MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Williams has played five games in 2019 -- two vs. very poor defensive teams, and three vs. one good and two great defensive teams (Bates, Wesleyan and Amherst), none of whom are elite offensive teams.  Williams has pretty much owned the paint in all three of those games, but has nonetheless struggled to score because of rough outside shooting - 33 percent from 3 vs. Wesleyan, 30 vs. Bates, and 27 vs. Amherst.   Not a great trend line.  The Ephs nevertheless won two of those games, and missed winning the third by about an inch on the last shot, because of their defense.   After years in which Williams won games by simply outshooting teams, this year's team is very, very different in its relative strengths and weaknesses. 

Part of the issue is that Heskett is in an outside shooting slump the last few games after being scorching hot in the preceeding games ... I am confident that he will snap out of it, he's simply too good a scorer.  So long as Casey and Heskett are both on, Williams remains extremely difficult to beat.  But they can't both always be on.   And right now the Ephs just don't have enough floor spacing outside of Casey and Heskett.  That to me is the achilles heel of this team -- the defense is incredibly stout, the rebounding is solid, and interior play on offense is very difficult for teams to deal with.  But teams are daring guys to shoot rather than allow Williams easy baskets inside, and Williams is not hitting quite enough of the often very open shots available to them to punish them.  Something that Williams is going to have to figure out, one way or another, as the season moves along ... whether via guys just simply making more shots, or some tweaks to the rotation.   

Congrats by the way to Toomey, hard to have a more auspicious head coaching debut, and condolences to Coach Hixon.

[Old Guy]

Williams has played five games in 2019 -- two vs. very poor defensive teams, and three vs. one good and two great defensive teams (Bates, Wesleyan and Amherst), none of whom are elite offensive teams. 

Let's try that again (like it says, "Old Guy"). Bates is a "good" defensive team? Midd scored 100 against them.

[Old Guy]

Jonathan Farmer, a former Bowdoin basketball player and captain, was one of the 4 American soldiers killed in Syria the other day by a suicide bomber. I wasn't paying attention to Bowdoin basketball during that period so don't remember him but still very close to home. He was just 37 years old and leaves behind a wife and 4 young children.  Here is the statement by Bowdoin President Clayton Rose. What a heart-breaking story . .

Thanks, Quicksilver. A real world reminder.

[Old Guy]

For those of you whom want to catch the Amherst Hamilton Basketball game on Saturday, the game time has been moved up because of the likely snowstorm. The gametime has moved from 3 PM to 1 PM

Looks like the Williams-Midd game has also been moved to 1 pm. Works well for me as I was having a tough time deciding between going to the Williams-Midd game or watching the Colby-Bowdoin game online -- and now I can do both!

Prudent. Looks like we're getting between 16-20" of snow but mostly Saturday night and Sunday morning. Safe travels, boys.

[toad22]

Williams has played five games in 2019 -- two vs. very poor defensive teams, and three vs. one good and two great defensive teams (Bates, Wesleyan and Amherst), none of whom are elite offensive teams. 

Let's try that again (like it says, "Old Guy"). Bates is a "good" defensive team? Midd scored 100 against them.

In the first half of the Williams/Bates game, Bates did a very good job of throwing the Ephs off balance with their 1-3-1 zone. The second half was a different story.

[Ubuntu]

All of the NESCAC games are great basketball.  I have long said that the NESCAC really belongs in D2 not D3.  Sort or as the D1 Version of the Ivies.

Bates Tufts game intrigues me.  A big game today and they could be in great shape to make tournament.  Which a month ago would have been thought as a reach.

They really play the right way inside out, play hard, had a rough go in the beginning and stayed strong. Playing without Coyne may have made other guys better.  Played the good teams tough let's see how they do in a middle of the pack team at home.

IF 5 NESCAC get in, then really (to me) who's out of the tourney becomes interesting.  As it would seem anyone who wins 1 tournament game is the in the Dance. 

NESCAC followers, Is that about right?

[ContinentalDomer]

Today's Amherst-Hamilton game is cancelled.  The NY Thruway is closed to bus and truck traffic.

[nescac1]

Midd absolutely dominating Williams in the first half.  Midd playing very well but honestly Williams has been playing terrible offensive basketball for five straight halves now.  A lot is wrong right now and it will take a massive turnaround to pull this one out.  The Ephs as a team are in a deep deep funk from outside, 0-8 today and most of them weren't even close.  Heskett and Scadlock seem totally out of sync and just not themselves right now.  Ten turnovers, many totally unforced, the one thing you can't do against Middlebury as they will make you pay nearly every time.  The worst part is for the first time the offensive struggles are really affecting the Ephs on defense, which has been the most porous it's been all season.

Midd gets a lot of credit for how it is playing but this is not the Williams team of two weeks ago and I can't quite figure out why.  Williams has for four straight games now come out and struggled out of the gate.  There is too much talent to struggle this badly. 

[nescac1]

Williams came out with a lot more energy in the second half but far too big a mountain to climb, and Midd made too many clutch plays down the stretch.  Farrell was amazing for Midd.  Folger was on fire.  Bosco also very good.  Well-earned win for Midd.  As for Williams, the Ephs need to figure a lot of things out.  Beginning with, how to shoot the 3-point shot, which has totally and completely abandoned the team for the third straight game.  And the inability to make outside shots is impacting every other aspect of the team right now. 

[Colby Hoops]

Williams came out slow and missed several good looks in the first 5 minutes. After that, I thought Midd played remarkably good defense and forced Williams to work hard for their offense. Karpowicz did well down low as Midd mostly left him 1 on 1. Casey was hounded all day. The offense looks a lot different than the one that was humming for the first part of the year.

Defensively, I think Williams had a lot of trouble keeping Farrell, Bosco and the rest of the Midd guards out of the paint. Every possession there were multiple Midd ballhandlers getting to the middle of the paint with ease. Williams has great length and athleticism, but doesn't have the foot speed to keep quick guards in front.

Farrell was outstanding today. He's an outstanding player -- lightning quick, makes good reads and can really finish effectively against length. Folger hit some really big threes and Sobel had some very timely blocks. Midd looked very impressive.

Now time for a big Colby-Bowdoin game!

[middhoops]

Looking forward to recaps by OG, Bucket and Vandy74, so I'll just keep it short.
Jack Farrell is the most under appreciated player around. 
His pure determination to lead his team to win is palpable.  The kid has great physical gifts (not size, for sure), and it's a privilege to see him attack the trees.  Today he took the ball at Karpowicz, Scadlock and Heskett repeatedly.  And somehow he found a way to bank it in. 

Max Bosco.  Farrell's team mate is an offensive assassin.  And he's finding more ways to score as the season develops. 
As Curt Gowdy famously said to a nationwide audience, "Their future is ahead of them."

It bears mentioning that the Williams team that played today didn't look like the Ephs of a couple weeks ago.
Middlebury deserves credit for winning in Chandler Gym for the first time in what seems like forever.  Feels great.
But the Ephs will round back into form before the NCAA tourney.  This senior class is too talented to let a hiccup in January keep them from reaching their potential.

That Amherst at Hamilton game just got even more interesting.

[Mountain Man]

Speed kills a slow flat footed team. Midd played with patience & purpose. Tremendous Effort.
Midd got every loose ball, blocked 10 shots, and overcame a 25-15 foul difference
Fouls were 10 to 2 in 2nd Half when Ephs made run to 5. Midd answered with an array of Farrell, Bosco & Folger buckets

I said weeks ago  Focus on Casey make others beat you. THAT is what's wrong with Williams. They NEED to adjust NOW.
Scadlock's rehab from knee surgery resulted in him losing shooting reps, his outside shot & shooting confidence.

Williams has gone from 2 prolific 3 point shooters and great post and great slasher = NON CONFERENCE to 1/2 prolific 3 point shooter (well guarded Casey), great post and Heskett now is doing the slashing which leaves Scadlock out in cold = IN CONFERENCE
Scadlock's was shut down today. Defensive credit to Folger (2 blocks) with help from Sobel (6blocks).
Midd's help defense & team rebounding were superb

Heskett is pure 3 shooter from straight on only. Both corners and top of key. Watch his warmups.
He hits iron on every other 3 point shot angle, a lot go in but his confidence is straight away.
Heskett's one 3 pointer was straight on corner 3
Casey had a hand in his face from 3 all day. His only 3 was a 27 footer.

Teams can trade 3's for 2's if Karp is main option

NESCAC1 since you can't figure out the last two weeks. Let me answer = Conference play. Teams are not afraid of Ephs'
Wesleyan had them twice but could not make shots. SOS is 64% wins for Ephs to face after Jan 1.

Cupcake schedule has Williams needing to make in conference adjustments.
They have done it before. Coach App is top notch. This was a GREAT LOSS.
Exposure of weaknesses forces adjustments. Maybe new rotations.
Williams is MUCH BETTER for having today's experience

[middhoops]

MM, a guy with 2 blocks gets "help" from a guy with 6 blocks?

[Colby Hoops]

Tough loss for Colby. Had a lead with 40 seconds to go but couldn't get stops at the end and frittered away a couple of possessions at the end. Just didn't shoot well enough to win (13-40 from deep). When you live and die by the three, it often just comes down to that.

Reynolds and Simonds were both very good for Bowdoin. Was a close game the entire way, with Bowdoin mostly holding a small lead before Colby took back the lead with under a minute. Two very evenly matched teams.

Unfortunately for Colby they won the less important non-league games against their CBB foes and now they are in a tough spot to make the NESCAC tournament after a disappointing couple of weeks. They'll need to steal at least one and probably two games from Amherst, Hamilton, Williams, Midd, Wesleyan as well as beat Conn. A tough road ahead.

[middhoops]

Had a date been set for the Amherst/Hamilton make up game?