MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Middlebury's win over Williams was a great team effort, especially without Max Bosco's services being available.  Starters Kornaker, Farrell, Folger and Eastman played a combined 114 minutes and scored 67 points.  Spot starter Will Ingram pulled down a season high 6 rebounds.   He and Perry DeLorenzo split 45 minutes of play greasing the smooth running machine while drawing crowd attention several times for things that don't show up in the box score.  Fouls limited Cahill's playing time but his stat line belies his value to the team while he was in there.  This game was as much fun to watch as any has been all season. 

The 18 point victory margin, however, belies the fact that there were four ties and seven lead changes in the first fifteen minutes of play.  The Panthers came back from as many as 8 points down before taking a 6 point into halftime.  With that in mind let's give a mention to fy Charley Moore's performance.  He entered the game at 10:59 with the Panthers trailing 15-20.   Half a minute later the Ephs' Michael Myers made it 23-15.  At 9:10 it was a Charley Moore layup off an assist from Ingram who had collected the defensive rebound that cut the deficit to four at 23-19.  Another layup by Moore at 6:48 cut it to one and twenty-three seconds later he hit from behind the arc to put his team ahead 28-26.  Henry Feinberg answered with a trey of his own to give the lead back to Williams at 6:01 but fifteen seconds later Jack Farrell scored three off an assist from Moore and although Williams would tie it up at 31-31 Middlebury never again trailed.  Moore went to the bench at the 4:04 mark with his team leading by a score of 35-31.  During his seven minute stint the Panthers had scored 20 points to go from 8 down to lead by 4.  Charley Moore scored 7 of those points and dished the assist that led to 3 more.  Not too shabby.

Like I said, this was a fun game to watch.

Excellent post, Vandy. Thanks. Most of the comments on the board about the Midd-Wms game have spoken most explicitly to Williams' shortcomings. I'm highly partisan, but I thought Middlebury played great! All 40 minutes. Terrific contributions from all eight players.

Middlebury's approach was not complicated: swarm Karp in the paint (that "Help! Help!" you heard when he got the ball was from Coach Brown)  and make them beat you from the outside. Which the Ephs did in the opening minutes, hitting their first four 3s (I believe). When Williams went ahead by eight — and there was Bosco with his 15 points a game sitting miserably at the end of the bench in street clothes, I said to myself "this could get ugly," then Eastman hit a couple of threes and a couple of deft finishes underneath— he is such a versatile player. Frosh Charley Moore came in and hit three straight hoops, and we were back in the game, as Vandy has documented.

Farrell was at his explosive best (21 points); Eastman was 17/7; Folger was 15/9; Kornaker (14 points 4 assists)had the best game I've seen in person, steady throughout. This was the most earnest team defensive effort I've seen this year.

I was pleased to meet Ryan Scott, glad he came to see a game here, and grant he sees a lot more games than I do, but we were watching somewhat different games in the first half: "Both teams started out slow, some pretty poor shooting, and a lot of travels," he wrote here. I found it one of the most exciting halfs of basketball I had seen in our gym in a long time — fast paced, good basketball, intense, both teams playing at a high level. I took a walk outside at halftime to settle down. Both teams had ten turnovers total in the game, a reasonable number.

Down year for Williams, true. But they have those two wins against Amherst who certainly handled Middlebury. They may be in the bottom half in the NESCAC tourney but nobody will take them lightly. Tournament could be interesting indeed.

[JEFFFAN]

That was a brutal call on that miraculous shot.   Not a chance someone can catch and shoot it in less than .5 seconds.   Look at the tape - the clock doesn't start when he grabs it.   Awful call.

[thebear]

That was a brutal call on that miraculous shot.   Not a chance someone can catch and shoot it in less than .5 seconds.   Look at the tape - the clock doesn't start when he grabs it.   Awful call.

I work a D-III scorers table.  The rule book specifically says .3 must be on the clock for a catch and a score off an inbounds.
Remember clock is stopped in the last minute after a made FT. 
So Clock doesn't start until the ball is touched in bounds.
He turned & shot in one motion, once the ball leaves his hand, it doesn't matter if time expires while the ball is in the air. 
You also have to figure in .1 - .2 seconds reaction time for the clock operator to see that ball is touched, see the ref's signal and turn on the clock. Clock operator watches the ref's signal. 
Clock is accurate to tenths of a second.


Hope this helps.

[Pat Coleman]

That was a brutal call on that miraculous shot.   Not a chance someone can catch and shoot it in less than .5 seconds.   Look at the tape - the clock doesn't start when he grabs it.   Awful call.

The clock doesn't start, no, but as we said in the tweet:

"Though the clock starts late, Porydzy has the ball in his hands for 13-14 frames, under .5."

[nescac1]

Shot was beyond incredible and I think definitely should have counted.  What an insane play, I imagine we will see that one on Sportscenter.  I too feel for Conn.  Just brutal.  Give the new coach a few years.  I think they are headed in a better direction. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

That was a brutal call on that miraculous shot.   Not a chance someone can catch and shoot it in less than .5 seconds.   Look at the tape - the clock doesn't start when he grabs it.   Awful call.

If there was video review... the officials could also review it and time it themselves ... so the clock really doesn't matter here.

And I have it on good authority it timed out to be about 14 frames ... which at 29.97 frame video is less than half a second ... by a frame. So ... good.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

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[Pat Coleman]

And I have it on good authority it timed out to be about 14 frames ...

[MiddWatcher]

Nice job by Pat C. and Dave M. ( on Hoopsville ) mentioning the time frames .....have done that many times on a variety of plays in basketball. They are right on. Shot counts !  Sorry to be a Killjoy on Conn ( after all, they were all very excited, I am sure, to be a half second away from beating a very credible Trinity squad .... ) BUT - the second free throw should be propelled right at the front rim; hit it, ball comes down in a pack and Game Over. 100 times out of 100.  75 foot shots may well be one in a hundred, but that is better than 0.  They also had no one getting to the receiver and no one guarding the inbounder.  So, yeah, Backseat Quarterbacking - but that's what it is.  They did not play the final half a second well : (( 

Nice win for Midd on Saturday. Several have mentioned one player being out of the Midd lineup ..... but they lost Kornaker for 4 games, Sobel for the past 8, Bosco on Saturday, and MOST notably Joey Leighton for the entire year.  Also, Folger has been hurt since Game 4 - first with the ankle sprain, and then the eye contusion.  He is just now starting to come back to who he is normally. Still not 100%. In reality, having followed this team for a long time - backups Ingram and DeLorenzo would have barely played this year. Maybe that's good - or bad, who knows.  But the " missing persons " line for Middlebury has been significant and they have survived well.  Hopefully, they will be getting closer and closer to almost 100% in the coming weeks - although Leighton, a 40% 3 point shooter, will not play this year at all.

[Colby Hoops]

Hate to inject computer ratings stuff here, but check out what the Massey computer thinks of Colby's chance of going undefeated.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=1659&s=309912

Never take the rivalry games for granted, and I know Amherst is down AND they have to travel, but don't overlook them.  I'll say 23-1 for Colby, they drop one from the quartet of @ Bates, @ Tufts, Amherst, or Hamilton.

Agree with 7express. I'd be pretty surprised if Colby runs the regular season table. I'd think the handicappers in Las Vegas would have Tufts as a favorite at home next weekend. Beating Bates twice won't be easy (we saw this weekend that Colby struggled a bit to beat a weak Bowdoin team for the second time), and Amherst/Hamilton are more than capable of beating Colby, even in Waterville.

[Cards Fan]

Personal power rankings coming out of this weekend..

1. Colby - Until Colby loses, they are the favorite. There is no reason to doubt them at this point, and they will stay that way until something changes. They do have a tough road ahead of them to stay unbeaten, and I don't believe they will, but there is no shame regardless. They are absolutely the favorite to win the tournament at this point.
2. Tufts - Similar to Colby, except they have lost out of conference. It wasn't going to be an unbeaten year for Tufts with their tough schedule, but they really took it to the NESCAC competition. Great, hard fought win over Bates solidified themselves as a top team, and they are definitely playing like a team that can win the league.
3. Middlebury - The Panthers got themselves back on track with a win over Williams. This was necessary. and they are back on pace for home court in the tournament. Some more quality wins in their upcoming games will certainly help them out, and there's a great chance they will be 5-2 before the end of the weekend.
4. Bates? Wesleyan? Amherst? Amherst beats Bates, who beats Wesleyan, who beats Amherst. Somewhat of a triangle here. I'll stick with Amherst for this slot for now, as in power rankings it is the team most likely to win from here on. There's a very good chance Amherst wins at least 3 or 4 of their final conference games, putting them in this slot for that reason. They have been inconsistent, but consistent enough to maintain their chances in the tournament. If they can sort out their woes, they'll make this 4th spot.
5. Williams - Williams has had a similar year to Bates in terms of out of conference play, but they aren't going to lay down and die. They're going to win games ahead, and are ALWAYS a threat to play against. This ranking is solely off of reputation, but they could easily win every game in front of them. The Ephs are still a threat, even at 9-9.
6. Wesleyan - It's tough to put them in front of Bates after losing the head to head, but it's easier when you remember it was at the buzzer. The Cardinals looked solid against Trinity. A win over Hamilton would put Hamilton in panic mode, and put the Cardinals in their best position yet. Sam Peek is turning into a fantastic player, and Preston Maccoux could be a huge factor for them next year. What was supposed to be a down year isn't turning out so bad for them, after all
7. Bates - Bates goes here only because of their out of conference issues. There are too many consistency issues for the team. I haven't watched enough to be able to tell if they are too low on my rankings (let me know if they are), but from what I have watched they are competitive in games. It'll take more wins at the end like the Wesleyan one to move them up.
8. Hamilton - What a tough time Hamilton has had. In the end, they are probably going to make the NESCAC tournament, but they're going to have to sweat to do so. Kena Gilmour is still a firepower in the conference, and always will be. Every game is a must win from now on for the Conts.
9. Trinity - In the end, I don't see Trinity making the tournament. They are a step above Bowdoin and Conn, but Conn just took them to double overtime. They don't have tons of talent on the roster, and they likely won't win any surprises from here on out. It's not time to fade them, especially if Hamilton drops a couple games, but they aren't a huge threat for the title.
10. Bowdoin - They seem to have some fight after battling Colby. I wouldn't count out them taking a couple teams the distance, and definitely wouldn't rule out a win or two to come for them.
11. Conn - Sad loss to Trinity. There is hope for the future, however, but not for this year.

[nescac1]

Pretty solid rankings and analysis, Cards Fan.  It seems like there are three tiers: Bowdoin and Conn are almost surely out of the NESCAC playoffs, 4-9 can still pretty much all beat each other on any given day and all can look very good or not very good at all from night to night (although I'd agree Trinity's standing there is the most precarious, saved only by the most miracle of all miracle shots), and 1-3 look like the real contenders and the only potential NESCAC Pool C teams, realistically.  It will be interesting to see Tufts play Colby and Midd, as I do think those three teams seem roughly even based on results to date as well as the talent on paper, slight edge to Colby of course given the undefeated record and the big win over Midd. Given that New England and the New York State and NJ regions all seem to lack a real powerhouse team this year (other than maybe Colby, but let's see how they look as the schedule continues to be a bit tougher), I think ANY of those three could easily make a run to the Final Four this season. 

Watched that crazy Trinity shot a few times.  My favorite part is that one of the guys on the floor seemed to realize it was going in a half second before it swooshed through, great reaction shot. 

It really is hard to know what to make of this Williams team.  They can look really good in spurts, and then just get back into some awful habits (the two that have plagued them all year are easily avoidable turnovers leading to points in transition and overhelping leaving three point shooters wide open).  Perhaps even the fairly modest expectations for this year were just too high, after losing five rotation seniors including the number 6, 14, and 20 scorers in program history.  The hope was that everyone would be ready to step up into bigger roles, but it doesn't happen like magic and all the guys on this team other than Karp are either new to the rotation or spent the last 3-4 years being able to rely on several of the biggest scorers in program history and just be glue guys.  On the plus side, Williams did just make it through an absolutely brutal January schedule ... 9 games (5 of them on the road) in 21 games, two hotly contested rivalry games vs. Amherst, plus games vs. (in my view) 3 of the top 5 teams in New England (Colby, St. Joe's, Midd).  Williams FINALLY gets a full week of practice and for the first time basically all season should have a fully healthy roster heading into the next stretch of games. 

That's the good news.  The bad news is, 2/3 of the way into the season, the team still has no fixed rotation, and no clear 2nd / 3rd / 4th option pecking order on offense, and it's not remotely clear what that order should even be.  The offense can look downright ugly when things aren't working.  Despite that, Williams can compete with anyone if Karpowicz is playing like an all-American.  He mostly has been of late, but when he doesn't have it, like against Midd, things can go south very quickly.  The biggest reason to hope that Williams can make a run late in the season is the play of the frosh over the last two games.  Things seem to be starting to really click for that group, against Amherst, they totaled 25-9-3 (plus 3 blocks) out of only 62 points scored, and against Midd, 32-8-4 out of only 66 points scored, despite the fact that only Cole Prowitt Smith played anything close to starter-level minutes.  All of those guys are going to make some mistakes and be a bit up-and-down, and none are remotely close to finished products, but the talent is clearly there and frankly, at this point, what does Williams have to lose from giving them a bit more run?  This team badly needs more scoring punch (three straight games in the 60s just ain't gonna cut it), and that group at least has the potential to provide some offense.  And those guys are going to form a huge part of the core of the team for the next three years, so might as well give them a chance to learn on the job now ... and hope that by NESCAC tourney time, a few of them are ready for break out games.     

[maineman]

3. Middlebury - The Panthers got themselves back on track with a win over Williams. This was necessary. and they are back on pace for home court in the tournament. Some more quality wins in their upcoming games will certainly help them out, and there's a great chance they will be 5-2 before the end of the weekend.

Card Fan, you're right that Midd got themselves back on track because a loss to Williams would have surely meant a loss of relevance for the upper echelon of the NESCAC and to a lesser extent the Top 25 and Pool C consideration.

[Old Guy]

Hate to inject computer ratings stuff here, but check out what the Massey computer thinks of Colby's chance of going undefeated.

https://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=1659&s=309912

Never take the rivalry games for granted, and I know Amherst is down AND they have to travel, but don't overlook them.  I'll say 23-1 for Colby, they drop one from the quartet of @ Bates, @ Tufts, Amherst, or Hamilton.

Agree with 7express. I'd be pretty surprised if Colby runs the regular season table. I'd think the handicappers in Las Vegas would have Tufts as a favorite at home next weekend. Beating Bates twice won't be easy (we saw this weekend that Colby struggled a bit to beat a weak Bowdoin team for the second time), and Amherst/Hamilton are more than capable of beating Colby, even in Waterville.

I think Bates will have a hard time beating Colby at home in Waterville. If the game were in Alumni Gym in Lewiston, that might be another matter.

The box score of Bates-Tufts had a couple interesting elements. Note that Omar Sarr had zero points and only three rebounds in 15 minutes — and five fouls! Bates essentially played Tufts even in Medford without the big guy. The main reason had to be the 28 points from frosh guard Stephon Baxter —5'10"/170 (if that) from Worcester, Mass. / Marianapolis School (Conn.). At the Bates-Hamilton game that I attended, I was told that he's going to be good, not ready yet: he was the third or fourth player off the bench. With Baxter and Sarr to build around, Bates's future could be bright.

By the way, Colby hoops, have the Colby fans received the message and started coming to games — it's been lonely in that gym (with reason) for a few years?

[magicman]

Shot was beyond incredible and I think definitely should have counted.  What an insane play, I imagine we will see that one on Sportscenter.  I too feel for Conn.  Just brutal.  Give the new coach a few years.  I think they are headed in a better direction.

I didn't see where anyone commented about ESPN. I was up late that night having attended a Plattsburgh State game in person and was at my computer with ESPN playing  on the TV in the background. I wasn't paying much attention but then I heard the announcer say... Trinity College against Connecticut and turned around to watch.....Not only was it on Sportscenter...it was the Number 1 Play on the Top 10 list. I did rewind it about 6 times.