MBB: NESCAC

[JEFFFAN]

Neither Maker nor Toomey ever had one iota of a chance.   It was an inside, rigged game the whole time.

Old Guy ... did you mean THIS play?

https://youtu.be/M3xeop5q-Pk

[stlawus]

Look at how baggy the shorts were lol.  The uniform styles have definitely changed since then.

[toad22]

Neither Maker nor Toomey ever had one iota of a chance.   It was an inside, rigged game the whole time.

Old Guy ... did you mean THIS play?

https://youtu.be/M3xeop5q-Pk

One of the greatest plays ever pulled off in a NESCAC basketball game.

[SpringSt7]

Just imagine what Mike Maker could have done had he been hired . . .

Or Aaron Toomey...

I've heard all the same great things about Toomey as a person and I am sure he would have the program in a much better place right now than Sears were, but he didn't exactly ace his tryout in 2019-20 with flying colors. I continue to be perplexed with Hixon's decision to let Toomey prove himself with a preseason top 5 team in which any real ability to earn any credit with the AD would be masked by their lofty expectations. It was a lose-lose, but he didn't do much to show he should've been the coach anyways.

[nescac1]

Regarding Toomey (and in Sears' defense, although there is certainly fair grounds for critique), I do note that as lead recruiter, while he did bring in some great players, he didn't leave Sears with much to work with in his last three recruiting classes, especially relative to the massive all-American star power we were accustomed to seeing on Amherst rosters before the last few years.  The Robinson/Day class stuck around for a fifth year, and was certainly a great class, but the next three classes were:

Allen/Schretter/Phelan/Zarroug
Schlakman/Maguire/Oranye
Alausa/Sommers

Some solid contributors, but no guys who are making a major impact in the current rotation other than Sommers, who is starting and the second leading scorer on the team -- and the only one of the top EIGHT scorers who Sears did not personally recruit.  Now maybe some of those guys would be a better fit under the coach who recruited them (Schretter and Allen for example seemed to have more success as players under the prior regime) and some have had bad luck with injuries, but regardless, I think Sears does at least deserve to have his own recruits become upperclassmen before he is fully judged as a coach.  Amherst is getting a COMBINED 9 ppg from ALL of its upperclassmen (Sommers took a gap year so is currently a soph), so the team can only get better over the next two years. 

Turning to the rest of NESCAC, a strong first semester for the league as a whole: the top five teams are 11-0, 11-1, 11-1, 10-1 and 9-2 (with one loss to D1 Harvard).  And most of the rest of the league has at least held its own, as the bottom six teams are still, collectively, above .500, which is important for the entire league's SOS.  Five teams are at least in a position to fight for Pool C bids, depending on how the second semester goes ... I think NESCAC will ultimately be at least a two-bid league, likely a three-bid league, and MAYBE a four-bid league if everything breaks exactly right.  I note that Trinity was missing Callahan-Gold this weekend (still swept both games v. weak competition), and if he is seriously hurt, that is big trouble for the Bants, who can afford very few losses given how weak their non-league schedule was.

A few notable points from the national stats:

Williams and Conn are 3rd and 8th nationally, respectively, in points allowed.  Williams is fifth nationally in scoring margin, and Trinity is tied for 8th.  Williams, Trinity and Midd are 2-10-11 in opponents' FG percentage.  Midd, Amherst, and Trinity are 1, 4, and 11 in rebounding margin (Midd with a crazy +15 rebounding edge per game). 

Individually, Alex Sobel has obviously been the dominant player in the conference ... he is 2nd nationally in BPG, 4th nationally in RPG, 4th nationally in double-doubles, and 35th in PPG.  On track for a sure-fire first-team all-American season. 

Finally, Declan Porter is 5th nationally in three pointers per game, on incredible shooting efficiency.  He just misses having enough assists to qualify, but his assist-TO ratio is absurd and would also be among the best, nationally. 

[ThumannsOwn]

Neither Maker nor Toomey ever had one iota of a chance.   It was an inside, rigged game the whole time.

Old Guy ... did you mean THIS play?

https://youtu.be/M3xeop5q-Pk

True dat on the rigged coach selection!

[ThumannsOwn]

Just imagine what Mike Maker could have done had he been hired . . .

Or Aaron Toomey...

I've heard all the same great things about Toomey as a person and I am sure he would have the program in a much better place right now than Sears were, but he didn't exactly ace his tryout in 2019-20 with flying colors. I continue to be perplexed with Hixon's decision to let Toomey prove himself with a preseason top 5 team in which any real ability to earn any credit with the AD would be masked by their lofty expectations. It was a lose-lose, but he didn't do much to show he should've been the coach anyways.

Curious to know if you think Sears "aced his tryout" over the course of his job hopping career, particularly the head coaching part of it prior to Amherst when he went 59-46.

[SpringSt7]

At the time I said I found Sears' resume to be underwhelming, but putting Toomey's in the same breath as Mike Maker or Larry Anderson or any of the number of other great coaches that had interest in the job (yes I know Anderson pulled out), is a little different. It is silly and disrespectful the way they seemed to totally ignore Toomey and the Hixon tree from the start, but to pretend like not offering Maker the job isn't the most egregious part of the coaching search is wrong.

Also, as others have mentioned before, if Toomey was such a slam dunk coaching candidate at one of the best programs in the country in 2020, he would have been a head coach somewhere else by now.

[Homer]

I didn't mean to put Toomey in the same class as Maker. IMO, either would have been better than Sears. Maker was a no-brainer. Athletic excellence took a back seat to diversity while Biddy Martin was President. All the Mammoths and, especially, the Lord Jeffs are wondering what's in store with the new President, Mike Elliot, an alumnus. We're all looking forward to the Williams game next Friday.

[toad22]

At the time I said I found Sears' resume to be underwhelming, but putting Toomey's in the same breath as Mike Maker or Larry Anderson or any of the number of other great coaches that had interest in the job (yes I know Anderson pulled out), is a little different. It is silly and disrespectful the way they seemed to totally ignore Toomey and the Hixon tree from the start, but to pretend like not offering Maker the job isn't the most egregious part of the coaching search is wrong.

Also, as others have mentioned before, if Toomey was such a slam dunk coaching candidate at one of the best programs in the country in 2020, he would have been a head coach somewhere else by now.

I agree that Maker should have been a slam dunk for the Amherst job. However, I don't think many people thought that Toomey would get the job because of his already finely tuned coaching skills. He would get the job much the same way Hixon got the job fifty years ago. He was in the family. He was Amherst's own, he was very young, but he would learn as he went. He would be expected to stay at Amherst a long time, and perhaps mentor the next coach, also from inside the Amherst family.

The Amherst administration decided to ignore the best candidate, the insider candidate, and go a different way.

[Old Guy]

Neither Maker nor Toomey ever had one iota of a chance.   It was an inside, rigged game the whole time.

Old Guy ... did you mean THIS play?

https://youtu.be/M3xeop5q-Pk

You had to do that, JEFFFan. It's New Year's Eve. Thanksalot. Wrecked my night.  Did you see that game by any chance? Full house. Back and forth. Knock out blow after knock out blow: big shot after big shot. Ali-Frazier. I spent the next week in bed, recovering. A win next week for the Panthers in Lafrak will hardly compensate in full, but every little bit helps! Happy New Year!

[middhoops]

Damn guys, it's been almost a decade and I'm not over that night yet. 
Let's go back to dissecting the present Amherst situation.  Or lauding Alex Sobel.
But, OG, my fave stat of that game was Nolan Thompson's 55 minute night of heroic defense.

[mathteacherjedi]

Anyone know why the top 25 scoreboard lists CNU as #1 and Williams as #5?

[SpringSt7]

The scoreboard rankings have lagged behind the actual rankings by a few weeks all season. Would be nice if that got tightened up once we start really thinking about Pool C.

[JEFFFAN]

Neither Maker nor Toomey ever had one iota of a chance.   It was an inside, rigged game the whole time.

Old Guy ... did you mean THIS play?

https://youtu.be/M3xeop5q-Pk

You had to do that, JEFFFan. It's New Year's Eve. Thanksalot. Wrecked my night.  Did you see that game by any chance? Full house. Back and forth. Knock out blow after knock out blow: big shot after big shot. Ali-Frazier. I spent the next week in bed, recovering. A win next week for the Panthers in Lafrak will hardly compensate in full, but every little bit helps! Happy New Year!

Sorry but all in good fun.   I did watch that game live on my computer - remarkable play.   I bumped into Hixon two summers ago after he retired - he even commented on that play with a head shake and a laugh as we chatted about his career.  I believe that Workman had a decent run in European basketball but don't hold me to that.

Hixon would still be coaching if not for the extracurricular stuff that he and the rest of the Amherst coaching staff were increasingly subject to.