'The Boys' were ready as promised for Amherst, controlled the boards and the paint, and kept Meehan & Toomey under wraps for 40 minutes and pulled away late to set up the possibility that the NESCAC seeding was going to be pulled from the hat. But TheLordJeffNation couldn't hold up their end of the deal and let Williams get away. Meanwhile back at Pepin, 'The Boys' had their hands full with Trinity refusing to go away, bombing away from trey-land (7 for 9 in the 2d half) to keep it close and then having the ball on the last possession. But our 'D' on the arc was stifling, no 'looks', and they were forced to go for the deuce which worked out well when Fels accidentally made the second of two freebies with 2.3 ticks left. There are no bad W's.
At 20 and 1, they earned the 2-seed and get The Camels back here for a reprise of their thrashing last month. But with all our accomplishments the Midd equation has changed, and not for the better. From what this observer understands, 'TheBigFella', Andrew Locke, is most-likely, done, courtesy of an inadvertent collision and knee injury against Hamilton, just as we were in the midst of the 'knockout punch' on Monday night. There isn't any official word as yet, but with everything that Andrew has brought to the floor in team leadership, alteration of our foe's offenses, shot blocking and board work, it is a hole in our fabric that others will have to work doubly hard to close. Nobody loses the leading shot blocker in the nation without having to take a hard look at a new reality. How successful 'The Boys' are at accomplishing that, will determine how far The Panther Express goes as the second season approaches.
But first things first. Tonite we have Green Mountain in town. If Vegas was involved, there'd be 'no line'. Those kids are looking at a serious goose-egg of a season, and having gotten blown out by 30+ by the Lyndon States of the world (who we ran over: 87 to 50) don't think there's anything they can do. Two thoughts: our top guys go maybe 12-14 minutes, get a tightener, and no further injuries, and then JeffB. turns it over to the guys who work their butts off in practice everyday, and let them get 25 minutes of work. Don't expect that the Mounties will put more than 31 on the board even in that scenario. And we may be able add to that, if things go well against ConnColl this weekend. The ConnColl game will give us a chance to focus on how the new equation will work under game conditions before we head to Williamstown for the semi's. Think the 'D' will keep Vadas under control, and that ought to be disruptive enough to their flow so that we can control both ends throughout. Don't see us looking by them, or of them figuring out a way to reverse that 80-52 margin.
It's my thought that last weekend locked in an NCAA bid (a Pool-C at worst), and when he dispose of The Camels, The Boys will have definitely earned a hosting weekend for the Big Dance. Plenty to still be decided in Eph-town, but on the bright side we've still got the 'D', the depth, the cohesiveness, plenty of firepower, and 'The Horse' (who with all he's accomplished, think there's still more). That said, I wouldn't trade our spot with anybody. From downtown, which used to be measured by cross midcourt, be well. Clubbo.
No comments:
Post a Comment