WBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

The Kentucky record is 129....of the top of my head which is shrinking.  To lazy to check.  Maybe that is why the Bonnies record got no press?  Not to diss WBB here ...of all places.......but cannot say what WBB was like back in the 60's.  Remember  about a decade before that the ladies did not play the game like the men....6 players and no crossing mid court.

[Maine 1]

Very interesting Bowdoin-Colby game today.  Colby is 7-0. and last two wins over Bates and what looks to be a decent St.Joes of Maine team a bit more impressive than first 5.  Team looks to have 3-4 legitimate three point shooters.  Very guard oriented team, spreads floor to get threes and drives.   Bowdoin is off to a strong start.  This will tell us where these two teams stand, but it looks like Colby may be gearing up for a run at one of the top four spots. 

[remsleep]

I doubt it

[nescacfan1]

Williams beat Wesleyan today 77-59. It was a balanced effort and, what do you know, they played an inside out game! That took the pressure off Cook (who had 11) :  Uwenaka had 17 points, McCall was hitting and had 11,  Litman got some nice buckets and Caveney was on fire and scored 18 before she went out with an ankle injury. The defense was better but they committed way too many fouls that kept the Cardinals in the game for a while. Overall an encouraging effort against a NESCAC opponent. I hope Caveney's injury is not serious; she is a key contributor.

[Maine 1]

Bowdoin beat Colby at Waterville 56-48.  Bowdoin pulled away in the second half, and had a 16 point lead with one minute to go. Colby scored two late threes.  So the 7-0 bubble is burst for Colby.  Appears that Bowdoin had more balance.  Colby looks to be living and dying with the three ball. Over 50% of their field goal attempts in the game were from three, as they were 6-28.  They have been taking close to 50% of their attempts from three, and against weaker opposition that does not defend, that plan works.  As Colby starts to play the tougher NESCAC teams, they will need to develop an inside game.  Bowdoin beat Colby inside and on the boards, and looks to be the top team in Maine again.  Based on what appears to be weaker teams at Conn and Trinity, and an up and down Williams team, I expect Colby to be much more competitive this year than the last two.  Bowdoin should contend for a top four spot again.

[d3wbbfan]

Maine1, why are you categorizing Conn College as a "weaker" NESCAC team? They were very solid last year. Gabelman was their only major player lost to graduation. They are 6-1 so far, with their only loss being an early, narrow loss at Western CT. An even game throughout, they lost by going just 1-10 as a team from 3, compared to 6 made 3's by WCSU. Any team can have a cold shooting night from distance. The Camels are also operating a bit on the fly, as they've discovered that their #1 best player is a FY: 6'0" Mairead Hynes. With four starters back, that surely wasn't their pre-season expectation. They're adjusting quickly, though, and have now inserted Hynes into their starting lineup. Conn College is far and away the strongest CT NESCAC team in '14-'15. As for Trinity and Wesleyan, it's a much different story. Both teams won't make the playoffs, and I think are each other's only chance for a conference victory. Wesleyan is the better of the two, by a nose, as I see it.

Ourtrun, you mentioned that your daughter was part of Williams' FF team in '12-'13. I'm guessing then that you must be Claire Beacher's mom or dad. Claire was the best Williams WBB player that I have ever seen. The Ephs' wouldn't have had anywhere near the level of NESCAC/NCAA success without Claire's immense contributions in the post. You should be very proud of her. I truly hope she is doing well, and is happy "out there in the real world".

Watching Tufts today on-line, it looked to me like Michela North was in street clothes, sitting on the end of the bench. She did not play today, in their easy home win over Fitchburg St. All Jumbos fans should hope that it is nothing serious. There are four players that Tufts needs to stay healthy all season, if they realistically expect to get back to the FF - and North is absolutely one of them.   

To me, all the credit to Coach Carla Berube, however. And heck, I'm no James Naismith. But she's made both of the two minor tweaks that I thought were screaming to be made last season, 100% in her own team's best interests: 1) Reducing her regular rotation from 10 to 8, and 2) Giving her most talented FYs *way* too few minutes of PT, in favor of playing much less talented, upperclassmen role players. She's simply stopped doing that this season. As a result, Berube was today able to slide her top FY, F Melissa Baptista, into North's starting spot, without Tufts missing a beat. And Baptista was up for the challenge, since she's been getting solid minutes all season, performing both consistently and at a high level. Melissa gave her coach more of that same high-level play of today: 23 minutes, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 0 personal fouls. No coach can ask for any better from a "freshie".

A final observation: it seems to me as if Colby (none) and Bates (I think I've seen a few games offered) are the only '14-'15 WBB programs in the NESCAC to not reliably stream all of their home games on-line. All I know is that if I am Coaches Veileaux or Murphy, and I'm trying to bring my programs back to their recent WBB glory, the last thing I would want to do is to give either talented recruits, or just as importantly, the *parents* of these recruits (who are often footing the bill, and always LOVE having the option to watch their daughter's games online or on demand, trust me), a good reason to *not* have my daughter go to play hoops for Colby or Bates. Why give a kid a reason to say no to attending your school, when it can be easily remedied? Sometimes it's the little things can make a difference to a HS senior. Has any of this occurred to anyone up there?   

In my extensive experience, I can confidently state that easily over 75% of *all* DIII WBB games, from coast to coast, currently offer free live streaming. (Just check the daily D3 WBB schedule page.) Locally in ME, take a quick look at Bowdoin, UNE and Southern Maine. All of these currently "upper echelon" WBB programs schools provide free video, to anyone interested in watching their games. In 2014-15, streaming video of college athletics is not a "luxury item". It's a basic "perk", already offered by the vast majority of schools. And since DIII schools obviously can't offer athletic aid to a recruit, it's nice to at least be able to say "your parents can watch all your home games from wherever - as can you, after you've graduated!" The technology has become both so inexpensive and easy to set up these days, that even many HS and youth leagues, in countless sports, are making it available. All I know is that if I were Coach Veilleux, I'd do an hour's worth of research on this, and then be inside my AD's office first thing Monday morning. Because any college AD who hasn't yet addressed/exploited the topic of providing streaming video of games is doing his school, his coaches and all of his athletes a grave disservice.

[Maine 1]

My reference to Conn College being weaker was in comparison to last year.  They lost there best player, and one of the better players in the conference.  Also, we always have to be very careful with the early season records.  For example, I was skeptical of Colby's 4-0 start, as it was pretty much a cupcake schedule of weak schools.  However, solid showings against Bates and St Joes, and a respectable game against Bowdoin, leads me to believe they will be competitive this year--along with Conn College and others.

Agree 100% on the video with Colby--they need to get with the program. 

[Ourtrun]

I probably shouldn't have mentioned that my daughter was a member of the F4 Williams team (wouldn't want to damper the candor of the board members). That said Clair was definitely a very talented player but that wasn't her greatest strength. Her unselfish approach to the game allowed her teammates shine, a true team player. Too often coaches and causal spectators look for that one player as the "superstar" to carry the team. The reality is the it's extremely tough and rare for one player to carry an entire team to the promised land. Hoop is and will always be a team game with each player understanding their role and contribution team. That's probably why I admire Renner of Amherst. She has embraced her role as the distributor and is getting better at recognizing mismatches with each game.  My high school coach was a intense mentor and used to say, "I'd rather play a team with one superstar  then a team with five team players".

Enough of that, teams battling  for the third or fourth spot in the NESCAC. A lot of discussion has been around Conn College, Bowdoin, and Colby. I would like to add Middlebury to mix. They had a great win against a more athletic Skidmore team. Their stats aren't impressive but I like their help defense (defensive rotations) and are well coached.

[gordonmann]

Outrun:

Good to have you aboard. I enjoyed interviewing Clair a couple years ago. Hope she's doing well.

[Ourtrun]

Just to be clear Clair is not my daughter.

[nescacfan1]

Polls don't mean as much as they will later on (or that much at all, till conference play begins), but three NESCAC teams are ranked in the top 10 in the WBCA poll and 3 in the top 11 in Diii hoops. The UAA has 2, Wash U and NYU. I consider NYU a semi-NESCAC team since Cassie Loftus, their assistant coach, used to be at Williams, so that makes 3.5  

[amh63]

Amherst wins over RIC tonight in LeFrak...74-35..close enough.  Believe everyone dressed got into the game for Amherst.  RIC is undersized and has a short bench.  Their first year HBC has a big job rebuilding the program.  Believe RIC beat ECSU recently.

[d3wbbfan]

According to the Eastern University (St. Davids, PA) website (and the Ephs' own site has just now confirmed-game was in P.R.-no Live Stats/Box Score available yet), the Eagles (8-3) have upset Williams (9-1), 51-40. Game tweets from Eastern indicates it was a tie game at the half, but then Eastern grabbed and maintained their second-half lead. The Ephs finish up in San Juan Sunday, vs. Lynchburg. These "resort" DIII holiday tourney results are typically hard to obtain quickly, so I just thought I'd pass it along.

[gordonmann]

That's a really big win for Eastern, which had been pretty non-descript before Nate Davis took over as coach. Meghan Nowak is a really good forward who was national rookie of the year for us three years ago.

[nescacfan1]

Eastern played VERY well and had a good game plan, but it was one of those games for Williams. The Ephs couldn't put the basketball in the Atlantic ocean in the second half. They went 1-14 on 3 point shots , they missed mid range shots, they missed layups--they shot 25% for the Game and the first half was better than 25%. Most of the shots were good looks. Williams could have won, but just couldn't execute. Meanwhile Eastern made 3 pointers and free throws and stayed mentally strong in the second half and deserved to win.
Williams washed the bad game taste out of their mouths the next day with a win over a tough and physical Lynchburg team. They found a new starter perhaps in Fechtelkotter who had 13 rebounds and played tough D. They still had too many turnovers.