At the beginning of each season, optimism is always at its highest point, and coaches spend the preseason convincing their players that they can in fact "win it all."
Heading into the final weekend of NESCAC play, these preseason fantasies have become very much a reality for nine of the ten NESCAC teams. With the exception of Bates (1-6 in the NESCAC), every team still has a chance to make the NESCAC tournament and take the title.
Atop the league standings sit the Colby White Mules and the Trinity Bantams, both sporting 5-2 league records. But their lofty position is far from safe. Eight of the nine teams still in competition for the playoffs could easily usurp both squads with big weekends. Only Middlebury, whose record stands at 3-5, has no chance to take first place in the league.
Although Middlebury cannot win the league title, the Panthers leapt into the playoff hunt with a spectacular weekend that included a 92-73 trouncing of Bates on Friday and a 76-71 drubbing of Tufts on Saturday afternoon. A trio of seniors, guard Jon Cormier (14 points) and forwards Zach Bourgue (14 points) and Keith Watts (17 points), led the way. Fellow seniors Andrew Shogan and Chris Mclaughlin give the Panthers an experienced starting five who clearly are not intimidated by crunch-time pressure.
Middlebury was not the only squad to sweep their weekend games, as the Williams Ephs also beat up on Tufts 86-64 on Friday night before whipping the overmatched Bates Bobcats 80-65. The Ephs two wins catapulted them into second place in the NESCAC conference with a 5-3 mark.
With three teams, Tufts, Bowdoin, and Conn. College tied for the sixth position (the top seven teams make the playoffs), next weekend will undoubtedly be an explosive one. The Jumbos hit the road again to throw down with Wesleyan on Friday night before continuing their tour of Connecticut with a match-up against 3-4 Conn. College on Saturday afternoon.
Trinity and Colby go head-to-head on Friday evening in Waterville, ME in what probably will determine the number one seed for the NESCAC tournament. Colby stays at home on Sunday where they play (4-3) Amherst, while Trinity travels south to Brunswick, ME where they will face Bowdoin.
Going into the final weekend of NESCAC play, it appears that the White Mules are in the driver's seat. While this is the first year of the NESCAC tournament, Colby has high-pressure experience making it to the finals of last year's ECAC tournament where they fell to Tufts 74-73.
While it's not quite March Madness, this weekend is about as frantic as it gets in the wild world of Div. III sports. Who will make the playoffs? Who will clinch the number one seed in the NESCAC playoffs? Will the Jumbos be participants of spectators? As the sports clich?© goes, there are far more questions than answers leading into the last weekend of NESCAC play.
