MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Guys, I respect your loyalty to the 'Herst and all and I honestly think Amherst can be competitive, but I hope you guys can come back to reality a little.  Amherst is not the favorite going in; Wittenberg is a fantastic basketball team.  They are deep and tough.  They are not going to be dominated by anyone.  Their worst loss all year was by 9 points, to Wooster.

I'm a New England basketball fan and I would love to see Amherst do really well, but maybe you should be talking about how Amherst can handle the strengths of Witt, rather than posturing about how they will dominate.

It's going to be a tough game, winnable, but very tough.  It's the final four; show a little respect.

[pennstghs]

well said hoops fan. it says something to how good a basketball team is that wittenberg made it out of the great lakes region, the region that occupied 2 teams at the number one rank at numerous times in the season. yes our guards only score around 10 but if you look at the stats there is no one stand out scorer on our team because we possess the word balance in our scouting report-you cant key in on one guy because the guy you leave hanging will be the one to beat you. ummmm explain to me how unathletic guys shut down the tufts posts that DOMINATED you guys and explain to me how our defense, which is NUMBER ONE in the nation right now shut down the high powered "perimeter oriented" offenses of baldwin wallace, HOPE, and transylvania.

dont get me wrong this will be a close hard faught game but come on show a little respect towards your opponent. when i heard our witt team was going to play amherst i immediately thought wow what a tough opponent thats going to be a battle and immediately considered you guys the favorites just by playing the name game.

[thunder32]

auerbach I would have loved another shot at Witt becuase I really had not come into my own yet when we had played them.  I think with the maturation of our post game and some of our younger perimiter scorers we could take the game.  Fitz was in foul trouble most of the game I believe Kumf had a good game but he really had stepped up his game to another level the last month.  They have a few stand still shoots but nothing amherst cant handle on the perimiter.  The one thing that I remember being very impressed with was the way that witt boxed out on defence.  i dont remember ever getting position for an offencive rebound.  I have to say that Oshea has the abiltiy to be a force in the post becuase of his size and strength but against witt he will have to be at his best to stop their big men.  The biggest thing with Oshea on defence will be for him not to allow their big men to cath the ball in the high post and look inside from there.  Witt has a great high low game in the post and thier offence all revolves around the biggs reversing the ball and sealing off the reversal.

[nescachoopsfan]

i saw the tufts witt game also, the biggest suprise to me in that game was the scoring of their 3 man.  i dont remember his name, but he was a big strong capable guard.  sounds like someone else ive seen play (hint - bedford).  that should be a great matchup.  not to take anything away from oshea, but im pretty sure he was the last person on tufts mind as far as stopping amhersts offense.  that might have been why he had such a good game.  he took advantage of the fact that no one was going to help and double him, and basically i think tufts was more concerned about the person popping open for 3 then oshea diving to the basket.  he was able to get a lot of easy layups and great position because the jumbos big men were bumping shooters, allowing oshea to get the step to the rack.  again not taking anything away from him, because oshea took advantage of tufts weakness.
also great season martin, a historical season for your team, and you really took your game to a new level.  tough loss, but great season

[BooBallsCasRay]

no one has mentioned wittenberg's abysmal free throw percentage down this important stretch.. they are coming in at about a 65% clip over their last 4 games.. amherst took advantage of tufts inability to convert key free throws at the end of the 2nd half, and wittenberg seems to be a lot worse off than tufts in this department..i think instead of using hack-a-shaq amherst may use the hit-a-witt strategy early and often...wittenberg can bang inside, but can they make a shot all the way from the foul line? i doubt it...

sorry if my english seems garbled, my body is still shaking from the thunderous brandon jones wham-slam-thank-you-mam he dropped on fisher saturday night and its hard for me to think

[mrmike88]

If you look at teams that have given Amherst trouble over the past few years, you'll find teams with strong post players who dominate the boards and slow the game down.  From early accounts, this is exactly what Witt does.  I can't claim to be an expert, but that worries me.  I hear rumors, however, that Wittenberg struggles (and by "struggles" I mean "has a harder time beating," since they're one of the top teams in the nation) against an up-tempo, good-shooting offense like we run.  It should be a great matchup - whichever team can impose their style of play on the pace of the game will have the edge.  My worry is that come tournament time, the game tends to slow down and become more physical, which would give Witt the edge.

But we could debate this forever, and none of it will matter.  Coach Hixon will have the guys ready to play.  Final Four experience will help us a ton this time around, too.  Can't wait until Friday night!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Wooster likes to run and score a lot, in fact they are quite good at it.  Wittenberg plays them three times every year and its generally close.  I think that's a good indicator of how they play.

I think they thing that's not really getting home is that Wittenberg's strength is in the fact that they have the same talent level 10 deep that most NESCAC teams have only in their starting five.  They have the two big guys who are a cut above, but they lose nothing 3-10 on that roster.  It's a tough line-up to face and stop efficiently.  Amherst will do well to run, and hit their shots, because shutting down Witt on the defensive end is darn near impossible.

[auerbach]

Hoop help me out here.where are you coming up with the 3-10 thing....have you seen them play ? i looked at season stats and the only thing i see is a very balanced team. doesn't tell me anything about team depth. plenty of guys get minutes . i am wondering if you have seen them. wooster beat them 2x both games in the 80's witt won 1 game by 2 and scored 72 pts in the win. tempo will rule this game if witt can slow it and keep around there season avg,high 60's, they should win. if amherst gets out running and forces witt to chase the scoreboard jeffs should win. i haven't seen a nescac team that is 10 deep so if witt doesn't skip a beat 3-10 amherst can mail it in. sounds like you have seen these guys on more than one occasion. please let us know

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I haven't seen them.  I'm going on what a few others have said.  I trust the sources.  Again, like I said, it will come down to the star players for Amherst and their ability to take over the game from their positions, versus the depth of Wittenberg.  A face paced game can neutralize Witt's interior strength, but that still leaves a battle that, while it may be in Amherst's favor, is not a done deal.

I think the game plan has to be playing solid defense and taking smart shots.  Amherst shouldn't get into the midset "that we have to run."  Certainly a half-court game would be an inevitable loss for the Jeffs, but they don't want to be aiming for 100 point either.  They have to push the pace, but only as much as they can still keep control of the game.  Most of the time high scoring teams push it and don't worry about a few turnovers; they blow mistakes off because they will get more chances later.  This mindset doesn't beat Witt.  Amherst needs to remember to move the ball and get to the open man.  They don't need to fast break every time, but I would suggest they take the first open shot and don't think twice about it.

They key will be shooting percentage.  If Amherst is on, taking and making good shots, they will be in it at the end.  If they take too many bad shots or make too many bad passes, the game will be over early.  It's hard to come back on this team, which makes Hope's performance in the sweet sixteen that much more impressive.

I think it will be a good game, I just hope the Amherst players aren't as cocky about it as you all.

[formerbant10]

I don't think that a half court game would be an inevitable loss for the Jeffs.  I do agree with the shooting percentage however.  Rochester was able to beat them last year on a cold night from deep and the same could happen here. 

But Amherst's half court offense is designed to get great looks for its shooters and provides plenty of space for Bedford to slash to the basket.  Amherst is definitely capable of scoring 80+ even in a so-called half court game.

I'm interested to see who wins this one.  It could put a lot of arguments about how poor New England basketball is.  A lot of people have been very high on Witt this year, and if Amherst takes them out it may prove to the Great Lakes and Midwesterners that the NE can play.

It would be very nice for the NESCAC to get its 2nd title.

[walzy31]

Formerbant dissappears for a few days and comes back with true words of wisdom. It is time Hoops Fan learrrns from him.

G Mike D'Auria MIT Sr. Newton, Mass 
over
G John Bedford Amherst Sr. Ridgewood, NJ
for 1st team all region in the guard spot...

Was that a joke? If it was a joke then I am OK with it. Whatever, when the NABC awards come out and Bedford is 1st team on that and Mike D'who is not, it will be the punchline to the joke.

I agree with St. Claire, Rhoten and Yvonne, and understand they are doing 2 guards 2 forwards and a center, but play a three guard offense or spend time comparing D'Auria to Bedford because Bedford is better than him and Stockwell.

[mrmike88]

Walzy,

I would question Yvon's inclusion over the MIT guy, who had a tremendous season by all accounts.  If I remember correctly, Bedford outperformed Yvon head-to-head.

[formerbant10]

Apparently they think highly of the MIT guy, he got Region POY.  Congrats to Coach Sheldon for getting Region COY, absolutely deserving. 

In regards to Yvon, his numbers were great again but his team struggled all year.  Tough call on Bedford being 2nd team.  I guess he'll just have to sulk in a corner of the Salem Civic Center with the rest of the guys on that list.  Oh wait, he's the only one still playing, I forgot.  I'd take 2 Final Fours over an All Region 1st team every day of the week and 12 times this weekend.

Strong representation for the NESCAC overall.  I'd like to see a NESCAC vs. the rest of New England game.  Great fun to watch and I think the NESCAC would take it.

[fpc85]

hoop fan,
You so very confident about witt...we'll see on friday. If the Jeffs shoot there sesaon  percentage and are w/in 10 rebounds of witt they will be in with 5 min to go. You talk as if this is a potential blow out.
What do you think witt will win by?

[pennstghs]

guys this will not be a blowout it is going to come down to the end