MBB: NESCAC

[Greek Tragedy]

Good stuff like usual.

[Old Guy]

Old Guy: You undersold Brennan's output by a lot! He had 21 rebounds, not 15.
[/quote]

Brain cramp. I repeated the line of the Gull's Elijah Kenny. Nice one-minute highlight package here of Brennan's spirited play.

https://athletics.middlebury.edu/news/2023/11/27/mens-basketball-david-brennan-secures-nescac-player-of-the-week.aspx

He will will be fun to watch this year as he is the main man on the boards, whereas last year he was second fiddle to Sobel who drew so much attention (though a strong second fiddle). He plays so hard. I'm sure he draws other coaches' envy.

[nescac1]

Three NESCAC squads in top 25:

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2023-24/week1

Big December games still coming up for Williams (Wesleyan and Redlands) and Tufts (WPI, Clark, St Joes, Keene).  Trinity meanwhile has a chance to really pad its record. 

[toad22]

Tonight is a good test for the Ephs. Emmanuel is a good team that beat Bowdoin fairly handily. They don't have a lot of depth, but all of their starters are very good players. So far, Williams has been very good on defense, and not terribly effective on offense. More offense may be required to defeat this opponent. Our two senior stars, Nate Karon and Cole Prowitt-Smith, will, hopefully, start to ramp up their games toward the effectiveness of prior years.

[nescac1]

Williams has had way too many first halves like that in this calendar year -- Tufts, Middlebury, Colby, and now Emmanuel, teams that were not better than them overall yet were able to dominate for the first 20 minutes.  When things go south early in games with this team, they seem to REALLY go south, they don't have that one guy who can just break a bad streak and go and get a bucket by himself. 

[nescac1]

Well, unlike the three horrific first halves from last year, this time, the Ephs had enough in the tank to come all the way back.  Can't say I saw that coming as Emmanuel just seemed too quick for Williams through 20 minutes.   Really awesome second half for Williams after a rough start  The big difference was defense, which was uncharacteristically non-existent in the first half, but air tight for most of the second -- Emmanuel hit some really tough jumpers but got nothing easy after seeing wide open looks throughout the first half.  Definitely some good adjustments made at halftime defensively. 

For Williams, the three point shooting FINALLY got going in the second half and the Ephs are a totally different teams when the shots start falling.  A scorching 7-9 from three in that half including two huge late ones from Nate Karren and a big one as well from Sammy Cooley.  Ephs shot a scorching 68 percent from the field in the second half led by tremendous guard play by Cole Prowitt-Smith, who was player of the game with easily his best game of the season, Alex Lee, who continues to bring it every game, and Evan Glatzer, all of whom drove to the rim at will and finished at the rim beautifully (at least in the second half).  The front court had a very tough time of it today, missing badly or turning it over in the paint, so the Ephs really needed the guards to bring it, and all three did.

Sammy Cooley and Brandon Arnold were keys off the bench, both played tremendous defense and made a lot of effort plays. Those guys don't put up huge stats but are huge intangible players and both have really made a difference with their intensity and toughness.

Hopefully the second half unlocks something for Williams going forward.  But the Ephs need to really lock in in these first halves as well! 

For Emmanuel, Dante Pope was excellent.  Not sure that Roughley was really the right matchup for him to start the game, but once Williams played smaller guys on him he did less damage overall.  Grjvala also had a nice outing. 

Solid night overall for NESCAC with a huge win for Tufts over WPI.  Tufts and Trinity, both undefeated and with ease, seem to be the class of the league right now, with Williams and Wesleyan a bit up and down but with the talent to compete when they bring their A games ...

[jumbomumbo]

Great win on the road for the Jumbos over #12 WPI - who were in control from start to finish in a physical clash of similar playing styles. Tufts enjoyed a 48-35 advantage on the boards and held WPI to its worst shooting of the season and the Engineers shot 34.5% from the floor. This included a 12-2 edge in fast break points and a 11-3 differential in second chance points.

They choked WPI's offense and offensively were able to win the inside battle against a really good player in Adams. But Tufts has 4 big men who all impact the game in different ways! Guard play very productive despite nearly losing last years entire backcourt. Tufts has been displaying its depth since game.1.

Looking forward, Tufts plays Clark, UMD, St. Joes (CT), and #7 Keene before the break in action

-jumbomumbo

[P'bearfan]

Congrats to Bowdoin for last night's 91-77 victory of Thomas (ME).  It was a story of two halves as the Polar Bears shot 50% from the field in the first half and only 33% in the second half.  I watched part of the 2nd half and while the Polar Bears were moving the ball well and attacking the rim they just couldn't finish.  Free throws seemed to be the key as Bowdoin got the line 16 times in the 2nd half and converted 75% (vs 6 attempts in the first half).  Still it's the 2nd win a row which must feel good.

GoUBears!

[nescac1]

Unlike last year's loaded rookie class, this year's rookie group has been underwhelming so far in NESCAC.  Perhaps it' partially that some of the more talented rookies have too many veterans in front of them, but we haven't yet seen major impact overall from the frosh.  An early ROTY ranking:

1. Jalen Reese, Hamilton - my pre-season pick for ROTY has been solid, starting every game and putting up an efficient 7/6/1.5 on 50 percent shooting (1-1 from 3) and 86 percent from the line.  It will be interesting to see if his usage rate goes up a bit.

2. Ben Lyttle, Wesleyan - the biggest-impact rookie on an upper-echelon NESCAC team, putting up a solid 8/4/1 on 49/31/75 splits.  Had a huge game against Worcester State and look for his minutes to rise.

3. Marcos Montiel, Colby - Colby always seems to have one major impact rookie and this year it appears to be Montiel, a physical guard who has averaged a solid 8/6/2 despite shooting poorly.  If his shots start to drop he will definitely be yet another strong ROTY contender for Colby. 

Other guys to watch: Connor Jenkins, Hamilton; Johnny McCain and Marc Garraud, Amherst; Kuba Cwalina, Middlebury; Josh Cameron, Wesleyan; Kam Rodriguez, Colby; Natrel Allen and Ben Chilson, Bowdoin; Marc Begin and Babacar Pouye, Bates; Jon Medley, Tufts; Dylan Watson, Conn College. 

On the plus side this rookie class seems to feature loads of wings who are good athletes, good shooters, or both.  What seems to be missing are impact big guys and impact ball-handling guards. 

[nescac1]

Huge road Little 3 win for the cardiac Ephs against Wesleyan.  As has been the case this entire season, it did not look pretty at all for the Ephs, but some way, somehow, they pulled a win out of their rear with clutch plays down the stretch.  Wesleyan has to feel pretty bad about going 9-20 from the line (as opposed to 14-18 for the Ephs), including two missed one-and-one front ends, which ended up being the difference in the game.

For Williams, Alex Lee was once again brilliant inside the paint, scoring 19 points on 8-9 shooting from 2.  He is just do deadly with so many tricky ways to score from ten feet in despite his slight stature.  If he can get his 3 point shot going again, watch out!  He finished with 19-6-2 against zero turnovers.  Evan Glatzer had some big moments, hitting two crucial three pointers and hounding Shane Regan into an off day.  Kudos to Cole Prowitt-Smith who was really struggling but came up huge down the stretch, with 5 big points in the closing minutes including a very smooth finish which was the Ephs' last FG, and some clutch boards as well.  Nate Karren hit a couple of big second half threes and had some beautiful assists on back door cuts during a big Ephs' run in the second half.  Finally Sammy Cooley was big off the bench with some physical, fearless drives through traffic and his typical stout defense. 

For Wesleyan Nicky Johnson was awesome -- Williams just could not keep him out of the lane and while he had 11 assists it could have been more since a lot of guys missed open shots off beautiful feeds from him.  Nearly every Wesleyan basket seemed to come off a play that he initiated (indeed 11 assists on 18 made FGs by the rest of the team).   I was however surprised he took a deep contested three during Wesleyan's last possession when he had been unstoppable going to the rim the entire day.  The new (to me) Wesleyan wings - sophomore Cormier and FYs Cameron and Lyttle - look like the sort of wings Wesleyan always has, long, tough, ferocious defenders whose upside will be determined by their outside game developing.  Cormier is very aggressive driving to his right and had some success doing so, plus is their top defender.  Great glue guy.  For Wesleyan, though, the story of this game was missed open 3's and missed FTAs, they will feel like they should have managed to pull out a win and they are probably right to feel that way. 

[jumpshot]

Williams steals a win from Wesleyan in Middletown with a determined comeback after trailing by 10 with 8 minutes to go. Lee, Karen, Glatzer, Cooley, and Cole Prowitt-Smith all make big shots with Cole's driving layup the winner with 27 seconds remaining. Wesleyan only 9 of 20 from the foul line, including several key misses toward the end. Still the Ephs need the injured to return, better three point shooting, improved passing, and protecting the rim. The depth has certainly paid off with everyone contributing.

[Old Guy]

Great afternoon at Pepin in Middlebury, though NESCAC got its asses kicked by the UAA: Hamilton got licked by Carnegie Mellon in a great game, Middlebury got schooled by Rochester, and Bowdoin was spanked by Chicago. It's early. We'll see what happens in the post-season.

I think Middlebury can beat Chicago tomorrow. We'll see. Hamilton is good! I think Hamilton's game with Rochester will be a battle. Two good teams. Bowdoin will get trounced by Carnegie Mellon. I don't know if I can get to all three games tomorrow, you know, domestic obligations, but I will try.

By the way, Bowdoin seems to be without McGowen. What's that about? They need him. Nice lively crowd today at Pepin. Midd has become a basketball community. Never thought that would happen in this winter sports paradise where hoop was for so long an afterthought.

My Middlebury hoop friends, my contemporaries, were disparaging of the Panther performance today. I have a problem with that, as I was court-side, and their expertise was derived from their live-streaming, and I thought the Panthers played hard and lost to a worthy opponent. Here's what I wrote to them. Read if you like:

You know, teammates and old friends, I couldn't disagree more with your sentiments. I was courtside and I thought the effort by the Panthers overall was terrific, especially in the first half today.

Rochester is a good team in a good league. We couldn't hit a shot in the first 10-15 minutes — we also had no uncontested shots, but we played fabulous defense, very intense, which kept Rochester from getting a larger lead. We righted the ship. Terrific half of basketball. Probably not good TV. I was exhausted at the half, the play had been so intense and competitive — and we were up 26-22, because we scored 14 unanswered points to get to the break.

Yes, we lost the last 5-10 minutes of the game, decisively, but it wasn't from lack of effort. It happens. Jeff Brown has lots to figure out. We may be middle of the pack in NESCAC this year,  but I guarantee we will be a tough out in NESCAC. Note the NESCAC schedule: we play six at home this year and four away (the three Maine teams and Tufts). As tough as our schedule was last year, it is friendly this year, a good thing.

Not sure how one can discern lack of effort watching the live stream, one camera "high above courtside," as Johnny Most would say. If "lackluster" means not playing well, then it's apt in describing our 4th quarter of play. If "lackluster" means lack of effort, it's way off! The effort was there. Keep in mind that Stevens is hors de combat. He played today but was not himself (3-8, 0-3 from three and 4 TOs).

Some observations about the transition away from two years of Sobel-focused play. It's going to take a while. The problem is that we need to involve new players. Our two best players are Osher, a sharp shooter, and Stevens who has a strong all-round game, but is also likes the ball. I think we'd like to play fast. Can we get the various stykles to mesh?

Tristan Joseph is talented, but today he passed up some opportunities to assert himself offensively (1-7, 0-3 from three in 27 minutes). Charley Moore had his best game as a Panther, playing at the 4 (and occasionally at 5), didn't turn the ball over, and had 3 hoops and 6 boards, in 14 minutes. He is a disrupter, makes things happen, provides a burst of energy. I thought McKersie had a good game, played hard and effectively on defense. I think he's a good player, big, with good footwork. You asked about Witherington. He had the flu and missed the Wittenberg doubleheader (with Redlands). He must work himself back into the rotation but he's a player. Kuba Cwalina had ten points in ten minutes (4-6, 2-2 from three): it's fun to think about what he might be. He can really shoot it. They jumped him on the 3-point line and he moved in and sank a couple of soft bankers.

We need to temper our expectations. I don't think it's about effort, I'm inclined to call upon Yogi Berra, who supposedly said, "You can't win all the time. Sometime the other guy is better than you are." You all remember our days, right? We practiced hard, gave full effort, and got licked. It happens. Perspective. This team plays hard. Get yourself to Pepin!

[Old Guy]

I grew up in Lewiston, Maine, a Bates kid (though I attended Middlebury, a long time ago). I have lots of Bates friends. One of whom lives in Maine and follows the Bobcats closely. Here (FYI) is what he wrote to me tonight about the Bates five:

Bates  is having a tough year.

I see a lot of potential. However, there is a lot to sort out.

1. Their 2 best players are freshmen. The kid from California is for real. He can rebound, put the ball on the floor, shoot the 3. Just a good all around player. The rest of the team needs to realize he is their best player and look to get the ball to him. They really don't make much of an effort to get him the ball. He has to create his own offense..

2. Their next best player is also a freshman (I know, "first year"). His name is Begin. He is from Florida via Brewster Academy. A 6'2" guard. Very quick, can take the ball to the hoop and finish. Not sure about his outside shot, but he plays with confidence and makes good decisions. He has been in and out of the lineup with injuries, but when healthy is the closest thing they have had to a take charge point guard who can finish is a long time. They also have a point guard from South Portland who, while inconsistent, has shown potential.

3. The big kid (6'8") from Lewiston (Soph) is very raw, but has a lot of potential. I think Jon needs to play him and live with his mistakes. For Bates to be competitive he needs to be part of the solution. He is a year away, but will only improve with experience.

4. Nadeau from Gorham needs to play more!! When he gets significant minutes he contributes in many ways, He is 6'5", can handle the ball, an excellent shooter, rebounds a bit, sees the floor, can play with his back to the basket. In some ways he has the broadest set of skills  (other than our friend from California) of anyone on the team. He lacks confidence. When he gets a long stretch of playing time he is a real contributor. He is one of the few on the team who does not force things and lets the game come to him.. Unfortunately, he seems to be looking over his shoulder wondering if he is coming out of the game, Recent injuries have opened up more playing time for him. Amazingly, there have been a couple of games where he did not get off the bench. Given his recent performances he should be starting or at the very least, getting significant playing time. He is a very nice kid

5. Injuries to multiple players has been an issue. However, I think that Jon needs to settle on who gets the bulk of the playing time and develop a consistent rotation of 7-8 kids. His habit has been to play a lot of kids, which in the end has led to inconsistency.  From where I sit this has led kids to lack an understanding of where they stand and what their role is. Late in games, nobody takes charge. It's an equal opportunity offense and who takes the "last shot" is up for grabs. Kids seem to be looking over their shoulder and never seem to get into a rhythm. This has been an issue for the last 3-4 years.

6. Bates needs to play with more confidence. They have forgotten how to win (They have lost 15 of their last 16 games).

7. Too many 3's!!!! There needs to be more of a focus on getting the ball inside, especially now that they have a kid who can score inside.

8. On the positive side, Bates players appear to be really nice kids. They keep their emotions in check, are respectful of their coaches, opponents and officials. They are very positive representatives of the college and no doubt, Jon has a lot to do with that.

9. It is likely to be a long season, so there needs to be a focus on developing some of the young players.

Soooo, that's my take on the Bobcat hoopsters. I appreciate that I am not at practice to see what might be impacting who plays and how much. Having said that, I have seen enough games to have a pretty good handle on what kids bring to the table.

Bates has far more kids from Maine (7) than either Colby (2), Bowdoin (1) and is probably the most diverse squad in NESCAC (8 kids of color,4 of whom are from Maine!)

Hoping their game vs Emory gives them a sense of what they are capable of and that that leads to success vs Colby next week. We shall see!

[SpringSt7]

Trying my hand at a very imperfect power rankings for a very unimpressive NESCAC so far this season:

1. Tufts - The cream of the crop. 8-0 highlighted by the best win of the noncon @ WPI. Gyemesi POY favorite to this point. Huge week coming up however, @ St. Joe's and @ Keene St. Wednesday and Saturday.

2. Trinity - Edges Williams thanks to the win over St. Joe's. Really haven't played anyone else however.

3. Williams - 7-1 is 7-1 but they have played well for about 30 minutes. No shame in losing to WPI game 1 undermanned but nailbiters vs. St. Lawrence and Emmanuel not moving them up the rankings. Win over Wesleyan could be a sign of things to come.

4. Wesleyan - Narrowly edge Conn due to a lack of Conn strong wins so far. Best backcourt in the league at this point, two losses by a combined 5 points.

5. Conn College - two losses to Keene St. and NYU nothing to cry about but no real wins either to show for it.

6. Amherst - appear to have writed the ship following opening night disaster but not lighting it up either. Nice win over Yeshiva, rotation issues still appear to be plaguing Sears but starting to find some consistency.

7. Colby - Every team below them has a losing record, blowouts to Brandeis and Emory this weekend were not fun but haven't shown a reason to be any lower.

8. Middlebury - 2-5 is shocking for them but probably played the hardest schedule of anyone in NESCAC. Could've made an argument for 7 or even 6 if they beat Wittenburg and didn't get blitzed by UChicago.

9. Hamilton - process of elimination. Have some pieces, lost to some good teams, but would not be favored against Colby or Middlebury.

10. Bowdoin - still waiting the McGowan breakout campaign. Some really bad losses in state.

11. Bates - not good, 1-8 is 1-8. Closest loss was 8 points. 0-10 is on the table.

[nescac1]

Some random thoughts:

(1) The UAA-NESCAC challenge was an absolute disaster for NESCAC.  Of course, a big part of the reason why is that according SpringSt7's power rankings (which are spot-on in my view), teams ranked 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 in the league participated.  But also, these COVID years (and thankfully, next year is the last one!) put the NESCAC at a huge disadvantage relative to the UAA, since the UAA can take graduate transfers, and NESCAC cannot, and it's also much easier for players on UAA teams to take a fifth year at the same school.  It's obviously harder for NESCAC teams (on average) to compete with, say, a school like NYU, which is filled with grad transfers, or Rochester, which is loaded with its own fifth-year players.  I don't think a single NESCAC school that participated in the challenge this year had a fifth-year guy on the roster (maybe Osher counts for Midd, but that would be it).  I mean, Midd and Bates would look a LOT different if Sobel and Baxter were still on the rosters!  Thankfully, Bowdoin rescued NESCAC from being shut out entirely, stunning Carnegie Mellon despite its injury woes.  But the bigger issue is that the bottom of NESCAC is unusually weak this year, and only the bottom teams participated. 

(2) Speaking of Sobel, I think he is clearly missed more on defense than offense (and he is certainly missed there as well).  Soble is averaging around 4 combined blocks and steals as a Division 1 starting center!  He's currently 15th in all of D1 in blocks per game.  He was SUCH a dominant force defensively his last two years in D3.  Midd is giving up 77 points per game this year (10th in NESCAC) on 47/36 splits.  Last year, they gave up 63 points per game (4th in NESCAC) on 39/30 splits.  Essentially the entire regular rotation besides Sobel is back, and some guys surely are better than last year, so that dramatic difference reflects just how impactful he was.  He made every shot near the rim a scary proposition and also allowed guards to play tighter on the perimeter knowing they had a security blanket behind them.  The lesson, again: Alex Sobel was one of the best NESCAC players of this century. 

(3) Scotty Gyimesi's stat line so far this year as a sophomore (16/11/3 plus 2.5 steals plus blocks on 66/33/66) is eerily similar (actually even better, albeit not v. a WIAC schedule) to Levi Borchert's stat line as a junior, his best season and the second of his three all-American seasons (18/11/2 plus 1.5 steals plus blocks on 62/33/57).  They are roughly the same size and both tough, physical guys with great motors who also have great touch around the rim and who play well above their size on the interior.  He should be in for a massive career going forward. 

(4) Tufts is ranked 2nd in D3 in Massey, Trinity 6th, Williams 26th.  That feels about right although Trinity is still a bit artificially high because Hartford (who they beat easily) remains over-ranked as apparently there s still some impact remaining from its last season in D1 (I'm not sure when that will dissipate entirely, but I suspect soon).  I don't think Trinity can realistically get higher than that until league play because of its weak non-league schedule plus Hartford's likely drop.  Wesleyan is at 66, which feels a bit low (certainly Williams and Wesleyan are pretty close as teams), and no one else is in the top 100.  Bates is at 300, which is brutally low for a NESCAC team.  Tufts will be massively tested with two road games against top 25 Massey teams in Keene State and St. Joe's this week.  Right now Guilford is number one by a lot, but if Tufts can pull those two games out (which will be really, really tough to do) they may get to number one, and will also be a legit contender for number one in the D3hoops poll. 

(5) The Tufts-Keene game should be a really interesting rematch of Keene's narrow victory over Tufts in last year's NCAA tourney.  Heading into the season Keene seemed to have a big edge in that one, as Tufts lost 50 of its 72 points from that game to graduation and Keene returned all but 7 of its 77 points.  In fact, NONE of Tufts's five starters from that game are regular starters this season, which is pretty remarkable given how well Tufts has played.  But of course, Tufts' sophomore class has exploded since then.  Josh Bernstein fouled out in only six minutes of play in that game (if memory serves, a few of the calls were pretty suspect) and staying out of foul trouble will be critical as if he does he can at least make life difficult for Jeff Hunter, who is the best center in Division 3 this season.  Gyimisi also fouled out of that game and those two will both need to play big minutes against Keene. 

(6) Thanks for the report on Babacar Pouye, Old Guy.  Putting up 24-12-4 plus 3 blocks against an excellent, veteran Emory team is VERY impressive.  Clearly a guy to watch going forward and good to see that Bates has some hope for the future in an otherwise-bleak season to date.  Look forward to seeing him play!