MBB: NESCAC

[Dr E. Spengler]

Snukelelelele, it looks like if Amherst can win until the salem that they will in fact host all the way through.  It turns out that two losses, no matter who they are to...or whether or not they are by the hand of second rate Wisconsin state schools still are just two losses.

Let us not forget my two favorite things that happened this weekend.

1) The Kevin Hopkins/Drew Cohen debate officially ending with what has to be one of the more demoralizing dunks in d3 history.

2) That d3hoops.com, its "serious posters" and its top 25 poll have been proven completely irrelevant and generally wrong by the release of the tournament bracket

[MeOak21]

The bracket didn't necessarily prove d3hoops to be wrong, or its' posters. It might have just proven the NCAA committee's selection process to be flawed.

Probably a mix of both...

[geronimo]

While Olson sees passing lanes that other guards don't see and makes great passes, he didn't display the leadership required down the stretch to get a heavily favored Amherst team on their own court to the victory lane.

They're giving crack away for free nowadays?!!  How come nobody told me???

[geronimo]

However, as an Amherst fan I'm very nervous now.  The way they handled the final few possessions of the game left MUCH to be desired.  I hate to be critical since I myself am a horrible basketball player and it isn't fair of me to call out hard-working classmates of mine, but I just don't understand what happened in the final few minutes.  First, how do you fall asleep on the big man?  Walters (who had checked into the game for Hopkins for some bizarre reason) went to contest Shalvoy's shot (Salerno was already in his face) instead of go for the rebound, and that left Gogheaghan alone for the easy put-back.  Then, it looked like poor decision-making on the final shot that left Wheeler with a turn-around fade-away heave.  How was that the best shot they had?  Where was Hopkins/Olson, and why didn't Wheeler go to the rim?  And why didn't Amherst call the timeout after Rose missed the shot?  I can second-guess all day, but it really could come down to all those missed free-throws.

Wow, mrmike, I guess crack is free nowadays.  This is your most moronic post yet, and I ain't the only one keeping track.

I was gonna use posting up as a tool to teach Baby Ipcah to read, but I guess I'll just have to use Dr. Seuss books. 
I'd like him to steer clear of the bad kharma associated with such impotent second-guessing. 

In the words of the immortal Ricky Bobby:  "Dear little baby Jesus, who's sittin' in his crib watchin the Baby Einstein videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors.

[nescac hoops]

this is not a big surprise. shalvoy is the player of the week.

http://www.nescac.com/sports/basketball(m)/home.htm

[Pat Coleman]

The bracket didn't necessarily prove d3hoops to be wrong, or its' posters. It might have just proven the NCAA committee's selection process to be flawed.

It ABSOLUTELY proves the selection process flawed. Every year.

Spengler, what happened this weekend that in your mind proved the poll wrong?

[pg04]

Tballs, thanks for the info.  I think Williams gets Brockport at a neutral site (St. Lawrence), which should help a little.  I see that B-port beat Trinity as well in the tourney a few years back -- so that's two of NESCAC's top dogs they have taken down in five years.  Hopefully Williams can avoid the same fate ...

Interesting subplot re: Trinity v. Brandeis.  Another interesting potential subplot: if the Ephs can make it past Brockport, Paulsen may be up against St. Lawrence, where he coached back in the 90's. 

Brockport indeed has had a history with the NESCAC.... The last one, however was against Williams in 2004 where Williams completely dominated 78-50 on the way to the NCAA title game.  Of course these are far different teams now, but just wanted to bring the history up to date.

Good luck to Williams and Congrats for the Tournament Upset! 

[pg04]

The bracket didn't necessarily prove d3hoops to be wrong, or its' posters. It might have just proven the NCAA committee's selection process to be flawed.

It ABSOLUTELY proves the selection process flawed. Every year.

Spengler, what happened this weekend that in your mind proved the poll wrong?

Wow, I don't know how you could even look at it in the opposite direction.... That really is absurd! 

[JeffRookie2]

I have to say, it was tough watching Williams cut down the nets yesterday. Hard to take anything away from what they did though. They played an incredible game with their season on the line. This just proves again however how absurdly difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season. Also, I disinctly remember some fans down in Medford getting pretty confident after giving Amherst a few really good games last year, but it didnt really pan out for them so well this season. Unless Williams is planning to hit 58% of their threes every night, I still think they have a ways to go before they will be able to consistently play with Amherst.

Also, looking at the brackets, Amherst has a great chance to be in the final four again. We got the easiest draw imaginable. NYU and Rochester both out of our quarter and Brandeis and Trinity and RIC all in the same section of the draw, meaning we will only have to play one of them. I just emailed a friend at Washington and Lee to let him know I'll probably be crashing at his place come final four time.

[nescac1]

Pat and PG, just feel free to ignore the posts of Spengler, Geronimo, etc., as the rest of us already do, or just enjoy the absurdity for sheer entertainment value.  For example, Geronimo mysteriously bashes very sound analysis from Mr. Mike (without providing any explanation of why she thinks Mr. Mike is off base), who always provides useful insight into Amherst and its competitors without resorting to ridiculous claims of invincibility.  Likewise, Spengler, it is pretty much accepted by anyone who follows d3hoops that the selection process is atrocious -- the Div I equivalent of WIAC / CCIW getting one bid apiece would be if the NCAA takes only UNC from the ACC and leaves out Duke, MD, etc. every year.  And the annual super bracket of midwest / west powers would be like the NCAA putting Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio State and UNC all in the same region this year.  

By the way, for those who doubt that Williams' recent improvement is not merely a product of just getting hot, here is what Hixon had to say:

"They've got great shooters and they play hard," Hixon said. "It's all coming together for them at the right time. They're starting to play basketball rather than just shoot threes. ... Now they're taking good 3-point shots, high percentage shots."

Exactly right.  Hixon had pretty classy and on-point comments after this loss.  Kind of a bummer, I was hoping for some of the old Hixon excuses to make fun of.  I guess after a few years of beating up on the Ephs he got all of that out of his system ...

[Sticks11]

Spengler-

What demoralizing dunk are you talking about that has anything to do with Drew Cohen?  Was it another one of those phantom "dunks over Cohen" when he was trailing the play, like the one in Waterville?  Or was it a dunk over someone else when Cohen was sitting on the bench?  Or was it the one when Hopkins dunked in practice over a scout player pretending to be Cohen and you mistook that for being real?  I'm not sure which "demoralizing dunk" you're referencing.  Then again, I should probably take nescac1's advice and ignore your posts.

[fpc85]

in the 4 years i have known hixon he has always been classy....and so has paulsen...they are both extremely competitive and i would think when the team are close competitively (2000-2004) a coach will say what his team may need to hear not what fans and media want to hear....therefore a comment minimizing a loss or over emphasizing a win may not be uncommon.
btw, both coaches were pretty animated on sunday. i am surprised neither got a technical foul...esp paulsen..he called the refs horrible loud enough so that i could hear it across court.

[mrmike88]

Was there a NESCAC all-tournament team?

[BooBallsCasRay]

Pat and PG, just feel free to ignore the posts of Spengler, Geronimo, etc., as the rest of us already do, or just enjoy the absurdity for sheer entertainment value.  For example, Geronimo mysteriously bashes very sound analysis from Mr. Mike (without providing any explanation of why she thinks Mr. Mike is off base), who always provides useful insight into Amherst and its competitors without resorting to ridiculous claims of invincibility.  Likewise, Spengler, it is pretty much accepted by anyone who follows d3hoops that the selection process is atrocious -- the Div I equivalent of WIAC / CCIW getting one bid apiece would be if the NCAA takes only UNC from the ACC and leaves out Duke, MD, etc. every year.  And the annual super bracket of midwest / west powers would be like the NCAA putting Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio State and UNC all in the same region this year.  

By the way, for those who doubt that Williams' recent improvement is not merely a product of just getting hot, here is what Hixon had to say:

"They've got great shooters and they play hard," Hixon said. "It's all coming together for them at the right time. They're starting to play basketball rather than just shoot threes. ... Now they're taking good 3-point shots, high percentage shots."

Exactly right.  Hixon had pretty classy and on-point comments after this loss.  Kind of a bummer, I was hoping for some of the old Hixon excuses to make fun of.  I guess after a few years of beating up on the Ephs he got all of that out of his system ...

you honestly think amherst was trying? ha

[nescac1]

I am pretty sure there is no such team awarded Mike.  If there was, I'd say it would have been very easy to pick: Clarke, Olson, Schultz, Hopkins, and Shalvoy as MVP.