MBB: NESCAC

[eclinchy]

I'm also predicting a big Amherst win on January 6.  Not only do I think they quite clearly have the better team, I also like that the Jeffs have a solid warm-up game against a good Babson team (5-3, with two 3-point losses to Colby and Trinity, as well as a 10-point loss to then-undefeated Brandeis) on the 4th whereas Williams won't have played since their California trip.  Good scheduling on Hixon's part.

Yeah... that and the fact that Amherst is the best team in the league and Williams very well may be the worst this year.  Might wanna mention that minor detail.

Can we skip the Amherst blowout wins and start talking about Amherst/Bates-Tufts/Trinity the next weekend?  Or is that too far away?

[walzy31]

Love catching up on everything.
Johnny Utah, can we just list NESCAC girls as #1) Trinity #2) Middlebury and then the rest? Please? Arguing if Colby has better girls than Williams or Amherst has better girls than Tufts is like arguing which Little League B League Pitcher has more accuracy than the opposing B League pitcher...they both suck and no one strikes out because you never have to swing.

Friar, I appreciate the shoutouts for a Trin(Tex)/Amh prediction but I am unable to throw accurate predictions for out of region games. You will be happy to know that my Jan 6th line is coming along though. Without predicting scores I will say Amherst beats Trin(Tex) by 17.

Ooh, I like this debate:

Which PG would you pick if you were selecting a team to compete in NESCAC, Zak Ray or Kwame Graves-Fulgham? Which PF would you pick, Steve Deluca or Rob Stockwell? Flo Rexhepi or Brian Wholly?

I call this debate the "Bates/Brandeis debate." But maybe it can be called the "Battle of the NESCAC's 6th hottest women verse the UAA's last place women." That is just pure speculation.

[mrmike88]

Walzy,

An important question to ask here is are we building a program or assembling a team for one season?  Ray and Stockwell are seniors, the 'Deis guys are not.

I'd probably take Ray over Kwame in a close one for one season - I think Ray is stronger on the defensive end and they both exhibit about the same athleticism on offense.  I loved DeLuca in the Amherst game, though.  He's got a nice inside/outside mix to his game, and that's an extra dimension that I haven't seen from Stockwell yet in the games of his I have been to.

[dman]

baller10,
   i hope you plan on increasing the quality of your posts...you sound like someone who was beaten by the "mercy rule" in a rec league game against some former williams players....

[formerbant10]

Friar, thanks for the notice.  Let me know when you get a more detailed record.  I'm sure everyone would like to see that when it's full.

Interesting questions about the NESCAC/UAA teams facing off.  It'd be nice to see an All Star game between the two conferences.  

As for the Amherst/Trin @ Tufts/Bates weekend.  Trinity is 1-3 in the past 2 away series of this matchup.  Amherst is 4-0 on the road.  

Zak Ray & David Shepherd taking on Andrew Olson & Pat Martin----pretty good point guard matchups.
Stockwell & Weitzen versus Wheeler & Russ Martin----Solid big guys with good shooting touch.

All four teams have the potential to win both games.  They also good do very well in the tournament if all 4 could get in....which is more possible than in previous years because of the field expansion last year.  

Should be a great weekend for the fans.  But it is still very far away with some important games in the mean time.

Dman, hilarious.

[eclinchy]

Zak Ray & David Shepherd taking on Andrew Olson & Pat Martin----pretty good point guard matchups.

True, but I'd argue that defensively, the best point guard we'll see that weekend is none of the above -- Jeremy Black.  I'm expecting to see him play a ton of minutes off the bench to guard Olson.

[Friar T]

Great calls on the PG matchups this weekend. I wish I could see the Olson vs. Ray matchup again as it was a thriller last year. Two very hard-nosed kids that just refused to give in to the other. I think Ray has the toughest burden of the foursome as he's the only one that needs to score to help his team. Olson and Martin are allowed to mainly serve as distributors, and Shepard only takes on a scoring burden if Weitzen & Co. don't get it done.

However, I think the excellent guard play won't stop at the PG spot. McLaughlin, Whooly, Clarke, Black, etc. will provide a series of highlights as well.

As for the forwards questions, Wheeler and Weitzen open up serious matchup problems for their oppositions b/c of their outside shooting touch. Amherst's center-by-committee gives them an awesome boost in handling Martin and Stockwell, but I'm sure they'll both get theirs.

It's gonna be great basketball no matter what. It's almost sad to see such crucial and excellent matchups so early in the conference schedule. The top team out of this gets such an advantage through the rest of the slate...

Huge next couple days in D3 hoops. Anxious to see what's gonna happen among the rankings...

[formerbant10]

Clinchy,

I'd have to go with Zak Ray as the best defensive PG.  He's been at the top of the conference in steals every year.

[BooBallsCasRay]

Friar T -

You should check your facts..David Litt actually made his name known at Amherst as an exceptional goaltender on the men's hockey team...he did play golf as well, and is perhaps the most versatile athlete at amherst since william jenkins.

anyway - back to basketball -

i hear that hixon has designed a secret play called the annexation of puerto rico...any truth to this rumor?

Only the Lord can judge me Baller...

Just to keep the board on task and ignoring foolishness, David Litt was a golfer at Amherst for the last four years, not an Amherst recruit. A hilarious joke for those Amherst readers who knew him...

FormerBant, good call on the numbers and time not being completely reflective. However, I do think that some of Olson's numbers will inflate with his PT. I feel like he has enough talent and depth around him that his assist numbers could skyrocket, while his points should stay similar if not decrease. If teams are really concerned with him scoring, what are Wheeler, McLaughlin, etc. going to do? Not even C4 could make a boom like that...

Eclinchy, yes Bowser... the Amherst/Trinity vs. Tufts/Bates weekend will be a big one on this board. I'm sure Walzy is already calculating his predictions. Dude is like Nostramdamus...

[Friar T]

My bad BooBalls, I neglected to mention Litt's impressive goaltending prowess. I heard he was the only player to ever stop a Kretzman wrister and was a nasty IM baller as well.

Good call FormerBant. Ray is an absolute ballhawk...

[whoarewebobcats]

I don't think Zak needs to score for Bates, he's fifth on the team in scoring right now, and generally his value on offense is creating for others, attacking the basket to alter defenses, etc etc. He shows up in big games as another offensive threat, but it's not a good idea to consider him a big scoring option (39% on the year, not much more than that for career) when guys like Wholey (as an overall scorer) and Halloran (pure shooter) are really the first two complements to Stockwell. Any points Zak puts up are gravy...

[Baller10]

dman, good point. though i noticed you didnt refute anything.
formerbant, i would put you in the same category of people as abba, coffin, crotty and demuth.

did william jenkins play overseas at all after college?

[mrmike88]

With Wooster's loss tonight to Ohio Northern, if Amherst takes care of business at Trinity they'll likely be #1 in the next poll.

[formerbant10]

Baller10,

Not sure what you're getting at.  I don't know those guys too well, but I'm not really sure what category I would fit in with them.

[old_hooper]

And defending national champion Va Wes goes down to hardin Simmions of Texas 63-62.  this is their 2 loss also!