MBB: NESCAC

[SpringSt7]

With just one game remaining in the first semester league wide, I thought I would take a crack at what all-league looks like through this point in the season. To clarify, this is based exclusively on the first third of the season and not predictive of the rest of the season. I fully expect certain players, such as Sam Stevens and Brandon Roughley, to improve as we move into league play.

POY: Sobel
COY: App
ROY: Poulton
DPOY: Sobel

1st Team: Sobel, Thoerner, Porter, Morgan, Karren
2nd Team: Callahan-Gold, McGowan, Murray, Johnson, Tyson
HMs: Prowitt-Smith, Baxter, Poulton, Champion, Redd

Was pleasantly surprised at how much depth there was at the bottom of the league--I was fully expected to have at least 3 Ephs and maybe a 4th on the list but there are enough players producing at a very respectable level that warrant consideration. Was really impressed in particular with David Murray's stat line: 12.4/6.7 with 1.5 blocks and 1 steal a game on a staggering 68% from the field. If Conn can get a little better efficiency from their 3pt specialists in Whelan and Rice, they have as good of a claim to being in the 4-6 range of the league as anyone. They have admittedly played an extremely light schedule but it has been a while since Conn was 8-2, regardless of their SOS.

[mathteacherjedi]

Ok, so we're in a lull in the season, so here's a question that's been bugging me since last year: what happened to Duncan Robinson's in the NBA playoffs last year?

He opened the playoffs with 27 points in 23 minutes in Game 1 against the Hawks going 8-9 from the three. He then gets 7, 14, 9 and 13 minutes in the next four games. He didn't shoot great, but also got a low number of shots (except in game 5). Did the Hawks figure him out? Did he go cold? Was he hurt? Anyone know the story?   

[stlawus]

Simple regression. 

Robinson is a pretty big defensive liability, he was able to get by on 2 great high volume 3PT shooting years that Spoelstra didn't have to worry about his defense hurting the team that much.  Now his shooting metrics have regressed pretty hard and his defense has remained poor that there's not a lot of reason for him to get the minutes he once did. This dynamic played out in the playoffs.  Just bad timing getting cold and so far it's looking like that's how his game is going forward.  Maybe he gets back to 40+% from 3, but time will tell.

[Sabrina76]

Totally agree. Strus is more athletic and at this point not shooting that much worse. Ironically, the team hasn't fared as well since DR has been relegated to the bench.

[SpringSt7]

The thing I find odd with Duncan is that he has always been lauded for his off ball movement and non stop cutting---which is a lot more reliable than the 3 point shot. You would think there would still be value in that. Yes, you don't guard him and worry about him the same way when his percentages have dropped but I have a hard time believing teams are guarding him too differently--they know how dangerous he can be.

Strus is definitely a factor but there is also the Heat having to find a continued increasing role for Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, not to mention DR's emergence occurred before Kyle Lowry, another ball dominant guard, arrived in Miami.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Robinson got his contract in part because he'd worked hard to become a passable NBA defender and could create a little bit, but if you're consistently the weakest defender on the floor, NBA teams are going to figure out how to exploit you. He kind of reached his peak in terms of defensive ability and it's not enough to sustain the role they were paying him to play.

[jumpshot]

Insiders know there are lots of ups and downs in a professional athlete's career. Everything that happened yesterday is history. What matters is performance going forward. Last night, for example, Duncan Robinson made several huge threes and key assists in the third and fourth quarters of Miami's win. Roles, skills, match-ups, line-ups, depth, injuries, etc., are not static, instead fluid dependent upon numerous factors. Stay tuned for the duration, then make your best assessment.

[jayhawk]

another Amherst College guard commit's  perfomance highlighted in twitter account of New England Recruiting Report

NERR
@NERRHoops
·
2m
Footage of Amherst commit & @nobles_hoops
guard Marc Garraud's recent 36 point performance.
Quote Tweet
Marc Garraud
@MarcGarraud1
·
5h
36 points against a tough Choate team! 13/18 FG 6/7 3pt FG. @Hudl  https://hudl.com/video/3/11905666/639ffbc3664cd40aecbad2ea
#hudl

[ThumannsOwn]

Amherst is certainly pretty bad right now, but the hope for them lies in the fact that their five starters and top eight scorers (and ten of their top eleven) are underclassmen, and seven of those top eleven guys are 6'6 or taller.  So they are really two years away from having a veteran-heavy squad.  Randle, while he has a long way to go, in particular has a ton of upside ... there just aren't many 7'1 guys who are coordinated and can shoot from 3 hanging around Division 3.  But, the team will continue to have some growing pains this year while all those raw young players gain experience.  Sears seems to have finally gone all in on his youth movement, mixing in very few veteran minutes (maybe heading towards none), which seems like the right way to go. 

Will be interesting to see if Coach Sears is still around in a few years to see his freshman/sophomore classes through Amherst. Still a very tough act to follow in Coach Hixon, who was actually just nominated again as an eligibile candidate for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023 - https://www.nba.com/news/hall-of-fame-announces-eligible-2023-candidates.

[JEFFFAN]

another Amherst College guard commit's  perfomance highlighted in twitter account of New England Recruiting Report

NERR
@NERRHoops
·
2m
Footage of Amherst commit & @nobles_hoops
guard Marc Garraud's recent 36 point performance.
Quote Tweet
Marc Garraud
@MarcGarraud1
·
5h
36 points against a tough Choate team! 13/18 FG 6/7 3pt FG. @Hudl  https://hudl.com/video/3/11905666/639ffbc3664cd40aecbad2ea
#hudl

Kid would be the best player on the current Amherst team right now!

[nescac1]

Updated list of announced E.D. NESCAC recruits.  A pretty small list with several schools missing entirely, so must be others out there as well.  But definitely some solid talent coming in:

Amherst:

Nate Pablis, 6'6 SG, Flint Hill (VA)
Johnny McCain, 6'0 G, Canterbury (#19 Connecticut)
Marc Garraud, 5'8 G, Noble and Greenough

Bowdoin:

Justus Bardauskas, 6'7 F, Loomis Chaffee (#49 New England, #17 Connecticut)
Ben Chilson: 6-5 SG, Tunkhannock (PA)

Colby:

Marcos Montiel, 6'3 G, Brooks School
Sam Hinman, 6'0 G, St. Sebastian's
Matt Lamy, 6'4 G, St. Paul's School (#20 in N.H.)
Kam Rodriguez, 5'9 G, Berkshire School
Savion Stroud, 6'2 G, St. Paul's School

Hamilton:

Connor Jenkins, 6'5 F, Willison Northampton

Middlebury:

Ian Murray, 6'3 G, Governors Academy
Kuba Cwalina, 6'5 G, Archbishop Malloy (NY)

Tufts:

Liam Kennelly, 5'11 PG, Millbrook School
Jon Medley, 6'2 G, Wilbraham & Monson

Wesleyan:

Jack Williamson, 6'2 G, Williston Northampton
Hunter Fleming, 6'8 C, Northfield Mount Herman

Williams:

Matt Devine, 6'4 G, Berkshire School
Tyler Van Gorp, 6'10 C, New Trier (IL)

[quicksilver]

Here is another one for Bowdoin: Ben Chilson: 6-5 SG, Tunkhannock (PA) HS

https://twitter.com/BenChilson10

[nescac1]

Chilson looks like an ace shooter.  He and Bardauskas look like two high-level recruits for Bowdoin.  It will take another year or two I suspect, but I like the direction the new coach has that program headed. 

Amherst loses at Santa Cruz as a last second potential game-winning three just misses.  Another tough one for the Mammoths.  One of the weirdest courts I've ever seen, at Santa Cruz, quite beautiful but I would think that backdrop has to be distracting! 

[saratoga]

Looks like Kuba Cwalina (Middlebury) has a sister at Amherst who's doing quite nicely.
Would have made drop-off & pick-up day a lot easier for mom & dad if he chose Amherst as well. 

[nescac1]

Really strong non-conference slate for NESCAC teams today:

Williams plays at Clark, which is 8-1, with the only loss coming in OT to Tufts
Conn plays at #16 Emory
Midd plays New Paltz, which is 7-2 and on a six game win streak, on a neutral court
Bates hosts Marietta, a bit down from its usual level this year but still a very solid team
Tufts is at Yeshiva, which is a tough road test
Hamilton is at Salisbury, which looks like a competitive game as well