MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Midd crushed St. Lawrence, slightly diminishing the impressiveness of Conn's win, but I'd still put them above Wesleyan and the Maine teams right now.  The only problem is that after the starting five, they are very young and small, which could be an issue as the season progresses.

On a general sports note, congrats to nescac for an incredible fall ... three NCAA championships by three different schools, Midd in men's soccer, Bowdoin in Field Hockey, and Amherst in women's xc.  I think those four, plus Williams, will all be high in the Sears cup rankings when they are released. 

[eclinchy]

This just in!  Tufts-Brandeis will be on JumboCast today.  Enjoy!

[JeffRookie2]

lovin' the JumboCast. i would love to see the Jumbos get a win today to give the Jeffs a jump on Brandeis in the NE rankings before DeLuca gets back.

[JeffRookie2]

Close game in the second half, 60-57 Jumbos. It looks like the first team to get a stop in this one might win. Judges are killing on backdoor cuts and off-the-dribble penetration, but O'Keefe, Weitzen and especially Pierce are keeping the Jumbos in it.

[ILive4This]

I am unsure what kind of jump in the rankings you are looking for, or even how that matters for the game. A win or a loss for the Judges today, it would still be the same players going against the Jeffs in 2 weeks, whether its 1 v 2, 1v3 or whatever it ends up being. That being said, not having Deluca, could be an issue, but they have played solid without him, with many of his points usually going to Hollins, who has been his replacement. I think the biggest issue of today's game was the Judges lack of defense for much of the game especially the start of the second half. Also does anyone know what the pre-game technical was for?

[eclinchy]

Also does anyone know what the pre-game technical was for?

Yep.  I won't name names, because I'm not positive I know who the guilty party is, but one of the Brandeis players was dunking and hanging on the rims during pregame warmups.

Weird technical... not sure I've ever seen that called before.

I'll post other thoughts later.  I have an article to write.  Sigh.

[ILive4This]

This is interesting, while listening to the broadcast earlier (after the game), i found out the answer to my won question. I never knew that this was not allowed. I knew that hanging on the rim during the game could cost a technical, but I was not aware that you could not dunk during warmups. I have been to a number of division 1 games (many were of sub-par teams) but a large portion of the teams would dunk consistently during their warmups. Is this just a division 3 and high school rule, or does it extend to all divisions. Also for those at the game a fairly interesting technical called on the Brandeis Coach during a time out. While he was definatly in the refs ear during that portion of the game, the technical was given by a far side ref not being talked to at all. There was a decent amount of calls made by the wrong ref throughout the game. I am not arguing with the calls made, just surprising how they came to be.

[fpc85]

I don't think you can dunk during warm-ups at any level when officials are present.

[Friar T]

The rule actually has to do with the touching of the rim during warm-ups and it is applied at all levels. Most of the pregame dunking at the DI level is done just throwing it through the hoop, rather than banging on the rims.

As for DIII officials, they're just flat out bad. I shouldn't really criticize as I wouldn't ever want to officiate, but it's really a thankless job. I feel like these guys must be masochists as they continually get abused night after night, and usually by the same coaches as they're very regionalized.

Tufts continues to be a total wild card in the region. Great win for the 'CAC though.

[Friar T]

my bad, rechecked the box score and saw Tufts suffered the close loss.

The second half of that game must have been NUTS! Brandeis hits 62% from the field and Tufts makes 70%! Doesn't anyone miss?

[JeffRookie2]

I am unsure what kind of jump in the rankings you are looking for, or even how that matters for the game. A win or a loss for the Judges today, it would still be the same players going against the Jeffs in 2 weeks, whether its 1 v 2, 1v3 or whatever it ends up being.

The regional rankings determine the seeding, and thus home court advantage, for the NCAA playoffs. A loss to an in-region team such as Tufts would hurt Brandeis and thus give Amherst an early jump on them.

[nescac hoops]

The second half of that game must have been NUTS! Brandeis hits 62% from the field and Tufts makes 70%! Doesn't anyone miss?

I think the better question is doesn't anyone play defense?

[formerbant10]

Trinity looked pretty solid on D yesterday.  Babson made a couple of very, very tough shots to up their shooting percentage.  Even the young guys looked like they knew what they were doing.

[NY hoopster]

Colby 101-82 over New England. If a team scores over 100 points, but is from Maine, does anyone hear it?

[walzy31]

First Regular Season Top 25 Poll:

Amherst #1
7 NorthEast/NewEngland schools in the top 25 (and Trin 26th would make 8)
RIC, Stevens and WashU are too high

Amherst - 35.5 Vs. Emmanuel