I don't have a lot for you but Albertus Magnus has received a commitment from who will quite possibly step in and become THE BEST player in the GNAC the day he plays his first game there.  Jefferson Lora, a 6'7" PF out of Lyman Hall HS decommitted from Central Connecticut State University (Division I Scholarship) and selected Albertus Magnus.  Lora, a top 20 player in CT (#19 as of the last rankings) is a stud, not too many GNAC teams have D1 caliber players on their rosters....

The only other commitment I have seen is Curtis Robinson, the #13 ranked senior in Vermont out of Proctor High School is headed to Rivier College...

how desirable is the Castleton State Job?  I mean yes its a DIII job so it has its appeal in its own right, however, how appealing is it on the scale of a DIII job in New England?

Please no one take this as a shot at CSC because its not, its simply being unfamiliar with the NAC and CSC in general, I do not want to base too much on just this 2-20 something season.  Is it truly that difficult of a place to win/recruit good enough players to be competitive at the top of one of the lower conferences in D3 New England?

It's official, Endicott has hired Phil Rowe as the next Men's Basketball Coach.

Rowe has spent a fair amount of time in New England D3 basketball with Plymouth State, Keene State, and NEC.  Also spent time as an Assistant with George Washington (back when they were really good), and as the Head Coach at UNH a few years back.  Endicott made their decision pretty quickly so it looks like they found their guy in Rowe pretty early on...

Also worth passing along for those who may be interested (I hope this isn't old news and if it is I apologize...)

but former CCC standout Sherrad Prezzie-Blue is currently playing professionally in England, he is signed to the Northampton Neptunes.

This is the same team that had signed former Colby-Sawyer great Andrew St. Clair to a contract a couple of years ago...

I agree Plansky could potentially be intriguing.... It was my understanding he left to become the Athletic Director at Marblehead high school where he still is...

as far as Currier... he got his first college coaching gig (I believe) in 2006-07 when he started as an Assistant Coach at Daniel Webster College.  He spent one year as an assistant and they improved to 6-18 (after having been 0-25 the previous year).  In February immediately following his first year as an assistant he was named Head Coach for the 2007-08 season.  He spent one year as the head coach there and posted a 7-19 record.  Then he left for Pfeiffer University (NC), a Division 2 school where he currently serves as the lead assistant under Dave Davis.  The team finished 16-12 this season.

As stated with the salary and facilities being what they are I'm sure there will be a ton of interest, it will be interesting though to see who gets the nod to bring Endicott back to where Plansky had left them...

anyone have any idea who some leading candidates are for the Endicott job?  It will be interesting to see what direction they go in...

One has to wonder if perhaps Plansky may be getting the itch to coach again...

Or if former Gull Jeremy Currier is interested in returning to his former stomping grounds (currently serves as Associate Head Coach at Division 2 Pfeiffer University in NC)...

When Milette was originally hired it was the second week in April I believe so if history is any indication we could be seeing the new Endicott coach within the next 3 weeks or so...

anyone heard of any candidates?

i dont see how colby-sawyer would be the favorite, after sczeliga (sorry about spelling) the team doesnt really have the 2nd or 3rd options needed to be considered a favorite in my opinion, Now I'm far from a UNE bandwagon guy, I started talking about them very early in the season (go back and look) with Simpson and Jefferson back and the coach more than likely bringing in a couple solid new guys who will be ready to contribute right away, they very well could be the favorites, also I fully expect Endicott to bounce back, they arent losing anything thats overly difficult to replace production wise....they just need to find that consistency they had a few years back

St. Joe's brings everyone back as well.....and I fully expect them to bring in at least 2 or 3 more freshmen who will claim a roster spot, Im guessing at least 1 of them will be a PG ready to play meaningful minutes right away...

unfortunately no theres a zero percent chance they get an at large after the way today went.

amherst, umd, and brandeis all missing out on AQ's puts them into the NCAA's by way of an at large bid, and then still in front of Emerson is trinity and middlebury in terms of being considered for an at large bid and its extremely unlikely both of those teams receive bids as well.  Emerson although having had a tremendous season going 24-4 and playing great basketball every game they did not beat anyone.  They need to have at least 4-5 legit out of conference games, MIT, wheaton, babson, etc. they are ok teams but they cant be the toughest competition you face all year.  If they were to schedule a Keene State, Middlebury, WPI, Salem State, and Tufts they would at least have the foundation for a good solid respectable out of conference schedule that they should still win a number of games with.  Keene State will be amongst the tops of the LEC, Middlebury is a top NESCAC team, WPI is tops in the NEWMAC, salem is tops in theirs, and tufts/bates is a good team who might have struggled this year but is still a worthy opponent on anyones schedule.  All of these are winnable games, if they could get a RIC, Williams, Amherst type team or even better 2 that would be ideal but unlikely to happen.  They cant afford to have Babson, Wheaton, and MIT be the cream of their out of conference play when they play in the GNAC.   Even a close loss to Amherst is probably worth more than wins over each of those 3 teams in the committees eyes.

wow im not sure I could have been more wrong on this one.  Lasell wins handily with Guitian and Crawford leading the way but as for the game story itself I was way off.  Emerson put up 17 MORE shots than Lasell but were not the typically efficient team they had been all season.  Emerson shot just 41.2% from the floor including 6-24 from 3pt land.  Lasell had 21 giveways to Emersons 11 which I thought if that was gonna happen there would be no way Lasell would win this game   Lasell was EXTREMELY efficient from everywhere shooting wise 54.9% from the floor, 48% from 3 (12-25), and 81.8% from the free throw line.  They did control the boards (37-30) and allowed GNAC Player of the Year Shannon to go off and have a stellar game but held the other big 3 in check. 

Hats of to Lasell for really getting things done and finishing the season out in very strong fashion.  They really had a gameplan against Emerson today and executed it to near perfection. 

I really think this Lasell team can make some noise in the NCAA's winning a game or two (maybe more if they get a great draw).  But it will be very interesting to see what happens with Emerson they had a terrific season finishing 24-4 although I personally think the selction committee will frown upon their out of conference schedule and simply fail to see any BIG wins needed to warrant an at large bid.  Regardless I expect to see them getting the top seed in the ECAC's should thy chose to accept.

I'm not sure why you guys are so quick to look at St. Joe's pitching as a weak point.  They did lose their ace from last year (Sam Tupper) although Moran should at least replace him.  Andrew Kierstead and Kyle Dorr were a pair of freshmen southpaws last year that each had very respectable seasons.  Kierstead went 4-2 with a 3.46 ERA over 54.2 innings including 2 complete game efforts and showed great control with a 25/6 k/bb ratio.  Dorr finished 4-1 with a 4.15 ERA over 30.1 innings holding opponents to just a .217 BA.   Andrew Pooler the main arm out of the bullpen who led the team in appearances last season with 17 posted a 3.09 ERA.  Newcomer Mason Roberge should have at least similar seasons to that of Kierstead and Dorr last season. Their pitching should prove to be good enough to keep them in just about every game as long as their offense does as they have the past couples years and there is no reason why they shouldnt considering they boast about a half dozen players who have some sort of all conference honor under their belt including the previously mentioned 2nd team all-american Luke Enman.   Their lineup top to bottom will do a number on opposing pitching staffs as they averaged over 7 runs per game last year.    I think it would be pretty difficult to not considering these guys the favorites going into the season....

Just wanted to pass this along for anyone who hadnt seen it yet, All Conference teams and awards were presented the other day....

First Team:
Jeremy Shannon Guard, Sophomore - Emerson
Rob Williams-Hinton Guard, Junior - Emmanuel
Japhet Kerr Guard, Senior - Johnson & Wales
Jose Guitian Center, Junior - Lasell
Jeff Carpenter Forward, Senior - Rivier

Second Team:
Ben Chase Forward Senior, - Emerson
Mack Spellman Forward, Junior - Emmanuel
Greg Samuels Forward, Senior - Johnson & Wales
Jaime Crawford Forward, Senior - Lasell
Elbie Murphy Forward, Junior - Saint Joseph's

Third Team:
Will Dawkins Guard, Senior - Emerson
Tirone McCray Forward, Senior - Johnson & Wales
Dwayne Powell Guard, Senior - Lasell
Jerrold Williams Guard, Junior - Norwich
Raymond Eatmon Forward, Sophomore - Saint Joseph's

Player of the Year:  Jeremy Shannon- Emerson

Rookie of the Year:  Chris Hanson- Daniel Webster

Defensive Player of the Year:  Jeremy Shannon- Emerson

Coach of the Year:  Hank Smith- Emerson

perhaps firepower was the wrong word...
Emerson certainly has the offensive ability to offensively play with just about anyone due in large part to their efficiency (as you mentioned) the point I was eluding to is that Lasell is all about downright outscoring you, and over 15 of their last 16 games they have been very successful at that.  For the season on average Lasell takes 9 more FG attempts per game than Emerson does (63 attempts vs 54) 
Now that doesnt mean Lasell is for sure going to take more shots than Emerson their earlier matchup this year shows us.  And its worth pointing out the game story for that game:  Emerson won 83-79, and the box score shows about as dead even of a game as it could have possibly been.  Both teams took the exact same number of FG attempts, Emerson shot 33-57, Lasell 32-57.   Lasell killed Emerson on the boards (again no Rouse) 36-14.  The biggest thing in my eyes was the turnover situation, taking care of the basketball baby!  Lasell had 20 giveaways to Emersons 11.  and Emerson came away with 14 steals.   Also had Ben Chase not shot 12-16, 6-7 from 3PT en route to 30 points, Im pretty sure Emerson doesnt win.

For this upcoming championship game I expect this.
Lasell DOES put up at least 5 more FG attempts (which could be big).  Emerson shoots around 50-52% from the floor, Lasell shoots around 47-49%.  The boards get dominated by Guitian and Lasell (even with Rouse).  The Lasers hold Ben Chase in check (to an extent, no 6-7 from 3 stuff).  Emerson will remain very efficient from the field and the free throw line.  However I expect Lasell to limit their TO's to 15 or under.  Guitian and Crawford combine for at least 36 points and the supporting cast gets enough done to pull out the win.  Rouse, Shannon, Chase, and Dawkins will have solid games but it comes down to just one of them taking over which I just dont feel is going to happen (if it does my bets on Dawkins). 

My guess:
Final Score    Lasell 87  Emerson 83

Emerson vs St. Joes couldnt have been more of what I thought would happen had I scripted the game.

Final Score 79-75

clearly St. Joseph's put themselves in a position to win losing by only 4, and how did they do it? Elbie Murphy led things for the monks with a josh smith esque line of 14pts, 4rebs, 3as, 2blks, 2stls.  Eatmon reached double figures (10 pts) as did  Rue (14 pts on 4-6 from 3PT).  The x-factors that stepped up for St. Joe's were somewhat of a surprise, but the starting backcourt of Vachon and Friend combined for 20 pts (10 apiece). 

The difference....
Bryan Rouse
absolute domination of efficiency.  28 points, 8 rebounds on 9-11 FG and 10-11 from the line.  All done in a modest 29 minutes. 

Sounds like a great battle and with St. Joe's having ZERO seniors on the roster and Sanicola sure to bring in some other freshmen ready to play right away I think the monks might be a favorite heading into next season.

Lasell wins by 9, pretty much no surprse, I have a feeling the game was a bit closer than 9 that FT at the end stretched the score out a bit.

Even with Rouse playing as he did against St. Joe's I'm just not sure Emerson will have the firepower to keep up with Lasell in the final.  Regardless, it should be a great game 

just want to point out Andrew St. Clair did play professional basketball after he finished his outstanding career at CSC, he played for the Northampton Neptunes in Northampton, England.

also the career that St. Clair had is uncomparable....

SPB has had a great career as well, but what St. Clair did was far more impressive in my mind