WILLIAMSTOWN-AMHERST-WILLIAMSTOWN, MA, -- In an attempt to save money and energy the NESCAC put into effect a basketball scheduling plan that puts both the women’s and men’s basketball teams in a doubleheader at a site on Friday and Saturday during league play. In the recent past, Williams, except for the annual home and away doubleheader with Amherst, would either have its women’s or men’s team home, while the other played away versus the same NESCAC opponent.
Because a normal size coach bus can handle two basketball teams it was decided to pair up the women’s and men’s teams for doubleheaders with the women’s game being played first this year and the men’s game being played first next year.
For the Ephs in 2009-10 it meant that the two hoops teams would travel together to Wesleyan, Connecticut College, Middlebury, Amherst and Trinity. Next season those five teams will travel to Williams for conference doubleheaders.
For many years the Eph hoop teams would travel in 15-passenger vans, unless bad weather was looming or the team was going to Maine and then a coach bus would be ordered.
Every team has its own personality and NESCAC basketball teams this season had to establish their own combined travelling routine. Senior men’s captain Blake Schultz noted a few days earlier, “the women’s team is a little louder than we are on the way to the game. We’re usually pretty quiet, but it certainly hasn’t been a problem.”
Senior women’s captain Elizabeth Hansen has not noticed any major difficulties with the arrangement either, “except maybe the turn around time on trips is a little shorter because there are two games.” Sophomore Kelsey Ham concurred and noted, “at least this year we get to see each other play and most of the trips were during Winter Study so it hasn’t affected study time.”
So far when travelling together to a game the Ephs have won both games of the doubleheader and that was the goal on the trip to Amherst on Friday and then after a return to Williamstown late Friday night, a trip to Hartford Saturday to play Trinity in the last regular season contest.
Amherst is always a different game for the Ephs because of the rivalry between the schools that even predates the invention of basketball. Heading into the game the Amherst women were ranked #1 in the nation at 22-0 and they had defeated the Ephs in Chandler Gym 74-51 in January. Since that loss the Ephs went on to win seven of eight games with the lone loss being an OT contest with Colby.
The men’s game paired an Eph team ranked #2 in the nation at 21-1 and a struggling Amherst team that was 14-8. Williams won the first game in January 72-69 and every Eph knew full well that Amherst would like nothing better than to deny them a second straight outright Little Three title and the top seed in the NESCAC Tournament. Amherst junior guard Connor Meehan who had 21 points in the first match up has not played in the last four games, but everyone heading from Williamstown to Amherst expected to see Meehan on the floor and in the game.
Here’s a glimpse inside the Eph bus as it headed to and from Amherst on February 12th for the women’s and men’s doubleheader with arch rival Amherst in LeFrak Gymnasium.
Departure time: 3:00 PM
Location: In front of Lansing Chapman Rink
Driving the Ephs to Amherst was a man that women’s head coach Pat Manning succinctly stated, “Is the best bus driver in the world.” Manning later pointed out that, “Bert [Bohler] always gets the team there in short order.”
Bert is well liked by the Ephs and got a rousing reception when he greeted the team before they left with the recitation of the safety instructions. He told the Ephs, “I’m wearing my lucky purple shirt today.” Later on he was serenaded with a cheer at the hairpin turn by the women’s team. Must be an inside joke. You don’t learn everything on one bus ride.
Head men’s basketball coach Mike Maker teased women’s junior forward Chessie Jackson who was singing softly, “You never sing for my team and we could use you on the National Anthem.” Jackson quickly replied, “Anything for you coach.” This could happen at a future home game.
The women’s team had Grab n’ Go sandwiches on the way down and the men took in a pre-game meal at Chili’s in Hadley, which is where they ate the last time they visited Amherst with coach Maker. Oftentimes in sports coaches will not mess with success or mess with superstitions, it depends on the coach. The women’s team is ordering in Italian food for after their game.
Assistant women’s coach Liz Ross offered to share a cookie during the ride with Maker, stating, “I can’t eat the whole thing.” To which assistant women’s coach Shevie Brooks discounted, by adding, “Oh, she can eat the whole thing.”
Even to the casual traveler it is easy to see there is a great camaraderie among the two coaching staffs and the teams.
Pat Manning and her daughter Libby occupy the first seats on the left as you enter the bus and her assistants are a couple of rows behind her and the men’s assistants Shaun Morris and Ryan Wiersma are in the first seats behind the best bus driver. Coach Maker was going to have a seat by himself behind his assistants, but he wanted Wiersma to sit there so he would not have any travelling issues, but Wiersma deferred not wanting to take the bait. Wiersma pointed out, “If I sit there by myself coach, I will never hear the end of it.” Maker, the son of a Marine sat in the third row behind driver with a non-athletic staff member and the second row of seats remained vacant.
Director of Sports Medicine Mike Frawley, longtime trainer for men’s basketball was pulling double duty tonight covering both teams. The indefatigable Frawley’s only comment was, “It’s all good, it’s all for the kids.” Warning: You can’t find a more dedicated and caring athletic trainer than Mike Frawley, whom everyone calls “Frawls.”
About halfway to Amherst coach Maker got the attention of coach Manning and said, of the night’s women’s contest, “It’s Pat Summit (Manning) vs. Geno Aueriemma (Amherst’s G. P. Gromacki) tonight.” Manning just kind of rolled her eyes and laughed.
Over heard on the bus was Eph head volleyball coach Kristi Kelsey who is serving as an assistant in women’s hoops chatting with men’s senior Will Hardy, explaining that yes, she really did know Super Bowl hero Drew Brees when she was a student-athlete at Purdue. A later conversation inside LeFrak Gym revealed that Eph senior Charlie Cates who wants to be a fitness trainer after graduation was one of the people who helped condition Drew Brees last summer at a facility in San Diego.
“I’m loose as a goose on the day of the game because all of the planning is done,” said Maker, when asked if waiting for game time to arrive was the worst part of the day. “When the team goes on the court for warm-ups and I’m alone in the locker room is the worst time,” said Maker. “I have a tendency then to work myself up, but once it is game time I’m all set.”
The trip to Amherst is the shortest trip of the season in NESCAC play and there will be no video on the bus, most players are just chatting amongst themselves or maybe listening to IPods or playing video games.
The team left campus at 3:00 PM and likely will not arrive back until about midnight and then as the old joke goes, “they’ll have to sleep fast,” to get up early and prepare for Trinity.
Unfortunately for the Eph women they got off to a slow start vs. Amherst and found themselves in a hole that was too deep to climb out of they fell 86-52. While the Ephs have secured a home game in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament they will not know their opponent until after Saturday’s game at Trinity.
In the men’s game the Ephs trailed for almost the entire first half until Will Hardy tipped in a missed free throw just before the buzzer to put Williams on top 39-37.
The second half was all Williams and the Ephs secured first place in NESCAC and won their second consecutive outright Little Three title with an 81-60 win. Maker’s Ephs will play at home in the NESCAC Tourney for as long as they keep winning.
Williams President-elect Adam Falk was the guest of Amherst President Tony Marx and he took in a rockin’ LeFrak gym that found folks sitting on the floor in front of the bleachers on two side. His sons David and Alex accompanied Falk to the games.
No one went hungry after the game or on the ride home as Italian food ruled the night with plenty of the ordered-in meal for the women’s team left over and pizzas to go around.
Coaches Maker and Manning discussed briefly the arranging of their travel schedule for Trinity Saturday morning. The women would shoot in Chandler at 8:30 and then watch film and go over the scouting report on the Bantams before going to breakfast at 9:45. Maker’s team would then go to the film room at 9:45 and be ready to board the bus at 10:30 for the ride to Hartford. The men decided not to shoot on campus, but rather to get some shooting in at half time of the women’s game.
The bus ride home was almost a mirror image of the trip down except coach Maker was receiving a ton of texts, emails, and phone calls congratulating him and his team and Mike Frawley caught a well-deserved 40 winks.
