MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

For some reason I am only just realizing that NESCAC only play 10 league games.  Why don't they do home-and-home?

Some mix of 20 conference games being too many, limiting travel, and enjoying increased scheduling flexibility. I think most NESCAC coaches would be in favor of 15 league games, but that's probably not happening anytime soon.

[stlawus]

Interesting.  I didn't know it was a controversial topic on here.  I try to keep up with the main leagues outside of the Liberty League but I was totally oblivious to this dynamic.

[Colby Hoops]

I think the most interesting thing for this season will be the guys who come out of nowhere. The players on nescac1's list are mostly known commodities, and I'm sure many have improved in the two years since we've seen them. But, what will be most interesting is the players that had small roles or even didn't play who have made big jumps. Two years is a long, long time.

[SpringSt7]

Interesting.  I didn't know it was a controversial topic on here.  I try to keep up with the main leagues outside of the Liberty League but I was totally oblivious to this dynamic.

It's not a controversial topic on this board per se, it's a controversial topic on the others. I think most people here would probably prefer that the teams play multiple times a year but there isn't really a great way to do it fairly. It's also not really a fair system now either---when you have Williams/Middlebury and Colby/Bowdoin as travel partners for example, the top of the conference standings are heavily skewed towards who played the best teams at home. Not to mention the fact that some teams are playing 6 home games while others are playing 4.

[SpringSt7]

For anyone trying to make conference predictions in the upcoming days...

# of Home league games:
6-Bates, Williams,
5-Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan
4- Amherst, Bowdoin

As I've mentioned before, the conference scheduling plays a disproportionately large factor in the conference standings. The difference between Williams playing 6 home games and Amherst playing 4 could be massive. 

[Colby Hoops]

For anyone trying to make conference predictions in the upcoming days...

# of Home league games:
6-Bates, Williams,
5-Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan
4- Amherst, Bowdoin

As I've mentioned before, the conference scheduling plays a disproportionately large factor in the conference standings. The difference between Williams playing 6 home games and Amherst playing 4 could be massive. 

The silver lining for Amherst is that they don't have to do any Maine trips this year and they get both Colby and Tufts at home, while Williams has the opposite.

As mentioned earlier, Colby has certainly upped it's non-conference schedule this year. Games against New England College, likely WPI, Babson and Brandeis on the calendar. Kicking off the season with the WPI tournament doesn't provide a ton of time to ease in for a team that will certainly have a few new players in the rotation.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

For anyone trying to make conference predictions in the upcoming days...

# of Home league games:
6-Bates, Williams,
5-Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan
4- Amherst, Bowdoin

As I've mentioned before, the conference scheduling plays a disproportionately large factor in the conference standings. The difference between Williams playing 6 home games and Amherst playing 4 could be massive.

You also have to see which games each team has at home.  If I recall, I think Hamilton has a pretty favorable schedule - whether they win those games or not is certainly a question, but I think they've got one of, if not the most, advantageous NESCAC schedules this year.

[SpringSt7]

For anyone trying to make conference predictions in the upcoming days...

# of Home league games:
6-Bates, Williams,
5-Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan
4- Amherst, Bowdoin

As I've mentioned before, the conference scheduling plays a disproportionately large factor in the conference standings. The difference between Williams playing 6 home games and Amherst playing 4 could be massive. 

The silver lining for Amherst is that they don't have to do any Maine trips this year and they get both Colby and Tufts at home, while Williams has the opposite.

Personally I don't think that's a silver lining for Amherst. If I was a head coach I would want to play the historically good teams at home and the rest of the teams away. If I have 4 home games I'd rather have them be Williams/Middlebury and Amherst/Hamilton (obviously doesn't apply to Amherst), and if I had 4 away games I would want Bowdoin/Colby and Bates/Tufts.

Williams looks to have the most favorable schedule. They travel to Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Tufts. They get everyone else at home, including Amherst, Middlebury, and Wesleyan. This doesn't factor mid week games and all of the other comprehensive travel factors (for example, some teams benefit from playing early road league games when other schools still have their students on winter break) but with how the travel pods are constructed I think it's hard to ask for much better than that.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

For anyone trying to make conference predictions in the upcoming days...

# of Home league games:
6-Bates, Williams,
5-Colby, Conn College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan
4- Amherst, Bowdoin

As I've mentioned before, the conference scheduling plays a disproportionately large factor in the conference standings. The difference between Williams playing 6 home games and Amherst playing 4 could be massive. 

The silver lining for Amherst is that they don't have to do any Maine trips this year and they get both Colby and Tufts at home, while Williams has the opposite.

Personally I don't think that's a silver lining for Amherst. If I was a head coach I would want to play the historically good teams at home and the rest of the teams away. If I have 4 home games I'd rather have them be Williams/Middlebury and Amherst/Hamilton (obviously doesn't apply to Amherst), and if I had 4 away games I would want Bowdoin/Colby and Bates/Tufts.

Williams looks to have the most favorable schedule. They travel to Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Tufts. They get everyone else at home, including Amherst, Middlebury, and Wesleyan. This doesn't factor mid week games and all of the other comprehensive travel factors (for example, some teams benefit from playing early road league games when other schools still have their students on winter break) but with how the travel pods are constructed I think it's hard to ask for much better than that.

Of course, we don't actually know which teams will be tougher this year, which is part of the fun/frustration.

[Colby Hoops]

To Ryan's point, I don't think historically tough teams like Midd and Hamilton will be all that tough this year. I expect both to be toward the bottom of the league. I'd argue Tufts and Colby are the two hardest road games from an Amherst/Williams perspective, given that Tufts is clearly the league favorite and the extensive travel to Waterville.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

To Ryan's point, I don't think historically tough teams like Midd and Hamilton will be all that tough this year. I expect both to be toward the bottom of the league. I'd argue Tufts and Colby are the two hardest road games from an Amherst/Williams perspective, given that Tufts is clearly the league favorite and the extensive travel to Waterville.

I think this is general consensus, but I also don't think anybody would be surprised if Midd or Hamilton ended up 4th, either. We just don't know.

[Colby Hoops]

Some Colby coaching news, as assistant Tyler Ackley was hired as the new coach at St Joes (ME). He probably deserves a lot of credit for Colby's ascent, as he brought in the run and gun style that has led to such success. Ackley coached at Nebraska Wesleyan before Colby, where they ran a similar system. Good luck to Tyler in the new role. https://www.gomonks.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/20210915w9js75

Late in the game for Colby as they look to hire a new assistant...

[nescac1]

After Midd graduated all but two rotation guys (one of whom barely played, and that's even counting Sobel) with no obvious replacements for any of them, and Hamilton graduated a do-it-all all-American player (plus some other valuable role players) from a second tier team, even with all the uncertainty surrounding this year I'd be very surprised if either was a top four team.  I see them both in the bottom tier of the league with Bowdoin, Conn, maybe Bates (of that group I see Bates as maybe a dark horse, but it's also replacing a ton of production).  Anyone else would not surprise me if they ended up in the top four ...

[SpringSt7]

I was referring to the pods from a bird's eye view but because we are talking about this year, I would rank the travel pods on difficulty as followed. To be incredibly clear, these were not ranked on strictly W/L, but in terms of "how hard is it to travel and play against these teams". As in, just because your school may have won 3 years in a row against Trinity, that doesn't mean they aren't tough and hard-nosed MFers who bring it physically every night. The same goes for losing to certain teams as well.


1. Tufts/Bates

I don't know that anyone is afraid of Tufts or playing at Tufts per se but they're the best team in the league on paper and deserve to be treated as such. Bates does not venture up the top of the NESCAC standings much but Furbush has them playing hard on a night to night basis and they very rarely roll over.

2. Amherst/Hamilton

Amherst is still Amherst and LeFrak is still LeFrak. Even if it isn't, it will take the ghost of Dave Hixon a couple of years to wear off before we say other wise. They should be playing a home conference tournament game this year despite their question marks. Hamilton does not project highly on paper but Stockwell is another coach who has quietly earned a reputation of being a guy who gets the most energy out of his player, and for good reason. They might be low on firepower but guys like Spencer Kendall, Nick Osarenren, and Nkosi Cooper are all big time pests and not the type of team you want to be sleepwalking against. They have a lot of young guys who want to prove themselves in a post Gilmour administration. Weird things happen in that fieldhouse too. The games are either completely quiet or packed, and the visitor's locker room is miles away and you have to walk through the hockey rink. Just a lot going on.

3. Williams/Middlebury

A tricky one, especially for this year. Williams is in the middle of the pack of teams that could project all over the conference, while Middlebury appears to be in the same predicament towards the bottom half of the league. Regardless, the two schools are 3 hours apart, there isn't a lot of lodging near either school that makes the commute any easier, and they are still two well coached teams. App will have a top of the league quality difference come January and February and Jeff Brown will still find a way to get the most out of his group, even if that doesn't end up being all that much. Pepin is one of the more consistently filled gyms in the league and you're lying to yourself as a team if you're looking at this weekend and thinking you're going 2-0.

4. Trinity/Conn

Hard to evaluate as well, Conn is just an absolute anchor on these rankings----worst gym in the league, worst fans in the league, and a 30+ game league losing streak to boot. Cosgrove gets Trinity playing hard every night but their gym is weird in terms of the one sided bleachers and they don't seem to fill it up all that often. Couldn't put them higher than 4th.

5. Bowdoin/Colby

The basis for these rankings. In my opinion the travel aspect is pretty overrated---almost all of these schools end up leaving on a Friday morning and giving themselves plenty of time to get into town, check into the hotel, and get comfortable. Whoever they end up playing on Saturday ends up being on the lighter end of travel in terms of the distance between your Friday and Saturday opponents. Bowdoin could be the worst team in the league this year and while I like their gym it's just hard to look past the on-court product. Colby is maybe the biggest unknown, they've had a notable fan presence at about one game (2020 NESCAC QF vs. Bates) in as long as I can remember. They get almost no consistent student fan support but they also had a great year in 2020 and obviously are opening a brand new gym for spectators this year. Ultimately ended up this low for all of the unknowns and the fact that they don't play a physical or annoying style of basketball that teams dread playing like a Trinity or Wesleyan.

[Colby Hoops]

I do think the travel makes a difference. No matter how much time between when you arrive and when you play, it's hard not to have dead legs after sitting on a bus for 5.5 hours. I was also framing my earlier points from a Williams/Amherst point of view, so playing the other on the road isn't as big of a deal, no hotel, minimal travel, etc.

Also think it's little crazy to have Trinity/Conn higher than the Maine trip -- Trinity and Conn haven't had good fan support, ever? And while Trinity plays hard, I'd have them below Colby in terms of how good they are. Colby's fan support is certainly modest at best, but the stands that are shown on broadcasts are where nobody sits because it has these weird posts that block your view. New gym will be nice, but probably sterile when it comes to atmosphere.

In general, I think fan support isn't much of a factor for most non-rivalry Nescac games. Midd probably has the best regular turnout, followed by Bates when they are good. Williams and Amherst are pretty dead unless they are playing each other. Colby/Bowdoin get good turnout for CBB games and not much else. The Conn schools get very little turnout.

Also seems unlikely we'll get the full experience for fans this year. Williams is only allowing 50% capacity for indoor sporting events at the moment, students only at Amherst indoor events and some similar restrictions for other schools.