MBB: NESCAC

[ephoops]

Wheels are coming off wagon for AMH.  Witt on a run.  59 - 59 with 1:09 left--Witt on the line for 2 foul shots.

AMH spread the floor with 5:00 minutes left and it backfired on Hixon.

[ephoops]

Casnocha taking too many untimely 3's.

[ephoops]

Casnocha just took an awful 3 from 30 feet with AMH down 3 with 8 secs left...terrible shot.  AMH really collapsed down the stretch.

AMH was up 8 in the 2nd half and let it slip away.

Very disappointing

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Good season for Amherst.  They hung in there with a very good Wiitenberg team.  Hopefully this will be a good experience for the guys coming back.

Hopefully they can get things together for the third place game tomorrow.

[ephoops]

AMH loses 64-60.

Witt's big men killed AMH down the stretch.

AMH was in control, up 8 in the 2nd half.  Hixon went to a spread to run time off the clock and it took AMH out of its offensive rhythm.  I think AMH scored only one point in the last 5+ minutes of the game.

They'll look back on this game as the one that got away.  

Olsen played well.  Wheeler and Bedford shot very poorly in the game.  They were 10-18 from 3, but shot under 40% for the game.  

They could not stop Witt's two big guys.  They held their own on the boards, but just could not close out Witt.

So the streak continues...the only NESCAC team ever to win a game at the final four in Salem is Williams.  AMH will have another chance in the third place game tomorrow.  Let's see if Hixon can rally the team for a good effort tomorrow.  Frankly, they mailed it in against John Carroll in the third place game two years ago.  Let's hope they make a better effort tomorrow.  Sheehy was able to get his Williams teams to put forth great efforts with two wins in the two third palce games that he coached after very disappointing losses in the semi-finals.

[mrmike88]

No shame tonight in the loss.  Up 8 with five minutes to go, the Jeffs ought to have won.  But I can tell you, from sitting courtside, NOBODY in the northeast plays as physically as Witt.  It was a battle the entire game.  And Amherst stood right up to it - to be down only 2 at the half after being outplayed the first ten minutes was amazing.  O'Shea, Wheeler, Caz, Goldsmith, and Hopkins played great in the low post on D until the final few minutes, when Russ just wore them down and the fouls piled up.  Russ is HUGE.  He's taller than any Amherst player, faster, and stronger.  That we stopped him at all is amazing.  Our shots were falling all night until the 5:00 mark.  It's a shame, but we showed tonight that AMherst could play with anybody.  We took their best punch and should have won.

Congrats to the guys for a great season.  I hope they show up tomorrow for the consolation game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I told you, Wittenberg is good, not so good they couldn't be beaten, but it was a tough game.  Amherst needs to be really proud of their guys.

By the way, if you don't have it on already, flip on CBS.  Albany is up ten on UCONN with 10 to go in the game.

[formerbant10]

There certainly is no shame in losing a game in the Final Four.  I'm sure the Jeffs are disappointed, but they had a great run.  A great 4/5 years for those seniors.  While I want to feel bad for them, I'm still jealous of all the success they've had over the years.  Credit that to the hard work they put in and their great play.  Nothing to hang your head over.

Eph Hoops,

Can you name the only other NE team to make it to the Final Four?? 

[thunder32]

Amherst congrats on a great season and great four years for the seniors.  Good work getting to the final four Witt is a really tough team.  Nothing to be ashamed of.  It should be a dog fight in the nescac for the top three or four spots it should be fun to see how it plays out. 

[ephoops]

With VW beating IWU, AMH must really be kicking themselves.

AMH matched up very well against VW.   If they could have held on to beat Witt, they would have been in great position to win a national championship.

The game tomorrow against IWU should be very interesting.  I hope both teams take pride in showing up and put forth a great effort.  It should be a stern test for AMH.  Like Witt, IWU is big inside.  However, I don't t think they'll play with the level of defensive intensity that Witt did in today's game.

Good luck AMH, bring back the 3rd place trophy for NESCAC and New England basketball.

[ephoops]

Formerbant:

You are obviously refering to the Clark teams in 1984 and 1987 that both lost in the National championship games.  If I recall, you father coached both of the Clark teams...I recall playing against the Clark teams in early 80's when I was at Williams.  They were always very well coached.  I remember the '84 team...they came up to Williams as the best team in New England and Williams beat them handily by double figures at the old Lasell Gym (a very tough place to play for road teams).  I believe that the '84 Clark team did not lose another game that season antil the national finals loss to Wisc-Whitewater


Other NESCAC taems to make it to the final four include:

Williams (4 times)
Amherst (2 times)
Trinity (as you know)
Conn College (I stand corrected from my previous post -- Conn did beat Wm Patterson in the third place game in 1999)


Other New England teams include:
Salem State (won the third place game in 2000)
UMass-Dartmouth
Southern Maine (Won 3rd place game in 1989)
Clark (2 times - Loss the national finals game to North Park in 1987 and Wisc-Whitewater in 1984)

[d3basketball34]

While it was a terribly played game by Amherst I must admit that the officiating was the worst I've seen in 20+ years.  By "letting them play" plays right into the hands of a team that is physical and fouls a lot.  Talking to some of the players and watching the game I realized how poorly the refs saw the game.  A player doesn't miss a layup by 5 feet (Goldsmith) unless he is fouled.  Amherst had 9 fouls on Witt w/ 8 + minutes left but couldn't get a foul committed by Witt until therre was one minute left!  Bull Durham I say!  The refs wanted to balance out the game so they let it play rough until Witt was back in the game and then they called some incredible fouls on Amherst!!!!  I couldn't belive what I saw tonight!  John Bedford went up for a rebound and I saw two Witt players grab each arm!  When Bedford broke free and grabbed the rebound HE was called for a foul!  The refs were the worst I have ever seen in over 20+ years of basketball!   If basketball has come down to a clutch and grab type of game (a la hockey) then I'm done watching this sport! 

Amherst was definately the better team and it's too bad that refs blew it!

[walzy31]

War Mr. Booman
War Cheerleaders

I wasn't going to reply tonight because of the way I feel now that Amherst is out. But I couldnt resist after some of the stories I have heard tonight at "Charades" in the Wyndham.

"he wants to watch"

Daniel Russ played a great game. While some people drop a quiet 20 or 30 points on Amherst in a sound defeat, Russ dropped 26 and they all seemed very big points. The first half was absolutely terrible for Amherst yet they only trailed by 2 at the break.

Amherst was en fuego in the second half and hit leads of 5, 6 and 8. Unfortunately, NOT due to Hixon spreading the offense, but rather due to just tough decisions made on both ends by Amherst (Wittenberg D'd us up all night long), they got outscored 13-1 to finish the game. It sucked.

Bedford hit 1500 which is cool. But I know he would give up hundreds of his points for the W tonight. Tomorrow is dumb and I don't think either IWU or Amherst should be judged by the outcome of the game.

Amherst kept the rebounding margin under 5 (-2). Shot over 40% from three (55%). But failed to hit the 70 point plateu. I still thought that it would be enough to win the game (and it could have been...) Tough for Amherst. Great careers Boo, Cas, RC, and Keith...we will miss you...a lot.

Amherst +11 tomorrow.   : (          Who cares though?

2 DWI's in one night from the same cop in the same city??? THAT is a good story!

[jumpshot]

Comments from a neutral observer on last night's Amherst/Wittenberg game:

1. Wittenberg won by controlling tempo (it was a half-court game), playing excellent defense (really flustered Amherst, eg. turnovers, little motion offense) and having effective post players;

2. Amherst's recourse was hitting first 7 three-pointers of second half; it was Amherst's game to win toward the end when they surprisingly became tentative;

3. Amherst seems to have a strange program: good individual talent (although apparently lots of hype)playing a weak out-of-conference schedule resulting in lots of "wins", a good deal of distracting whinning by players and coach when things got tough, and a small number of fans (seemingly mostly parents with relatively few students or alumni);

Seems to come up short when "mature" programs and cohesive teams stand up to it. Disappointing experience in this tournament for what are undoubtedly good kids.

[formerbant10]

Ephhoops:

Right on about Clark.  The 84 and 87 teams were great.  I've seen a lot of tapes of those teams.  The 81 team was right up there with them as well.  And I knew that Trin and Conn made it.  I guess I should've said made it to the Championship game.

Walzy:

Were the refs really that bad?  That's never a way you want to lose, when the outcome is not decided by the players.  But that's life.