MBB: NESCAC

[Sabrina76]

Perhaps he could have argued for a more challenging schedule. I'm not sure these games accomplish much other than getting everyone on these overpopulated rosters a chance to play. Since most teams try to peak at tournament time I understand not having a killer Nov/Dec. schedule, but at least have some competition.

[Old Guy]

VERY exciting game at Bridgewater tonight as Midd beat Anna Maria in two OTs 99-96. The three freshmen were awesome (Stevens, Bobbett, and Brennan) — very poised and tough. Midd was down 9 (39-30) at the half, having been behind by double digits most of the way. Sam Stevens kept us in it with 3 threes. Midd chipped away and tied it in regulation 74-74, then it was just punch-counter punch for the 2 OTs. Stevens coolly sunk two FTs at 97-96 to ice it.

Stevens (46 minutes) gets the first star with 26 points (7-7 FTs), many very clutch, and 10 rebounds. Alex Sobel was subpar, just 10 points on 3-12 shooting (many misses shots he normally makes), but still had 16 rebounds and 4 blocks. David Brennan really stepped up (18 boards) and some key free throws in the OTs. He just plays, hard, keeps his mouth shut, goes about his business (41 minutes). Jaden Bobbett (40 minutes) came out tonight, was the primary ball handler and played with poise and toughness: he is unafraid. He was 0-for the first half but scored 16 in the second. Soph Noah Osher had 22 points (in 47 minutes): he's a good scorer who will need to control his TOs (8).

Strange game statistically: Midd badly lost the turnover battle (28-12 — the announcer said at the end: "28 turnovers, Jessus! How'd they win!?"). A 2-1 rebounding edge explains some of it, 68-37. Tomorrow afternoon Midd takes on Eastern Nazarene (3-3) who defeated the hosts, Bridgewater State (0-5). Will we have anything in the tank? Midd does not have a deep roster. Ah, they're kids, they can play all day.

I don't know if Anna Maria is any good. They play in the Great Northeast and have a win this year's over Mitchell and a fairly close loss to Nichols. Small sample size for Midd, but we know now that they play hard and don't fold when they're down. That's good!

[SpringSt7]

I don't know that I saw the same poise from Midd that you saw, Old Guy, especially in the frequent quick rushed shots and turnovers that allowed Anna Maria to force not 1 but 2 OTs. Midd definitely has some pieces to play with but I don't know how many of them can be real difference makers come conference play.

But with that being said, woof, the conference does not look good so far. The best teams have been Amherst and Wesleyan, who have played glorified high school schedules so far, and Williams, who needed OT to beat Oneonta St. We will learn a lot about Wesleyan when they presumably play WPI this weekend, and the rest of the league has some intriguing non conference games coming up as well, but so far, not a good start to 2021-22 for the NESCAC.

[Vandy74]

I don't know that I saw the same poise from Midd that you saw, Old Guy, especially in the frequent quick rushed shots and turnovers that allowed Anna Maria to force not 1 but 2 OTs. Midd definitely has some pieces to play with but I don't know how many of them can be real difference makers come conference play.

SpringSt7,

I'm not sure how a team that led most of the game, including retaking the lead after one of Middlebury's few sustained offensive spurts in regulation, can be said to have forced the first OT.  That Anna Maria came back from a 9-point deficit in that extra period gives you a solid argument that they indeed forced the second one.

OG only referenced the three freshmen, Stevens, Bobbett and Brennan, for their poise.  That was displayed by Stevens and Brennan's clutch 12-13 FT shooting in the two OT periods, as well as the trio scoring 21 of the 25 points along with collecting 12 of the 14 rebounds.

Middlebury is a very young and inexperienced team and they need to work on bringing the ball upcourt.   The loss of Nash Goldman has something to do with that, I expect.  In other ways, the Panthers are playing much better basketball than most fans expected this early in what was understood to be a rebuilding season.   They'll lose some games they should win, but this team has a lot of talented players who will only get better while being great fun to watch.

[amh63]

Early schedules among the Nescac teams seem to be topic, imho.  Amherst, Tufts and other schools have new coaches and players that have not played together for a long time.  Big squads and in Amherst's case, producing many player combinations...coaches evaluating the dynamics of such combinations.  Amherst to date have put in whole new teams on the floor.  It is interesting that one of the opponents in the present "tournament" is MCLA, in North Adams.  Williams has for many years played MCLA...in the early part of their schedule.

[nescac1]

Williams plays MCLA every year because it's the only D3 program within 30 minutes of Williams, its only truly local opponent.  I would not say Williams' non-league, non Little 3 schedule is particularly strong this year, but they do play at Yeshiva, maybe the best team in the country, and Oneonta, York, W&L, Springfield, Union, which are at least solid programs from high-level conferences (although Springfield looks wayyyyy down from its usual level this year), and SUNY Dehli looks credible too. Salem State is also off to a good start and might be OK, they have loads of transfers as usual.

The only teams outside Nescac that Amherst plays that might be able to hang with it this year are Babson, and maybe Westfield State, which looks pretty good this year.  When you are a loaded team led by three fifth-year seniors on the perimeter, I just don't see the point of playing 10 or 11 non-league games where the opponent is gonna lose by 30 points or more and simply has no chance.  2-3 games like that early in the year, sure, but Pratt, Lesley, Thomas, St Elizabeth, are just more lambs to the slaughter later in the season. 

In the end it doesn't really matter much because Amherst, with a healthy Grant Robinson and added talent, looks very good.  We just won't know how good until January. 

Amherst also has the benefit of starting three fifth-year seniors, with a fourth off the bench.  Until Rogers returns, no one else in the league is starting more than one, and Bates, Bowdoin, Midd, Conn, Williams, Hamilton are all starting zero. 

[SpringSt7]

It's November 20th and there are 3 undefeated teams left in the NESCAC.

[nescac1]

NESCAC as SpringSt7 notes off to a rough start other than the Little 3.  But the Little 3 at least should have some great battles this season from the look of it.

Lots of young teams finding their way (Midd, Bowdoin, Conn, Bates and Trinity in particular all playing a ton of new guys) and of course Tufts has been the major disappointment.  Obviously, no Rogers and a brutal early schedule is a big part of that, but Brennan Morris after a great junior year is struggling through three games and the defense has clearly not been good.  Jay Dieterle has been on fire and the only bright spot for the Jumbos so far.  The talent is still there and as the schedule eases up they will be fine -- IF Rogers gets back to 100 percent, and quickly.  With Rogers inside and Morris (assuming he gets into his groove) and Dieterle on the wing Tufts could still be very tough to stop.  Omar Sarr also seems banged up for Bates so that's two premier big men down, which is certainly contributing to the early NESCAC struggles. 

Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan all cruise against badly outmatched opponents today.  For Williams, Cole Prowitt-Smith and Nate Karren look really good through two games, playing at a very high level on both ends.  Cole is so much more in control this year and picks his spots.  Nate has incredibly soft hands inside and to me looks like the next in a long line of great Eph big men.  Declan Porter looks like a future star as well, beautiful shot and accurate from quite deep, had a half-courter just barely rim out at the half-time buzzer, as the season moves along I expect he will become more aggressive looking for his shot.  Off the bench, Marc Taylor (so great to see him healthy, his shot looks like it did as a sophomore) and Brandon Roughley have played well through two games (Stoddard was out tonight). 

Good to see every healthy Eph on the roster score.  Tomorrow should be a much more challenging game as Salem State is undefeated and beat Eastern Nazarene by 10, who beat Midd by 10 today.  Sean Bryant is a great player and a tough match-up. 

[SpringSt7]

Back to back nights fouling out once again for Alex Sobel. Midd doesn't have enough talent to win many games this year but they definitely won't win many games at all if Sobel can't figure out the fouling.

Tufts' schedule will ease up but 0-4 is 0-4 no matter how you slice it. They might already be out of Pool C contention.

[Old Guy]

Middlebury fell back to earth today, losing by ten to Eastern Nazarene. Not sure if the 2OTs the night before had an effect but they didn't play nearly as well or with as much energy. Had trouble penetrating EN zone, played a zone themselves until the last 5 minutes of the game when some desperation was needed. Didn't shoot well: 41% overall, 29% from 3 (8-30), 62% from the line (13-21).

First half was back and forth (down 31-30), 2nd half got behind by 15-18 points, managed to to get it to 5 with a minute to go, then EN won it from the line. Sobel fouled out again, with 14 pts, 7 rebs, 3 blks. Stevens had 19 pts; Bobbett had 9 assists. Brennan brought his lunchpail and went to work again: 9 points (4-6, 1-1) with 12 rebounds (8 offensive). Works very hard.

Vandy's right. Midd fans really had no idea what to expect this year. There was no returning player with more than 5 minutes of playing time/game. So the presence of the three frosh is exciting indeed, gives us hope, but as one person close to the program said in the preseason, 'the frosh are pretty good, but they're frosh." Rebuild means rebuild but it will be good to see these talented frosh get all this time.

[amh63]

Amherst early games have been an evaluation of the players by the new coaches.  The returning all Nescac guards..Day and Robinson...show that they can play well with the new players.  Big squad, big young front court players working well with the returning players and NEW backcourt players.  Team pix today shows that a talented senior guard is presently injured.  Yes, expectation is high but the season has many hurdles ahead.   Key conference games are not far down the road...new coaches and players working hard to understand each other.

[SpringSt7]

Couple good non-conference tests today. I don't expect Salem St. to give Williams the fight that Oneonta St. did, but it will be another early opportunity to see how they face up against a team that expects to be in the mix for their conference.

The game of the day, however, will be WPI @ Wesleyan. WPI has looked the part of an NCAA tournament team so far this season and the class of the NEWMAC. They handled Colby and have arguably the best frontcourt in New England, the rare non-NESCAC team that will have the advantage down low. I will be curious to see if Wesleyan can return to the Wesleyan of old on the defensive end of the floor, 2019-20 was very unlike them as they were transitioning with a new core, but they don't have that excuse anymore two years later.

[jumpshot]

Williams beats Salem State this afternoon 77-62, after allowing a 30-point lead to be cut more than in half in the last 10 minutes or so due to careless offensive play and loss of focus. Team shoots well and lots of players contribute. Good start to the season, lots of details need to be cleaned up.

[jumpshot]

P.S. Mark Taylor and Brandon Arnold playing particularly well.

[SpringSt7]

The Ephs cruise to a 77-62 win over Salem St, a game they led by 30 with 9 minutes left before closing up shop in the focus and effort category for the night.

The player of the game (and player of the tournament) was Spencer Spivy who is slowly but surely starting to show flashes of the player most feel like he can be---17 points on 5-8 from 3, while also adding 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Despite not having much of a pedigree outside of being a shooter, Spivy is now averaging 7 rebounds and 3 assists a game. He is finding other ways to impact the game even if his shot isn't going down. When it goes down like it does tonight the Ephs are a legit contender for the NESCAC and to play deep into March. Their story will be about how well the trio of Spivy, Prowitt-Smith, and Karren can play in big games.

The rest of the team is showing a remarkable amount of depth. They're getting 20 points a game combined between the freshman duo of Porter and Roughley, the usual stat sheet filling from Jones, and some superb shot making from Marc Taylor (6-10 from 3).

This team has a ton of pieces and I would be more inclined to say that they are still a year or maybe two years away from doing real damage, it's hard not to look around the rest of the league and wonder why this team can't be in the mix at the end of the year.