The Bobcats have gotten off to a very fine start in 2020 and sit at 3rd place in the NESCAC right now with a record of 2-1. What makes their 2-1 record more impressive is the fact that they’ve already played Wesleyan, Amherst, and Hamilton who have been some of the best teams in the league over the last several years. This is in stark contrast to last season when Bates finished 7-18 overall and just 3-7 in NESCAC play. One of the biggest catalysts behind the hot start in league play has been freshman Omar Sarr ’23. In conference play, Sarr is leading the NESCAC in both rebounds and blocks per game and he has really made his presence felt in the paint thus far. Fellow rookie Stephon Baxter ’23 has also been a huge addition to this year’s squad. The defensive spark that he brings off the bench is huge for Bates and allows Coach Furbush to mess around a bit with some of his defensive matchups. Baxter is also lightning quick and has displayed an impressive ability to create his own shot and make tough finishes. The addition of these two guys combined with elevated play from their loaded senior backcourt has made the Bobcats do a complete 180 this season and they now find themselves looking down at most of the league.
Sam Jefferson’s POY case
In non-conference play, Jefferson got off to one of the most incredible statistical starts to a season we’ve ever seen in the NESCAC. The question at that point was whether he could continue this elite level of play in their most crucial games against their most talented opponents. His numbers in their opening NESCAC weekend against Conn College and Trinity weren’t jaw dropping, but they also didn’t need him to perform as much because they handled those games with relative ease. This past weekend, however, Jefferson stepped up when it really mattered. On the road at Middlebury and Williams, Jefferson put up 55 points on 19-27 shooting, including 9-16 from 3-point land. These are star-caliber numbers and he delivered them against two of the very best teams in the league on the road in a pivotal weekend for the Mules. I’ve been hesitant to say too much about Jefferson until we got a chance to see him go up against stronger teams, but he this weekend he came through and then some. He has helped make Colby the team to beat right now, even beyond the NESCAC…
Colby’s national relevance
The Mules are now up to #5 in the nation with a 15-0 start to the season including 4-0 in NESCAC play. It feels like every week we’re waiting on them to have an off shooting night and have their lack of size haunt them, but every week they prove us wrong. Middlebury isn’t necessarily the biggest team in the league (although they aren’t small), but Williams is one of the biggest and Colby handled them just the same. The Mules have 4 players averaging double figures in scoring and they lead the NESCAC in field goal percentage (2nd in 3-point percentage), points, assists, steals, and blocks per game. Right now this is the best team with the best player in the best conference in America and it’s their spot to lose. Colby still has Bates, Bowdoin, Tufts, Hamilton, Amherst, and Wesleyan left on their NESCAC schedule so there’s a lot of basketball left to play, but at the moment it looks like the road to the NESCAC Championship runs through Waterville.
Stock down
Kena Gilmour star power
The reigning NESCAC Player of the Year had a rough weekend with the rest of the Continental squad, dropping games at Tufts and at Bates. Gilmour had 26 points on Friday against a nationally ranked Tufts team, but he shot just 9-22 so not exactly the most efficient night. On Saturday at Bates he was relatively nonexistent, except for a flurry of 3-pointers early in the second half. He really didn’t look very involved in the offense and the team simply couldn’t do it without him. He had a good weekend the weekend before and helped lead a furious comeback to steal a win against Williams, so hopefully this weekend was just a bump in the road. Hamilton has yet to prove that they can win when Gilmour doesn’t perform, so he’s going to have to be playing at a very high level to keep the Continentals in contention. This is a very different team than last year in Clinton.
Amherst’s consistency
This is somewhat a testament to the fact that the Mammoths are the class of the NESCAC year in and year out, but they haven’t really seemed to hit their stride yet in 2020. They started off very strong taking down previously undefeated Middlebury, then followed that up by losing to Williams at home the very next day. This past weekend they put together a nice win at Bates and turned around on Saturday to get crushed by Tufts. Eric Sellew ’20 suffered a shoulder injury in the first half of the game against Bates and didn’t play against Tufts so we’ll have to keep an eye on how long he’s out given that he has probably been the Mammoths’ most efficient player this year. Grant Robinson ’21 hasn’t been as dominant as he was last year and Fru Che ’21 has had some relatively quiet scoring nights as well. All that said, Amherst still isn’t in a terrible spot right now. They’re one of the 4 teams tied for 4th place at 2-2 in league play and they’re past the hardest part of the schedule so far. Their last 6 games are against Hamilton, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Colby, Trinity, and Conn College so they have a very real chance of closing out the year 4-2 or 5-1 which would likely earn them a home game in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs. You can never count out the Purple and White.
2018-2019 Record: 7-17 (3-7 NESCAC), did not qualify for NESCAC Tournament
2019-2020 Projected Record: 12-12 (4-6 NESCAC)
Key Losses: C Nick Lynch, G Max Hummel, F Brandon Galloway
Projected Starting Lineup:
G: Jeff Spellman ’20 (15.4 PPG, 5.0 REB/G, 4.1 AST/G)
Last season Spellman made the leap from good to great. He saw his already solid scoring, rebounding, and assist numbers increase and he established himself as one of the most explosive guards in the league. This guy can beat anyone off the dribble and is able to create his own shot with ease, making him the go-to guy when they need a basket. The only danger for Spellman this year is that he tries to do too much on his own. He’s the best player on the team hands down, but he’s got 14 other guys on the roster who are capable of holding their own at this level, too. If the Bobcats get over-reliant on Spellman’s ability, their offense will get predictable and very easy to stop. If he can do his part to create looks for other guys on the team then opponents will be forced to respect the other options and Spellman, in turn, will benefit.
G: Nick Gilpin ’20 (5.5 PPG, 3.2 REB/G, 2.9 AST/G)
Filling the obligatory “coach’s son” role, Gilpin is the steady hand on the team. The point guard doesn’t always fill out the stat sheet, but he always has an impact on the game. Coming into this season, Gilpin had played in 73 career basketball games at Bates and started 65 of them – this kid has seen it all. His numbers have remained relatively steady over the course of his career, which makes it easy to know what you’re going to get out of him but hard to know what areas he can really improve in. At first glance it sort of seems like he should be scoring more. He definitely is a pass-first point guard, but he’s shot over 40% from the field in his career and over 40% from beyond the arc, as well. With that being said, he has never averaged more than 6.1 points per game in a single season during his career, so it makes you wonder why he’s not shooting more. If he can increase his scoring output just a tad to complement Spellman in the backcourt, then this will be a very challenging team to stop.
G/F: James Mortimer ’21 (5.7 PPG, 2.3 REB/G)
Mortimer will play one of the most important roles this season for Bates. At 6’4” and 185lbs, Morty is one of the only guys that can match up physically with some of the bigger wings that they’ll see from teams like Hamilton or Williams. He’s got the quickness to beat guys off the dribble and the strength and athleticism to go strong to the rim and absorb contact through the finish. He’ll also be asked to rebound at a higher level this season given that the Bobcats were dead last in rebounding a year ago. Like Gilpin, Mortimer’s numbers have remained largely the same in the early part of his career so if Bates is going to get better this year it’ll have to start with more production from guys like Morty.
F: Andrew Snoddy ’22 (7.1 PPG, 3.8 REB/G, 50.5% FG)
Unfortunate injury ended Snoddy’s freshman campaign, but he looked very good in his short time. His lanky build distracts from the fact that Snoddy has some pretty legit athleticism and he’ll jump through the roof when you’re least expecting it. It’ll be tough for him to match up physically with some of the bigger wings as well, but he has the athleticism to do it. Shooting over 50% from the field is an excellent sign of production, but it’s a bit deceiving because he was only 3-19 from 3-point land. If he’s able to expand his range this year then teams will have a very difficult time preventing the Bobcats from spreading the floor and shooting them out of the gym. Snoddy will also need to step up on the glass this year because there really isn’t anyone on the roster who has had rebounding success in the past and rebounding was easily their biggest weakness from last season.
C: Kenny Aruwajoye ’22 (2.3 PPG, 2.9 REB/G)
There will likely be no one who is asked to take a bigger step forward this year than Kenny. He played sparingly as a freshman, mostly just filling in when C Nick Lynch needed a break. Now he’s the most experienced center on the roster and he’ll have to match up with the likes of Matt Karpowicz from Williams and Luke Rogers from Tufts. Defense and rebounding will be the focus for Aruwajoye because if he can negate the effects of some of the league’s top centers, the rest of the team will take it from there. His touch around the rim is getting better by the day and if he can prove that he’s capable of knocking down a 10-12 footer when left open then that opens up a world of options for the Bobcat offense. Fortunately Coach Furbush brought in a few freshmen big men so Aruwajoye will get to rest when he needs it, but he’ll still be asked to shoulder the majority of the low-post workload.
Everything Else:
The 2019-2020 season looks to be a very interesting one for the Bobcats. They’ve seen success in the recent past, but struggled last season and failed to qualify for postseason play for the second consecutive year. After the graduation of the Delpeche twins in 2017, Bates has had a hard time finding a solid replacement down low, and have subsequently seen huge dips in their rebounding numbers. It seems that Coach Furbush has finally been able to address this problem by bringing in Jacob Iwowo ’23, Omar Sarr ’23, and Cam Riley ’23, who stand at 6’7”, 6’8”, and 6’9”, respectively. Iwowo is a bit skinnier and isn’t a true center, but Riley has a similar build to Matt Karpowicz of Williams and projects to be a very fine center if he can stay in shape enough to make it up and down the court all game. Sarr is also a big body that can anchor the post, but he possesses a bit more athleticism than Riley, which means that they may even be able to put the two of them on the court together if they want to go with a bigger lineup.
Given that size has been their problem, Bates has a number of experienced guards coming off the bench. Tom Coyne ’20 is one of the deadliest sharpshooters in the league and he usually ends up doing quite a bit of scoring for the Bobcats, playing over 20 minutes per game despite not being in the starting lineup. Kody Greenhalgh ’20 also brings a wealth of experience and athleticism, playing a similar style to Jeff Spellman ’20. He can knock down a three, get to the rim, and defend at a high level, making him an excellent spark of energy off the bench. Freshman Stephon Baxter ’23 also adds a dynamic playmaker to the backcourt, as he has the quickness and basketball IQ to see significant playing time in his rookie season.
This is one of those “off years” for Bates, where they only have 4 home conference games as opposed to 6 road games. Only Amherst, Hamilton, Bowdoin, and Colby will have the pleasure of dealing with the raucous Bobcat crowd that sits within arm’s reach of the players on the court. Speaking of which, I’m going to take a quick moment to discuss the newly labeled student section in Alumni Gym. Bates has added a banner reading, “’Cats Clutter” that hangs directly over the student section behind the far basket in their gym, and it’s actually sort of a bummer for two key reasons. The first reason being that the best spot to sit from a fan’s perspective is not at the end of the court (granted someone has to sit there), but in the corner of the gym adjacent to the student section where if you sit in the front row you have to be careful that you don’t trip a player or referee running down the side line. It’s a lot of fun being so close to the court that no one can hear the chirping going on besides the fans and the players they’re going after. The second (and more important) reason is the fact that “The Litter Box” is clearly a better and more appropriate name for the fan section. It still covers the cat metaphor that they were going for while more aptly describing the array of individuals that chose to attend the basketball games. Would you rather get heckled for 40 minutes by a gathering of felines or by a collection of rowdy fans who openly call themselves pieces of crap? I rest my case.
Either way this is sure to be a fun year for Bates as they look to get back to their winning ways. They’ve got a good mix of seasoned vets and developing youngsters, which should serve them well as the season progresses. The biggest foreseeable issue is the lack of post experience: the Bobcats now have 3 true centers on their roster but 2 of them are freshmen and the other is a sophomore. Division III basketball isn’t known for having dominant big men, but the NESCAC is the exception. Nearly every school in the conference has a guy or two that are 6’8”+ and can bang around down low with the best of them. It will come down to how quickly the freshmen can develop because if they can add productive minutes, even in short stints, then the experienced backcourt should be able to take them where they need to go. However much success they have in grooming their big men will likely define the direction that their season will go.
With summer in full effect I’m sure no one has thought about NESCAC sports in quite a while. Well, here at NbN we’re always thinking about NESCAC sports so the summer is no time to slack off. With that being said, there are no NESCAC sports being played at the moment so this article will focus on those athletes lucky enough to be able to continue their careers beyond the collegiate level. We decided it would be worth checking in to see how each of the athletes is doing at the professional level to take a look at how the NESCAC fares amongst the very best. Please don’t be offended if I left someone out (we all know how NESCAC students love getting offended), but these were the only people I could find enough info on to write about.
Marcus Delpeche ’17 (Bates basketball)
It was no secret that the Delpeche brothers would see success at a higher level than the NESCAC. You could tell as soon as they set foot in the gym. Most Division III basketball teams don’t feature a 6’8”, 230-pound, athletic, muscular power forward on their roster, let alone two. How Coach Furbush convinced those guys to come to Lewiston is beyond me, but hindsight is 20/20 and it’s easy to see now how their development at Bates was crucial to taking their basketball careers to the next level. Marcus began his professional career with the Grevenbroich Elephants in the fourth tier of German basketball, posting 11.5 points per game while hauling in 5.3 rebounds in his rookie season. He then proceeded to sign with the Bristol Flyers of the British Basketball League, where he appeared in 33 games (including 15 starts) while putting up 7.8 points per game on 52% shooting and grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game in the process. Marcus re-signed with the Flyers earlier this month and he’ll be under contract until the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season.
Malcolm Delpeche ’17 (Bates basketball)
Like his brother, Malcolm started his career with the Grevenbroich Elephants, where he put up 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for a team that finished the season 21-3. This performance earned Malcolm a spot on the WWU Baskets Muenster of the German Pro B League – the third tier of German basketball. Here he continued to see success, starting 28 of the 31 games he appeared in while recording 12 points (on 55% shooting), 7.2 rebounds, and 1 block per game. His team finished as the league runner-up. He, too, has extended his contract another season so we can expect to hear more about his success from across the pond.
Drew Fischer ’?? (Amherst baseball)
Fischer has had quite the career to this point. He didn’t play much (for someone who ended up getting drafted) during his freshman or sophomore year at Amherst while battling injury, then put together an outstanding junior season on an innings limit. What caught the eyes of scouts was that he had a projectable frame (6’3”, 210lbs) and he lit up the radar gun with his fastball reaching as high as 95mph while in college. When he was selected after his junior year in the 35th round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates they knew he’d be a bit of a project with slight control issues, but they were willing to take a chance. So far that chance has paid off as Fischer has slowly been climbing the ranks in the Pirates’ farm system. Here are his stats from each of his first three seasons in the minor leagues:
2017 short-season rookie ball with the Bristol Pirates:
The 23 year-old has been improving every year with a lower walk rate, a higher strikeout rate, and a lower ERA to prove it. He is currently on the 7-day injured list in high A so his sample size is small for this season, but there’s clearly a trend here. If Fischer can stay healthy then it’s clear that his stuff will get him a long way.
Kellen Hatheway ’19 (Williams baseball)
Hatheway is one of the two youngest former NESCAC players currently playing professional sports. The 2019 Williams grad made his first NESCAC Tournament this past season after a very successful career as an Eph. He had a standout power year during his senior campaign hitting a career-high 5 home runs, two of which came in the NESCAC Tournament against Bates. He has continued that power streak into the summer, where he is playing for the Alpine Cowboys of the Pecos League of Independent Professional Baseball. Through just 16 games Hatheway already has 4 homers and 12 RBI, while hitting .242 and playing shortstop. Hopefully he’ll be able to stay hot and continue to impress scouts with his tremendous tools as a ballplayer.
Stephen Hauschka ’07 (Middlebury football)
This one is much different from all the others on this list. Stephen Hauschka has put together an incredibly successful career in the NFL with 5 different teams, most notably the Seattle Seahawks with whom he won a Super Bowl. His story, however, is worth talking about because he came to Middlebury with the intention of joining the soccer team. After he was cut his freshman year, his friends urged him to try out as a kicker for the football team the following fall. He made the team and completed his final 3 years in Vermont as the team’s starting kicker. With one year of eligibility left after graduation, he became a graduate transfer at North Carolina State where he was the starting kicker. His success there drew attention from NFL teams and the rest is history. Hauschka has a career field goal percentage of 86.4% (242-280) in the NFL and his career long is 58 yards. He is currently a member of the Buffalo Bills who he has been with since 2017.
Lucas Hausman ’16 (Bowdoin basketball)
The 2015 NESCAC Player of the Year has already had a successful career overseas. Hausman began his career in 2016-2017 with Basket Villa de Mieres in the fourth tier of the Spanish Basketball League. In 2017-2018 he found his way to CB Marbella, also in the fourth tier of the Spanish League, however Hausman’s first team all-tournament performance in the postseason help them earn a spot in the third tier heading into the following season. He finished the season averaging 13.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while shooting 55% from the field and 38.3% from behind the arc. Hausman’s early success helped him earn a 3-year contract (through 2020-2021) with Maccabi Haifa of Liga Leumit in the second tier of Israeli professional basketball. In 2018-2019 he served as a role player for Maccabi Haifa, however his 57.4% shooting was best on the team. They also went on to win the national championship, earning them a spot in the Israeli Basketball Premier League in 2019-2020. Hausman will look to continue his strong career while slowly making his way up the ranks.
Johnny McCarthy ’18 (Amherst basketball)
After graduating from Amherst in 2018, McCarthy decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Business at IT Carlow in Ireland. It just so happened that IT Carlow has a basketball team that competes in Ireland’s Division 1 National Basketball League because, you know, in Europe you can get paid to play basketball while you’re still in school, but I digress. McCarthy took full advantage of his opportunity, putting up 21.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 3 steals per game, while shooting 51.2% and 40.1% from 3-point land – earning him first team all-league honors. This may be McCarthy’s only year of professional basketball now that he has earned his master’s, although he was recently able to gain some publicity while playing in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN alongside the Delpeche twins for team We Are D3, so we’ll have to wait and see where that takes him.
Nick Miceli ’17 (Wesleyan baseball)
To be honest, Nick Miceli probably has had the wildest professional career of anyone on this list. This guy spends his winters playing with the Golden Grove Dodgers of the South Australian Baseball League and his summers playing in the German Bundesliga. I know what you’re thinking and yes, winter here is summer in Australia, so Miceli pretty much gets to live in the summer all year round. Not a bad deal right? To make things even better, he has been absolutely tearing up both of these leagues. In his first season with the Golden Grove Dodgers he hit .348 at the plate while finishing with a 2.53 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched on the mound. This performance earned him a 3rd place finish in MVP voting that year as well as a spot as the club’s pitching coach the following season. During his first season in the Bundesliga with the Bremen Dockers, Miceli hit .353 with a 2.66 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 100 innings pitched. He also finished with a .966 fielding percentage while playing all 9 positions at some point throughout the season. He followed this up with another stellar season for Golden Grove in Australia, hitting .360 while maintaining a sub-3.00 ERA and actually leading the league in runners caught stealing from behind the dish. He is currently playing his 2019 summer season with the Bonn Capitals of the Bundesliga where he looks to continue his sweltering pace.
Colby Morris ’19 (Middlebury baseball)
The other newbie to pro sports, Morris initially signed with the Trois-Rivières Aigles of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. After battling through a minor injury towards the end of his senior year at Middlebury, the 2018 NESCAC Pitcher of the Year bounced back and made 3 appearances totaling 11.2 innings with a modest 5.40 ERA in the Can-Am League. After a few short weeks Morris signed with the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the prestigious American Association of Professional Baseball, a league largely comprised of guys that bounce between indy ball and the double-A and triple-A levels of minor league baseball. He has already appeared in 4 games out of the bullpen for the RailCats and he will look to further impress scouts to improve on his impressive pitching career.
Harry Rafferty ’17 (Wesleyan basketball)
This is a guy who has a little bit of mystery around him. Rafferty graduated from Wesleyan in 2017 after a very successful NESCAC career and I’m honestly not sure what he was doing for his first year after graduation. I say that because he played the 2018-2019 season for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, an NBA G-League team in the Miami Heat organization. I was not able to find any information about him playing overseas, but he clearly did an excellent job staying in basketball shape because the G-League is no joke. He appeared in 4 games, averaging 19.1 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, and just over 1 rebound per game for the Skyforce. It’s unclear what the next step is in his basketball career, but he is clearly someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the next level.
Jake Turtel ’18 (Middlebury baseball)
Here’s another guy with a pretty interesting story. Turtel graduated from Middlebury in 2018 after a solid 4-year career with the Panthers, although he wasn’t quite the standout player that many of the other guys are on this list. This is by no means an effort to diminish Turtel’s time in the NESCAC, but rather to draw attention to the fact that he may have been a late bloomer. A career .253 hitter at Midd, Turtel has exploded in his first season as a member of the Stockholm Monarchs of the Elitserien League, Sweden’s highest level of professional baseball. He is currently hitting .372 with an on-base percentage of .560 while primarily playing second base. Turtel has also logged 13.1 innings on the mound in the process. There is clearly a precedent for former NESCAC baseball players succeeding overseas and this guy is no exception. In addition, Turtel serves as a youth coach for the lower levels of the Monarchs organization, so it’ll be intriguing to see where his career takes him.
Duncan Robinson ’18 (Williams basketball)
This one may be a bit of a stretch, but I felt the need to include it. Robinson only played one season at Williams before transferring to the University of Michigan for his final three years of college*. However, his impact at Williams is still felt today. He holds numerous single-season scoring and shooting records in Williamstown, and his success in Ann Arbor landed him a two-way contract with the Miami Heat after he went undrafted in 2018. As a member of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Robinson average 21.4 points per game on 51.4% shooting and 48.3% from 3-point range, while grabbing 4.3 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists per game. He finished the year as an All-NBA G-League Third Team member and appeared in 15 games (1 start) with the Miami Heat in the NBA. In the last game of the season with the Heat, Robinson netted 15 points against the Brooklyn Nets – the first double-digit effort of his NBA career. Although he took a very different path, Robinson is still a NESCAC man at heart and it appears as though his pro career is just getting started.
*It appears as though Robinson has paved the way for future NESCAC basketball players to transfer to high level Division I schools, because Austin Hutcherson ’21 from Wesleyan recently took an official visit to the University of Notre Dame.
Random side note: One of the first times I was exposed to just how much talent is present in NESCAC sports was my freshman year of high school when our basketball team traveled to Phillips Exeter Academy for a holiday tournament. I didn’t know much about Exeter because we typically didn’t play them in the regular season, but man were they good. At the time, Harry Rafferty and Duncan Robinson were seniors on the team and after they torched us for 32 minutes I learned that they were headed to Wesleyan and Williams, respectively. I remember thinking to myself that these guys were absolute steals for NESCAC programs and that they probably should be heading to Division I schools. Turns out I was right about Robinson (and maybe Rafferty as well) but needless to say I gained an enormous amount of respect for NESCAC athletics after that experience.
2017-2018 Record: 12-12 (4-6 NESCAC), didn’t make NESCAC Tournament
2018-2019 Projected Record: 15-9 (5-5 NESCAC)
Key Losses: None
Projected Starting Lineup:
G: Nick Gilpin ’20 (6.1PPG, 3.8REB/G, 2.8AST/G)
Nick Gilpin ’20
In his freshman season, Gilpin benefitted from having a pair of giants down low that took some of the pressure and attention away from him as the primary point guard. Last year he was tasked with quarterbacking an offense that really hadn’t found its identity for much of the season and he did a decent job, finishing with a very similar stat line to his rookie campaign. This season he’s really going to have to step up as one of the veteran ball-handlers on the team. He has never shot a particularly high percentage from he field, but his 90.2% clip from the free throw line last season indicates that there is potential there, so the Bobcats will look for Gilpin to expand his range and become a bit more of a scorer to keep them in games. This shouldn’t be too much of a challenge because of his sneaky athleticism and quick first step, so look for Gilpin’s scoring output to increase in 2018-2019.
G: Jeff Spellman ’20 (14.8PPG, 3.8REB/G, 43.4% FG)
Jeff Spellman ’20
There’s no doubt that Spellman is one of the best shot-creators in the conference and he has the quickness to get past almost anyone on the perimeter. The problem was Bates relied a little too heavily on his scoring prowess last year, because too many possessions ended with him in isolation having to force a shot. He’s definitely a stud athlete, but not so much that the Bobcats can abandon their offense and allow him to play hero ball all the time. He’ll benefit tremendously from having additional scoring threats around the outside to take some of the attention off of him because more often than not he’ll be guarded by the opposing team’s best perimeter defender. In order for Bates to improve their offense Spellman will need to stay within the system and take scoring opportunities as they appear, while sharing the ball and potentially even seeing an increase in his assist numbers. If he can remind teams that he isn’t the only option on this roster then he’ll start to get much higher-percentage chances to do the scoring himself, and in turn the offense as a whole will improve.
G: Tom Coyne ’20 (11.5PPG, 3.7REB/G)
Tom Coyne ’20
Junior year is going to be a big one for the team’s second leader scorer from last season. Coyne averaged 11.5 points per game, but only shot 37% from the field while going 31.9% from beyond the arc. He got good looks and is very able to create his own opportunities to score, but the shots simply weren’t falling last year. The Bobcats need him to execute a higher percentage of his chances to increase their scoring output this year. The good news is, I think he will. Coyne has a terrific jump shot and benefitted greatly from seeing additional minutes in his sophomore season. If he can do this successfully, he’ll help draw some attention and open up lanes for other guys. His keen passing ability and court vision should allow him to see an increase in assist numbers as well. One question is whether Coyne will be able to defend larger guys because in this current starting lineup they only have one player over 6’4.” Being that Coyne is only 6 feet, he’ll often be matched up with a bigger guy so it’ll be important that he can slow opponents down and keep them off the glass despite the height disparity.
G/F: James Mortimer ’21 (5.7PPG, 2.3REB/G)
James Mortimer ’21
Mortimer is going to be a big X-factor this year. At 6’4” he’s one of the bigger players in the lineup so he’s going to have to hit the glass and pull in more than the 2.3 rebounds per game he was grabbing in his rookie season. He’s a capable scorer so the points will come, and he’ll likely put up more than 5.7 given that he’s going to see a large increase in minutes this year (he was only getting 17 minutes per game in 2017-2018). The place where the Bobcats will need Mortimer the most is on defense. Like I mentioned for Tom Coyne, the Bates lineup is usually on the small side so he’ll spend a decent amount of time guarding guys who are 2 to 3 inches taller than him. Defending the 4 will require a tremendous amount of toughness, so it’ll be a huge test for Morty now that the expectations are a bit higher in year two.
C: Nick Lynch ’19 (8.5PPG, 8.1REB/G, 45.8% FG)
Nick Lynch ’19
Nick Lynch is the only guy in the starting lineup whose focus isn’t primarily on the offensive end. Lynch has size and experience, a rare combination for this Bates squad. He does an outstanding job guarding every team’s biggest player and he shoots an efficient percentage from the field. I guess you could call him the Al Horford of the team. He does a great job on the boards and in the word on the street is that he’s looking as springy as he did before he went down with an injury during his sophomore year. With his combination of size and athleticism, he has the potential to play at the same level as some of the elite bigs in the NESCAC. With the addition of Kenny Aruwajoye ’22, the Bobcats also have another big who can matchup with guys the size of Lynch, so it’ll be interesting to see how the two big men mesh during their one season together.
Everything Else
As you can tell from reading the player previews, the Bobcats need to get better on offense. In 2017-2018 they finished last in the NESCAC in field goal percentage (39.3%) and second worst in 3-point shooting percentage (32.4%). Frankly, those numbers need to be better. If they want to be able to keep up with offenses like Hamilton and Middlebury then they need to be scoring more points. The starters will be asked to step up, and fortunately they have a weapon in sharpshooter Max Hummel ’19 who finished second in the conference with a 45.9% mark from 3-point range. They also have versatile guard Kody Greenhalgh ’20 who will bring a super athletic spark off the bench in a similar role he had last year. They have the personnel to run a higher scoring offense; the question is whether or not guys will step up to take on more of the burden.
Kody Greenhalgh ’20 has a chance to be a force off the bench
Losing the Delpeche twins last season led to a completely new defensive strategy given that the Bobcats no longer had two monsters in the paint waiting to swat away anything in the vicinity. They had to go with much smaller lineups and these lineups were effective at times, seeing that they forced the third most turnovers per game as a team in 2017-2018. The issue was that Bates was allowing opponents to shoot at a 44.5% rate from the field, the highest in the NESCAC. On-ball defense is going to be a key area of focus this year because it’s often as simple as getting a hand in the face of a shooter to challenge and potentially change their shot. Brandon Galloway ’19 is going to be a huge part of this equation because he has the quickness and athleticism to defend some of the league’s best players. I don’t have a stat to prove it, but I’m pretty sure that Galloway was the league leader in charges taken last season, so he’ll look to continue this type of production on the defensive end since he’ll usually be matched up with the other team’s best player.
Nick Lynch ’19 will be asked to anchor the Bobcats down low
Likely the biggest challenge that the Bobcats were faced with after the graduation of the Delpeches was size. Last season they finished last in the conference in blocks and rebounds, while allowing the most rebounds to opponents of anyone. Nick Lynch was the only guy over 6’4” who saw legit time and the two guys who were exactly 6’4” in the rotation (Mortimer and Hummel) never got very extended minutes. They’re going to ask much more of Sunny Piplani ’21 who played sparingly in his freshman campaign. At 6’8,” Piplani has the size to be a difference maker in the paint, but he’s also very able to step back and knock down shots from deep with his soft shooting touch. Recognizing that height was an issue, Coach Furbush went out and recruited guys to bring some size to the lineup. First years Kenny Aruwajoye ’22 and Andrew Snoddy ’22 will definitely see minutes right away purely because of their sheer size. Aruwajoye stands at 6’8” and 220lbs, and he brings a high IQ to the post. His skill set is still a bit of a work in progress, but he has a very solid foundation to build upon. Snoddy is a 6’6” wing who will provide some much needed size and athleticism to a lineup that has lacked a true wing in recent years.
It was long overdue, but Bates finally renovated the floor in famed Alumni Gym
It looks to be a very promising year in Lewiston as the Bobcats return the bulk of their lineup and have added some pieces in areas where they needed it. Fortunately for the fans (and unfortunately for opponents), the conference schedule is much more favorable than it was last season when they were forced to play a number of games at home despite the students being on winter vacation. During the month of January, Bates will play host to Middlebury, Williams, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Conn College in consecutive games. They have a chance to really do damage (go Red Sox) during this stretch, especially given that they finished last season with the highest team free-throw percentage in the conference (77.1%) and had the second fewest turnovers per game (11.7). Combine these numbers with a raucous crowd sitting just inches away from the court and you have a recipe for winning close games. No matter who you are you can never take a visit to Alumni Gym lightly, and you can count on the Bobcat faithful to pack the house each and every time a conference foe comes to town. Watch out NESCAC, it looks like it could be the year of the Bobcat.
