MBB: NESCAC

[eclinchy]

But can someone tell me what the big problem with them is right now?  Just curious. 

It's the defense... they can't stop good offensive teams.  They gave up 94 points to RIC and 99 to Brandeis.  They've had some trouble containing the athletic 2 and 3-guys they've faced... they're still adjusting to having Kumf at the four and Jake starting, I guess.

[Red1]

Bates 91 Endicott 53. 

Bates led 38-33 at the half.  Both Rob Stockwell and Brian Wholey got hot from the field in the second half scoring 12 and 14 respectively and Bates outrebounded Endicott 29 to 5 en route to a 53-20 second half drubbing of the visitng Gulls.

Overall the Bobcats outrebounded the Gulls 44-17, and shot 52.3% overall and 55% from long range.  Bates has now avenged both of last years non-confrence losses with conviction.

Cheers,
Red1 

[formerbant10]

Tufts is giving up a lot of points.  But RIC and Brandeis seem to be pretty good.  It's definitely possible that some of the guys are having trouble adjusting to their new roles and the different personnel.  It's always nice having a 6'9 guy playing behind you to erase some mistakes on the perimeter.  They will be fine, I wouldn't worry about them either.

Trinity squeaked one out on the road with Pat Martin hitting a deep 3 with a couple seconds left.  Didn't seem like the best game for the Bants, but a win on the road...in-region...is always nice no matter how you get it.

[mrmike88]

New top 25 - Tufts drops out, but the NESCAC keeps two teams with the addition of Bates.

The first month of the season is always the toughest month to get a read on teams.  Could it be a true weakness or could it just be adjustment?  If I were a Tufts fan I wouldn't be worried.  This was a tenacious team last year, and with so many guys returning I'd be really surprised if the defensive woes continued.

[walzy31]

I agree that Tufts will be a very solid team.

Prediction:
I got Amherst taking down Emmanuel tonight 99 - 69. Olson with 9 assists and McLaughlin with 5 steals if they stat it well.
I look forward to a 6-0 Amherst team taking on an extremely talented Brandeis squad on December 9th in Amherst. That will be an early test for the Jeffs.

[eclinchy]

Agreed, Amherst-Brandeis will be HUGE.  Those are the two best teams in New England at this point.

I'm off to the Tufts-Springfield game.  I'll be back tonight with my thoughts.  Hopefully I'll have a blowout win to report... if not, the Jumbos are in trouble.

[Red1]

While I'd certainly agree that Amherst is clearly the best team in New England right now, I'm not sure I agree that Brandeis is second.  What about RIC?  They beat Tufts too and they also beat D1 Iona in exibition.  They're undefeated, full of confidence, and have played a tougher set of teams than Brandeis.  Also, Bates is now ranked 21 on the latest poll, is undefeated, and have pretty much blown out all of their opponents (except for WNEC the first game of the season).  They haven't had as tough a schedule, but the Bobcats have certainly made the most of their games thus far.  Including a 91-53 blasting of a solid defensive minded Endicott team that is the 3 time defending CCC champion.

This is not a knock on Brandeis, they're a great team, and they're near the top of the programs in New England.  I just think that calling them the clear #2 is giving them a little too much, especially looking at the performances of the other 2 teams I've mentioned.

Cheers,
Red1

[nescac1]

Wow, third straight loss for Williams, and these losses aren't to power house programs either.  Looks like the team could be in big trouble in NESCAC this year ... anyone know what is going on?  I can't recall any Williams team that had so much trouble scoring, and the Ephs only lost one major scorer from last year's team.  On paper, the team should be able to handle the likes of Framingham State and RPI ... yet it seems like the Ephs have taken a big step backwards from last season.  Oh well, at least Eph fans have the memories of football season to hold us over ... but it would be nice if the team could pull together a little before conference play starts.

On the whole, NESCAC hasn't exactly been kicking butt ... Trinity lost by quite a bit tonight and has struggled a little in some other games, Tufts has underperfomed based on expectations, obviously Williams has been a disaster, and everyone except Bates and Amherst already has out of conferences losses.  I guess the pre-season prognostications were overly optimistic for many teams.  Looks like Amherst may run away with the league yet again, with only Bates looking capable of putting up much of a fight (unless Tufts figures out how to defend without Martin)... surprising that NESCAC, as a whole, looks weaker than last year, at least based on early season results. 

[old_hooper]

Actually the Trinity score was just the opposite where they won.  The Western CT website has it right.   

[nescac1]

That's a big difference ... add Trinity then to the teams who have performed up to expectations ...

[mrmike88]

Walzy is good - Amherst criuses tonight, although the margin of victory was more than anticipated.  Olson had the called-for 9 assists, McLaughlin ONLY 3 steals (but he led all scorers with 13).

Brandeis will be a fun matchup.  Looking down the line (and I know its quite a ways), there looms a potentially huge game in January AT RIC...

[eclinchy]

Jumbos went on a 22-3 run tonight to bury Springfield.  The lead shrunk a lot in garbage time, but they held on to win 77-61.

Sloppy play on both sides -- the two teams combined for 31 assists and 46 turnovers, ouch.

Jumbos outrebounded the Pride despite not having anyone with over 4 rebounds.  All of the big six (Fitz/Kumf/Weitzen/O'Keefe/Shep/Pierce) had 3 or 4.

Pierce shot the lights out as usual, 8 for 11 from the floor, 20 points.  He really needs to start... he's just too ridiculously hot right now not to.

[YoungSnukes]

Williams lost to Fram St? hahaha. BURN!

[nescac hoops]

I cannot remember the last time Williams lost 3 straight - this is particularly bad given one of the teams was Framingham State. I haven't had the chance to see them play yet so I will not point to many fingers, however I still believe head coach Paulsen is not as good a coach as he has been given credit (the back-to-back national coach of the year awards). Sure one of his teams has won the national championships and the next year lost in the title game but that was on the backs of players he never recruited, but rather he was blessed with under the recruiting of Sheehy. So far, Paulsen's teams with all of his recruits have yet to finish top half in the nescac and haven't even won a nescac playoff game. Sure, they were expected to have a rebuilding year with what they lost in '04 to graduation but now it is beyond the point that they should still be having growing pains. Perhaps Paulsen should have left on top when he was reaping the benefits of another coach's work.

[formerbant10]

That's a big difference ... add Trinity then to the teams who have performed up to expectations ...

I'm pretty sure that most posters on this board had very low expectations on the Bants....could just be me though.

Very good defensive game for the Bants, keeping WCSU to barely above 30% shooting from the field and forcing 21 turnovers.  If they can maintain that level, they'll be competitive in every game.