MBB: NESCAC

[formerbant10]

Amherst #1 overall QOW, Trinity is in the top 10 and Bates not too far behind.  Looks like Bates may have a shot at a Pool C after all.

[eclinchy]

Amherst by 20
Tufts, Williams, Bates, Midd all sweep

That's right, I'm going the boring route.  Watch me be right.

[mrmike88]

Change of plans:

The Amherst-Trinity game on Saturday will be on WRTC-FM, Trinity's radio station.  You can access their webcast at http://www.wrtcfm.com/.

Essentially we ran into some logistical issues at WAMH and so the Trinity feed is the exclusive carrier of this one.

[booyakasha]

Colby by 1 over Bates after a pair of clutch free throws by the Nescac scoring leader Nick Farrel, in front of a hostile crowd in Lewiston. Cohen showed why he is the best big man in the league for the first time this season. He stayed out of foul trouble and Bates could not score down the stretch.

[NEbball45]

any word on next years nescac recruits? any hope for conn college, wesleyan or bowdoin to crawl out of the cellar?

[Friar T]

Cohen showed why he is the best big man in the league for the first time this season.

This seems like a complete oxymoron to me... If he's the best big man in the league, why has he only showed it once?

That aside, great win for the Mules, congrats. They must be rioting in Waterville.

[booyakasha]

Point well taken. I'll rephrase. The most talented big man in the league, meaning if I were drafting a team, Cohen would be my number one pick for a big man (trying to avoid saying best player for fear the Olson jock strap comments will start flying). As far as Cohen vs. Hopkins, in my opinion Cohen is the more proven player, and as far as the post about Hopkins dunking over him a few days ago, let's not get carried away. It was a lob over the top where Hopkins was ahead of everyone, and Cohen fouled him from behind. No player in the Nescac can dunk over Cohen, or really any other big man in the Nescac, the way that the statement was framed.

And since I'm in the mood to respond to week old posts, I would like to state for the record I do not work for Goldman Sachs, as so claimed by a poster named Marty Perez, although I wish I did given the 16 billion paid out in bonuses this year. With that kind of money I could buy the rights to d3hoops.com and boot all of the more outlandish Amherst faithful (kidding), or maybe I won't even need to after tomorrow afternoon...

[Pat Coleman]

Change of plans:

The Amherst-Trinity game on Saturday will be on WRTC-FM, Trinity's radio station.  You can access their webcast at http://www.wrtcfm.com/.

Essentially we ran into some logistical issues at WAMH and so the Trinity feed is the exclusive carrier of this one.

Aargh. We laid out on doing this game. Now I wish we'd put in to broadcast it.

[mrmike88]

At least someone is doing it.  That's the big issue, as far as I'm concerned.

[Pat Coleman]

Hmm, yeah. With a limited stream that's not very reliable, in our experience.

[mrmike88]

With Bates losing to Colby last night, they'll finish no better than 4-5 in conference.  I can't see the NCAA rewarding a sub-.500 in-conference team a Pool C...

[Hoaf]

Amherst losing to Trinity 62-59.

Are you kidding me? How could they blow it. Perfect season is undone.

They missed a lot of shots down the stretch.

[speedy]

Here's another surprise:

Bowdoin 66 Bates 58

[nescac1]

Congrats to the Bantams, always good to see the ever burgeoning legion of overly arrogant Jeffs fans taken down a peg.  I guess the Jeffs are human after all, losing to Trinity with its starting center out.  

Congrats also to the Ephs, who improbably squeezed out the three seed.  Quite a turnaround for the Ephs this year, playing much better due to the development of the two frosh in the starting lineup and Rose's return to form.  The Ephs have been relying much more on the drive and less on just hocking up 3's, leading to their improved results.  Balance is the key and Schultz (driving) and Geoghegan (post play) bring different dimensions to the floor than the rest of the shooters on the team.  Unfortunately, tough draw in the tourney getting Tufts in round one.  Hopefully the Ephs will learn from last week's loss.  Last year, the Ephs won at Tufts in regular season but lost in the tourney.  Perhaps history will repeat itself, in reverse.  Should be a great crowd for the first home playoff game in three years.  

In any event, great resiliency from the Ephs and a lot of hope for the future with five returning starters and some young talent on the bench.  Seems like the Ephs' have finally gotten over the hump and are (knock on wood) on the way back to being a regional power.  

Hope the young lineup can extent the season a few more games against an impossible to predict Tufts squad, anything is possible in NESCAC this year.  Who thought that Middlebury and Williams would have home games with Bates and Tufts on the road?  

To answer an earlier post on next year's recruits, Amherst is adding a stud 6'8 big man from California, Kurt Bennett, so their inside dominance should continue, but no other info has come to light.

As for the rookie of the year conversation, how about Choice from Colby?  He has put up pretty sick numbers -- anyone see him play?  If Pierce is elligible, it's in the bag, but if not it's a toss up between Choice, Schultz, Geoghegan and Bernier.  

[nescac1]

Wow, Bates as the 8 seed ... unreal.  Amherst better not sleep on that game.  I'm guessing they won't after a wake up call from Trinity.  As an Eph fan, I'm delighted to see the Jeffs go down, but this takes some of the pressure of perfection off and may be a blessing in disguise headed into the post-season.  I note the fawning d3hoops cover story on the Jeffs ... is this the start of the d3hoops cover curse?   

Any of the four tourney games (I believe it will be Amherst-Bates, Trinity-Bowdoin, Colby-Midd, Williams-Tufts) could go either way; only Amherst will be a heavy favorite.  Should be a fun weekend next weekend.