MBB: NESCAC

[Agent_Zero]

eclinchy, any extended thoughts on the tufts babson game/the outlook for the season? i missed the game, have only seen the recaps

[scout]

Wesleyan travels up to Wenham to play in the Gordon College Tip-Off tournament. They face William-Patterson from New Jersey in the first round and then will face either Gordon or SUNY Oneonta.

Does anyone have any decent insight on Wesleyan this year? I know they haven't fared too well as of late in the NESCAC (three years without a winning season), but I'm just interested in any analysis available.

[nescac1]

Wesleyan looks brutal this year.  They have one, maybe two guys who would even be in the rotation at any other NESCAC school.  The prior coach used to bring in a fair amount of talent, but his recruiting seemed to have levelled off the past year, and I imagine having an interim coach really limited recruiting this year.  It's gonna take Reilly a few years to rebuild that program.  It would be a major upset for Wesleyan to win more than one league game this year. 

Speaking of recruiting, what happened to Tufts' recruiting?  They were bringing in great players year after year for awhile with the likes of Dan Martin, Pierce, last year's graduating class, but it seems like the frosh and sophomore classes are both small in terms of absolute number of guys, and lacking any big time impact players.  Meanwhile schools like Midd and Bates have really stepped up in terms of the type of guys they have been able to attract. 

[eclinchy]

eclinchy, any extended thoughts on the tufts babson game/the outlook for the season? i missed the game, have only seen the recaps

Sure. Sorry to keep you waiting...

Interesting quote I had that didn't make it into the article I wrote that night. I remember asking Beyel after the game if he thought the team was too reliant on the outside shot. His response was "Yeah, in the first half, because it was falling."

I guess I'm wondering if Tufts got a little overconfident. Beyel hit two beautiful threes in the opening minutes, and it was 8-0 Tufts 90 seconds in. Then he fed Pierce with a BEAUTIFUL pass and Pierce went backdoor for a nice layup -- 10-0. Babson panics and calls timeout, Beyel and Pierce meet at center court for a huge chest bump, Jumbos' bench is loving it. I'm sitting there thinking "wow, this could be a great year."

They weren't quite the same team after that timeout. Two things happened (in my opinion, anyway): one, they got a little bit lazier on defense; and two, they didn't create enough offense inside. Pierce was hitting threes and mid-range jumpers and stuff with ease, but even he didn't get in the paint for too many easy buckets. Selby played 35 minutes; he took one shot. One! I know it's not Tufts' style to dominate the low post (and ever since Martin graduated, it never has been), but they should still try harder than that, it seems. Pierce is awesome, but he's not going to shoot 67 percent every game. They need to be able to win even when he doesn't.

Some more positive stuff:

-I like Galvin. A lot. The 7 assists in 18 minutes were not a fluke -- he puts the ball in the right place and creates good looks. Also even though he only shot 1-for-4, his shot selection was smart and I like that he has the confidence to put up threes when he can.

-The freshmen seem promising. Saba seemed like a good physical big man who can box people out; James Long is like a Beyel clone (except for the hair color).

-I know losing to Babson sucks, but there are worse teams to lose to. Etten looks like a great, great player -- on defense, too. And this game was probably a little fluky -- I'm guessing 19 games out of 20, you're not gonna see that sophomore Ladson shoot out of his mind like that.

Anyway, Tufts will be fine. Sucks being 0-1 though.

[ac08]

Agent Zero/EClinchy:

I know there are a few savvy guys on the perimeter. but do the Jumbos have a legitimate post threat, aside from Pierce?

[nescac1]

AC08, I think it's pretty clear that the big three from Williams are, at worst, in the top three trios in the league; putting them behind Colby and especially Trinity is kind of ridiculous ... the question for Williams is how well the supporting cast will play (and whether those guys can stay healthy, as all three were banged up at times over the last year).

Speaking of Trinity, they went to 0-2 today, although this was a much more respectable loss, losing to a veteran Ithaca squad which will probably make the tourney.  Still, not a great start for the new coach --- it may take awhile for all the young guys (two frosh starters and two more off the bench in rotation) to come together, but I imagine they will be much-improved by the time league play comes around as those new guys were all pretty hyped. 

Assuming (hopefully) Williams gets buy SVU, they face a tough opponent tomorrow in the winner of Ursinus / St. Lawrence, should be interesting to see if the new offense has progressed with another week of practice and a game under their belts ...

[eclinchy]

Good question. Answer TBD.

Selby and Saba both seem better defensively than offensively.

Funny you should say "aside from Pierce." At least in the first game, a lot of Pierce's scoring came from outside and mid-range jumpers... he wasn't getting into the post as much as he did last year, it seemed. Maybe this is a product of Selby getting more minutes as a center and Pierce becoming more of a forward.

Not that that's a bad thing. Pierce is of course an excellent shooter.

[ac08]

Nescac1, I agree that they are commonly heralded as at least top 3 in 'CAC trios and they deserve all of their recognition. Based on what I have seen, I think the Colby and Trin trio are skilled enough to warrant a decent amount of recognition at least. Choosing them is purely preferential, but I don't think it's that crazy....more like bold.

Nice win, Jeffs.

[senatorfrost]

  Yes, it is important to see which players graduated. Last year was slightly sub par for Shalvoy putting him in the Gaudet league or maybe a little better. Rose was not good so his loss might have even helped. He had some truly BRUTAL games and was not even a starter at the end. One might say maybe a little loss.
  Looking at it that was from the who returns standpoint, Colby and Williams seem about the same but I like Eph 3 over Mule 3. However, it doesn't look like Geoghegan played tonight.
  Teams who have new coaches or changes can often live up to their potential even after a year like the Ephs had although it will be very hard to do if Geoghegan is out. Amherst didn't wow me tonight but there is time for Barise and Waller to improve and feel more comfortable.

[met_fan]

Trinity...anyone...are they good?

It appears everyone here is too tied up with their own arguments to answer. 

[Red1]

Bates 80-Wells 63  (Sorry, but I don't know anything about Trinity this year

9 players had 10 or more minutes for Bates who pretty much played 11 players deep for the game.  Brian Ellis and Chris Wilson are clearly the strongest players on the team, but there isn't really any major star.  Bates depth allows them to run a lot, and wear down teams that aren't as deep.  With no clear cut stars, and 5 solid players on the court all them time (with 4-6 more solid players coming off the bench) it gives Bates lots of options, and prevents teams from focusing on shutting down 1 or 2 specific players.

Wells is in their first year of full participation in NCAA DIII, but don't be too quick to judge.  They are speedy and scrappy.  They hung tough for a little while (pretty much until Bates decided to put it away).  Their full-court press for the entire game definitely game Bates some trouble early on, but it didn't take long for Bates to figure it out and start burning Wells regularly.

Bates may not be flashy, and they may not be full of those perennial names that float around this board almost daily, but look for the bobcats to get some big wins in Nescac.  Coach Furbush has definitely given this team more variety, improved the offense, and has a hard working well oiled machine on the court.

Hamilton 107-Mt. St. Vincent 93.  Why did I put this here?  Just because Bates plays the winner of that game in the Hamilton tip-off tournament championship game.  Although Hamilton won it appeared that neither team had ever heard the word defense in their lives.  Tomorrow's game will certainly be interesting.

Cheers,
Red1

[nescac1]

Good to see Whittington and Rubin return for the Ephs last night; both played well based on the box score.  Unfortunately, Joe G is hurt and did not play ... Ursinus will be very tough without him today.  Whittington in particular made a huge impact, collecting twelve points, seven (!) blocks, and two steals in just 18 minutes of play.  He, along with Holsey on Amherst, is one of two truly elite athletes in NESCAC.  But he has a little more offensive potential than Holsey.  Not sure how long Geoghegan is out for but it is a chance for he and Timmins-Schiffman to show what they can do ... each has very different skill sets, but both have the potential to be impact guys in the league with more playing time.  And when Joe returns, the Ephs will be incredibly deep in the post. 

Most of the roster other than Snyder continues to struggle from 3 ... not sure if it is the new distance, the new system, early season rust, or just a combination, but that will need to improve to beat better teams (starting with Ursinus).  On the plus side, under Paulsen, if they weren't hitting 3's they were usually in big trouble, but now look for a much lower percentage of their attempts to come from outside the arc. 

[The Historian]

Just wanted to briefly chime in to congratulate Skidmore for their win last night in the second game of the Ken Wright Classic.

Sets up an interesting -- dare I say, historic -- match-up today between Luke Flockerzi and Hixon.  Shades of Washington leading the British to victory in the French and Indian War only to turn around and lead the colonist forces against the redcoats just a few years later...

While I'll never waver in my support for Amherst, it's a great thing to see Coach Flockerzi pacing the sidelines of Le Frak once again.

LET'S GO, LUKE!!  (I hope you only lose by a close margin)

[eclinchy]

Congrats to Bob Sheldon on last night! 300!

[golflax99]

eclinchy in response to your comments about the tufts/babson game...

i couldn't let you bash too much on a babson team that looked pretty good.. i think part of that early lead for tufts was an inexperienced babson team. 3 freshman started for them, and being the season opener i think they were a little nervous early on. Not much was talked about thier starting PG, Lambros -- who started the game with 4 turnovers in 3 minutes then went on to have 6 assists and 2 TOs the rest of the way and a key 17 second half points. Sure, Ladson didn't have too many stats to his name, but he only got 8 minutes a game last year as a Frosh. So I think this was a breakout game for him.

I agree with you that the Tufts defense did get a little lazier in that second half. I'm not quite sure why because it seemed like a pretty high intensity game. Babson put up 50 points in the second half, pretty impressive for a team whose highest scoring game last season was 78 points. It will be interesting to see how both teams do this season.. overall I think it was a great season opener for both teams and I'm thinking they will both put up winning records in thier respective conferences.