Quote from: wrm238 on February 15, 2013, 05:14:34 PM
As an avid NESCAC basketball fan, I seem to have some questions and comments regarding the All-CAC teams. The crazy team is spot on, good job Walzy. However, problems arise with the 1st and 2nd all NESCAC teams. I think there will be five kids on the first team: Toomey, Workman, Mayer, Kizel, Thompson. Second teams should be as follows: Anderson, Ferris, Sha, Epley, Vadas. Player of year has to go to Workman. He does it all, offense and defense and defensive player of year should go to Thompson. In an outstanding year for first years, there seems to be a bunch of deserving players. My order looks like: Paleschi, Shill, Hart, Halydyna, Hudnut. I think Paleschi edges out Shill and Hart because his team has made the NESCAC playoffs and he was a big reason why. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Hart or Shill won the award either, as both had good first year seasons. Coach of the year has got to go to Hixon. Undefeated in NESCAC play is just a tremendous job. Any disagreements with my post season accolades???

He may be the odd man out, but Bryan Hurley deserves some credit for the season he has had at Bowdoin. Guard may be loaded, but I can't imagine that there isn't a 2nd team spot for a guy who is 2nd in the country in assists. Find me the last NESCAC player who dished out 8.8 assists/game. What's more impressive is that he accumulated that many assists, even though the two lead scorers from last year, Hanley and O'Connell, graduated.

Quote from: nescac1 on February 13, 2012, 08:00:51 AM

First Team:

Sharry, Hanley, Sullivan, Toomey, Kizell

Second Team:

Mayer, Callaghan, Workman, Sha Brown (just missed first team but Kizell and Toomey were both awesome this year, although in a three-guard line-up I'd bump Sullivan and put him in), Matt Vadas

Also considered: Squires, Brust (Bates), Anderson, Orchowski (Tufts), O'Connell (Bowdoin).

POY: Sharry (although if this was an MVP award I'd say Toomey given how much he means to Amherst, no team would suffer more from the loss of any one player)
DPOY: N. Thompson (Workman, Orchowski, and Robertson also deserve consideration)
ROY: Ben Ferris (easy pick)

COY: Hixon, although Sheldon at Tufts deserves some consideration too, given the rapid improvement from a program that seemed all-but-dead two years ago.

All solid choices. It's hard to argue against Hixon, but I think Reilly and his staff deserve some recognition for the job they've done at Wesleyan. Remember they didn't make the playoffs last year and now they're the #3 seed. They played Middlebury and Amherst tough this year, even beating Amherst in their last contest. Reilly has made the Cardinals a "real" contender this year

Quote from: Ashley Parker Angel on January 28, 2012, 03:34:43 PM

Quote from: OchoLoko41 on January 28, 2012, 01:24:04 PM

Quote from: frank uible on January 27, 2012, 05:43:44 AM
Once upon a time "traditional" big men were called goons.

while im sure that some players - big and small alike could wear the goon tag, every quality CAC team for years has had at least one quality big anchoring the middle

Off the top of my head we've had Locke/Sharry, Whittington, Stone, Phillps, Walters, Geoghegan all being key members of quality CAC teams and the list goes on.  All of these bigs gave their teams quality shots from the low block and good interior D without being "goons"

That said, when it comes to big men it's hard to argue that the NESCAC is anything but a league made up primarily of goons, at least by frank's description of the word. To name a few from recent years:

Midd's Locke and Sharry both -- they're certainly imposing but also definite goons
Bowdoin's Mark Phillips
Amherst's Kaasila
Colby's Chas Woodward
Bates' Jimmy O'Keefe (one of my favorites)
Wesleyan's Neal Creeden
I'd even say Williams' Geoghegan, though I wouldn't even think of throwing Whittington into the list

No matter what your definition of "goon" is, Phillips (and Sharry for that matter) should not be mentioned in the same category as Woodward and O'Keefe. Phillips was far more than just height. He had an arsenal of low posts moves including the best hook shot in the NESCAC. Plus he was an ~80% free throw shooter for his career (Goons don't do that). Not to mention he was a National Strength & Conditioning All-American.

A poor showing from Bowdoin this weekend, particularly against Bates. Keep in mind the first time these teams met, Bates was without two starters (Christian and Bogdanovich). They proved to be an impact (23 points and 10 rebounds), especially since Bates's bench contributed little to nothing. Bowdoin has a lot of holes to fill; Hanley can't continue to do it alone.

Any thoughts on if Wesleyan will see some love in the next polls? Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe all their losses are vs. top 25 teams. Looking forward to seeing the Cardinals take on the Bobcats next weekend.

Article in the Boston Globe West featuring Bowdoin recruit, John Swords.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/02/20/towering_presences_shooting_for_the_stars/

I won't say he'll be the best center in the league as a freshman, but then again with no Locke or Whittington next year, what other centers besides Kaasila are there to talk about? Emerson from Williams perhaps but no one else that I can see.

The redeeming quality of the Bates atmosphere is that the fans make the experience worthwhile. The gym may not be state of the art, but they make for a great home court advantage.

Plain and simple Russell is averaging just about a double-double (14.7ppg and  9.9rpg). That's worthy of first team status no matter what option you are. It's a feat that no one has accomplishment in the past 3 years.

Whittington may look great for 17 minutes a game, but that doesn't mean he will look great for 25-30 min a game for a whole season. If and when he can perform at a high level while playing the majority of ball games he will receive his just dessert.

Russell is absolutely essential to the Mules, without him they would suffer and I do not think anyone can argue this. With Geohegan healthy, Whittington is a luxury. Not to take anything away from; he's very good at what he does.

Quote from: nescac1 on February 08, 2010, 03:52:24 PM
It really isn't too hard to find out, as a broadcaster, how to pronounce players' names.  It is even easier to find out how to pronounce a team name like "Ephs."  But my larger point was that, particularly compared to other broadcasts I've seen, I though the Williams crews did a very good job this weekend, and were unfairly singled out for criticism. 

Back to NESCAC hoops talk, should be a very interesting race for all-conference this year.  Two leading contenders, Sharry and Meehan, have missed a lot of time with injuries, so while both are worthy of first team honors based on talent and production when they do play, it will be interesting to see what happens there.  Choice, Pierce, Schultz and Wang all seem like first-teamers, with one of those two joining them, depending on their impact over the rest of the season.  Strong candidates for second team include M. Russell, Brian Ellis, Bernier, Whittington (first sub to make all-NESCAC?), Wheeler (although he's been slumping a bit of late), Tim Edwards, Beyel.  Sha Brown seems like a lock for ROY, although Wolfin/Thompson from Middlebury, Robertson from Williams, Brust from Bates, a few other guys from Wesleyan, and the three Amherst frosh have all had their moments.   DPOY will probably come down to Locke, Whittington, and Edwards, with Edwards the favorite as a senior.  COY probably Maker unless Midd wins the NESCAC tourney (even then, Maker would still have a strong case). 

I think Russell should get strong consideration for first team. He is averaging 14 ppg and 9.5 rpg. He has a chance to be the first player since the 05-06 season to average a double-double. I think that should be worth a first team nod. Especially when you consider the last players to do so (Cohen, Stone, Rhoten)

Quote from: CWM_42 on January 31, 2010, 08:48:13 PM

Quote from: Sticks11 on January 31, 2010, 12:09:49 PM

Quote from: CWM_42 on January 30, 2010, 09:41:05 PM

I would like to begin by throwing out my take on Bowdoin's best starting five:

G-Dennis Jacobi (1988-92)
G-Kyle Jackson (2005-09)
F-Gregg Fasulo (1974-78)
F-Chris Jerome (1979-83)
C-Joe Williams (1984-88)

No Kyle Petrie??

I have to admit that I saw more of Kyle Jackson than Kyle Petrie, even though they overlapped a bit.  In looking more at the numbers, Jackson leads in games played, but Petrie put up signifcantly more points, rebounds and assists than Jackson during the course of his career.    I could be convinced that Petrie is the better choice. 

Bobo McFarland and Dick Whitmore were certainly Bowdoin's best of the pre 1970s crowd.

You could be convinced? How about you convince us how Kyle Petrie does not make the list when he's top 5 in career points, rebounds, assists, and blocks as well as top 10 in steals. If you are going to make a list of great players having not seen them play and ignore any context of their games (which is ridiculous to begin with), it still doesnt makes sense how Petrie fails to make the list. At least the Amherst and Williams faithful can back their claims with actual in game analysis.

Quote from: muletrain on December 09, 2009, 07:23:48 PM
Interesting that Amherst had such a hard time stopping emmanuel. I watched the emmanuel vs Colby game and the emmanuel team was not effective at all. Colby won by 18 and had there backups in for the last 10 minutes.

My other reason for posting is to say that the top 25 rankings for dIII are absolutly insane. How do teams with 2 and even 3 losses get into these rankings and undefeated teams not even get votes. I know the season is in its early stages but the fact that Colby is 6-0 without a single vote for the top 25 makes me wonder how legit these rankings are.

Its tough to make an argument for Colby to be considered in the top 25 when they were 4th in the NESCAC and lost in the first round of the league tournament. Yea they have a good record, but besides Rhode Island College they've beaten a bunch of poor teams like UNE (3-6), Maine Farmington (0-6), Emmanuel (1-6) and Endicott (3-6). Its not tough to look like a top 25 team against that kind of talent. Against a quality team like Bowdoin they loss pretty handily. Before we rush to crown the flavor of the month, let's let the team show what they can do against quality opponents.

Can we consider this a NESCAC message board when half the stuff that is posted isnt even about the NESCAC on a night when two NESCAC rivals faces-off? Well for all those NESCAC followers, Bowdoin and Bates faced off in another intense matchup. Bowdoin was up by about 13 with about 6 minutes left and Bates cut it to 2 with about 10 seconds left. Bowdoin ended up winning 71-67. Wilson and Ellis didnt have their best games but the team looked very balanced.

Also Hanley needs to be in the all-league discussion. 14 ppg and 11rpg is not too shabby.

Tufts also needs to take care of the basketball better. They have only 26 assists and 54 turnovers.

Speaking of turnovers, Colby will need to take care of the ball against the aggressive trapping of UNE. Should be a good game. Against Bowdoin, UNE launched 41 threes only making 14. We'll see if Colby can force them into deep shots as well.

Bowdoin has looked good so far. They sit at 2-1 (and very well could be 3-0). What's been interesting has been their balance on offense. They have four players averaging double figures (Phillps, Hanley, Sellew, and O'Connell) which is impressive considering typically this is a team not known for its scoring.  If this continues, they will be a tough team to gameplan for.

Quote from: lefrakenstein on July 29, 2009, 10:30:49 AM
Projections for next season:

1. Williams (Snyder gone, but Schultz will have the help of a healthy Geohegan and youngsters Wang and Whittington. Should be loaded offensively)
2. Amherst  (Love the top 5 of Meehan, Wheeler, Waller, Holmes and Barrise, but who will come off the bench? Also, Baskauskas will be awfully tough to replace)
--major drop off--
3. Trinity (Great stash of young talent that really came on at the tail end of last year. probably have to wait a year to be legit contenders)
4. Colby (Lose Cutrone, but have Choice coming into his senior year)
5. Middlebury (Loss of Rudin, Smith and Dudley will be hard to recover from, but still have plenty of talent in Locke, Edwards, Coughlin)
6. Wesleyan (should have a legit one-two punch in Mendell and Kaminer, plus a stacked freshman class)
7. Bowdoin (they'll D-up as usual, but with Jackson and Lane gone, Mark Phillips may need to score 50 a game for them to win)
--major drop off--
8. Bates (Chris Wilson and Brian Ellis have their work cut out for them)
9. Tufts (Jon Pierce may actually face quadruple teams)
10. Conn College (Have seamlessly transitioned from the 'Stone and nobody else' era to the 'Porter and nobody else' era)

Basically, if Geohegan stays healthy it should be a battle at the top, if not, Amherst will reassume their rightful position at the top of the league.

Middle of the pack will be crowded, but I think Trinity showed at the end of last year that they're at least ready for 'best of the rest' status, with serious contention maybe a year away. Wouldn't want to see them in the tournament.

I don't know if Sheldon is allergic to defense or what, but until the Jumbos start showing some interest on that end of the court it doesnt really matter how good jon pierce is. Which is kind of a shame because he's really good.

I think you have Trinity way too high. I know some of us anticipate the day when Trinity returns to the upper echelon of the league but it won't be next year. First, they lose their best defender in Westbrook and they also lose their top scorer in Rowe, which is a big blow for a team that struggled to put the ball in the basket to begin with. Also, it sounds like their coach is still in interim status so they dont even have that spot solidified.

Without Cutrone it'll be interesting to see if Colby can remain in the 4th spot. If they do, it won't be because of Choice, it'll be primarily because of Russell. he averaged about 13 points a game and dominated the boards on both sides despite being undersized. He'll be a force to reckon with this season.

Bowdoin's help in scoring will come from their sophomores, Hanley and O'Connell. Hanley scored just as many points as Lane during league play despite less minutes off the bench. He'll be a scoring force; he may even lead the team in scoring this upcoming season. O'Connell will establish himself as the best long range shooter in the league. keep in mind he shot 44% from 3 overall and a blistering 61% from 3 during league play. I think the thing to worry about is will they rebound the ball and keep that tough Bowdoin style of play they've established over the past few years.

Now this could get interesting. Maybe we should get a NESCAC basketball IM softball league going cause I know Bowdoin boasts a pretty formidable club. Lane plays a flawless LF, Jackson holds down the hot corner, Hauser is a strong pitcher and Phillips while not very agile in the field can crank a few out the yard kind of like Big Hurt. 

Good way to enjoy the spring.

The state of NESCAC is just fine, if not great. At this time last year people were already making predictions of who would be the class of the league next year. That has yet to be done yet which says to me that league will be as competitive and exciting as ever. The true mettle of a league is not whether one or two teams have exceptional years, but whether the league is successful and competitive top to bottom which I feel may be the case next year.

With that being said, any bold predictions for next year? I have a few: Colby will miss Cutrone and will suffer (he does not get nearly enough credit for what he does), Bowdoin will be top four in the league, Porter will be an elite player in the league, and both Wesleyan and Tufts will make the NESCAC playoffs.