court for several minutes. A nice " change-up ".  Interesting tidbit from the other sport: a guy named Joe Kelly with a 100 hundred mile an hour fastball just signed for 25 million .... all after finding a " renaissance " of his own - with an 88 mile an hour change-up.  Completely changed him as a MLB pitcher. That group of 5 just mentioned ( and one could inject Cahill into the discussion, also ) is a terrific fivesome during the fall pick up games at Midd. Rarely lose. One of the keys to the " 5 Out " is shots at the rim, believe it or not, off of dribble drives and dishes to divers - because the spacing is so terrific from the deep perimeter. So, the shot charts are quite balanced. Surprisingly enough.  In terms of roster deficiencies, it was probably not noticed ( ! ) but for a brief moment in time after the guy hit his first trey vs. Skidmore that DeLo led NESCAC in 3 point shooting percentage ( he is now #2 ); and he has been hovering around Midd's 12th. man most of this year and last.  That's pretty good depth : ).  Not a roster weakness. Delighted for Eric M - great kid, tremendous student, who had a very nice game versus a frosh center who was exceedingly weak fundamentally. That's just a fact, not a knock on McCord. He works so very hard. Hope he can keep it up versus the " iron " of NESCAC because you will see the same 3 Out - 2 In from Middlebury that has been seen for almost two decades the rest of the way.  And that - is the way it is.

[Vandy74]

Delighted for Eric M - great kid, tremendous student, who had a very nice game versus a frosh center who was exceedingly weak fundamentally. That's just a fact, not a knock on McCord. He works so very hard. Hope he can keep it up versus the " iron " of NESCAC because you will see the same 3 Out - 2 In from Middlebury that has been seen for almost two decades the rest of the way. 

Middwatcher........I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.  McCord began the season strongly not only in the two less than competitive opening games but also against Endicott.  His recent slump wasn't only versus Keene and Plattsburgh.  It began against Morrrisville State and New England College.   My source of insider information had the audacity to retire from MC coaching a few years back so this is only conjecture but I assume McCord has been playing hurt for a while.  If he is on the mend the eight day layoff is timely.  If you were watching last season I'm sure you already know he's equal to the iron toughness of Nescac competition.  His "conference only" stats were better than his overall numbers in every category.  For the most part, the same was true his sophomore season as well.  Middlebury has it's own Ironman on the roster.

[jayhawk]

Had a chance to interact with Old Guy recently and very much appreciated his kind and sage thoughts