MBB: NESCAC

Started by cameltime, April 27, 2005, 02:38:16 PM

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nescac1

A nice point guard recruit for Bowdoin, adding to the two young point guards already on the roster: 

Matte Bound for Bowdoin: K.J. Matte's long-term goal was always to play college basketball, no matter what level. But Bowdoin College's combination of academic and athletic programs just made the school too good to pass up for the Lebanon High senior.

"I really think it's a good fit," Matte said in a phone interview on Monday. "It's not a very big school, but it's a prestigious school. People who go there really seem to like it."

Matte, still with a cast on his broken right foot following a preseason injury, said the decision came down to Bowdoin and Connecticut's Trinity College, though the Lebanon senior said he made his choice in the fall and was awaiting his acceptance before making it finalized. Along with the academic standing the Maine school carries, Matte is encouraged by the young team that Bowdoin head coach Tim Gilbride has assembled and is excited to make an impact as quickly as he can.

"There have been a decent amount of ideas thrown at me about how I could be useful to the program," he said.

Matte has yet to see the court this season but has developed into Lebanon's most prolific scorer in recent memory. Last season, he led the Raiders — who reached the D-II finals — with 370 points and an average 14.8 points per game. Matte said he's proud of the kind of player that Lebanon basketball has helped him develop into.

That pride makes his current injury that much more frustrating.

"I'd like to be remembered with a positive legacy," Matte said. "I think we've definitely been able to do some good things. We've had the opportunity to really make progress as a basketball program. Hopefully we can bring home a championship this year. It's definitely a possibility."

Matte, who plans to study political science and government, is scheduled to have another X-ray on his foot on Sunday, the results of which will help determine if he can return to the court this season.

P'bearfan

QuoteA nice point guard recruit for Bowdoin, adding to the two young point guards already on the roster: 

Matte Bound for Bowdoin: K.J. Matte's long-term goal was always to play college basketball, no matter what level. But Bowdoin College's combination of academic and athletic programs just made the school too good to pass up for the Lebanon High senior.

"I really think it's a good fit," Matte said in a phone interview on Monday. "It's not a very big school, but it's a prestigious school. People who go there really seem to like it."

Matte, still with a cast on his broken right foot following a preseason injury, said the decision came down to Bowdoin and Connecticut's Trinity College, though the Lebanon senior said he made his choice in the fall and was awaiting his acceptance before making it finalized. Along with the academic standing the Maine school carries, Matte is encouraged by the young team that Bowdoin head coach Tim Gilbride has assembled and is excited to make an impact as quickly as he can.

"There have been a decent amount of ideas thrown at me about how I could be useful to the program," he said.

Matte has yet to see the court this season but has developed into Lebanon's most prolific scorer in recent memory. Last season, he led the Raiders — who reached the D-II finals — with 370 points and an average 14.8 points per game. Matte said he's proud of the kind of player that Lebanon basketball has helped him develop into.

That pride makes his current injury that much more frustrating.

"I'd like to be remembered with a positive legacy," Matte said. "I think we've definitely been able to do some good things. We've had the opportunity to really make progress as a basketball program. Hopefully we can bring home a championship this year. It's definitely a possibility."

Matte, who plans to study political science and government, is scheduled to have another X-ray on his foot on Sunday, the results of which will help determine if he can return to the court this season.

Great news for the Polar Bears!  nescac 1 - thanks for posting.  +k to you.

I have also heard that Bowdoin will be bringing in a 6' 11" player next year.  No details however.

GoUBears!!

nescac1

If the 6'11 dude is anything akin to John Swords, Bowdoin will be in very good shape next year and even better shape the following year.  Bowdoin has a nice young core that just needs some time to develop together.  O'Neil, Simonds and Reynolds have a bright future up front -- in two more years, they could be an elite frontcourt, especially because O'Neil seems like a guy with a lot of unrealized potential. 

PolarBear16

On the other hand, John Swords took until his junior year to develop into a real impact player. It's likely that whomever this other tall player Bowdoin is bringing in is, he will be another project that might not help the team until after Simonds and the current sophomore class has graduated.

toad22

Quote from: PolarBear16 on January 06, 2017, 11:41:34 AM
On the other hand, John Swords took until his junior year to develop into a real impact player. It's likely that whomever this other tall player Bowdoin is bringing in is, he will be another project that might not help the team until after Simonds and the current sophomore class has graduated.

Big guys usually take longer to develop, at least at our level. It is often worth the wait!

quicksilver

The 6-11 Bowdoin recruit is Andrew Ward out of Pope John XXIII HS in New Jersey. He is very much a project as he is rail thin and has not developed much of an offensive game. He does play for an elite HS basketball program and in a league where many players end up in D1.

PeterEscobar

Quote from: quicksilver on January 06, 2017, 02:21:34 PM
The 6-11 Bowdoin recruit is Andrew Ward out of Pope John XXIII HS in New Jersey. He is very much a project as he is rail thin and has not developed much of an offensive game. He does play for an elite HS basketball program and in a league where many players end up in D1.
Believe the was a much more heralded volleyball recruit. May be having my skinny Jersey kids mixed up, tho.

quicksilver

Quote from: PeterEscobar on January 06, 2017, 02:27:09 PM
Quote from: quicksilver on January 06, 2017, 02:21:34 PM
The 6-11 Bowdoin recruit is Andrew Ward out of Pope John XXIII HS in New Jersey. He is very much a project as he is rail thin and has not developed much of an offensive game. He does play for an elite HS basketball program and in a league where many players end up in D1.
Believe the was a much more heralded volleyball recruit. May be having my skinny Jersey kids mixed up, tho.

It is the same kid -- Andrew Ward plays both volleyball and basketball for Pope John XXIII. .

gordonmann

NESCAC play begins tonight! I'm excited, but when did Pine Manor join the conference?

nescac1

Amherst 33, Williams 26 at the half.  Not one of Williams' better halves this season, by a long shot.  The Ephs for the most part played pretty good defense, except for losing McCarthy, Racy, and Riopel a few times in transition.   Eric Conklin had some excellent offensive plays for Amherst, he is a very tough player to stop once he gets the ball close to the rim.  Amherst shot the ball pretty well from three, led by a couple of triples from Nabatoff.  Dawson was very very quiet. 

The Ephs' biggest problem has been decision-making.  Yes, the Ephs' three point shooting woes are continuing, no one besides Teal is remotely in any sort of rhythm for three, and the Ephs also missed a few bunnies inside (although so did Amherst).  But the Ephs had WAY too many times where guys took the ball into one on two or one on three situations early in the shot clock, trying to play hero ball.  App looked visibly frustrated on several of those occasions.  Kyle Scadlock, Dan Aronowitz, and Cole Teal were almost the entire offense for the Ephs -- those three guys need a lot more help from the rest of the team.  Aronwitz needed a lot of shots for his points -- McCarthy's defense has been excellent as usual. 

The Ephs did have two huge highlight-reel plays -- a spectacular block of Dawson by Casey, and a nasty alley-oop flush by Scadlock.  But they couldn't really build any momentum due to all the offensive miscues.  Clearly they want this game badly but just need to calm down a tiny bit and play their game if they want to get back into it. 

I don't think either team shot a free throw in the first half, which is pretty amazing.  Refs are letting em play!

jumpshot

EPHs simply must reduce unforced turnovers, improve their rebounding, and get better on individual and team defense (including getting back) in order to get to the next plateau, whether it is this year or the next. Prior successful EPH teams in recent decades were considered good passing and ball handling teams. Also did not depend so heavily on elegant offense (although it helped that in some years EPH teams could simply outscore opponents who had not yet figured out an innovative offensive system).

nescac1

Very impressive second half for Amherst, who holds on for an eight point win.  Williams just couldn't build any momentum at all, as the lead pretty much stayed a consistent 5-10 points nearly the entire half.  Williams played much better in the second half but Amherst hit clutch 3's whenever the Ephs started to threaten.  The back-breaker was a very deep late-in-the-shot-clock 3 from Reid Berman, which ordinarily is a win for the defense.  When Nabatoff and Berman are hitting shots like they were tonight, Amherst is very very tough to guard.  I thought the Ephs played pretty good defense, certainly well enough to win, but Amherst just made its jumpers.

On the other end, a combination of excellent Amherst defense and less-than-stellar Williams offense was the difference.  Although Aronowitz got his 21, he was hounded by McCarthy (and others) on every single shot, shooting an uncharacteristic 8-21.  One time he was hounded particularly hard, but no foul call, leading to a T on App -- understand why App was upset on the play, but the T didn't help matters. 

Cole Teal was clearly the MVP for Williams, doing a very good job on Jayde Dawson defensively and playing tremendous offense, scoring 26 points including 6 triples, and adding five rebounds.  A really awesome game for Teal. 

Where the Ephs really need more production in a game like this is out of Kyle Scadlock and James Heskett.  Both are only sophomores, but both have been playing tremendous hoops the last few weeks.  Tonight, they only scored 8 points combined, on only 8 combined shot attempts.  That's just not nearly enough involvement in the offense from two of the Ephs' top four guys.  Amherst had tremendous balance but I'd say McCarthy was the MVP because of his stellar defense on Aronowitz and timely offensive plays.  Really, though, Amherst had key plays from a lot of different guys, with Berman, Dawson, Nabatoff, Conklin, and Riopel all making huge plays.  I'm glad that most of those guys are seniors, but the Ephs (outside of Teal) just didn't play their A game tonight and they needed to vs. Amherst. 

jumpshot

The plague earns a win over the EPHs with balanced scoring and better shooting by stronger players. Not complicated ....

One constructive suggestion --- #21 for Williams ought to play with his arms bent at the elbow rather than arms hanging all the way down at his sides in order to allow his hands to catch the ball on rebounds and passes much quicker. Check out tonight's video and all previous ones ....

Disappointed that a Williams coach hurts the team by getting a technical foul ....

amh63

#22948
Gordonmann....good question wrt Pine Manor, Trinity's opponent in an otherwise all CAC matchup.  Better question here, imo, is when did Pine Manor go coed?   In my time, it was a junior college for women, I recall.   In your time, Gordonmann, was it a 4-year coed school?
Several comments on the games tonight.
First, nothing more to say after the Ephs fans post here.  At least, the game was the only game that did not have a double digit difference :).  Good crowd in Chandler.  Any read by those there on the Amherst crowd?
Most impressive game based on score difference...the Tufts win over Bowdoin in Maine. 
At least Amherst showed it can win an away game against a strong good opponent.
Middlebury seemed to continue Wesleyan's away game woes.  Thanks for setting up Amherst...Amherst's next game is in Middletown!...in the conference matchup.

At halftime, went over to the Amherst WBB game in LeFrak.  Even the announcer was surprised at the showing by the EpHs play.  In the last few minutes of the 2nd period it was Amherst 48 to 16 over the Lady Ephs.  Amherst had five reserve players on the floor at the time and the star Williams guard was sitting on the bench.  The half ended 50-19.  Amherst fans..students started to leave...going to the hockey game?

maineman

Does anyone know if Baines was on the bench tonight in Midd's game against Wesleyan?