MBB: NESCAC

[Colby Hoops]

4. Tufts is elite. Tufts has been up and down for a few years, and this year is UP. A packed schedule proved to do them some good (it seems every year their SOS is near the top). They are absolutely in contention for the crown, and have solidified themselves as a potential Pool C team if they can hang on as well. When they're hot, they're hot. Also, I'm pretty sure this is Eric Savage's 10th year (at least) in college.

Lol at the Savage comment -- he joins Perry Ellis and Aaron Craft as the only players to play 10 years of college basketball.

Discussion about Tufts has been minimal, mostly because they don't have any posters on this board. They're an interesting team. Very talented and deep, and have a very good record against one of the toughest schedules in the country. Rogers is a handful down low, and they have plenty of perimeter firepower. The big questions with them is always defense and consistency.

Losses to WPI and Babson are nothing to be ashamed about, but both games were not very competitive. And the Suffolk loss was surprising, even noting that Aronson didn't play. Their defensive numbers are pretty average. But, they are an absolute handful to guard. Colby at Tufts in two weeks should be a really good game (and a very tough one for the Mules). Rogers is hard to handle and Tufts has the outside shooting to make you pay for doubling him.

Colby handled a weak Husson team easily last night. Up more than 30 before the reserves came in. Another tough one for the SOS as Husson is usually a pretty decent team and made the NCAA tournament a fair amount recently. One thought in watching the game is that an underrated factor in Colby's success is the development of Alex Dorion. He's been excellent all year, and particularly great since moving into the starting lineup for Wallace Tucker. Up until this year he was mostly a spot up shooter, but he's become much better off the bounce, creating his shot, cutting off the ball and on defense. Doesn't hurt that he's 12th in the nation in 3 point percentage on more than 7 attempts per game! You could make an argument he's been Colby's second best player.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

4. Tufts is elite. Tufts has been up and down for a few years, and this year is UP. A packed schedule proved to do them some good (it seems every year their SOS is near the top). They are absolutely in contention for the crown, and have solidified themselves as a potential Pool C team if they can hang on as well. When they're hot, they're hot. Also, I'm pretty sure this is Eric Savage's 10th year (at least) in college.

Lol at the Savage comment -- he joins Perry Ellis and Aaron Craft as the only players to play 10 years of college basketball.

I always think (way) back to Evan Eschmeyer at Northwestern who really did get six years of eligibility due to injuries.

[nescac1]

As I predicted, Jack Harlan and Michael Schretter outscored Matt Karpowicz in a narrow Eph victory ...

Man, that game was a physical war.  Ephs earn their first regular season sweep over Amherst since 2010 (!) and boy did they earn it.  More thoughts later.   Go Ephs!

[nescac1]

A few thoughts on the game.  Sellew is still out for Amherst, and while it doesn't hurt them on defense, it's a massive blow offensively.  Williams was down a man too, as Spencer Spivy did not play. 

Schretter and Jack Harlan combined to do the best job anyone has all year on Karp.  Both very, very strong dudes, especially Harlan, who while not a terribly skilled player is a heck of an athlete and a physical monster.  They were playing right on the border of fouling all game, just not letting Karp anywhere close to the rim.  When he did get inside, they got a lot of help from teammates as well.  Credit to Karp for not getting frustrated and trying to force the issue and instead playing as facilitator.

Amherst without Sellew, and with Robinson lacking explosion going to the rim, just has trouble generating points.  Amherst shot the 3 ball mostly pretty well and still only scored 26 points in the second half.  Garrett Day was really the only Mammoth who had it going on offense.  Grant Robinson was pretty much invisible most of the second half (credit to Ryan Moon and Cole Prowitt Smith who locked him down hard).  Surprised that after picking up his 4th foul, Fru Che never returned to the game.  Also surprised to see Devonn Allen, who murdered the Ephs last game, play limited minutes off the bench.  The Eph defense was tremendous overall in the second half, after some missed assignments early in the game, they really bore down and had almost none down the stretch. 

Williams was led by Jovan JOnes and Cole Prowitt Smith, who I thought was absolutely incredible defensively tonight -- he stuffed a three point shot, forced Robinson into a few critical turnovers with tight on-ball defense, drew a charge, and was generally just a pest defensively.  After a tough first half offensively, he carried the Ephs in stretches in the second, making a slew of clutch plays down the stretch, none moreso than a ridiculous drive to the rim and equally ridiculous finish (with the and-one) that was the play of the year for the Ephs, for sure.  He played better than his stat line I thought because he took 2-3 bail out shots for the Ephs that had no prayer.  Only a few questionable decisions tonight, better on that front.

As for Jovan Jones, definitely his best game as an Eph.  He has really risen to the occasion in these two Amherst games.  This was the Jovan game Eph fans have been waiting for all year ... beautiful cuts to the rim off the ball and strong finishes, offensive boards, big defensive plays, and some strong takes to the rim off the dribble.  3 turnovers is OK for how aggressively he had to play tonight. 

Nice to see very guy who get into the game make at least one big play.  Myers played his usual hard-nosed effort game, sparking the team at moments.  Brandon Arnold had three big buckets, when he goes strong to the rim he is at his best.  Nate Karren hit a HUGE 3 in the first half at a point when the game seemed to be getting away from the Ephs.  He has been really struggling from deep, and this was the perfect time to finally hit an elusive outside shot.  You could see from his reaction that he knew it was good the second it left his hand.  He also played his usual tough interior defense, as well. 

By no means was this a thing of beauty for either team.  Williams struggled from outside, going 5-20 and missing several wide open ones, although every three they hit seemed to come at a critical juncture.  Once again poor free throw shooting almost cost them a game 5-11, including missing two front-end 1-and-1s, and two missed free throws late which nearly cost the victory.  But they really gritted out the game and great to see all four frosh make strong contributions at times, a good sign for the future.  9-8 ain't great, but 9-8 with two wins over Amherst and one over Wesleyan is a heck of a lot better! 

[Colby Hoops]

Surprised that after picking up his 4th foul, Fru Che never returned to the game.  Also surprised to see Devonn Allen, who murdered the Ephs last game, play limited minutes off the bench.  The Eph defense was tremendous overall in the second half, after some missed assignments early in the game, they really bore down and had almost none down the stretch. 

I may need to walk back my downplaying of Hixon's absence. I can't believe Che never came back in that game after 4 fouls -- I thought maybe the boxscore was incorrect and he had actually fouled out, but that wasn't the case. Also very surprised that Robinson only played 24 minutes -- even the slightly diminished version of him is a very good player.

Very good win for the Ephs -- they looked dead in the water about 10 minutes into that game. They had a really important run at the end of the first half to make it a game, including a circus shot by Karpowicz to beat the buzzer.

On another note, fairly surprising loss for Bates tonight against UMaine Farmington. UMF has a gaudy record but have played one of the softest schedules in the country. No Jeff Spellman for Bates, which is a big loss and that was apparent tonight. They were a mess defensively in the minutes I watched. Hopefully Spellman is back soon for the Bobcats.

[nescac1]

Yeah, unless Che was hurt (and I didn't see anything, but always possible), I don't get it either.  He was playing well on offense before sitting, and a few of his fouls were of the tough luck, wrong place wrong time variety. 

I too thought Williams looked dead in the water down 20-7, with Karp unable to even get a touch within five feet of the rim.  Credit to the Ephs for just grinding it out, possession by possession, until it was a game again. 

Here are the CPS, Karp, and Jovan-heavy highlights.  Several circus shot makes by Cole, none moreso than the and-one (at the 4:06 mark of the highlights).  Robinson actually anticipated the move but Cole somehow still managed to get around him and then explode into the lane for the difficult finish.  Watching these reminds me that while Karp got credit for a respectable 5 assists, he created far more points than that through his passing tonight.  It seemed like, other than a few of the Cole individual efforts, Karp's passing was heavily involved in nearly every positive Eph possession.  He's just so good in all facets of the game right now, and the Ephs, who just can't get any consistent outside shooting from ANYONE game to game, have to rely on him so much. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CsgAT1P-Zk

[toad22]

For me, Karp's passing was the highlight of the game. He is maturing as a player before our very eyes. This reminds of some tough wins by Williams over Amherst going way back to the Harry Sheehy days. This should give us some confidence. Big game coming up on Saturday against Middlebury. I hope we can carry some of this grittiness up to Vermont.

[lumbercat]

On another note, fairly surprising loss for Bates tonight against UMaine Farmington. UMF has a gaudy record but have played one of the softest schedules in the country. No Jeff Spellman for Bates, which is a big loss and that was apparent tonight. They were a mess defensively in the minutes I watched. Hopefully Spellman is back soon for the Bobcats.

Yes Spellman is hurt. Bates in disarray tonight. They appeared to make the tying shot at the buzzer coming from 14 behind but the refs waived it off.
No excuses- not a good night. They took 45, yes 45, threes against an inferior team.

A night to forget and to compound things it will be difficult going forward without Spellman.

[jumpshot]

Just read the account and watched the highlights of the Williams EPHS' superb win over the former lord jeffs, my having missed viewing the live action due to a board meeting last evening. Really admire the resilency and determination of all the players and adjustments by the coaches, especially not being at full strength in the lineup again versus the ljs. Keep up the good work at Mid this weekend....

[JEFFFAN]

Six losses by the Jeffs, five of them under five points, the only blowout being against Tufts.   This season is hanging by a thread as is, but if Sellew doesn't come back this team will struggle to make the NESAC playoffs.   Bummer.

[nescac1]

Maybe it's not atypical, but it sure seems like a lot of injuries (etc.) are mounting right now.  Indeed, nearly every NESCAC team had a starter (some more important than others) miss its last game (or more), for one reason or another ... Midd (Sobel), Colby (Tucker), Amherst (Sellew), Williams (Spivy), Hamilton (Cooper), Bates (Spellman), Wesleyan (DeLollo), Bowdoin (Rucker).  Many of these guys seem likely to be out for awhile, if not the season.  Tufts, a notable exception, seems totally healthy and perhaps ready to roll.  Trinity has also remained healthy all season.  Good luck certainly helps! 

[ephoops]

For me, Karp's passing was the highlight of the game. He is maturing as a player before our very eyes. This reminds of some tough wins by Williams over Amherst going way back to the Harry Sheehy days. This should give us some confidence. Big game coming up on Saturday against Middlebury. I hope we can carry some of this grittiness up to Vermont.

Toad - I was thinking the same thing regarding past Amherst games in the Sheehy era.

Sheehy's very first team in the '83 - '84 season was undefeated in the Little Three and set the tone for future Sheehy teams to dominate Little Three play for several years.

It's been too long since the last season sweep of the LJ's by the Ephs.  It would be great to sweep Wes in Middletown later this month to complete the undefeated Little Three campaign this season.  Let's hope this is the start of a trend for Coach App in future seasons...

[nescac1]

It's kind of wild that in the decade between sweeps of Amherst, Williams made three final fours and two elite eights, and beat Amherst in both the final four and an elite eight game, yet couldn't pull off a single regular season sweep.  Also crazy that Amherst swept a pre-season top six Williams team last year (no one saw that coming before the season) but Williams returned the favor this year (ditto).  And crazy yet again that Amherst had an EIGHT game winning streak vs. Williams heading into the 2014 final four, a game that Williams won by 29.

Just shows that in a rivalry game, anything can happen.  In the last seven Amherst-Williams games (four won by Amherst, three by Williams), six have been true coin-flip games that came down to the last two possessions.   

[Old Guy]

Big game at Midd today vs Williams. With the new field house, we have three contests going on under one roof, just a few dozen feet away from one another: hoop against Williams; women's ice hockey vs Colby; and the Midd Invitational in Track & Field with lots of teams participating. It's a carnival! If I were kid here, I would think I died and gone to heaven (at least a kid like I was a long time ago).

I'm excited indeed by the Williams game here. I have really enjoyed the last decade when Middlebury has become truly competitive with the Ephs. It is now something of a rivalry game for us. I know Williams has the vaunted Little Three series. Norwich and Castleton have dropped us because of conference obligations (though Castleton plays Williams. How's that?). For a long time in our sports history, Middlebury had a legitimate State Series in most sports with Norwich, St. Michael's, UVM. So, Williams is a similar kind of school, pretty nearby, just down Route 7, a couple hours away. I think they too see Middlebury as a good test in most sports.

When I played many decades ago, Williams was the gold standard then too. Like all old athletes, I have indelible memories. I remember particularly one Williams game when I had to guard an Eph named Billy Drummond, who was a really good basketball player, a moose, a terrific tight end in football, 6'4" or 6'5". A total mismatch. I was almost 6'1" (though I was 6'2" in the program). He scored on a layup and on the way up he hit me in the face with his elbow, and I got called for the foul. I said to the ref," I hit him with my face!?" He said, "That's right." Symbolic moment. It's better now.

Middlebury today will have to pay special attention to Karpowics. That means, in simple terms, Williams will have opportunities from the perimeter. If the Ephs shoot well, we'll be in trouble. Our worry of course, is that the Eph shooters will all get well at once. Young Guy, who graduated from Midd in 2018 got to know Karpowics through NothingButNESCAC: Young Guy was the editor and Karp was the Williams correspondent in sports other than basketball. Young Guy told me he's a good guy. Stuff like that makes it hard to work up a real froth against the Ephs. Of course, I hope both teams play well and the Panthers prevail.

An aside: did you see or read that Tiger had a four-putt on #1 from 20 feet yesterday? He hit his tap-in six feet by and missed the putt coming back: never thought my game would ever resemble his. (Of course, he then had four birdies in five holes.) 

While I am anguishing at the Midd-Wms tilt, I will be following as best I can the women's game in Williamstown, and Hamilton-Amherst and Bates-Tufts men's games. I don't think Hamilton is cooked by any means, and Bates on the right day could scare the Jumbos. Carry on, mates!

[lumbercat]

Big game at Midd today vs Williams. With the new field house, we have three contests going on under one roof, just a few dozen feet away from one another: hoop against Williams; women's ice hockey vs Colby; and the Midd Invitational in Track & Field with lots of teams participating. It's a carnival! If I were kid here, I would think I died and gone to heaven (at least a kid like I was a long time ago).(quote)




I Enjoyed Old Guy's post. What a great atmosphere at Middlebury with all the activity in their great Athletic facility. The Panthers are blessed.
Colby will soon have the same kind of setup with all the facilities essentially under one roof. Really great.

Back in the day I bet OG spent some Saturdays at the now aged Bates facility which was a pretty good venue at one time. I'm sure as a kid he probably enjoyed a Bates hoops contest or two in Alumni Gym followed by a walk down stairs to take in some pretty good track events including the Maine relays or the New England Indoor Championship when many other schools did not have an indoor Track facility.

How things have changed. Thats a great thing for the college and the Middlebury area in general. I know where I would be today if I lived there.