WBB: NESCAC

[sumfun]

Interesting theory.  Also hard to believe that the WBCA/ESPN Poll put Lake Forest at #25 and they were left out of the tournament.  I know D3 is much more rigid in the region thing so that can make a difference, but still seems a shame.  I still think Amherst will take the win over Tufts and take their chances in the draw.  So hard to say who will beat whom from different regions as as there is so few overlapping opponents.  The OOP and OOOP can only do so much.

[Pat Coleman]

Lake Forest shouldn't have been in the Top 25 -- I think we more fairly rendered them. They had an opponents' winning percentage of below .500 and did not face one regionally ranked team.

[senatorfrost]

 For the most part I think the D3 hoops poll is pretty good year in year out. No, I'm not trying to curry Pat's favor. Anyway the Tufts side has 3 of the top ten teams. The Amherst side has 7.
  This carries all the way through. The Amherst side has 10 of the first 16. The average placing of the Tufts side for all ranking in the top 25 is 14.8
For the Amherst side the average of those in the top 25 is 11.30. If I were guessing I would say that the power comes from the lower half. Two very tough conferences in that lower half are UAA and WIAC. Those teams are probably a little better than their ranking. The three of them are in there with only one top ten team to contend with. Kean is number 11 but how long has it been since they had a team in the final 4?
  Overall I think the WIAC and the UAA are likely the two toughest conferences in the country. If there is something rotten I don't believe it's a man thing. I think it's a ranking thing, trying to make sure you have the most weaksters on your plate as is possible. I say weaksters but you still have to beat some decent teams no matter how much you rig things. However, it's still easier when you rig.

[tothehole]

The Tufts Wheaton  match up will hinge on 3 positions. Will Wheaton front the bigs with their center forward combination and can their point cover the Tufts youngster.  In the Williams game the combination of de la Torre , Jackson, and Savageau shut them down. The D 1 girl spent more time on the floor and was very soft Ummah led Tufts with 13 points and 14 rebounds alot of that in the last mins when they were down big. Dominique de la Torre had 9 pts  11 boards battling both bigs getting them in foul trouble.  Taylor Shea a freshman sent Ummah to the bench after Shea got a rebound and Ummah crashed into her. The bigs didn't look agile that day. So if Wheaton pushes the ball they'll run the D1 girl off the court and run away with the game.
Amherst's approach against Tufts was more conventional and looked like they said we'll let the bigs score if they, can but no one else.
Tufts will have  tuff time(sorry) in the tourney but not against Wheaton. Against Albright Mount Saint Mary winner their run ends.
Amherst on the other hand has picked up their team defense as seen in the NESCAC run and will be a handful for Bridgewater State, sorry Bowdoin you'll wish you did decline the invite. Against Bridgewater State I think they'll loose close. Home court being the advantage. I hope I'm wrong but thats how I see it. Just an opinion

[daoustian]

All Conference teams were just announced:

http://www.nescac.com/sports/wbkb/2007-08/honors/allconference

[pureshooter]

 tufts got a scare tonight. wheaton had them on the ropes, but tufts hit some free throws at the end to close it out.
they will need to play better than that to go deeper, probably advance to next weekend. they should of dominated this game, but didn't. something missing with this team

[daoustian]

Congratulations to the Lady Jeffs for a historic win.  I was rooting earlier for WashU since I figured they'd be a slightly less competitive opponent than DePauw but then I decided to engage in horse trading to rationalize an early WashU loss and an Amherst win to equal more Director's Cup points to Amherst vs. WashU. 

DePauw will be a very challenging matchup. 

[feces monkey]

A hearty congratulations to Amherst and its players for advancing to the Sweet 16. They've had a great season and I wish them the best. Same with the Jumbos. I'd love to see both teams in the final eight, but it will certainly take some work.

Bowdoin's streak of seven-straight Sweet 16s comes to an end, but the Polar Bears gave it a good run. And it sounds like they actually had some shots down the stretch to win it, but there was no magic left. As someone noted before, they return quite a bit next year and can hopefully return to heights of the past.

Seemingly no one on this board cares for Pemper much, but I think she did one of her best coaching jobs this year. I hope Bowdoin doesn't lose her over the summer because an Ivy-type school would be stupid not to consider her.

[sumfun]

She did a beautiful job with those girls yesterday.  She pushed when called for, cheered, and applauded when appropriate.  I don't know the players well enough to know if she had the right combinations on the floor in any given situation, but I like her attitude and the way she handles the girls.  They do come back almost fully loaded, so I know we haven't heard the last from Bowdoin.  I certainly hope she stays as a strong NESCAC only improves the chances of one of our teams making a run in the tournament.  Jeffs pulled off a tough game, but you're right that both Tufts and Amherst have their work cut out for them.  At least Amherst doesn't have to play DePauw (defending D3 Champs) on their home court.  Have no idea how that worked out?

[sumfun]

How are the "host" sites determined?  I would have thought that DePauw would have hosted the portion of the bracket that Amherst is in.

[bbald eagle]

Congratulations to Tufts on its round of 16 win over the UMW Eagles.

And thanks for the webcast of the game.

[Balder Eagle]

Congrats to The Jumbos  on their win -- 

webcast was appreciated   

[feces monkey]

Eagles classy to the end. Good run for your ladies. Best of the luck in the future.

Have a great summer and stop photoshopping your fishing photos. Kidding. That's a great fish for a five weight. I've got a feeling my pond has a hog waiting for me this summer, but it will take a delicate touch (especially with my cable). Be well and maybe we can meet up in Greenville in the fall. I'll drop a worm off Kineo if they're biting...

[nescac1]

Williams is bringing in its backcourt of the future with two Boston Globe / Herald all-scholastic, Jill Greenberg at point and Laura Renfro at the 2.  Add that to the three front court players the Ephs brought in last year (Jackson, Shea, and Harris) and Williams should have a pretty solid nucleus for the next three seasons ...

[nescac1]

One other Eph guard recruit, nice article:

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/04/04/sports/000ham.txt