Tag: Hunter Sabety

Cardinals Fly at Expense of Panthers: Stock Report 2/16

Going into the weekend, the biggest piece yet to be solved in the playoff puzzle was whether Middlebury or Wesleyan would take the final spot (Colby could have also fallen out under one unlikely scenario). On Friday the Cardinals breezed past Hamilton while Middlebury could not complete a miraculous comeback and fell just short to Trinity. Only a Wesleyan loss and Panther victory Sunday would send Middlebury to the playoffs. By late Saturday afternoon the playoff field was set. Wesleyan sucked out the drama from the proceedings when they opened up the second half with a 14-0 run to take a 20-point lead over Williams, eventually closing out the Ephs with a 74-52 victory. Middlebury actually finished the season on a high note with a nice win over Amherst, but their fate had already been sealed.

Stock Up

Point Guard Jack Mackey ’16 (Wesleyan)

If you look at his statistics from the weekend, it seems like Mackey had his normal productive if somewhat cursory weekend. That would miss the fact that he scored 13 straight points for Wesleyan in the second half when Williams tried to mount a comeback. More importantly, it would miss the defense that Mackey played on the Williams guards. Mackey was a big part in holding Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 to six points. Mackey is a tenacious and physical defender. Though he does not use his quickness very often on the offensive end, he has good lateral quickness which makes it hard for opponents to get into the lane against him. Mackey is a big reason why Wesleyan finished the season ranked third in the league in scoring defense with 64.0 PPG allowed.

Shooting Guard Lucas Hausman ’16 (Bowdoin)

Lucas Hausman '16 tallied 44 points on Friday night, the highest total recorded in the NESCAC this season. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics/CI Photography)
Lucas Hausman ’16 tallied 44 points on Friday night, the highest total recorded in the NESCAC this season. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics/CI Photography)

Hausman was absolutely on fire Friday night tying the Bowdoin single game record with 44 points. He went 20-25 from the field while scoring in almost every way imaginable: fast break layups, fall away jumpers off of his trademark spin move, and threes with a hand in his face. In fact, the only way he didn’t score was from the foul line where he went 0-1 on the night. Yet on the season he has made the most free throws in the NESCAC. Hausman cooled off Saturday against the Tufts zone, but he still scored 16 points as Bowdoin won to secure a home playoff game. Dan Wohl ’15 has been the favorite to win Player of the Year honors for most of the season, but Hausman is making a worthy late charge. Because the NESCAC tournament is also included when deciding who will win NESCAC honors, the award might come down to how Hausman and Wohl play against each other when Williams plays at Bowdoin in the first round.

Trinity

The Bantams already had the number one seed sewn up before the weekend, but they still were big winners because of two things. First, they went up and controlled the game against Middlebury. The bench, led by Rick Naylor ’16 and Ed Ogundeko ’15, had 29 of the team’s 39 first half points. Trinity’s 90 points in the game was a high for them in conference. The second thing that went well was Colby finishing with the eight seed. The Mules are still dangerous without Chris Hudnut ’16, but they simply do not have the size that Trinity has inside. The Mules are definitely a preferable matchup for Trinity compared to Middlebury or Wesleyan. I’m not saying that Colby can’t get hot shooting the ball and shock the Bantams this weekend, but it will take a heck of an effort to do it.

Stock Down

Amherst’s Sense of Urgency

Going into Sunday, Amherst knew a win got them the two seed while a loss dropped them all the way to the five seed and a trip to Tufts in the first round. That didn’t seem to show as Middlebury led wire-to-wire, and Amherst never really made a run. Maybe it was the delayed start time because the referees were late or that Amherst lacked somebody who could rally the team and tell them that this was a must-win. Whatever the case, the win cost the Jeffs and deprives us of a third Williams vs. Amherst matchup in the first round of the playoffs. Instead, Amherst has to take on Tufts, a team that blitzed them in a 27-point victory. Granted, the outcome is very unlikely to be the same because Hunter Sabety ’17 is hurt, but the Jeffs did themselves no favors this weekend.

Forward Marcus Delpeche ’17 (Bates)

Though we often lump them in as one unit, the Delpeches are in fact two different basketball players. Marcus has played slightly more and put up bigger numbers than Malcolm overall this season. Against Colby and Bowdoin, Marcus scored 7.0 PPG, not that far below his 9.7 PPG average on the season. What was concerning was that he had only four rebounds against Bowdoin and ONE against Colby. Bates still managed to do okay on the boards as a team. Don’t be fooled by Bowdoin having eight more rebounds than Bates on Friday. The reason for that was not Bates’ rebounding but their defense: since Bowdoin made 63.5 percent of their shots, there were less defensive rebounds for Bates to grab. Still, Marcus Delpeche should be getting way more than five rebounds over two games. Hopefully a return to Alumni Gym will get him going.

Williams

Saturday was senior day in Williamstown for Ryan Kilcullen ’15, Rooke-Ley and Wohl, but the day did not end the way supporters of the Ephs were hoping. The blowout loss to Wesleyan means Williams finishes the year at 5-5, seventh in the league standings. For all intents and purposes, this year’s team was the product of Mike Maker, the former Williams coach. He recruited all of the players on the roster, and though Kevin App changed some things schematic-wise, the team retained the same up-tempo three point heavy style. The talent still on the roster was properly recognized as one of the most talented in the league before the season began, but they have been inconsistent all season. While they blew out Middlebury, they also lost to Hamilton and struggled to put away Conn College. There is still a distinct possibility they get hot and make a run to win the NESCAC title. If not, then the season will end far short of where it did a season ago. The Ephs lose three starters in Rooke-Ley, Wohl and Kilcullen after this year. None of their juniors this year saw very significant minutes. This is going to be a very young team next season led by Dan Aronowitz ’17 and Mike Greenman ’17. The heavy lifting of the rebuilding process is just beginning for App.

The 10 Most Important People This Weekend

Graham Safford '15 might be holding flowers, but he still has his eyes on the prize: two wins this weekend. (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)
Graham Safford ’15 might be holding flowers, but he still has his eyes on the prize. (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)

Usually in our weekend preview we tell you three players who we think are going to have a significant impact on the weekend. Given how big of a weekend this one is, three is simply not going to be enough. The criteria for this is not simply the best players on each team. The most important players are the ones who will have the biggest impact on how we look back on the weekend.

10. Small Forward Peter Kazickas ’15 (Hamilton)

The emergence of Joseph Lin ’15 has overshadowed the improvement of Kazickas, another senior who has stepped up in his final season. Last season Kazickas was a secondary option for Hamilton and only made 0.4 threes per game. This season he is shooting an unfathomably hot 59.1 percent from three in conference while making four times as many threes as last year. Yes, Hamilton is officially eliminated from the tournament, but as Williams learned earlier, traveling to Clinton is not an easy task. The Continentals could play spoiler to Wesleyan, if Kazickas shoots like he has been recently.

9. David George ’17 (Amherst)

If George watched the Middlebury-Bowdoin game, he was salivating at all the dunks John Swords ’15 had against the Panther frontline. He could have a great game Sunday if Amherst makes a concerted effort to get him the ball. George has been a very good player this year for the Jeffs, but he has not been close to the dominant force he looked like for parts of the NCAA tournament. He is shooting 52.8 percent from the field which honestly is not a great percentage for a big man. A big game going into the NESCAC tournament will put fear in Amherst’s opponents.

8. Shooting Guard Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 (Williams)

Any doubt about who the best pure shooter in the NESCAC is was put to rest by Rooke-Ley Friday night against Bates. He went 6-8 from three, many of them with a hand in his face. To shoot for the season 46.7 percent from three given the difficulty of most of those shots is impressive. Finding him in transition is an absolute must. Rooke-Ley might not create very many opportunities for others, but he cashes in on the ones he has. At 4-4, Williams could be primed for a 2-0 weekend against Wesleyan and Conn College. If they got to 6-4, it would be the first time all season they have been more than a game away from .500 in conference.

7. Guard BJ Davis ’16 (Wesleyan)

Staying in front of Davis is a nightmare, and he gives Wesleyan more dynamism in their offense now that the Cardinals are running more offense through him. The Cardinals might need to win both of their games this weekend, and Davis is the one player who can truly be a difference maker for them. His shooting percentages are not great recently as he is drawing opponents’ top defenders. In conference games Davis is Wesleyan’s leading scorer and passer with 13.6 PPG and 4.0 APG. It is possible that on Saturday Williams puts Dan Wohl ’15 on Davis. If that is the case, Davis will probably try to use his quickness to get in the lane and forgo shooting from outside.

6. Point Guard Jake Brown ’17 (Middlebury)

Nobody thought that Middlebury would be here, needing at least one victory in the final weekend against Trinity or Amherst to even think about making the tournament. Brown could be important in very different ways. Friday against Trinity, Brown will defend Jaquann Starks ’16. Starks has been in double-digits the last five games, but Brown will be a real challenge for him. If Brown shuts down Starks, the Bantams offense could grind to a halt for long periods. Then, on Sunday Brown might take advantage of his athleticism against Reid Berman ’17 to get into the lane and cause Amherst headaches. Last Sunday Brown was limping at periods with what looked like an ankle injury, and if he is less than 100 percent, Middlebury will be in even bigger trouble than they are already.

5. Center John Swords ’15 (Bowdoin)

A fired up Swords is the best type of Swords, and that is the version we saw on Sunday against Middlebury. It probably helped that he only had one game that weekend and did not have to worry about his knees. Though his offensive production against Middlebury was great, it will be his defense and rebounding that Bowdoin really relies on this weekend. Because Tom Palleschi ’16 did not play last year, Swords and him have not matched up for significant minutes yet. The two will likely spend the beginning of the game feeling each other out with Palleschi probably relying on his jump shot initially.

4. Power Forward Sam Willson ’16 (Colby)

Willson is basically the entire Colby frontcourt right now. We aren’t sure because Colby does not publish the height of their players on their website, but based off of this photo, after Willson, Luke Westman ’16 was the second tallest player who played for Colby against Middlebury. Willson wasn’t even supposed to start this year, but a preseason injury to Patrick Stewart ’16 and more recent injury to Chris Hudnut ’16 leaves Willson as the only big man left. Offensively his role is the same as he is still really a stretch four who is good in pick and roll situations. On defense is where he will really make or break the Mules’ weekend. He could have a tough time going against Tom Palleschi ’16 and Marcus Delepeche ’17. He will need to use his strength and rely on help from his teammates to keep Colby afloat down low.

3. Center Tom Palleschi ’16 (Tufts)

In the first half against Williams, Palleschi looked unstoppable draining midrange jumpers, hook shots, and layups down low on his way to 22 points. Then suddenly in the second half he went cold and didn’t score in the final 17:20 of the game. That was a big reason why Williams came back to win and plunge Tufts back into the thick of things. Without Hunter Sabety ’17, Palleschi is the only inside threat for Tufts. He has to exploit Colby who is still playing without Chris Hudnut ’16. If Tufts stumbles Friday then Palleschi will have to deal with Swords. His ability to hit shots from outside might give Swords problems, but he has to make them first.

2. Power Forward Dylan Sinnickson ’15

His Player of the Year candidacy is over after last weekend, and Sinnickson just has not looked like the same explosive inside-out threat that we saw earlier this year. In his past four conference games, Hamilton was the only one where he scored more than 13 points or grabbed more than nine rebounds. He needs to be the man for Middlebury for at least one game this weekend. Something like a 20 and 15 performance. He most certainly has to outplay Connor Green ’16 when those two meet on Sunday. Maybe returning to Pepin will help Sinnickson to get back to the player who looked almost unstoppable for stretches earlier in the season.

1. Point Guard Graham Safford ’15 (Bates)

We have been saying all season that Safford is the single most important player to any team. There is a reason why he is averaging an insane 36.9 MPG. But how much of a toll is it taking on him? The last two Friday NESCAC games Safford has averaged 26.0 PPG, but on Saturday that average dips all the way down to 9.5 PPG. Both of those games have still been wins, but they were against Hamilton and Conn College, the two worst teams in the NESCAC. Bates might struggle Saturday against Colby. So maybe Safford knows that Friday is the game that Bates needs to win. After all, he was in the Bowdoin gym Sunday afternoon watching Middlebury and Bowdoin play.

The Race Gets Tighter: Fantasy Report 2/11

Zuri Pavlin '17 was unstoppable on the boards this weekend, grabbing 29 rebounds. (Courtesy of Conn. College Athletics/Anika Goodhue Photography)
Zuri Pavlin ’17 was unstoppable on the boards this weekend, grabbing 29 rebounds. (Courtesy of Conn. College Athletics/Anika Goodhue Photography)

With Bowdoin thrashing my very own Panthers last weekend, my only chance to earn any bragging rights this winter over Adam is if I can thoroughly annihilate him in fantasy basketball. I had been cultivating a nice lead in the points, assists and rate categories, but as of last week blocks, steals and three pointers made seemed to be slipping out of reasonable grasp. With that in mind, and the loss to injury of two of my skilled big men, Hunter Sabety ’17 and Chris Hudnut ’16, I was forced to make some roster decisions. I would have loved to add sharpshooter Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15, but Adam had waiver priority and beat me to the punch, but I was satisfied to add Connor Green ’16 and Matt Daley ’16. I didn’t end up playing Daley this weekend, but I’m hoping for a big week from him in the final weekend coming up. Adam was forced to sit his best rebounds/blocks contributor, John Swords ’15, who had only one game, which gave me some hope that I could close the gap in those categories. Here’s how our lineups shook out:

Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Position Player Player
Guard G. Safford J. Starks
Guard D. Wohl L. Westman
Guard H. Rooke-Ley C. Green
Forward A. Santos E. Ogundeko
Forward D. Sinnickson D. George
Forward Mar. Delpeche H. Merryman
Forward S. Ajayi Z. Pavlin
Bench J. Brown J. Lin
Bench J. McCarthy M. Daley
Bench J. Swords L. Hausman

I rolled out a lineup with a little bit less scoring potential than usual. Of course, Lucas Hausman ’16 only had one game, but I also kept Joseph Lin ’15 on the bench who is among the league’s best at scoring. However, I felt good about the matchups I had. Two of my guards this week are very good rebounders, and I was hoping for a big week from beyond the arch from Jaquann Starks ’15, Green and Hunter Merryman ’15. Zuri Pavlin ’17 stepped up huge for me with 21 rebounds against Trinity. My strategy worked on the boards, but it was a cold week for my squad from deep, aside from Green who netted 10 of my 15 three pointers:

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic
Points 235 178
Assists 26 18
Rebounds 100 116
Steals 7 13
Blocks 6 9
FT% 87.7% (64/73) 66.1% (37-56)
FG% 46.2% (73/158) 42.3% (63-149)
3PT Made 27 15

While I took over the advantage this week, the percentage gaps shrunk considerably, which makes me nervous. It will be tough to hang onto the slim margins I’ve created, but it’s always better to be ahead in a tight race than behind. Here are the composite standings:

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 829 899 Joe
Assists 125 144 Joe
Rebounds 418 419 Joe
Steals 69 62 Adam
Blocks 65 48 Adam
FT% 74.0% (194/262) 75.1% (266/354) Joe
FG% 45.6% (288/631) 47.5% (318/670) Joe
3PT Made 78 40 Adam

Overall Score: Joe 5-3

Time to Shuffle the Deck: Weekend Preview 2/6

Malcolm Delpeche '17 dunks against Wesleyan last weekend. (Photo courtesy of Phyllis Jensen and Bates Athletics)
Malcolm Delpeche ’17 dunks against Wesleyan last weekend. (Photo courtesy of Phyllis Jensen and Bates Athletics)

The penultimate weekend of the NESCAC schedule should clear up the logjam in the middle of the conference. Only a game and half separates teams 2-9 right now, meaning that Colby, currently not even making the NESCAC tournament, would very likely be the #2 seed if they won their final three conference games. Now, that isn’t likely to happen, but it just goes to show that the standings are a mess right now. This might be the weekend when teams sort themselves out and some wannabe contenders reveal themselves as pretenders.

With the NESCAC tournament right around the corner, teams are jostling to get one of the top four spots in order to host a first round game. Any team that goes 2-0 this weekend has a good chance of accomplishing just that.

Three Players to Watch

1. Shooting Guard Mike Boornazian ’16 (Bates): Boornazian might be the most underrated player in the NESCAC. He is capable of guarding every position besides center because of his exceptional length. This weekend will be a treat with Boornazian tasked with slowing down Player of the Year favorite Dan Wohl ’15. The two are physically very similar: 6’5″ guards who are fluid enough to handle the ball. Boornazian is also no slouch on the offensive end. He only shoots 39.8 percent from the field to average 14.8 PPG, but he is crucial for taking pressure off of Graham Safford ’15. He can act as a secondary ball-handler when needed also. On Tuesday Safford sat out in order to rest, and Boornazian had one of his best games of the season finishing with 26 points. He might be overlooked at the end of the year for league awards, but Boornazian is critical for the Bobcats.

2. Power Forward Drew Madsen ’17 (Tufts): Per the Tufts student newspaper, Hunter Sabety ’17 sustained what appeared to be a serious knee injury that will keep him out for the rest of the year. If that is the case, then it is time to get familiar with Madsen, the talented 6’7″ backup to Sabety. He was already a part of the rotation before the injury, and now he will see his minutes climb even more. He has not put up tremendous per minute stats in his limited time so do not expect him to simply replace Sabety. However, he is a big body with enough skill to make plays. Given the ability of Tom Palleschi ’17 to make jumpers, Madsen should consider only ever leaving the paint when he needs to avoid a three second call. The rest of the time he should be battling position for any offensive rebound. Sabety, for all of his offensive prowess, was not a fantastic defender, so Madsen could offset his lack of offensive skill that way.

3. Shooting Guard Ryan Jann ’16 (Colby): The Mules started NESCAC play 3-0, and for a brief span they were at the top of the NESCAC standings. Since then they have lost their last four NESCAC games and found out Chris Hudnut ’16 is out with a knee injury for the rest of the year. Luke Westman ’16 is a great player, but his lack of a jump shot means he is not capable of being a go-to scorer. So now the sharpshooter Jann is the number one option for Colby. He exploded for 27 against Trinity, and he looked comfortable finding space to get his shot off. He has also gotten better as a distributor this year, but it is his scoring that will be most needed. The Mules need one more win to get into the NESCAC tournament, and Jann will have to shoot them there.

 Three Games to Watch

3. Sunday 1:00 PM: Middlebury (15-4, 3-3) at Bowdoin (14-6, 4-3)

This is the NbN grudge match between myself and Joe. Last season saw Middlebury pull out a close victory because Coach Tim Gilbride called a timeout when he didn’t have one after Bowdoin tied the game with under five seconds remaining. The two rosters look very different than they did a year ago with Dylan Sinnickson ’15, Hunter Merryman ’15 and John Swords ’15 the only starters returning. How Middlebury defends Lucas Hausman ’16 could decide the game. The Panthers love to push the pace, but Hausman is exceptional in transition, even though as a team Bowdoin does not like to go fast because of their short rotation. Jake Brown ’17 usually takes on opponents’ point guards, but he might guard Hausman for stretches because of his quickness. Though Matt St. Amour ’17 is a good team defender who draws a lot of charges, he is still not as quick as he was before his ACL injury.

Given how Connor Green ’16 went off last weekend against the Polar Bears, Dylan Sinnickson ’15 could be primed for a big day. After struggling somewhat by his lofty standards in conference play, Sinnickson has averaged 25.0 PPG and 15.5 RPG in his last two games. He and Brown should look to attack John Swords ’15 at the basket because of the depleted Bowdoin backcourt, but an underrated improvement from Swords has been his ability to stay out of foul trouble in nearly every game, only fouling out once all season. The loser of this game will all but certainly be forced to go on the road in the first round of the NESCAC tournament.

2. Friday 7:00 PM: Williams (12-7, 3-3) at Bates (15-4, 4-2)

The Bobcats are a perfect 10-0 at home this season, and their fans are sure to come out for the final home games of the season this weekend. Beating them in Alumni Gymnasium, especially in what could be the seniors’ final home games, is going to be a tall task. Even though Williams is only 3-3, they just smacked Middlebury in their only game last weekend. Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 looks 100 percent again after missing time due to a hand injury.

We all know Williams is going to play with Dan Aronowitz ’17 as an undersized power forward and Ryan Kilcullen ’15 at center, so the question becomes whether Bates coach Jon Furbush is capable of playing two big men for most of the game. He will want to keep both Marcus and Malcolm Delpeche ’17 on the floor for most of the game in order to control the boards and get easy baskets. However, Aronowitz will look to attack using his combination of shooting and slashing against a bigger defender. Bates can also easily go small with Adam Philpott ’15 acting as power forward. The chess match between the two youngest coaches in the NESCAC, Furbush and Kevin App, will be fun. App has played a tight rotation all season, but he could mix things up and play Darrias Sime ’16 or Edward Flynn ’16 for longer minutes.

Ultimately, a great deal of Williams’ games come down to how they shoot the ball. Because they shoot so many threes, when a lot of them go in they are hard to beat. Bates will try to make up for that by destroying the Ephs on the glass and sticking to shooters as closely as possible. This is going to be the most fun game to watch because of the possibility for offensive fireworks and a first rate atmosphere.

1. Friday 7:00 PM: Trinity (16-5, 6-1) at Wesleyan (14-6, 3-3)

In the same year that the University of Virginia is in the Top Five behind a suffocating defense, the Bantams are on top of the NESCAC in much the same way. By the way, Jaquann Starks ’16 has been absolutely en fuego from beyond the arc recently. In NESCAC play he is shooting the third best percentage from deep, 56.2 percent, while making the third most threes per game, 2.6. In fact, he is shooting a higher percentage from three than he is from the field. Though Trinity wants him to continue to get into the lane, they would prefer he simply continue to nail shots from downtown. Though we have harped on how Trinity’s balance means different guys step up every game, Starks is the one guy they need to perform. In the three Bantam loses in 2015, Starks has averaged an anemic 3.0 PPG, well below his 13.4 PPG season average.

Wesleyan needs to not back down from the physical presence of Trinity. An underrated part of the Bantams defense is how uncomfortable they make things on the perimeter for teams, so it helps that Wesleyan can rely on BJ Davis ’16, Jack Mackey ’16 or Harry Rafferty ’17 to handle the ball. Davis in particular is adept at getting into the lane, and even if he isn’t finishing amongst the big men, it could stretch the Trinity defense enough to get Mackey open looks. Both teams will be fine with a slow plodding pace. That should keep the game in the 50s, meaning that this game might come down to offensive execution in the final five minutes. There the edge goes to Trinity, who, even though they don’t play great offense overall, manage to find ways to grind out points at the end of the game. When these two met last year, Trinity led by about five points for most of the second half, and Wesleyan was never able to get over the hump.

The game is in Middletown, but the Bantams are hoping a road win helps them secure home court for the NESCAC tournament. Trinity’s home court advantage is not significant, but the Bantams would still love the #1 seed to have the opportunity to host the NESCAC semi-finals and final if they get past their first round opponent. If they beat the Cardinals, they will be able to taste it.

One Stands Above the Others: Power Rankings 2/6

Courtesy of the Middlebury Campus
Courtesy of the Middlebury Campus

With about a week left in the regular season, the league has begun to stabilize, relative to the amount of fluctuation the NESCAC has experienced this year. This past week we saw how middle of the road teams stacked up against the best, as well as a continued fight put up by the lowest rank, proving once again that the gap from the best to the worst is slim.

1. Trinity (16-5, 6-1) Last Week: 1

After two straight wins against threatening Colby and Bowdoin, the Bantams have a three game win streak, all of which came against conference teams. Trinity will finish its season on the road, taking on Wesleyan, Conn College, and Middlebury. Assuming all things go as planned, and the Trinity defense continues to shut down its opponents, the Bantams are in a good position to take the No. 1 seed headed into tournament play.

2. Amherst (15-5, 4-3) Last Week: 4

Amherst, like Trinity, thwarted the efforts of Colby and Bowdoin at the end of last week to give them their first winning record in conference play all season. Connor Green ’16 exploded for 33 against Bowdoin, and in the past three games he has averaged 20.6 PPG. The Lord Jeffs also have Wesleyan, Conn College, and Middlebury to close out conference play. Depending on how Trinity does, it’ll be interesting to use these last three games as a way to compare Amherst and Trinity going into the playoffs.

3. Bates (15-4, 4-2) Last Week: 6

Recalling last week’s rankings, Bates had just come off two tough losses to Trinity and Amherst, but rebounded with a win versus Tufts. Since then the Bobcats have extended their streak with wins against Wesleyan and Conn. The wins were made possible by their stingy defense. Here’s where Bates stands- they’ll finish out their conference play against four teams ranked lower than them in our rankings and the standings. That being said, the final push will be crucial for Graham Safford ’15 to round up his troops and get them ready for playoff basketball.

4. Tufts (10-9, 4-2) Last Week: 3

Tufts drops two spots from last week after they lost Saturday against Wesleyan. The Jumbos are still in a good spot as the tournament approaches, though the loss of Hunter Sabety ’17 could be devastating. What stands out the most with this team was the streak they had in mid-January, where they consecutively beat Middlebury, Amherst, and Trinity, allowing an average of only 57 PPG in the three game stretch. Tufts can put it all together in a short period of time against the top teams in the league. Why? Defense.

5. Middlebury (15-4, 3-3) Last Week: 2

Last week the Panthers could only grab one out of two in conference play, falling to Williams 87-62 while beating Hamilton in a tough 82-77 overtime game. Given the struggles that Hamilton has had all season, what does an overtime win say about the Panthers? Hamilton has been giving teams their all down the stretch, so maybe this is yet another example of the small margin between the top and bottom. Regardless, Middlebury  still has its work cut out for them as they still have to play Trinity and Amherst, two teams ranked above them.

6. Williams (12-7, 3-3) Last Week: 7

Williams jumps up a spot after their decisive 87-62 win against Middlebury. The Ephs’ offense has been close to the top all year averaging 76.4 points per game, but they’ve struggled considerably on defense. That is why they remain below Middlebury, despite their emphatic victory over the Panthers. The Ephs have a huge road weekend coming up against Bates and Tufts. You can bet that Daniel Wohl ’15 won’t go down without a fight, seeing as he leads the league in PPG with 19.9.

7. Bowdoin (14-6, 4-3) Last Week: 5

Last week Bowdoin was posed with the difficult task of playing Trinity and Amherst in back-to-back road games. A loss to the Bantams 67-66 in OT was a heartbreaker that made it even more difficult to face off against Amherst. These two losses hurt Bowdoin and surely put them down in the rankings, but then again, who else besides Tufts has been able to handle the one-two punch of the Bantams and Lord Jeffs. With guard Lucas Hausman’s ’16 scoring dominance (ranked No. 3 in PPG with 19.0), along with the recent play of John Swords ’15 and Bryan Hurley ’15, Bowdoin is still in a position to fight with the best.

8. Wesleyan (14-6, 3-3) Last Week: 9

The Cardinals split their last two games, losing a close one against Bates 74-66 but coming back the following day to take down Tufts. Wesleyan has a tough stretch ahead of them with Trinity, Amherst, and Williams all on their schedule. As of late, even Hamilton has shown it can disrupt any opponent it faces, which makes things a little more difficult to a Wesleyan team that is on the cusp of the playoffs.

9. Colby (12-9, 3-4) Last Week: 8

Colby, who a few weeks ago was in a position to take a high seed in the NESCAC quickly dropped three straight to Bowdoin, Amherst, and Trinity, putting them in a tough spot to finish out the season. Not only that, but Middlebury, Tufts, and Bates all remain on their schedule, which makes for a tough final stretch. The Mules’ defense has been struggling recently, making it even more difficult for even their third ranked offense to consistently carry the load. We’ve all heard it before: defense wins championships, and a last place ranking in that category does not bode well for Colby.

10. Hamilton (13-7, 1-5) Last Week: 10

Not much has changed for Hamilton since last week. They still have only one win against NESCAC opponents, but once again they’ve proved that they’re not going to fold easily. Last week the Continentals battled with the Panthers of Middlebury, eventually falling short in an 82-77 overtime loss. Forward Peter Kazickas ’15 led the charge with 21 points while guard Joseph Lin ’15 dished a season-high nine assists in the loss. Neither their defense nor their offense has been exceptionally bad or good this season (6th ranked defense, 8th ranked offense) ; they just have not been able to put two good halves of basketball together.

11. Conn College (7-12, 0-6) Last Week: 11

Conn’s struggles continue after losing their eighth straight against Mitchell. Offense has been a problem for the Camels all season, and their last four NESCAC opponents (Amherst, Trinity, Williams, Hamilton) won’t make this season go by any faster. Forward Zuri Pavlin ’17 has proven he is capable of being Conn’s go-to guy in the coming years after a 31 point game against Mitchell. In addition, he’s ranked second in the league in RPG with 10.9. Definitely a force to be reckoned with in the future, Conn just needs to find him a little more support in the backcourt.

Handicapping the Player of the Year Race

Photo Courtesy of the Williams Record
Photo Courtesy of the Williams Record

There are just two conference weekends left, and while athletes, coaches and fans are focused on the battle for seeding in the NESCAC tournament, individual performances over the final two weeks will play a major role in determining to whom the end-of-year awards are given.

Conference play is weighted heavily when looking at these awards because that is when the voting members, aka NESCAC coaches, get a first hand look at the candidates. Therefore it is necessary to look at matchups over the next few games in order to split hairs between all the great players in this league.

The race will be tight, and is still wide open, especially with preseason favorite Chris Hudnut ’16 succumbing to a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 24. In the five conference games that Hudnut was able to play, he averaged 21.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, numbers that would put him second and third respectively in conference games. Other players with high expectations, such as Hunter Sabety ’17 and Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 have shown flashes of brilliance when on the court, but injuries will ultimately stop them from getting enough minutes to be true contenders. With Hudnut going down, the picture became a lot less clear. Below we handicap the Player of the Year race as it stands today.

C John Swords ’15

Odds: 50:1

As the guy who ought to be the hands-down Defensive Player of the Year, he should be in the discussion for overall Player of the Year as well. He probably won’t do enough on the offensive end to be seriously considered for the award, but his defensive impact is unquantifiable. Beyond the 17 blocks (1st) and 65 rebounds (2nd) that he has in seven conference games, he is undeniably the best rim protector in the NESCAC, and the main reason why opponents jack up more treys against the Polar Bears than anyone else.

PG Joseph Lin ’15

Odds: 30:1

Lin’s transformation has been a hot topic this season. The senior is the third-leading scorer in NESCAC games and the league’s top assist man by a wide margin. On a winning team his odds would be much better. While the POY award isn’t necessarily the best player on the best team, it often seems that way. Aaron Toomey’s ’14 Jeffs won the NESCAC tournament in both years that he was given the award, Ryan Sharry ’12 and the runner-up Panthers finished 26-4 that season. Troy Whittington ’10 and Williams went 29-3 in 2010-11. You get the idea. With no clear cut dominant team in the NESCAC this season the award could go to a player on a middle of the pack team, but not one who isn’t in the NESCAC playoffs.

SG Lucas Hausman ’16

Odds: 25:1

Another Bowdoin guy, and another that has elevated his game to a new level this season. Hausman has been an animal in conference play, averaging 23.7 points per game. He’s somewhat one dimensional; he loves to cut to the hoop, especially in transition, and force off-balance shots in traffic. But hey, it works for him. He is shooting 44.9 percent from the field in conference games and he is arguably the league’s best free throw shooter, which is good because he gets to the stripe more than anyone. As unfair as it is, his class might hurt Hausman somewhat in this chase. If it comes down to him and a senior who seem like a toss-up, the award will probably land in the elder’s hands. But a strong tournament run could quickly and significantly improve Hausman’s odds.

G/F Connor Green ’16

Odds: 18:1

After a fantastic sophomore campaign in which Green became the Lord Jeffs’ second option to Toomey, Green had a bit of a slow start to 2014-15. Through his first two games of January (10 total), Green was averaging 13.2 PPG. In the subsequent 10 games? 18.0 points per game. And in the last five, since the changing of the guard occurred at the point, Green has topped 30 points twice, including 33 against Bowdoin on Jan. 31, a record for the junior against D-III opponents (Green dropped 42 against D-II Nova Southeastern in a 105-101 loss last season). With more strong games against Conn. College and Wesleyan this weekend, followed by a big game against Middlebury next weekend, Green could leap frog those with better odds and steal this award. That last game in particular will be huge, as Green will probably have to deal with the size, speed and strength of Dylan Sinnickson ’15. A win in that head-to-head matchup, much like the one earned by our POY favorite, will go a long way towards winning over the votes of the NESCAC coaches.

PG Graham Safford ’15

Odds: 9:1

Safford fits the POY mold; senior leader, battle-tested, big moments on his resume, leading scorer, fills up the stat sheet and almost never leaves the court. Like Toomey in the last two years, Safford is the type of court general without whom his team would fall apart. Let’s compare the stat lines of Toomey from ’13-’14 and Safford from this year:

Safford: 36.6 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 6.1 APG, 2.3 SPG, 1.5 A/TO, 39.2 FG%, 31.2 3PT%, 78.3 FT%

Toomey: 34.6 MPG, 19.9 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 6.4 APG, 2.0 SPG, 2.5 A/TO, 46.4 FG%, 40.2 3PT%, 91.2 FT%

The glaring difference doesn’t appear until you start looking at the percentages. Toomey was a more prolific scorer and he did it in a more efficient way, but Safford is comparable to Toomey across the board in other categories. The most important thing in favor of Safford’s campaign is that Bates rides or dies with the point guard’s play. If he can take them to the NESCAC Championship game he might convince the coaches that he is worthy of the award.

F Dylan Sinnickson ’15

Odds: 5:1

What a great story this kid is. As a freshman on Middlebury’s best team ever he played just over 10 minutes per game, averaged 5.7 PPG and shot just two, that’s right, two, three-pointers. Then he had to sit out his entire sophomore campaign because of a broken arm. Last year he returned and was a revelation, running the pick and roll to perfection with Joey Kizel ’14 and spreading the floor, dropping 43 percent of his attempts from long range, including a couple of game winners. He’s past the injury that took away his sophomore season, he’s returned with a vengeance from the personal break that he took from the game last season, and he’s completely reinvented his game. He’s possibly the most athletic guy in the NESCAC in any sport. He runs like the wind. On the baseball diamond he’s known for beating out routine grounders to shortstop. He jumps through the roof. And when he grows that hair out people often refer to him around campus as “That kid that looks like Jesus”.

The numbers bear out the praise. Sinnickson has racked up 18.7 PPG (4th in NESCAC), 11.1 RPG (1st), and does so with good percentages, 48.0 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from deep. On the other end of the floor, he often draws the opponent’s trickiest matchups. Hamilton’s Ajani Santos ’16 and Conn’s Zuri Pavlin ’17 can tell you just how much of a menace Sinnickson can be. The only reason he isn’t tops on this list is because in his toughest head-to-head matchup of the season Sinnickson was bested by our POY favorite.

G/F Dan Wohl ’15

Odds: 3:1

Against Middlebury last Friday night, Wohl went 5-10 from the field and 7-7 from the stripe for 18 points while also shutting down Sinnickson, who went 3-11 from the field for seven points. Wohl has been consistently great, but he has truly been incredible since a December 6 matchup with Springfield. Amidst all the change of the offseason, there seemed to be a transition period for this Williams team at the beginning of the season, and while they are still working out some of the kinks, Wohl seems to have gotten very comfortable. In the span of 28 seconds near the end of that Springfield game, Wohl completed an and-1 and flushed another lay up to put the Ephs up nine and score what would end up as the winning basket. He added a steal and two more free throws in the final two minutes to seal the victory, finishing with 20 points and seven boards. Since that game, Wohl has averaged 22.1 PPG.

Wohl is the second-leading scorer in conference games while also snagging 8.5 RPG in those games, and is among the league’s best defenders, swiping 1.3 SPG while playing lock-down defense. Williams still has to play Bates, Tufts, Conn and Wesleyan before the season is out. All of those teams except Conn are in the top half of the NESCAC in scoring defense, meaning that it will be a challenge for Wohl to keep up his scoring production down the stretch. But if he can score 18 on Middlebury, Wohl should be up for the challenge.

Joe Loves Efficiency Part 27: Fantasy Report 2/4

Joe missed the impact of Tufts' big man Hunter Sabety '17. (Courtesy of Tufts Athletics)
Joe missed the impact of Tufts’ big man Hunter Sabety ’17. (Courtesy of Tufts Athletics)

This was a big week in fantasy with injuries playing a big role. Joe did not have two of his top players, Chris Hudnut ’16 and Hunter Sabety ’17 healthy. Given the lack of public information about injuries, we have entered into a gentleman’s agreement to have bench players automatically fill in for players who get injured. Therefore our rosters ended up looking this.

Lord of the ‘Cac (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
POS. Player Player
Guard G. Safford J. Starks
Guard J. Brown L. Hausman
Guard J. McCarthy L. Westman
Forward J. Swords E. Ogundeko
Forward A. Santos D. George
Forward Mar. Delpeche Z. Pavlin
Forward D. Sinnickson H. Merryman
Bench R. Epps H. Sabety
Bench J. Brown J. Lin
Bench S. Ajayi C. Hudnut

This was the biggest week for both of us. I thought my 189 points was a lot, but buoyed by the huge weekend from Lucas Hausman ’16, Joe scored a whopping 218 points. Not surprisingly, he also beat me in FT% and FG% with a lot of different people pitching in. But then, beyond that my team had a much better all-around week. The reemergence of Johnny McCarthy ’18 was huge for me. His 7 blocks helped me squeak out a victory in that category. Graham Safford ’15 was my MVP this week, and Hausman was Joe’s best player.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Points 189 218
Assists 36 23
Rebounds 98 83
Steals 25 15
Blocks 19 18
FT% 67.2% (43/64) 77.6% (66/85)
FG% 40.5% (62/153) 47.6% (70/147)
3PT Made 15 10

Yesterday Joe said he has an “obsession with efficiency.” No place is that shown in real life more than Fantasy. For those who don’t remember (I know that’s everyone), Joe took Luke Westman ’16 with the third overall pick. I scoffed at this considering how few points Westman had scored to that point, and took Graham Safford ’15 with my next pick. That sequence in many ways is the defining moment of our fantasy foray. At this point, it looks more and more possible that we end the season tied at 4-4. My chances of winning outright are extremely low, and Joe losing Sabety and Hudnut will make it hard for him to come back in rebounds. Our differing philosophies might end in an anti-climactic impasse.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe) Leader
Points 594 721 Joe
Assists 99 126 Joe
Rebounds 318 303 Adam
Steals 62 49 Adam
Blocks 59 39 Adam
FT% 68.8% ( 130/189) 76.8% (229/298) Joe
FG% 45.% (215/473) 48.9% (255/521) Joe
3PT Made 51 25 Adam

Overall Score: Tied 4-4

All Aboard the Express: Fantasy Report 1/29

If we are being completely honest, I’ve never actually played fantasy basketball before. I’ve been in leagues with friends where we had drafts and stuff, but I’ve never paid attention and gotten invested in it. Maybe that explains why I stood pat and didn’t adjust my roster this week besides to make sure I took Dylan Sinnickson ’15, who didn’t have a conference game, out of lineup and put in Rashid Epps ’16, a player I thought was going to see an uptick in production. Meanwhile Joe got his namesake Joseph Lin ’15 back into the starting lineup and benched Jaquann Starks ’16. Then he gave Zuri Pavlin ’17 and Hunter Sabety ’17 the nod this week over Hunter Merryman ’15, who also didn’t have a conference game, and Ed Ogundeko ’15.

Lord of the ‘Cac (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Player Player
Guard G. Safford Guard J. Lin
Guard D. Wohl Guard L. Hausman
Guard J. McCarthy Guard L. Westman
Forward J. Swords Forward C. Hudnut
Forward A. Santos Forward D. George
Forward Mar. Delpeche Forward Z. Pavlin
Forward R. Epps Forward H. Sabety
Bench D. Sinnickson Bench H. Merryman
Bench J. Brown Bench J. Starks
Bench S. Ajayi Bench E. Ogundeko

No two ways around it, I got thrashed this week. Nobody on my team performed better than expected except for Graham Safford ’15 who had eight assists, six rebounds and four steals to go along with 13 points. Joe enjoyed a solid offensive week especially in the points category where Lucas Hausman ’16 led the way with 24. Joe’s efficiency starts with the efficiency king Luke Westman ’16, but other guys like Sabety were also crucial in overcoming a subpar shooting week from Lin and Chris Hudnut ’16. The only other category where Joe had a significant lead over me was assists where Lin continued to be a dynamo with another casual nine dimes. My down week did not cost me too badly except in points where a 51-point deficit in one week is hard to overcome. Here’s the Week 3 scoresheet.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Points 53 104
Assists 16 27
Rebounds 49 52
Steals 8 12
Blocks 7 6
FT% 61.5% (8/13) 73.5% (25/34)
FG% 41.2% (21/51) 45.8% (38/83)
3PT Made 3 3

Even though the conference season is only halfway over, a lot of the categories are already so lopsided that they are unlikely to change hands. Points, once well within reach for me, is now dangerously close to being sewn up for Joe. Free throw percentage and assists are two categories Joe can practically guarantee because he has far and away the strongest individual performers in those statistics. I can look at blocks and three pointers as the only two categories where I am comfortably ahead. So the season looks like it will come down to rebounds, steals, and field goal percentage, with rebounds the closest of them all. Look for us to adjust our rosters over the next couple of weeks to try to fully take advantage of our team’s relative strengths and weaknesses.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe) Leader
Points 405 503 Joe
Assists 63 103 Joe
Rebounds 220 220 Tied
Steals 37 34 Adam
Blocks 40 21 Adam
FT% 69.6% ( 87/125) 78.9% (163/213) Joe
FG% 47.8% (153/320) 49.5% (185/374) Joe
3PT Made 36 15 Adam

Overall Score: Joe leads 4-3-1

The Fantasy Continues: Week 2

We’re back with another edition of the fantasy basketball report. As a reminder, Lin and Tonic (Joe) led after one week, 5-3. Despite my strategy to draft big men early, I ended up with a commanding lead in assists and a slight advantage in steals and a major deficit in rebounds and blocks after Week 1, so I made the decision to drop the injured Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 in favor of Ed Ogundeko ’17, who played really well in the first week of conference play. I then decided to move Ogundeko into my starting lineup over Zuri Pavlin ’17, who only had one conference game this weekend. In the back court I moved Jaquann Starks ’16 into the lineup for Joseph Lin ’15. I never should have doubted Lin, who had 43 points, 18 assists and six steals on the weekend. Whoops…

Adam shook up his lineup a bit, too, but didn’t make any roster changes, so our lineups going into the weekend looked like this:

Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
POS. Player Player
Guard G. Safford J. Starks
Guard D. Wohl L. Hausman
Guard J. McCarthy L. Westman
Forward J. Swords C. Hudnut
Forward D. Sinnickson E. Ogundeko
Forward A. Santos H. Merryman
Forward Mar. Delpeche D. George
Bench J. Brown Z. Pavlin
Bench S. Ajayi H. Sabety
Bench R. Epps J. Lin

First we’ll show you the scoresheet for Week 2 alone. Notice that scoring was way, way down from Week 1. Also, just looking at who we decided not to start, and I’ve already mentioned my mistake to bench Lin, but Adam really could have benefited from Jake Brown’s ’17 19 assists. Of course the tradeoff would have been only getting seven points and six boards. On the other side, having Hunter Sabety ’17 in the lineup would have been pretty helpful. After missing the conference opener against Middlebury last weekend, Sabety came back strong against Amherst and Trinity, scoring 28 on 14-21 shooting (66.7 percent) with eight rebounds and four blocks.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Points 139 146
Assists 25 25
Rebounds 67 99
Steals 16 4
Blocks 14 9
FT% 74.4% (32/43) 72.8% (59/81)
FG% 40.9% (56/137) 48.8% (63/129)
3PT Made 15 6

Just by glancing at the table above, it’s clear that I was able to maintain my leads in points and assists and the percentage categories, while also closing the gap in rebounds, so I should be pretty happy.

HausmanShooting
Lucas Hausman ’16 has increased his scoring by 7.7 points per game this season, and poured in 49 points for Joe’s Lin and Tonic squad this past weekend. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics and CIPhotography.com)

 

Unfortunately steals, blocks and 3PT made are quickly slipping out of reach. Take a look now at the composite standings.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 352 399 Joe
Assists 47 76 Joe
Rebounds 171 168 Adam
Steals 29 22 Adam
Blocks 33 15 Adam
FT% 70.5% (79/112) 77.1% (138/179) Joe
FG% 49.1% (132/269) 50.5% (147/291) Joe
3PT Made 33 12 Adam

Overall score: Tied 4-4

Caution! Potential for Chaos: Weekend Preview 1/16

We are predicting (even hoping) that this weekend is the one that officially throws the league into chaos. There is a very good chance that after this weekend not a single team will be undefeated in conference. Bates, Trinity, Colby and Tufts are the four teams still unbeaten. Bates plays Trinity tonight while the Jumbos head to Hartford for a matchup with Trinity on Saturday. Bates and Tufts both play Amherst in their other game this weekend. Meanwhile, Colby plays Hamilton and Williams at home. While the Mules looked good last weekend, we can’t call them an elite team just yet and Williams presents a big challenge for them. In almost every game this weekend there is a good case to be made for either team winning.

Three Players to Watch

1. Forward Tom Palleschi ’17 (Tufts): An injury to fellow big man Hunter Sabety ’17 for the Middlebury game contributed to Palleschi scoring 18 points on 8-11 shooting as the Jumbos sprung a big upset on Middlebury. Well, the term “upset” is contingent on the idea that Tufts early season struggles are unfixable. Sabety’s status for this weekend is still unclear, and Tufts has to go on the road and play Amherst and Trinity. If Sabety is out then Palleschi will once again be the focal point of the offense. After an uneven start, he is now averaging over 10.0 points per game. He is tough to guard because he has a very good mid range shot but can also go into the post and get buckets from there.

2. Guard Jake Brown ’17 (Middlebury): Last week Bates coach Jon Furbush made a bold tactical decision to have one of the Delpeche brothers guard Brown. Brown was goaded to shoot from the outside and had no way of getting into the lane and distributing. He finished the game with nine points, but he went 1-7 from deep. I would not expect Wesleyan to put Joseph Kuo ’17 on Brown, but whoever does guard him will give Brown all the space he wants to shoot. Brown knows that he does not have to be a scorer either. On Tuesday he went 0-5 from the field, but still had a good game because he passed out nine assists. Expect him to pass up outside shots and just try to get into the lane time and time again.

3. Guard Mike Boornazian ’16 (Bates): Another huge weekend for Bates as they go on the road to play Amherst and Trinity. Graham Safford ’15 is the leader for the Bobcats, but Boornazian is the player who makes them special if he plays well. He averages 14.2 PPG, but that comes on only 38.9 percent shooting. His importance is derived in large part from his ability to guard positions 2-4. Boornazian slowed down Dylan Sinnickson ’15 when he guarded him last week, and he will have a similar task against either Johnny McCarthy ’18 or newly minted 1,000 point scorer Connor Green ’16. Boornazian needs two stellar performances if Bates is going to pull out two tough road victories.

Three Games to Watch

1. Friday 7 PM: Wesleyan (11-4, 1-1) at Middlebury (10-2, 0-2)

No game is a must win this early in the conference season, and Middlebury knows that they don’t need to press, but there is still a sense of urgency for the Panthers. Falling to 0-3 is far from a death sentence, but the way Middlebury played at Tufts set off a lot of warning bells. How much of last weekend was a result of a stomach virus that ravaged the team is as of now unclear.

On the other side Wesleyan just got run out of the gym in the second half against Amherst. The game was much closer than the final score of 69-46 made it appear, but the Cardinals never really threatened the Jeffs. Amherst did a really good job of closing down on Jack Mackey ’16 and Harry Rafferty ’17 and without that outside shooting, the Cardinals offense was simply unexplosive. Wesleyan can live with a meh offense so long as their defense holds its own, but first Colby and then Amherst were able to find holes in the Cardinal armor. Sinnickson is a matchup problem for a lot of teams, and Wesleyan will likely have Rashid Epps ’16 on him. Epps is stronger than Sinnickson, but Sinnickson is also a dead-eye shooter. Against Bates, most of the threes that he missed rimmed in and out. He and Hunter Merryman ’15 will rely on Brown to get them open looks from deep.

2. Friday 7:00 PM: Bates (11-2, 1-0) at Trinity (12-3, 2-0)

Trinity just saw Merchant Marine, of all teams, snap their 10-game winning streak. The offensive struggles that Trinity always has to worry about reappeared. Because of an off game from Jaquann Starks ’17, they could not create anything and shot poorly from the outside. The loss takes a good deal of the shine away from the Bantams and could possibly haunt them in a couple of months if they are looking to get an at-large bid.

How much the referees let these two teams play could have a major impact because of the possibility for foul trouble. Both teams love to play physical, especially on the boards. Bates is more than happy to slow the game down just like Trinity so this could be a game that ends up somewhere in the 50s.

3. Saturday 3:00 PM: Williams (10-4, 1-1) at Colby (9-5, 2-0)

You should watch this game because Williams has decided that every game they play in this season is going to be awesome. Counting their December clash against Wesleyan, the three games the Ephs have had against NESCAC teams have combined for three overtimes, and then of course the one game that did not go into overtime ended on this crazy Ryan Kilcullen ’15 buzzerbeater.

These two teams are at the very bottom of the NESCAC in defense and near the top in scoring so that should make the game a wide-open, fun one to watch. Though Kilcullen and the Ephs held their own against two physical frontcourts in Trinity and Amherst, Chris Hudnut ’16 is a much more skilled offensive player than anyone on those two teams. Colby came back against Wesleyan because Hudnut came alive in the second half. With Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 still out, Dan Wohl ’15 will once again have to make a ton of plays on offense. Wohl is now the front-runner for NESCAC Player of the Year and after averaging 30.0 PPG last weekend. For Colby to keep pace with the potent Williams offense, they need their supporting players like Sam Willson ’16 and Ryan Jann ’16 to make outside shots.