WBB: NESCAC

[7express]

Tufts is impressive.  Granted they haven't played anyone, but the defensive numbers their putting up are quite impressive.  I'm interesting to see their results of the 2 games this week against Boston (a surprising 5-1) and Bridgewater (now 6-1 who is 3-0 against the NESCAC so far).  They should beat Boston fairly easily, but @ Bridgewater on Saturday is probably their first test of the season.

[amh63]

ECsaintsfan10......I agree and you should be.

[amh63]

Amherst beats a surprisingly game ECSU team at home 65-55.  The game was close at the half....Amherst ahead by 6.  Amherst's lead went up to 14 in the 2nd half but ESCU battled back and had the lead down to only 3 and often only 4.  One ECSU player......stats down/froze.... had between 25-30 plus points.  She made them inside and outside and over the bigger Amherst players.  The turnovers were about the same.  To many foul shots missed by ESCU.  Though Amherst seemed to dominate the boards....they missed a ton of inside/short shots.  Amherst hit more outside 3-point shots....though ESCU made more long 2-point shots it seems.  In any case it was a well fought game.  Everyone played for Amherst tonight.

[sumfun]

When you look at ECSU, their record doesn't demonstrate the close games they've had with strong teams.  I thought they might give Amherst a good game.  When you look at the stats, it becomes pretty clear that with a short bnch, the new players are going to have to come off the bench and score.  Hopefully this will happen as they become more comfortable with Amherst's offense .

[amh63]

Amherst wins big over visiting RPI tonight...74-43.  The Amherst starters led by Voigt with 19 built a big lead.  For more than 11 minutes in the 2nd half, it was reserves that played against RPI and they increased the lead.  Three of the reserves scored in double figures with one having 10 rebounds!  Other than Voigt, none of the other starters scored much.  Meg R. had 9 points, and Bridget C. had 4.  Jasmine Hardy who had a good game had no points.  Good game for the bench to get game experience.....with all the new players gaining confidence that they can be successful at the college level. 
The team with start playing after exams in a tournament....in Florida on the East Coast just south of Jacksonville.

[amh63]

For the second year in a row, Amherst flies to a holiday time tourney to play an opponent that is just next door...WNE.  Game is in Daytona FL.    First game on Fri. Dec. 28. is against ranked Simpson in Iowa.  Amherst has a FY player from Iowa that starts at guard.

[amh63]

Amherst beats Simpson in Daytona 62-60 in its first game after the end of the first semester/holidays.  It was a close game and although Amherst had a working margin of around 5 points in the last 5 minutes of the game, it was tied 60-60 with 20 seconds to go.  M Voigt who had 4 fouls and struggled with her shooting during the game, made the final shot with 2 seconds to go.  Amherst shooting was off, but won the rebounding battle.  Four Amherst players were limited by 4 fouls each as Simpson had many more foul attempts and shot well from the foul line and from the field.  Meg Robertson had a double-double with 12 rebounds and 12 points.  Bridget Crowley had 9 points and 12 rebounds.  Jasmine Hardy had a good all around game with 12 points and 7 rebounds.  Amherst's scoring was spread around.  Simpson was led by its top scorer Kate Neilsen who had 35 points  Both teams are ranked in the top 15 of Div.3.  It was a good test for Amherst against a fine ranked midwest team.

[sumfun]

This game ought to give Amherst a shot of confidence as they head into NESCAC play.  A win on the road against another top ranked team when you're shooting is off and the fouls are mounting up is a "good" win.  All good teams learn to win "ugly" games. 

[amh63]

Amherst beats WNE today 69 to 45 in Florida.  Stats/recap to follow on the Amherst website.  Was at lunch when the rescheduled game started at noon.

[Maine 1]

Thought I would try to inject some discussion beyond all Amherst all the time here.   It is always hard to tell how teams are off of the pre-season, but it looks like Tufts and Amherst will battle it out for the top spot in the conference.  Tufts has not played a very hard pre-season schedule, but still at 10-0, looks strong.  Amherst appears to have a great first five, but does not have teh depth it has had in the past.  It looks like Williams will be good again this year, especially if there big player can stay healthy. The number 4 spot seems to be a free for all.  It does not appear that any of the thre Maine teams (Bowdoin, Colby or Bates) are going to overpower anyone,  as those three teams will likely fall into the next three spots.  We will start to find out more this weekend as league play begins.  Good luck to all the teams, and looking forward to some good, entertaining basketball.

[amh63]

Maine1......welcome aboard/back.  Your points about the upcoming conference contests agreed with my observations...based on the records to date.  Have watched a few of the other teams on the webcasts a bit but they have been few webcasts and of little interest to date.
This weekend results should hopefully bring on more posters from other schools.  Tufts was a team to watch last year and should be the "elephant" to hurdle again this year for Amherst.  I know....poor humor, but I couldn't miss the opportunity.

[7express]

Boston (9-2) and Bridgewater 8-2 aren't bad opponents.

[amh63]

Had some trouble posting Amherst's close win over the Cardinals last night in Middletown.  It was a four point win and only a 2 point led at the half.  As the announcer so stated at the half and at the end of the game, it was an "ugly" game to watch.  The particulars on the game are on the Amherst website.  Here is my take.
The first half and the second half were quite similar.  Both teams had trouble scoring in the first half....with Wes. going 9 minutes without a point.  Amherst, shooting poorly goes ahead with good defense and takes a double digit lead only to have Wes. rally back in the last few minutes of the half.  In the second half, Wes. goes 11 minutes without a point and Amherst goes ahead by at least 18 points...even doubling the Wes.score and then lets down its defense and becomes sloppy with the ball in the last few minutes.....allowing Wes. to rally.  Amherst had a poor shooting night, with Jasmine Hardy not scoring from outside and from the foul line.  Points came mainly from only three players....Voigt, Robertson and Crowley.  Both teams had about the same number of boards and shot only in the low 20% range for the game, poorly from the foul line and made too many turnovers.  Amherst had control of the game for the most part except near the end of both halves.  Amherst's coach had to re-insert both Bridget and Megan back in the game near the end of the game as Wes. was getting too many 2nd chance shots....and making them.  Too many OF rebounds by Wes. and TO's by Amherst.  The key to Amherst's win was its defense with blocks and steals.  Megan Robertson had 12 points and 17 rebounds along with at least 5/6 blocks!
Concerned with the number of times Megan was knocked to the ground!  She is double teamed after getting a rebound and often pushed around. Noticed that Amherst players were slipping and falling down while making cuts.  I point this out since there were also too many slips in the earlier men's game by players....a floor problem?
Hope the Amherst women play well in today's away game at the Camel's den.

[gordonmann]

Thanks, Amh63.

What's your take on the Jeffs' No. 7 ranking?  Too high?  Too low? Just right?

I'm having a hard time gauging this team, particularly because of the lack of depth.

[amh63]

Gordanmann.....putting pressure on me when my heart and mind may conflict with respect to the Amherst team.  First, it is interesting to note that yesterday's matchups between the "CAC" teams all ended up within 5 points or less.  I state this because your question is based on "relative" factors/considerations......such as wins-loses, opponents rankings, home and away games, etc.  Tufts, the other highly ranked conference team had a 4-5 point win at home against Williams yesterday.  Williams maybe a stronger team on paper than Wes., but what factors do you use to rank them?
To the heart of your question.....depth.  Coach G. has a history of fielding "small number teams" and often has a short rotation of players.  It was only after losing to Wash U. several years ago in the NCAA in OT....when Amherst's players ran out of gas....that , IMO, had Coach G. use more players in games during the following season...to have more depth.  Also depth is a over-rated term, imo.  Talented depth, is a truer gage vice a bench depth based on players.  Last year's deep bench and talent seniors may have clouded the view of this year's team a little.
Amherst needs more experienced players. Amherst starts a FY guard from IOWA that scores little and is learning to be a PG.  Voigt, imo, is not comfortable being the primary distributor of the ball.  She is doing well at that role but sometimes, like last night, she tried tOO hard and made some judgement mistakes near the end of the game.  When, Coach G. put in the other FY players, there were many mental mistakes made....bad passes, poor defense, etc.  The talent is there in the FY players....for Coach G. knows talent.  At present, he does not have a player to go to when a starter has a bad day, not hitting shots, gets into foul trouble....not like years past.  Coach McGuire at UNC would recruit Irish players from NYC.  He was known to replace starters when the offense sputtered....to find the HOT shooting Irishman. 
I will state that Amherst's present ranking is OK for now....considering how other higher ranked teams around the country are having hard games, etc.  When Amherst's FY players...on the bench....starts stepping up and gets game experiences....learning from their mistakes, and they will learn....then Amherst will have greater depth...so to speak.  I believe that Amheerst by the end of the regular season will be there to challenge for the "CAC" title and do well in the post season.