MBB: NESCAC

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm changing the Conn Williams prediction to 66-58 Conn.

You really hate Williams, don't you? LOL

[nescac1]

Brutal home weekend for the Ephs.  Yet another game where the Ephs simply struggled to score.  I realize the mid-range two-point shot is a low-efficiency shot but it's better than a turnover, and time after time the Ephs wouldn't even look at the rim when open in the middle of the defense and instead tried to force in passes that either bounced off a leg or didn't really get much of an advantage in the paint.  Didn't help that the 3's weren't falling but the Ephs were not in any sort of rhythm at all against the always-tough Conn zone.

For Williams, the only bright spots were Evan Glatzer, who had his best game of the year, Aidan Yates, who had a nice bounce-back game (despite some really ticky-take foul calls on him taking him out of the game), and Hudson Hansen, who was the best guy on the floor for the Ephs.  Justin Belcher in limited minutes also impressed and had a lot of deflections and eight points in only eight minutes, he certainly deserves to stay in the rotation as the Ephs need to be developing their young players at this point.  The rest of the team had a rough time of it. 

For Conn, Espinosa had a great game with his trademark jumpers off of screens, which the Ephs did a poor job of guarding as a team.  Garrett Clar also was very impressive with a variety of tough shot-making, one of the better FYs in NESCAC for sure.  But really, it was a combo of great team defense and putrid team offense by Williams that won the game, not anything Conn did offensively. 

[jumbomumbo]

I'm changing the Conn Williams prediction to 66-58 Conn.

You really hate Williams, don't you? LOL

No, friendly competition. I have lots of respect for App and the program he has. But I watch a lot of basketball and the lines move after every game. I'd say I was pretty close to guessing the exact outcome of that one, which only could've been predicted by seeing Conn blowout against Midd and Tufts blowout against Williams. I was juggling quite a few games so someone will have to correct me on the stat - but Williams was stuck at 45 points for a really long time. They can not score the basketball and will not make the tournment at this rate.

As for the Jumbos. Business as usual. Shared the rock, got open looks, and dominated start to finish. Off to watch Cooper Flagg at BC now!

[jumbomumbo]

Shameless plug only because Mumbo is hot. Williams scored 58 (as predicted) almost had Trin Hamilton game exactly correct (72-60 but final was 72-59). And had tufts by exactly 20 over Midd. Now I need the Mules! Draftkings should legalize d3 betting!

[Maine Hoops]

Didn't Colby beat Bates yesterday?

[jumbomumbo]

By

Didn't Colby beat Bates yesterday?

Yes by 22. Maine's top d3 team by end of the year

[SpringSt7]

I don't know if this is a change in NESCAC protocol or Bates' decision themselves but Bates is the odd man out this cycle from travel partners and has played both of its back to back games on Saturdays this year, as opposed to in the past when those teams would play Friday/Sunday and the extra day of rest was designed to off set the advantage given to the team only playing one game.

Bates has a scoring margin of +5 on the Friday games and -36 on Saturday, with overall minimal differences in difficulty of game from Friday to Saturday. So either, the NESCAC making that change is really dumb and needs to be corrected, or Bates really shot themselves in the foot for no reason. I would be surprised if it was league mandated although not shocked if there was an academic component, but silly nonetheless.

[JEFFFAN]

I'm changing the Conn Williams prediction to 66-58 Conn.

You really hate Williams, don't you? LOL

Dont post often but what is this post supposed to represent?  I think Williams won it once in 2003.

[Maine Hoops]

Back in the mid to late 60s, an Amerst Frat snuck onto the Williams football field prior to the big Amherst/Williams rivalry football game and painted a large "A" onto the field.

The following year, a Williams frat responded by painting a letter onto the Amherst football field before the big game.

They painted an A- onto the field.

[lumbercat]

I don't know if this is a change in NESCAC protocol or Bates' decision themselves but Bates is the odd man out this cycle from travel partners and has played both of its back to back games on Saturdays this year, as opposed to in the past when those teams would play Friday/Sunday and the extra day of rest was designed to off set the advantage given to the team only playing one game.

Bates has a scoring margin of +5 on the Friday games and -36 on Saturday, with overall minimal differences in difficulty of game from Friday to Saturday. So either, the NESCAC making that change is really dumb and needs to be corrected, or Bates really shot themselves in the foot for no reason. I would be surprised if it was league mandated although not shocked if there was an academic component, but silly nonetheless.

Good point Spring, I was wondering the same thing.
I'll reach out to the guy who I consider the dean of this board for his take. He's the go to guy on stuff like this.

NESCAC1---Care to weigh in on this ?

[nescac1]

I have no insight into WHY Bates is playing Friday/Saturday but agree with SpringSt that it puts them at a huge disadvantage for the Saturday games.  Very weird.

After last weekend, Tufts, Trinity and Wesleyan are all in the top ten for NPI, so all are approaching lock status for the tourney (if they aren't already locks) and in great shape to potentially post pods.  Huge games coming up with Wesleyan playing Trinity and Tufts in its next two games -- and the schedule sets up perfectly for the Cards, with a full week to prep for each game.  And of course Tufts has the brutal Wesleyan/Trinity back-to-back road weekend coming up. If the Cards sweep their next two (no easy task!) I suspect they will be at number one nationally in NPI and maybe by a fair margin.   

Hamilton is best positioned to earn a fourth Pool C bid for NESCAC but is in a bit of a rough patch losing three out of its last four.  Really an amazing individual effort by Hank Morgan in the last two losses, scoring 21 out of 57 points vs. Wesleyan and an insane 36 out of 60 vs. Trinity.  Clearly, he needs more help, but he is having a stellar individual season and has to be the current leader among a strong group of POTY candidates (Regan, Vetter, Gyimisi, Espinosa), averaging 28 per game in league play against some of the best defenses in the league. 

Amherst, Williams and maybe Colby aren't dead yet for Pool C's, but all have almost no margin for error going forward.  Williams-Amherst on Wednesday may be a virtual elimination game. 

[lumbercat]

I have no insight into WHY Bates is playing Friday/Saturday but agree with SpringSt that it puts them at a huge disadvantage for the Saturday games.  Very weird.

 

N1- Thanks for the response.
Bates parted ways with AD on 12/31. Hopefully his successor will get a handle on this. Would think Coach Furbush cannot be happy with this but I guess time will tell.

[JEFFFAN]

Amherst is toast, friends.  Love my alma mater but the recruiting philosophy is downright wrong. They go for mediocre big men far too often in a division that is built upon good to great guards.  If a big man is talented, he will go at worst Ivy or Patriot League ... he won't be going NESCAC or Division 3.  Which is not the case for good/great guards.   They simply might not be tall enough, or quick enough, but their talent level is excellent otherwise.   Amherst's former D1 coach - a fine man, I am sure - is simply building the wrong way.

[D3BBALL]

I have no insight into WHY Bates is playing Friday/Saturday but agree with SpringSt that it puts them at a huge disadvantage for the Saturday games.  Very weird.

 

Bates is not paired up with anyone this year. I believe Conn was the team not paired and they did play Fri/Sun last year . Bates gets a Fri/Sun on their last weekend of play schedule. Guessing Bates didn't want the Friday/Sunday. Doesn't make a lot of sense as it is an advantage for the teams the are playing on Saturday.


N1- Thanks for the response.
Bates parted ways with AD on 12/31. Hopefully his successor will get a handle on this. Would think Coach Furbush cannot be happy with this but I guess time will tell.

[ItsATuftSituation]

So, I have a question...what happened with Wesleyan?

They had a strong (16-9), but not overly dominant team last year, losing in the NESCAC quarters at home to Colby. They had losses to Emmanuel and Farmingdale last year.

Is it just bringing most of everyone back and them making incremental improvements? Langs is fifth in scoring after being lower in the lineup last year. Obviously, Regan, Johnson and Cormier all back and better is a reason, but is there anything else that sticks out? I did notice last year they gave up 72 points per game, this year its 58.3? Their scoring is down a point, so obviously the offensive efficiency is still there? Anything else of note?

It's almost exactly what happened with Trinity last year, 16-9 in 2022-23, then exploded in 2023-24...weird things going on in CT.