MBB: NESCAC

[D3BBALL]

Not a great day for NESCAC. Conn, Wesleyan both losing as clear favorites and Bates losing badly to Emory. Who was the dope that was so high on Bates🤨. Didn't see them winning but getting killed didn't see that either. Travel could have had something to do with it but Pouye and the entire team played like the didn't believe they belonged.
Quick turnaround against Maryville, but they get a chance to rebound against a good team.

[D3BBALL]

Outside a couple seasons under Glenn Miller Conn has never historically been an upper tier team. I wonder if Sweeney is thinking about whether or not the grass has been greener at Conn than it was at Hobart. I'm pretty sure he took the Conn job because he was frustrated about not getting at large selections, but all things considered he had a pretty good thing going at Hobart. His first full recruiting cycle made the sweet 16 (and could have gone further if not for covid) the season after he left for Conn, and it's been fairly mid at Conn outside of 1 season where they still didn't make the tournament.  Now Hixon's protege just took Conn down and seems to be building something at Hartford.  I don't know how much priority the Conn administration places on men's hoops, but one has to wonder about that situation if it doesn't end up great this season.

Didn't watch the game but looks like the gave up some offensive rebounds in the last minute, which can easily happen playing zone. I like Sweeney as coach except he is so stuck on playing zone most of the time. It just doesn't work unless he has a good big on both ends and even that didn't work a few years ago. I wonder if that team would have made the tourney based on NPI, guessing they would have made it or close. Losing Schainfeld has got to be hurting them, he was very good and not given enough credit. So many new key players and looks like Zene is back, will be interesting to see where they stand at the end of NESCAC play. Don't think Sweeney is in any sort of trouble there no matter what happens this year.

[orangeballfan]

My Post Xmas rankings. Strength of Schedule is from Massey and out of 409 teams
1) Trinity 8-0 - No Change- Strength of Schedule 217. Blah Blah Blah zero change, best team in NESCAC, maybe best team in D3. No one can touch their top 7.
2) Wesleyan 8-2 - No Change - Strength of Schedule 106 - Playing well and a tough schedule. Until someone beats them in the NESCAC, they are my #2. They have already beaten Williams as well.
3) Bates 9-0 - Up 2 Spots - Strength of Schedule 323 – Every time I watch Pouye, like him more and more. Upcoming Emory game will tell a lot.
4) Tufts 9-2 - No Change – Strength of Schedule 155 – Have won 9 in a row, but not very convincing against average teams. Injuries issues continue to grow. Clark & WPI upcoming, they can make their case to move up.
5) Colby 7-1 – Down 2 – Strength of Schedule 275 – Not a good loss to St. Joes of Maine, who I believe were still missing some key players. Still early, new coach, different system, will take time.
6) Conn 8-1 – Up 1 – Strength of Schedule 219 – New players really helping this team. Espinosa shooting better, loss to Western NE not great.
7) Williams 8-2 – Down 1 – Strength of Schedule 264. Injury issues and still questions on guard play, rebounding and shooting. Haven't really beat anyone below 150 in rankings except Suny Oneonta.
I think NESCAC could get 4-5 in the NCAA, 2-6 all have a real shot, Williams at this time Bubble at best.
8) Bowdoin 7-3 – Up 2, Strength of Schedule 161. Cuevas playing well, just need others to step up.
9) Amherst 7-1 – Down 1 – Strength of Schedule 395 out of 409. Loss to Springfield bad. Play no one until out of conference Wesleyan game.
10) Middlebury 4-3 – down 1 – Strength of Schedule 103. They have played the toughest rated schedule in NESCAC but haven't really beaten anyone in top 150 rankings. Lost a ton of talent, new coach, new system, not looking great.
11) Hamilton 2-8, No Change – Strength of Schedule 199. They just don't have enough talent.

Middlebury clearly still has a great deal of talent, both veteran and new, but adjusting to a new coach and a new system is understandably challenging. Players such as Flaks, McKersie, and Witherington are solid contributors, yet they are not receiving the kind of consistent minutes seniors typically saw under Coach Brown. It is especially difficult for players to develop rhythm and confidence when they start games only to be subbed out as a group after three to five minutes. As someone who has watched nearly every game, the new system is not entirely clear to me, and it may not be clear to the players either. Offensively, Midd is shooting a low percentage, which seems to stem from a lack of clarity about how the team is trying to generate high-percentage shots.

[Ole Ollie 76]

Rough day for the conference yesterday. Previously undefeated Bates lost by 38 to Emory. Bates was down 29 at the half. No one played more than 22 minutes for Emory.

Wesleyan lost in OT to previously 6 - 4 Nichols.  Conn was edged by Hartford, another 6 - 4 team who had lost three straight.

The only bright spot if you can call it that was Midd crushing winless Medgar Evers. 

[toad22]

The Bates loss was initially a bit shocking, but less so when you consider they were off for 14 days. Usually you travel on December 26, have a short, unsatisfactory practice, then practices on the 27th and 28th, and play the next day. Williams has had so many poor games after Christmas with that schedule, I can't count them all. I would write this one off to the schedule and move on. Hopefully, they play better today.

Notice that in situations like this one, most D1 teams schedule a poor D1 or even a D3 team to be sure they don't lay an egg and lose.

[Greek Tragedy]

That is some pretty rough scheduling. You have a late game in Vegas on Sunday and then an early afternoon game on Tuesday. At least it's only an hour drive from Caltech to Cal Lutheran.

[NEhoops]

Very likely getting a NCAA at large bid if they don't win the league:

Trinity

Very likely not making the NCAA tournament unless they win the league:

Middlebury
Hamilton

Still a chance for an at large bid (finish top four in the league and at or close to 20 wins):

Bates - Maryville (today)   
Colby - Endicott    
Tufts - ?    
Conn - RIC
Williams - Vassar    
Wesleyan - Roanoke
Amherst   - ?
Bowdoin   - Rochester

Best win to date is listed and this is open to debate. Also interested in the best upcoming (non-conference) resume boosting games.

[nescac1]

Nice bounce-back for NESCAC teams in non-league play yesterday.  Big non-conference day today with six teams in action against generally strong opponents (led by Illinois Wesleyan, Clark and Albertus Magnus).  Bates has to feel a bit better after a win over a top 25 team combined with Emory putting up 100, again, this time on a strong Hampden Sydney team. Emory's backcourt could be the starting duo at a fair number of D1 programs. 

Going back a few posts, I think Tim Sweeney has done a great job at Conn College considering he inherited an all-time NESCAC disaster, and the school seems VERY committed to helping him out.  From 2018-2020 the team went 0-30 in league play, which I imagine is likely unprecedented (that includes Sweeney's first year when he had zero to work with).  Since then he's gone 22-17 in a very strong era for the league that has included a Trinity national title and final four, a Wesleyan final four, two Williams sweet 16s, and some loaded Hamilton and Tufts teams.  That's a really remarkable turnaround.  In terms of school support, he was able to matriculate three high-profile scholarship-level transfers this year, who are currently the team's 1st, 2nd and 5th leading scorers.  The entire rest of the league enrolled, I think, one transfer of consequence combined (Adnan at Amherst).  So clearly the admin is bought in.  Conn is 8-2 this year with a team that had to come together on the fly, and 9 of the top 10 scorers should be back next year, so there is a very good chance at a strong run going forward with the current group of players, and maybe Conn finally cracks the NCAA tourney again. 

Speaking of schools with a commitment to athletics, I was pretty skeptical with Colby's decision to part ways with Strahorn, who I think was a good coach with a strong track record, but the school seems very bought in to having a big-time hoops team and the early results are promising.  Colby is a solid 7-1 this year and like Conn is barely reliant on seniors at all.  And Rutigliano's first recruiting class looks like it will be absolutely loaded.  With the big caveat that these rankings tend to change a lot from where they are right now, look at who he has committed to date: the top ranked D3 recruits (by a fair amount in each case) to date in Maine, N.H. AND MA (Mekhi Simmons, #11 NH; Nolan Ames, #2 in ME; Riley Clarke, #29 in MA).  Those guys are ranked above recruits at Trinity, Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, Tufts etc.  He also is bringing what seems to be a well-regarded, polished 5 from the west coast (Ty Landers) and an elite outside shooter from academic hoops pipeline New Trier (Max Vogel).  So essentially an entire potential future starting five from that group of committed recruits.  (Williams, Wesleyan and Trinity all seem to have strong recruiting classes on paper as well, but Colby appears to be leading the pack right now).   

With Civiello putting NESCAC POTY-type stats so far as a sophomore (19-9-4 on 56 percent shooting including 47 from 3) and looking like a legit centerpiece of the team for the next few seasons, that's another program where the future looks bright. 

NESCAC really seems to have MOSTLY very strong coaches across the board and I think after Trinity's ridiculous senior class graduates, the league is going to be wide open. 

[lumbercat]

N1
Couldn't agree more on your assessment of the situation at Colby relative to the Strahorn firing and the intentions of the new AD.
Since the move I've wondered what the thoughts of legendary Coach Dick Whitmore might be.....I know he's aging but he has been relevant on the periphery of that program for many years.

[SpringSt7]

With Civiello putting NESCAC POTY-type stats so far as a sophomore (19-9-4 on 56 percent shooting including 47 from 3) and looking like a legit centerpiece of the team for the next few seasons, that's another program where the future looks bright.   

We have not seen this at the undergraduate level in the NESCAC yet but given the transfer boom, a 6'10 dude with two years of eligibility left who shows 47% from 3? His phone will be ringing soon, if it isn't already

[quicksilver]

Civello's progress from his first year is also dramatic and noteworthy. Interesting test for both Bates and Colby when they meet on Sunday (Jan 4) for their nonconference game . .

Also on the Maine front, Bowdoin easily downed a weak Maine Maritime Academy team yesterday (86-56) but, perhaps more important, saw the return to action of 4 of their injured players -- Chris Simond, Jackson Bleecker, Liam McBride, and Jules Varin. All played significant minutes and made good contributions, suggesting the Bowdoin will be able to go much deeper as it moves to conference play.

[nescac1]

Nice win today for a Williams team led, by necessity, by a lot of young players.  Worcester State is a very hard luck 2-8, a talented team that has played competitively against some very good opponents.  They will be a top-two team in MASCAC at worst and probably are the best team in that conference.

For the Ephs, three seniors continued to be in street clothes and a fourth, Hudson Hansen, left after 11 minutes of play (though did not look visibly injured on the sidelines).  In total, upperclassmen played only 68 minutes for the Ephs in this game.

The sophomore class looked as good collectively as they have in their careers to date.  Aidan Yates was fully in the zone and put up a very efficient 24-8-2 on only 11 field goal attempts.  Rein played his usual gritty all-around game highlighted by an impressive dunk in transition.  Justin Belcher I thought had his best game of the year and if can play like this as a starting point guard, the Ephs are a very tough team to guard.  Even with the shot not falling, he played patiently and made great decisions with the ball against a team that puts on a good amount of ball pressure, finishing with 10 assists (and those were very real assists) against zero turnovers. He added three steals, five boards, and a block of a much bigger player for a great all-around two-way game.  Dylan Shepherd also really flashed both offensively and defensively in limited minutes, and looked very fast going to the hole, he has definitely improved since the start of the season. 

Among the non-seniors, Matt Devine had some of his trademark gorgeous finishes at the rim, nailed all four of his field goal attempts in the paint, if his can get the FTAs to fall he's a big-time weapon off the bench.  And the Ephs also backed up the sophomore class with three FYs seeing time in the rotation, including Wes Gudeman, who had been playing well in garbage time, playing his first meaningful minutes and getting one of trademark mid-range leaners to fall.  EJ Sommers continues to look great and he also had an impressive dunk in traffic. 

This Eph team has a TON of upside but the question is how fast they realize it and how App juggles the rotation with seemingly 8-9 guys still in the picture for the guard and back-up wing spots.  With the seniors injury-plagued and only one Junior in the rotation. there are a ton of young players to choose from.  Rein and Yates are clearly the go-to guys now and for the next few years, with Sommers I think likely to join them next season as a major scoring threat.  If Belcher can play with the poise he showed today and focus on setting up teammates, he will continue to be the starting point guard.  Sammy Cooley will also play big minutes in the backcourt rotation and Sommers and Dickens have locked down the back-up big men spots.  But there are a lot of other guys who all seem roughly equal as players and a lot of of them have idiosyncratic skill sets.

[Stickthe3]

Trinity up 83-31 and finally took their starters out with 5:29 left in the game against Baruch...

[jumbomumbo]

Tufts beats a solid WPI team 70-52 today. Looks like Reilly is back in the lineup as he went 4/11 from 3 today. Gyimesi with 24 points, after hitting a game winning buzzer beater against Clark a few days ago. 11 straight wins and wouldn't want to play them right now!

[nescac1]

Now that we are just about to the half-way point of the season, and with conference play about to start, a bunch of thoughts on the state of the league.

Eight out of eleven teams are well-positioned in terms of NPI to make a run at an NCAA bid.  With so many teams highly-ranked, most NESCAC wins will really provide an opportunity to move up.  Trinity is already a virtual lock (barring something truly crazy and unforeseeable), but I think the magic number for the rest of these teams is probably between 8 and 9 more wins total, which seems likely for probably around 2 to 4 more NESCAC squads:

Trinity 1, Bates 16, Tufts 17, Colby 31, Conn 41, Bowdoin 51, Williams 62, Wesleyan 65.  This will change radically over the next few weeks as these teams start facing one another (starting with two big NESCAC v. NESCAC games today, in particular Colby-Bates, where the winner will start league play with a VERY high NPI), but it's a good place to start league play at.

POTY rankings I think go something like this:

1. Ray Cuevas: 23-5-3 plus one spg on ridiculous 53/53/87 splits despite being the primary focus of every single defense with so many guys in and out with injuries for Bowdoin.  To me he is, to date, the clear POTY in NESCAC and likely a first-team all-American if this continues.  I have to think a lot of D1s are going to be coming after him the way he is playing, but if he sticks around he may be the best-ever at Bowdoin. 

2. Scott Gyimesi: 18-9-2 plus 2.5 stocks on 60/40/72 splits, a two-way monster.  With Morakis moved to the bench and Medley and Reilly both missing significant time with injuries, he's had to carry Tufts to an unexpected degree and is like Cuevas having a clear all-American season.

After that, I'd go: 3. Jarrel Okorougo, 4. Dan Civello, 5. Henry Vetter, 6. James Lafrance, 7. Jackson Rein / Babacar Pouye.  For the rest of the second-team all-conference, I'd go with Sam Pohlman, Zach Wolinski, Hudson Hansen, Drew Lazarre, Brady Coyne and Elias Chin.  Other guys in the mix: Greg Cantwell, Aidan Yates, Josh Bernstein, and Sam Hinman.

ROTY had a solid group of contenders: 1. Mason Dawkins, 2. Dominic Ducree, 3. Sheron Woodberry, 4. EJ Sommers,  5. Ricardo Nieves, 6. Jamari Robinson.

DPOTY I think Drew Lazarre has to be the guy, but you could make the case for any number of Trinity players.  Really, it's the team defense that makes them the best team in the country.