WBB: NESCAC

[pureshooter]

amh63,
I did as well. the announcers on the vid talked about that home court call, but praised the Muhlenberg coach for not arguing, but settling  his kids down. Unreal call!!
I saw Bowdoin twice this year, looked very beatable + overrated, but they can defend.

[Laserty]

remsleep, you did it again! Good predictions. Unfortunately you dont see a good team in Amherst, and thats dissapointing. They might have the best deffense in the nation, and are finally peaking at the right point. Amherst is hosting, just btw.

[amh63]

Amherst was selected to host a sectional site!  Guess the Bowdoin lost may have impacted the selection.  Yet, Amherst is the highest ranked team in the "pod" and has the experience of hosting sectionals for the MBB side.  Hope it improves Amherst's chances to get to the Final 4.  If the first year players continue to improve....i.e. decision making, hustle and shooting as they have over the last half of the month, I believe their chances are good.

[sumfun]

Totally different team this weekend in Amherst than last weekend in Bowdoin. I agree that if the first year's contine to gel, they are deep and hard to stop.

[Pat Coleman]

The stripers did not even check with the replay video that was available. 

They're only allowed to check clock, whether a shot was off in time and whether it was a two- or three-point shot.

[tothehole]

Prediction: the officials will once again hand the NESCAC title to Bowdoin.

According to the luminaries on this board, since 2001 we've all suffered through the following:

Record of the Bowdoin women's team when the officials have blatantly handed the Polar Bears the game: 224-0

Record of the Bowdoin women's team when there has been fair officiating: 0-35

Frosty's slow-twitch intellectual synapses actually make me pine for the days when all we had to worry about was the Mary Washington crew conjuring up striped phantoms on this board. I suppose with a whack-job liberal in the White House we were due for a Pioneer Valley nutter to finally feel adequate.

224-1 dooh

[remsleep]

remsleep, you did it again! Good predictions. Unfortunately you dont see a good team in Amherst, and thats dissapointing. They might have the best deffense in the nation, and are finally peaking at the right point. Amherst is hosting, just btw.

Right you are Laserty, I have a noticeable propensity for mis-forecasting (is this a word?) outcomes.  I really thought that USM was going to dig deep in the Amherst bracket, and I felt that Amherst thought admittedly very strong was a little too young and not good enough to make enough offensive plays to get through.  Wrong again. 

While I'm doing the mea culpa thing let's not forget that I also predicted that it would probably be Bowdoin to climb to the Elite Eight......I had seen the Lady Mules play earlier this season and knew that they were pretty good.  In the case of the Bowdoin-Muhlenberg game ( which I did not see), I have to believe that the fact that Noucas was only able to play for 26 minutes hurt them mightily.  Your thoughts?   I spent the weekend on the MIT bandwagon over on the mens' side......a remarkable story there that ended too early.

[Laserty]

Hmm... I've seen Amherst get streaky, and I think they are getting hot now. Furthermore, I think whoever wins the NYU/AMH game goes to the final 4. Just my thought. Both teams can win, but NYU is just a one person team. I think Amh can take her off her game.

[amh63]

To remind everyone, there will be video coverage of the Amherst hosted sectionals.  It now seems that the NCAA will provide announcers which should be an improvement over the naive, inexperience Amherst announcers on the infant Jeffcast.  It seems that when it rains, it pours.  I will not complain when technology enables me to follow D3 hoops on the web.  Still not as good as being at the games, etc.
I have been a slow convert from men's BB, div 1 to div.3 and a slower convert from div.1 women to div. 3 women.  It really is based on the quality of the game, and effort of the players and yes, the officials.  I actually enjoy women's hockey over men's hockey because it is a cleaner,  shows off the skill of the players more and allows more of an finesse game.   All well, for those people that follow women's Div3 BB, I would like to hear your opinions about the level of play in the conference over the past decade.  Are the players more skillful, players playing at a higher level now then in the past. etc.?

[Pat Coleman]

Yes, and the NCAA contracts out with us to provide announcers for these games, so you're getting two of our New England-area broadcasters: Mark Simon and Scott Sudikoff.

[sumfun]

Amh63...I too am looking forward to "real" announcers.  They may even talk to the coaches ahead of time and get some of the scoop about the team instead of just guessing what is going on with either team.

I too am a D1 women's and men's fan, but the more and more I watch of D3, it's really growing on me as these guys/girls can play.  Plus they are the true student athletes as they take a full schedule of classes, while working just as hard to better their game and their team.  The reffing can be suspect in any and all divisions.  All it takes is one of the three refs to decide he/she will take control of the game and you have way to many ticky-tack fouls called. 

Can't wait for this weekend to see who emerges!!!

[senatorfrost]

  Has anyone seen Brandeis or NYU who has also seen Amherst? On paper Brandeis looks really good. I threw out the game v Bowdoin figuring something was wrong with Bowdoin as Brandeis couldn't be THAT much better. Except for Regis they had an easy time in New England and they beat Tufts at Tufts.
   NYU beat Brandeis twice and it seemed like it was almost no problem. On paper NYU looks best of all. I also thought So. Maine would get by Emmanuel fairly easily.

[Laserty]

Amherst brought it tonight. This finally proved their worthiness. Can't wait for another good match up tomorrow with Brandeis and Amherst. I like Amherst's chances.

[pureshooter]

  Has anyone seen Brandeis or NYU who has also seen Amherst? On paper Brandeis looks really good. I threw out the game v Bowdoin figuring something was wrong with Bowdoin as Brandeis couldn't be THAT much better. Except for Regis they had an easy time in New England and they beat Tufts at Tufts.
   NYU beat Brandeis twice and it seemed like it was almost no problem. On paper NYU looks best of all. I also thought So. Maine would get by Emmanuel fairly easily.

Amherst is the real deal. It will be tough vs. Brandeis. The Judges are pretty solid, excluding the Regis game. they are better than both Bowdoin and Tufts though. I think Bowdoin was not nearly as good as their record. Surprised Tufts went out in the 2nd round, close game.

[sumfun]

Let's give Amherst their due.   Not many expected them to get by NYU.  Defensively they shut down NYU's all-american and fustrated the rest of the team.  Also give Gromacki his due.  What a game plan.  He targeted their weakness and took advantage of them with a spectacular game plan.