MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Middlebury 78 - Amherst 64. Any thoughts on that? Sure not what I expected!

Doesn't matter how good your team is, you gotta hit shots.

[nescac1]

Although isn't a big part of being "good" being able to hit outside shots?  Amherst will have some good shooting days - maybe including tomorrow in a rivalry game where guys tend to step up - and when they do, with their size and speed, they are tough to beat.  But shooting has been their weakness all year long.  They are now down to below 31 percent from 3 despite not exactly playing a murderous schedule. 

[SpringSt7]

This is complete conjecture (for now), but we might need to consider the fact that Day and Robinson are just not a good pairing. On paper it seems like they should be a great duo, two guards that can attack their man off the dribble and shoot at a high percentage. But Day is not a high assist guy and Robinson struggles to shoot off the catch.

Since Day passed Robinson at some point in 2020 as their leading scorer and go to guy, the results have not been good. Robinson's health has obviously been a struggle and Day was also only a sophomore when Robinson was a 1st teamer, but the two of them seem to play much better when the other is playing less minutes.

[maineman]

Middlebury 78 - Amherst 64. Any thoughts on that? Sure not what I expected!

Nash Goldman played 3 minutes.  Do you know if this is an experiment that succeeded or failed?

[Bucket]

Although isn't a big part of being "good" being able to hit outside shots?  Amherst will have some good shooting days - maybe including tomorrow in a rivalry game where guys tend to step up - and when they do, with their size and speed, they are tough to beat.  But shooting has been their weakness all year long.  They are now down to below 31 percent from 3 despite not exactly playing a murderous schedule.

Agreed. For instance, Cannin Reynolds probably had his best shooting night of the year tonight. But Noah Osher stifled Garret Day. The only open look Day had all night—a three in the second half—he hit. Otherwise, Osher was all over him.

Robinson probably missed some shots he normally makes, but that's a combination of rust and, you know, hoop.

[Bucket]

Middlebury 78 - Amherst 64. Any thoughts on that? Sure not what I expected!

Nash Goldman played 3 minutes.  Do you know if this is an experiment that succeeded or failed?

As recently as earlier this week, I understood that Goldman's return was anticipated for the Maine trip. He must have had a good week of practice, coupled with a short-handed roster, allowing him to log a couple of unanticipated minutes today.

He will be a factor in conference play this season.

[D3.Lifer]

Can we finally end this Amherst talk? The faked it for 8 games and are now paying the price. Overwhelming bad teams with their size isn't a successful strategy in the NESCAC.

[maineman]

Middlebury 78 - Amherst 64. Any thoughts on that? Sure not what I expected!

Nash Goldman played 3 minutes.  Do you know if this is an experiment that succeeded or failed?

As recently as earlier this week, I understood that Goldman's return was anticipated for the Maine trip. He must have had a good week of practice, coupled with a short-handed roster, allowing him to log a couple of unanticipated minutes today.

He will be a factor in conference play this season.

Last week, I heard a rumor he might be out for the season.  If he played 3 minutes and did not re-injure himself, it looks like it was a success and we can expect more minutes from Nash as the season progresses.

[nescac1]

Kind of crazy that, in the first week of January, Tufts and Colby are already out of Pool C contention and Amherst may already be (four losses might not cut it with that SOS; five certainly would not, and Amherst is not likely to go undefeated until the NESCAC tourney). So all will be in do-or-die mode in the league tournament.  Right now, Williams, Wesleyan and Midd are the only NESCAC teams with a realistic shot of at-large bids, Trinity like Amherst hanging on but just barely. 

Can't say enough about the job Jeff Brown has done.  Losing the top seven guys (or seven of the top eight depending on how you count Sobel) from 2020's rotation, getting no fifth-year seniors back, starting three frosh, and having a perilously thin bench further depleted by injuries or illness, and starting out 10-2 with some very solid wins may be unprecedented.  Midd has been really poised / clutch in close games, amazing for such a young team. 

[jumpshot]

Trinity, Colby, Wesleyan, and Tufts have all postponed games scheduled for today.

[Old Guy]

Trinity, Colby, Wesleyan, and Tufts have all postponed games scheduled for today.

Having gone into town today for the morning ritual with my dog Paco (coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and the Boston Globe, hard copy, to be read n the parking lot) — we drove by the Middlebury Inn and saw what we assumed was the Hamilton bus, so it looks like Midd-Hamilton is on. I'm grateful for that though it is hard to watch a Midd hoop tilt from home on the tv when the gym is only a stone's throw away (well, if you can throw a stone a mile and a half). Don't know nuthin about Hamilton, except my wife (doesn't like it when I call her Old Girl) was impressed when I told her I was watching Hamilton this afternoon on the tube.

Anyway, now that we have throughly discussed Amherst's shortcomings, maybe a word or two about the game and some encomia for the Panthers. Stevens (28 points) has a beautiful 3 pt shot (5-9), a nice 10-15 fadeaway jumper, and at 6'5" can score at the hoop — and he does it all with a minimum of flash, within the offense. I watched the game with Young Guy (now out of college and working for a living) who ruined my night by saying "you think any D1 programs might have an interest in him (cf Robinson, Hutcherson, and the shooter from Hamilton)?"

Sure, Sobel (24-15-3) does not resemble Nureyev with the ball on the low block (or McHale either), but he's a force. He's a long 6'8" with good hands and never brings the ball down, terrific rebounder, great timing for shot blocks. The fact that he's a good foul shooter (70% overall, 8-10 last night) is important as opponents can't play Hack-a-Sobel. He's a good story — as is this whole team.

Le Troisieme Etoile I think goes to Bobbett, a slight edge over Osher and Carlson. Up against Amherst's talented and experienced backcourt, held his own: yes, 5 TOs but he has the ball in his hands on nearly every possession. He was 4-4 from the line in the last minute or so when Amherst had to foul and effectively iced the game. When Stevens was inbounding the ball to Bobbett, I was yelling at the screen, "No, the other way around!" (Stevens and Osher both shoot 85%+ from the line). Clutch FT shooting. How good can Bobbett be? Now with Goldman set to return, the backcourt gets some needed depth.

Osher is a scorer, shoots the mid-range jumper coming off the pick and nails it. Last night, he played 35 minutes and took only 6 shots and made 4. Kudos to him. Finally, big props to Peter Carlson for his 26 minutes of capable play, coming in as the first frontcourt sub, so important last night as Brennen was having a subpar night. He has played 42 minutes in the last two games, with Zodda out, and only has 56 for the season, and has played in just half of the Midd games, including the last two. He's tall (6'7"), hustles, and plays good D. Well-done!

Hamilton next, coming right up. We'll see if we can sustain this level of play. If I can't be in the room where it happens, I'm glad to be able to watch the game on NSN with Bruce Bosley at the mic — he's the best.

[SpringSt7]

Williams drops its first game of the season to Amherst, 71-65. For the first time this year I thought Williams looked like a team that was young and yet to be tested as a group---because they are, and they haven't been. Grant Robinson was outstanding, 27 points, and while Nate Karren played well, Cole Prowitt-Smith was only so-so, and neither played at the star level that is required to win a Williams-Amherst game. It was awesome to see SO many students there when they were literally the only ones allowed to attend, but I wonder if that caused just as much harm as it did good, as the players looked sped up and nervous for a good chunk of the game before a late run came up short.

The depth of Williams has been discussed and its great, but relying on so many guys to play well and score in the 6-11 point range to win is generally not the recipe for success at this level. Porter and Jones were nonexistent and that left them with no wiggle room to overcome a down shooting night for CPS. The depth and supporting cast are great to have but today was a good reminder that most teams only go as far as their best players take them.

[nescac1]

The last few seasons anything can happen in Williams-Amherst games and they seem to rarely go according to chalk.  Amherst played well and Williams had a lot of very uncharacteristic mental mistakes on defense.  I think Williams fouled FIVE jump shooters including three three-point shots.  The Eph guards blocked some jump shots early which I think hurt more than helped, because after that they were jumping out at jump shooters rather than standing tall and contesting, leading to all those brutal fouls.  Amherst hit all nine of those free throws which was the difference in the game.  Amherst also shot the ball pretty well overall and brilliantly from the line and Williams missed a good number of open threes.  Not really worried about this one for Williams, a tough loss in a rivalry game vs. a desperate team when everything kind of went wrong for Williams and Amherst really came to play. 

For Williams, Cole Prowitt-Smith didn't have a great statistical day, but all of his field goals were absolutely spectacular individual plays.  He did as SpringSt7 noted have a rough day from outside the arc, however.  Grant Robinson clearly got the better of the PG match-up today, he was just on fire and played really fantastic, a vintage Grant Robinson game.  Will Scherer in very limited minutes made a huge impact on both ends, just a massive presence in the paint, several thunderous dunks and nice passes inside.  When he and Amherst's incoming 7-footer are on the floor together for the next few years, whooo boy that will be a tough match-up inside.  Nate Karren was able to burn him from outside but in the paint Scherer's size gave the Ephs a ton of trouble.  Still, nice game overall for Nate, he fought really hard.  Kudos to senior Dev Allen who always seems to save his best moments for Williams, he hit two clutch jumpers late when Williams was threatening to close the gap.  Amherst passes the ball nicely around the paint for easy finishes but Williams helped off big guys way too often in this one. 

Spencer Spivy had a great game for Williams on both ends, outplaying Garrett Day.  Had you told me before the game that Spivy would outscore Day by 7 I would have felt very confident about the outcome, but Amherst shot the ball better overall despite Day's tough outing (another unexpected result) and killed Williams from the line, which almost never happens to Williams teams.  Again, way too many totally needless fouls by Williams on closely-contested shots.  Brandon Roughley had some really nice moments off the bench and gave a glimpse of someone who is going to be huge in this series going forward, given that Amherst is clearly going to be playing HUGE for awhile and Roughley has the size to battle big guys on defense but can take them off the bounce on the other end.

Tough collective game for the Eph wings Declan Porter and Jovan Jones, I expect both to bounce back quickly. 

Eph fans will see Robinson, Allen and Day at least one more time, and that trio will not be missed!  Amherst's senior class outscored Williams' senior class (only one of whom played today) 40-0.  Veterans usually come up big in rivalry games!   I think this game definitively answers the question, does having Grant Robinson on the floor (and playing like he is capable of) make a huge difference for Amherst.  Ummm, yes.  Amherst can feel a bit better that two of its losses came with him in street clothes and the third with him I imagine rounding back into form.  They desperately need him out there for the rest of the season.   

[jayhawk]

luckily there is much more NESCAC basketball to play
focusing one game is tough as players will continue to grow during league play
Amherst especially is a team whose growth will continue in part due to being young and recovery from illness such as Grant Robinson
not sure but Day may have flu

Alausa in warm up favoring his right leg with a slight limp, so likely battling injury
McCarthy and Ryker Vance may be back later this month or early next month

[toad22]

As an Eph fan, I am over this one already. They didn't deserve to win. We fouled every jump shot it seemed. As a result, Amherst outscored us 23-4 from the line. Nearly impossible to overcome. Get better, move on.