MBB: NESCAC

[jayhawk]

Will all due respect now CNN says there are over 520 coronovirus cases

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Jayhawk, aren't we at the point where anyone who goes out in public anywhere is at about the same risk?

We're well beyond containment.  Yes, people will get sick, but unless they're staying home altogether, they're going to be at risk.

That, to me, is where we are now.

We've also got the NCAA and the CDC who are NOT recommending these actions at the present time.

Yes, everyone would be safer if they stayed home and avoided people, but it's not like this is isolated anywhere that it could be contained.

[PolarBear16]

Not quite sure what you are arguing for Ryan, but the evidence is mounting quickly that keeping a physical distance from others is helpful for slowing the spread of the disease. There is a big difference between sitting in a crowd together for an extended period and going to the supermarket quickly in how likely you are to get coronavirus.

https://www.ft.com/content/ad7ae6b4-5eab-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Not quite sure what you are arguing for Ryan, but the evidence is mounting quickly that keeping a physical distance from others is helpful for slowing the spread of the disease. There is a big difference between sitting in a crowd together for an extended period and going to the supermarket quickly in how likely you are to get coronavirus.

https://www.ft.com/content/ad7ae6b4-5eab-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4

Then don't go.  That's my point.  Staying away from crowds might keep an individual from getting the virus, but it's not going to slow the spread.  They did a more thorough quarantine in Wuhan than we'd even be capable of in this country and it didn't help.  Put the disclaimer out: attending this event might make you sick, enter at your own risk.

The CDC guidelines only suggest limiting attendance at large events if local medical facilities can't handle potential illness cases.

The general rule is still: stay home if you're sick.

I'm not saying "there's no problem."  I'm saying people who want to attend should be able to do so.

[Pat Coleman]

I wonder if Johns Hopkins Sports spoke to individiuals at the medical school

I also wonder this -- because the NCAA panel on COVID-19, which includes a member of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, released a statement, saying, in part, "The key is for all stakeholders and athletes to practice risk mitigation at all events. At present the panel is not recommending cancellation or public spacing of athletic and related events scheduled to occur in public spaces across the United States."

Thank you for noticing the tweet. Here is more coverage which was on the front page all weekend -- a little more thorough than what was posted here earlier:
https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2020/goldfarb-will-be-empty-for-first-weekend

[nescac1]

A few random thoughts on various topics:

1. Congrats to Tufts on pulling a VERY rare trifecta (NESCAC regular season champs, conference tourney champs, and furthest NESCAC team to advance in the NCAA tourney).  I just hope Morris is healthy for next weekend, as Tufts very likely needs him to advance to the Final Four.  The 2013 Amherst team that went on to win the national title was the last NESCAC team to achieve that trifecta ... perhaps an auspicious sign!

2. Overall, a disappointing year for NESCAC, but a lot of that comes down to injuries (Colby and Amherst could both have gone very far this year with better injury luck) and defections (Sobel at Midd mid-season, and Hutcherson at Wesleyan prior to the year).  Just one of those years. 

3. I do think NESCAC could bounce back in a serious way next year, because it will be a senior-dominated league, and seniors tends to come through when it matters most.  The presumptive top three all have absolutely loaded senior classes ... Midd likely starts five seniors, with a sixth senior as the first guard off the bench, Tufts will return the rising-senior POY as well as four other key senior rotation guys (including Morris, another potential all-league guy), Amherst will likely start four seniors, all of whom are key players (two of them have already been first-team all-league players), plus will have a senior back-up big man.  But it goes beyond the likely big-three.  Colby will feature a backcourt comprised of two four-year senior starters.  Trinity's top two players, both potential all-league guys, are seniors.  Wesleyan's big three will be two seniors and a junior.  Bowdoin's top two guys will almost surely be seniors.  Three of Conn's four key players will be seniors.  Only Bates, Hamilton and Williams will not primarily be relying on their seniors.  Should be a lot of desperate, motivated teams in the league next season!   Also, at least so far, it seems like a very quiet recruiting year for NESCAC.  Only a small handful of potential impact recruits reported to date ...

4. Duncan Robinson is in an incredible zone right now.  He probably had the best overall game of his career last night (23-7-2, plus 2 blocks and 1 steal, 7-11 from three).  The last three games, he has shot an inhuman 24-37 from 3!!  He's averaging 25-5-2 over that stretch.  When you combine volume and efficiency, he is at this point having the best shooting season in the NBA.  Unreal. 

[Colby Hoops]

A few thoughts on a great season for Colby. Kudos to Coach Strahorn and all of the players, that's the best Colby season since the mid 1990s, and it was an absolute blast to watch.

It was a bit of a frustrating way to finish the year, as the team that was so dominant for much of the year just wasn't there without a healthy Jefferson. Crazy stat is that Colby was 20-0 on the year when Jefferson scored 10 points or more. Obviously, Jefferson played a big role, but I think a lot of players hit a bit of a wall toward the end of the year, battling injuries and fatigue. Colby didn't play a big rotation to start with, and injuries to Tucker followed by Jefferson left Colby playing a 7 man rotation for the better part of 2020. Everyone played huge minutes and a lot of players had to battle much larger guys down low. Potentially a reason for the big shooting decline toward the end of the year. Still, it's not hard to imagine a world where (with good health), Colby wins the Nescac tournament and hosts the pod that Tufts hosted and is still playing. All in all, a great, great season though.

Colby will certainly miss a great senior class who helped turn the program around (hopefully this year is a jumping off point for further program growth). Ethan Schlager didn't play much this year, but he seemed to accept the role well and continue to be a leader, not an easy thing for a guy who started his first two years. Ty Williams was a really unsung player, as his defense and ability to push the pace was a huge tone-setter for this team. Dean Weiner really hit his groove toward the end of this season, finding his role in the offense as some of the perimeter guys struggled, and bringing the usual dose of elite shotblocking. Alex Dorion went from a good role player to an elite all-around player this year. Not only shooting it extremely well, but creating shots and taking on some extremely tough defensive assignments -- his improvement was a huge reason for Colby's success this year. And, of course, Jefferson -- who improved from season to season like few players in league history. It's still crazy to look at his shooting numbers this year -- it's not an overstatement to say that's probably the best shooting season in the history of the Nescac. His unselfishness, ability move without the ball, guard bigs on defense and, of course, hit seemingly every shot, made this team go. He'll go down as an all-time Colby great.

I'm optimistic that this season will springboard Colby forward. Obviously, you can't lose a senior class like that and not take a bit of a step back, but I think Colby still goes into next year with a chance to compete for a NESCAC title. With Hanna, King, Tyson and Tucker that's a really good core (two straight Nescac FOY, and a strong senior backcourt is a great place to build from). Alec McGovern (who had some huge moments in the near comeback against CNU in the NCAA tourney) and Jonah Obi will both definitely be in the rotation next year as well. They won't have the depth of shooting they had this year, but that's still a good team.

Bigger picture, Colby is positioned well to make a leap forward and become a more consistent part of the league picture. A fun style, a fancy new athletic center and a good team should lead to some improved recruiting. Hopefully some more exciting times ahead.

[WPI89]

Way to get it back on track NESCAC1!  +1

[Bucket]

A few random thoughts on various topics:

1. Congrats to Tufts on pulling a VERY rare trifecta (NESCAC regular season champs, conference tourney champs, and furthest NESCAC team to advance in the NCAA tourney).  I just hope Morris is healthy for next weekend, as Tufts very likely needs him to advance to the Final Four.  The 2013 Amherst team that went on to win the national title was the last NESCAC team to achieve that trifecta ... perhaps an auspicious sign!

2. Overall, a disappointing year for NESCAC, but a lot of that comes down to injuries (Colby and Amherst could both have gone very far this year with better injury luck) and defections (Sobel at Midd mid-season, and Hutcherson at Wesleyan prior to the year).  Just one of those years. 

3. I do think NESCAC could bounce back in a serious way next year, because it will be a senior-dominated league, and seniors tends to come through when it matters most.  The presumptive top three all have absolutely loaded senior classes ... Midd likely starts five seniors, with a sixth senior as the first guard off the bench, Tufts will return the rising-senior POY as well as four other key senior rotation guys (including Morris, another potential all-league guy), Amherst will likely start four seniors, all of whom are key players (two of them have already been first-team all-league players), plus will have a senior back-up big man.  But it goes beyond the likely big-three.  Colby will feature a backcourt comprised of two four-year senior starters.  Trinity's top two players, both potential all-league guys, are seniors.  Wesleyan's big three will be two seniors and a junior.  Bowdoin's top two guys will almost surely be seniors.  Three of Conn's four key players will be seniors.  Only Bates, Hamilton and Williams will not primarily be relying on their seniors.  Should be a lot of desperate, motivated teams in the league next season!   Also, at least so far, it seems like a very quiet recruiting year for NESCAC.  Only a small handful of potential impact recruits reported to date ...

4. Duncan Robinson is in an incredible zone right now.  He probably had the best overall game of his career last night (23-7-2, plus 2 blocks and 1 steal, 7-11 from three).  The last three games, he has shot an inhuman 24-37 from 3!!  He's averaging 25-5-2 over that stretch.  When you combine volume and efficiency, he is at this point having the best shooting season in the NBA.  Unreal.

Good write-up, though I wouldn't characterize Sobel's absence as a "defection." More of the "personal leave" variety, and it's my understanding that he'll be back next year.

[nescac1]

Gotcha re: Sobel.  That's big news for Midd if he is back.  Even if they don't add a recruit who plays right away, they have a very obvious eight-man veteran laden rotation: the four senior guards on the perimeter, Eastman and Moore at forward, and Sobel and Cahill splitting time at center.  That's rock-solid ... six seniors, one junior, one soph who got some decent experience as a frosh -- wow!  But Amherst and Tufts should be right there, as well.  Tufts loses Savage, but Thoerner has really come on of late and should be able to step into that role, with McClarren as a more-than-capable back-up.  For Amherst, Phelan can probably essentially slide into the Chery role, and while there is a big hole in the middle, the FLJ's have Schretter and four other returning centers on the roster (a few of whom were highly touted in recruiting), and big men tend to take time to develop, so at worst Amherst will be able to put together a competent center-by-committee sort of deal.   

[JEFFFAN]

Amherst just cancelled all spring sports.  Sort of wonder what would've happened if the men's hoops team had actually made the playoffs?    Wonder what will happen with the women's team, which is still alive.  Leave it to my alma mater to feel like they need to make the most rash decision possible.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Amherst just cancelled all spring sports.  Sort of wonder what would've happened if the men's hoops team had actually made the playoffs?    Wonder what will happen with the women's team, which is still alive.  Leave it to my alma mater to feel like they need to make the most rash decision possible.

Is there official notification of this somewhere?  Seems like an extreme overreaction.  Is the President peeing in jars and stockpiling canned goods?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Amherst just cancelled all spring sports.  Sort of wonder what would've happened if the men's hoops team had actually made the playoffs?    Wonder what will happen with the women's team, which is still alive.  Leave it to my alma mater to feel like they need to make the most rash decision possible.

This hasn't been confirmed. I have heard the rumors ... but nothing confirmed.

[mathteacherjedi]

Amherst is sending all students home for the remainder of the semester.  https://www.amherst.edu/news/covid-19/messages-for-the-college-community/node/766550

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Amherst is sending all students home for the remainder of the semester.  https://www.amherst.edu/news/covid-19/messages-for-the-college-community/node/766550

Yes - but athletes have stayed on campus or had things arranged when other students aren't on campus all the time. Until we actually see that sports are canceled, it is a bit dangerous to assume.