MBB: NESCAC

[nescac hoops]

sadly, adolphe's mother passed away yesterday according to some of those at the game from the amherst side. i would assume that was why he was not there and did not play.

williams hung in for the first half but hopkins proved to be more than williams could handle. williams is not good. there offense consisted of hading off the ball around the perimeter and taking the first "open" three. I would not be shocked if they took +40 threes tonight. while it was an overall ugly game, amherst is NOT the team that amherst posters have made them out to be. perhaps it was just a bad night, but with the exception of hopkins (williams has NO big men or interior defense), nobody on amherst really impressed me tonight - olson was rather quiet. i'm not saying this b/c i am a williams fan and i have only seen the jeffs play once (tonight), but the Jeffs are very overrated and what they showed tonight does not compare to the teams of their recent past. they have some work to do. based on what i saw tonight, amherst would get SMACKED by some of the midwest teams.

[Friar T]

So nescac hoops,

Amherst, who you've seen once, would "get smacked by some of the midwest teams," which haven't seen play at all. Makes tons of sense...

Terrible news about Dolph The Legend. My heart and prayers go out to him.

As for the game, nescac hoops said one good thing, Williams is bad. It's one thing to have a bad shooting game on the road (which Amherst did going 0-9 from 3 in the first half), but to shoot 25% from the field at home is rough.

The Jeffs definately had a subpar effort and still won by 20. That's gotta say something about them. Bright spots from the game seem to include Hopkins (7-11 from the floor), Baskauskas (9 and 9), McLaughlin (10 pts, 5 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals) and the Jeffs' taking care of the ball (just 8 TOs).

Should be a great week of talk getting ready for Amherst/Trinity vs. Bates/Tufts...

[JeffRookie2]

With all this talk of the Jeffs being 'down' this year I thought about what our roster will likely look like next year. I came up with roughly this.

1: Olson/DJ
2: Adolphe/Baskauskas
3:Goldsmith/Wheeler
4: Walters/Bennett
5: Hopkins/ Jones

I think this team will probably be as good if not better than this year's, and will showcase the incredible talent of the '08 class. (all five of those guys i have listed as starters are juniors now, but i doubt i have the lineup exactly right--you would have to find a starting role for baskauskas somewhere) If we go with that lineup I have listed we will no longer have size issues against the midwestern teams. That is an absurdly tall squad.

Sorry to hear about Adolphe's mom, that's terrible news.

[Marty Peretz]

Caught my first Amherst Williams tilt in a couple of seasons yesterday and here are some of my thoughts:

I knew I was back in Williamstown when, mere seconds after parking, I spotted some of the 03-04 team being embraced by local senior citizens. Williamstown folk still treat those guys like kings and I must say, bizarre as it may be, it's kind of endearing that a D3 program means so much to the community.

As for the actual contest...I should have gone back to the midwest early and caught the WashU Chicago game. The Jeffs and Ephs game was uneventful from the start and even when Williams led ten minutes into the game, their own fans knew they had no shot.

Shalvoy is the worst  2+ year starting point guard I have ever watched in the Nescac. Watching him truly pains me. He singlehandedly confirmed for me that Paulsen, though a solid coach, doesn't have a clue when it comes to recruiting. I'm not sure Shalvoy could take this forum's aging posters off the dribble.

Paulsen coached a great first half, but lost the game early in the second. He had his guys drastically slow the game down throughout the entire first half and that clearly frustrated the run-happy Jeffs. Then, for some reason, his squad started launching the same MTV Rock and Jock length threes they'd been shooting in the first half only this time they were with 22 ticks left on the shot clock, whereas in the first half they came with with 2 seconds left and forced Amherst to stay disciplined on D. The change in approach allowed Amherst to run and open up a wider advantage.

Williams is BAD. Top to bottom (save for Rose) they are just straight out bad. Paulsen is aging quickly and needs to learn how to recruit if he wants to get back to the top of the NESCAC. He looks distressed and dissheveled.

Brandon Jones needs to see the floor much more. I'm really not sure why Hixon plays Walters and O'Shea about as much as he plays Jones. I suspect it gets back to his insistence upon playing the older guys. That dogma will hurt him if he tries to do it in Salem because Jones and Hopkins can go toe-to-toe with most big men in the country; O'shea, Walters, and to a much lesser extent Wheeler, can not.

The Williams fans were attrocious. Understandably, the passion that was found around that program four years ago has utterly faded. Even the children of the corn were unenthusiastic. The Amherst fans, as usual, failed to travel well.

Mike Crotty was wearing an oversized purple silk shirt with slightly tight Levi's-esque jeans and looked like a student at a third rate prep school circa 1997.

Always good to see Shumhat Bhat in the house; always get a creepy feeling when I see Chuck Abba in the house.

[walzy31]

Aerodynamic Dan Wheeler and LT Andrew Olson also played well but it was not as visible in the box score as Hopkins, Jones, McLaughlin and BaskauSkis.

[The Historian]

True, there weren't a lot of Amherst fans in attendance yesterday, but in their defense, Amherst is not yet in session.  The only students allowed back before this weekend, were winter athletes and a few others who had special permission.  I promise a much better showing in a couple weeks when Amherst is again subjected to the hardships of their restrictive scheduling in the Northeast by playing poor-Salem-prepper Williams for a second time.

As for the game itself, others have written well about it already.  But I'll just add that Amherst did seem a little off their game.  Some of this, I'm sure, had to do with the tragedy of Adolphe's mother.  A basketball game certainly becomes a secondary thought in that sort of situation.  It also looked to be just one of those nights -- open threes and layups alike just not falling like they normally do.  Given that, a 19 point victory on an off-day certainly speaks volumes.

Maybe with Ohio Northern's loss, Amherst can get back to the second spot.  Then again, teams #4 - #8 also won, and I'm sure there will be very convincing arguments to elevate one of them to the #2 spot or even the #1 spot (I mean, Stevens Point only beat a very average UW Stout team).  Not having seen a midwest team play this year, I'll let those with more "enlightened" knowledge make that call...

All I know is that my thoughts and prayers are with Adolphe.  I also hope O'Shea's hand isn't as bad as it looked.  Still, with Hopkins and Jones playing like they are and Goldsmith waiting in the wings, I have faith that the Jeffs will weather the storm.

All in all, yesterday was a great way to celebrate my 25th straight Amherst-Williams game.

[walzy31]

SAT scores according to Williams fans (or at least nescac hoops):

Olson 810
Wheeler 860
Hopkins 990
Baskauskis 1020
Jones 930
O'Shea 1100 (got in on his own)
Coulibaly 1000
McLaughlin 960

Rose 1600
Shalvoy 1480
Snyder 1550
Nelson 1570

you're ridiculous. go play tennis. there's no snow on the courts.

[JeffRookie2]

haha, what sour grapes. there is a 0% chance olson didnt crack 1000. some of the bball team is quite bright even by amherst standards. dan wheeler is pre-med and ive had friends in classes with him say he more than holds his own. hes the exception no doubt, but im sure they're all smart kids.

whats the word on goldsmith, btw? hows his leg coming?

[old_hooper]

Nescac hoops, if you go back to last year Final Four, Amherst held their own quite well against two dominate teams from the midwest in Illinois Wesleyan (3 pt loss and Hixon started all seniors for that game, consolation, where the they were down by 10 before he went to the starting lineup) and Wittenberg who's big men proved to be to much for the Amherst (4 pt loss).  Both those teams again are doing well this year but lost major players.  The Amherst team has at least 10 players who suited up for the final four back of which 6 were major contributors in those games.  The only team that had more coming back this year from the final four was Va Wesleyan.  If you recall this was the pre-season #1 team and they have an excellent chance to return to final four.  They are not a very big team but were able to pull it off last year.  This weekend will be big for Amherst as they go on the road and try to win two games that are probably the biggest games on their schedule.  As for Williams, they are probably the most predictable team to defend in the NESCAC and  might find it hard to make it to the conference tournament.

[Friar T]

My bad, I'll restate. So Amherst, who you saw once, on a day without one of their best  players who had a MAJOR tragedy in the family (if you think that doesn't effect the mood of the whole team you're crazy), would get smacked by some of the midwest teams, one of which you also saw play once. Your logic astounds me... Why is no one questioning your SAT scores?

GREAT points by old hooper! Having been down in Salem last year, Wittenberg's big men were incredible and Amherst had a shot to beat them, and it was the same deal in the stupid conso game. The Jeffs are knocked quite a bit for this weakness, but seem to handle it nonetheless.

While Williams may be as bad as people (fans and haters alike) say, I hope that people realize that most of the comments made by myself and other Amherst supporters are said with a touch of fun. That being said, YES Amherst is real good and one of the best d3 teams in the country, no they aren't the second coming of the Jordan-Led Bulls.

Any kid who gets into Amherst or Williams is incredibly bright and talented. That discussion is a waste of time on this board. Walzy you kill me...

I've never tried elephant or bobcat meat, but I hear both are tough and tasteless. That crazy Lord Jeff will eat anything...

[The Historian]

Actually, I don't think that I've ever claimed that Amherst is flawless.  But thanks for the heads up, nescac hoops.  As for dominant, well, yes, Amherst has been dominant this year.  That's pretty much a matter of record.  Do I think they would dominate other top 10 teams in the nation?  No, but I do believe that Amherst can beat any other team in the nation on any given night.

As for this year's squad being the worst of the past 5 years, I think that's just plain wrong and uninformed.  But even if I'm wrong, I guess that says something about the program's sustained excellence over those years.  Which is more than some programs can claim...

Speaking of, I really have to think that a huge part of Paulsen's recruiting woes have to do with his courtside demeanor.  Now, I've heard a lot of people that I do respect (don't worry, nescac hoops, you aren't included), that he really is a great guy, but during a game he must be miserable to play for.  He just screams and screams and screams.  And I don't buy the argument that it's just his passion.  He's downright pissed at his players, getting right in their face and screaming and screaming and screaming.  If Bobby Knight acted the way Paulsen did in the first half of the Amherst game, Sportscenter would be covering it.  I'm dead serious.

Finally, thanks, administrators, for the karma point love.  There seems to be a correlation between my posts questioning your "enlightened" polling decisions and my falling number.  Has there ever been a more passive-aggressive feature?  I mean, simply defending your arguments isn't good enough?  You also have to anonymously swipe at my imaginary, electronic karma?  But maybe it's like the poll itself.  The better I do, the lower I go.  Hahahaha.

Blowing out my candle doesn't make yours shine brighter.

[formerbant10]

Just wondering why nobody made any noise with Drew Cohen going for 39 points, 22 rebounds and 9 boards!!!  Easily the best game, statiscally, of the year.

[fpc85]

Finally, thanks, administrators, for the karma point love.  There seems to be a correlation between my posts questioning your "enlightened" polling decisions and my falling number.  Has there ever been a more passive-aggressive feature?  I mean, simply defending your arguments isn't good enough?  You also have to anonymously swipe at my imaginary, electronic karma?  But maybe it's like the poll itself.  The better I do, the lower I go.  Hahahaha.

Blowing out my candle doesn't make yours shine brighter.

Hahahahaha...good stuff!

[Pat Coleman]

Actually, you'll find that across all of the boards, people who complain about karma tend to lose even more of it.

[The Historian]

Pat, I think I was careful to thank you for the karma love and not complain about it.  I also love that I lose points for disagreeing about the polls--albeit in a snide, yet playfully intended, nature--at a much more rapid rate than do people who make direct personal and erroneous (on both counts!) attacks on individuals.

As for basketball, thanks, formerbant10, for the heads up on Cohen's game.  Monster effort.  Too bad Colby couldn't capitalize on it.  Based on the numbers that I've gathered so far, he's only 17 blocks behind the NESCAC record of 265 by John Cavanaugh of Hamilton.

eclinchy, save a seat for me Friday, and, Red1, do the same for me Saturday.  I can't promise a lot of Amherst fans given our interterm situation, but I'll be there.