WBB: NESCAC

[jumpshot]

Bowdoin women savior a sweet win over amHerst who struggle away from the friendly conditions in lefrak. Bowdoin fends off desperate fouling by ljs late in second half by making free throws and handling the ball well against pressure defense. NESCAC women's tournament should provide some good competition later this month ....

[7express]

Bowfin plays @ Tufts later in February, right?!

[polbear73]

Bowfin plays @ Tufts later in February, right?!

Saturday, 2/14 at Tufts, 3pm.

[Maine 1]

Very sound wind by Bowdoin over Amherst.  I was surprised that Bowdoin dominated inside early, as Brady totally dominated and could not be stopped in the first half.  Robertson on Amherst was totally ineffective on both ends of the floor.  Amherst offense consisted off hoisting up threes, even though if you take away the three that Peterson hit early, and one late three, they were about 1-20.  And many of those were wide open, uncontested.  Several times Amherst had a chance to come within 7 or 5 points, only to take a quick long three and miss.  Bowdoin, on the other hand, worked their offense for good shots consistently, and was able to hold the ten point lead through the second half. This is not a power house Amherst team.  They could get knocked off by Colby today, if Colby is hitting their threes. Bowdoin is playing very well right now, and their game against Tufts will decide the regular season and number one seed.  That game is at Tufts and I believe is the last game of the regular season.
As I have said on this board several times, teams that rely on the three for their offense will struggle in close games--you need to be able to get to the rim and get an easy two out of your offensive sets.   Past Amherst teams have been known for very quick ball movement, and the ability to get to the basket.  I don't see that in this team.

[amh63]

Maine1....good recap of the game.  Saw only a bit of the game and WAS surprised at the score just before the half.  Yes, the lady Jeffs seemed out of sorts when I returned to watch late in the game.  Could use the excuse of a long trip to Bowdoin and driving conditions...but rather think it was the play of the Polar Bears.  Am concerned about the condition/play of Meg Robertson...short time on the floor.
Saw the short use of the bench...and the short shots...rushed shots of good outside sHooters..unguarded shot. 
Looking to see if tHe team has any bounce and energy in the game with Colby today.  Hope so. Congrats to the fine play of the women of Bowdoin....and their Coach.

[polbear73]

Bowdoin beat Trinity, 63-47 in a game I thought closer than the score indicates. Trinity led for much of the first half until a beautiful behind the back assist by Sara Binkhorst gave the Bears the lead by 2 as the first half ended. Bowdoin controlled the second, but hats off to a game Trinity team that played well and inspired.

[magicman]

Another nice win by Bowdoin as they defeat Trinity by a 63-47 score. With a 19-2 overall record and unblemished in the NESCAC with a 7-0 conference slate, with wins over Williams and now Amherst, I would think the Polar Bears would receive a healthy jump up in the rankings.

I'm still trying to figure out why Tufts keep showing up ahead of Bowdoin in the D3hoops conference standings. Isn't 7-0 a better record than 6-0? I haven't seen any other D3hoops conference standings where a team with a lesser record is listed over a team with a better record. I know when I go to this site: http://www.nescac.com/sports/wbkb/index   Bowdoin is listed at the top of the standings. Maybe it has something to do with how high D3hoops ranks you.

My favorite women's player, Marle Curle, was 4 of 4 today from the line. She has now made 49 free throws in a row. Not sure what the women's NESCAC record is but hope she's close to it if she doesn't already have it. Overall she has made 54 of 55 for a 98.2 %. For at least another week, Marle will remain the top free throw shooter in all divisions of NCAA basketball.   

[amh63]

Nice bounce back game for Amherst against Colby today.  Only stats and slow info at that.  Feeling better with the play of Meg Robertson as she asserted herself more in the 2nd half.  Amherst's ability to make long runs was back.  The play of Ali Doswell was much better today.  Colby did cut a large second half lead down. 
Magicman....the rankings of CAC teams are often based on previous year's performances...trips to the Final Four, etc.  Do expect the Polar Bears to rise.  Expect Tufts, Bowdoin and Amherst to all finish with in the top 4 seeds and win a coveted home site first round game.  After that, I see a toss-up as to who will win the CAC title and an auto- bid to the post season.  Do expect a possibless 3-bid post season selection.

[7express]

Unless Tufts and or Bowdoin completely implode the final 3 games (like Tufts going 1-3 & Bowdoin 0-3, etc) looks like the Bowdoin/Tufts game on February 14 will be for the championship.  Since both teams have the tiebreaker over Amherst now, both teams are really 3 games up on Amherst with Tufts having 4 'CAC games left & Bowdoin with 3 conference games left.

[amh63]

7express...as I understand the "process"....the regular season  ends with the standings...including the tiebreakers result in a seeding of the top 8 teams.  The top 4 teams get a first round home game.  The first plays the 8th; the 2nd plays the 7th and so forth.  The highest remaining seed in the next round gets to host the conference tournament.  The winner of the tournament is the conference champs and gets the automatic NCAA bid.

[Maine 1]

Not sure why Colby seems to be the only school in the NESCAC that doesn't have their games on video, and the live stats are totally inconsistent.  I suspect that Amherst suffocated the Colby three point-shooters (looked like most of the points in the last 10 minutes came from free throws).  Amherst appeared to have a better shooting day, and did appear to go inside to Robertson, where they would have had a big advantage.
I agree that the Bowdoin -Tufts game will be for the top seed in the conference tournament.  I think Amherst and Williams will be the three-four in that order.  Conn College has the inside track for five, with Colby and Middlebury fighting for the six position, although if one of the bottom four want a chance to get to the semis, I don't see any of them winning at Bowdoin, Tufts, or Amherst.

[Maine 1]

Just looking at the latest D3 hoops top 25--Bowdoin ranked at 20, Amherst at 12.  Sorry, but I definitely would have ranked Bowdoin above Amherst.  They are a better team right now.  I know Bowdoin has two early season losses (including a loss to a Roger Williams team that, while not as good as last year, is a solid team, and a loss to UNE that is always tough), but lately they are playing very well, and have good wins over Williams and Amherst.  Bowdoin should definitely be ranked ahead of Amherst.

[7express]

Maine1, after voting in a couple posters polls for the last couple years, the voting process is actually harder then it seems on paper (and I'm only doing this for fun too).
If at all possible I try to take head-to-head records in terms of rankings team, but sometimes I can't do that.  if Amherst was top 8 on my ballot last week, and Bowdoin was unranked, it's kinda difficult to drop Amherst 18+ spots just because they lost the only head-to-head matchup of the season.  Like, for example in my D-1 posters poll I just submitted today I have Maryland ranked above Ohio State, even though they just got drilled by them, the reason being Maryland was #14 in my poll last week, and Ohio State was unranked at #28 (even though I only submit 25, I do a ballot of 30).  This week I have MD at #20 & Ohio state at 21, that way if MD loses this coming week and Ohio state doesn't, it's close enough I can bump Ohio State due to the win.

[magicman]

Went to the Free Throw Percentage Stat Page on the NCAA website Wednesday evening and discovered that the women from Bowdoin all went through a growing spurt in the last day. Marle Curle went from 4'0" to 5'8" overnight and is now a sophomore instead of a freshman. Likewise Sara Binkhorst went from 4'0" to 5'7" in that same 24 hour period and is now a senior instead of a junior. Shannon Brady (#53 in field goal percentage) really shot up there as she went from 4'0" to 6"0".  I'm moving to Maine because there must be something in the water up there and I've always wanted to be 6' 6".

Here's the link to the NCAA stats showing Ms. Curle still at the top of the heap:

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-women/d3/current/individual/108   

[amh63]

Magicman...Happy days are here again I see....with your crusade!
You know that it is still snowing somewhere in Maine!  Oh forgot...you live in Plattsburgh .
Me..do not need the height...just want to be as astute as you wrt to BB.