WBB: NESCAC

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 21, 2012, 02:53:13 PM

A "bye" situation would result in just one men's game being played at Amherst with the opponent having played a game on Thursday at another location. The committees and the NCAA would have to agree that the women could host a normal regional weekend event and the men could host one game on Saturday... not sure that will happen or not.

amh63 · February 22, 2012, 03:56:23 PM

Nice preview of the games this weekend...with schedules and ticket info...all at the Amherst athletic website.

Maine 1 · February 25, 2012, 06:18:28 AM

Looking forward to the NESCAC final four today. I expect Colby to give Amherst a good fight, but Amherst with McCormick should win. The match up of McCormick and Mack is a great matchup-with two of the more versatile post players in the country matching up. Both can go inside or outside. The Tufts/Bowdoin game should be very tight. It can go either way.

enjoy the afternoon. all four of these teams deserve to be playing next week

amh63 · February 25, 2012, 04:57:22 PM

The conference championship on Sunday will be between the top two seeds. Both Amherst and Tufts won by double digits over their opponents. The Amherst recap and the boxscore are. now posted on the Amherst website. Watched the 2nd game a bit on-line. Tufts had a hard time in the first half and had to make a comeback to only be behind by one point at the half.
Tufts made a run on Bowdoin early in the second half and led by double digits soon after the midpoint of the second half. Bowdoin's leading scorer did not have a good day...mainly due to Tufts' defense. With less than 3 minutes to go, Bowdoin had only scored 36 points while Tufts was in the 50's.

Maine 1 · February 25, 2012, 07:18:10 PM

Amherst had an excellent all around game today--the game was not as close as the final score, as Amherst pulled its started when they were up 27. Colby then made a run to make it respectable. Colby was way off shooting, and Amherst offense was running well.

Tufts defense absolutely smothered Bowdoin. Great defensive team. They will certainly bother Amherst tomorrow.

amh63 · February 26, 2012, 11:38:38 AM

Today's championship game will be most interesting...to me at least.....since it is one between two of the best defensive teams in the conference. I do not expect a repeat of the first game between the two at Tufts. In that game...a low scoring game for both teams, Amherst did not play "well", IMO, in the second half of the game. They appeared flat and seemed to loose focus. Coach G left the starters in for a long time...not bringing in subs to provide energy and tempo to the game. Both teams played hard but with little passion....is that possible? I felt and posted my feelings earlier that Coach G wanted to see if his starters could find their focus on the floor and play up to their talents during their time on the floor.
In any case, I expect a different type of game and hope for a well played game by both teams leading to an Amherst win.
I expect a higher scoring game.

Maine 1 · February 26, 2012, 12:33:40 PM

Great first half--excellent defensive battle--Tufts is playing well (except for some bad turnovers ). They are giving Amherst a good battle. If Tufts can keep up on the offensive side, and stay close, it could be interesting. Clearly the top two teams in the conference this year.

amh63 · February 26, 2012, 01:44:42 PM

Amherst beats Tufts 65-39 with all dressed players playing. It was 24-24 at the half and a somewhat defensive battle in the first half. Amherst caused the turnovers but Tufts controlled the boards 24-12 in the first half. Amherst could not establish their inside game and allowed Tufts to score from the outside. In the second half, Amherst turned up their defense and went on a run to go ahead by double digits in the first 5-6 minutes of the second half. The lead grew to 25 plus and slowly the starters were replaced. The subs kept the led and it was evident that Amherst's "bench" could start for other teams and win games. Tufts continued to play hard but their shots were not falling and Amherst was winning the boards and still causing turnovers. Tufts has a good chance, IMO, to be invited to the post season tourney with a fine 20 pus win season.

NH NESCAC Fan · February 26, 2012, 01:48:55 PM

I missed the first half of the game, but it seems like it was a fairly standard Amherst game this season, only in reverse. Amherst has typically blown teams out in the first half. Usually building about a 20 point lead, and then playing fairly even in the second hal. Today they played the first half even, and blew Tufts out in the second. It will be interesting to see what happens if they can put an entire game together. They'll need to in the tournament.

Maine 1 · February 26, 2012, 01:54:09 PM

Great defense by Amherst in the second half--completely shut down a Tufts offense. Amherst defense especially on Cornegay was outstanding, as they played off her and did not let her drive and create in the paint.

As far as Amhersts' second team--they gave up a 15-0 run yesterday against Colby--Voight was great off the bench the last two games, and McCormick is a starter coming off the bench. Hardy is a great shooter.

They will be tough again in the NCAA tournament.

MVP · February 26, 2012, 07:16:58 PM

Congratulations to the Amherst WBB team for another strong performance and NESCAC championship.

amh63 · February 27, 2012, 03:41:20 PM

Amherst gets to host in the first two and even in the sectionals. Key here is that the men's team gets a 1st round bye.
Should be interesting in the second round......Babson meets Amherst on Sat.....if both teams win on Friday.

7express · February 27, 2012, 04:05:32 PM

Quote from: amh63 on February 27, 2012, 03:41:20 PM
Amherst gets to host in the first two and even in the sectionals. Key here is that the men's team gets a 1st round bye.
Should be interesting in the second round......Babson meets Amherst on Sat.....if both teams win on Friday.

Women get hosting privilages before men in the sectionals, so I'd say because of that, women get first dibs over the men if both advance to the second weekend, however the Amherst women have a very difficult second round matchup in Babson, much more tougher then the Amherst men do playing NYU/Misericorda.

Maine 1 · February 28, 2012, 05:35:08 AM

Two things that jump out at me related to the NCAA selections. Number one is that the selection committee missed the boat on leaving Colby out. Colby has one of the hardest schedules in the country based on the SOS, they had seven losses, all against regionally ranked (and it turns out NCAA tournament teams). They also had three wins against regionally ranked teams. They did not have any bad losses (other than the last one at Amherst, but everyone losses badly to Amherst) and came within 18 seconds of defeating Amherst earlier in the season. I heard the head of the women's selection committee say that they only look at numbers, and not the conferences of teams. If this is true, it is a huge mistake. There is so much variation on the level of play across leagues. A team like Kings, who had 5 losses, did not win its league, and has played only 1 ranked team and did not win that game, should not get in over a team with Colby's resume.

The other item is that Babson was under-rated, not being allowed to host despite an excellent 25-2 record, and a good record I believe against ranked teams. And then being sent to Amherst in the first round.

bsc73 · February 28, 2012, 06:43:44 AM

It is unfortunate that Colby didn't get in but the system is a flawed one. The fact that the system is based only on numbers and leaves little if no room for discussion speaks volumes. The NCAA is all about D1 men's basketball and football and everything else is an inconvenience to them. It's too bad they can't take the time, effort and expense to come up with a system that works. Your example is agood one and I'm sure that there are many more.

Quote from: Maine1 on February 28, 2012, 05:35:08 AM
Two things that jump out at me related to the NCAA selections. Number one is that the selection committee missed the boat on leaving Colby out. Colby has one of the hardest schedules in the country based on the SOS, they had seven losses, all against regionally ranked (and it turns out NCAA tournament teams). They also had three wins against regionally ranked teams. They did not have any bad losses (other than the last one at Amherst, but everyone losses badly to Amherst) and came within 18 seconds of defeating Amherst earlier in the season. I heard the head of the women's selection committee say that they only look at numbers, and not the conferences of teams. If this is true, it is a huge mistake. There is so much variation on the level of play across leagues. A team like Kings, who had 5 losses, did not win its league, and has played only 1 ranked team and did not win that game, should not get in over a team with Colby's resume.

The other item is that Babson was under-rated, not being allowed to host despite an excellent 25-2 record, and a good record I believe against ranked teams. And then being sent to Amherst in the first round.