Seven unbeatens, the last of the tall trees nationally started last weekend and all playing on the road survived with the exception of St. Thomas (#4). "The Road" is the great equalizer in separating pretenders from contenders, and The Boys with nine W's outside the confines of Pepin were well prepped for their journey last week. The Road's little brother the 3-ball, the trifecta or 'downtown', or whatever your local announcer calls it is the other equalizer. St. Thomas learned the hard way when Hamline shot the lights out (14 for 19 @ the arc), and there were at least 2 or 3 other games that good home squads, and/or conference leaders (yes there are others besides the nescac) where the 'little brother' was the deciding factor.
Tufts was pesky early, and The Boys weren't sharp to start with the exception of Ryan W. and Nolan Thomson, but came together down 15, early in the second half and threw the knockout punch at The Jumbo's. Jake tied it at 54, on a 3-point play with 9:00 left, capping a 22-7 burst and then The Boys closed the last five minutes with a 15-1 run. Big contributions from our 'Bigs' (Locke and Ryan S. playing in goggles, I heard, to protect from an eye injury) also from Joey K. who provides a lot more than just bringing the rock up. The 'D' showed why it is 1st in FG's not allowed by holding Tufts to just over 25% in the second half. In Lewiston, there was no slow start and no chance for Bates to even form the idea of an upset. It was a grind 'em down, never-really-in-doubt road W. Another big game for Nolan and he was duly rewarded by being named NESCAC player of the week. (Maker, reportedly furious over Whittington's non-selection, has indicated that if this happens again, Williams may bring an injunction against NESCAC headquarters in Hadley Town Court to stop such shenanigans.)
Wesleyan, now seriously better, and a very young and trigger-happy-from-3-land ConnCollege are at Pepin on this week's docket. Wesleyan, more advanced because of skill players and depth, is thinking about the possibility of getting by Bowdoin or Bates and being the 4-seed down the road. Dangerous, yes, but The Boys have a big edge inside, and on 'D', and more depth. At home, Wes hasn't yet shown that their defense can close somebody out, so my thought is that's not happening on the road, at least not here. Conn doesn't match up, but they play better together than their last couple of squads. They're all frosh (essentially) and they want to push it and let the 3's fly. Two problems- they're not quick and not big. If they don't get the ball off the boards, they're not running , and if Nolan locks down Vadas ( the best young shooter I've seen in several years) their offense will stall. Don't think Vadas has seen a 'D' yet like the one he'll see on Saturday afternoon. The Boys should overcome, and we'll be able to see if any of the other 'tall trees' fall, setting up the battle next week at Williamstown.
My 'voices' from the data mines tell me that Midd is #1 nationally in FG defense, and thanks to 'TheBigFella' (Andrew), #1 in Blocks, and that we're closing in on national rebounding margin, second to something called 'Old Westbury', which I thought was a classical car dealership just off the L.I.E..
Hope to see you at Pepin this weekend. The 'roar' of the Dinosaurs will be heard starting at 11:30 Saturday, when the Alumni game tips off. The Boys are in the 'B' game at 2 p.m. with The Camels. Be well. Clubbo.
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