Gone Fishin’: A Look at the Teams Watching from Home

Men's Basketball

We’re down to the final four, and while this weekend will be about the excitement and drama going down in LeFrak, it’s always fun to take a moment to reflect on how we got here.  Seven teams (unless Bowdoin gets an at-large bid) have played their last game this season, and here’s a recap of each team’s journey.

#11 BATES (11-13, 1-9)

Boy, did things look good out of the gate for the Bobcats. Bates won six of its first seven, including a non-league game on the road at Colby, and eight of its first 12, the last being a buzzer-beating victory over Middlebury, who’s still alive. As it turned out, that win would be Bates’ only in the conference and the Bobcats ended the year with four consecutive losses.

MVP: Graham Safford, Senior
The captain started every game, played 33.0 minutes per contest, and led the team in scoring and assists. Sophomore guard Mike Boornazian also had a very impressive season, but Safford was the team’s heartbeat, and hit the big shot in the team’s biggest win of the season. Speaking of which…

High Point: Win at Middlebury 64-61
Looking back on the conference season’s opening weekend, this game seemed to confirm the worries of many a Panther fan who thought that the departures of Jake Wolfin, Nolan Thompson and Peter Lynch would spell the end of the era of Panther dominance, and lifted Bates to the top of the list of candidates for surprise team of the year. The next weekend Bates lost both games by a combined 26 points, and Middlebury is preparing for a semifinals tilt. Be wary of jumping to conclusions.

Most Impressive Newcomer(s): The Delpeche Brothers
Malcolm played more minutes than Marcus and poured it in at a 63.7 percent clip, but both had solid first seasons. Bates fans hope that these two will continue to develop together, pushing one another and using the chemistry that they have no doubt been fostering their entire lives. They should be a force for the next three years.

#10 CONNECTICUT COLLEGE (9-14, 2-8)
Despite an abysmal season, the Camels were actually still alive heading into the final weekend of NESCAC play. Then they got blown out by Williams (the Ephs were up 17 with 2:14 to play) and Hamilton (who won by 17). It was the Matt Vadas show all season, as it has been for years now. The senior guard became the Camels’ all-time leading scorer in the penultimate game against Williams and also holds the record for most three pointers in school history.

MVP: Zuri Pavlin, First-year
Tradition says that you give the MVP to your senior captain and all-time points leader, but I think Pavlin was actually more productive. Vadas was a 40 percent shooter. Good, but not great. Meanwhile, the 6’5” Pavlin shot 46 percent on the year and, get this, set the school’s single season rebounding record. As a first-year. The guy averaged a double-double (10.5, 10.8). Now if only he could fly, he’d be amazing.

High Point: Breaking Records
I hate to belabor the point, but this team wasn’t good, and the only thing that really stood out were some great individual seasons, namely that of Vadas and Pavlin. But, three of the team’s top five point-scorers will be back next year, one being first-year Alex Hall who played only 15.6 minutes per game, so things may be looking up for the Camels.

Most Improved: Mason Lopez, Senior
Lopez didn’t start at all last year and only played in 14 games, averaging 7.2 points per game. This season Lopez started 18 games and played 29.5 minutes per game, becoming a three-point threat and chipping in with a few boards and assists per game.

#9 WESLEYAN (11-13, 4-6)

The Cardinals were a playoff team last year at 4-6 in the NESCAC. This season they weren’t so lucky, and they needed to beat Williams on the season’s final day to get in, but weren’t up to the challenge. Wesleyan was competitive against everyone in the league except Amherst and Williams, and got the majority of its minutes from underclassmen, seeing as there were only two seniors on the roster. Following the departure of Shasha Brown, Derrick Beresford and Mike Callaghan — all of them 1,000-point scorers — head coach Joe Reilly should be pleased with the competitiveness of this young, developing group.

MVP: Rashid Epps, Sophomore
This is a tough one, because a lot of guys were really close statistically, but Epps provided the only real inside presence for Wesleyan. The sophomore was a very efficient scorer and snagged 9.2 rebounds per game. The 6’5” Harlem native should only get better with a talented young group around him.

High Point: Four-Game Winning Streak between January and February
Between Jan. 25 and Feb. 4., the Cardinals got three of their four conferences victories and squeaked out a win against in-state rival Eastern Connecticut. The team lit it up from deep over that stretch (45 percent) and gave themselves a shot at the NESCAC tournament.

Most Impressive Newcomer: Harry Rafferty
I said that the Cardinals will bring back a young core, but the team’s two through five scorers were all sophomores this season. Wesleyan’s top scorer was freshman point guard Harry Rafferty, off a post-grad year at Philips Exeter. Rafferty put up a 12.6, 3.9, 2.4 line, one of the best first-year performances in the conference.

(Another newcomer to take note of is Joseph Kuo, a 6’8” New Yorker who got limited playing time, but swatted a shot per game. There’s not a ton of 6’8” bodies in this league, maybe one per team. It will be interesting to see what he becomes.)

#8 COLBY (14-11, 4-6)

Much like the Cardinals, Colby will go into next season with high hopes while bringing back almost everyone. The Mules will graduate three seniors, none of whom played more than 4.3 minutes per game. The top five scorers for Colby were all sophomores, and five players (four sophomores, one junior) accounted for 95 percent of the starts, a sign of the team’s consistency and usually a good sign for a young core growing up together.

MVP: Chris Hudnut, Sophomore
An offense-first player, the 6’8” Hudnut is a true center with a good mid-range jump shot and nice touch around the basket. He runs the floor pretty well for a big guy, but he’s a killer in the halfcourt. Not afraid to shoot, he took 14.2 shots per game on his way to averaging 17.5 points per game. The sophomore big shot just 46.5 percent from the field, but given his range and developing three-point shot (29 percent on 2.5 attempts per game) his comparatively low efficiency numbers are buoyed somewhat. He’s also a good free throw shooter (78.3 percent), which is always a question mark when you’re talking about big guys. He can also rebound his position, averaging 8.4 rebounds per game, the fourth most in the conference. Finally, he’s an effective passer out of the paint, tallying 2.5 assists per game (and an eye-popping 3.4 in conference play, the 10th most in the NESCAC).

High Point: 80-75 Win vs. Amherst, January 31, 2014
The Lord Jeffs, the top seed in the NESCAC and number one in the most recent Northeast Regional Rankings, lost just three games this season. One was to a D-II school, Nova Southeastern, one was a shocker at Emerson (13-13) and the third as a conference defeat in Waterville on the last day of January, snapping a 25-game conference winning streak for Amherst. How did the Mules do it? It was a strange game in that only one player from each bench reached double digit minutes. Aaron Toomey scored 26 for the Lord Jeffs, but he was nearly matched by Colby’s Patrick Stewart who had 25. Amherst handily won the rebounding battle, turnovers were even at seven a-piece and three-point shooting was comparable. The factors in favor of Colby were assists (Colby had 23 to Amherst’s 10, evidence of great ball movement) and overall field goal percentage. Amherst shot 38.9 percent, but Colby converted at a 50.8 percent clip. Though the Lord Jeffs got their revenge in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs, this game was proof that Colby’s impressive young roster can compete with the league’s best.

The Robin Award (i.e. Batman and Robin): Luke Westman, Sophomore
While Hudnut is a score-first player, Westman is the type that makes everyone around him better, and is already extremely polished. Westman shot 65.2 percent from the field, far and away the best number among guards in the NESCAC, and second overall in conference behind seven footer John Swords. Westman started every game for the Mules and played high-volume minutes (30.5 mpg). He’s steady from the line (77.6 percent), a good rebounder for a guard (4.7 rebounds per game) and a solid playmaker (4.3 assists per game, 1.8 assist:turnover). When watching Colby play, it’s easy to miss the sophomore’s brilliance. He might never get First Team All-NESCAC consideration because he will likely always defer to Hudnut, Stewart and Ryan Jann, but he’s an integral cog in what this team can accomplish in the next two seasons.

#7 TUFTS (13-12, 4-6)

Some, myself included, had tufts pegged as this season’s breakout team. The Jumbos went 7-3 in the NESCAC last season and hosted a playoff game. Despite the loss of 2013 Rookie of the Year, Tom Palleschi to injury and the graduation of All-NESCAC Scott Anderson, the arrival of one of the league’s most talented first-years in forward Hunter Sabety and the return of productive guards Ben Ferris, Stephen Haladyna, Kwame Firempong and Oliver Cohen boded well for a step forward in 2014. Unfortunately, injuries to Ferris and Haladyna stopped Tufts from getting in a rhythm early in the year. Though Sabety was everything coach Bob Sheldon could have hoped for and senior forward Tommy Folliard took a large step forward, the Jumbos could not replace Palleschi and endured a disappointing campaign. Tufts will graduate Cohen, but a healthy core of Ferris, Haladyna and Sabety could make some noise next season.

MVP: Stephen Haladyna, Sophomore
This was another tough call. Ferris, a former Rookie of the Year himself, played only 14 games. Oliver Cohen did his job well, which meant distributing the basketball, racking up 4.9 assists per game, but his struggles from the field (37.2 percent) were too great to ignore. Coach Sheldon had to be pleased with the performance of senior guard Kwame Firempong, who tallied 11.9 points per game, but he, too, was inefficient from the floor (39.2 percent) and was a negative when he tried to shoot threes (32.2 percent). Sabety was, at times, dominant. We continue to reference the first half against Middlebury when Sabety went 8-8 and made it look easy. But that reminds us of the second half, and how Matt Daley was able to get into the first-year’s head. Sabety was limited to 22.9 mpg, partially because of his repeated bouts with foul trouble. And so the honor falls, almost by default, to Haladyna. The guard played and started 21 games, was second on the team in scoring, shot 42.9 percent, 81.6 percent from the line, and added 3.6 rebounds per game and 1.0 assists per game. Those numbers might not jump off the page, but he was consistent, which is something that can’t be said for many of the Jumbos this season.

High Point: NESCAC Quarterfinals Loss at Williams, 87-77 (OT)
It may be hard to justify a loss as a high point in the season, but bear with me. This season was a frustrating one for the Jumbos, one in which they failed to rack up any signature victories. It was the type of season where one must take solace in the dreaded ‘moral victory’. But honestly, for a team that lost by 23 to Williams two weeks before, they have to be proud of the fact that they took a top-10 team to overtime on its home floor in a playoff game. One might argue that the previous weekend, in which the Jumbos won two games to get into the tournament, including besting Bowdoin 66-62, was the high point for Tufts. But I don’t think anyone at Tufts started the season with the goal being to squeak into the playoffs as the seventh seed. They thought they could win it all. That won’t happen this year, but Tufts will look to rebound next year and make another run.

Most Impressive Newcomer: Hunter Sabety
We’ve talked about the super-talented first-year quite a bit. He just looks extremely athletic. At 6’8” 240lbs, he’s also pretty big. He knows how to use his body already on offense, and he is a force on defense as well, leading the league in blocked shots with 2.8 per game. He could contribute more consistently on the boards (6.6 rebounds per game), but he’s another guy that’s very efficient, scoring at a 65 percent clip, good for third in the NESCAC. The 2017 class could be one of the Jumbos’ beset in recent years. Point guard Tarik Smith played in every game this year and should replace Cohen in 2014-15. The last member of the class, forward Drew Madsen, was slightly disappointing, but he, too, looks like an athlete, and showed flashes. That trio, alongside Ferris and Haladyna, should form the beginning of a competitive rotation for the Jumbos.

#6 HAMILTON (14-11, 5-5)

Hamilton’s best player (spoiler alert) was sophomore guard Matt Hart. The only problem? As Hart went, so went the Continentals. Hamilton ranked fourth in the conference in ppg, but dead last in points allowed, combining for a differential of +2.3. Hamilton had no second scoring threat after Hart, and all in all lacked size. Nevertheless, they finished in the middle of the NESCAC, a testament to just how effective the offense could be.

MVP: Matt Hart, sophomore
Hart was the conference’s leading scorer at 20.6 ppg. In conference, that average went up to 21.0 ppg. In wins and losses he scored nearly the same number of points, but in Hamilton’s wins he hit shots at a 53.3 percent clip while he was a 41.1 percent shooter in defeat. The latter number isn’t terrible, but goes to show that there was no one to pick up the slack when Hart struggled. Hart had some big games in the NESCAC: 27 vs. Bowdoin, 30 vs. Middlebury, 29 at Conn. College. But Hart struggled in the Continentals playoff rematch with Middlebury. He notched just 11 points, most coming at the very end while the contest was slipping out of reach.

High Point: Wins vs. Middlebury, Bates and Tufts, Feb. 2-8
The Continentals rattled off three straight conference wins at home in early February, the first by a combined four points before torching Bates by 24. That stretch propelled Hamilton firmly into the playoffs. Unfortunately, all of those wins came at home, where the Continentals earned four of their five conference wins, and when playoff time rolled around, Hamilton looked outmatched on the road in Pepin.

Who’s Next?: Jack Donnelly, Sophomore
Slightly different approach here with Hamilton. Given that no one else really stood out consistently, I decided to predict who will step up next year and give Hart some support. Donnelly is just 6’0”, and not particularly athletic, but he’s a very efficient shooter at 45.2 percent from the floor and 46.3 percent from deep, and takes good care of the basketball with a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. His starting spot next year is not guaranteed. Senior Greg Newton will graduate, but junior guard Joseph Lin and freshman guard Kyle Pitman each played in 25 games this year, so there will be competition.

#5 BOWDOIN (19-5, 6-4)

The final NCAA Northeast Regional Rankings have Bowdoin at number seven, on the bubble for an at-large bid. At one point the Polar Bears looked like a lock for the postseason. They lost one game before February, but then went just 3-3 in the lead up to Selection Monday. They continually played to the level of their competition, losing by a total of 8 to Williams and Amherst but beating Bates by just three in early December in a non-conference game. At their best, Bowdoin could beat anyone in the NESCAC, but they became increasingly inconsistent over the course of the year, and failed to lock down a signature win, losing close games to the NESCAC’s top three seeds. Not having a healthy Bryan Hurley (9.4 points per game 4.0 rebounds per game, 8.3 assists per game in 2012-13) hurt, too.

MVP: John Swords, Junior
You can’t teach height. The tallest player in the NESCAC was dominant this year. Swords led the league in field goal percentage at 68.7 percent and was second to Pavlin in rebounds per game with 9.5, while tying with Middlebury’s Jack Roberts for second with 2.5 blocks per game while anchoring the NESCAC’s toughest defense. The drawbacks? Swords drew 2.9 fouls per game, limiting the conference’s best two-way big man to just 28 minutes per game. Additionally, teams could employ the hack-a-Swords technique if need be down the stretch and put the 53.3 percent foul shooter on the line. Offensively, one would expect someone so big and efficient to score more points, but Swords often looked to pass out of the post. I expect him to take over the game more next season with another year of experience under his belt.

High Point: 12-0 Start
Bowdoin had never before gone 5-0, so the hot start was something special for the Polar Bears. Even if their season is done, 19 wins would tie for the second-most victories in school history (22-7 in 2007-08), and represent a huge step forward from last year’s 14-10 finish.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Andrew Madlinger, Senior; Matt Mathias, Senior; Grant White, Senior
Bowdoin went with the same starting five every game this season, including Swords, fellow junior Keegan Pieri and the above trio of seniors. Madlinger was second on the Polar Bears with 12.1 points per game. Both he and White snagged more than four rebounds per game, though neither is taller than 6’4”. Mathias was a great distributor, handing out 3.8 assists per game, while making 43.0 percent of his threes. This season, these three helped Gilbride get his 400th victory (one of two active NESCAC coaches to reach that milestone) and entered the Bowdoin College record books with their flawless start to the season. Over the course of their careers, the seniors went 64-33 (.660).

 

Tufts

Men's Basketball

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January 12, 2014, 4:00 pm
Middlebury (6-5, 0-1) vs. Tufts (6-5, 0-0)
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Over the past three seasons, there has been a clear cream of the NESCAC crop. Between the 2010-2013 seasons, Middlebury, Amherst and Williams combined for eight top-three finishes and all three conference championships. This year a handful of squads look to crash the championship party, and one team poised to do so is the Tufts Jumbos.

Three years ago the Jumbos were a mediocre squad, going 4-5 in conference, suffering blowouts to the NESCAC’s top teams. The next season, 2011-2012, Tufts improved to 6-4 in conference in a down year for Williams, placing fourth in the league, but still failed to compete with Middlebury and Amherst.

Finally, in 2012-2013, Tufts gave a top team a scare, losing by a point when Middlebury’s James Jensen swatted a last second jumper. The Jumbos’ only conference losses last season came against Middlebury and Williams at home and on the road at Amherst. In their third straight postseason appearance, Tufts again fell to Amherst on the road, 80-64, in the NESCAC Semifinals. They finished the year at 17-9 overall and 7-3 in conference, the most conferences victories for the program since 2004-2005. Tufts is finally putting Titletown on the D3 basketball map (there’s your shameless plug of Boston sports for the week)

Now in his 26th season at the helm of the Jumbos, head coach Bob Sheldon has turned out some impressive recruiting classes over the past decade, which has helped the team reach their current level of relevance. Junior Ben Ferris earned NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors his first season on campus in 2011-2012. That year he tallied 9.6 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 1.3 assists. Last year, as a sophomore, the 6’ 3” guard led the squad in scoring, rebounding, 3-pointers made and steals.

Sheldon’s recruiting prowess continued in 2012-2013 as he brought in the 6’ 8” Massachusetts native Tom Pelleschi to play center. Pelleschi played well early on, but truly emerged once NESCAC play began. While averaging 13.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game during conference play and shooting at a 57% clip, Pelleschi did enough not only to win NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors (the second straight Jumbo to do so), but also to earn the distinction of D3Hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year.

Unfortunately, Pelleschi’s career may have come to a sudden end. The dynamic center suffers from an enlarged aorta that will certainly keep him away from the court for the 2013-2014 season and leaves his playing future in significant doubt.

So, the question on the court for the Jumbos at the outset of conference play is how to replace the production of one of the league’s most talented returning centers.

As in the past two seasons, Sheldon has relied on some talented freshman to shoulder a significant load. Only three freshmen will don the baby blue and brown in Medford this year, but two of them stand amongst the league’s tallest. The 6’ 8” Hunter Sabety hails from Oceanside, NY and Drew Madsen, though listed as a 6’ 7” forward, will be among the league’s tallest big men as well. Sabety in particular fits the void left by Palleschi. At 240 pounds, he can bruise underneath but will still bring a good amount of athleticism, and turned down a slew of D1 offers in favor of Tufts. And Sabety has a penchant for winning. As a four-year varsity player and three-year starter, Sabety accrued an 88-33 record and led his high school to a Division 3 State Championship last season. Palleschi has been involved with the team and done his best to bring the young big men along.

Sabety has been everything Coach Sheldon had hoped for and more to start the year. Eleven games into his college career, Sabety is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder despite only playing 20.6 minutes per game, and is a defensive force, racking up 2.3 blocks per game, fourth among NESCAC big men.

The Jumbos frontcourt has been bolstered by the emergence of 6’ 7” senior Tommy Folliard. The Richmond, VA native has more than doubled his scoring from last season, from 5.6 to 12.3, and is a remarkable 21-38 from deep (55%).

Additionally, with a hip stress fracture keeping last year’s leading scorer, Ben Ferris, sidelined until after the new year, 5’ 10” 170 lbs point guard Tarik Smith has logged significant minutes. In 20 minutes per game off the bench, Smith has helped senior Oliver Cohen handle point guard duties and has been deadly efficient from the floor, scoring 10 point per game on 49% shooting and 47% from behind the arc.

Though losing their two men in the middle with the injury to Palleschi and the graduation of Scott Anderson, the Jumbos have returned a dynamic backcourt, where Ferris is joined by sophomore Stephen Haladyna. The 6’5” Haladyna was third on the team in scoring last season, dropping 10.2 per game. What’s more, Oliver Cohen, who logged more minutes than any other returner from last year and led the team in assists, has stepped right back into his point guard role, and leads the team with 5 assists per game. Additionally, the voluntary departure of would-be junior guard CJ Moss, who played over 23 minutes per game last year and started in all 17 of his appearances, put more pressure on the team’s returning guards. Haladyna and Cohen were expected to shoulder the load early on for the Jumbos with the injury to Ferris and departure of Moss, but an injury of his own kept Haladyna to just six games before the new year. The Jumbos have gotten backcourt production from a long list of names, including the team’s second-leading scorer, senior Kwame Firempong, and from sophomore Ryan Spadaford, who’s played under 20 minutes per game off the bench but has racked up over 10 points per game and is shooting above 50%.

In the team’s first game since the break, the Jumbos (6-5) lost on the road to Rhode Island College (7-5). But, the good news for Coach Bob Sheldon is that he finally got a look at the rotation that will carry the Jumbos through conference play, barring further injuries. Haladyna took the court for the first time in weeks, and Ferris for the first time all year, playing 28 minutes. Both showed signs of rust, but there is no question of their ability once they get in a rhythm.

At the season’s outset, the loss of Palleschi seemed like a monstrous void to fill. But with the emergence of Folliard and the instant success of Sabety, accompanied by the legion of experienced and inexperienced guards playing big minutes and producing for the Jumbos, Tufts seems to be rounding into form at the perfect time, before their first conference matchup with Middlebury in central VT. The biggest issue for Tufts thus far has been defense. Though fourth in the league in scoring, Tufts is also fourth-to-last in points allowed. Hopefully for the Jumbos, the return of Ferris will improve their perimeter defense that will have an affect on all other parts of their game. What’s more, if Sabety can refrain from the foul trouble he’s often gotten himself into, he is poised to make a Palleschi-esque leap in terms of production in conference play and potentially earn the Jumbos’ third straight NESCAC Rookie of the Year honor. Tufts will need continued strong play from the frontcourt to complement their guards if they hope to make the team’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2005-2006 and dethrone the triumvirate of Middlebury, Amherst and Williams.

Aaron Liebowitz of the Tufts Daily contributed to this post

Around the Conference: Week 8

Football
Wesleyan is eyeing an undefeated season and conference championship; Trinity's home winning streak stands in their path.

Wesleyan is eyeing an undefeated season and conference championship; Trinity’s home winning streak stands in their path.

This post was written by lead writers Joe MacDonald and Adam Lamont.


More Interceptions Likely For Amherst Secondary
A lot of people are talking about a possible Williams upset in the Biggest Little Game in the World because Williams has been playing teams close recently. It’s a rivalry game so of course anything is possible, but the play of the Amherst defense has been spectacular all season and will continue to be so this weekend. The front seven for Amherst is great, but what has set this defense apart is its ability to force turnovers, especially in tight games. Five interceptions against Middlebury, three against Colby, and two early against Trinity were instrumental in those victories. Arguably the key in Wesleyan’s win over Amherst was Wesleyan’s Jesse Warren eliminating mistakes. Now Williams comes in unsettled at QB with three players who have showed a propensity for interceptions. Mark Pomella started last week against Wesleyan and struggled with 129 yards on 31 attempts with two interceptions. That spells a field day for Landrus Lewis, Jaymie Spears, Chris Gow, Kevin Callahan and Max Gietz. Amherst sits at 17 interceptions through seven games and could get to a round 20 on Saturday.

Underclassmen QB’s Look to Make Statements
Nine of the ten quarterbacks starting Saturday will be back next season with the notable exception being Middlebury’s Mac Foote. None of them have shown the ability to change games by themselves, but a great performance from one of them this next week will go a long way in boosting a team’s confidence for next year. We predicted Colby’s sophomore QB Justin Ciero breaking out last week against Tufts. He did just that winning NESCAC Offensive POTW with 138 yards rushing and 218 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air. Max Lippe has looked good for stretches, but is also being challenged at Amherst by Alex Berluti. Then there is the  trio of Chase Rosenberg (Hamilton), Mac Caputi (Bowdoin), and Alex Snyder (Tufts) who often struggle, but will have a whole offseason to put it together. Jesse Warren has been unbelievably efficient, but many aren’t sold on him as a player capable of carrying an offense by himself. A big game against Trinity this week would cement his status as the top quarterback returning next year. With so many signal-callers set to return, scoring should go up next fall.

Colby Gunning For CBB
The last time Colby won the CBB was back in 2005 when they finished 7-1. This year’s team has a chance to finish 5-3 after a convincing win over Bates. The connection between QB Justin Ciero and Luke Duncklee has been central to a suddenly explosive offense. Duncklee is a Maine native and knows the importance that a CBB brings for Colby. Bowdoin is extremely banged up in the secondary, but still have junior corner Jon Fraser who should shadow Duncklee all game. Ciero will also use his legs often which sets him apart from other QB’s in the NESCAC as a dual threat. The Colby defense has been phenomenal besides from a 41-0 shellacking to Wesleyan. CT Harris has been a force on the defensive line with 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss. On the back end Zach Padula and Dan Maddox have led a stellar secondary. For Bowdoin, senior running back Zach Donnarumma has to have a huge day in his final game. Expect tough sledding for the Polar Bear offense all day. The defensive linemen will have to get pressure on Ciero while not giving him too many lanes for him to run. Colby will be pumped up for this game while Bowdoin looks to play the role of spoiler. A Bowdoin win leaves a three way tie, meaning Bates would retain the championship.

Last Dash for Trinity’s Horses
While the Wesleyan ground game is the class of the ‘CAC (see below), Trinity’s backs have been almost as powerful. But unlike Ladarius Drew and Kyle Gibson, Bantam seniors Evan Bunker and Ben Crick will be playing their last collegiate game on Saturday. Bunker and Crick rank second and fourth in the league in rushing yards. Trinity has leaned on Bunker, just as they have since the day he stepped on campus. Barring a nearly 200 yard performance this weekend at Trinity, 2013 will represent a career low in rushing yards for Bunker, who posted 938 in his freshman campaign, 853 in 2011 and an astonishing 1275 last year, the third most in NESCAC history since the league began keeping records in 1992 and the second most in Trinity’s history to David Kiarsis’ 1374 in 1970. Part of the reason for the setback in Bunker’s rushing total is an increase in Crick’s share of the carries. Last year, Bunker ran the ball over 200 times to Crick’s 84, but this year Bunker has seen 152 carries through seven weeks and Crick has already run the ball 81 times for 456 yards, a 5.6 yards per carry average. These two will certainly be missed next year. Trinity has two junior backs, Chudi Iregbulem and Jacob Rivers, with impressive yards per carry numbers but very limited action. Saturday will be the last chance to watch Bunker, the best back to ever come through Hartford, and his mate Crick tear up the turf at Jessee/Miller Field.

Hamilton and Tufts Seek Their First Victories of the Season
It might be kinder to ignore these teams’ respective futility, but sports journalism is a cut-throat business. The Continentals are terrible this year. Their tightest loss was a six-pointer on the road in Brunswick, and nothing else was even close. They have the worst scoring offense (11.1 PPG) and scoring defense (33.4). But, there may be hope on the horizon. Freshman QB Chase Rosenberg has been decent, throwing for almost 1000 yards through seven games and completing 58.7% of his passes, though he has really struggled to take care of the ball with 13 interceptions. Hopefully the freshman, who has played in every game this year, gets better with age.
And I’d still rather be in Hamilton’s shoes than those of the Tufts Jumbos. They can’t buy a win, and things aren’t looking good this weekend against Middlebury, who, while still hoping to steal a share of the NESCAC title, will not be complacent against Tufts. The Jumbos’ mediocrity has really been astounding. They have not won a football game since opening day of 2010 against, who else, Hamilton. That’s 30 straight losses. I hope they can turn things around soon, but it won’t be this weekend.

Trinity’s Defense of Home Turf Has Title Implications
As you might have heard, Trinity won its 50th straight home game at Jessee/Miller Field three weeks ago against Bowdoin with a tidy 41-20 victory. Trinity last lost at home in 2001 to Williams, 31-10, and has never lost a home game on turf (52-0). But, the Bantams have looked vulnerable the last two weeks. After a stunning last minute defeat on Homecoming Weekend in Middlebury, VT two weeks ago, the Bantams fell again last week 17-16 on the road at Amherst, leaving them out of the NESCAC championship hunt. The Trinity defense was strong last week, but three turnovers killed the Bantams.
This week Trinity will host the Wesleyan Cardinals, who can clinch an outright victory of the NESCAC title with a win in Hartford, but a loss will likely drop the Cardinals into a three-way tie for the crown with Middlebury (who is at Tufts) and Amherst (at Williams). Barring a miracle where both Midd and Amherst lose, Wesleyan will have to do what’s never been done and beat Trinity on their own turf to secure the NESCAC title.

The Multiple Attack of the Wesleyan Ground Game
Wesleyan’s gameplan is no secret. Run, baby, run. The Cardinals have the third most rushing attempts and the second fewest passing attempts on the year. That recipe has been successful, as the Cardinals also lead the NESCAC in points per game with 33.3, and the majority of that damage is done on the ground. Wesleyan leads the league in rushing yards per game (225.0), yards per rush (4.9) and rushing touchdowns (15). A huge part of that success is Wesleyan’s ability to lean on more than one horse. Juniors LaDarius Drew and Kyle Gibson rank first and third in rushing yards this season, combining for 13 touchdowns, 10 of which belong to Drew. Drew has been a workhorse this season, running the ball 151 times (one behind Trinity’s Evan Bunker) and racking up the scores, but Gibson has been by far the more explosive option. His 7.1 yards per carry in 75 carries is mind-blowing. In Weeks 5 and 6 against Bowdoin and Amherst, Drew ran the ball 59 times to Gibson’s 11, but last week the distribution of carries evened out with positive results. Gibson averaged 4.9 yards on 15 carries and Drew had 3.3 on 19 with a touchdown. The weapons don’t end there for the Cardinals. Freshman running back Lou Stevens has impressed as well, averaging 5.9 yards per rush in limited duty. Having such a dynamic stable of running backs has helped QB Jesse Warren immensely during his extremely efficient season and been a huge factor in the Cardinals 7-0 run. One more dominant running performance should earn Wesleyan the conference championship. 

6 Things to Watch Saturday

Football

This post was written by lead writers Joe MacDonald and Adam Lamont.

Middlebury quarterback McCallum Foote’s Assault on the Record Books:

Last week Middlebury Foote broke former Middlebury quarterback Donnie McKillop’s short-lived NESCAC record of 62 career touchdown passes, which McKillop set in 2011 as Foote’s predecessor.

Foote has a long way to go if he is going to break McKillop’s single-season NESCAC record of 2967 yards of total offense in one season. Last year Foote racked up 2928 total yards, and with two games to go this season he has 2064 total yards. It may seem like too much to ask for 450+ total yards in the next two games from Foote, but in what will be his final action as a collegiate quarterback, Foote still has a shot. The Panthers match up with Hamilton and Tufts in their final two games, two squads with a grand total of zero wins on the season.

Hamilton’s pass defense ranks third in the league at 181.8 yards allowed per game, but they have faced some run-heavy attacks, have been behind early, making the pass unnecessary, and have yielded a nearly 62 percent completion rate.

Tufts, meanwhile, has been dissected, conceding a 60 percent completion rate to opposing quarterbacks, and two weeks ago was raided for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns by Williams quarterback Adam Marske.

Can Foote throw for 450 yards a game? Absolutely. He did it last year against Hamilton, tossing the rock for 456 on the road. This year he will be at home, still clinging to an outside shot at a shared NESCAC title, and the weather doesn’t look bad for Foote and his receivers. Temperatures should sit around 50 (practically tropical for November in Vermont) and if there is a light rain it likely won’t start until the 4th quarter or after the game has concluded.

Foote also threw for 459 this year in the loss at Amherst, three short of Donnie McKillop’s single-game Middlebury record set in 2008.

As for Tufts, Foote racked up a cool 389 passing yards in last year’s battle with the Jumbos.

With a repeat of last year’s aerial assault on Hamilton and a few scrambles to net a couple yards, Foote could find himself holding yet another record by season’s end.

NESCAC Preview: The Game of the Year

Football

Editors’ Note: A group of writers from around the NESCAC, led by Joe MacDonald (Middlebury) and Adam Lamont (Bowdoin), will be contributing to the blog for the remainder of the football season and hopefully beyond. This post was written by MacDonald, a sophomore at Middlebury and a sports editor of The Middlebury Campus.

A season ago, Amherst crushed the Cardinals’ hopes of an undefeated season, traveling to Middletown, Conn. then-unbeaten Wesleyan and emerging with 17-9 victory. This time around the stakes are even higher as two-thirds of the Little Three boast 4-0 records and NESCAC title hopes.

On paper, this appears to be a matchup of the conference’s two best teams. Wesleyan has the top scoring defense and offense this year, while Amherst is second and third in those categories, respectively.  They are first and third in turnover differential, with Amherst’s league-best +9 differential holding the edge to Wesleyan’s +5. And most directly, Wesleyan’s top-ranked rushing offense (266.0 yards per game) will be trying to break through the wall that is Amherst’s first-ranked rush defense (71.2 yards per game allowed).