MBB: NESCAC

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

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middhoops

Midd overcomes a better than expected Bridgewater St. 
Matt Folger with a stat line of 15 pts/17 boards/5 blocks.
Sobel scores 21 in 17 minutes and made it look easy.  Max Bosco also 21.
Defense left a whole lot to be desired but tomorrow is an opportunity to make necessary adjustments.
Frankly, we were so damn happy to be at a college basketball game again (having waited patiently for 7-8 months) that it just felt so good to be back in that atmosphere.
It's hoops season.  All is well with the world.

Brownee

Sobel just have to say that watching a "pure" big is joyful!
Folger his versatility means you can expect double/double's
Bosco no frill just gets the job done
Ferrell did not get the ball anywhere near enough but the jack rabbitt is fun to watch
Top it off with Eastman an all round b-ball player
This is going to be a season to remember


Old Guy

Midd 85 - Bridgewater State 81
Jeff Brown didn't get  the memo: in the first game of the season, in the opening round robin/tourney at home, you schedule an easy win. Bridgewater State was not that: they're very fast and resourceful and can shoot the three. They'll win games. Midd was a bit ragged, with only a couple weeks of practice, understandable. I said at the half to a friend, "we're not shooting the ball very well"; he said "we've got 46 points!" But they had 43. 17 turnovers for the game; 8-26 from three.

Max Bosco gets the first star for the game (le premier etoile, as Russ Reilly used to say). The Panthers were ahead for most of the game, sometimes by as many as 10 points, but Bridgewater came roaring back in the final five minutes and went ahead for a time. Bosco hit a floater, a three, and a bunch of free throws to win it. Alex Sobel gets the second etoile for his 21 points in 17 minutes (10-13), on a variety of soft bank shots, right and left-handed, near the hoop.

We all got a look at Tommy Eastman in limited playing time (17 minutes): 6'4" big and strong. He got his feet wet, hitting on three shots. Midd ran a play for him in the second half on the low block: he spun went to the hoop for a reverse lay-in; had a nice base-line drive, and hit a three. Impressive.

And we get another one today: we play Wentworth (3-0) who beat SUNY-Canton last night. Happy new year!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           



maineman

Quote from: Old Guy on November 16, 2019, 07:58:32 AM
Midd 85 - Bridgewater State 81
Jeff Brown didn't get  the memo: in the first game of the season, in the opening round robin/tourney at home, you schedule an easy win. Bridgewater State was not that: they're very fast and resourceful and can shoot the three. They'll win games. Midd was a bit ragged, with only a couple weeks of practice, understandable. I said at the half to a friend, "we're not shooting the ball very well"; he said "we've got 46 points!" But they had 43. 17 turnovers for the game; 8-26 from three.

Max Bosco gets the first star for the game (le premier etoile, as Russ Reilly used to say). The Panthers were ahead for most of the game, sometimes by as many as 10 points, but Bridgewater came roaring back in the final five minutes and went ahead for a time. Bosco hit a floater, a three, and a bunch of free throws to win it. Alex Sobel gets the second etoile for his 21 points in 17 minutes (10-13), on a variety of soft bank shots, right and left-handed, near the hoop.

We all got a look at Tommy Eastman in limited playing time (17 minutes): 6'4" big and strong. He got his feet wet, hitting on three shots. Midd ran a play for him in the second half on the low block: he spun went to the hoop for a reverse lay-in; had a nice base-line drive, and hit a three. Impressive.

And we get another one today: we play Wentworth (3-0) who beat SUNY-Canton last night. Happy new year!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
Good foul shooting made a big difference.  Without it, they would have fell to Bridgewater.  They'll need to be 80% from the charity stripe to win the close ones this year.

amh63

Ah! Basketball season has started in the Nescac....except for Amherst.  Been watching some favorite D1 teams....and catching some d3 games, like Springfield and MIT.
Reading the write ups on the Williams and Midd games brought up some memories.
Last season, Amherst lost in the post season to smaller teams that had small quick guards that could shoot the lights out...Nichols' stars comes to mind.  Size helps but talent and quickness is better,IMO.  In the MIT game, the engineers had tall players but played catch up to Mass-Boston smaller quicker guards.  MIT, got rebounds and blocks....but Mass-Boston got steals, layups,etc.
Seems that the Panthers and EpHs both need to improve on defense.  Defense is hard work and requires teamwork,imho.
Expect Williams and Midd to be in the run for the CAC title.  Enough couch potato comments.

P'bearfan

Bowdoin gets off to a nice start last night defeating Framingham St 79-70.  A few observations based on watching the first half:

-This didn't look like the typical first game of the year.  Bowdoin looked sharp overall - especially the first unit

-Bowdoin started a Sophomore, Taiga Kajitomi and a FY, Xander Werkman.  They also got significant minutes from another FY, Jack Shea

-The defense was impressive.  Bowdoin came out in a man-to-man and the players were switching consistently and there was lots of help defense.  Later in the half Bowdoin switched to a 2-3 zone and again they looked good.  Second unit was not quite as crisp but this was very encouraging to see in the first game.

-The offense was quite fluid and there was great ball movement.  Players were looking for the extra pass to find the guy with the best shot. 

All in all a good start and hopefully the Polar Bears can continue their good play this afternoon when they take on host Roger Williams.

GoUBears!!

nescac1

#26901
Williams was worlds better in just one night, and the team clearly has a lot of promise.  One thing for sure -- this team will be fun to watch.  The team is incredibly deep, with guys deep on the bench who can play, and they play a fast, entertaining game of basketball.  A lot of really gritty hustle guys, moreso than any team in recent memory.  The Ephs still struggled to shoot from 3 and the line (and the Eph distance shooting specialists, Spivy, Karren and Stoddard, were collectively way off -- when they hopefully get going, it will add an entirely new dimension), but otherwise, played fantastic ball.  The game was capped off by a spectacular, monstrous, rim-rattling slam by the Ephs' FOURTH string center, frosh David Elien, off a beautiful feed from Ryan Moon.  Moon is so much better this year.  Elien is unbelievably raw, but the Ephs are lucky that they can use this year to develop him and let him grow as a player.   He could be special as an upperclassman. 

Impressive job posting highlights so fast, Williams.  But please, next time, fewer free throw clips and maybe include the monster dunk please :)

https://youtu.be/jJxiUcygYjk

Karp and Babek were both great today, but this game will go down, clearly, as the day Cole Prowitt-Smith announced his presence in D3.  The only comparison I can think of among former Ephs is James Wang, in terms of the total package -- Cole nailed a 28-foot three, without hesitation.  He hit two acrobatic aerial layups in traffic.  A mid-range stop and pop.  A steal and a dunk in transition.  And he was on fire from deep.  He is going to be a special player, and the stat line didn't lie ... 22 points in 19 minutes, 9-10 overall, 4-5 from 3.  The entire Eph frosh class is very impressive. 

This team still has a ways to go.  But I'm amazed how good they look already for such a young team, playing such a big rotation of guys.  Will be curious to see how they fare against much tougher competition later this week.  They will need to shoot it a bit better, because they won't be able to dominate athletically like they did this weekend. 

Colby Hoops

Anyone see a video link for the Colby-Ramapo game? Seems like it's not being shown, which is pretty disappointing.

JEFFFAN


Jeffs looked great ... oh, wait, they haven't played yet!

nescac1

Tufts putting up over 100 in its first outing, vs a solid Emerson team, is ... eye-opening.  The Jumbos are going to be tough to stop this year ... a lot of guys who can finish plays. 

middhoops

Middlebury was given a hard fought game by a very well coached Wentworth team.  Former Jeff Brown assistant Arlen Galloway's guys put physical pressure on Midd's guards, causing disruption. 
Sobel didn't have the same timing from yesterday (credit Wentworth)  but still contributed to a win.
Matt Folger stuffed the stat sheet, again.  Going 4-5 from distance, he's now 6-8 on the season.  Folger scored 19 to go with 12 boards and a couple of blocks.  If there is a defensive force better than Folger right now, please send video.
Folger also scored his 1,000th point in the game.
Junior guard Will Ingram, normally a shut down defensive specialist came into the game with Midd behind by four midway through the 2nd half.  His energy, hustle and creativity turned the game around as the Panthers were up double figures by the time he exited the court.  Ingram is a great example of key guys who don't get many minutes on a regular basis but who can come in and have a huge impact on a game.  All Midd fans are happy for Ingram tonight.

Middlebury travels to Keene St. on Tuesday.  The Owls are wicked tough in their gym.  They have fantastic student support.  Ty Nichols is no longer there to torture Midd but James Anozie, who was a wrecking ball in VT last season, is still a junior.  A game worth watching for sure.

Colby Hoops

Meanwhile, the live stats in the Colby game are a mess. I think they have Ramapo and Colby backwards based on the stats and the play by play. Even though some Colby players are also listed under Ramapo. Very confusing and frustrating, but looks to be a close game coming down the stretch (which I think Colby has been leading by 2-10 pts for most of the game).

Brownee

Midd vs. Wentworth
Well it wasn't picture perfect, but for the second game of the season it is worth noting the Panthers have all five starters in double digits. The game against Bridgwater yesterday ended with four of the teams top players in double digits. Good news for all the Midd fans this team has scoring depth!
Folger once again put up numbers that win games, yesterday he pulled down 17 rebounds tonight another 12 on top of 19 points. The coaching from Wentworth derserves a nod, they clogged up the Midd guards (not easy to do) and pulled the bigs up into the top of arc. The Midd rhythm was off, but nods to Will Ingram who came off the bench and put so much defensive pressure on Wentworth that it changed the dynamics on the floor. This Midd team is going to be so much fun to watch, they are deep in offense and for the first time since I have been watching Midd Hoops they need to work on D. Yeap hard to believe but their D is not to the Jeff Brown standard, at least not yet!

Old Guy

Quote from: nescac1 on November 15, 2019, 07:45:32 PM
The new look Ephs, after a very rocky start (down 22-13 12 minutes into the game, and looked basically terrible to start) recover to cruise to a  70-51 win.  The Ephs sure missed Heskett and  Casey from outside and the line, as they could not throw the ball in the ocean tonight (4-26 from 3, 10-24 from the line), but hopefully much of that is just first game jitters.  Some guys who can shoot (especially Spencer Spivy) were just way, way off.  The good news is that this Eph team is gonna be scrappy as heck on defense, a very feisty, aggressive bunch, and they did great scoring off turnovers in transition.

Karp, as expected, is the first option, as he rallied (after a rocky start himself) for a 14-11.  Looks like he is better able to play for longer stretches than in the past, and he will be needed.  Two guys played behind him at center, much-improved junior Dan Kacmarek and frosh Nate Karren, who looks like a future impact player.  Although not an athlete like Karp, he's tall, bulky, and seems to have great hands, a crafty player inside and great passer from the high post.  I expect we will see a lot more of him as the season goes along.  He is a future starter at center for sure.

Jovan Jones was the player of the game for Williams and looks much improved.  He reminds me a bit of a D3 version of Andre Iguodala, with his strength, size, positioning and very quick hands, he is a menace defensively.   Not a great shooter but finds ways to score the ball.  He looks SO much better than last season.  He finished with a 13-6-3 with 5 steals and 1 block.  Great game for him.  Henry Feinberg looks much like last season, a guy who makes gritty plays on both ends, and it does seem like he will get a few more chances to score this year.  Spencer Spivy will clearly play a ton of minutes.  Even though he was way off from deep all game (something I don't think will happen in that many games), he contributed in other ways, which was great to see.  He looks like he may have even grown a bit from last year, and had two impressive blocks.  Finished with a 10-7 despite the rough shooting day. 

The fifth spot in the lineup, and perimeter guys off the bench, seems like very much a work in progress.  Ryan Moon, Michael Myers, Mickey Babek, Cole Prowitt Smith and Alex Stoddard all played in the rotation.  I imagine at least one, maybe two, of those guys eventually falls out.  Each does different things.  Babek brings size and veteran savvy, Myers (a surprise starter at guard) is a scrapper, a real hustle player, Moon a pure point guard and the best ball-handler.  Moon looks much more confident than last season and seems like he will be a defensive pest.  Highly-regarded recruit Prowitt-Smith had a quiet debut with only two points, but he did show off his eye-popping athleticism on a few plays, and did manage to stage 5 rebounds.  Seemed a bit tentative at first, no big surprise, but I think when all is said and done he will get the most minutes at guard other than Spivy.  Stoddard is clearly a shooter and he also looks comfortable putting the ball on the floor, but he is thin as a rail.  If not this year, he will certainly be a player in the future. 

Overall, the Ephs showed they have talent but will need to grow a LOT and fast to keep winning as the competition improves.  I can't imagine the three point and foul shooting will stay like this, but the question is will they end up being a strength in the long run?  I figure Spivy will shoot it better, but the rest of the team, I'm less certain about.  Still, this team should be fun to watch, as I think it's the grittiest group of players the Ephs have had together in some time.

SUNY Poly?

nescac1

Wentworth and Bridgewater State?

Most of NESCAC isn't exactly playing top-tier competition this weekend.  But you can still get a preliminary sense of who looks promising for stronger competition, right?