The Amherst men's basketball team steamrolled its way to a national championship this past March, winning 30 games for the first time in school history. The Lord Jeffs embarked on a 23-game winning streak on Nov. 27, climbed into the nation's No. 1 spot on Jan. 28, and ultimately downed defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan 80-67 on Mar. 17 to win the program's first-ever Div. III title.
The one thing they couldn't do was conquer the ever-competitive NESCAC.
The Jeffs finished the 2006-07 season 30-2, but the two losses came in close succession as they closed out their conference slate in February. Amherst ended the regular season with a 62-59 loss to Trinity, and then dropped the NESCAC title game 70-69 to Williams two weeks later.
That said, the Lord Jeffs are back for revenge this season, and it's hard to bet against a team with as much returning talent as coach David Hixon has at his disposal. Senior captain Andrew Olson is the nation's best point guard, and his supporting cast includes five other standout seniors.
"Amherst is the top dog until somebody else beats them and proves otherwise," said Williams co-captain Chris Shalvoy, who hit five threes in the second half to propel the NESCAC's final upset last season. "They have a lot of talent. We're looking up at them right now - they've accomplished a lot, and we haven't yet."
The Ephs, just four years removed from a national title of their own, are not content with just a NESCAC championship. They were bounced from the first round of NCAAs by SUNY Brockport last March, but they hope that with all five starters returning, they can make a statement on the national scale this time around.
Shalvoy leads the way as a Second Team All-NESCAC selection and a four-year starter at the point. His co-captain Chris Rose has been a top-10 scorer in the NESCAC for two years running, and together, the Ephs' tandem will be counted on to carry this Williams squad.
"When you get to your junior and your senior year, I don't think you make any drastic improvements," said Dave Paulsen, the Ephs' two-time National Coach of the Year. "It's just about being more consistent and eliminating those ups and downs. I think they're both in excellent shape, they're focused and they're committed, and they've shown great leadership."
The two seniors will be joined in the starting lineup by a pair of standout sophomores. Center Joe Geohegan led the team in rebounds as a freshman with 6.7 per game, and rookie Blake Schultz jumped into the starting five at midseason and poured in 7.6 points a contest. Both have shown maturity beyond their years.
"The guys that were thrown into the fire last year have gotten a lot of experience, and that's going to pay dividends this year," Shalvoy said. "They're still young, but with their experience, they've played enough minutes that we don't even see them as sophomores anymore."
While the Ephs knocked the Lord Jeffs out of the NESCAC postseason, it was the Trinity Bantams who ended their regular-season winning streak. Amherst had a 50-41 lead late in that Feb. 10 contest, but the Bantams battled back to complete the upset win in front of their home crowd in Hartford.
"The win over Amherst was a great win," Bantams senior Russ Martin wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. "However, that was a different season with a different team. It was terrific for last year's team to experience such a great win in such an important game - we realize, though, that the win was last season."
This season, Trinity returns an honorable-mention All-American in Martin, as well as a double-digit scorer in senior forward Robert Taylor and a sharp-shooting guard in classmate Patrick Hasiuk. The Bantams undoubtedly have the talent to contend again.
But, as has become clear in recent years, anyone can contend in a conference this deep.
"Every game is a real battle," Paulsen said. "Last year Bates was 15-0 at one point, they ended up being the eighth seed in the conference tournament, and they played Amherst close the entire game. When an eighth seed can take the eventual national champions down to the final two minutes, that says a lot about the parity of the league."
As the Lord Jeffs look to defend their national title, the first question is whether they can even survive the grind of a competitive NESCAC slate. Williams and Trinity have shown in the past their ability to take down the Jeffs, and Tufts has threatened the same, as the Jumbos' past three meetings with Amherst have all reached overtime. Middlebury, Bowdoin and Conn. College all have a bevy of returning talent as well.
"In my four years playing in the NESCAC, I would say this is by far the most competitive the league has been in terms of number of teams with talent," Martin said. "Top through bottom, the NESCAC is extremely talented and much older."
