MBB: NESCAC

[toad22]

Today's matchup with the Middlebury Panthers is the kind of event that makes the winter wonderful. Too bad that most fans, including me, can't attend. The contrast of team dynamics couldn't be more stark. In the four league games the top three Panthers are totaling 57.5 points, out of 76 (75.6%). Williams' top three scorers are totaling 34 points out of 70.5 (48%). These are very different teams. It will be interesting to see how this game plays out. It could have big implications for home court and seeding in the NESCACs. Of course there are a lot of games to play, against good teams, so the game could end up relatively unimportant, time will tell.

Regarding Amherst next year, I will be surprised if Charlie Randall plays the forward next year. Lots of D1 coaches watched him play. If they saw a power forward there, one of them would have taken him. I think he can become a good NESCAC center.

[SpringSt7]

Drew Martin goes to Rivers, which does not have postgrads. Randall looks like he could be really good with just a little more strength and mobility. Tam may play against great players in practice but there is no real clear correlation to that translating into success in the NESCAC, especially as a center. He can ask Isa Maguire about that next year when he gets to Amherst.

On a bigger level, it will be very interesting to see how Amherst evolves in the next few years. Sears clearly sees Canin Reynolds as his first big piece. Ryker Vance made great contributions early before getting hurt and Will Scherrer has contributed significantly more than I would imagine most expected he would---a young 6'10 center with a limited skill set is not traditionally the type of player that cracks the rotation as a freshman. They are rebuilding for sure but seem to be rebuilding fast.

[nescac1]

Speaking of Amherst they have their full roster back vs Hamilton. If I was coaching them I'd play Schretter and Scherer at center, McCarthy, Helmke, and Vance rotating at forward, and a three guard rotation with Reynolds off the bench. That would certainly be their best offensive rotation for a team that has been struggling to score, and there is still plenty of rim protection.  The other guys in the rotation just aren't consistent scorers at this point ... for some reason Amherst played 13 guys in the first half v Hamilton (!) which seems like at least 3 too many, although I guess with guys working back from injuries, the rotation is in flux.

I'll take a big under on three frosh starting for Amherst next year.  I think two of Schretter, Scherer and Vance very likely start up front, and Reynolds at the point.  That leaves two wing spots open but I'd be surprised if the two frosh wings are both good enough right away to beat out Phelan, Alausa and Helmke.  One frosh starter seems more likely.

Why is no one talking about Tufts-Bates?  With a win, Tufts may just crack the top ten .... 

[jayhawk]

maybe true about Drew Martin previously I believe he was all league at Boston College High which I thought he was a postgrad
time will tell this a year away
time will tell
regardless who starts with these crazy subs, be surprised if Tam/Randall/ Randall/Martin is do not play alot

Tam - we have greater knowledge because he previously played in Italy

stay tuned
I will leave the rest to the others on NESCAC MBB board

[nescac1]

Exciting finish as Hamilton gets a tip-in to beat Amherst.  Hamilton, somehow, despite major injury struggles (Eric Anderson was out today) and underwhelming offensive talent, now has three NESCAC wins ... they play hard and tough and together.  Amherst is looking worse and worse as the season goes along, now 6 losses in its last 7 games and the issue is on offense.  Today Robinson and Day were both way off but Day's struggles have been ongoing ... in five league games he's at 25 percent from the field, 16 percent from 3, and Amherst simply can't win many games with him producing like that.  The Amherst coach seems to be looking for answers, trying a wide variety of combinations, but barely cracking 100 points in the last two games combined is not gonna cut it. 

They have a scrimmage vs. Pratt (who several NESCAC teams have already embarrassed) to get well before facing Wesleyan, who is current having a tough game against a very solid UMD team. 

[nescacfaninbos]

Watched the second half of that game and Hamilton's length against the smaller Amherst guards seemed to be the difference. Most time on the floor, the lineup was 3 6'4" guys, a 6'5" guy, and a 6'8" center. Baskets were hard to come by both on the perimeter and in the paint with that length.

[nescac1]

Ephs with a strong first half to go up 11.  First, thanks to the announcers for the shout out to members of the NESCAC board!   That was fun.   Speaking of which, folks on the board correctly predicted Jeff Brown's strategy to have Sobel guard Jovan Jones so he could be a one more zone on the interior.  It was a very effective strategy and creates a dilemma for Coach App since Jovan has been playing absolutely incredible defense on Sam Stevens (who is very much the real deal, but scored effectively only when Jovan was out of the game).  Midd showed why they are the best rebounding team in the country, hurting Williams on the offensive glass.  But the Ephs have been all OVER Sobel and Stevens, making it so that both have to take hotly contested looks, some of which to their credit they hit.  Midd getting very, very little offensively other than in transition or off second-chance points. 

For Williams, Nate Karren, Declan Porter and Cole Prowitt-Smith were all stellar on offense, highlighted by a ridiculous spinning layup and-one by Cole.  Nate also did a very good job on Sobel, and will likely need to play big minutes in the second half as Brandon Arnold suffered an injury in the first half.  Outside of those three, the Ephs have struggled to hit shots and it would be great to see guys like Spivy, Taylor and Stoddard hit a few jumpers in the second half.  Alex Stoddard continues to make one gorgeous drive to the basket each game and I hope he continues to look to get to the rim off the bounce. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm not sure I feel any more confident ranking NESCAC teams after today, but evidence surely casts doubt on my previous attempts.  The young Midd team struggles on the road.  Hamilton continues to be perfect at home.  Amherst again shoots terribly.  Wesleyan looked ok, but couldn't stop UMass-Dartmouth from scoring.  Whew.  Who knows what'll happen with Tufts tonight?

[nescac1]

Ryan, the one NESCAC team you didn't mention had an OK week, winning a tough rivalry game on the road and blowing out a red-hot Midd team! 

Certainly, that was Williams' best overall performance of the year.  The Ephs just had too much for Middlebury.  Jovan Jones set the tone early in the second half, taking the inverse box-and-one personally and getting a few quick buckets and some nice assists, so Midd has to abandon that strategy.  He continued to play lock down defense on Stevens on the other end.  Jovan did the same thing to Stevens he did to Sam Peek -- he just sticks really close to big wings who are used to getting clean elevation on their jump shots, so they have no room to operate and get comfortable finding space for a clean look.  He moves his feet so well, and is able to avoid reach-in fouls, so guys can't punish him for the unusually tight defensive play. 

It was truly a team win for Williams, as the depth of talent was simply too much for a thin Midd squad.  Alex Stoddard, Prowitt-Smith, Spivy and Roughley all had nice moments on both ends for Williams.  Declan Porter won the battle of the sweet-shooting frosh wings today (granted, he doesn't get the same sort of defensive attention), when he has it going his shot is beautiful to watch.  In the center battle, it was a dead-even draw: Nate played some tremendous interior defense on Sobel, making him work so hard for his points, and used his agility to get baskets on the interior on the other end. 

For Midd, Noah Osher had a very good game.  Stevens and Sobel weren't bad -- they shot 11-32 combined because they were forced into taking really hard shots with swarms of Eph defenders around them.  Midd's other two starters accounted for only 3 points total and that is just not enough help for the big three. 

Great win for the Ephs and suddenly Williams is 14-1 with wins over Midd, Amherst and Wesleyan under its belt.  The Ephs added a non-league game vs. College of New Jersey so they will have four games coming up in a one-week stretch.  Not the toughest games on the schedule on paper, but that's a lot of games in a compressed period of time so it will be a challenge for sure, especially now that Williams has a bullseye on its back. 

[jumpshot]

Williams handles Midd 78-53 with excellent defense, hitting 12 of 31 threes, making only 10 turnovers (16 by Midd), and dishing out 14 assists (7 by Midd). Ephs hold Midd to 34% shooting, 18% from distance, with Midd only 55% from the foul line. Karren matches Sobel, and Porter, Spivy, Jones, Prowitt-Smith, Stoddard, Roughley all make vital contributions. Unselfish, high-energy, Eph win including team rebounding effort. Way to go guys ....

[JEFFFAN]

Pretty inauspicious start to the Marlon Sears era from my vantage point.    I'm hopeful it will work out but those seniors who took a year off have to be shaking their heads as to why they did that.   Pretty crappy team right now.

[Old Guy]

The Midd-Ephs game has been well described. Williams dominated in every phase. They're so big and so deep. Did you see the second five of Williams in the last two and a half minutes? Lots of NESCAC teams would like to be playing with that starting five. Porter is 6'8" and is a 3pt shooter from the wing. Stoddert (6'6") is impressive all-round; Taylor (6'8"), Arnold (6'7"), Roughley (6'8" frosh) all come off the bench — these are not big slow limited-mobility big guys — they're athletes, and then of course, there's the starter at 5, Karran (6'9"), who shoots 50%+ from three. It ain't fair! Middlebury doesn't have a "second unit": we have substitutes for the starters who all play long minutes and need a breather now and then, and the reserves all do a nice job. Charley Moore has come on in the last few games. App's biggest challenge is getting all his players the minutes they merit and finding the right combinations.

Middlebury starts frosh Bobbett (6'2") at the point and soph Osher (6'0") at 2: Williams counters with Prewitt-Smith (6'4") and Spivy (6'6") with Jones (6'6") also picking up in the backcourt. Jones did a good job smothering Stevens, who didn't get an open look the whole game. Sobel was a force (17pts 13 rebounds) but really drew a crowd when he had the ball — and had to guard Karran and others on the perimeter. Middlebury is a different team when Sobel is out. He's a force in the paint on defense. The Ephs are a good 3pt shooting team, but attacked the basket when he was out.

This is not an embarrassing loss for the Panthers — it's part of a learning process. Is there a more inexperienced team in NESCAC (or anywhere)? We would have to have played a perfect game to be in it, and we didn't, had a poor shooting night (but in truth didn't have many open looks — though a foul shot is an open look, 10-18 from the line). Halfway through the NESCAC schedule: Trinity and CC in our gym next weekend, Wesleyan the following weekend, and Bates/Tufts away after that.

Watched Bates-Tufts: the Bobcats coughed up a 7 point lead in the last minute and a half, lost by one. Too bad.

[SpringSt7]

It would be a stretch to call Sobel a force in this game. He had 17 points and 13 rebounds yes, but he was 8-19 and had 6 offensive rebounds. I wouldn't be surprised if all 6 were him rebounding his own miss, followed by another miss. He really struggled in the first half and by the time he got it going, the game was largely out of reach (he had 9 points on 4-12 shooting when they were down 23).

On the flip side, Nate Karren has really come into his own. He had 16 points on 7-10 shooting, a titanic feat apparently considering Sobel's staunch post defense. He has been playing so well all year but it really feels like he's taken up a notch in the last few weeks. Never in a million years would you think he was a sophomore. His knowledge of the offense, ability to know how the guards want to play off of him, and overall basketball IQ are such assets in the Princeton offense. Then you throw in shooting 58% from the field and 50% from 3 and you have a 1st team all-league guy at this point in the season.

[jumpshot]

Question of the Day: Why would amHerst's men's basketball team drive 250 miles following the mammoth's loss at Hamilton on Saturday to eke out a win in a scrimmage over Pratt Institute in Brooklyn 90-29, followed by another ride of 3 1/2 hours and 176 miles back to campus on Sunday?

Perhaps lj's annual fund donations can be designated for that purpose ....

[maineman]

Question of the Day: Why would amHerst's men's basketball team drive 250 miles following the mammoth's loss at Hamilton on Saturday to eke out a win in a scrimmage over Pratt Institute in Brooklyn 90-29, followed by another ride of 3 1/2 hours and 176 miles back to campus on Sunday?

Perhaps lj's annual fund donations can be designated for that purpose ....

Hamilton following its home win over the Mammoths traveled 230 miles to Worcester to get schooled by 20 vs. WPI