MBB: NESCAC

[JEFFFAN]

Interesting!!

https://twitter.com/urmenshoops/status/1501633008167698435?s=21

Very cool indeed! I remember several years ago proposing a NESCAC/CCIW showdown to help settle the seemingly annual debate over precisely how I inferior New England basketball is to Midwest basketball (I gather Mr Massey is still brewing some formula somewhere).

My proposal was of course tongue in cheek but perhaps in hindsight it need not have been!

This is terrific - really glad that NESCAC is doing this.   Creates a little bit of outside the division rivalries, reminiscent of the ACC-Big Ten format structure.   

[WPI89]

Watching Williams v Wabash - very good game - high level, evenly matched. 

[nescac1]

Well, evenly matched until Wabash went on a 20 point run mid-way through the second half.  Tough way to go out for the Ephs as nothing seemed to go right on offense.  Wabash played very smart and Williams just couldn't get out of its own way on offense - and also just had a horrible shooting night.  Just wasn't the Ephs' day, and Wabash played great team ball on both ends.  The Ephs will learn from this game and this team will be a lot better next year.  Making the Sweet 16 with a young team, coming off a very mediocre season, and with all the adversity the Ephs faced this year, was a great accomplishment.  Would have been nice to win one more but Wabash was the better team. 

The silver lining for the Ephs was Spencer Spivy's defense on Jack Davidson, which was stellar (although the Ephs sold out so much on Davidson that Wabash's other stars had way too many clear paths to the basket) and in particular, the fine play of frosh Brandon Roughley and Declan Porter, who are only going to get better as they become bigger parts of the Williams offense going forward.  They both had VERY strong NCAA tourney runs. 

[WPI89]

Nuts. Sorry. Yeah I typed that at 43-42. Then boom.

[names jaismith]

Congrats to Williams on a great season.  In Wabash they just met their match, and then some.  Wabash gave away a lot of size but they made up for it with great passing, quickness and an excellent job on the defensive boards.  Ephs kept Wabash's star from scoring a ton, but he is a really great player and was able to set up his teammates with many many easy shots. 

[SpringSt7]

Just as expected, Williams holds Jack Davidson to just 11 points and loses by double digits.

For the Ephs, it was unfortunately many of their flaws rearing their head at the wrong time. The guard play was shaky and looked sped up for much of the game. Nate Karren had a tremendous sophomore season but really struggled from the NESCAC championship game and onward, his touch in the post seemed to betray him down the stretch. Cole Prowitt-Smith's streaky shooting trended the wrong way as well.

Early on the game looked like it was playing exactly how Williams wanted it. Karren scored inside easily twice and Brandon Roughley was getting every he wanted, scoring 16 points on 7-9 shooting. Spencer Spivy did a superb job keeping Davidson from getting any separation. They led 43-42 with 12 minutes left in the second half. But then Wabash made a couple shots and a couple Williams turnovers really got the impressively large Wabash crowd going and there just wasn't enough offense left for Williams, who, despite its size, was unable to counter the Giants' on-ball pressure and settle down enough to get comfortable looks. They were able to get the ball inside but every finish was rushed and awkward. They also shot poorly from 3 but they were not the open looks they usually hope to get.

Despite the loss it would be hard to characterize this season as anything but a success. A realistic goal before the season would've been to see the young guys (although I am apparently now obligated to mention that some of them did a 5th year of high school) take a step forward and play in important games in March. They undoubtably accomplished both of those things. The target will now return to being squarely on their backs on what should be a preseason top 5-10 team in the country for the next two years, it will just be about continuing to grow and mesh as a group that now has some NCAA experience under their belts.

[Old Guy]

Hard not to be impressed with Wabash. They just couldn't miss in that 20-0 second half blitz. Perhaps most impressive is that Wabash can overcome the enormous disadvantage of having the ugliest uniforms in college basketball (1940s? I mistook Davidson for Hank Luisetti).

Roughley shone for Williams in defeat. That's hard for Midd fans. He attended Salisbury School whose coach is Kyle Dudley, Midd basketball alum on great teams and then a five year assistant for Jeff Brown. There are those who thought we might have a shot at him, hoping he might not want to join the redundancy of 6'8" fellows in Eph-land. Turns out he may be at the head of the class, alas. He's a good one.

[Old Guy]

Just watched a fabulous Sweet Sixteen game, Case Western Reserve University vs Mary Hardin-Baylor. I am an alum of CWRU (grad school). I remember Mary Hardin-Baylor because they were defeated by Amherst when the LJs won the national championship in Atlanta in 2013 with Young Guy and me in attendance. Tonight MHB won in OT 89-84. CWRU was victimized on two occasions by officiating mistakes that had some impact (that's not sour grapes: I am really not that partisan). A terrific well-played back and forth game.

The immediate appeal for me of CWRU is that their point guard is Griffin Kornaker (Midd 2021) who has taken advantage of the Covid fifth year exemption by attending CWRU as a grad student. He slotted right in as a true point guard and has had a terrific season as a distributor, not a scorer. They have scorers. What they needed was someone to organize the offense, and Grif has done that beautifully. Tonight he played 35 minutes and scored just three points, on 1-3 shooting. He had 7 assists and the ball in his hands bringing it up and starting the offense all game. For the season, he played 32 minutes a game, averaged 6.3 assists against 2.7 TOs. The AD at CWRU is Amy Backus who coached women's hoop, and she told me in a conversation earlier in the year that CWRU had been desperate for a PG the last few years — and finally they got one in Grif, if only for this year. Nice story.

Another terrific player for that extraordinary Midd senior class, 2021, who lost their last season to Covid, Tommy Eastman (2nd team All-NESCAC) also played this season as a grad student, at Brandeis. Though the Judges didn't make the tournament, they had a nice season, 15-9. Tommy was arguably their best player, leading the team in scoring (15.8 ppg) with 7.2 rpg. He missed five games to injury. Midd fans would have loved to see more than one year of him.

[jumpshot]

Really proud of this year's EPHS who reinforced the Williams culture of team play, being a good teammate, hard work, and joy in the experience.
Lots of life-long memories, friendships, and learning. At the end of the day, it is all about competing, maturing, and developing as a person. What is remarkable is the gift offered to all Williams student/athletes by sustaining a tradition of excellence. Thanks to Coach App, the assistant coaches, players, and Williams community for creating such value so consistently.

Stay tuned, more to come ....

[toad22]

One of the few high points in the Williams-Wabash game was the fact that there were quite a few time when Willians was playing three freshmen and two sophomores. This was always a learning year for this group of players. The youngest Williams team I can remember. The future is bright.

[JEFFFAN]

We lost one of our brethren recently as Polbear73 passed away.   A Bowdoin graduate from the early 70s, he was a football player on one of the finer teams in Bowdoin history – the 1970 team that went 6-1.   He loved Bowdoin and in the face of difficult evidence to the contrary, hope always sprang eternal with him about the program.   Each late summer brought optimism to his voice about the upcoming season.  He was an avid Bowdoin fan of all sports, and he enjoyed speaking with (fake) disdain about his dislike of Amherst and Williams.  The Fall 2021 Bowdoin defeat of Amherst brought him great joy!  He also understood the values of the NESCAC schools and the role that athletics play in these fine schools.  RIP my friend.

(Posting on the football and hoops boards.)

[WPI89]

Rest easy, Polbear73! 

[P'bearfan]

We lost one of our brethren recently as Polbear73 passed away.   A Bowdoin graduate from the early 70s, he was a football player on one of the finer teams in Bowdoin history – the 1970 team that went 6-1.   He loved Bowdoin and in the face of difficult evidence to the contrary, hope always sprang eternal with him about the program.   Each late summer brought optimism to his voice about the upcoming season.  He was an avid Bowdoin fan of all sports, and he enjoyed speaking with (fake) disdain about his dislike of Amherst and Williams.  The Fall 2021 Bowdoin defeat of Amherst brought him great joy!  He also understood the values of the NESCAC schools and the role that athletics play in these fine schools.  RIP my friend.

(Posting on the football and hoops boards.)

So sorry to hear this and condolences to his family.  While we never met, Polbear73 sent me a very kind note after my son's Senior Day game.  It was an unexpected and gracious gesture.  I still read it from time to time.

[SpringSt7]

Wesleyan's Sam Peek sweeps the NABC and d3hoops.com All-Region Player of the Year awards while Joe Reilly and Kevin App split the Coach of the Year honors.

Full teams here:

NABC: https://nabc.com/nabc_releases/2022/nabc-division-iii-all-district-teams-coaches-announced/

D3Hoops: https://d3hoops.com/awards/all-region/2021-22/region-1-men

[SpringSt7]

Hoop Dirt is reporting that Colby HC Damian Strahorn is the leading candidate for the Maine head coaching vacancy. Whoa!

https://hoopdirt.com/daily-dirt-3-18-22/