MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

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).

Maybe it's semantical — Sobel was clearly a "force": he could go 0-12 and still be a force, on the defensive end. Consider the difference in the Ephs strategy — and success at the hoop, when Sobel was on the floor from when he was out. Where would Midd have been without his 17 points? I like when he's in there, a force.

[WPI89]

Hey NESCAC dudes - I don't come over here much anymore since they split our regions/boards.  These back-to-back games seem to be Covid catchup - at least WPI got to stay in state - 50 miles to Norton on Sat - then home for Hamilton.  A small measure of revenge for WPI after the November stomping by Wesleyan. 

Could make a case for 8+ teams to be #1 in New England right now?

Hope all of you are well and that Covid stays away from any major impact in the next 6 weeks.

[nescac1]

8+?  I think (if regions one and two were combined) it would be a clear top three of, in some order, St. Joe's, Williams and WPI.  The next tier would be UMD, Wesleyan, Brandeis, Keene State, Middlebury, probably in that order, I'd say.  After that, it seems like a pretty big drop-off .... in fact I'd be quite surprised if any New England teams from outside that list have any real shot at Pool C, when it comes to be selection time.  The bulk of those teams, I think we see, one way or another, in the tournament ...

Very impressed with WPI by the way ... your two big guys are a handful for anyone to matchup with and your perimeter defense is very aggressive, very little space to breathe for opposing guards (it helps to have the security blanket of the big guys patrolling the rim).  Perimeter offense is the only area that seems a bit iffy.  Not sure what happened v. Wesleyan but that result is looking more and more like a fluke (not necessarily the loss, but certainly the margin). 

[WPI89]

Yeah - overstated with 8 I guess - I have only seen Wesleyan that one night but I would add them and Middlebury - along with Keene St., Mass-Dartmouth, Babson, Clark, Emmerson, Magnus - in no particular order, on the next level.

[nescac1]

I'd take Clark and Albertus Magnus out of contention ... Clark feasted on a putrid early schedule but has lost 3/5 and still has games against Babson, WPI and Emerson remaining.  Albertus has already lost to Mitchell, Lasell and Conn College. 

I think other teams to at least keep an eye on in New England are the top teams in the CCC: Nichols, and maybe Salve Regina.  Salve has only three D3 losses (one to Nichols by a point) and some nice wins over Babson, Endicott and Suffolk.  Nichols has beaten Tufts, Trinity, Emerson, Hamilton, Suffolk and Salve.  Nichols has no depth at all (in part thanks to an injury suffered in the first game of the season by a guy who looked likely to be a star JUCO transfer) but its top six solid. 

[toad22]

Anyone heading down to the Williams-New Paltz game, don't. It has been cancelled. Not sure why at this point. I am disappointed because it might be my last chance to see the Ephs live this year. Oh well, there is always next year! Wait, at my age, that ain't necessarily so!

[SpringSt7]

Trinity thumps Eastern Nazarene 83-54 to improve to 10-5. Despite a slip up to Conn over the weekend, the Bantams are 4th in Matt Snyder's regional rankings---they have lost to St. Joe's, Nichols in OT, and @ Wesleyan. Ben Callahan-Gold is averaging 18 a game since being moved into the starting lineup and Donald Jorden is playing at an all-league level (although he did not play tonight). They are always underrated it seems under Coach Cosgrove and they seem like they have an outside shot at hosting a first round NESCAC game. They have games to reschedule which will present trouble but they are a team to keep an eye on.

On the flip side, Eastern Nazarene is now 6-8 but did defeat Middlebury. Midd was rolling before their lost to Williams---no shame in that---but that is a loss that could loom large once it comes to Pool C consideration. They do not have any real opportunities for good wins besides Trinity and Wesleyan. I expect that they will make the tournament but it is worth noting.

Two dynamics to keep an eye on.

[nescac1]

The Williams vs. Trinity and Conn games this weekend are listed as postponed.  Assuming Williams still plays TCNJ on Monday, that's still five games, including two games, the Ephs will need to make up.  Obviously, it's going to be VERY tough to fit any non-league make-up games into the schedule at this point ... a big bummer for the Ephs, just as they were starting to build some really strong momentum. 

[Old Guy]

Trinity (tomorrow) and CC (Sat) still on at Middlebury.

[ephoops]

Trinity (tomorrow) and CC (Sat) still on at Middlebury.

If the Midd games are still on, there's obviously a Covid issue in the Ephs program. 

[Old Guy]

A real slog at Middlebury, 24-23 Midd at the half. Typical Trinity game. Trinity tenacious on D. Midd up 24-18 with a couple minutes left, misses 4 FT in a row. Midd with 13 turnovers. Not pretty. Sobel 4 blocks.

[nescac1]

Quite a night of NESCAC hoops!  A few thoughts ... in the Little Three games, the road team is now 5-0 and all have gone just about down to the wire.  Williams-Wesleyan left is a huge one, obviously, and will go a long way towards deciding the top seeds in NESCAC, which are still wide open (Midd, Tufts and Hamilton still in the picture as well).  Year after year, Little Three games seem to have little to do with who is the home team or even who is the better team. 

Wesleyan, in the hardest part of its schedule, is obviously struggling a bit lately.  The Cards have a very tough week ahead v. Hamilton and at Midd/Williams and likely need to win at least two of those three to continue to feel like they are a lock for Pool C regardless of what happens in the NESCAC tourney.  Wesleyan is tough and athletic, very good in transition, but can look very ugly offensively in a half-court game.  Way too many guys going one-on-one and settling for bad shots.  Ravetz, Peek and Maccoux all had tough shooting days for Wesleyan but that was largely a product of good D by Amherst and poor shot selection by Wesleyan. 

Amherst is just about fully healthy (only missing Canin Reynolds) and it certainly helps them to have all their guys back.  Sears continues to try out just about every roster combination, and while Amherst needs to win NESCAC to get into the tourney, no one is going to want to play them in the NESCAC tourney.  Garrett Day is still not lighting it up but looked like he got some of his mojo back v. Wesleyan, his best game since the last Wesleyan game.  Grant Robinson is playing very well and if Amherst can get those two guys going together, they still can be very tough.  Adding McCarthy gives them another badly-needed outside shooter. 

I don't know where he's been all year (hurt?) but Belu Oranye was a revelation for Amherst against Wesleyan. He's a very versatile defender, big, strong, athletic with big hands and insanely long arms (6'5 but listed as a center on the roster), and seemed to have a knack for getting garbage baskets.  His shot looks smooth too.  Oranye played 23 minutes last night vs. 21 his entire CAREER to date before that.  To go for 13-5-2 in his first real action of his career, in a huge rivalry game, is impressive.  I imagine we will see more of him. 

Amherst played 12 guys last night and it just seems like Sears is going to go with the hot hand or the best match-ups game to game.  He played a lot smaller which I think is smart although playing three big guys a total of 17 minutes, I don't know what's the point ... I'd just go with one and give him a chance to get into rhythm.  Based on what I've seen of Amherst, I'd start Scherer (his minutes have really been declining but while he has his limitations, he can be such a force on interior D and as a screen and roll man), Vance, McCarthy, Day and Robinson, with Oranye and Helmke as the main subs up front (plus a few minutes of Schretter here and there if they need size off the bench) and Reynolds (when healthy) as the third guard.  With Reynolds out, then Dev Allen as the third guard.  That makes Schlakman, Phelan and Alausa odd men out for this year but Amherst needs wing shooting around its top-flight guards and rim-protecting big men and McCarthy and Helmke give that. 

I'm sure the Midd fans will chime in on Trinity-Midd, I just saw some of the OT.  Both teams looked exhausted but fought hard.  Midd continues to maximize, in my view, every ounce of its talent, which is just not much after its top three guys.  Stevens is fantastic and has to be the first NESCAC rookie on an all-league team since Duncan Robinson (the ROY race of course is already over).  Seems like there is a great big man battle now in almost every NESCAC game, it's certainly possible that we end up with four centers on the first-team all league squad (Jorden, Sobel, Rogers and Karren).  This loss knocks Trinity entirely off the Pool C bubble and really helps MIdd's chances.  Bad luck for Midd facing an entirely fresh Conn team today (if they can make it up in the snow at least, which maybe is unlikely, I bet that game is postponed until Sunday).  I think Midd needs to go 3-1 in its last four to feel like it has a Pool C bid locked.  2-2 would start to get a bit dicey, and might leave Midd needing to win 1-2 in the league tourney. 

Tufts as expected is starting to come together now that they are fully healthy, with the only recent loss being a tough one to Wesleyan.  Tufts is in the mix for a high seed in the NESCAC tourney, possibly even the top seed if it wins out and Wes keeps stumbling, it has only home games remaining in the league but a bunch of those are very tough (Trinity, Midd, Williams).  Tufts of course needs to win the NESCAC tourney to make the NCAAs, but that would shock no one with the veteran talent on hand.

Williams really does look like the class of the league right now, but obviously there is what must be a big COVID interruption which is very concerning at a time when other teams in the league seem to be rounding into good health ... how many guys have it, how long will they take to recover (and get cleared to play), how will the team bounce back from a SECOND big, forced layoff this season (after the first there was a ton of rust), and how will it deal with what is now sure to be a last few weeks of the season packed with big league games?  No way to know ... Williams just cancelled the College of NJ game scheduled for Monday, so it looks like it will end up losing a total of four non-league games from its schedule, which is a huge bummer.  I assume it will reschedule the two cancelled league games during the middle of the next two weeks.  Hopefully that gives the team a chance to get mostly healthy.  If Williams fails to make the NESCAC semis (and I certainly hope it does make the top four!) perhaps it could schedule a few extra non-league games for that weekend ...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I suspect a big takeaway for Midd was being able to close it out without Sobel. Gotta be a confidence boost.

[Old Guy]

No idea where to start discussing the Midd-Trinity game. Exhausting is the right word. A friend texted at the end of the game that he had "never seen a team win a game it tried so hard to lose." Midd was up by four in regulation with 20 seconds to go, when Dorion (he's really good, a frosh) scored on a drive and was fouled; Brennan for Midd was called for a foul in the rebounding action to give Trin a chance to tie, which they did, 57-57.

Trinity games are such slogs. They play very tough D, "tough" being the operative word. Midd shot 47 foul shots, missed seventeen of them. Both teams had poor shooting percentages, overall and from three, but everything was contested. Sobel had no fouls in the first half, five in the second, fouling out with 1:30 left, a bad call, on a beautiful blocked shot which he recovered himself. Yes, I am three miles away watching on TV, but Bucket was there, and he confirmed that it was a bad call and together clearly we are objective and non-partisan. Sobel missed a number of bunnies, especially in the first half, but was heroic in the paint, blocking seven shots and discouraging many others. Winning without him in the OTs was unexpected and satisfying indeed. Osher played 49 minutes and ended with 26 points; Edwards had 25 in 52 minutes; Brennan had 9 points and 11 rebounds in 44 minutes. Playing a fresh CC team, who has wins over Bowdoin, Colby, and Trinity will be a challenge today. Game is on, at this point (maybe CC came in yesterday).

[Bucket]

A friend texted at the end of the game that he had "never seen a team win a game it tried so hard to lose."

Just want to be clear that that friend wasn't me!

Being in the gym, I saw nothing but heart and guts from the Panthers. Are you kidding me? Tried so hard to lose? What a dumb thing to say . . .

Also, Dorian is a sophomore. And he's great.