MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

Quick comment as the Winter sports start....the Amherst roster shows a "big" front court...a number of tall FY players.  A number of DC/MD/Va. players and an early Arlington, Va. tournament.  Should be an interesting/fun season.

[SpringSt7]

My best effort at all-league with the season right around the corner...

POY: Sobel (Expect him to have a legit chance to win even if Midd does not win the league)
COY: App
DPOY: Johnson

1st Team: Sobel, Karren, Johnson, King, Callahan-Gold

2nd Team: Stevens, Roughley, Anderson, Thoerner, Flynn

Interesting year ahead of us both for the teams and the individuals. Obviously due to COVID there is now a pile up of experienced players who have been in the league for a while but have not seen their roles expand. Will we see some late bloomers? Or have a lot of these guys somewhat reached their peaks?

As for teams, Williams is the clear favorite on paper and Middlebury is clearly #2 but that is never how it seems to work out in reality. Outside of those two teams I expect Colby, Wesleyan, and Trinity to contend most closely for Pool C bids with a nod towards Wesleyan's experience and pedigree allowing them to stand out.

My dark horse? The Hamilton Continentals. They went 4-6 in league last year and 12-13 overall but return 8 of their top 10 scorers led by Eric Anderson who I think has been my breakout candidate for about 4 years. Additionally, 6 of their 10 league games are at home and that is always a brutal place to road trip to for a Saturday game. I don't know quite what their ceiling is but I expect them to be much improved this season.

[middhoops]

Sam Peek has played 3 games for D1 Stetson already.  He had 7 points in 18 minutes in his first game and a combined 2 points in 12 minute stints in the 2nd and 3rd games.
Clearly, he's part of the rotation on a team that's 3-0.  One win was over Florida State on the road.
Kudos to him, making the NESCAC look good.

[Colby Hoops]

Opening night for Colby tonight against St. Joes (ME) coached by former Colby assistant Tyler Ackley.

Hard to get a good read on the Mules coming off a disappointing year. They have the talent and upperclassmen to be as good as anyone in the league (excluding Williams), but that would require a big bounce back. The interior defense and rebounding was very poor last year and they shot the ball poorly from three overall. The first two can be covered up by elite shooting/offense, but my concern is that there are a lot of decent/good shooters, but nobody elite. The freshman Max Poulton has a reputation as a great shooter, so that may help and several players could bump up a few notches this year to make a difference. Finally, a healthy Will King should make a big difference this year -- I'd like to see him operate with the ball as much as possible this year, with some more aggressiveness as a scorer.

Rotation will be interesting. Noah Tyson and Will King will get as many minutes as they can handle and I expect Jack Lawson will take another step forward -- he's going to be an all-league caliber player sooner rather than later. Started strong, but had a rough conference season (not a lot of easy nights for a freshman big man in the Nescac last year given all of the talent). After that, it's several guys who have experience but haven't shown a ton of consistency -- Alec McGovern, Kyle Butler, Lucas Green, Jonah Obi, Cooper Wirkala and Henry Westrich. Poulton will also likely get minutes out of the gate. Early part of the season will be trying to find some consistency from that group.

One other note is that David Basich, who had a promising start to last season is no longer on the roster. He missed the second half of last season, but was a good and fiery defensive player.

I think we'll see a much better team than last year, but certainly some questions to answer to see how much better.

[nescac1]

Early season NESCAC thoughts:

Looking impressive so far: Tufts and Trinity.  Tufts, coming back from a big deficit to beat a very good, very veteran Emerson team is impressive.  Thoerner is a star and while they don't seem to have a second star, they do go deep with quality players at every position.  Trinity has the most impressive win of the young season, blowing out a very talented Nichols team.  Trinity played three frosh in its rotation so an infusion of talent seems to be helping.  Trinity's schedule is ridiculously soft and at that, ridiculously back-loaded, so I think they could have a very gaudy record after 17 games, all of which they are likely to be favored in. 

Teams looking pretty rough so far: looks likely to be a long year for a young Bowdoin squad.  It's going to be a multi-year rebuilt.  Bates lost a ton from its frontcourt (which wasn't exactly a huge strength last year), and it's unclear where the frontcourt scoring is going to come from this year.  If either make the NESCAC tourney, that's a good year. 

Wesleyan seems significantly worse than last year.  Obviously, an all-American like Sam Peek is an enormous loss, but after watching them play Swarthmore, I think Jordan James may be missed even more.  He was an automatic deuce whenever he got the ball close to the rim last year, especially on team-igniting lob plays, and was a very intimidating presence at the rim on defense.  This year's bigs looks like fine players but don't offer that physical dimension on either end.  Nicky Johnson looked electric but was trying to do too much on his own on both ends, having to finish in the paint rather than find teammates to complete plays like last year, likely out of necessity without a lot of shot creation around him.  It did not help that Maccoux was out and appeared to be wearing some sort of neck brace on the sideline, not a great sign for an imminent return.  One huge bright spot was Sam Pohlman, who looks like he will be one of the top rookies in NESCAC.  He should move into a starting role soon and he and Johnson (averaging 40 mpg through two games!) will form a dynamite backcourt duo for the next three years.  He plays with a lot of poise and craftiness and is very aggressive attacking the rim.  Does not seem like an outside shooter, yet.  Indeed, shooting may be a problem for Wesleyan all year -- only 22 percent from 3 through two games, and Ravetz may be the only high-volume outside shooter in the entire rotation. Wesleyan has some tough games ahead over the next month so will need to figure things out quickly.   

Jury still out on everyone else.  Hamilton had a huge blow out vs. a bad team as they often seem to have this time of year.  They should at least be better offensively this year; lots of shooters.  Amherst played 13 guys and it's entirely unclear what, ultimately, their lineup will be, not to mention who their go-to scorers will be.  Another team like Trinity with an easy early schedule so plenty of time for Sears to experiment. Colby Hoops has shared already thoughts on Colby and Conn seems very similar to last year, albeit a year older.  Midd and Williams, we wait and see on! 

[JEFFFAN]

My observation of the one Amherst game is that they are young, young, and younger.   Coaching staff is clearly in rebuilding mode as 8 of the top 9 "total minutes" players were sophomores or freshmen.  No clue whether they are any good as players, but pretty clear this year will not be very pretty on the court as they try to build for next year and beyond.

[Colby Hoops]

Couple of quick notes from Colby's opening weekend.

• Defense looks rusty to say the least -- gave up 63% shooting in the opener and were lucky to escape with a win. That's going to have to improve (which it did a bit against Castelton) for this team to be good.
• Max Poulton looks like a player, really promising first two games and he'll play a major role this year.
• One aggressive scoring game from Will King, one not so much. Wish there were a little more straight pick and roll with him -- good thing happens when he has the ball.
• Slow start from Jack Lawson and not a ton of minutes, surprised by that. Maybe in part because Jonah Obi had a strong first two games.
• Not exactly a dream start to the year -- but always tough to base too much off a couple opening games. And 2-0 is 2-0, not matter how it looked.

.

[nescac1]

Agree with Colby Hoops that I would put the ball in Will King's hands a ton.  He always hurts the Ephs when he creates things off the dribble.  And speaking of Poulton, here is a VERY early list of first-years to keep an eye on based on reputations combined with early results:

Top ROY contenders: Max Poulton, Colby; Sam Pohlman, Wesleyan; Hudson Hansen, Williams; James Morakis, Tufts; Charlie Randall, Amherst; Garret Keyhani, Hamilton. 

Other guys who may emerge: Henry Vetter, Trevor McDonald and Jarrel Okorougu, Trinity; Jaden Hill, Bowdoin; Evan Flaks, Tristan Joseph and Jackson McKersie, Middlebury; Ben McGraw and Alex Lee, Williams; Chris Hammond, Amherst; Josh Bernstein, Tufts; Brady Coyne, Bates. 

[jumpshot]

Lots to like in the Ephs opening night win at Worcester State that had already played three games ...50% shooting, only 2 turnovers. 26 assists, impressive debuts by Hudson Hansen and Ben McGraw, solid game from Brandon Arnold, and others. Excellent energy on defense. Stay turned to this group of good teammates....

[nescac1]

Agree with jumpshot.  The Ephs looked rusty in the first half then came out and just took it to WSU in the second.  What's most encouraging for the Ephs is that Karren, Prowitt-Smith, and Porter all had quiet games, and Roughley and Stoddard are out with injuries, so this team looks really deep, getting scoring from guys who were not on the roster or were not big contributors last year.  Spencer Spivy was the best player on the floor.  He has gotten stronger and stronger attacking the rim each year, and now he is really punishing teams inside, he keeps his balance through contact so much better than he did even a year ago. He looked very confident out there and is going to draw a lot of fouls if he keep playing that aggressively.  Brandon Arnold also looks much improved, blocking or altering several shots on defense and doing a nice job finishing off feeds from teammates inside.

The Eph frosh look really good, in particular, Hansen.  In just his first game he had a variety of plays, including a thunderous dunk off an explosive move to the rim that absolutely should have been an and-one (Worcester State was really physical, a lot of contact all game long) and several very nifty finishes inside either off drives or post moves.  Also had some really nice passes in the lane.  Alex Lee looks fearless out there and seems like he will be a good creator off the dribble.  Ben McGraw has a very sweet, effortless jumper and drained two triples.  All three frosh felt like they belonged on the floor from their first minute playing college ball. 

Overall a very solid first game on the road vs. a team that took WPI to the wire. 

[middhoops]

Yup, Hudson Hansen looks like he's going to be a force.  As if the Ephs needed another stud on this already stacked roster.
Not sure where App is going to find enough minutes to play so many talented guys.

[toad22]

Just got home from the Eph game. By the standard of first games at Williams, this was a good one. WSU was a good team and they played us hard. Nearly the entire roster contributed to this win tonight, but my favorite players tonight were Spencer Spivy, Brandon Arnold, and Hudson Hansen. Spivy was the top scorer and the leader. Arnold was very tough on defense and offense, and Hansen provided a huge jolt of energy whenever he was in the game. This was a great way for Williams to begin.

[SpringSt7]

Ephs drill a bad Clark Summit team in their home opener. Not much to take from this other than the fact that once again this team can really shoot it and they have a bunch of guys that can lead the team in scoring. It has already been two different guys in Spencer Spivy and Declan Porter and I am willing to bet that 6 or even 7 guys will lead the team in scoring on a different night this season.

It will be nice to learn more once the competition improves next week but early returns: this team reminds me a lot of the 2017 final four team, which was not necessarily App's most talented team but it was certainly his deepest. This team just seems to have everything you might need on a given day: size, shooting, guys whose job it is to defend, guys whose job it is to distribute, etc.,. Just a fun mix. Will be exciting to see them develop and what they look like at full strength.

[nescac1]

SpringSt7 missed the big news of the Williams game, the announcers said that Declan Porter (who had a great all around game) is training to be a professional corn hole player.  I didn't realize that was a thing but pity the corn hole players who show up to see Declan across the (pitch? I don't know what a corn hole playing field is officially called). 

Great chance for Williams' deep bench to get some run today, with four guys missing due to injuries (obviously, the Ephs will want those guys back soon as they include some key players).  Everyone on the roster scored and the frosh continued to impress.  Alex Lee had a great game and looks like he could be a star point guard down the road.  Adds a lot of pace and aggression in the backcourt and is a heady player.  Ben McGraw continues to look like a nice offensive threat off the bench, with four triples in two games.  And Sammy Cooley scored on two strong takes to the basket, he looks very comfortable going to the rim and is built like a tank.   

Suny Dehli is a much better team than Clark Summit so with the guys Williams is missing, tomorrow's game may be a lot more interesting. 

[middhoops]

Middlebury couldn't hit a shot against Westfield St. in their opener on the road.  But...Sobel and Brennan were beyond dominant on the boards.  They had 29 rebounds and 14 offensive boards between 'em.
Freshman Jackson McKersie looked credible backing up Sobel in his first game.
Oh, Middlebury won by 7 in a mudbowl of a game.