Tag: Mike Boornazian

Not Playing Around: Bates vs. Trinity Email Chain

The Bates student body is ready to make the trip to Babson (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)
The Bates student body is ready to make the trip to Babson (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)

NothingbutNESCAC: In the lead up to the big game tomorrow night, we wanted to give everyone the chance to hear from some more, well, partisan viewpoints. We managed to get the student announcers for Trinity (Sean Meekins and Carson Kenney) and Bates (Connor Colombo and Rob DiFranco) on one email chain. We told them to lay out their arguments for why their respective team would win. All four also happen to play baseball, which added to the friendly banter back and forth.

Sean Meekins (Trinity): I honestly may not watch the game. If there is any chance of a college game being a shut out, it is this one on Friday night.

Connor Colombo (Bates): I completely agree with you man; Bates’ defense is that good that Trinity may be shut out. Good prediction on your part….

Carson Kenney (Trinity): What’s going on boys. Hope everyone is enjoying this Monday evening. Just want to clarify: is this the same Bates that Trinity beat by 7 earlier this year when Safford and Boornazian combined to shoot a glorious 6-26 from the field? Or is there another Bates in upstate New York or something?

Rob DiFranco (Bates): Remind us: Is this the same Trinity College Bantams that caught an L against a school called Merchant Marine who held a 2-11 record at that time?

CK (Trinity): ​Ahhh I knew this would come up. Let me take this Sean. That game actually was wild because somehow our women’s team showed up instead of the men’s team (classic mixup). Since it was our fault for the mixup, they decided to play the ball as it lies and count it as a real game.
Yeah I actually got nothing for that one. I was hoping neither of you two remembered that. Point: Bates, for that one. All sarcasm aside, Safford and Boornazian scare me since the generally accepted blueprint to winning March Madness is good guard play. So Starks/Hurd/Gliedman will have to step up. But I like our bigs over Bates bigs. Papadeas and Ogundeko will give Delpeche all he can handle. Plus Ajayi and Conaway typically cause match up problems at the 3/4

CC (Bates): College basketball is reliant on good guard play when it comes to the tournament as you said. Looking back to that match-up between Bates and Trinity earlier in the season, you mentioned that Bates lost by 7 with Boornazian/Safford shooting a poor 6-26 from the field combined. How have they fared in this tournament so far? Well, they are averaging 44 PPG combined, while Trinity’s leading scorers (Stark and Ajayi) have only averaged 25.5 combined, nearly a 20 POINT difference!! Not to mention the Delpeche twins and Boornazian have combined for 8 blocks down low while Trinity’s starting forwards have only combined for 4 blocks so far. So it seems Bates has the better offensive backcourt as well as the better defensive frontcourt right now….let’s just say that’s not a good thing for the Bantams as they are about to face a red hot Bobcat squad

CK (Trinity): No doubt Boornazian and Safford can play well. But as far as the Big Man block argument: Delpeche^2 and Boornazian have combined for 8 blocks but for Trinity, Ogundeko, Papadeas, and Conaway combined for 8 as well in both tourney games. Albeit, Ogundeko and Papadeas are rarely on the court at the same time, and Conaway, who’s a starter, has 4 of those 8.  Kid can jump out of the gym and guard just about anyone.
As far as scoring goes, no doubt that Bates is heating up at the right time and again, Boornazian and Safford are a two-headed monster that no team wants to face right now. But from what I’m seeing, and was the case against Trinity last time, their shooting efficiency is pretty tough. Against Stockton, the two combined for 32 points, yes. But they combined to shoot 32 percent (9-28) which isn’t great offensive efficiency. One of the Delpeche twins had 17 points and shot over 50 percent but I’m going to assume a handful of those points from the field came off of clanks from Safford or Boornazian since he had 4 O-Rebs that game. Not to say this is bound to happen, but looking at season stats, Safford, who is the team’s leading scorer, is eighth out of 11 in shooting percentage of players for Bates who have played in more than 15 games (37.9 percent). He shoots two pennies over 30 percent from beyond the arc. However he is second on the team (by 0.1) in field goals attempted per game.
Trinity also held opponents to 38.2 percent shooting from the field this season (32.1 percent from 3-pt land) so I have a feeling the Bates offense will slow down a bit on Friday.  For what it’s worth: Trinity faced a Colby-Sawyer team who had 2 players combine for 88 points in the two games leading up to their game against Trinity… they combined for 15 points against the Bants. Trinity also faced a Salisbury squad whose leading scorer put up 37 the night before against an Eastern Connecticut squad (that beat Colby this year by 21, the same Colby team that Bates beat twice by only a combined score of 11). Against Trinity, that player put up an earth shattering four (FOUR) points.  Point being: Trinity’s defense welcomes team’s leading scorers with open arms.
Also, Bates players hate snow days. *Drops the mic*

Jaquann Starks '16 driving against Salisbury last weekend. (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics)
Jaquann Starks ’16 driving against Salisbury last weekend. (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics)

RD (Bates): As I take the microscope off of our All-NESCAC First Team PG and our most recent thousand point scorer (Boornazian as a junior) and their “poor” offensive efficiencies, I wanted to express some facts prior to this game. The game will be played at Babson College which might as well be in Lewiston, Maine. Bates has won two games on that court this season including against the nationally ranked Babson squad. Not to mention, carloads of intoxicated Bates students (driven by a designated driver) as well as local alumni will be filling up Staake Gym. Cat Country is notorious for getting rowdy and rattling opponents. That will definitely test the Bantams at the free throw line. In my eyes, Wellesley, Massachusetts looks a lot like home-court advantage for Bates and we know the Bobcats can do in their natural habitat (12-1 record at home). The Bants are going to have to look to their own team to gather some momentum because I don’t think there will be much in the bleachers.
On a less serious note, our team manager/supervisor of morale – Mike Tomaino – can beat your team manager one on one. Sent from night class, Spanks.

CK (Trinity): ​The one thing that jumps out to me on the Trinity side is the play of Shay Ajayi over the last month or so.  The last time the Bants faced Bates, Ajayi scored only two points on 1-4 shooting. However in the last eight games Trinity has played (dating back to January 31 against Colby) Ajayi has put up double digits seven out of the eight games, all above his season average.  This means he should have plenty of confidence coming into Friday night. If he plays like he has been lately, it will help spread the ball and give Bates more to worry about from an athleticism standpoint.

SM (Trinity): Bates basketball wears seat belts on the bus.

CC (Bates): Trinity basketball jumps from the free throw line.

CK (Trinity): ​Game, Set, Match: Connor Colombo. Also, I just saw Andre Drummond tweet at Boornazian? Can one of you guys explain that to me?

CC (Bates): Boornazian and Drummond go way back to the chain link net days in the backyard growing up. Both are good friends from Connecticut and still keep in touch very often. Mike has even lived with Andre during the summers and worked out with NBA stars like Kevin Love to improve his game. Yes, Andre has been to Bates before and yes, he did put on a show in Alumni during some pickup ball.

CK (Trinity): ​Since it’s the Sweet 16 and I’m feeling myself after predicting Trinity’s first round game point differential spot on and only being two off in the second round, I’m gonna say Trinity wins this one 76-73 in an overtime thriller. At which point I expect Mr. Colombo to write a hand written congratulatory note that can be delivered to the Larocque household where I will pick it up at Easter.
In all seriousness, this has all the makings for a great college basketball game. Wish we could be there. Best of luck to you guys this [baseball] season as well, except for the weekend of March 27.

SM (Trinity): Bates obviously has the home court advantage, which is garbage because Trinity is the higher seed. But I think the rest has helped Trinity recover after the battles this weekend. I think Trinity wins this one 64-59. I feel like their defense is going to come to play. It also helps Trinity that Bates wears ankle socks with black new balances, which is an absolute dusty look, and based on looks alone Trinity will pull this one off by five. It is unfortunate Trinity students will be on break because as the visiting teams know from hockey games, the fans are a major factor (Bates didn’t get the invite to the whole NESCAC hockey party). In other notes, mens’ hockey is going to the Frozen Four. If you want to throw that prediction into the mix, lock it up and throw away the key.

CC (Bates): Touché Carson. Although your score predictions may be straight out of a genie’s magic ball, I think putting this game into overtime is a bit of a stretch. I’m guessing Safford and Boornazian combine for a whopping 50 points and their three point shooting is above 45 percent. I don’t know what your relationship is with the Trinity basketball players, but us baseball players have a strong bond with the basketball team and I have never seen a more confident group than this one. Safford has done all he can this offseason and regular season to be ready for the position he is in now. The senior is ready to play the biggest game of his career. Philpott, Selmon, the twins, Newton, and Boornazian also know they all need to give their best efforts to push this team into the Elite 8. Final score: 72-65 Bates. Good luck to all the players participating in this ever so exciting NESCAC sweet sixteen matchup, and may the best team win.
Goodnight fellas… and no matter what the result, I’m sure we all want to see one of these NESCAC teams represent the conference in the Final Four. Connor Colombo, aka Bumbo, signing off.

SM (Trinity): Carson just said, “If they score 50 points, I will crab walk around campus for a week.” That’s how confident he is that this won’t happen.

RD (Bates): I’m gonna say Bobcats by six, 62-56, after cutting a halftime deficit. I don’t think Boornazian and Safford will combine for 50, but they’ll obviously contribute enough for Bates to win down the stretch. But if they do happen to combine for 50 I need some footage of this crab walk. Anyways, good luck fellas and hopefully a NESCAC squad will be represented in the Natty Ship. See you on the diamond.

CK (Trinity): Let the record show that I never actually said that…

Survive and Advance Is the Name of the Game: Stock Report 3/9

Though it doesn’t get the publicity that the D-I tournament does, the D-III hoops tourney is even more chaotic and wide-open than what is commonly called March Madness. The first two rounds of the tournament are played on back-to-back days. Keeping track of all the action is borderline impossible, but somehow the miracle workers at D3Hoops.com do it.

Luckily for us, we only worry about one conference, though with four NESCAC teams in the tournament it was still a little crazy. Wesleyan lost in the first round to Skidmore while Amherst fell in the second round to St. John Fisher. However, Bates and Trinity both won their Regionals and now will face against each other at Babson at 5:30 PM on Friday.

Stock Up

Shooting Guard Mike Boornazian ’16 (Bates)

Well let’s see, Boornazian averaged 20.0 PPG, helped Bates advance to the Sweet 16, and scored his 1,000 career point. Not a bad weekend. Friday night Boornazian played second banana as Graham Safford ’15 controlled the proceedings with 30 points and 10 assists. On Saturday against Stockton, Safford struggled a bit, and it was Boornazian who carried the load. He finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. He scored 14 of his points in the first half before going cold for most of the second half. Boornazian did a good job of adjusting and handed out all three of his assists during the second half, including one very pretty layoff that led to an easy Adam Philpott ’15 layup. Combined with a big game from Malcolm Delpeche ’17 (17 points and 10 rebounds), Boornazian helped the Bobcats overcome a subpar game from Safford and advance. Guard play becomes magnified in the tournament, and Bates should feel confident knowing they have both Safford and Boornazian.

Trinity Defense

They call the NCAAs the Big Dance, and the Bantams made sure to dance with the one that got them there: their defensive effort. The Bantams had started clamping down already before their loss to Wesleyan in the NESCAC semifinals (the score was 55-52 after all), but something tells me that Coach Jim Cosgrove was able to really get the message through to his players because of that loss. Things looked bad for Trinity early as their first round opponent, Colby-Sawyer, came out firing and held a 24-8 lead with 10:27 left in the first half. Then Trinity regrouped during a 20-second timeout and allowed only SIX points for the rest of the half. After scoring 24 points in 9:33, it took Colby-Sawyer exactly 26 minutes to score their next 24 points. At that point the score was 53-48 in the Bantams’ favor, and the Bantams hung on for the victory. Then Trinity played even better defense on Saturday holding Salisbury to 47 points on 29.5 percent shooting.

Shay Ajayi '16 tallied 22 points and 12 boards in the Bantams' two victories this weekend. (Courtesy of Trinity Sports Information/NESCAC.com)
Shay Ajayi ’16 tallied 22 points and 12 boards in the Bantams’ two victories this weekend. (Courtesy of Trinity Sports Information/NESCAC.com)

Point Guard Andrew Hurd ’16 (Trinity)

Though he comes off the bench, Hurd was crucial for Trinity this weekend. Hurd, a transfer from Central Connecticut State this fall, has become a more integral part of Trinity’s success as the season has gone along. When he is in the game, he takes over the primary ball-handling duties and allows Jaquann Starks ’16 to work off the ball. Unlike Starks, Hurd looks to pass when he gets into the lane, and his two assists in the final minutes were the difference for Trinity against Colby-Sawyer. Though he is only 5’10” and 160 lbs (he looks like he weighs even less if that is possible), Hurd is a very good defender. He seems to have an innate sense of knowing what the opposing ball-handler is going to do. He combines that with great lateral movement and quick hands to get a lot of steals. He had seven alone this weekend. Hurd adds another wrinkle to Trinity that makes them tougher on both ends of the floor.

NESCAC Overall

I think this weekend demonstrated just how good of a league the NESCAC is. Williams, Amherst and Middlebury are all known and respected nationwide as great programs because of their success, and some people wrote off the NESCAC as simply not being very good this year because those teams weren’t on top. So for the league to go 5-2 this weekend and send two teams to the Sweet 16 is very impressive. Bates and Trinity are certainly not associated with basketball, even though Trinity has won in the not so distant past. Over the past three seasons, seven different teams from the NESCAC have made it into the tournament. That number could very well jump up even further next season if Colby or Tufts delivers on the promise we saw this season. But first, we have one final NESCAC match-up to dissect and predict.

Stock Down

Momentum

Wesleyan was unquestionably the hottest team entering the tournament while Amherst was also playing well entering this weekend. However, it was Bates and Trinity, the two teams that struggled down the stretch, that ended up advancing. Now you might be saying, ‘What do you mean Trinity struggled down the stretch? They went 9-1 in the NESCAC and barely lost in the semifinals to Wesleyan?’ Well, Trinity had won five of their last six games by single digits (the other game was against Conn College) before losing to Wesleyan. Obviously the Bantams’ style means they play close games, but this was still a concerning trend. The time off seemed to help Bates a lot in terms of regaining their mojo while the loss for Trinity helped them to refocus. Obviously, Wesleyan winning the NESCAC tournament is the biggest accomplishment of any team this season unless the winner of Bates-Trinity ends up going to the Final Four. I just want to point out that counting out teams because they haven’t been playing well lately can make you look stupid. That is what Bates did to me as I picked against them twice.

Point Guards Jayde Dawson ’18 and Reid Berman ’17 (Amherst)

As good as Reid Berman '17 was on Friday, he struggled on Saturday and sat out for much of the second half with foul trouble. (Courtesy of Amherst Sports Information/NESCAC.com)
As good as Reid Berman ’17 was on Friday, he struggled on Saturday and sat out for much of the second half with foul trouble. (Courtesy of Amherst Sports Information/NESCAC.com)

If you have read us all season, you know how much we have focused on the point guard situation for Amherst since the graduation of Aaron Toomey ’14. First, we do need to acknowledge that Berman played a fantastic game on Friday finishing with a career high 28 points. Unfortunately on Saturday neither point guard had a very good game which was just part of the reason why Amherst lost. The Jeffs ran into a St. John Fisher team that shot the ball lights out from deep (22-23 from the line too), and they couldn’t keep up because their offense was too disjointed. Dawson and Berman combined for 13 points, five assists, and six turnovers.

Bowdoin

Of course Bowdoin didn’t play this weekend, but it must have hurt the Polar Bears to watch Bates advance to the Sweet 16 and not just because Bates and Bowdoin are such bitter rivals. After all, it was only a few weeks ago that Bowdoin demolished Bates 98-70 in Brunswick in a game that showed just how good the Polar Bears were. However, they missed out on the tournament by a couple of spots and ended up at home this weekend. The Polar Bears still might have had to win the NESCAC tournament just to make it into the Dance though. Bowdoin will not enjoy watching Bates take on Trinity, a team they lost to by one point.

 

Fun Facts from This Weekend’s NCAA Action

It was a shame to see the season end for the NESCAC Champ Wesleyan Cardinals and Amherst, but all NESCAC fans will have something to watch this Friday night when Trinity and Bates play for a shot at the Elite Eight and, potentially, a date with top-five Sectional host Babson. More on that to come, but right now here’s a couple quick hitters from a wild weekend of NCAA basketball for the NESCAC.

– Amherst’s Connor Green ’16 struggled offensively down the stretch, but he did manage to sink two trey balls in the Jeffs’ season-ending loss, giving him 78 on the season. That’s the highest total in the NESCAC this season, and one more than teammate Jeff Racy ’17 and Jack Mackey ’16 had on the year. The Jeff scoring leader also finished with 464 points on the season, third in the NESCAC and 73 behind scoring champ Lucas Hausman ’16.

– Mike Boornazian ’16 hit three free throws with 2:58 left in the second half last night to give him 17 points on the game and 1,000 in his career. With that make he joined teammate Graham Safford ’15, Williams’ Dan Wohl ’15 and Green as the players who shot their way into the 1,000 point club this season. On the list of departing seniors who got close are Dylan Sinnickson ’15 (884, and he didn’t play his sophomore season), John Swords ’15 (923), Hunter Merryman ’15 (948, just 51 in his freshman year), and, in gut-wrenching fashion, Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15, who scored 999 points in the midst of an injury-riddled career.

– Bates and Trinity are meeting in the Sweet 16 this Friday night. Two NESCAC teams haven’t met that deep into the NCAA Tournament since … oh yeah, last year’s Final Four, when Williams dominated Amherst in the semifinal, avenging three regular season losses to the Jeffs.

– More Bates news! The victory on Saturday was the Bobcats’ 21st of the year, a new program record. The previous high was 20, achieved in 2005-06 under current Wesleyan Head Coach Joe Reilly.

– Speaking of wins records and Wesleyan, the Cards finished the season at 19-9, one win shy of tying the program record set in 2011-12 when Wesleyan went 20-6.

– Friday was the first time that Amherst had played an NCAA First Round game since 2011. The Jeffs received a bye and hosted a Regional for three years from 2012-2014. The loss also stops a run of two straight Final Four appearances for Amherst. The Jeffs are now 37-17 all time in the NCAA Tournament.

– The Bantams hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament First Round game since 2004 when they beat Lasell but lost in the Second Round. The last Elite Eight trip for Trinity came in 1999, and the last Final Four in 1995. Trinity is now 10-8 all time in the NCAA Tournament.

Hope you enjoyed these fun facts. Let us know if we missed any historic events this weekend!

NCAA Second Round Preview: Bates College at No. 17 Stockton University

Game Information: Bates (20-6) at Stockton (23-5)

Saturday, March 7, 7:00 PM

Sports Center at Stockton University, Galloway, NJ

Live Stats   Video

The prize for winning in the first round is turning right around 24 hours later and doing it all over again. In Bates’ first NCAA tournament in more than 50 years, The Bobcats turned on the jets and shook off some late turnovers to win 92-80 over St. Vincent. In the late game Stockton, the host of the regional, took care of business easily against Endicott winning by 20. This will now be the second straight year that Stockton will take on a NESCAC team. Last season Stockton (then called Richard Stockton … that took us a while to figure out.) beat Bowdoin in the first round of the tournament before going on to shock a highly ranked Cabrini team and making the Sweet 16.

Josh Blamon '15 dropped 24 points and grabbed five boards in Stockton's opening round victory. (Courtesy of Stockton Athletics)
Josh Blamon ’15 dropped 24 points and grabbed five boards in Stockton’s opening round victory. (Courtesy of Stockton Athletics)

However, much more than just the university name has changed. Bates shouldn’t even bother asking Bowdoin Coach Tim Gilbride about the Ospreys because only two players who scored for Stockton last year are still on the roster. Most of the players from last years team either graduated or or no longer with the team for some reason or another. Yet, one of the two remaining players was Josh Blamon ’15 who just won the NJAC Player of the Year Award. The junior will likely receive All-American honors of some sort at the end of the year. He will be a challenge for Mike Boornazian ’16 and Billy Selmon ’15 to guard.

Three Storylines to Watch

1. Who Steps up for Stockton?

Stockton is pretty much a two-man show with Blamon and junior transfer Armin Cane ’16 being the only two consistent scoring threats. The third highest scorer is Marcus Harmon ’18 with only 7.3 PPG. The Ospreys have managed to deal with the loss of the starting point guard Nate Pacius ’16 for the year, but they will need others to step up. Cane and Blamon will score points, I am sure of that, but if Bates gets anywhere close to the 92 they put up yesterday, there is no way those two alone can carry the load. Whoever it is doesn’t need to go off, but they need to hit a couple of threes and maybe get to the line a couple of times just so that Bates can’t gear its defense at two guys.

 2. Does Bates shoot well again?

Nobody on the Bates roster is really a knockdown shooter. But it feels like when one player starts to see the ball go through the hoop, other Bobcats gain a little more confidence and hit more shots too. Yesterday, Boornazian, Safford and Adam Philpott ’15 each hit multiple threes, but nobody else was able to hit shots from deep. The Bobcats should be comfortable in the Stockton gym after having a couple of practices and a game there the last few days. Hitting threes is critical for Bates in the half court offense where they can sometimes become too reliant on Safford driving and him scoring or someone else getting an offensive rebound underneath. Selmon did not hit a three yesterday, and he is a guy capable of hitting a bunch in a row if he gets going.

The Stockton faithful will be louder than ever as the Ospreys play for a Sweet 16 berth. (Courtesy of Stockton Athletics)
The Stockton faithful will be louder than ever as the Ospreys play for a Sweet 16 berth. (Courtesy of Stockton Athletics)

3. Will fatigue be a factor?

Midway through the second half when Bates was up 20, I was hoping that they would be able to extend the lead a little more so that guys like Safford and Boornazian would be able to get just a little more rest than usual. That didn’t happen, but both of them looked fresh down the stretch. The turnaround for NCAA games is very quick. Bates might actually might have a slight advantage in that they get to sleep at a quiet hotel while Stockton players had to sleep around friends celebrating their Friday nights. It will be hard to tell by watching the game how fatigued players are because they will be loathe to not play hard. Instead look at how each team shoots and how many turnovers they have to get some a handle on really how much gas they have in the tank.

Bates X-Factor: Point Guard Graham Safford ’15

As good as Safford has been at points this season, yesterday was his first time scoring 30 points this season. Granted, he only got to that mark because St. Vincent kept fouling and sending him to the free throw line in the waning minutes. Still, he looked comfortable getting into the lane and scored on a number of nice layups. He also managed to hand out 10 assists compared to three turnovers. He was also able to get just a little bit of rest. As we mentioned before, the fact that the NCAA insists on every game having media timeouts every four minutes of game time is a huge boon for Safford. The senior certainly knows that this could be his last game, but it is hard to tell because he maintains such a cool demeanor most of the time.

As always, Graham Safford '15 will be the driving force behind the Bobcats attack. (Courtesy of Daryn Slover/Bates College Athletics)
As always, Graham Safford ’15 will be the driving force behind the Bobcats attack. (Courtesy of Daryn Slover/Bates College Athletics)

Stockton X-Factor: Forward Anthony Woodward ’15

Marcus and Malcolm Delpeche ’17 both enjoyed solid games before both fouling out down the stretch. They will once again enjoy a height advantage over Stockton, but it will not be nearly as pronounced Woodward is one of several 6’5″ players for Stockton, and he is their best rebounder. After coming off the bench last season, he has started almost every game and averages 5.9 RPG in 26.6 MPG. The NJAC is known as a hard-nosed league so Woodward will be ready to use his body down low. Stockton is not a great rebounding team overall, and Bates just had a rebounding margin of +11 yesterday. Woodward needs to be a force in the paint to neutralize the advantage Bates has inside.

Prediction:

Bates certainly looked better yesterday than they had in a couple of weeks, but their inability to put St. Vincent away left a sour taste in my mouth. Without one of the Delpeche brothers in the game, the Bates interior defense melted away.  Obviously it was somewhat flukish that both of them fouled out, but there were way too many easy layups in the second half for St. Vincent. Bates has already exceeded our expectations for them by winning their first round game. They relied heavily on Boornazian and Safford yesterday in pretty much every facet of the game. The two combined for 52 points, and we know they are capable of doing that again.

The Bobcats proved us wrong yesterday, and we hope they prove us wrong again, but Stockton is too good of a team to lose on their home-court in this situation. Even though if you look at the statistics Stockton does not look like a 23-5 team, they know how to win close games. With a go-to scorer in Blamon and a home crowd behind them, Stockton should be able to get past the Bobcats.

Prediction: 71 Stockon – 64 Bates

NCAA First Round Preview: Bates College vs. St. Vincent College

Game Information: Bates (19-6) vs. St. Vincent (22-6)

Friday, March 6, 5:30 PM

Stockton Sports Center at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Galloway, NJ

Live Stats  Video

Adam Philpott '15 (22) and Cam Kaubris '15 (13) haven't had much to cheer about recently. Bates hasn't played since February 21, a NESCAC Quarterfinal loss to Wesleyan. (Courtesy of Daryn Slover/Bates Athletics)
Adam Philpott ’15 (22) and Cam Kaubris ’15 (13) haven’t had much to cheer about recently. Bates hasn’t played since February 21, a NESCAC Quarterfinal loss to Wesleyan. (Courtesy of Daryn Slover/Bates Athletics)

Now in their fifth year being eligible for the NCAA Tournament, the Saint Vincent College Bearcats are going to the dance for the third time. For the third year in a row, St. Vincent, under the tutelage of D.P. Harris, won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title game and earned an automatic bid to the tournament. The Bearcats beat some highly ranked teams this year in Catholic (25-3) and Mount Union (22-6), and their two conferences losses came by a total of six points. Like the majority of the opponents of NESCAC teams in the NCAA tournament, St. Vincent hasn’t played as strong of a schedule as their opponents, but they also come into the Tournament on an eight-game winning streak.

For Bates, the chance to dance is the College’s first since 1961, when Bates played in the NCAA College Division Tournament. The Bobcats and Coach Jon Furbush were holding their breath while waiting to see if they would get invited to the NCAA Tournament.

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep, which I know was the same for a lot of the guys on the team; we were real excited,” Mike Boornazian ’16 said, “Hearing the news, we all just went nuts. I kind of blacked out for about 10 seconds after that. It’s just an honor to be a part of the first team in Bates history to make it. I’m just real excited for this opportunity.”

Three Storylines to Watch:

1. The Resilience of Pat Jones ’16

Strictly speaking on-the-court, Jones has improved leaps and bounds as a player this season, improving on last season’s totals of 5.3 PPG and 3.5 RPG to playing nearly 30 minutes per game and averaging 13.3 PPG and 4.9 RPG in 2014-15. What’s more incredible, though, is that Jones’ mother passed away from cancer at the beginning of this season and that he’s been able to set that aside and, as Coach Harris said, find solace in the game of basketball. Pat Jones’ strength and the way in which his teammates have come together around him is truly inspiring.

2. How many minutes will Graham Safford ’15 and Mike Boornazian ’16 play?

Both players went the distance in the Bobcats’ Quarterfinal loss to Wesleyan in the NESCAC Tournament and seemed worn out by the end. Safford is used to playing nearly the entire game (36.6 MPG), and surely he would never ask to be taken out, but there is no doubt that both his and Boornazian’s legs got a little weary down the stretch. Safford is shooting just 35.1 percent from the field (26-74) in his last six games. Boornazian has kept his production up over that stretch, though. Making Safford work on the defensive end of the floor is also critical in wearing him down over the course of the game. A full two weeks of rest and the extra media timeouts that exist only in the NCAA tournament should keep both guards pretty fresh.

3. Can Bates defend the three?

The Bobcats did a great job of this during the season, holding teams below 30 percent from the arch. But, Jones, Ben Klimchock ’16 and JC Howard ’16 are all deadly from three, so the onus will be on Safford, Boornazian and defensive whiz Billy Selmon ’15 to shut down the long-range shooting attack of the Bearcats. As a team, the Bearcats shot 37.2 percent from three with Jones, Klimchock, and Howard doing the vast majority of the damage.

Bates X-Factors: Take Care of the Ball

The Bobcats are tied for the second most turnovers per game in the NESCAC. Though often an under appreciated part of the game, not turning the ball over is a huge part of being efficient on offense. Bates tends to play at a slower pace making turnovers all the more important for the Bobcats to not give up possessions. For everything great that Safford does for Bates, he led the NESCAC in turnovers with 3.7 per game. He tends to press sometimes and get too deep into the paint without having a great idea of where he is going with the ball. The time off means Bates is more rested, but we also tend to see teams show early signs of not having played in a while. It is unlikely that the extra week off has added much rust, but if it has then Bates will struggle to keep up.

St. Vincent X-Factor: Control the Glass

Compared to Bates, St. Vincent has a smaller front court, but they are still a strong rebounding team with an overall differential of +6.4 RPG. Although we think of Bates of having a significant advantage because of the Delpeche brothers, they actually finished pretty middle of the pack in rebounding differential. St. Vincent does a really good job of rebounding as a team which is why so many different players get rebounds. Somebody like Swartwout usually only plays about 13 MPG, but he still pulls down 3.6 RPG. If the Bearcats are able to get into the lane, their weak side rebounders will work hard to get offensive boards.

What to Expect

Will experience play a role in the outcome of this game? Possibly. Bates obviously didn’t play its best basketball in the NESCAC Quarterfinals, but maybe that disappoint will actually help the Bobcats. And St. Vincent, though they’ve been two the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, has yet to win an NCAA Tournament game.

Expect St. Vincent to throw a myriad of defenses at Bates as they like to mix up their looks on that end. The Bearcats have a very deep bench as well. They can throw a bunch of different looks at Bates. Bobby Swartwout ’16 is 6’6″ 270 lbs. and can bully the Delpeche brothers. Sean Kett ’15, the team’s lone senior, is a high-motor, no-quit type who scores 13.0 PPG and shoots well over 50 percent. Klimchock, Jones and Howard can stretch the floor. Realistically, though, the offensive capabilities of the Bearcats players significantly falls off after Kett, Jones, Howard and point guard Jaylon Bell ’16. With both Delpeche brothers on the floor, Bates will try to neutralize Kett, forcing the Bearcats to take threes and long twos, something that the Bobcats have been fantastic at defending all season long.

Prediction:

In their third try at the NCAA Tournament, I feel as though St. Vincent will finally figure it out. Their ability to go deep in the rotation is something that Bates will struggle with. Fresh legs will keep the tempo up and Bates will start to fade. Jones’ diverse game will be a problem for Bates, and on the other end I see Bates fighting to get into a rhythm while St. Vincent mixes up its looks. Too often this season the Bobcats have handed the ball to Safford and gotten out of the way. I don’t think that flies against this team. If we land all of our predictions, Bates will be the only NESCAC team not playing on Saturday, which would have been a surprise before two weekends ago when the Bobcats could have been considered the favorites to win the NESCAC Tournament.

St. Vincent 75 – Bates 68

NESCAC Quarterfinal Preview: #6 Wesleyan at #3 Bates

Can Bates finish up an undefeated season at Alumni Gym? (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)
Can Bates finish up an undefeated season at Alumni Gym? (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)

To get you ready for Quarterfinal Saturday, the craziest day on the NESCAC calendar, we are going to go in-depth on all four games. The format for each game preview will vary a little, but our goal is to prepare you to expect the unexpected for every game this weekend.

Last time they played: Wesleyan got strong first half performances from Joe Edmonds ’16 and Harry Rafferty and led by four at halftime. After Mike Boornazian ’16 brought the teams to even at 38 all a few minutes into the half, Wesleyan hit three consecutive threes to take a nine-point lead. It looked like Wesleyan was going to notch a big win until Graham Safford ’15 went off. He scored 18 of his 31 points in the final 12:24 to will Bates to the win. Boornazian was the only other Bobcat in double figures while Rafferty, Edmonds and Jack Mackey ’16 all scored 15 points or more for the Cardinals.

Bates X-factor: Forwards Mike Newton ’16 and Max Eaton ’17

The biggest reason for Bates’ great start to the season was the improved play of both Delpeche brothers, but both have cooled off at this point. Tuesday, the two combined for only two points. Newton and Eaton have both received more playing time to compensate, but they are different players. They can shoot some which helps give Bates spacing, but they lack the ability to finish around the rim like Malcolm or Marcus can. If one of the Delpeches struggles, then Newton or Eaton will have to play major minutes. And given the Cardinals’ X-factor, it might help to have a forward who can play away from the basket on the floor.

Wesleyan X-factor: Center Joseph Kuo ’17

The Cardinals have become progressively more perimeter oriented as the year has gone along, but they are still going to make sure to get Kuo the ball a lot. He still has possessions where he makes moves and ends up missing the rim by a couple of feet, but Kuo still makes enough of his post shots that teams have to at least think about doubling him. On defense, he is a good rim protector who does a good job of avoiding fouls. Why are both team’s X-factors post players? Because the perimeter play could very much be a wash given all the talent out there. In the interior and on the boards is where both of these teams really win and lose games.

Three Questions

1. How does Bates try to slow down Wesleyan?

The Bobcats played some 1-3-1 zone earlier in the year, but we have seen less and less of that zone as the season has gone along. Wesleyan has good personnel to play against the zone also with a knockdown shooter in Jack Mackey ’16 and a slasher in BJ Davis ’16. Still, Bates has not had great success in man-to-man. Coach Jon Furbush kept trying different players against Lucas Hausman ’16, but none of them slowed him down very much. If Bates is in man then Wesleyan will likely give the ball to Davis and let him go to work. In their first game, Davis handed out a season high 11 assists. Because Joe Edmonds ’16 has been playing so well for Wesleyan, Boornazian will probably have to guard him because he has the best size. That will leave Billy Selmon ’15 on Davis. Selmon is not known as a defensive whiz, but at the very least he has a good size advantage over Davis. If the match-ups aren’t working for Bates then they will slow down the pace and play zone.

2. Did Wesleyan turn a corner last weekend?

Winning on the road in conference play is not easy, but the Cardinals just had two of them by more than 20 points last weekend. The win against Williams especially was impressive given the teams played earlier in the season and the Ephs won in OT. The Cardinals have led in the second half of a couple of their losses, including their first match-up with Bates and a 65-61 loss to Trinity two weekends ago. Yet, they are also a team that got their doors blown off at Middlebury and got handled easily by Amherst. This team does have a different look than it did near the beginning of the year. Jack Mackey ’16 and Davis are the leaders of the team while Harry Rafferty ’17 has seen his role been reduced somewhat. The Cardinals aren’t as good as they looked last weekend, but they are playing better than Bates right now.

3. Can the crowd be a factor?

Bates has a somewhat unusual academic schedule, and students are on break until Monday morning. The Bobcats are trying to get students back early, as seen above, and how many actually return could have a big impact if the game is close. Even though studies have found home advantage is an overrated aspect in many sports, college basketball is one place where it really does matter. That study looks at Division I schools which usually have more boisterous crowds, but if any school can claim a home-court advantage, it’s the Bobcats. For what its worth, more than 100 people have said on Facebook that they will be at the game, but we won’t know until after tip-off really how many people show up.

What to Expect

Wesleyan is still kicking themselves for letting the first match-up slip away. The Cardinals 5-5 record in conference misses the fact that two of those wins came against Bowdoin and Tufts, good quality teams. Their balance is what makes them good, but it’s also true that a lot of their scorers are streaky. It is usually two or three guys who carry the load each game and not everybody scoring 10 points each game. To me, Bates has slipped just a little bit in conference play. A lot of their wins ended up being close ones at home, and the Alumni Gym magic can only do so much. It is also unlikely that Wesleyan will allow Safford to go off like he did last game. Safford and Boornazian will keep it close, but the ability of all five players on Wesleyan to score will be the difference in a low scoring game.

Prediction: Wesleyan 68 – Bates 58

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.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Stock Report 1/20

Tufts is the best team in the league, Bates is in danger of the same free fall as last year, and Wesleyan might be good, but they can’t compete with the NESCAC’s best.

All of these arguments could be made after this weekend, but could also also look foolish in another week. Consider this: at this point last week Middlebury was in the process of being exposed as soft. The Panthers responded with a 2-0 weekend, including the best half played by any NESCAC team this season in the first half against Wesleyan on Friday night. We still do not know much about how the league is going to shake out.

What is clear is that all of the chaos has hurt the NESCAC’s reputation nationally. For the first time since 2002, no NESCAC team was in the D3Hoops Top 25 released on Monday. Amherst and Trinity received a couple of votes each, but it will take a team stringing together a couple of weeks without losing before someone will claw back into the poll. The chances of multiple NESCAC teams making the tournament continue to fade as the committee sees the wide-openness as mediocrity.

Stock Up

Hard Non-Conference Schedules: Colby and Tufts entered conference play with a combined record of 11-12, but so far the two are 6-1 in conference play, with the Jumbos the most impressive team thus far in NESCAC play. Both coaches, Damien Strahorn for Colby and Bob Sheldon for Tufts, went out of their way to schedule hard teams out of conference. The combined records of the teams Colby and Tufts lost to is 126-52 (.710 winning percentage), and that record includes a 4-10 Maine-Farmington team which Colby lost to without Chris Hudnut ’16. Both teams now have turned the corner and for now are at the top of the league standings. Tufts in particular looked poised down the stretch against Trinity after losing a number of close games early in the season. Keep in mind that this stock is only up in the short term. The hard early schedule could come back to hurt both teams. Unless either team wins out in the regular season and wins a game or two in the NESCAC tournament, their chances of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament remains slim.

Class of 2016: Two weeks ago we noted how the current senior class could end with only two players crossing the 1,000 point mark. Last week saw two current juniors, Chris Hudnut ’16 (Colby) and Connor Green ’16 (Amherst) cross the same mark.

Chris Hudnut '16 (Courtesy of Bear Sports News)
Hudnut earned his second Player of the Week honor of the season by averaging 22.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in two conference games this week. (Courtesy of Bear Sports News)

Mike Boornazian ’16 (Bates) has 794 points currently and looks like a lock to reach 1,000 points. A recent explosion in points from Lucas Hausman ’16 (Bowdoin) means that with 630 points right now, he appears likely to cross the mark as well. Meanwhile, Luke Westman ’16 (Colby) is averaging 14.0 PPG while shooting an UNREAL 74.8 percent from the field. Westman never shoots from outside, but even still to shoot that well around the rim is exceptional, especially for a guard. Trinity is powered by their duo of Shay Ajayi ’16 and Jaquann Starks ’16. The junior class is not as deep or as star studded as the 2014 or possibly 2017 class, but it’s not far off, either.

Point Guard Tarik Smith ’17 (Tufts): A lot of different players have elevated their play in conference for the Jumbos, but Smith has unquestionably had the biggest impact. In three conference games Smith is averaging 17.3 PPG on the absurd shooting percentage slashline of 68.4/83.3/95.5. He scored nine points in the second half against Trinity, including the game sealing free throws in the waning seconds. However, big questions remain. First, there is zero percent chance Smith continues to shoot this well from deep and at the charity stripe so his efficiency is sure to go down. Second, this scoring binge is coming out of nowhere. In non-conference play Smith averaged 6.0 PPG and reached double digits only twice. Finally, Smith is only averaging one turnover per game during this stretch but is averaging over two per game on the year. But note that before conference play began, Smith had started all 11 games at the point for the Jumbos, while he has come off the bench in each NESCAC game so far. There is a chance that Smith moving out of the starting lineup has taken pressure off of him. More likely, Smith played a great three games, but regardless his play is representative of a wider trend for Tufts.

Stock Down

Traditional Powers: The Big Three of the NESCAC (Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury) are each sitting in the middle of the pack at 2-2. All three lost huge senior classes, but that does not fully explain how far back to the pack they have fallen. Consider that since 2001-2002 season, one of those three won the NESCAC regular season crown by going either undefeated or having only one loss. Since Middlebury still has to play Amherst and Williams, it is possible that all three finish with at least three losses. All three teams are more than talented enough to win the NESCAC tournament, but their rosters are not as flawless as in years past.

Wesleyan: As someone who was in the front row of the Wesleyan bandwagon, this was a very hard week. First the Cardinals went up to Amherst in a non-conference game and forgot how to shoot from deep in the process of a 21-point loss. Then after going up early in the first half against Middlebury 14-13, Wesleyan let up a 38-10 run by the Panthers to go into the half down 27 points. Their normally stout defense was unable to find a way to slow down any aspect of the Middlebury attack. Things got out of control quickly as the home Panthers just got in an offensive roll. Sixteen turnovers, with each starter having at least two, also was not helpful.

Wesleyan's Joseph Kuo '17 can't stop this finish from Matt Daley '16. (Courtesy of Michael O'Hara, Middlebury Campus)
Wesleyan’s Joseph Kuo ’17 can’t stop this finish from Matt Daley ’16. (Courtesy of Michael O’Hara, Middlebury Campus)

Now Wesleyan is 1-2 in conference, and because of their schedule, they have to go on the road for five of their final seven conference games. The Cardinals just rebounded with a nice win last night over Baruch, but they now face an uphill battle in conference play.

Point Guard Graham Safford ’15 (Bates): Though a bit simplistic, as Safford goes, so go the Bobcats. Last Tuesday in order to keep him rested, Bates coach Jon Furbush did not play Safford at all, but the results this weekend were subpar. Safford scored 12.0 PPG on only 26 percent shooting, and he did not make a single two-point field goal against Trinity. Not coincidentally, Bates went 0-2 against Trinity and Amherst. Those are two very hard road games, but Tufts also went 2-0 as Bates’ road partner this weekend. The Bobcats need their leading man to figure out how to avoid another late season slide. Last season Safford had a similar falloff with his overall points per game 4.4 higher than his conference average while his shooting percentage plummeted at the same time. Keeping him fresh is crucial, and Bates might need to rely on Billy Selmon ’15 to become the primary ball handler for short stretches.

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.

Power Rankings 1/15

The first weekend of conference play gave us our best data points yet on teams. With that in mind, here are the Power Rankings.

1. Bates (11-2)

So far the Bobcats have been able to live up to and surpass the pre-season hype that surrounded their team back in November. The leadership and play of Graham Safford ’15 along with the production of his his right-hand man Mike Boornazian ’16, averaging 15.8 and 14.2 point per game, respectively, has propelled Bates to the number one spot in this week’s power rankings. Although they are 11-2, and seemingly in a good spot, they have only played one in-conference opponent, beating Middlebury 57-53. Their next opponent resides in Hartford Connecticut, a team that has been nipping at their heels all season. The Trinity/Bates game will be a good benchmark to see how dangerous this Bobcats team really is.

2. Trinity (12-3)

After the Bantam offense went through a stretch of four 70+ games, all manifesting in a win, the ability to score has begun to fall. Putting up only 60 point against Hamilton and then 56 against Merchant Marine, it seems as though the offensive augmentation has come to an end. While this may be the case, it has been the Bantam defense that has put them in a position to be ranked number 3 this week. So far they allowed their opponents a stingy 61.3 points per game., ranking second only to Bowdoin in team defense in the ‘CAC. As it stands now, juniors Shay Ajayi and Jaquann Starks are the consistent scorers for Trinity, but they will need more consistent production from players like senior forward Alex Conaway, as conference play heats up.

3. Middlebury (10-2)

The Panthers dropped to number three in this week’s rankings in large part due because of their 80-63 loss to Tufts (5-7) earlier this week. As the former No. 1, this defeat could be seen as solely a fluke loss, seeing as they followed the loss with a 94-56 onslaught against Castleton State. What keeps Middlebury towards the top is their ability to score points leading the league with 78.5 per game. Dylan Sinnickson ’15 continues to lead the offensive charge for the Mids top ranked offense as well as with his league leading 11.3 rebounds per game. Already 0-2 in the conference does not help as they will be facing a physical Wesleyan team later this week, defensive consistency has to be at the forefront of attention for the Panthers.

4. Amherst (10-3)

The Lord Jeffs are consistently in the mix for a NESCAC title, and this year is no different. Offensively Amherst is putting up decent numbers ranking fourth in points per game. Although they did lose to Williams 71-70, I remain adamant in my decision to put them above the Ephs, for now. Amherst’s next two games are against a Tufts team that embarrassed Middlebury, followed by a Bates team that seems to have everything working for them. The play of Johnny McCarthy ’18, who leads the league in steals per game (2.0) has enhanced  the Amherst defense. That being said, the Jeffs still have plenty of room to improve in the coming weeks.

5. Williams (11-4)

The Ephs sit directly below an Amherst team in this weeks rankings, despite beating the Lord Jeffs 71-70. Why then, are the two rivals not flip flopped? Defense. Williams has struggled to protect its own hoop this year, allowing a last place 71.8 points per game. The defensive struggles have been countered by a second ranked offense, led by Daniel Wohl ’15 and Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15. It has been well documented that a strong defense is key to making a playoff run. In the Ephs case, a defense that even ranks in the middle of the pack would be enough to support this team, given that they continue the offensive prowess that is ranked second in the league right now.

6. Wesleyan (11-4)

The Cardinals are middle of the pack in a lot of ways, but one area where they stand out is from beyond the arc. As a team, they are ranked second in three point field goals shooting 36.7 percent. The production is in large part due to play of Jack Mackey ’16 and Harry Rafferty ’17. The fact they have been so good from three makes their 2-15 shooting performance as a team against Amherst on Tuesday all the more frustrating. The athleticism of Joseph Kuo ’17 has made itself apparent with his team leading 13.3 points per game. Not everything has fallen into place thus far, but the skill is there to claim a spot in the conference playoffs.

7. Colby (9-5)

Although Colby was able to edge out Wesleyan last week in a close 82-80 game, they have not showed me enough so far to be above the Cardinals. The part of the Mules’ game that is worrying is their defense, giving up 71.0 points per game. It’s no secret that allowing 70+ points each game is not a winning formula. Sure, their offense is ranked third with 76.8 ppg, but that’s not enough for me to join the Mules’ bench personalities in celebration.

8. Bowdoin (9-4)

The Polar Bears hit the ground running at the beginning of the season, but their conference play has been dismal, losing to Colby, Bates, and Wesleyan (Colby and Bates games do not count towards conference records). Defensively the Polar Bears have been able to hold opponents to a league leading 60.3 ppg, led by the big man John Swords ’15 underneath. For the Bears to make a serious push into the tournaments more offensive rhythm is going to be key. Transition offense has been lacking thus far, but if they can get the big men running the floor, Bowdoin may have more time to set up and execute offensively.

9. Hamilton (10-4)

Hamilton, like Bowdoin, was hot out of the gate winning its first seven games. Since then they are 3-4, two of those coming against conference opponents Amherst and Trinity. At 10-4 this isn’t the time for the Continentals to hit the panic button, but if their offensive struggles continue, this fast start could turn into a disappointing end.

10. Conn (7-6)

Conn’s stuggles are apparent in their record, and as we mentioned earlier, the Camels are a young but promising team. Look for the rest of this year to provide players like Lee Messier ’18 and Isaiah Robinson ’18 with time to develop their skills at a collegiate level. Losing to Bowdoin and Colby by 29 and 9 points, respectively, put Conn in a tough position in conference play. Stranger things have happened, but it does not look this is the year for the Camels.

11. Tufts (5-7)

Tufts rounds out this week’s rankings but with less negativity than you’d think. Yes, the Jumbos are 5-7 this year, and their schedule will only get tougher as they’ll play Amherst, Trinity, and Bates over the course of the next two weeks; however, a ray of hope cast down on Medford when they easily took care of previously top-ranked Middlebury 80-63, led by Tarik Smith’s big 20 point game off the bench.