WBB: NESCAC

Started by Senator Frost, March 12, 2005, 09:18:11 AM

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Maine 1

I did watch the first half of the Colby-Amherst game.  I was actually surprised by the final score, as although I thought Colby played the best half of basketball it had played in a while, they were still down by 17 at the half. Presumably the final score was not indicative of the game.  Robertson did not look good, and although Amherst did hit a good number of threes, they also missed quite a few very badly. 
Overall for the NESCAC, it looks like there is a large gap between Williams/Tufts/Amherst, and the rest of the league right now.  Trinity's win over Bowdoin was a bit of a surprise.  Next week's Colby-Bowdoin game could be a critical game for those teams in the fight for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs

NE Hoop Guy

Williams and Tufts are clearly the class of the NESCAC this year.  Amherst is ranked high, but it is a reputation ranking it seems, as it seems like they "could" lose many games.  Credit to them that they have not yet, but I will be very surprised if they have a winning record in the two Williams and one Tufts games coming up.  They lose at least two of those three games I think.

7express

Amherst is still up there, until they get beaten their still the favorites, imo.
Williams is lucky in that the game that "counts" comes in Chandler gym in Williamstown (though in that rivalry all the games count whether its a NESCAC meeting or not) HOWEVER with that said I think if Amherst loses this year its to Tufts even though that game is in Amherst.

MVP


Congratulations to Williams on making the d3 Top 25 for week 8 !!

amh63

Amherst had a nip and tuck battle with Williams in LeFrak tonight.  Amherst prevailed 54-68, in a game that was not decided until late in the second half.  Williams led by one, 26-25 at the half.....and the game remained back and forth until Amherst built leads of 4-7 points in the last quarter of the 2nd half.  Amherst's defense tighten in the 2nd half...as usual and led by steady senior play of Crowley, Voigt and Hardy and strong effort from Holness, Pritchard and Meg Robertson...Amherst countered every Williams run.  Amherst won the rebound battle against an overall taller Williams team....Williams had more blocks...Amherst more steals.  Amherst shot a little better overall and had more foul shots as Williams fouled to get the ball back in the last few minutes.
The win streak in LeFrak for Amherst goes to 74!...tonight in the game that does not count in the conference standing....but for the "Little Three" title.  Rematch in Chandler at the end of the regular season.

Maine 1

Nice win for Amherst. tough loss for Williams. Caught the second half of the game.  The game was very tighly played, but I did not think either team played particularly well.  Both teams struggled shooting the ball, partly due to good defense, but also many missed open shots. It seemed like Williams forgot about Baecher for much of the second half.  These are two pretty evenly match teams, so I would not be surprised to see Williams win the league game at Williams. The other thing to note is that neither of these teams has any real depth, as Williams only had two players off the bench with more than 10 minutes, and Amherst really only played 6 players.

amh63

Maine1.....good observations.
From by years of watching D3 BB, there is a tendency for Coaches to shorten their sub list when games are tight and when they are critical ones.  Unless, a starter is obvious tired, gets to many fouls, there is a injury and a bad mismatch...coaches avoid inserting new players regardless who they have on the bench.
Last night's game was both tight throughout, and a critical one for "The Little Three" title.
One has to remember that in the case of Amherst, they have only a 10 player team.  Of the 5 starters, one is a FY player. Game experience is important and recently that FY player is starting to contribute, imo, offensively....soon to join the other 5 players capable of scoring in double figures in any game.
In a OH By The Way note....two of Amherst's starters were selected ROY in the "CAC"....let you figure who they are via their play.

Maine 1

 amh 63 I have been following the NESCAC for about 7-8 years nows, I believe both Robertson and Voight for ROY in the league, although that awards does not always go to the best first year.  Both of those players definitely were deserving, althoug Manduca from Colby had a very strong year with a good team during Voight's rookie year.
On the depth, I was really thinking about prior Amherst teams, that were able to bring three or four front line players off the bench.  This team does not have anything close.  So although I agree that in tight games coaches will shorten the bench, last night the bench did not exist.

joe8579

I don't know of any coach that would want their three starting guards to play those kinds of minutes, especially playing back-to-back games like the NESCAC does. Granted, this was a mid-week game, but still, 38+ minutes from two perimeter players and all 40 from your best scorer?

NH NESCAC Fan

I don't know how they keep pulling them out.  They are short-handed, their leading scorer is shooting 37% from the field and less than 30% from 3 point range, they were shorter than Williams across the board the other night.  The starters log more minutes than is ideal.  Their best three point shooter has had three games, I think, where she hasn't had her shot.  They clearly aren't undefeated because of their offense.  Must be the D.  Will that be good enough against Williams again, and Tufts?

amh63

#2095
NH NESCAC Fan.....You have "revealed" the key factor, IMO....Defensive intensity and players that buy into the idea that players must play good defense to get on the floor.  Defense is hard work and not always given its dues and is not as appreciated to the casual fan as critical for any winning season and a fine team.  An example is in the Bowdoin game.  Down by 6 in the first half...36-30, I believe.  The senior guards seemed out of sorts.  J. Hardy couldn't come close to hitting from outside and M. Voigt even missed two chippy layouts..first one, got the rebound and missed the second one without a defender nearby.  After the half.....it was another story.  Bowdoin's outside shots stopped dropping...mainly due to better defense.  Amherst won the game by 16 or so...check the stats.  Jasmine goes 5-9 from beyond the arc.  In another game and the Williams game, Jasmine still seemed reluctant to shoot and her shots were off....but she played defense, got rebounds and assists.  The FY guards started to contribute as well, both hitting threes and driving for lay ups.  The FY guard starter even scored in double figures.  Meanwhile, defense and senior leadership won the games.  Defense is tough to play and takes energy.
This year's team can and will win games....not by blow outs like previous years when Amherst indeed had great depth.  Even last year,  in the road trips to Maine, with 6 seniors on the team and great depth, Amherst had close games. 
Yes, Williams stacked the lineup in the last game with tall players and players that had great range in their shots....and high percentage from 3-point range.  Their primary scorers did not score much and shot poorly relative to their stats.
To the previous posters that questioned the need to have Amherst guards on the floor for so long.....look at the box.
Williams guards..starters had almost equal time on the floor.  Cook had 39 minutes and their floor general...senior Harding had almost 35.  The third guard was taken out for the normal 6th "man" so to speak...Rhenquist, also a senior who is Williams best 3-point shooter.  Rhenquist is a regular rotated player , in for offense.  She tried a number of times to back down Amherst's FY guard with her size and experience and had more failures than success.  What is more telling is that Williams' best and tallest front court players...Beecher and Rainer...both seniors, I believe, ALSO spent around 35 minutes on the floor.  How about questioning Williams coach about her rotation policy.  Williams did rotate in a FY player with alot of energy and aggression....Much like Holness of Amhesrt who came in to relieve Robertson.  S. Holeness is stepping up with her defense and her offense underneath.  She matched Williams FY front court player rough play.  Williams Fy player from NYC picked up 4 fouls.
This year the wins just gets harder to obtain.  Still, the new players are coming along.  They need time on the floor to gain their confidence.  I hope the game with Trinity will be easier and the new players will gain some floor time.

Maine 1

Always good to have some discussion.  Would love to see it expand beyond Amherst.  I agree with the previous post that the big difference with Amherst is outstanding defense, and has been since Gromacki has been there.  The other major difference, is that Gromacki is far and away the best coach in the conference, so that even in a year like this year, where he really doesn't have significantly more talent then others,Amherst is likely to come out on top in most of these close games.  Trinity has been playing well over the past few weeks, and given Amherst's struggles with Conn College and Hamilton, this game could be closer than you would think.

NH NESCAC Fan

Or not.  It depends on whether Jekyll or Hyde shows up.

amh63

Amherst picks apart a game Trinity team...67-47 in LeFrak.  It was 38-18 at the half.  Trinity played better in the second half and had the lead down to as low as 14 but with the "bench" in,  finished the game strong.  Amherst used 9 players in the game and 8 scored.  Trinity had only one double figure scorer and Amherst had three with the FY starter scoring 9....all from beyond the arc....going 3-4 from outside.  Amherst had three FY guards play significant minutes and they all hit from outside the arc!  Voigt and Holness led the team with 13 points apiece, while Meg Robertson had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks, steals, etc. while playing around 27 minutes.  It seems in my bias eyes that Amherst is trying to get its transition game going and with the young guards coming along, maybe it will be in place come tournament time.  As usual, Amherst played solid defense.  The only weakness shown today in foul shooting, as Amherst shot a higher percentage from outside than from the foul line.   Coach G. will have them working hard on that.  All the players played with energy.  Trinity only took 3 outside shots and made two....all in the 2nd half.  The Bantams inside game was hit and miss....see Meg's 6 blocks. Solid win tonight.....game never in doubt...more productive time on the floor among the FY players.

Maine 1

Next weekend will be a big one in the NESCAC.  Huge game out a LeFrak on Saturday with Tufts at Amherst.  Tufts appears to be the class of the league, but winning at LeFrak is almost impossible.  Williams has to make the tought trip to Bowdoin and Colby.  Neither of these two  teams (Bowdoin or Colby) are very strong this year.  They played a high scoring game yesterday (primarily it appeared because of very soft defense on both sides).   I see Trinity battling an up and down Bates teams for the number four spot in the conference, so the Trinity-Bates games next weekend is also very important.  The fight for the 6-8 spots is wide open right now, and even Hamilton can get themselves back into the picture here with wins over Conn and Wesleyan next week. 

Lots of exciting basketball coming up.  Might take a ride out to Lefrak next week.