MBB: NESCAC

[toad22]

In Springfield for two days of Midd hoops . . . the best assist, as far as I'm concerned, came post-game on Friday, courtesy of Coach Rob Kornaker.

After the win over Colby-Sawyer, Little Bucket and I returned to our car to discover a flat tire. I managed to jack the car up and get the damaged tire off, but was struggling to get the spare on when Coach K came to our rescue. Griff offered to help, but I wouldn't let him near the vehicle. "Hey coach, I got hurt changing our ballboy's dad's tire." Uh, no. Wasn't gonna happen.

Coach Kornaker went above and beyond, and I fear that he, Mrs. K, and Griff were woefully late to dinner. Little Bucket and I are exceedingly grateful. Talk about plus-Karma. May Griff be blessed w/ 10 assists against Springfield . . .

Those lug nuts get harder to get off year after year! I about killed myself helping someone a couple of days ago. That is a young man's game.

[MiddWatcher]

"I believe Utica was indeed 48-59 from the line.  Holy cow!  About 10-12 of those shots seemed to come on intentional fouls late when Hamilton was mounting a comeback, but still, wow.  Not sure if terrible defense, terrible refereeing, or a combination, but that has to be some kind of record in a non-OT game, right? "

I think it was 1972 ...... in Waterville, Maine. Colby shot 74 free throws in a game vs. Brandeis where a certain former Boston Celtic - turned college coach became so infuriated with what he felt was ' home cooking ', that he instructed his team's players to foul everything in a white uniform that moved for almost the entire second half, thus resulting in 74 free throws and left him with just 4 players on the court by the end of the game. Man, would that scene be torn apart now on social media. All time NCAA D3 single game record still stands.

Kudos to Rob K. for helping out the Bucket Brigade. It's a wonderful group of parents we watch at the Midd games  ..... at all of the school's sports.

And, yes, today's game kind of looked like a September pick up game. Fairly easy win over a spunky, but outmanned, Colby-Sawyer team.  Eastman and Cahill contributed a lot off the bench, including a nifty reverse layup by Cahill and a long trey from Eastman. Good players. I will guess and say that Will Ingram will draw Ross ..... but that is a highly uneducated guess based on viewing the last several games Midd has played.

[nescac1]

Wow!  Incredible Colby anecdote Middwatcher!  It's pretty wild that Utica was only 15 shots away from that when Hamilton was actually trying to play defense.   Hamilton clearly has a powerful offense, but does give up 25 FTAs per game which is a ton.  Even taking this outlying game out of the picture, they'd still be well over 20 per game, which is quite high.  It's strange because Hamilton has no shortage of team speed, and is very deep.  Perhaps just an over-aggressive style?

Speaking of Colby, Sam Jefferson is averaging an absurd 1.79 points per FGA this year.  That's insanely  efficient and I'd be willing to bet, close to  the best if not he best in the country.  Every time he launches you expect him to net nearly two points!  I'm fairly confident that no one in Nescac has ever topped Troy Whittington's ridiculous 1.95 PPA in 2011.  Without a three point shot, Troy had to shoot over 70 percent and get fouled a ton to accomplish that.  But the chronically-under appreciated Jefferson is doing it on a much higher volume of attempts (25 ppg vs 16.5).  If he can keep this up in league play (which will be realistically very difficult), it will be a historic year for him.

His scoring alone is also incredible.  If I'm not mistaken, Lucas Hausman (25.3 as a senior) is the only Nescac player to score over 24 ppg for at least a decade. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't doubt those FTs happened, but if it were 1972 it would've been before D3 and the current recognized D3 record for FT attempts by one team in a game is 71 (done twice).

Just FYI, the Division 1 record is 79 FT attempts by N Arizona against Arizona in 1953.

[nescac1]

Back to .500 for Williams.  And right now that is what Williams is, an average team.  Ephs' struggled on both ends tonight.  Karp and Stoddard had excellent games.  For the rest of the team, a night to forget.  The same problems continue to plague the Ephs: poor foul shooting, defensive miscues leaving shooters wide open, avoidable turnovers, bad decisions on offense, missed open 3s ... credit to Union who hit a lot of tough shots but they also had way too many uncontested 3s as well.

[JEFFFAN]

Why did my alma Mater play Lesley?   What a joke.

[middhoops]

Just walked in the door back in VT from Springfield, MA.  Surprised to see no comments regarding Midd's win against a talented Springfield College team.
Griffin Kornaker and Will Ingram played physical hard nosed D on Jake Ross with plenty of double teaming help.  Junior Ryan Cahill played gritty defense on Heath Post after he scored in a flurry early in the game.  Tommy Eastman did the same.
Alex Sobel scored pretty much at will in limited minutes (no foul trouble) and was selected MVP of the tournament.
More observant people will no doubt follow up.  At least I hope so.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Why did my alma Mater play Lesley?   What a joke.

I feel your pain here JEFFFAN. My Falcons faced them earlier in the season and it was extremely hard to watch. Not kidding there are a few high school programs down here in southern CT who could no doubt compete and possibly beat Lesley. I hate to say it because the players are out there competing and playing as best as they can but I think the school needs to take a hard look at their program and consider changing things up a bit......sheesh!

[jayhawk]

Amherst played Lesley  because before the season both Brandeis and Eastern Conneticut State pulled out and said they could not play Anherst this year
Amherst would have preferred to play those two teams

[JEFFFAN]

Amherst played Lesley  because before the season both Brandeis and Eastern Conneticut State pulled out and said they could not play Anherst this year
Amherst would have preferred to play those two teams

Thanks Jayhawk.  I feel better knowing that!

[MiddWatcher]

Will try to recap ( briefly ) Midd hoop win. Tough - after watching the disheartening end to Pats' season, camped out at an airport restaurant in NJ. Not many Patriots fans around : (   On to d3 hoops: Yes, a good team win for Middlebury today. Down early, 29 - 14 with 6:28 to play ( held to one basket over a stretch of 7:33 by solid Springfield defense ). Springfield had two of their complementary players really rise up and hit shots from all over, very much to their credit. Ross was defended well by Kornaker and Ingram and total team. ( he also passed out of contestable situations many times. That I have not seen in the past. There MAY have been an injury situation. Only conjecture from this third party. But it looked odd. ) Midd got back into game with Ross on bench at end of half; keyed mostly by Ryan Cahill and some inside hoops from Sobel. Back and forth throughout second half, Midd finally grabbed lead on several big drives by Bosco, a long three by Folger, and another three by Eastman with 1:25 left to stretch lead to 10. Whereupon it almost totally fell apart as SC cut it to 73-71 with 14 seconds left before a final miss by Ross.  All in all, an intriguing day for Midd as all who played contributed well at a variety of times; but no one had a stellar game. ( check the box if you wish to see what I mean. ) But many determined, hard fought, very caring and intensely competitive efforts from everyone who set foot on the floor - and sometimes that can be the most important thing. A big " team win ".  Have to throw out a special mention to Cahill who had several very good key plays; and to Tommy Eastman.  So, again, the Middlebury bench had its quiet impact on the game in a subtle way. One more non-league contest ( Plattsburgh State at home on Tuesday ) before back on road to Amherst next Friday night.  THAT will be fun to watch.

[amh63]

Wanted to watch three games yesterday....both Amherst's games and the Springfield versus Midd game at Springfield.  Got to watch the Amherst's games and a lot of the Midd game at the "home of basketball"
Yes, the Amherst win was a blowout....knew very little about the opponent.  Wanted to see how Sellew was, since he was absent from the last game.  The undersize and short bench of Lesley was a factor in the score.  However, the three point shooting of Mobley was also a factor.  Everyone on Amherst that was dressed got into the game and got the much needed experience of working together in game conditions....especially the younger front court players.  The young players' contributions increased with their increased time on the floor,IMO.  Midd is coming to LeFrak soon with their big front court talented players.
The women's team was in Pa. playing an undefeated team/ranked team in their house.  The game was a "blowout" for Amherst as both Amherst senior all-Americans played well.  Everyone that was dressed for Amherst got into and contributed to the score.  Good experience for the younger players as two Nescac opponents remain undefeated and highly ranked.
Nice to see Midd "hold" Springfield's top player 20 points below his average.  Surprised to read that Midd allowed Springfield's big man Post make two three point shots near the end of the game.  Post burned Amherst from the outside earlier this season....he is a talent! 
In closing...hope Amherst will give Midd a game.  Wish I could make it to LeFrak for the game...my older son and his wife will be visiting from overseas...maybe I can catch the game online. 
Middhoops...guess you and your Cuz know how to get to LeFrak .

[ronk]

The women's team was in Pa. playing an undefeated team/ranked team in their house.  The game was a "blowout" for Amherst as both Amherst senior all-Americans played well. Everyone that was dressed for Amherst got into and contributed to the score.  Good experience for the younger players as two Nescac opponents remain undefeated and highly ranked.

From the boxscore it seems that 1 of them, Madeline Eck, didn't play at all. Hoping there's no injury involved.

[amh63]

ronk....the host school posted an error wrt the roster.  The player listed did not play or dress.  Amherst first team all American did play...those were her stats.  The host team players played a very physical game and the refs allowed such play.  Amherst's speed caused the Philly area team fits....as well as other talents .  Looked at the host team's record/opponents after the blowout.  Two wins were in OT.
Expect that few teams if any will head to the post season without a lost.

[Colby Hoops]

Excited to watch Colby/Bowdoin this afternoon -- no matter the records CBB games always tend to be a fight. Every win is critical for Colby at this point as their SOS numbers are not good -- wins against Ramapo and New Jersey City College both looked much better at the time. Despite an impressive margin of victory and undefeated record, the Mules don't have any particularly notable wins.

On the Pool C board, projections have both Tufts and Amherst ahead of Colby to this point. Don't think I agree with that given how Colby's looked, but when it comes selection time the SOS numbers and any notable wins are really important.