MBB: NESCAC

[toad22]

I agree wholeheartedly that the NESCAC should split into East and West divisions and play twice in-division, and once out of division, with a season ending tournament for the winners. This makes a lot of sense, and I think could happen in the future. A much more pressing threat is that the Presidents will once again decide to pull out of NCAA tournament play. My understanding is that the votes at the Presidents meetings are quite close on this issue, and a flip of one or two votes would mean the end of NCAA tournament play.

As an Eph fan, I am totally biased, but my sense is that Williams is on the way back to respectability, but it will be an unusual event to see the Ephs in the NCAA tournament again. Institutional decisions have been made which drastically reduces the chances of Williams having the great teams of the mid 90s or 2003-04. I hope things change, but I doubt they will. 

[walzy31]

but i think next year the ephs will be the second best team in the conference behind williams.

the hangar has the best wings i've ever had. if i was a recruit, i would choose the hangar over williams in a heartbeat.

There is a saying that is escaping me at the moment. But Williams really has a lot of improving to do (not to mention serious recruiting) if they are going to finish first AND second in the conference next season.

True statement. The hangar is legit... and I would choose a lot of food service establishments in Amherst/Northampton over Williams.

Baller10,
Hixon got nipped with the Ray Corrigan bug. Very serious but won't stop him from racing towards 600. And yes, he coaches from behind the bench, in a wheelchair, with a full leg cast on.

MrMike,

Our "Fill-In PA" guy has now been hired as our "full time PA" guy due to his stellar performance this weekend. Defintly a changeup from JP, but I agree with you that he adds pizazz.

PREDICTION:

Amherst 96
So. Vermont 59
Unless Coppenwrath has eligibility left in the green state.

[speedy]

. . A much more pressing threat is that the Presidents will once again decide to pull out of NCAA tournament play. My understanding is that the votes at the Presidents meetings are quite close on this issue, and a flip of one or two votes would mean the end of NCAA tournament play.   . .  

Yikes - I thought that NESCAC participation in the NCAA play-offs was cast in stone as it has been going for years now (since about 1995) and with significant success for some schools. Any sense as to which schools are opposed to participation in the NCAA play-offs?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Unless Coppenwrath has eligibility left in the green state.

Coppenwrath always has elligibility in Vermont.  He's getting put onto their Mt Rushmore with Chester A Arthur, Howard Dean and Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

[simon]

Rumor has it that SVC lost some key players due to academics along with some other issues so I really do not think the score will be that close. I hope they give the Jeffs a game but I doubt it.

[nescac hoops]

sorry,
i meant "finish second behind amherst." my bad. in all honestly walzy, besides amherst and tufts next year, who do you think the ephs will finish behind? with all the williams bashing that goes on here, they will probably finish 5th this year behind amherst, trinity (losing a lot to graduation, ephs only lost by a couple to THIS year), bates (losing a lot to graduation), and tufts (inconistent to say the least). tufts will still be strong next year but even if they do beat the ephs, i don't see anybody else with the exception of amherst being any better than williams. that being said, i think it will be a particularly down year for the nescac with all they lose this year.

[nescac1]

It seems like, amazingly Middlebury could actually be a top 4-5 NESCAC team this year and a top-3 NESCAC team next year as they are also very young and deep, with all but one starter returning.  Indeed, this year the Ephs will be underdogs on the road against Midd, if Rudin is playing -- any update on what happened to him, Midd fans? 

Six very winnable home games for NESCAC teams tonight -- only the Williams/Hamilton game should even be competitive.  Nice chance for a breather before the next conference weekend -- which may be the least competitive of the season, outside of Williams/Midd. 

What happened to Conn?  Seems like since Young returned, they went in the tank -- surprising as that was supposed to provide a major boost. 

[hoopjunkie]

I heard that Rudin hurt his ankle in the last 3 minutes in the Amherst game Friday
night . He tryed  playing on Saturday vs Trinity but could`nt go .
Maybe the outcome of both games would have been different if their star
point guard would have been healthy .

Anybody have thoughts on Williams vs Hamilton or Tufts vs Wheaton tonight ?

[mrmike88]

WAMH has the SVC-Amherst game tonight.  7:30PM tip-off, http://wamh.amherst.edu/

[formerbant10]

Williams-Hamilton may not be as close as advertised....I heard one of Hamilton's good players is out.

In the Midd/Trin game Rudin barely played, but Russ Martin didn't play due to a slight injury as well.  So both big guns were not healthy, but Trin did get some input from Martin while Midd got nothing from Rudin.  There's no doubt that he would've made a difference...but I don't know if it would've been enough to beat the Bants.

[frank uible]

Comparative scores vs. common opponents (Wesleyan and Union) favor Hamilton over Williams in both cases.

[eclinchy]

Anybody have thoughts on Williams vs Hamilton or Tufts vs Wheaton tonight ?

I'll be at the latter.

It looks like a pretty easy game.  At home, against a team that lost to a lot of teams we beat (Springfield, MIT, Plymouth State, etc).  I'm hoping for a blowout win to get over the frustration of the Bates loss... and I'm also hoping for Jake to drop 39 so he hits the 1000-point mark at home... but we can't always get what we want, now can we?).

I'll post thoughts very late tonight.

[nescac1]

Although Frank, on the other hand, Williams beat Skidmore by 30, and Skidmore just beat Hamilton -- shows the perils of too much reliance on comparative scores.  Williams really needs this one to get back on track after a rough 0-3 week ...

[formerbant10]

Comparative scores vs. common opponents (Wesleyan and Union) favor Hamilton over Williams in both cases.

Indeed it may, but I heard from a reliable source that Hamilton's top player is out and they will probably struggle without him.  Hamilton has young guards who can be inconsistent, especially with the subbing style Hamilton uses.  And if Rose has a good game, Williams has a very good chance to come out on top.

Nescac1, I just heard about that loss.....Hamilton's big gun was out for that game as well.

[nescac hoops]

it's not a very exciting weekend, with the exception of williams-midd, as far as team competition goes. however, i am curious to see how farrell (sp?) and cohen do against amherst. i know a lot of people have been advocating for cohen to be the conference POY and that farrell is "lights out" (and was named conference player of this week). however, i am still skeptical of cohen not being able to beat, or at least score a lot, against a williams team that has no answer for dominant post players. with these two supposed stars, i would have expected more out of this colby team. thus, i'm curious to see how cohen matches up against the amherst big men and how "lights out" farrell is against the amherst perimeter defense.