I wonder if their coaching connections (Linton actually replaced App on staff at Army) and working for the same people/same philosophies gives him a leg up in terms of gameplanning for and playing against Williams style, although to be completely honest this is hardly the Mike Maker Princeton offense of yesteryear. Hard to imagine it isn't at least a small factor
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Speaking of the great Mike Maker, I saw St. Thomas play NDSU on TV yesterday. A lot of D3 connections in that one. Of course, Maker being the associate head coach at St. Thomas and the former Ephs coach was the NESCAC one. Miles Barnstable played at UW-Whitewater for two years before transferring to St. Thomas. He's currently leading the team in scoring. And St. Thomas was a D3 program until they were too good and their conference kicked them out.

Also, apologies for bringing up Whitewater! I'm sure Williams fans are still kept up at night after the end of the 2014 title game.

While there's only 4 (3 for a couple of teams) games left, a lot can happen. Surprisingly, there's a world where Williams can get the 4 seed. While it's far out there, there's still a possibility. It's also still a shot for Hamilton to get the 2 seed. Other than Wesleyan being the #1 seed and Bowdoin and Bates more than likely not being in the NESCAC Tournament, a lot is still up for grabs.

jumbomumbo - Agree with Tufts having Williams number. Last time the Ephs beat the Jumbos was the 2020 regular season finale. A bit shocking as Williams was rebuilding that year and Tufts had a legit shot at a deeper NCAA run until the season shut down.

Every team usually has a clunker at some point. It does make what Wesleyan is doing all that more impressive.

Tufts played very well the night before at Wes, just had a couple things not go their way. It's human nature to have a let down after a tough loss like that.

That Wes Trinity trip is especially brutal this year. Trinity has had Tufts number the last couple years which adds more of a difficult element. Hope that doesn't get in the players heads come tourney time.

All that being said, I do see Tufts rebounding from this and running the rest of the NESCAC table. They're too good and too well coached imo not too. One thing we all know though, the NESCAC is unforgiving. You have to earn everything.

Someone check on jumbomumbo. That was a rough one of Tufts!

jumbomumbo - I think that was Trinity vs. Conn. That didn't win the game though. It sent it to 2OT. Christian Porydzy hit it. Here's the video from D3Hoops Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1464860373691141

Congrats to Wesleyan!

@nescac1 - Here's the full list from D3Hoops webpage: https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/archive

Looks like I'll have to watch that podcast. Thanks for the info!

Any NEWMAC or Babson fans know what happened to Felix Kloman? Saw that he hasn't played since 1/14 against Springfield. Beavers could certainly use his 18-20ppg down the strectch.

Quote from: stlawus on January 22, 2025, 09:18:20 PMI saw quite a bit of bad shot selection and several bad fouls 40 feet from the rim.  To me that reflects on the coaching.

Hindsight is 20-20, but I thought it was a mistake to leave Scherer in after picking up his 4th foul with 12:57 left in the 2nd half. Less than 2 minutes later, he fouled out.

Quote from: nescac1 on January 20, 2025, 11:50:04 AMReally an amazing individual effort by Hank Morgan in the last two losses, scoring 21 out of 57 points vs. Wesleyan and an insane 36 out of 60 vs. Trinity.  Clearly, he needs more help, but he is having a stellar individual season and has to be the current leader among a strong group of POTY candidates (Regan, Vetter, Gyimisi, Espinosa), averaging 28 per game in league play against some of the best defenses in the league. 

Maybe this tidbit I'll say will have an impact or maybe not. 23 POTY awards have been given out by the NESCAC. 21 of those winners were from teams that finished the regular season as #1 or #2 in the NESCAC. The only two years that didn't happen are coincidentally the last two, ALex Sobel from Middlebury who was the 4 seed in 2023, though they finished tied for 1st with 3 other teams, and David Murray from #3 Conn College last year. I don't see Hamilton finishing in the Top 3 or Top 4 at this point. Morgan is certainly putting up the numbers to back a POTY award. It'll be interesting to see what gets valued higher when votes come out. Still have 6+ games left and still plenty of time!

My quick recap of the 'CAC.

Bates is now 3-0 against their ME rivals. First NESCAC win since January 21, 2023 over Tufts. Begin II finally back should only help them.

Conn's defense looked great against Midd. Big game today against Williams incoming. Espinosa is a big time scorer for sure. Middlebury's window on the season is closing fast if it hasn't already.

Wesleyan just keeps on churning. Regan is a NESCAC POTY candidate. Not enough help for Morgan today. Singh just hasn't found his shot this year unfortunately.

Tufts goes on a 37-5 run in a span of 17 minutes from the end of the first half to about the midway point of the second. Can you believe every Tufts starter will be back next year? Wow! The scoring drought for Williams that pops up every game did again in a big way. A bright spot for the Ephs, it looks like Porter is back to his 2023 form after two very solid games.

Trinity goes on a 12-0 run in a 3 minute span midway to late second half to stave off Amherst. Big win for the Bantams as it certainly looked like they would drop to 1-2. Amherst defense was excellent up until the 10 minute mark of the 2nd. Any chance they can pick it up for Wesleyan today?

Randall certainly had and still has all the potential, but a 7'1" player at the D3 level should be able to shoot better than the 38% clip he was at his first two years at Amherst. Sometimes, things just don't work out for whatever reason. I wish him all the best and hope he finds a good landing spot!

Apologies Bucket!! I didn't see that Witherington wasn't in the lineup on Saturday. Hopefully he's not out for an extended period of time. I also completely had a brain fart on the fact that McKersie hasn't played all year. You would have to think he would have been an important role player up to this point.

Another tough weekend coming up. It's never easy in this conference!

What a first weekend in the NESCAC! Wesleyan certainly looks like the top team currently though Tufts might have something to say about that.

Williams saved its season again vs. Trinity. That matchup has been a defensive battle the last three meetings. Side note, nice to see Declan Porter scoring his first points since March of 2023! We'll see if Trinity can rebound with a weekend at Amherst and Hamilton.

Speaking of, Amherst and Hamilton made the most out of their solo trip to Maine. Bates unfortunately looking like their early season flame is dying out. Same can be said for their ME counterparts in Bowdoin.

Conn and Colby are teams still in the mix though I'm not sure for how long. Colby's offense and Conn's zone will certainly cause problems.

Middlebury looks to be falling fast. Everyone is finally back but they certainly didn't look great in CT. 6 losses in their last 8 games. Saving grace is at least they played two of the top teams already. They definitely need at least a split to get their confidence back up.

Early pick for Game of the Week this weekend has to be Tufts vs. Williams right? We'll see if the Ephs can handle the two bigs for the Jumbos. Another great weekend of basketball awaits!

My take on the first night:

Impressive showings by Trinity and Tufts. They were picked by many as #1 and #2 and both showed that to start. By transit of properties, it would mean Tufts would blow out D1 Harvard?  :O

No surprises on my end of Colby knocking off Conn. The two bigs for Colby dominated, especially Civello off the bench.

A nice win by the Mammoths on the road at Bates. The trip to Maine is never easy and Bates has been playing well as of late (already double the win total of last year). 5 in double figures is a good look.

Game of the night certainly in Middletown. Good win for the Cardinals to stay composed after blowing a double digit second half lead as they used a 15-5 to end the game. This team is legit.

For Williams, a much better showing against Wes a month later. This team, for whatever reason, over the last few years goes on major offensive droughts. It seems like it happens at least once per game. No different last night as they scored just 3 points over the last 7+ minutes. They also had another spell to end the first half scoring 2 points in the last 5:30. Not going to win a lot of games getting outscored 26-5 combined to end halves.

Here's to another action packed Saturday!