MBB: NESCAC

[JEFFFAN]

The "book" on Marlon Sears pre-Amherst was that he was a very, very good recruiter but the game-day side of things did not necessarily match the recruiting.   Hopefully he can continue with the former and improve on the latter!

[jayhawk]

Amhest is an open book this year as they have yet to play an excellent basketball team
They have four freshman who are quite good, the best of them and in particular Ryker Vance is yet to be seen and several of them are quite good
In terms of the three new recruited players they can all shoot
Giovanni is intriguing because he is from Italian, with excellent footbwork and able to score inside and outside and may be a better offensive player than any of the present centers
The other two players can light it up from outside

[nescac1]

Some first semester highlights for Williams:

https://youtu.be/YPwzRkQYZT8

[toad22]

I'm hoping this season doesn't get severely disrupted or cancelled by this new COVID threat. I'm getting a bad feeling....

[Colby Hoops]

I'm hoping this season doesn't get severely disrupted or cancelled by this new COVID threat. I'm getting a bad feeling....

It seems inevitable. The Nescac schools are among the most cautious and with students returning from all over the country/world after holiday break, there is undoubtedly going to be a significant rise in cases. Even with some or most of the Nescac schools requiring booster shots, it seems likely that cases will be on the rise.

While one can argue that a campus with almost entirely vaccinated individuals and evidence that the new variant is more mild should be able to continue on -- these schools are pretty risk-averse. Hope I'm wrong!

[nescac1]

Yeah, it is definitely worrisome ... at the very least, I would hope NESCAC schools view cancellation as a last resort.  I mean, first of all, require boosters, which solves the majority of the problem.  Then there are plenty of other things they can do short of going remote or canceling portions of the year -- weekly testing, indoor mask mandates, immediate medical intervention, etc.  And the reality is, COVID, especially the Omicron variant, seems to lead to largely mild illness among those who are vaccinated and boosted, and especially so for the student-age population.  If schools take the same view of cases that they did a year ago (and they shouldn't, because there were no vaccines and less effective treatments a year ago) then, surely, there will be some shut-downs.  But if they base closure decisions on outcomes rather than infections, I think it will be a different story.

At the very least, it's hard to imagine that some teams won't be significantly impacted this season by COVID.  The current variant is just too contagious (even for those vaccinated and boosted) for everyone to avoid outbreaks this January, when it's expected to peak.  So it's kind of a lottery ticket for teams when they play one another, who has a full or close to full squad available.  On the plus side, based on experience in other countries, infections from this variant seems to peak and subside very quickly.  So there is chance things look bleak in January but much better in February ...   

[Colby Hoops]

Yeah, it is definitely worrisome ... at the very least, I would hope NESCAC schools view cancellation as a last resort.  I mean, first of all, require boosters, which solves the majority of the problem.  Then there are plenty of other things they can do short of going remote or canceling portions of the year -- weekly testing, indoor mask mandates, immediate medical intervention, etc.  And the reality is, COVID, especially the Omicron variant, seems to lead to largely mild illness among those who are vaccinated and boosted, and especially so for the student-age population.  If schools take the same view of cases that they did a year ago (and they shouldn't, because there were no vaccines and less effective treatments a year ago) then, surely, there will be some shut-downs.  But if they base closure decisions on outcomes rather than infections, I think it will be a different story.

At the very least, it's hard to imagine that some teams won't be significantly impacted this season by COVID.  The current variant is just too contagious (even for those vaccinated and boosted) for everyone to avoid outbreaks this January, when it's expected to peak.  So it's kind of a lottery ticket for teams when they play one another, who has a full or close to full squad available.  On the plus side, based on experience in other countries, infections from this variant seems to peak and subside very quickly.  So there is chance things look bleak in January but much better in February ...

Agree with all of this. I think the biggest immediate potential impact on the season would be a decision to go remote for January terms (for the schools that have those 1 month winter terms). Harvard just announced they are doing this. That may not happen for Nescacs, and even if it did, maybe they'd let just athletes return to campus like Harvard? But I could see that as an option to give these schools an extra month to figure out the spring semester.

[Conts Fan]

@NESCAC1 -- For Bowdoin, add:
Nolan Bessire, 6-9, PF, Montgomery HS, CA
Kevin Reeves, 6-7, PF, Columbia Academy, OH

Don't know anything about him, but here's a Hamilton commit I came across:
https://twitter.com/tru_pg/status/1472250996680237064?s=21

[mathteacherjedi]

Williams announces on-campus January with tighter Covid restrictions.

[https://williamsrecord.com/458887/news/college-announces-stricter-covid-policies-for-winter-study/]

[amh63]

Amherst has put further restrictions on campus athletic attendance....it impacts presently two MBB's games...Babson and Wes(non-league game).  Attendance is thru 4 Jan.  WBB's games not impacted....out in Las Vegas in D3hoops event .

[nescac1]

Amh63, you missed the big Hixon news!

[amh63]

NESCAC 1...Yes, I did!....Is the news wrt his nomination just a few days ago to the National Basketball Hall of Fame?  If that's it...Thanks for the alert. 

[nescac1]

Indeed it is.  Not many Nescac folks get hall nominations ...

[Conts Fan]

https://athletics.hamilton.edu/news/2021/12/22/general-updated-nescac-spectator-policy-announced.aspx

[deiscanton]

Middlebury lifted their athletics suspension on December 17, 2021, when the campus COVID-19 alert system at Middlebury moved from a red alert to an orange alert.    Middlebury's athletic facilities have now reopened to the student body, however, no spectators are allowed at Middlebury indoor home athletic contests at this time.