Quote from: polbear73 on March 12, 2015, 05:56:53 PM
Sorry guys. Just reported what I read: Miss Basketball. Should have been politically correct and reported Miss and/or Ms.

I'm all for not offending people, but these are high schoolers we're talking about; I think using Miss is a safe bet. Congrats to the young man and young woman.

Quote from: NEhoops on March 09, 2015, 05:59:39 PM
Old Guy,
Good take on your (second) favorite team. Boornazian's combination of size/range/athleticism for a perimeter player is hard to match up against, he's averaging 21ppg in his last three. Safford's leadership cannot be overstated, he seems to do whatever his teams needs for them to win. The Delpeche's are the difference makers on both ends of the court, seemingly playing better when the lights are brightest. I like the Bobcats on Friday as well, particularly because of the way the Delpeche's are rebounding the ball of late, that stat alone could be the difference. Trinity won by seven in Hartford in January, but it was a tie game with just under four minutes to go and this game is at a neutral site where Bates has already won this year. Safford and Boornazian only shot a combined 6-26 in the first match up, but part of the credit for that needs to go to the Bantams. Interesting to see how Ogundeko plays. He's scored ten total points in the past three games after averaging 10+ppg in league play. Trinity is doing what it needs to do to advance and it should be a great game.

Excited to hear some insight about this Friday from others.   

Keys to the game for Bates against Trinity should be to limit turnovers, finish their lay ups, keep playing tight D, and if Billy Selmon can actually start making some outside shots, I think Bates has a great chance to win.  Really, really wish I could make it up Boston for this one.

That being said, the Delpeche brothers are improving with every game. I think Strickland '18 has upside as a point guard- he definitely has some flash- and with Boornazian, the twins, and a solid core of big men returning next year, the Bates backcourt will be as stacked as it will have been in a long time.

Quote from: jayhawk on March 07, 2015, 09:43:11 PM
Amherst got beat by a team that really shot well.
Amherst got into foul trouble with Connor Green and Reid Berman going to bench in first half
Reid was driving well to the basket until he got into foul trouble and got into foul trouble.
Hoped to see him penetrate like last night

Young Amherst team with only one junior starting and both Ben Pollack and Eric Conklin had injuries this year
Season a success going to second round of NCAA playoffs
Building for next year
Last game for incoming 6'10" freshman Joe Schneider from Wilbraham and Monson High School today
twitter note by his high school coach
WMA Basketball @WMA_Basketball  ·  2h 2 hours ago
Joe Schneider will make Amherst program even better. He leaves WMA Basketball on a high note. Excellent stdnt &his best basketball is ahead

PS recruiting season may not be over

Newly crowned 1000 pt scorer for Bates Mike Boornazian is an alumnus of Wilbraham & Monson. They always seem to have some good talent coming out of their school.

Quote from: middhoops on March 07, 2015, 08:58:56 PM
Bates, and Marcus Delpeche especially, were tough down the stretch in a dramatic win over Richard Stockton.  Quality win for the Bobcats.

Bates nearly gave that one away but played just well enough and was lucky enough to squeak out of New Jersey with a win and, incredibly, a birth in the Sweet Sixteen.  No one player stood out but congrats to junior Mike Boornazian on collecting his 1000th career point!  He'll be carrying the team next year, for sure.  I can't wait for the rematch against Trinity, presumably at Babson on Friday night. 

Also, very happy I won't have to listen to those Stockton announcers again... It was difficult not to press mute at times.

Quote from: NewtoNescac on March 03, 2015, 05:08:49 PM
amh63, what is your point about the Wesleyan football players. You seemed to imply that they were thugs that needed to be policed by the AD and others. I wasn't there and didn't see it, but was it really that bad? Come on, they're college kids, and as they say, "no harm, no foul". So again, what exactly was your point. I thought this was a football site. Not sideshows somehow involving football players.

NewtoNescac, I was the fan that was there next to the Wesleyan students at the NESCAC basketball tournament.  The crowd clearly had many football players in it (judged by labeled sweatshirts and other Wesleyan football attire).  Let's just say they were having such a good time that Whelan had to come over to settle them down to make sure that the security wouldn't kick anyone out; there were some close calls.  That's not limited to just the football players who attended the game.  All in all, nothing bad happened.  Just a friendly rivalry getting a little heated.

Quote from: jumpshot on March 03, 2015, 03:29:21 PM
booyakasha ---

Your claiming never to have heard of Sage (formerly Russell Sage in Troy, New York) says more about your lack of general knowledge and implies an arrogance that is unwarranted. Those on high horses have farther to fall ....

I've never heard of Sage, either.  Please don't insult me for it.

Quote from: Hoops Fan on March 02, 2015, 05:34:08 PM

Right now it looks like I'll be heading to Stockton on Friday for the games.  Any Bates folk coming down?

I live in NYC but I don't think I'll be able to make it unfortunately.

Quote from: polbear73 on March 02, 2015, 01:12:01 PM

Quote from: Bucket on March 02, 2015, 01:10:38 PM

Quote from: CatCountry2013 on March 02, 2015, 01:04:05 PM

Quote from: madzillagd on March 02, 2015, 12:55:33 PM
Is 4 teams a lot for a 1 team conference?

The 'CAC got four teams last year as well.  But yes, it's a lot.

I thought Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin were the only NESCAC teams in the tournament last year.

I thought so too.  Middlebury had a strong claim, but was left out.

Oops, must have dreamt about a fourth team. Sorry for the misinformation!

Quote from: madzillagd on March 02, 2015, 12:55:33 PM
Is 4 teams a lot for a 1 team conference?

The 'CAC got four teams last year as well.  But yes, it's a lot.

Congrats to all teams, go Bobcats!

Quote from: nescac1 on March 02, 2015, 07:09:32 AM
Congrats to Wesleyan.  Happy for the Cards and their fans, who made a really impressive showing on the road in both games this weekend, giving the team an extra jolt of energy.  It was really an appropriate ending to the least predictable season in NESCAC history -- a team with no history of previous success in the NESCAC tourney, that needed a win on the final day of the regular season, on the road as an underdog, just to make the tourney, ends up winning it.   I think the unpredictability of the NESCAC season will carry into the postseason -- any of these NESCAC squads are capable of making a deep NCAA run in a year with few true power-house teams, but also capable of losing in the first round to almost any team in the tourney.  But impressive that NESCAC will have at least 3, quite likely 4, teams in, despite a "down" year for the league following the graduation or transfer of a ridiculous amount of talent, including several of the best players we've ever seen in NESCAC.

What is scary for the rest of D3 is that the top of NESCAC should actually be much, much stronger next year.  The two NESCAC finalists each return all of their significant players -- Amherst in particular will be beyond loaded next year, now that bench guys like Dawson, Conklin and Racy are emerging as guys capable of carrying the team in stretches, and other young players like Nabatoff and Berman should continue to make strides.  No one else in D3 will have a better second five next year than Schneider, Conklin, Racey, Riopel, and Dawson -- that's just unfair, two D1 transfers and a guy in Schneider who had multiple scholarship offers, that group is more talented than probably 90 percent of the starting D3 line-ups.  And McCarthy is going to be a major star next season to go along with Green.  If George can emerge as a star, as many similarly-talented big men do in their junior years (see Whittington, Mayer, Sharry, etc.), Amherst may well be the best team in the nation headed into next year.  Nabatoff is also someone who could make a much bigger impact as an upperclassman.  For George, the biggest issue is sustaining his early-season level of play later in the season, something that has been an issue his first two years.  His talent is undeniable, however.

Wesleyan will not be far behind next year.  They won't have nearly the depth of Amherst, but they return a really strong top 6 all of whom are multiple-year starters, battle tested, and very tough, relentless and athletic.  I also like Jordan Sears' potential as a break-out sophomore, he could be a big factor off the bench next year.  4-5  of those six guys will be all-NESCAC candidates -- because they are SO balanced, it makes it hard to pick any one as a star, but that also makes them so hard to game-plan for -- any of those six guys can beat you on any given night, so you can't really focus on any one in particular.  Kuo has the most upside and I also thing could emerge as a true star as an upperclassman, but Mackey is tough as nails and can shoot from anywhere, similar player to Hayden Rooke-Ley and may explode like Hayden did as a senior, and Davis has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years and played at all all-league level in the second half of this season.

Also can't sleep on Colby -- returning basically everyone including a ridiculously experienced all-senior starting lineup filled with guys who have been playing major roles since they were frosh, Colby just needs better luck with injuries and to develop one or two strong bench players to contend, but their projected starting five is as good as any in the league, and Tufts -- also returns nearly everyone; if Sheldon can figure out how to employ Palleschi and Sabety together, they will be unguardable inside, and Trinity -- another team that returns a very strong senior class that has experienced a lot of success and will be hungry for a league title led by Starks and Ajayi. 

Meanwhile, things look somewhat bleaker for Williams (in particular, at least until what figures to be a large and impressive group of incoming frosh figure things out, but this is a squad clearly in full-on rebuilding mode that will be relying on at least 2-3 first year players for major impacts), Conn (will improve dramatically thanks to a great rising sophomore class, but still another year away from being interesting), Midd (probably a year away from returning to contention after losing two key contributors from a non-tourney team, unless Matt Daley finally stays healthy and plays totally up to his immense potential), Hamilton (will be tougher than their talent level as always, but the talent is just not there), Bates (great returning frontcourt, but lose all their backcourt production which is never a good sign), and Bowdoin (Hausman will be a pre-season all-American, but Swords and Hurley are both irreplaceable under the best of circumstances, and Bowdoin has no one on the current roster who can approximate what either does -- Bowdoin returns only two guys who averaged over 3.6 ppg; Hausman may face a lot of box-and-one defenses next season). 

Unlike this year, when every game was wide open, there appears to be two tiers of haves, and have-nots, in NESCAC next year.  But of course, a TON can change between now and November between incoming frosh, transfers in or out, injuries, coaching changes, etc.  Still, no matter what happens, Amherst looks historically loaded for the next two years, and Wesleyan looks poised to build on this NESCAC title, while Colby will be in now-or-never mode with a stellar senior class but not a ton behind them. 

Of course, still a lot of hoops to be played for a bunch of NESCAC teams this year, good luck to the them in the tourney and hopefully they represent the league as well as Amherst, Williams and Midd have in recent NCAA tourneys!

Great write up!  Sad to see league play come to an end.  Hopefully a team can make a run in the tourney.  Let's talk in a few hours to see who gets in!

Quote from: NothingButNESCAC on March 01, 2015, 04:07:40 PM

Quote from: GoWesYoungMan on March 01, 2015, 03:42:30 PM
Impressive showing by the Wes students. Amherst looked to have more fans but Wes was louder...glad to see the support from the students rewarded with a victory. Frankly the Wes  fans looked a little confused about what to do after the game. Maybe it was the intimidating NESCAC security...or maybe it was because we haven't been there before. Would love to be more experienced in these matters.

Was watching on the webcast and it was hard to see into the stands that well. Were there a lot of Amherst fans? Students also? You could the Wesleyan students making noise and that was it. At the game yesterday I think there might have literally been zero Amherst students at the game which is pretty disappointing.

There was no security at the start of yesterday's game but as the fans started trickling in during the first half against Trinity the Wes fans were getting especially rowdy. There were two female security guards who were attempting to keep the front row student supporters against the bleachers but they were disregarded. Two Trinity football coaches and Trinity security guards had to come over for the rest of the game. At one point, AD and Wes football coach Mike Whelan had to come over and talk to his football players to keep them in line. Was all this necessary and was anything bad going to happen ? Doubtful. But the Wes students were loud, vocal, sometimes in good ways and other times in extremely vulgar ways, with kids and parents all around.  I would have been happy with a little classier appearance from the Wes student body, but that takes nothing away from their team's great showings the past few weeks.

Congrats to the Cardinals! What a season! And not only for Wesleyan but for the NESCAC as a whole.

When does the selection committee release the bracket?

Weird game. Wesleyan was able to maintain the lead the whole game despite some last ditch efforts from Trinity. Exciting ending and the fans were really getting into it. Extra security had to be brought in to "control" the Wes student section. Then they stormed the court after the handshakes. Congrats to Wesleyan on beating the No. 1 seed.

How does Trinity losing affect the possible at-large bid for Bates?