MBB: NESCAC

[nescac hoops]

My team would have been

Olson
Wheeler
Clarke
Farrell
R. Kelly

Ray
Shalvoy
One of the Martins
Weitzen
Either Rudin, Harris, or Rose

Olson POY has been discussed and makes sense.
LOVE Ray as DPY
Pierce, since he qualifies, is deserving.
and they put the wrong Dave for coach.

i agree with having clarke on the first team. admittingly, i only saw him play on d3cast against williams this past weekend, but that was quite the performance. as for coach of the year, i think hixon lost that award at about the same time he put fletcher walters in the game over hopkins....at any point in the game. he may look a little like bill and luke walton, but in many ways walters cost the jeffs the game and i'm not just talking about the "infamous" double team of shalvoy at the end. i think he almost averaged a miss shot per minute in that game.

[mrmike88]

I think you're being unjustly tough on Walters.  He plays decent minutes in every close Amherst game.  He's a streaky shooter but always a threat to get hot out there.  He helped the Jeffs with big performances in several other close games - I'm thinking more recently of the Bates game, and he got NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his performance vs. Brandeis earlier in the season.  His presence on the floor vs. Williams was not huge mistake by Coach Hixon.  And there was only one point in the entire game when he was subbed directly for Hopkins.  Fletch isn't a center, so he generally gives Wheeler or Baskauskas a rest out there.

[nescac hoops]

I think you're being unjustly tough on Walters. 

considering how unjustly tough every other amherst poster has been to williams all season long (mrmike excluded), i  have no mercy for a guy that goes 1-7 in NINE MINUTES and allows williams to win the same way they won the day prior -- have a chris miss a shot and allow go-hee-gun to have an easy put back.

[frank uible]

These players are very young, are strictly amateurs and are undoubtedly admirable human beings. Do we need to dissect the details of their possible shortcomings at length in a public forum?

[dannyboyc5]

Big first round match up for Trinity tomorrow night... A little interesting fact that you might not have known about the two teams... Both teams have an assistant coach with the last name of Tabb... Trinity has Sean Tabb and Brandeis Colin Tabb... the two are brothers and from my hometown of Somers, CT. Sean was actually an assistant coach when I played in 1999-2000 at Somers High before he took the Trinity assistant coaching position. Both were all state high school players and continued their careers in college, Sean at U-Hart and Colin at Trinity. So if the game's stakes are already high, theres a little family rivalry going on in the coaching staffs as well!

If you are making the trip to RIC... enjoy!!

[Dr E. Spengler]

Doug Gottlieb + Seth Davis + 45 pounds = Pat Coleman.

For those of you who don't catch my reference the first two names are perhaps the worst two college basketball analysts in the history of the game.  That which is after the equal sign...well...make your own assesments.

How is it that his recent predictions about Amherst's region focus on only that which happened in the last two weeks?  You have done no actual analysis of the games which Amherst lost.  Congrats, you have realized that if no one on the Amherst team plays well and a team like Williams has their best shooting day all season than yes, Pat, they might lose by one.  I enjoy also that while mentioning the Bates, Trinity, and Williams game you didn't go into much detail concerning the punishment that Amherst delivered unto the Colby Mules.  Really, great journalism.

Like young Doug and Seth you have a flavor of the week or even day and think that you can expand on that to develop some type of greater picture.  Why is that you have completely ignored the fact that your new bandwagon team in the form of the bantams lost to the Ephs as well?  I understand its your website at all, but reading through your assesment of this years tournament was a combination of having Dick Vitale pick zero upsets in his bracket every year on selection sunday, Peter Gammons' hot-stove predictions, and the headline "Dewey beats Truman." 

And...everyone knows that your headline after the selections came out should have been "Oshkosh, OH GOSH!"

[formerbant10]

Big first round match up for Trinity tomorrow night... A little interesting fact that you might not have known about the two teams... Both teams have an assistant coach with the last name of Tabb... Trinity has Sean Tabb and Brandeis Colin Tabb... the two are brothers and from my hometown of Somers, CT. Sean was actually an assistant coach when I played in 1999-2000 at Somers High before he took the Trinity assistant coaching position. Both were all state high school players and continued their careers in college, Sean at U-Hart and Colin at Trinity. So if the game's stakes are already high, theres a little family rivalry going on in the coaching staffs as well!

If you are making the trip to RIC... enjoy!!

A few people had posted that earlier DB.  Glad to know you are part of that connection with the Somers (pronounced like Summers) hometown.

[Pat Coleman]

Doug Gottlieb + Seth Davis + 45 pounds = Pat Coleman.

For those of you who don't catch my reference the first two names are perhaps the worst two college basketball analysts in the history of the game.  That which is after the equal sign...well...make your own assesments.

How is it that his recent predictions about Amherst's region focus on only that which happened in the last two weeks?  You have done no actual analysis of the games which Amherst lost.  Congrats, you have realized that if no one on the Amherst team plays well and a team like Williams has their best shooting day all season than yes, Pat, they might lose by one.  I enjoy also that while mentioning the Bates, Trinity, and Williams game you didn't go into much detail concerning the punishment that Amherst delivered unto the Colby Mules.  Really, great journalism.

Like young Doug and Seth you have a flavor of the week or even day and think that you can expand on that to develop some type of greater picture.  Why is that you have completely ignored the fact that your new bandwagon team in the form of the bantams lost to the Ephs as well?  I understand its your website at all, but reading through your assesment of this years tournament was a combination of having Dick Vitale pick zero upsets in his bracket every year on selection sunday, Peter Gammons' hot-stove predictions, and the headline "Dewey beats Truman." 

And...everyone knows that your headline after the selections came out should have been "Oshkosh, OH GOSH!"

Thanks for the cliche. When I need cliches -- which is never -- I'll let you know. Wisconsin whitewashed was our hed and that is far better than your tired old chestnut.

I almost feel like you didn't read it. I picked one top seed to make the Final Four. I picked two teams that don't host regionals. Seems like upsets to me.

You mentioned the Williams game -- I threw out the rivlary and the hot shooters. What if someone else comes and shuts down Wheeler the way Trinity did in the second half?

I am not here to write an extensive X's and O's preview of every game. I have a full-time day job and an entire other tournament to cover. You want X's and O's, listen to the audio coverage, watch video, go to games.

[ballaholic4]

I think we can safely say 2 things when looking at the all-conference teams:

1- It was a down year for individual talent in the league.  Or to re-phrase, a number of talented players had down years.  Coming into this year i really thoght POY would end up in maine - Ray, Stockwell, or Cohen.  All three played a down a little and Bates really struggled through the conference season.  I think putting ray on the 1st team is a stretch if you just look at THIS season. 

2- Name recognition is everything.  Farrell, Shalvoy, and Rose are guys who all played BETTER than I expected and, as usual, the awards come down to name recognition (or should we say, Lord-Jeff recognition).  I just don't see how Rose could POSSIBLY be left off, he averaged 15 and 6, and although his team started slow - they did beat Tufts, Trinity and Amherst consecutively to win the conference championship.  How can you argue Wheeler is significantly better?  he averaged 14 and 4.  Apparently Cohen's 15, 9 and 3 blocks a game don't stack up either...leaving him off is just ****ty.  R Kelly too, 19 and 9 can't get u on the 2nd team any more? he got the shaft. 


Olson's POY is a combination of these two things.  Although i think he's a great leader and floor general, there's just no possible way you can think he's the best player in the league.  If i was drafting players to start a team, he'd probably be somewhere around 7 or 8.  When was the last time the NESCAC poy averaged 10?  not only that, a potential back-2-back winner averaging 10?  In addition, he was 3rd on his team in scoring and unfortunately the only stat that REALLY counts in this game is points.  I just don't see it, not taking anything away from him, but is RAY the POY if he's on Amherst averaging 12 and 6? because you can believe if you traded him for Olson they'd still be 23-2.

[diehardfan]

Hey all, we're collecting previews for each team in the tourney on one of the multiregional boards. If I get them by friday I may even be able to stick them in one document for people to peruse. A fun little fan generated tourney resource of sorts. We've gotten a Williams preview from one of your locals, but would someone here be willing to do one for Trinity and Amherst there too? Thanks!

http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5147.0

[formerbant10]

Ball 4,

One could argue similar gripes with Nash being a 2 time MVP.  Not the best statistically, but makes his team a whole lot better......and the most important stat is WINS.

[mrmike88]

King's-Widener is a one-possession game at the half...

[whoarewebobcats]

just got back from being away for a week and saw the all-conference teams, but I have to disagree about the comment that zak shouldn't have been first team (not that that's a surprise coming from me). Zak was the only person who showed up for Bates this year; the game recaps and box scores down the stretch, and the first-hand accounts I was able to hear, pretty much confirm that Zak left everything on the court every game and played at the highest level he has played at. He's an outstanding defensive player with phenomenal stamina (obviously I don't have an official number for this, but he probably averages about 38.5 mins in "big" games and only guards an off-ball player about 5 mins of his active time) and is a threat on offense while knowing the game. His shot isn't great, but he's clutch and creates offensive opportunities. I don't think Bates' struggles can be reflected on Zak this year, I think it happened in spite of him (I've already tried to analyze it in other posts; won't bother here). I know Rob's a big name, but his 1st team nod seems weirder to me than Zak's. I know he puts up the numbers and has the rep, but I didn't get a feeling of dominance from him this year the way I did in past years (again for much of the year I'm relying on box scores and recaps because I couldn't make games).

[mrmike88]

Widener upsets King's in the first round - Amherst has their opponent on Saturday.

[Sticks11]

What I would like to know is how did Stockwell make FIRST team when Cohen didn't make either?  (I'm leaving Kelly and Stone and any others who could've/should've out for now, someone else can make their cases if they care enough to).  A look at the numbers:

Stockwell's averages:
Overall: 15.9 ppg, 9 rpg, 1.8 apg, 5 TOTAL BLOCKS.
Conference: 12.8 pts, 7.8 rpg, 1.6 apg.

His team goes 3-6 in conference and is an 8 seed.

Cohen's averages:
Overall: 15.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2 apg, 84 blocks.
Conference: 12.7 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 36 blocks.

His team goes 5-4 in conference and is a 5th seed.

Scoring and rebounding - nearly identical, Cohen blows Stockwell out on the defensive end, and his team had more wins.  They were both pretty inconsistent in conference play.  Now, can anyone give me a logical explanation as how/why Stockwell gets First Team and Cohen gets left off??