WBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

NE JEFF Fan......have the KEY to my confusion and maybe yours.  Did e-mail the SID on the matter.
Anyway...after not hearing anything from the SID, I decided to look over the schedules.  It seems that there is no conflict wrt to times.  Focusing on the Williams games on Jan 10 and 21....clarity arrived.for me.  The MBB team does NOT play at the same location as the WBB team.  In short, the locations are  different.  Therefore, there is no rotation of start times.....the two teams do not play at the play on the same floor.  Too lazy if this applies to other conference games...splitting the teams up.
Guess the SID was being kind in not replying.

[NE Jeffs Fan]

Guess they decided to split the fan base instead of combine it.

[amh63]

NE JEFFS FAN....true.  The SID did get back to me on the matter.  He did not respond to my question. Of the rotation of start times.  Too lazy to check on the other regular conference games... Splitting of locations...and the policies if any during playoffs.  Will check further when I go up for Homecoming.
The new SID...former assist...may not have been aware of the rotation matter.  Concerned in that I will miss WBB games, etc. When I make my few trips up to watch live games in LeFrak.

[NE Jeffs Fan]

That's a shame, as once the NESCAC schedule starts, half the fun was seeing both teams play as well as catching some ice hockey, squash, and swimming all in one weekend.  Seems like that has to be a league decision, not an Amherst decision.

[NE Jeffs Fan]

Might as well get the discussion started....What does everyone think of the preseason D3Hoops poll?  Interesting that Amherst is above Tufts.  Did Tufts lose a large part of their starters?  Amherst doesn't even have their roster posted yet so we don't know names or anything about incoming first years.  Not sure about health of Megan Roberston (knee) and Savannah Holness (shoulder), Jeff's fourth years with the most experience.  Excellent soph and junior class to build a team around. 

Good to see Williams and Bowdoin in the Top 25 also.  Should be another strong year for the NESCAC.  Can't wait for the fun to begin!

[ronk]

Might as well get the discussion started....What does everyone think of the preseason D3Hoops poll? Interesting that Amherst is above Tufts. Did Tufts lose a large part of their starters?  Amherst doesn't even have their roster posted yet so we don't know names or anything about incoming first years.  Not sure about health of Megan Roberston (knee) and Savannah Holness (shoulder), Jeff's fourth years with the most experience.  Excellent soph and junior class to build a team around. 

Good to see Williams and Bowdoin in the Top 25 also.  Should be another strong year for the NESCAC.  Can't wait for the fun to begin!

Maybe, they got points for Gromacki. Bowdoin got a good frosh in Kate Kerrrigan.

[toad22]

I'm very high on Williams this year. Ellen Cook is better than ever, and they have some really good FYs. They should be in the mix for supremacy in the NESCAC.

[Pat Coleman]

Might as well get the discussion started....What does everyone think of the preseason D3Hoops poll? Interesting that Amherst is above Tufts. Did Tufts lose a large part of their starters?  Amherst doesn't even have their roster posted yet so we don't know names or anything about incoming first years.  Not sure about health of Megan Roberston (knee) and Savannah Holness (shoulder), Jeff's fourth years with the most experience.  Excellent soph and junior class to build a team around. 

Good to see Williams and Bowdoin in the Top 25 also.  Should be another strong year for the NESCAC.  Can't wait for the fun to begin!

Maybe, they got points for Gromacki. Bowdoin got a good frosh in Kate Kerrrigan.

Amherst says it returns all five starters. Tufts lost two, including Liz Moynihan. Probably has a lot to do with the switch. Our voters don't tend to put much stock in freshmen because they have no D-III track record.

[d3wbbfan]

It's DIII WCBB opening day!!!!!!         I hope all of my fellow DIII fans had a pleasant off season!

Tufts did lose two starters, but neither of them was Moynihan. They were "glue players" SR Caitlin McClure (4.6 ppg), and the Tag-Team-Ali's: Rocchi (SR; 19 starts; 4.2 ppg, playing with a balky knee) and Berman (JR; 14 starts; 3.6 ppg; not back with team.) The SR Moynihan was Tufts' 6th man all last season, and only started a few games at the very end of '13-'14 (five), due to Hannah Foley's ill-timed leg injury. But Liz was always in there at the end of games, Pat Coleman, if that's what you meant by "starter".

While giving full respect to both the lost starters and such returning "glue players" as Emma Roberson, IMO Tufts got to the Final Four on the stat-stuffing abilities of just five players last season: Morehead, Kanner, Foley, Michela North and Moynihan. (Which was why Foley's injury hurt Tufts *so* much in March. She was the Jumbo's most reliable outside threat all year, by a wide margin, and they had no replacement for her sweet stroke.) The first four names are all back. Four FY's and a SO who didn't play BB last year (Katy Hicks) are added. My best guess for snagging the most PT among the newbies is 5'8" G Jennie Mucciarone. All coaches value upperclassmen, who've worked hard every single day, paid their dues and understand what it takes, but few do any more than Carla Berube does. So it'll be fun to see how her preferred 8-9 player rotation develops early. The vets'll surely get first crack at the minutes.

Tufts starts up today in Biddeford, ME, at the Univ. Of New England tourney. Of course, recall that the Nor'Easters came within an eyelash and a Moynihan desperation, line-drive 3 that somehow dropped in at the OT buzzer, of upsetting Tufts at Cousens back in the 2014 NCAA's opening weekend. UNE returns all 5 starters, and will likely play Tufts Sunday, assuming the Jumbos defeat Keene State and Coach Anthony Ewing's team beats Wellesley in tonight's tourney nightcap.

Bowdoin also begins today vs Roger Williams at the Maine Maritime tourney. The Polar Bears return 5 or their top 6 scorers, including their top two, JR F Shannon Brady (14.1 ppg) and SR G Sara Binkhorst (13.1 ppg), no doubt hoping to avenge their first-round NCAA tourney upset loss at home last March with a much longer NCAA run. These hopes are very realistic, perhaps even probable. 

Williams opens up against R.I. College this afternoon at the Babson tourney. They had no seniors last year, so everyone's back, led by their talented SR leader, Ellen Cook (14.3 ppg), as well as SR Kellie Macdonald (11.7 ppg). Six other quality players return, all who added between 5.2 and 9 ppg for the Ephs' in '13-14. But after a 19-2 start, the team began to experience repeated, long scoring droughts in games late in NESCAC play. And when the offense stopped generating points through structure, Williams' came to rely almost exclusively on Cook's leadership, determination and stellar one-on-one moves/individual skills to score. She did everything humanly possible for her team to compensate, but they fell short. With the very same group back, supplemented by three FY's, Coach Pat Manning has had all off-season to work out the kinks that clogged up her club's late-season point production. Luckily, her teams are always very defensive minded, so that's a great start. We could also be lucky enough to get another delicious NCAA rematch Sunday in Babson Park. Vassar is playing Babson in the other Saturday game. Should Vassar and the Ephs both win (or lose, as both Saturday games should be close), Cook & Co. have the chance for revenge, as it was Vassar who upset Williams in the NCAA First Round, 76-75, in Scranton, PA. And although Vassar graduated their two best players, all the Ephs are back, and they all surely remember the loss that ended last season for them.

I saw that there was a recent DIII Hoops WBB poll where Amherst garnered more votes than anyone else, including defending champ FDU-Florham (who has all their top players back), both getting far more votes than Tufts did. So folks across the country seem to think that Amherst is the team to beat this year. Now we all know how good a coach GP Gromacki is, but that result even caught me a bit by surprise. Granted, just getting Megan Robertson back from her midseason-ending '13-14 injury (assuming she's fully healthy) will be a huge boost. They also had no seniors on their roster of 12 last year, and they brought in five FYs. That would've meant 17 on the Jeffs' roster, which is not a common # for DIII teams without JV squads. Viewing the roster, it now has 15 names. Who can surely *all* play ball. It appears that both Savannah Holness and Virginia Hassell have opted to concentrate on their studies for the SR year. I know they will both be missed by their teammates, the coaching staff, and Amherst fans. 

I've been able to see  film on some of the FY's (for what that's worth, I know - always highlights!) At a quick glance, two of them (the kid from Switzerland, Lily Johnson, and the big lefty 3-pt shooter from CT, Jenna Schumacher) seem to have physical builds and shooting skills exactly like returning SO Hannah Peterson does. (That's great news for Coach Gromacki, if Peterson's 3-pt shot cools.)  6'1" Hannah Hackley (Westford, MA) and 6'0" Jackie Nagle (VT) had storied HS careers, and seem ticketed for the 3/4 spots. And Robertson can surely use the help down low. The 6'2" FR from MD seems not to be quite as game-ready out of the blocks, but that's very normal for bigger DIII girls, who usually require more development. I can't just mention Amherst without mentioning Marley Giddins, Cheyenne Pritchard, Jaimie Renner. Ali & Meredith Doswell, and Haley Zwecker. Heck, maybe the DIII Hoops pollsters are right after all. If this year FYs are half as good as last year's were, it looks like GP's 5 top non-starters would earn an NCAA bid on their own! Minutes are going to be at such a premium this year. I'll bet pre-season practices have been ultra-competitive.   

The *only* worry I see down the road with the voters is that Amherst isn't the quickest bunch of athletes I've ever seen. I try to watch every game that two DIII WBB teams play: One east coast & one west coast: Tufts and Whitman (Walla, Walla, WA). I sure got lucky last year-both teams made the Final Four. Whitman was unbelievable all season. But they lost in the final to Florham for one reason. Because Whitman opted to play uptempo against them. Whitman could win games at any pace, and had done so all year. And they have a great coach (Michelle Ferenz). She'd witnessed in person Tufts slog through a slow, defensive Final Four struggle with Florham in the first semifinal, FDU escaping with a 3-pt win. That was *exactly* the style of game Florham detests. Lucky for Coach Berube, her teams always D up hard, and are always patient on O. Tufts simply played that day the way they always play. Even though the Jumbos' were missing Foley, they still almost won that game. In the end, it's all about matchups. Ferenz saw Florham at their worst vs Tufts - playing slow, and having no fun. So when Ferenz revved up Whitman's uptempo engine for the final, they were out-jumped, out-ran, and out-quicked like they hadn't been all year. And the difference in athleticism was made even worse for Whitman, because they had to expend an awful lot of energy to beat a returning Final Four team with 8 seniors (UW-Whitwater) in the second Final Four semi. Whereas Florham played earlier, and had expended far less energy the day before against Tufts! I've always strongly believed that the more quick and athletic a team is, the slower I want the game tempo, and the less fun I want my opponent to be having. It can be done. It takes two teams to have a true "track meet." And it's worked. If Amherst should happen to meet Florham, I'm a little worried for GP. Because Whitman had *far* more team speed last year than his does this year. Then again, he is GP Gromacki. So he'll probably know to slow it down to a crawl against Florham, should they return. It's his best chance. And I think it could just work. But that's *way* down the road. The Lord Jeffs don't start until Tuesday night, at Keene State.

Most importantly, I wish good luck and good health to all NESCAC student-athletes and fans in '14-'15!

[amh63]

D3wbbfan.....nice post to start the season.  Saw a number of the Amherst players at the Homecoming football game last Sat.  The FY players were hawking the game programs...working hard and yes they are big.  Savannah dropped by the WBB tent.  It should be an interesting season.  You forgot to mention the soph center from Florida...Boyette.  Hope she is ready to give Megan a few minutes of rest.  Based on discussion with Megan's father, the Captain Robertson will be ready to go without restriction by Dec.....in time for any CAC games.  Coach G.  Knows what Meg can do, so there is time to see how the younger players work with the returnees.  Early season is the time to build a Team!
Oh yes...plus k to you.

[nescac1]

Nice start to the season for the Ephs, beating, on a neutral court, two teams who made the NCAA tourney last year.  Especially impressive was the debut of frosh Amanni Fernandez, who averaged 18 ppg off the bench in her first two games, including 27 points in yesterday's payback win over Vassar.  Fernandez and Cook should form a really strong backcourt this year.  Good to see the Ephs get wins despite foul trouble and tough shooting games from Ellen Cook and Kellie Macdonald, who had to carry last year's offense by themselves much of the year.  Once those two get going, the Ephs could be a lot more potent offensively if Fernandez can build on her debut performance.  Also good to see Katie Litman off to a good start -- she is the Ephs' only consistent post scoring threat, and losing her (or having her effectiveness curtailed) for much of last year to injury really hurt. 

[amh63]

Amherst opens it's season today!  It also as a preview posted on the athletic section of the website.  Enjoy! .   I'm excited.

[amh63]

Amherst opened its season with a win at Keene St.
Amherst played 10 players with two FYs getting PT.
As expected, Megan Robertson was not dressed but was given support.  From a stats point, it was an interesting game....Keene shot better from outside and overall.  amherst was much better from the foul line.  Rebounding was spread around.  It was a competative game all around.  Good start for the stll young Jeffs.
Oh yes...amherst won 84-67.  Writeup on the Amherst website.  Anxiou to see how the player mix in the weekend home games.

[nescacfan1]

Williams crushed Smith last night 89-49 and the score doesn't reflect how dominant Williams was. They were ahead 37-9, 15 minutes into the game. Smith beat the Williams' final four team a couple of years ago, so I think Manning had them keyed up. McCall, Caveney and Cook had 15 points each and Litman had 4 blocks. Fernandez is a first year that might develop into a star point guard and Fechtelkotter, another first year, looks solid . They moved the ball well. The team has great depth. I've never seen Manning sub 5 players in and out.  Babson should be a real test this weekend. Great to have NESCAC hoops back.

[bsc73]

Smith lost 2 starters to graduation, 2 to season ending injuries and the fifth starter, a pre season All American last year, decided not to play. Not as good a win as it appears