MBB: NESCAC

[eph69]

I said nice player---

[formerbant10]

I know you said nice player, I'm asking if you were talking about Clay being the nice player.

[eph69]

yes from the game i saw last year in the state tourney against bridgewater he appeared to be a nice player-- like a lot of freshmen he will need to get stronger

[formerbant10]

Street & Smith have Amherst #7 in the pre-season poll.  Ursinus at #6, who got destroyed by Trinity early in the year when the Bants were pre-season #6 last year.  But good for the NESCAC getting some respect again.  Tyler Rhoten pre-season 1st team All-America....maybe he won't get screwed out of it again.

[polarbearmeephs]

no clue why bowdoin is getting so much respect, they are going to at best have a mediocre year.  Bates will have a great year with Stockwell and Ray leading them. They do have big shoes to fill with the abscence of Furbush and Gerrity, but they will win the NESCAC tournament with Amherst and Trinity finishing 2nd and 3rd behind the Bobcats.

[baller i b]

This is most bias opinion i have heard other the sean hannity on fox news. obviously, "polarbearmeephs" is overzealous in his prediction that Bates will the tourney, calm down and be serious, please. I would argue that Bowdoin did not get overhyped, and no one has said anything about tourney champs other than yourself. Granted Stockwell and Ray is a good one two punch, but there are other combinations that any reasonable person will desire, namely Rhoten and Trinity point guard (either one, the old starter or the D1 transfer), Petrie and Bradley or Petrie and Hippert...

[formerbant10]

Baller, I know ur biased towards ur boys and I am towards mine....but to compare Petrie and Bradley/Hippert to Rhoten and Martin/Hasiuk is a little much.  Petrie is a very good player, I like his game a lot, had some of my best/toughest matchups with him but he's not at the level Rhoten, nobody in the NESCAC is.  Trinity's last D1 transfer worked out pretty well too, POY his senior year, All American...funny how they're cousins too.  While meephs might be overzealous in saying Bates will win the tourney....remember they have to play at Trinity and at Amherst this year, no more Maine Miracles for them, so unless the Jeffs and Bants tank a few weekends at home (doubtful) expect the winner of their game to be hosting and winning the tourney.  I'd even put Olson/Bedford/their D1 transfer over Petrie and his gang.

[polarbearmeephs]

First of all baller, slow your role for a minute.  Bowdoin is getting hyped up because they played their best possible basketball against Amherst at Amherst in the first round of NESCAC's last year.  With all due respect to Amherst, they did not play all that well that game.  Bowdoin is also losing their best player in Yakavonis, come on.   And as for Maine Miracles, Mr. Bantam, after Bates sweeps at Trinity and Amherst we will see you all in Alumni Gym up in Lewiston for the final four...

[maineball]

Surprised by the plentiful early season talk of the usually under the radar maine teams. All three suffered significant losses, (McGowan, Lindsley, Gerrity, Yakavonis), yet expectations appear to have grown exponentially. None of the the three have achieved a NCAA invitation in 7 seasons (Bowdoin '99). All three have terrible road conference records over this time. None have what you would call an upperclassmen dominated backcourt to win league games down th stretch on the road. Their may be talent in the north country, but it could be a touch early to annoin any of the programs top 4 in the league this season.

Major questions

1. How will bowdoin rebound and defend in the post? Petrie is not a physical presence, and who will play the post and defend skilled and top level front courts like Amherst, trinity, and Tufts.

2. How will Bates replace Gerrity? There is a history of second half drop offs in wins and production from what I've seen in this program.

3. Who scores after cohen for Colby? Jenkins and often injured Cohen? Who handles the ball for this team? How will they deal with pressure in backcourt? Athletic disadvantages??

Some things to think about in regards to the Maine love affair.....

[baller i b]

Slow my roll, as a matta fact im going to get my roll on, similar to the big tymers...Listen up, Yakavonis was a good player, great rebounder and defender, but claiming he was Bowdoin best player is misplaced argument. Everyone in the Nescac knows that Petrie is the Polar Bears' best player and arguably the second best player in the league. And I guarntee that the streaking Bobcats will not sweep the Trinity/Amherst roadtrip, be real with yourself...

To the profound, all insightful "Maineball", what are you talking about (with all due respect). You believe Tufts have a top level frontcourt without Stovall, I would argue that their frontcourt is severly depleted, as is their team.
Amherst's frontcourt is same situation, Schiel is gone. And their best "big" player is Cashnoca and he runs away from the paint like he failed outta art school, come on...

Im not arguing for Bates by any means, but how could you possibly predict the top four teams in the conference without Bowdoin or Bates, please check your references, since you seem to be the Nescac scholar

And as for my boys in Brunswick, there are the only team in league to be returning all three backcourt players, thus your sentiments about not having a "upperclassmen dominated backcourt" is invalid, and besides Petrie is a senior and Bradley is a junior, in my book those are upperclassmen

Cant wait to hear yall responses...

[formerbant10]

Baller, when they win a NESCAC tourney game...start blowing smoke up their asses from the bench.  Nobody on that team is a proven scorer besides Petrie....and nobody is a proven defender besides the goon you guys brought to try and fight Rhoten.  Don't go after Amherst just yet either, their offense is designed to have Casnocha play far from the basket and spread the defense, that spacing allowed Schiel and Bedford to post up their players....coaching is about taking advantages of mismatches and Amherst did that night in and night out only playing a handful of close games within the NESCAC.  So unless you've beaten, calm down with calling Casnocha a RISD dropout.....As for Tufts, their best post player will be Weitzen.  One of the toughest matchups in the league b/c he can shoot from the outside.  I don't see anyone on Bowdoin that is strong enough to handle him down low.  And just to let you know, there are only 2 backcourt players the point guard and the shooting guard....The forwards and center make up the frontcourt.

[polarbearmeephs]

You go ahead and get your roll on Birdman, Bowdoin will do nothing and like it against the Bobcats.  Take a peak at last years performance when the teams matched up, the games were pretty close...ha.  Anyways, in terms of Amherst I agree with Mr. Bantam as they jump all over mismatches and execute.  And as for Trinity, one of my boys has told me that this kid Paul Rowe is one of the best players he has ever seen.  Put him with Rhoten, Hasiuk and the D-1 transfer and thats a pretty solid squad.  But putting Bowdoin at the level of Bates, Amherst and Trinity...yikes.  WHACK!

[formerbant10]

My sources in Hartford tell me Rowe is very athletic and a very good defender.  Teams always need someone to be a stopper, so he could get some minutes.  The Bants seem to be pretty deep on the wings with Clarke, Hasiuk, Finnegan, Rowe, Holm (most athletic player in NESCAC), and everyone's favorite Irishman Westbrooks the younger.  Some very experienced players (Ty Rhoten, Hoar, Hasiuk, Clarke, Pat Martin) and some very young talent, should be interesting to see how they come together.  Don't forget that the sophomore class has 2 trees that were developing rather nicely towards the end of last year.  If the hoops team has followed in the footsteps of the football team in regards to work ethic.....could be a fun year in the Hart.

[fpc85]

Any news on the new players at Wesleyan,Williams or the schools other than Amherst  and Trinity?

[formerbant10]

Saw Jared Ashe playing soccer against the Bants...looked to be in very good shape, much much bigger than the rest of the guys on the field (But they were soccer players).  He's excited for this year b/c people aren't expecting much out of them with Kelly gone and they still have the ability to be a sleeper.  Didn't hear anything about recruits, but I did hear that the old fieldhouse got flattened this year....a lil depressing for those of us that played in it.