MBB: NESCAC

[senatorfrost]

 Remember also that last year Amherst had down to the wire games with Williams, Tufts, Trinity and Middlebury. They were 2-2 in those games. Wooster was the only team that Amherst faced in tourney that looked like they belonged at the top of NESCAC. Va. Wesleyan probably belonged but they looked like deer in the proverbial headlights from the start. Perhaps just not their night.

[frank uible]

For Christ's sake - you are expecting too much of them by attributing a  high quality to them, which they can't achieve and don't deserve - they're extremely flawed NESCAC athletes capable of unintentional physical buffoonery at any time without notice playing against other extremely flawed NESCAC athletes - by definition most of them can't dribble and chew gum at the same time, the remainder can do it but not well. Why do you think the NBA teams save their time when it comes to even superficially considering the best of them as prospects?

[nescac1]

I appreciate your ever-reliable pessimism Senator and I am convinced that Amherst is slightly down from last season based on early results, but I think you are exaggerating their problems (as usual) a little bit.  They remind me of the 2004 Ephs -- lost a few key underrated glue guys and a lot of a depth from a championship team, plus have the added pressure of a bullseye on the back.  The 04 Ephs struggled a little at times in the regular season, had some surprisingly close games, but still made it all the way to the title game as experience and poise of two all american guys won out.  Amherst still has the best player, by far, in the league in Olson, a ton of big game experience, and size does count for something.  Baskauskas, Jones, Hopkins, Walters are still a very imposing frontcourt that can alter a lot of shots and score on anyone inside.  It does seem that despite the height advantage, Amherst is not a dominant rebounding team and can struggle with teams that have BOTH an inside physical presence AND a lot of perimeter quickness to challenge their defenders.   Fortunately for Amherst, those teams are few and far between in the northeast.  Williams, like Amherst, has been pretty inconsistent so far this year -- the Ephs are much better on the interior in terms of rebounding and scoring, but still struggle to defend dominant inside guys like Kathan or the guy on CCNY, and they have yet to light it up from 3 (against a decent opponent, at least) the way they did at the end of last year, for whatever reason.  I'd say that Amherst will still be a modest favorite (maybe 6-8 points) playing Williams at Amherst; at Williams, probably about even.    The Ephs' don't have the speed to burn Amherst with their guard play, so they will have to go inside early and often to be successful (and of course hope that the 3's are falling).  

[hoopjunkie]

I must say I am impressed with the Williams victory over Keene State . I was at the Williams - Lehman game & was really not impressed with Williams performance there . They were playing a very weak team & wound up winning by 5 points .
I am very pleased to hear that Troy Whittington is OK . One of the scariest  scene was Troy going thru seizures under the basket laying on his side for a few minutes . Does anyone know if this is a medical issue this kid has? Very scary , Almost as scary as his game . He threw 2 incredible dunks from a standing postion with such speed & quikness ,not really seen from NESCAC athletes . WOW . That being said i think Williams & Amherst are extremely beatable by many NESCAC schools .

[walzy31]

Vegas and Walzy agree with Nescac1's assesment more than (the "Amherst fan") SenatorFrost's assesment.

Amherst -5.5 Vs. Williams on January 12th

If the Williams coaches were on the court hitting shots, setting screens, and blocking shots, then maybe I would factor them more into the spread.

Hoopjunkie,

I can offer you the following sucker bet:

Amherst's end of season in conference record will be 6-3 or worse?
Yes  +600
No    -1800

Williams' end of season in conference record will be 6-3 or worse?
Yes  +550
No    -1700

[eclinchy]

I don't know about anyone else, but I find the Yes on Williams quite tempting.  Losses to Amherst, Tufts and just one of the Trin/Midd/Conn/Bowdoin group wouldn't be that surprising...

[nescac1]

Williams adds a big guy to this year's recruiting class:

http://www.newenglandrecruitingreport.com/news/article/276/Three-More-Division-III-Commitments.php

He was the only Junior on the Boston Globe all scholastic super team last year:

http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/allscholastics/winter2007/boys_basketball/

[hoopjunkie]

walzy I think Williams will be 6-3 in the league & Amherst will be 7-2 . I do think that  their game will be a treat to watch & I am a big proponent on the home court advantage ( I have`nt check where the game is being played),which is why I think Williams beat Keene St so handily .

[nescachoopsfan]

word is that keene had 3 key players (2 starters) injured for the williams game also, just a side note

[frank uible]

And the other three starters had bad cases of diarrhea.

[nescachoopsfan]

i would like to see williams or any other nescac team compete away against a good team with 3 of their top 8 guys out of the game.  but i guess amherst doesnt count since all of their players would start on any other team.

[nescac1]

First of all, that is simply not true regarding Keene State.  They were only missing one guy (Kevin Ritter, who is hardly a superstar), not three.   And Williams was particularly disadvantaged by what was apparently a ridiculously tight game called by the refs ... Schultz and Snyder were extremely limited by foul trouble, and Geoghegan fouled out.  Yet the Ephs still won by 20.   That is a very solid win.  I also note that the 15 point win over Ursinus to start the season looks a lot more impressive after Ursinus beat top-tier NESCAC squads Midd and Trinity by a combined total of 23 points during the past week.

Tough loss for Conn, going down to MIT in OT after coughing up a 16 point half time lead. 

[nescac1]

Wow, talk about a stomach punch loss for Colby ... up seven with about a minute left at home, miss 5/6 free throws down the stretch to allow a pretty bad St. Joseph's team to take a two point lead, only to get fouled with .9 seconds left.  Colby makes all three free throws (a three point shot attempt) and then St. Joe's hits a 60 foot prayer to win it at the buzzer.  Of course, Colby should have put the game out of reach long before then, but what a brutal way to go down, especially at home.  Looks like Colby's early season success was a mirage after losing 3 of its last 4.  With so many three point shooters, Colby can still get hot and surprise one or two teams in NESCAC play, but at this point you'd have to guess they will be fighting with Bates for the eight and final NESCAC tourney spot ...   

[fpc85]

Anyone know how Conn lost control of the MIT game?

[tradereyes]

Nescac1:

It is way too early to stick Colby in the cellar. A close loss to Bowdoin and a fluke buzzer-beater loss to St. Joe's is not enough to put them below the likes of Conn, who hasn't beaten Colby in four years, and Wesleyan, which I don't need to justify. I'd put Colby ahead of Bates and they are right there with Bowdoin. Let's also not forget this is a young team that is only going to get better with time.

That said, I'm putting my reputation on the line and I'm GUARENTEEING right now minimum four conference wins for Colby, even though I could see five.

1)   Wesleyan and Conn are absolute locks
2)   Bates, Bowdoin and Tufts will be hard fought wins, although it's possible they drop one of those.
3)   Colby will beat one of Trinity, Middlebury and/or Williams
4)   Amherst will be difficult