Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - toad22

#1
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 23, 2024, 02:59:57 PM
Quote from: SpringSt7 on March 23, 2024, 10:29:53 AMCornell head coach Brian Earl just left to take the same position at William & Mary, replacing Dane Fischer. Ironically enough, Dane Fischer (a former Williams assistant and long time Paulsen guy) and Brian Earl were the other two finalists for the Williams job to replace Mike Maker. The third guy, Kevin App, graduated from Cornell.

Could be an interesting week in Williamstown




Oh Crap!
#2
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 19, 2024, 10:35:53 AM
Next season's Ephs will likely look very different from the 2023-24 version. The biggest change will be the speed of play. Gone are Nate Karren and Cole Prowett-Smith, two players most comfortable in the half court. With Evan Glatzer and Alex Lee leading the backcourt, I expect a much faster paced game. It should be a higher scoring team, just because the may get up more shots per game. Hopefully, their defense remains solid, leading to a bit more separation in game scores.
#3
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 15, 2024, 01:13:58 PM
The second unit for Trinity was often more impactful than the starters. They were a key to Trinity's success this year. Defensively,they were way better than the starting group
#4
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 15, 2024, 12:36:01 PM
Though a sad ending for Trinity, a great season.
#5
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 11, 2024, 01:31:26 PM
I'm not sure what Bantam is referring to in the above comment. I am an Eph fan. Naturally I write more about Williams than Trinity. We rely on Trinity to highlight the Bantams. I'm glad that Bantam123 is doing that. However, it is Monday morning quarterbacking to suggest that Williams did't win that Trinity game with excellent play down the stretch. Did Trinity's mistakes aid our cause? Sure. That always happens when a team comes from behind to win.
This is the best Trinity team I have seen in 30 years. I hope they win it all. They will not, however, ever be the undefeated team that won the national championship no matter how hard Bantam tries to make it so.
#6
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 09, 2024, 10:23:18 PM
Trinity's "second five" is damn good. They play so hard that they really do wear the opponents down. Williams' loss to Trinity was mostly due to the second team.
#7
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 03, 2024, 11:30:16 PM
Cole Prowitt-Smith perhaps should get some kind of career award - though I know there is no such thing in the NESCAC. In four years he has played in 102 games, and has, so far, scored 1190 points - 11.7 per game for his entire career. This on a team that was quite deliberate during his years. In addition, he averaged 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He has generally been considered the best rebounding guard on the team. Cole was instrumental in winning a great many games for Williams. Maybe there should be something like a "Career Achievement Award" for players like Cole. Playing at a high level for an entire career seems to me to be deserving of some recognition. Of course, his career isn't over yet, so maybe I'm being premature.
#8
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 03, 2024, 06:17:33 PM

After watching Cole Prowitt-Smith score 27 points last night and make the spectacular buzzer beater shot to win the game, it made me think that he is one of the more talented players to play in the NESCAC and never win any league awards. I know there are many, though the only Eph player that comes immediately to mind is Nate Robertson. Thoughts on others from the rest of the league?
#9
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
February 25, 2024, 02:57:20 PM
My thought on this is that Trinity will host. The committee will send Williams somewhere else. Tufts is certainly in, but will not be in the same pod as Williams or Trinity.
#10
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
February 25, 2024, 02:42:02 PM
That was a rock fight. Trinity is very tough on the glass and played very intense defense. Williams didn't respond to the increased in intensity in the second half & Trinity got a workable lead. Congratulations to Trinity for winning the title. It was a fun game to watch.
#11
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
February 20, 2024, 09:11:47 AM
Glad to see the board back up! A few things have happened since December!
#12
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
December 12, 2023, 02:31:55 PM
I am hoping for better health for Williams moving into second semester play. The Ephs have been down two starters for the entire season, and they lost Evan Glatzer several games ago. The bad news is that they are down three starters, the good news is that others players, notably Ben McGraw, Noah Dinkins, and Sammy Cooley, have stepped up and played very well. Throughout the first 10 games, Nate Karren has played himself into reasonable shape, after being down with a sprained ankle for the 7-8 weeks before the first game of the season. Karren's backup at center, Brandon Arnold, has filled in the gaps very nicely. If one or two injured guys can come back, it would help a great deal. Declan Porter led the NESCAC last year in 3pt fgs taken and made and shot at a 43% clip. He has yet to make an appearance this year. His absence has been greatly felt. Likewise, Hudson Hansen, Williams' 6'8" high energy sophomore forward, is still out. Hopefully, he will be playing in semester 2. The competition will really start to ramp up when they face Redlands and UC Santa Cruz over the holidays. After then it is into league play, where anything can, and often does, happen. Williams has the potential to be a really fine team, but I fear that without some of their best players coming back, things will be much more difficult.
#13
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
November 28, 2023, 04:08:08 PM
Tonight is a good test for the Ephs. Emmanuel is a good team that beat Bowdoin fairly handily. They don't have a lot of depth, but all of their starters are very good players. So far, Williams has been very good on defense, and not terribly effective on offense. More offense may be required to defeat this opponent. Our two senior stars, Nate Karon and Cole Prowitt-Smith, will, hopefully, start to ramp up their games toward the effectiveness of prior years.
#14
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
November 18, 2023, 06:57:46 PM
I think it is fair to say that Williams really needs their two starting wings back. In addition, Nate Karren needs to work his way back into shape and rhythm. He hardly practiced before last Saturday due to an injury. If the Ephs can survive the next three weeks relatively unscathed, they will get some great reinforcements. The silver lining of this situation is that some of the lesser known guys are playing and gaining a lot of experience. Ben McGraw might not be cracking the rotation except for the injuries. Now he has a 5-5 three point shooting game under his belt. Three of those makes under real pressure. Senior Brandon Arnold may not have been in the game to make that thunderous block in OT if Nate Karren was all the way back to full game shape. These experiences will help the team later in the season. For now, they need to survive with hard fought wins. Go Ephs!
#15
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
October 30, 2023, 03:53:35 PM
Williams will be dominated this year by familiar names from last year's team. Cole Prowett Smith and Nate Karren, two four year contributors, are likely to drive the team. Also, I am hopeful that two key players from two years ago will again be important contributors. Alex Stoddard, a 6'5" senior sharpshooter, who missed all of last year with bad knees, is again in the mix. Two years ago, Stoddard shot the 3 at better than 50%, including 7-8 in the three NCAA games. Also back, is junior Brandon Roughley, a talented 6'8" wing who effectively missed nearly all of last season with two serious injuries. Roughley made quite a splash in his rookie year, playing 16 minutes per game and averaging 63% shooting from two and 42% from three. These two, plus first years, Matt DeVine, a very bouncy 6'5" g/f, and Tyler VanGorp, a skilled 6'10" center, will effectively bring four additional players to an already excellent core.

My experience with potentially excellent teams is that a lot depends on injuries. Hopefully the Eph won't have a lot of serious ones like plagued them a year ago. This Eph team is very good. However, because of Covid, there are a bunch of other "super teams" across the country. Going deep in the tournament is going to be especially difficult.