Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 05, 2025, 04:04:47 PMFew thoughts from Harvard Bowdoin. Bowdoin starting 5 is very well rounded, runs Princeton offense very well. Disciplined, back door cutting, playing off 2 feet to find open shots. Harvard (on brand recognition) should win the Ivy every year, but they wouldn't even advance to a D3 Elite 8. Mind boggling

Wow!  Just watched the first few minutes of the replay on youtube and the Polar Bears were not intimidated at all.  If they continue to play like that, they will surprise a few teams this year.

Congrats to Bowdoin for defeating Maine Maritime 78-33 and moving to 5-0 before the Thanksgiving break.

Was able to watch this game and the most striking impression was how well coached this team is.  Just terrific ball movement by all the Polar Bears against a fairly disciplined MMA zone defense.  Bowdoin also employed a full court press early in both halves to good effect.

Finally, Bowdoin shot the long ball very well, 45.2% for the game.

If Bowdoin can maintain this level of play throughout the season they will surprise some teams.

Bowdoin has started 4-0 this season and while I'm not sure they have faced the stiffest competition, it's still nice to see the Polar Bears start strong.  Haven't had an opportunity to watch any of the games but they seem to have a fairly balanced offense and a number of their bench players have seen the floor.

Their 3 pt shooting has been solid, but not spectacular and this could be an area of concern as they head into conference play.  Also, FY Chris Simonds didn't play in the most recent game against Emmanuel.  Hope all is well with him.

Quote from: quicksilver on November 18, 2024, 10:15:37 PMHere is a somewhat circuitous NESCAC to D1 transfer story. One of Tim Gilbride's prize recruits toward the end of his tenure as HC at Bowdoin was a big power forward from Georgia by the name of Burke Chebuhar. He spent only 1 year at Bowdoin, and it was the Covid shutdown year. He transferred to D1 Lehigh after the Covid season where he played 3 seasons, blossoming into an impact player in his final season. He has now transferred to Notre Dame as a graduate student and seems to be seeing some playing time and scoring some points:
https://fightingirish.com/roster/burke-chebuhar/

Thanks for the update.  Always wondered what happened to him.  At the time, I was excited to see another recruit from the Atlanta area and then lost track of so many things during the shutdown.  Sounds like he would have been a real difference maker for the P'bears.

Quote from: nescac1 on May 11, 2024, 09:42:30 PMMike Nogelo is the big omission from that list of guys since Reilly's playing days.  I think Matt Hancock from Colby did overlap with Reilly and would be very much in the mix by all accounts, but he was before my time so I can't opine. 

For pure scoring I'd go with:

PG: Toomey
SG: Lucas Hausman
SF: Robinson
PF: Nogelo
C:  Michael Mayer

If I want to put together the best possible overall team (based on peak NESCAC performance):

PG: Andrew Olson
SG: Jamal Wilson
SF: Blake Schultz (Robinson obviously way better eventually but Schultz was a better two-way player as a senior than Robinson was in his final NESCAC year)
PF: Mike Nogelo
C: Alex Sobel

Honorable mention (in order):

PG: Toomey, Mike Crotty, Zak Ray
SG: Kena Gilmour, John Bedford, Hausman, Wang, Matt Hart, Keith Wolff
SF: Colin Tabb, Robinson, Peek, Willy Workman, Austin Hutcherson
PF: Ryan Sharry, Mike Schantz, Rhoten, Steve Zieja
C: Ben Coffin, Mayer, Troy Whittington, David Murray, Andrew Schiel

BTW I think nearly all the guys I've listed could have been D1 scholarship guys (beyond those who actually were!) as seniors had they played in today's transfer environment. Nogelo would have been very high D1. 

Interesting list - thanks for putting it together.  I'm not familiar with the Honorable Mention Centers but was a little surprised that you didn't include John Swords.  Averaged almost a double double his last 2 seasons (from memory).  Wasn't going to score 40 but forced the opposing team to change its offense as very few people came into the paint.  Underrated passer as well.

Congrats to Bowdoin for last night's 91-77 victory of Thomas (ME).  It was a story of two halves as the Polar Bears shot 50% from the field in the first half and only 33% in the second half.  I watched part of the 2nd half and while the Polar Bears were moving the ball well and attacking the rim they just couldn't finish.  Free throws seemed to be the key as Bowdoin got the line 16 times in the 2nd half and converted 75% (vs 6 attempts in the first half).  Still it's the 2nd win a row which must feel good.

GoUBears!

Tough loss for Bowdoin yesterday as they fell to UM-Farmington, 56-65.

Watched the second half and I was impressed with the offense - lots of good ball and player movement that created open looks.  Bowdoin played mostly man defense and the players were on their assignments.

The box score highlights the improvement areas:  the Polar Bears only shot 36.7% overall and just 20% from behind the arc.  Hopefully they find a consistent shooting stroke soon.  The other area that stands out is turnovers where Bowdoin committed 20.

If Bowdoin tightens up those two elements, they'll be alright this season.

GoUBears!

Congrats to the Polar Bears for notching their first win of the season by defeating Bates 79-63.  Didn't get a chance to watch the game but it seems that Bowdoin finally found their shooting stroke.  Hopefully this is the first of many to come this season!

GoUBears!

Quote from: Nescacman on October 29, 2023, 11:22:31 PM

Quote from: The Mole on October 29, 2023, 07:55:54 PM
Worst Coaching Jobs in NESCAC last 5 years

Malik Hall, Bates
Jack Cosgrove, Colby

I will gladly post the coaching records again for your entertainment

Can we pile on here?!? You know we can't help ourselves.  And why limit it to just the last 5 years...let's go back 15 years. We'd add the following woeful performances to the list, in order:

1. The OG HCOF Aaron Kelton: His first year in 2010, he won with the Whales-recruited and possibly one of the best top to bottom Eph rosters of all-time. As we were told at the time, "NESCACMAN you could have gone undefeated coaching with that team". Completely, single-handedly trashed a storied program. They are still feeling the effects of the HCOF Kelton legacy to this day.
2. J.B. Wells: Came to Bowdoin after starting/building a program at Endicot. In his less than memorable 4 years with the Polars, went 3-31 for a winning percentage of .088. Actually, made Polar supporters miss Dave Caputi, which is really saying something.
3. Dave Murray: Yeah, we know they just beat the Tufts but let's look at the complete body of work. The guy was a legend at Alfred (and did a nice job at Cortland) but proved how tough it is to recruit student-athletes at a highly selective college with little to no football legacy like Hamilton (no offense to Alfred and Cortland State) compared to his prior places of employ (sounds familiar, right HCOF Cos?).  His record since he came to Clinton in 2014 is 21-55 (.276 winning percentage). Program went 2-7 each of the last two seasons and has not really shown any positive direction, other than a few blips like last Saturday.

And for the record, we concur on HCOF Hall and HCOF Cos as well. Probably time for Colby to move on.

Many Bowdoin fans are nodding in silent agreement....

Quote from: quicksilver on October 26, 2023, 10:26:22 AM
Everything is up in the air. Both Bates and Bowdoin are in lockdown (the shootings happened in Lewiston but the shooter is from a small town close to Brunswick, is very much on the loose and was last in a small town midway between Lewiston and Brunswick).  We will not know about what will happen with this weekend's games until the shooter is captured.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this needless tragedy.  Hoping the students at both Bates and Bowdoin remain safe and that the authorities are able to bring the shooter to justice quickly.

Quote from: nescac1 on March 07, 2023, 11:36:56 AM
Whoops I forgot about Will King having another year left!  I saw that Tufts posted a video of Thoerner highlights, so I imagine he may also be looking for a fifth-year opportunity.  If I was a UAA coach I'd be all over both of those guys. 

To continue the list of players graduating:

6. Williams - Spivy - a huge loss, but the Ephs do return everyone who played in the rotation in the two NCAA games, giving the Ephs a jump-start on next year's team, which certainly looks loaded with talent; the question is how the pieces fit together as Spivy's versatility enabled him to play in lots of different sort of lineups. 

7. Bates - Baxter and Riley -- Baxter is the only loss from the top ten scorers, but was by far Bates' best player last year.  Another guy who may try to play a fifth year elsewhere.  Big loss for a team that struggled even with him last year, but some of the first-year guys figure to make a leap heading into next season. 

8. Trinity -  Redd, Smith and Hoch - losing a solid group of role players, including two strong wing defenders.  Trinity's offense won't miss a beat with the frosh coming up behind them, but those guys will be missing for their D and rebounding. 

9. Amherst - Phelan, Zarroug, Oranye, Schretter -- basically everyone on roster was in the rotation at one point but none of these guys were consistent regulars.  Since they probably didn't really fit into what Sears wanted to do, and Amherst just played too many guys period, this should open up more badly-needed minues for young players.

10. Bowdoin - Werkman - Bowdoin's best interior guy but there seems to be a lot coming up behind him in the rising sophomore class as well as one impact frosh big man. 

11. Conn College - everyone is back. 

Without taking into account transfers, defections, and rookies, Amherst, Bowdoin and Conn should be trending way up. Trinity, Williams and Bates (just because they can't get any worse) slightly up.  Coby way down.  Midd, Wesleyan, Tufts and Hamilton also will have a tough time overcoming their losses but all return a good amount of talent as well. 

So, what does that all mean?  Williams enters next year as the clear favorite, but also entered this year as the clear favorite and (while having by far the best overall W-L record of any NESCAC team) fell a bit short of incredibly high expectations.  Still, if the Ephs are healthier next year they do come into the season with the most overall experienced talent in the league.  Conn College, if they can add just one or two more real pieces in the recruiting class, could be a big riser next year; Murray looks like one of the top three players in the league next year (along with Nate Karren and Nicky Johnson). 

Amherst on paper should be dramatically improved after playing so many underclassmen big minutes; at the very least, they should be in the NESCAC tourney and above .500, as a floor.  Will Sears be on the hot seat if he can't contend in NESCAC with, I'd say, very clearly one of the three most talented returning rosters?   Bowdoin will be better but still looks likely to be a year away from being interesting.  Colby I think is sure to drop back a bit from this year's record, just so much to lose from one class.  Bates seems likely to have another rough year. 

As for the rest?  Feels very, very hard to predict and will probably depend a lot on first years players as well as guys taking unexpected fifth years.  Midd, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Tufts, Trinity all have the talent to be top-three teams in NESCAC but all of them could slide into the bottom 4-5 teams, as well.  Of that group I think Midd and Tufts have the highest floor, but Sobel for Midd, and all those playmaking guards for Tufts, will be very difficult to replace. 

If I was taking a wild stab at ranking the league heading into next season (without the benefit of seeing frosh classes), I'd say: 1. Williams 2. Tufts 3. Conn 4. Trinity 5. Midd 6. Amherst 7. Hamilton 8. Wesleyan 9. Colby 10. Bowdoin 11. Bates.  Amherst has considerably more upside than 6, but we first need to see a Sears team succeed before pushing them higher.  I do not feel remotely confident about just about anyone in these rankings, outside of Bates bringing up the rear, and Williams being comfortably in the top three.

Here's hoping you're right and the Polar Bears take a big step forward next year!

Quote from: Old Guy on December 04, 2022, 09:00:54 AM

Quote from: nescac1 on December 04, 2022, 07:26:16 AM
I've not seen the Rochester gym but it can't possibly be any tighter than the Bates gym, can it?

MUCH tighter on the endlines. Bates gym (I grew up in that gym — my dad worked at Bates, I went to Lewiston High) has ample space at either end. Now, the sidelines at Bates . . . very intimate! Great place to watch a game!

Old Guy, what a great description!  The other thing that makes playing at Alumni Gym such a challenge is that the students pack the place - they're passionate, vocal, and they know good basketball.

Congrats to the Polar Bears for defeating Colby 21-14.  It's the first 3 win season for Bowdoin since 2011.  Nice way to finish the season.

Quote from: The Mole on October 22, 2022, 09:17:19 PM
Give Polar Bears credit for winning the game. Handed them 3 scores with poor special teams play. 9 yard punt giving them the ball at the 19 yard line. Fielded a punt at 6 and fumbled it away for another score. Also, after intercepting them at the goal line, the next play--deflected pass and pick 6 for 10 yard score. Made it 28-14. Wesleyan scored with about 6 minutes left to make it 28-20, XP blocked! Got ball back and scored with 152 left and made it 28-26 and 2 point play stopped. Cardinals 502 total yards vs 261 for the Polar Bears.

Quote from: MidDay on October 22, 2022, 03:48:48 PM
And down goes Wes!

I only saw the last few minutes, but it seemed Bowdoin was ahead most of the game.  How'd that happen?  Any given Saturday.

All I can say is that I am very happy for the Bowdoin players and coaches.  Bowdoin has struggled the last several years and this year it seemed to be on the verge of taking a step forward.  Hope they take time to celebrate this win and then build on the lessons and confidence from this game.  GoUBears!!

Quote from: maineman on October 06, 2022, 10:20:30 AM

Quote from: LochNescac on October 05, 2022, 10:08:59 PM

Quote from: JumboJerry on October 05, 2022, 12:13:47 AM
Hearing there will be a fly over of three F35 Lightning Jets during the national anthem prior to Tufts vs Bowdoin Community College at Ellis Oval Stadium this Saturday. Pretty cool.

pretty DAMN cool....

The F-35 is the joint strike fighter so it could be Air Force, Navy or Marines.  I wonder how this was arranged? I have to figure, one or more of the pilots is a Tufts or Bowdoin alum and got permission to do a training flight over Medford.

More than pretty cool!!

I was once at a Ga Tech v ND game in Atlanta and they were projecting a cockpit view of a GT alum flying a fighter plane on the jumbotron.  We all assumed he was in Iraq but just as he finished his radio greeting, his plane dropped down a bit as he flew over Bobby Dodd stadium.  It was wild (also made me glad he was on our side).