WBB: NESCAC

[Red1]

I don't know enough about coaching basketball to agree or disagree with Remsleep, but I was certainly surprised that Williams didn't make a change in strategy when they came out for the second half.  Especially given that the first half showed that the strategy didn't work. 

I did notice that Williams got a couple of easy layups in the middle of the second half.  I was sitting down at that end, and I can't say that it looked to me like they "looked" to go inside so much as they were not fully in control of the play and #25 (whose name I regretfully cannot remember) found herself with the ball and no one between her and the basket.  This was partially able to happen because of Bates' adjustment for the 2 outside shooters.  Bates does not rotate back to the weak side or their zone very well (and I'd guess Williams tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to exploit that) leaving shooters open.  In the second half Bates adjusted by not bringing the back side of the zone in as far to protect against the inside pass and post style play as it normally would if one of the 2 shooters was out there.  Williams, however, made no offensive adjustment in the second half and Bates' adjustment proved to be successful.  By not allowing the zone to collapse it did allow Williams to grab lose balls underneath, hence 25 getting those surprisingly easy layups.  It looked like Bates began to collapse the weak side and knock more balls away later in the second half when Williams proved to be rather cold from the outside.

Another thing that Whoarewe mentions that I did also notice was that Val was able to knock away quite a few balls.  This is because the fews times Williams did try to go in it was always with the bounce-pass.  This low type of pass is something Val can react to quickly and get a hand on.  As Bowdoin has shown time and again, the correct approach to getting inside against Val is to come in high (as in over her head).  The height disadvantage was so great under there that if they had lobbed it over Val she wouldn't have been able to get to it and that would have left O'Malley, Miller, or one of the other 6 or 7 six-footers with easy lay-ups.  Val never plays behind the defender because she's too small to stop them from posting up on her and she knows it, so she has to play in front and try to keep the ball from getting to them.  The bounce-passes were just what she needed.

I say this all the time, and I'll say it one more time, Bates needs to get more ball-fakes into their game.  Williams plays very tight defense and I really think that Bates could have had more offensive success by making ball-fakes and driving past defenders who didn't leave themselves enough space to react.  The same is true when playing Bowdoin.  Although the Polar Bears do leave themselves enough space, and are a phenominal defensive team, they do tend to fall for solid ball-fakes.  This was especially true of Pourevalis who graduated last year, and I feel that no team, especially Bates, really took enough advantage of it then, nor do they now.

Cheers,
Red1

[Red1]

Bates 70 Midd 65.  Nothing spectacular to note.  Just the score.

Cheers,
Red1

[nescac hoops]

remsleep,
a buddy of mine works up at bates and went to the bates/williams game and jokingly asked me "how did #21 get into williams? she made some plays that were really dumb that cost them the game." i have never heard great things about the williams coaching but some things players do you can't control as a coach. i would think that without kostakis and coffin, that williams should have been able to win without ANY coach. i guess not. tough weekend for the ephs. that hurts.

kudos to the bobcats - i don't expect them to beat bowdoin but they are really setting themselves up for a REALLY good year in '07-'08

[feces monkey]

Err...at the risk of annoying Simon and Feces.....I respectfully submit that the Williams program is not being coached at the highest possible level......

And I respectfully submit that, in lieu of recent events, remsleep may be correct.

The conference so far, in order:

Bowdoin: Top team in the conference/region and a lock for the postseason, but the impending game against Tufts obviously looms. While the Jumbos are the threat of the week, certainly the industrial school in Lewiston has made its presence known. Likely finish: 26-1.

Tufts: The Jumbos have certainly made their presence known, but their recent surge (5-1) has mirrored a six-game home streak. As impressive as the Bates and Williams victories were, this is the same team that lost to Wheaton (which lost to the Ephs by 25). I'll give the UConn alum her "propers" and assume she has the Pachyderms just where she wants them. Best case scenario has Tufts 18-8.

Bates:  You just know that Red, WAWB, Rufus and the rest of the Bobcat contingent are just waiting for the postseason because Bates is scary right now. The best non-AQ scenario for the Bobcats is 17-9, which is unlikely to be enough, but Murphy spooks the hell out of me right now, nevermind next year. Honestly, I don't want to talk about this team anymore.

Williams: I think I've figured out the Ephs. They are the team no one outside the NESCAC wants to see. All of the in-conference teams have them figured out, but those not used to the inside presence (Messiah '06, etc.) can't handle it. NESCAChoops' girls are going to make the tourney, and I bet they're actually gonna do pretty well. But in terms of (my) preseason expectations? Low. Finish: 21-6

Wesleyan: The Cardinals have had no right to earn an NCAA bid for the past two seasons, but somehow managed to massage a bid. Barring an AQ, the ride stops here. Best case scenario is 17-9

The Rest: Amherst-- needs Prozac. Can hammer Wesleyan and Bates, and then lose to Mnt. Holyoke and Piedmont (?). Middlebury -- should be a lot better, but at least they beat Piedmont (?). Trinity & Colby -- no excuses. Conn. College -- I'll be wearing my Camel t-shirt this weekend praying for the .500 record.

[Red1]

Unless someone takes out bowdoin in the nescac tournament for the first time ever the only possible class C team from our league is Williams (barring anymore bad losses). 

I don't know about the rest of Nescac, but the reason that Bates beat Williams wasn't because the bobcats were able to handle the Ephs inside game.  It was because Williams never used their inside game.  They didn't attempt to go inside more than a few times in the whole game.

Bates is finally figuring out how to play this game again.  If there's going to be a spoiler in the Nescac tournament this year, look for it to be the Bobcats.

Cheers,
Red1

[feces monkey]

Unless someone takes out bowdoin in the nescac tournament for the first time ever the only possible class C team from our league is Williams (barring anymore bad losses). 

I think if Tufts finishes 18-8 (which is feasible) they will get serious consideration. Wesleyan was sitting at 18-7 last year with a quarterfinal NESCAC loss and still got in.

The wild card will be how the other conferences in the region play out. I see two possible, if not likely, landmines for Pool C bids. It wouldn't suprise me if Salem State knocks off Fitchburg in the MASCAC and Maine Maritime lost to UMF (which they've already done twice). If this happens, it is conceivable both Williams and Brandeis could be left out.

[atn alum]

would be 8 regional losses for tufts, and that may be too much to overcome when the committee looks at things like regional win pct and quality-of-wins...I believe two of wesleyans losses last yr in regular season were out of region...

[feces monkey]

would be 8 regional losses for tufts, and that may be too much to overcome when the committee looks at things like regional win pct and quality-of-wins...I believe two of wesleyans losses last yr in regular season were out of region...

I forget about the in/out-of-region stuff, and I'll also admit to having a remedial grasp on the whole quality of win ratio. I was just eye-balling it. I guess I'd like to think a 7-1/8-0 team in the NESCAC would be a contender w/o an AQ.

[Pat Coleman]

When you only play one quarter of your games in conference the conference record doesn't carry the same weight. There's a lot more outside games you can screw up your record with.

[feces monkey]

When you only play one quarter of your games in conference the conference record doesn't carry the same weight. There's a lot more outside games you can screw up your record with.

To be fair, it's over a third of the games (9-of-24). However, I will side-step the whole double round-robin dilemma for fear of starting down a path that has already been beaten (to death).

Quick picks:

Bates over Colby by 15.
Bowdoin over Tufts by 3.
Wesleyan over Midd by 7.
Williams over Conn. College by 27.

Tufts over Colby by 21.
Williams over Wesleyan by 6.
Middlebury over Conn. College by 11.
Amherst over Trinity by 2. In overtime.
Bowdoin over Bates by 4.

If Bowdoin was on the road, I would have picked a split. I think the mostly likely loss would come to Bates.

This would make the conference quarters:

Trin at Bow
Midd at Tufts
Amherst at Bates
Wesleyan at Williams

[Pat Coleman]

When you only play one quarter of your games in conference the conference record doesn't carry the same weight. There's a lot more outside games you can screw up your record with.

To be fair, it's over a third of the games (9-of-24). However, I will side-step the whole double round-robin dilemma for fear of starting down a path that has already been beaten (to death).

Right. But compared to conferences where it's two-thirds, three-quarters, it's not as significant.

[Balder Eagle]

Bowdoin over Tufts by 3.

The three points are a home court advantage. 
I would take Tufts, in Medford, by 8

[pureshooter]

  would be surprised if bowdoin beats tufts by less than ten. tufts is ok, but other than a couple of their guards, they are slow,but big

[Balder Eagle]

  would be surprised if bowdoin beats tufts by less than ten. tufts is ok, but other than a couple of their guards, they are slow,but big

Your more than likely right, I forgot about the Morrell Gym factor! 

[speedy]

The Bowdoin-Tufts game was a rout:

Bowdoin 60 Tufts 41