WBB: NESCAC

amh63 · September 16, 2015, 07:22:27 PM

Gordonmann....thanks for the heads up/ infoI. Had trouble with the name...since I could not figure out the phonetics. plus K. Coach G. did indeed spend a year at Hamilton..as an Interim coach. Whatever the title, he wanted to return home to the Deerfield area.. And raise a family.
Yes, he could use a coach with front court experience....played the way he wants. Amherst has two front court players that needs to step up...especially on the defensive side.

magicman · October 30, 2015, 03:19:06 AM

The Top 3 NESCAC teams from last year, Tufts, Amherst, and Bowdoin who finished 5th, 11th and 12th respectively in the D3hoops Top 25 Final poll for the 2014-2015 season, are back at it again. The D3hoops Women's Top 25, preseason poll has been released and those same 3 teams are all present and well accounted for, as they have all improved on that final ranking from last season.

Amherst is near the top of the poll coming in at #2, right behind defending champion, Thomas More. Tufts is right behind the Lady LJs with a 3rd place ranking and the Bowdoin Polar Bears occupy the 7th place spot. Should be a few barnburners on tap this year when these 3 schools meet up with each other.

Happy to see that the Bowdoin ladies will open the season right here in my hometown of Plattsburgh NY on November 20th, when they take on Clarkson College, in the opening game of The Plattsburgh State Cardinal Classic Tip Off Tournament. It will be a homecoming of sorts for local hoopster, Marle Curle, former all star of the Champlain Valley Basketball League, who took her talents to Bowdoin, and is expected to be a major player in the Polar Bears goal of once again returning to the NCAA tournament. Marle, a starting guard during her first two years at Bowdoin is a junior this year and is the daughter of the long time head coach of Plattsburgh State Men's Basketball, Tom Curle. Plattsburgh State women will face Johnson State College in the other first round game of the classic with the winners scheduled to face off on Saturday Nov. 21st at 3 PM right after the 1 PM consolation game.

Of interest, at least to this follower of Plattsburgh State sports is that the Lady Cardinals will be challenged right after the New Year when they travel to Springfield College and face off against Tufts on January 2nd. The next day will be a battle of Cardinals when they meet another NESCAC team, Wesleyan College. They also have their annual game against Middlebury College on December 12th. If Plattsburgh State and Bowdoin both win their first round games in the Cardinal Classic, then Plattsburgh's appearance against Bowdoin in the championship of that tournament will mark the 4th NESCAC team Plattsburgh State will play out of their 7 non-conference games scheduled. By January 3rd we will have played more games against the NESCAC conference than we have played against our own SUNYAC conference(4 to 2). And no NESCAC team will have played more games against their own conference teams than Plattsburgh has. Not sure that will end up being a good thing for the Plattsburgh State Ladies.

Here's a link to the D3hoops Top 25 Women's Preseason Poll:

http://d3hoops.com/top25/women/2015-16/preseason

nescac1 · November 11, 2015, 07:15:10 AM

This week's Williams campus paper interviews Val Oyakhilome, a basketball transfer from FDU (oddly the same school Amherst men got a transfer from last year). She played a lot as a frosh and sophomore at FDU and appears to be an excellent shooter. Despite losing star Ellen Cook to graduation the Ephs return a lot of talent elsewhere so if Oyakhilome (along with top recruit Lauren Vostal) can step right in and replace Cook's scoring the Ephs should be solid. Last year's athletic frosh, especially Fernandez at the point, will need to make a leap forward however for Williams to challenge the top three. The Ephs are very quick and athletic and should be stingy defensively once again. They need to become far more efficient on offense than last year.

amh63 · November 16, 2015, 12:14:17 PM

Not much info to relate on the Amherst team as the WBB site is quiet on the roster...though there is a preview and a new assistant coach. Have seen Coach G. at the football games....several times with his young daughter...in the stands. Did not make it to the team tent at Homecoming but did meet a new player selling football programs. Heard that there is at least two new players. However, Amherst did lose two players to graduation..Taylor Smith and All American Meg Robinson. Meg is a BIG lost.
There was an interview of two players at the Williams football game....but the broadcast by NESN broke down. Therefore it has been a " blackout" of sorts wrt to the Amherst team.
Oh well, the first game is this weekend!
Nescac1, I must say that Williams has been recruiting players with the most difficult last names to spell.

. Awaiting the announcers call of their names this season.

ronk · November 21, 2015, 05:04:19 PM

Quote from: amh63 on November 16, 2015, 12:14:17 PM
Not much info to relate on the Amherst team as the WBB site is quiet on the roster...though there is a preview and a new assistant coach. Have seen Coach G. at the football games....several times with his young daughter...in the stands. Did not make it to the team tent at Homecoming but did meet a new player selling football programs. Heard that there is at least two new players. However, Amherst did lose two players to graduation..Taylor Smith and All American Meg Robinson. Meg is a BIG lost.
There was an interview of two players at the Williams football game....but the broadcast by NESN broke down. Therefore it has been a " blackout" of sorts wrt to the Amherst team.
Oh well, the first game is this weekend!
Nescac1, I must say that Williams has been recruiting players with the most difficult last names to spell. . Awaiting the announcers call of their names this season.

Amh63,
The preview didn't mention Rebecca Ford whom we've discussed in the past. New roster still not up; maybe a game time surprise.

amh63 · November 21, 2015, 07:51:10 PM

ronk,,,,,,yes, Rebecca Ford is not on the roster, along with the other 6'2" player from Florida. There is also missing a 2 year starter and a soph from Switzerland. Was told by a player, early in the football season, that both tall front court players did not return.. Amherst has 3 new players....one that just left the soccer field along with a sr player.....two sport student athletes. In short...Amherst has a "short" roster...12 players.
However, after tonight's game, all the players can run the floor, shoot, pass and most important...play defense.
Less than full roster but maybe a deeper rotation. Looks like Coach G is going to a different offensive style; fast pace offense built around a strong defense. Good start tonight....another game on Sunday. We will see what the rotation will become soon enough. Lots of road games early.

Maine 1 · November 22, 2015, 09:06:01 AM

good to have the start of a new season. Always hard to make any conclusions from early games, but it looks like Bates is off to very slow start, and could be a long season there. Bowdoin split two games this weekend. Colby dominated against two week opponents, but they have a team that will score. It is possible that Colby could be the top Maine NESCAC team. Amherst looks very strong, as usual, as does Tufts. Looking for another competitive season, and would expect Amherst, Tufts and Williams at the top,, and then wide open after that.

amh63 · November 22, 2015, 09:36:52 AM

Maine1... Nice post. Be busy elsewhere and have not reviewed the rosters of the other CAC teams at all. Still looking at Amherst games to see how they play and do they have the team that can handle the likes of Tuft's with all the returning bigs and Bowdoin with its skilled players. Yes, expect Williams will be competative again. Admit to being clueless about the other schools' teams....like the CT schools and the other Maine based schools. Your postings will help me. Thanks. Plus K

amh63 · November 22, 2015, 05:27:52 PM

For the record....Amherst won its game today over Farmingdale State by 60 points. Score is not important here. The players played as a team in a number of combinations with everyone getting playing time. The players also shot well outside, inside and against a zone. The second half when the lead was hovering over 50 points, it was interesting to see the insertion of a FY guard to run the team of upperclassmen....as well as switching defensive schemes with different player combinations.
I noticed one of the coaches...maybe the HC of the other team clapping as Amherst executed a scoring play against his team. In brief, it was a clinic. Coach G and his opposite chatted awhile after the game...friendly sort of chat. Believe the two teams play again on Long Island. Amherst has an annual game with this school...first time in LeFrak.

amh63 · November 25, 2015, 12:58:13 PM

For the record...Amherst won its non- conference game with Wesleyan last night in LeFrak. Next game for Amherst will be after Thanksgiving on Dec.1. Score....not important as Amherst won big...around 40 plus points and every Amherst players had time on the floor. Wesleyan has size but appear to be a young team and did not shoot well. Scored only about 15 points at the half. It maybe different when the two teams meet later in Middletown in a more important game. A note of caution here...Amherst men's team beat their counterparts badly last season, both at home and away, only to lose to Wesleyan in OT at Trinity in the conference TITLE game.

amh63 · December 03, 2015, 03:53:17 PM

Amherst won its 4th game of the season 59-48 over Emmanual on Tuesday. This game after Thanksgiving break was very competative...with Emmanual, playing its 7 th game of the season, scored the first 6 points of the game. Amherst, with two players not dressed, played only 8 players. Only one of the 3 contributing FYs got minutes on the floor. Closest game of the season, but the game was never in doubt. The home streak continues...114 wins.
Tonight, Amherst heads to ECSU, its first road game....against a solid opponent playing at home. The Warriors was ranked in the pre- season top 25. Happy to see the 7PM game in Williamatic will be broadcasted. Anxious to see if all the LJs are dressed and available.

amh63 · December 04, 2015, 03:04:49 PM

Amherst wins its first road game last night, 65-49. Not too bad for a road game against a quality that returns most of their starters from last season. The details are posted on the website and summarized nicely by 7express on the Little East board.
Two players remained unavailable in street clothes and a senior guard was not in attendance. Again, there was a short rotation of players with a slight different mix. Amherst seemed to want to develop an inside game, rather than one based on outside shooting. The stats show more points from outside than inside....maybe due to the Warriors defense. Amherst did try to get the ball inside but passes were deflected and chippie shots were missed.....even the announcers mentioned the missed chippie shots missed after nice passing. The announcers sometimes made comparison comments to the Tufts blowout of the Warriors earlier.
The Warriors took a lead in the second quarter and was behind only by 4 at the half. In the second half, it was all Amherst as the LJs clamped down on the Warriors, causing many turnovers and scoring off the TOs. Lead was as high as 17 and remained in double figures for the last two quarters. It was nice to see PG Renner playing better than her earlier games. Amherst is giving its FY front court player from Granby, Ma. A significant number of minutes. One play illustrates why these early road games are necessary before conference play. The talented FY forward makes a steal down low and takes off down the court dribbling pass and away from defenders and teammates both. She takes an uncontested layup, rushes her shot and misses. No teammates around for any RB. Hanging her head a little, a teammate gives her a little encouragement...could almost hear a comment ..." That's OK, good effort".

magicman · December 06, 2015, 06:26:02 AM

Nice win for the Bowdoin Ladies as they topple the #3 ranked team in the country by a 61-43 final. The Polar Bears were down early but a big 2nd quarter gave them a 17 point halftime lead. The Jumbos were never really in the game after that. There's a writeup on the D3hoops front page. Here's the link:

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2015/12/wrapup-1205-women

Maybe this will give the Polar Bears a lift and help them shake off those early season losses.

nescacfan1 · December 06, 2015, 07:24:56 AM

Williams is off to a 6-0 start which is probably better than expected. There are no true stars yet. Different players have stepped up in each game. Last night the back court led-- Ammani Fernandez had 20 points and 11 assist and Devon Caveney had 29 points. The game before, the Williams bigs shone-- Katie Litman had 12 points and 21 boards, Oge Uwanaka had 12 points and 14 boards. The team will likely go as far as their super talented sophomore point guard, Fernandez, will take them. She is more relaxed this year and is playing much better but still turns the ball over more than she should. She leads NESCAC in 3 point shooting % so far. They will have to be more consistent to challenge Amherst, Bowdoin and Tufts (especially on offense), but on a good night they should be quite competitive.

amh63 · December 06, 2015, 06:20:08 PM

Boy, the Bowdoin big win at home over Tufts was a surprise...the margin mainly. Not enough details and I did not watch the game. Surprised that Tufts' front court did not seem to slow Brady down. Will this be a year where the homecourt " factor" looms larger than ever?
Yes, Williams seem to rolling along. This maybe a year that early season wins will be extended further into the season....into the conference games.
Do not know much about the other CAC teams...have not even been following them at all.
Oh yes...Amherst wins big over Bridgewater St. Home streak wins continue. Team still working on a rotation of players that continue to put defensive and offensive pressure.