WBB: NESCAC

Maine 1 · January 13, 2016, 11:07:09 AM

That is a surprise with Bowdoin losing to Emmanuel. As I mentioned, I believe that after Amherst, the league is not very strong. Most teams don't put five people on the court that are scoring threats. I think you will see some surprises as we get into the season, and I would not be surprised if Conn College cracks the top four.

Maine 1 · January 15, 2016, 08:57:49 PM

Some observations on tonight's games
Colby-Williams-after seeing both teams a few times, I don't think Williams is a very good team. Colby shot lights out from three, but Williams does not have a lot of offense, and simply let one player take and make three wide open, uncontested threes in the second half (when that player already had hit three in the first half). Colby is scrappy, but has lost to some rather weak teams. I don't see Williams as a top four team, and more likely will be in the lower half.
Conn-Trinity-very close game, and impressed that Conn College won without there top scorer. I am not sure why she did not play, but clearly Conn College has depth. Tomorrow's Amherst-Conn College game will be very interesting and I think will tell us a lot about the strength of Conn College. I hope there top player plays.
Tufts-Middlebury--Tough game for Middlebury, appears that Tufts great defense totally stifled Middlebury.

amh63 · January 16, 2016, 01:06:05 PM

Maine1...I agree wrt today's Amherst-Conn in New London. Who is Conn's best player? Cannot tellgoingover the last few Conn's games.

Maine 1 · January 16, 2016, 02:53:01 PM

Mairead Hynes is their leading scorer-actually, it does look like she played last night-but only 11 minutes--and came off the bench.

Maine 1 · January 17, 2016, 06:12:36 AM

Good win by Amherst yesterday. Conn College does have a very nice team, but Amherst looks to be the class of the league. They have seven-eight very athletic players that play, all can score, and as usual, they play outstanding defense. Given how offensively challenged most of the league is, I think Amherst will run away with this. Tufts could give them a good game because Tufts also plays great defense, but they have trouble scoring. Bowdoin will also play them close, but Amherst's balance will be the difference.

amh63 · January 18, 2016, 02:45:20 PM

Maine 1 .....watched the Williams vs Bowdoin game mainly in the 2nd half. Watched the men's game in the first half...as you know Amherst teams plays Bowdoin this Friday.
I am also puzzled by the Play of the EPH team this season. The team has a very good FY guard who is the leading scorer and has a big veteran front line, IMO. Yet, there appears the experienced veterans plays with indifference and lack of energy. One example that puzzled me and caused the Williams HC to put her hands on her head. Late in the game, Williams' PG was bringing the ball up with pace. She passed to her veteran center in the front court...just over the line. Her Center was harassed and passed the ball back to the PG. Turnover...The PG was not over mid court! It was just one of many TOs by the Williams team. Amherst crushed the EHPs in Willytown...surprising to me I have to say. It was the number of TOs that Wwilliams committed that stood out to me. Williams HC in the recap gave credit to Amherst's defensive effort. However, the example Above would be more in the category of unforced error.

Vandy74 · January 20, 2016, 04:29:06 AM

Quote from: Maine1 on January 15, 2016, 08:57:49 PM

Tufts-Middlebury--Tough game for Middlebury, appears that Tufts great defense totally stifled Middlebury.

I didn't see this game Maine1 and a 13-2 record for a NESCAC team speaks for itself. Our schedules aren't soft. I did attend the men's game that evening however and know at least one key Panther was playing sick. Middlebury only lost the combined 1st and 3rd quarters by a single point. It was in the latter quarter of each half that Tufts truly dominated. Team leading scorer Sarah Kaufman played seven and a half minutes less than her average, didn't start and was held to only two points. My intent is in no way to say the best team didn't win but several other observations lead me to suspect some Middlebury players were dealing with the flu bug.

There is a game I did see on which I meant to make somewhat knowledgeable commentary. Middlebury got off to a slow start tonight against Smith, trailing 9-0 at 4:20 in the opening quarter. From there they gained the upper hand going on to a 70-57 victory and upping their record to 10-5. Sarah Kaufman led all scorers with 21. Eileen Daley added 14 tallies and collected 13 rebounds. Catherine Harrison pulled down 8 more to go with 10 points and 2 blocked shots while Sabrina Weeks came off the bench to score 11. Middlebury has added a 7th contributor to what has been strictly a six player rotation in highly competitive games. Rachel Collins has been seeing playing time recently, scoring 5 points tonight in 5 minutes of action. I also heard a few days ago that last season's leading scorer Elizabeth Knox, a 5'10" forward, has been practicing with the team although not yet suiting up to play. Since my sister-in-law retired from the MC coaching ranks last season I no longer have legit insider information concerning Middlebury athletics but hopefully my source here is trustworthy.

The Panthers next game is at Williams on Sunday.

ronk · January 21, 2016, 03:13:04 PM

amh63,
Just learned another of my prospects has committed to Amherst; she's also from upstate NY 6-0 P who can make a 3; GP must have hacked into my list

I'd rank her less capable than the first 5-11 SF. Found out via an email from her father; it may not be public info yet so I won't identify her further; maybe GP will disclose to you.

amh63 · January 22, 2016, 09:34:48 PM

Ronk....thanks for the heads up. Coach G does not talk to me...just smiles as he goes by with a nod. I do see him at football games with his young daughter. At BB games, his wife is in the stands and keeping check on their kids. Nice to see family at games.

amh63 · January 22, 2016, 09:39:29 PM

Amherst played a game against a tough Bowdoin team and appeared to have the game in hand at halftime. Therefore went back to the men's game where Amherst was behind at the half.
See that Both men and women teams won by double digit scores.
Another game on Sat afternoon with Colby. Hope the ladies are ready.

NE Jeffs Fan · January 23, 2016, 04:35:48 PM

Just watched Amherst vs Colby game. Colby gave Amherst a great game in the first half, but without looking at the stats i.e. points fm the bench, Amherst came out strong in the 2nd half. Not sure if Amherst bench is deeper, their shots started to fall, or pure coaching with great adjustments made to help defense at halftime. Any insight appreciated. We know GP is a great coach, I suspect games like this just reinforce that for me.

Saw that Marley Giddens started and played very little. Announcer said she was on bench with ice on her knee. Wishing her the best.

amh63 · January 23, 2016, 05:09:33 PM

Looking at the stats.....my take of the game.
Amherst was only up by 4 at the half....and not shooting well. Colby was hitting the long ball. Saw Giddens being worked on...only 1 minute in the game.
Looking at the floor time of the starters, the team adjusted their offense with the lost of their Sr. Starter Giddens. The win by less than 30 points is fine as two FY players got playing time. Giddens lost to the team in the middle of the conference is a worry....as a talented FY front court player is also out...on crutches. A return of a front court player from CT helps.
At this time of the year a win is a win, especially in conference. CAC Tourny seeding is critical. top seed gets to host.

Back to back games is a worry by all coaches. The men's team lost their first conference gain in Maine to Colby who won their first conference game.

Maine 1 · January 23, 2016, 08:55:55 PM

Watched Colby-Amherst. Colby is a solid team, with a lot of good shooters, particularly if you give them space. First half of the game I thought Amherst was definitely off on offense, missing some easy shots, and they lost Giddens early which took away offense. However, the big difference in the first and second half was the Amherst defense. Over the Gromacki years at Amherst, his teams have played great defense, and in particular, they are great at not letting teams get open looks from the three point line. In the first half, Colby was 5-12 from three, and a lot of those were uncontested. That is totally out of character for Amherst. In the second half, Amherst came out with an incredible intensity on defense, and totally smothered the Colby shooters. (Colby was 0-4 in the second half on threes, and could not even find space to take a three). In addition, Amherst forced a number of turnovers that they turned into easy baskets.
Offense comes and goes. When you play defense the way Amherst does, you will win a lot of games.
Amherst should win the league. I don't see any team that has an offense that can play against this defense. Colby, Bowdoin, Middlebury and Conn College are going to battle for the three and four slots in the league. Next Saturday's Colby-Bowdoin game is a big game that will impact the league standings.

amh63 · January 27, 2016, 09:25:35 PM

Amherst beats Williams in LeFrak by a dozen or more points tonight in a game that does not count in the conf standings. It was not a good shooting night overall for Amherst. Actually Williams had a better FG percentage, better three point shooting percentage and foul shooting percentage. Amherst did get two more rebounds. The difference was defense.....Amherst had 11 more steals and much fewer TOs and more assists. Senior Giddins was not dressed and sat on the bench in maybe her last Williams game. Hope her knee injury is mild. Amherst only played 7 players. A key FY front court player is out for the season, I believe. The Granby Ma. Native is on crutches and has missed a number of games to date. She had showed great promise in the games played.

Vandy74 · January 29, 2016, 07:09:33 AM

I upset my weekly Trivia team members on Wednesday by opting to attend Middlebury's game against Castleton. The school is just 29 miles south down route 30 and their loyal fans turned out in force.

Coming in at 12-4 a solid Castleton team made up almost entirely of VT ex high school players led most of the game. Middlebury, with only 7 players in the rotation against this caliber opponent was without the services of Sabrina Weeks. No idea as to the nature of her injury. Having been down by as many as 7 points the Panthers played to a tie ending the 3rd quarter and scored the first basket of the 4th to take one of their few leads of the game. Castleton answered almost immediately and dominated the rest of the way going on to win by a score of 59-52. Bryanna duPont led the victors with 19 points on 8-9 shooting and also pulled down a team leading 7 rebounds.

Catherine Harrison led Middlebury with 13 points and a career high 20 rebounds but Middlebury shot poorly as a team including 2-12 from behind the arc and never seemed capable of putting together any kind of a run. This season's team leading scorer Sarah Kaufman was held to 11 points with 7 coming from the stripe. Fatigue was clearly a factor in the final 10 minutes but Middlebury played erratically from the start never finding it's rhythm.

In fairness, Castleton did not play particularly well either but found a way to win. The team shot just 37% from the field, 26% on trey attempts and lost the battle of the boards to Middlebury 41-37 despite a significant size advantage.

Hopefully Sabrina Weeks will be able to return to action shortly with five NESCAC games remaining, several against the conference's best. Seven strong this young Panther squad has proven capable of playing with anyone and should be among the NESCAC's better teams the next few seasons regardless of how the remainder of this one plays out.