MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Other guys to watch: Matt Karpowicz, Eric McCord, Grant Robinson, Tim McCarthy, Joe Schneider, Dan Draffan, Paul Cherry

Another guy to watch: Midd senior co-captain Hillal Dahleh. We all know him as a dependable player, very good defender, who on the other end has a nice shot and likes to go to the hoop. He missed his whole soph year to injury, got his feet back under him last year in the backcourt with Jack Daly, and is I think ready to really come into his own this year. Physically stronger, confident player.

[Mountain Man]

Great game between Bowdoin & Albertus Magnus.

Incredibly hard fought. Bowdoin comes back from 17 down takes their first lead 84-83 with 6 seconds left in game.

Albertus Magnus drives length of court for a layup that is blocked off backboard with 2 seconds left
Right to a Falcon in lane who swishes 5 footer at buzzer.  85-84 Final.    Polar Bears used only 8 players.

[nescac1]

Great first win for the Ephs over a game, solid Salem State squad. Ephs fell a bit too in love with the 3-ball in the first half but pounded it inside in the second and that was what enabled them to pull away.  Williams played some absolutely huge line-ups out there (at one point, a 6'10, 6'8, 6'8, 6'7, 6'3 group) and it showed especially on the glass, with a 43-32 rebounding advantage. 

Individually, the big story was Kyle Scadlock, who took an absolute pounding (17 free throws, many of them on very hard fouls) in his first game back from injury, and looked like he hadn't missed a beat.  26-9-4, not too shabby.  The other big three for Williams all looked great as well, 20-4-5 for Heskett, 22-10-4 for Casey, and 13-5 plus 3 blocks for Karpowicz.  The scary thing for opponents is that I think Heskett and Karp can both play a bit better, even. 

For Williams, the big question mark is, which role players will step up in that fifth and sixth slots?  Today, no one made a huge case for themselves, but there are plenty of talented options, many of whom are getting their first real taste of being in the rotation.  Williams scored 91 points tonight without a single outside shot from anyone but Casey, Heskett or Scadlock, which is pretty remarkable.  The other area Williams will surely improve upon is turnovers, 14 against Salem and a few were early-season sloppiness I'd say.   

For Salem, what a game for Sean Bryan - 30 points (many on deep shots with guys draped all over him), 7 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals.  Salem doesn't have a ton of talent around him but he is a heck of a player, and will be an all-region guy this year I'd bet. 

[Mountain Man]

Williams fifth slot need is the point guard position. Not exactly the definition of a role player, which showed in 14 turnovers.

Very interesting to see how they handle the defensive pressure backcourts & speed of the NESCAC. First up the Dec 1, Wesleyan game, although no Kevin O'Brien on roster reduces Cardinal backcourt defense.

interesting to see if traditional Coach App strategy of playing 10+ players will continue this year.

The Big 4 are quite impressive. They just need someone to protect the ball and get it to them in their desired spots to be dominant.

[Conts Fan]

Just checking out Hamilton's league schedule...can't hurt this year that the four schools farthest away all come to Clinton. They don't have to travel to Maine at all plus they get Tufts at home. Only two road trips - Wesleyan/Conn and Midd/Williams.

[ContinentalDomer]

True.  But last year, Hamilton played 6 of 10 NESCAC games on the road.  Take it as it comes and know that games will not be won on paper. 

Just checking out Hamilton's league schedule...can't hurt this year that the four schools farthest away all come to Clinton. They don't have to travel to Maine at all plus they get Tufts at home. Only two road trips - Wesleyan/Conn and Midd/Williams.

[Colby Hoops]

Didn't catch much of either game, and certainly the level of competition has been very poor, but interesting to see how many threes Colby is launching to this point. They have averaged 39 attempts per game, 10 more per game than the next closest team in the conference. For reference, Williams led the league in 3PA by a significant margin last year averaging 27 per game. 39 per game won't last, but it seems without Dean Weiner, Colby is playing small and fast and letting it fly from behind the arc. The pace and number of possessions in the two games is a big factor in the number of attempts as well. Should be fun to watch the Mules play this year, they are basically playing five guards/wings with Sam Jefferson and Ronan Schwarz (both 6'4") the tallest players getting significant minutes. In fact, PG Matt Hanna is leading the team in rebounding so far.

I don't expect this strategy to fair too well in league play, but Colby doesn't have a lot of other options. At a minimum the number of threes should result in an upset or two.

[Greek Tragedy]

Ironic, I was just looking at that and added them to my fantasy league team. Based on last year's stats, they don't fair too well at all in conference. I did read they have the Vermont Mr. Basketball and he's done well the first two games. I almost wondered if they ran some sort of "system". Their season preview had them talking about a fast faced team that isn't afraid to shoot the 3. Not sure of their high scoring first two games has to do with their competition, or lack thereof.

[Colby Hoops]

Ironic, I was just looking at that and added them to my fantasy league team. Based on last year's stats, they don't fair too well at all in conference. I did read they have the Vermont Mr. Basketball and he's done well the first two games. I almost wondered if they ran some sort of "system". Their season preview had them talking about a fast faced team that isn't afraid to shoot the 3. Not sure of their high scoring first two games has to do with their competition, or lack thereof.

I'd say a lot of the first two games has to do with the opponents. Colby will not be scoring 100 points per game in conference play that is for sure. I think there's a good chance they will be the fastest paced team in the NESCAC though, and will be plenty entertaining. And a good note on Noah Tyson -- based on the box scores he seems to be a real player.

[toad22]

I was pleased to see Williams' play against Southern Vermont. SVM was never going to beat Williams (this year!). The top 5-6 can really play, are very quick, can shoot, but are just too small. Williams was very good offensively, as might be expected given our height differential. Defensively, this game was a setup to look embarrassingly terrible. The quickness of SVM was tough, they were much quicker than Williams' big guys. Williams competed really well. When Heskett, Karpowitz, Kempton, Scadlock, and Taylor, have to chase around 6'2" guys, they could have looked really clumsy, and they did not.

[P'bearfan]

The surest sign that all is right with the world: NbN has posted their first season preview.  It's a great time of year!

[nescac1]

Congrats to Bobby Casey on scoring his 1000th point against Southern Vermont!  If they stay healthy, James Heskett and Kyle Scadlock will reach that plateau before 2019, as well.  All three (again, if healthy) should finish their careers in the top 15 all-time scorers at Williams, which is pretty incredible for a guys from a single class.   Casey's shooting has picked up right where it left off late last season, 10-19 in his first two games this season from deep.  He is playing with a lot of confidence right now and it seems like in close games he will rarely leave the floor. 

As an Eph fan it was encouraging to see, vs. Southern Vermont, how deep Williams is in talent, even if the three seniors are clearly the go-to guys with Karp a very strong fourth option.  In a game in which James Heskett and Karp were just a bit off offensively (for them), a lot of role players stepped up.  Mickey Babek had I thought his best game as an Eph -- if he can solidify the back-up PG spot, that would be huge.  Henry Feinberg and Marc Taylor both had excellent games at the forward spot.  Feinberg looks far more confident and aggressive as an interior finisher this year.  It was good to see Spencer Spivy make his first three-pointer of the year -- I imagine we will see many more of those before season's end, and also great to see Jovan Jones score the first of what I suspect will be many points as an Eph.  And Dan Kacmarek looked bigger, stronger, and smoother on the inside in his limited minutes as the Ephs' FOURTH string center.  He is a dude who I think could be a back-up center right now on most NESCAC squads, one to watch for as an upper-classman. 

[nescac1]

Looking around the league, a pretty good first weekend overall for NESCAC teams (albeit against very poor competition overall) other than for Bates.  I will note that Bates seems to be playing without two of its top four player (Lynch and Coyne) but still, that is a discouraging start given the competition.  They definitely need those guys back. 

Folks have talked about Colby already but man, that lineup is CRAZY small -- 6'4, 6'4, 6'4, 5'10, 5'9, with 5'8, 6'1, 6'2 as the first three off the bench. That's small for a high school team!  When they play vs. Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan they will be giving up around 5-6 inches per man on average.  On the plus side, they are going to outquick and outshoot most teams, so if they can make games into fast-paced shootouts, they may be able to find ways to compensate. 

Tufts for its part has a crazy young lineup.  With its top guy Eric Savage out (presumably hurt), they started three sophs and two frosh, with a sophomore, junior and first-year the first guys off the bench.  Tufts clearly has recruited two very strong classes in a row, and they will be adding Casey McLaren next year, so I think the Jumbos have a very bright future.  But, with such a young team, there will surely be some growing pains this season despite the talent on hand.  Tufts will be able to score it I think with so many shooters, but defending may prove to be tougher -- giving up 83 and 84 points to two lower-tier teams in close games isn't a great sign, even in victory. 

Based on first-weekend stats, some frosh to watch in the conference:

Carson Cohen, Tufts - Tufts OTHER frosh starting guard received less hype than Tyler Aronson, but what a first weekend: 18.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, 3.5 rbg (Aronson also made nice contributions in his first action)
Noah Tyson, Colby - 21 ppg, 7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2 bpg, 11-21 from 3 (how did Midd let him get away??)
Ryan Omslaer, Conn - 9 ppg and 8.5 rpg for the 7-footer, and guys that big in D3 rarely offer very much as frosh
Gabe Ravetz, Wesleyan - 11 ppg, 4 rpg, 2 apg, it appears that he is Wesleyan's first guard off the bench
Nick Osarenren, Hamilton - 8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 bpg
Alex Sobel, Midd - 8 points, 8 boards, 4 blocks in Midd's only game
Andrew Snoddy, Bates - 9.5 ppg, 5.5 rpb, 1 apg, 2.5 spg

Amherst and Williams clearly have some good frosh as well but both are too deep in experienced talent for those frosh to get much run ... yet. 

[Bucket]

Looking around the league, a pretty good first weekend overall for NESCAC teams (albeit against very poor competition overall) other than for Bates.  I will note that Bates seems to be playing without two of its top four player (Lynch and Coyne) but still, that is a discouraging start given the competition.  They definitely need those guys back. 

Folks have talked about Colby already but man, that lineup is CRAZY small -- 6'4, 6'4, 6'4, 5'10, 5'9, with 5'8, 6'1, 6'2 as the first three off the bench. That's small for a high school team!  When they play vs. Williams, Amherst and Wesleyan they will be giving up around 5-6 inches per man on average.  On the plus side, they are going to outquick and outshoot most teams, so if they can make games into fast-paced shootouts, they may be able to find ways to compensate. 

Tufts for its part has a crazy young lineup.  With its top guy Eric Savage out (presumably hurt), they started three sophs and two frosh, with a sophomore, junior and first-year the first guys off the bench.  Tufts clearly has recruited two very strong classes in a row, and they will be adding Casey McLaren next year, so I think the Jumbos have a very bright future.  But, with such a young team, there will surely be some growing pains this season despite the talent on hand.  Tufts will be able to score it I think with so many shooters, but defending may prove to be tougher -- giving up 83 and 84 points to two lower-tier teams in close games isn't a great sign, even in victory. 

Based on first-weekend stats, some frosh to watch in the conference:

Carson Cohen, Tufts - Tufts OTHER frosh starting guard received less hype than Tyler Aronson, but what a first weekend: 18.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, 3.5 rbg (Aronson also made nice contributions in his first action)
Noah Tyson, Colby - 21 ppg, 7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2 bpg, 11-21 from 3 (how did Midd let him get away??)
Ryan Omslaer, Conn - 9 ppg and 8.5 rpg for the 7-footer, and guys that big in D3 rarely offer very much as frosh
Gabe Ravetz, Wesleyan - 11 ppg, 4 rpg, 2 apg, it appears that he is Wesleyan's first guard off the bench
Nick Osarenren, Hamilton - 8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 bpg
Alex Sobel, Midd - 8 points, 8 boards, 4 blocks in Midd's only game
Andrew Snoddy, Bates - 9.5 ppg, 5.5 rpb, 1 apg, 2.5 spg

Amherst and Williams clearly have some good frosh as well but both are too deep in experienced talent for those frosh to get much run ... yet.

My favorite thing about Sobel's stat line was that the 8-8-4 was in 11 minutes of action.

In the blowout win over Vermont Tech, minutes were widely dispersed (only two players topped 20 minutes and both were under 25), as they should be. Guards Bosco and Leighton were even more efficient that Sobel, at least in filling the bucket. Bosco had 18 and Leighton 17, with each being on the floor for 17 minutes.

[Mountain Man]

Two observations from Middlebury game.

Alex Sobel is very athletic for his size.

Eric McCord did not wear a knee brace. Is McCord healthy or will knee brace return with wear & tear of season.