Colby

Men's Basketball

Colby preseason comments with updated preview:

Colby-Mule-e1262709643127Feb. 2: COLBY (7-17, 1-9)
Details: Saturday, 2:00 pm (at Colby)
Last year: Middlebury 72-53
After losing leading-scorer Ben Foreman, Colby is likely to spend another season at the bottom of the NESCAC. They are touting their freshman class on their website, sort of like an MLB cellar-dweller that shows promotions of its farm system because there aren’t any stars in the majors. Colby will have a tough time putting up more than 50 points and Middlebury should head home from Maine with two wins in the books.
Prediction: Win
February 2 Addendum: Colby (6-14, 2-5) is one of three teams in a tie for seventh place in the conference, so they are battling for a chance to make the tournament, and almost completed a huge upset Friday night when they lost to Williams 64-61. Colby’s most intriguing player is 6’8″ freshman Chris Hudnut, who leads the team in scoring (12.3 ppg), and has range as well (44/36/75 shooting). He is complemented by a batch of fellow underclassmen, as the top eight scorers for the Mules are either freshmen or sophomores. Notable among them are starters Patrick Stewart (6’6,” 6.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 47% FG) and Shane Rogers (5’11,” 5.2 ppg, 4.1 apg). Though this group shows signs of promise, they are lacking the experience and dynamic scoring ability to knock off Middlebury. They almost beat Williams by shooting above average from three (37%, vs. 26% on the season), and outscoring them from the bench (26-10). The former category isn’t the type to carry over to another game, although it should be a point of emphasis simply because Colby attempts so many threes per game (22.4, second in the NESCAC), and the latter category is unlikely against a Middlebury team that boasts two of the top reserves in the league in James Jensen and Hunter Merryman. Expect Middlebury to win by double digits.
Injury watch: Both Joey Kizel (ankle) and Peter Lynch (ankle) started yesterday, but Middlebury’s lack of backcourt depth (Brierley and Bulluck still out) showed again as no reserve guards entered the game, and the rotation only went 8-deep. Henry Pendergast and/or Albert Nascimento will probably get minutes today.
Livestream?: There is no link to a video stream on the Colby website, which is surprising and disappointing. If anyone knows how to follow the game other than via Live Stats, please share.

7 thoughts on “Colby

  1. I’m driving over on Friday for the games. If they’re delayed/postponed, etc. can you post something right away, please? I don’t want to come all the way in the snow only to find that they won’t be played. Thanks!

    1. Yes- We will tweet and we will reply here in the comments if we hear anything. Also, Damon and I will be broadcasting Saturday, so it would be great if you came and said hi during halftime or after the game. Safe travels.

  2. we know it’s Lyndon St. but the GIANT thing tonite is that DeanB. and more importantly Nate Bulluck got minutes. Down the stretch in the nescacs and beyond (which is where the seniors are taking us)- they will be important additions. Nate’s block of a Williamson dunk at the half at Amherst has not been forgotten by the Panther Faithful and gives us a blast of athleticism on the ‘d’ that we haven’t had lately. Think it’s great. Be well. Clubbo.

    1. Yeah, nice to see them both handling the ball well at the end. Clearly both are still toward the bottom of the depth chart, wonder how quickly they will move ahead of Nascimento and Pendergast.

  3. for The Panther Nation:- the stage is set for a wild finish to the nescac regular season. If Amherst beats Williams and it says here this will happen because Amherst has more firepower and gets better match-ups on ‘D’, despite being on the road. It brings us to Pepin on Sat., where a Midd win would result in a 3-way tie for the regular season title. If correct in my assessment of all nescac tiebreakers, hosting for nescac finals will be determined by pulling one team out of a hat. I’m not volunteering my hat because a failure to get the games at Midd might be followed by a shoot-on-sight order once I crossed the Cornwall line, so we’ll have to leave that task to Erin Quinn and JeffB. Tufts is locked in at #4 (and will get a home game) but could only host in the unlikely event that the top 3 all lost in the quarters. Will keep you posted. Clubman.

Leave a Reply to Jeff Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *