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
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