MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

All the prognosticators have Trinity, Williams and Tufts in no matter what.  Amherst needs the Pool A.  Conn's hopes hanging on by a thread but almost surely out. 

[D3BBALL]

Yes that is what I have seen as well, but wondering what happens if there are too many conference upsets.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

All the prognosticators have Trinity, Williams and Tufts in no matter what.  Amherst needs the Pool A.  Conn's hopes hanging on by a thread but almost surely out. 

Best chance of four is probably Tufts winning the tournament.  It'll make Conn's win over them look a lot better.

[Titan Q]

All the prognosticators have Trinity, Williams and Tufts in no matter what.  Amherst needs the Pool A.  Conn's hopes hanging on by a thread but almost surely out. 

In my Pool C mock this am, I flipped Conn College ahead of Albertus Magnus in the regional ranking...and I picked Conn College #20 (of 22 total).

That order is huge.  I feel Conn College has a much stronger resume and should be ahead.

https://x.com/IWUhoopscom/status/1761035819874201864?s=20

[nescac1]

That's good news for Conn College (as well as the NESCAC teams who beat Conn) and hopefully the regional rankers agree!  Crazy day in New England hoops last night with Nichols, WNEC, WPI and AMC all going down in upsets. I don't think anyone had a Roger Willams-Suffolk final in the CCC ...

Good to see Steph Baxter have a huge game for Babson in a big post-season moment last night, after suffering through a few tough years on some lean Bates rosters.  Former NESCAC players Baxter, Will King, and Preston Maccoux may all yet be seen in this year's NCAA tourney (Maccoux for certain). 

[names jaismith]

Here's a (probably way off) prediction for tomorrow:

Tufts 71
Trinity 68
I think Tufts will make it a grind it out game that will go to the last possession and prevail because they have an edge inside.

Williams  72
Amherst  60
Amherst played their best against Conn and still had to hold on (barely) for the win.  Williams inside game will match Amherst and home court will matter.

As far as Conn getting into NCAAs:  they have a case, but it would've been a lot stronger with a win over NYU at home or a win vs Albertus. Could go either way but they are definitely still in a precarious spot, just a little less precarious than a day or so ago.

[jumpshot]

EPHS dominate a disjointed amherst squad (only 3 assists, 14 turnovers) 57-43 with excellent defense  taking ex-lord jeffs out of their strengths. EPHS again well prepared by Coach App and staff for team effort in front of sell-out Williams crowd.

[nescac1]

As usual when these two teams meet, it wasn't pretty, but a great win for Williams in front of a capacity crowd as they were in control nearly the entire game.  The Ephs' defense completely shut down Amherst - holding the Mammoths to a paltry 42 points and about as many air balls or near-air-balls as I've seen in a game this year.  The Ephs' relentless defense seemed to wear the Mammoths down, as the game went along, a lot of shots were very short. 

Williams' offense wasn't a thing of beauty but really that was only because Williams missed a good number of bunnies inside and quite open three point looks from the guys you want taking them.  Williams moved the ball beautifully and everyone made contributions.  But tomorrow against stiffer competition they will need to do a better job finishing plays if they hope to win the title.

For Williams, Brandon Roughley was the player of the game, easily winning the battle against Charlie Randle.  Roughley did it on both ends, 13-3-2 on only 7 FGA, plus two blocks and two steals.  Roughley and the other Eph frontcourt players did a GREAT job of harassing the huge Amherst front line into turnovers whenever they put the ball on the ground.  The Eph bench mob played with a ton of energy especially on the defensive end, and Hudson Hansen had a few great plays, in particular, a highlight-reel one handed put-back dunk.  The Ephs survived a bit of an off shooting game from Alex Lee and Nate Karren in particular, but I liked the shots both of them were taking. 

For Amherst, it was an absolutely brutal night for the starters, with a lot of foul trouble, poor shooting, too many turnovers, and no one putting up over 7 points.  The bench play was a lot more encouraging, as Mitchell, Martin, Vance and Sommers all played very well.  But that wasn't enough to overcome such a rough day for the starting five, who were outscored by 21 by the Eph starters.

Amherst can feel encouraged with showing signs of life late in the season, as they bring back 100 percent of the points from this game.  Randle, Martin, Garraud in particular all have plenty of upside and they will be a much tougher team to deal with now that they will be veteran team loaded with 3 and 4 year starters. 

[JEFFFAN]

Congrats to Ephs for beating my Jeffs today up in Billyville.   Not much doubt about the outcome of this game from the get-go.   The better team clearly was Williams as it has been all season.

As I was looking at the Amherst write-up, I was again reminded that a team with three starters at 6'8" or above - including a 7 footer - and one more at 6'6", is no way to win in Division 3 basketball. I believe that this coaching staff, which comes from the Ivy League, has a philosophy of "big/taller is better", which of course is completely the opposite of what is required at this level.   Curious whether the coach ever heard of the three best players in Amherst history - Toomey, Olsen and Rehnquist.  The first two were consummate guards while Rehnquist at 6'4" would today be a two-guard or maybe small forward. And I looked up the kid that NESCAC1 pointed out Amherst has signed for next year - kid must be 7'2" and based on his video will be of little value to the team.

Recruiting the wrong kind of players, coach!

[jumpshot]

Trinity beats Tufts this afternoon. Tufts forced to play 3-2 zone most of the game, not quick enough to go man-to-man. Trinity gets lots of looks from distance, corner threes, baseline layups. Trinity playing with confidence.

[nescac1]

Some thoughts heading into the title game:

Trinity looked really tough yesterday.  One quiet key to their improved play this year has been Will Dorion's (always an excellent defender and playmaker at the point) leap as a shooter.  He's still a low volume shooter but after shooting 21 percent from 3 and 58 percent from the line in his first two years, this year he's at 48 percent from 3 and 72 percent from the line, a huge difference as he's no longer a guy you can help way off of. Jarrel Okorougo, a very hyped recruit, has also taken a huge leap from his first to his second year and is one of the most athletic players around. When the two of them play like that, Trinity is extremely difficult to guard.  Trinity gets huge contributions on both ends from everyone in its starting five, then the second unit comes in and while less talented is incredibly relentless and aggressive on defense for two five-minute stretches per game, it is just not fun to face that group playing with abandon.  If Trinity DOES win today, they will join a quite illustrious list of NESCAC teams to finish the season (in NESCAC's NCAA era, Hamilton and Colby, at least, had seasons before then) with 1 or fewer losses: Williams 2003, Williams 2004, Williams 2010, all of which played for a national championship, and 1999 Conn College, which made the Final Four. Those were some REALLY good squads!   

As for Williams, Nate Karren is two points away from 1000, hopefully he gets it early in the game!  After what he did to Trinity last time, I doubt he gets many open looks from outside.  In addition to Nate's dramatic improvement since healing up from injury, Williams has also benefited from stellar play from Brandon Roughley down the stretch.  He's averaged 14/5/1.5, plus 1.5 spg thanks to quick hands on defense, on 56/50/57 splits over his past 8 games, and along with Nate he's been by far the Ephs' most consistent player.  Those two together can really hurt teams with their size, versatility, and how well they work together, but they've rarely been healthy at the same time.  To win today, the Ephs will need strong games from both and also better outside shooting from its guards (who otherwise played well vs. Amherst). I do expect Williams to defend Trinity better than Tufts did - the Tufts zone gave Trinity way too many easy chances. 

The league awards are still a bit of a mystery, the most up-in-the-air we've seen in some time.  COTY is either App or Cosgrove and both are highly deserving. ROTY I think should be Jon Medley, but no one's stats have popped out from the rookie class so the coaches could go a few different ways.  POTY I think should be David Murray, but a first-round playoff exit didn't help his cause.  Nate Karren or Henry Vetter could make a case with a huge performance in the title game, but Murray has the best statistical case and the eye test backs it up. DPOTY, Dana Smith, Okorougo, Josh Bernstein, Will Scherer, Ben Rice and David Murray all may be in the mix for that one.  My prediction: whichever coach wins today's game; Medley; Murray; Dana Smith. 

Finally, kudos to Will King, Preston Maccoux, and Steph Baxter for helping lead their new teams to NCAA appearances.  Baxter in particularly totally dominated the NEWMAC tourney, winning MVP as Babson upset both WPI and Clark.  If NESCAC had more grad programs (only Trinity, Wesleyan and Tufts have any of consequence for hoops, and it's not like they have tons of options among them) as well as more permissive rules on fifth-year grad transfers the league would have looked VERY different during the COVID era ...

[nescac1]

Kudos to Trinity for winning an absolute war before an awesome atmosphere in Chandler.  I thought both teams played some of the best defenses I've ever seen by NESCAC teams.  Absolutely relentless effort on both ends, very very little came easy.  But Trinity seemed to have more in the tank in the second half as they got to every lose ball, got a ton of offensive boards, and forced a lot of turnovers leading to some easy looks in a game in which those were certainly hard to come by.  The possession that summed up the game was one in which Trinity got four points off a basket, a missed and-one, and a another basket which involved something like 6-7 total offensive boards by Trinity, they simply would not quit and amazing they had that much energy at that point in a back-to-back. That was backbreaking.  Williams played very well most of the game but  seemed to wear down in the last five minutes as Trinity's defensive pressure is certainly hard to deal with for 40. 

For Trinity, they simply would not let Nate Karren get a single good look, hounding him whenever he touched the ball and holding him scoreless on only three shot attempts (none of them clean looks).  Dana Smith in particular was tremendous on Karren (as he was on both ends all game, he lived up to his billing on the boards here). Smith also snuck free for some crafty finishes off cuts inside.  Okorougo's long arms were seemingly everywhere and the two of them were utterly destructive on the defensive end.  Offensively, it was the Henry Vetter show, as we was hounded by Alex Lee but whenever he managed to shake free, often due to a slew of screens, or get a mismatch against someone else, was deadly.  Callahan-Gold also hit some key buckets for the Bantams.  Vetter and Smith were definitely the MVPs today however. 

For Williams, Brandon Roughley was effective, as he always is vs. Trinity it seems, toughing out some sort of in-game injury and scoring tough buckets inside.  Alex Stoddard was beyond hot, getting into rhythm and hitting some TOUGH 3's on a day no one else from Williams could nail a shot from deep (they were nearly all very contested, so Trinity gets credit there).  And Alex Lee was great on both ends, fighting hard to guard Vetter who is just tremendous, and nailing his patented mid-range pull-ups.  But no one else on the Ephs could get it going against a relentless Trinity defense that could carry them deep into the tourney if they play at that level going forward. 

If the Ephs bring this same defensive effort and focus to the NCAA tourney, they will do well.  And I sure hope Stoddard has saved some of that shooting for the dance!  Still an amazing late-season run by Williams and a tremendous story for a team that was playing not remotely close to this level as recently as mid-January. 

[toad22]

That was a rock fight. Trinity is very tough on the glass and played very intense defense. Williams didn't respond to the increased in intensity in the second half & Trinity got a workable lead. Congratulations to Trinity for winning the title. It was a fun game to watch.

[maineman]

NCAA-wise,is there any chance of either Trinity or Williams hosting?  Also, if one does would Tufts, if they make it, be in the same quad?

[toad22]

My thought on this is that Trinity will host. The committee will send Williams somewhere else. Tufts is certainly in, but will not be in the same pod as Williams or Trinity.