MBB: United East Conference

[bballfan44]

Keystone new head coach is Jason Leone.  He has served as the assistant coach at D2 Mercyhurst College for the past four years where the team went 61-50 and 37-20 the last two years.  He was also an assistant at Clarkson Univerity.  He played two years at Lafayette and then transfered and played at U of R.

Sounds like they got themselves a good guy.  He seems like he might now what he is doing any he is taking over a very talented team.  So thats good for keystone and the NEAC.

[bballfan44]

Well it looks like the NEAC is getting smaller.  Keyston and PBU will be joing the PAC for the 2008-2009 school year.  That just leaves the NEAC with the original 3 Keuka, Cazenovia, D'youville and then Wells, BBC, PSU-Berks, PSU- Harrisburg,and Wilson who is an all girls school.  The league started to show improvement when it went to a 12 team league but is not falling apart.

[Ralph Turner]

Well, it looks like the NEAC is getting smaller.  Keystone and PBU will be joining the PAC for the 2008-2009 school year.  That just leaves the NEAC with the original 3 (Keuka, Cazenovia and D'Youville) and then Wells, Baptist Bible College, PSU-Berks, PSU-Harrisburg, and Wilson which is an all-women's school.  The league started to show improvement when it went to a 12 team league but is not falling apart.

I was looking for potential candidates to join.

Have you heard about any overtures towards Point Park, Lancaster Bible College PA, SUNY-Cobleskill or even St Joseph's New York?

As for women, the AWCC will disband.  The team that I do not recall joining another conference is Trinity DC.  That would preserve the women's AQ if they join, because Wells doesn't play basketball.

[Pat Coleman]

I think we should refer to that school as St. Joe's (Brooklyn) for clarity's sake.

SJC-Brooklyn would be a good NEAC candidate, but also a good Skyline candidate. And with apologies to the AWCC, Trinity is not in a position to be a member of a real conference. That department has a lot of work to do.

However ... in the new NEAC Trinity won't be far out of step. It will be a haul geographically, though.

[Ralph Turner]

I reviewed the Wells College website.

I see Men's soccer (Fall).  Men's Lacrosse becomes varsity in Spring 2008.  I see 2 men on the Swimming team. (That covers the winter requirement).

There were no men pictured on the 2006 Wells Cross Country team.

The women's sports are: Cross country, Soccer, Tennis and Field Hockey in the Fall; Swimming in the Winter; Lacrosse and Softball in the Spring.

It seems that Wells needs to add 2 men's sports.  Basketball (Men's and Women's) and Baseball seem to be the most strategic additions that Wells can make for the well-being of the NEAC.  After all, they will need 5 men's teams, one in each season.

Cross-country would be cheapest, but IMHO, basketball and baseball are most important to the NEAC.

One other thing that we saw was the value to a conference to ask a college to join.  Kinda like the junior high school dance...as soon as someone gets asked to dance, then his/her dance card fills up.

As noted above, the original 3 (Cazenovia, D'Youville and Keuka) cobbled a 12 member conference out of some independents.  Those indepedents who had no home now have parlayed their NEAC membership in (shall we say) an "upwardly mobile" fashion to the ranks of the PnAC, the Skyline and the CAC!

[bballfan44]

Well i know Wells will be adding basketball for the 2008-2009 season.

Any school added would be nice because a league looks better when it is bigger, but Trinity would be a long travel like you said. 

Lancaster Bible might be a possiablity since BBC is already in the league and I know Caz has played them in the past. 

Well as an alumni from caz i hope they find some teams to join the league.

[Ralph Turner]

bballfan44,

Let me welcome you to the boards.  I realize that you registered back in  2004, but your continued contributions will help spark interest.

Please post any hyperlinks to news releases and game updates this fall and winter. 

I really hope that the NEAC survives.  The conference model of D3 has done much to improve the student-athlete experience.  I think that the D3 experience is the most appropriate model in American athletics and especially collegiate athletics.

Let me be candid.  The value of the NEAC is to provide peer institutions for the athletic experience.  As the NEAC matures, I believe that the member institutions will also improve the quality of the student-athlete experience.  The leadership of the member institutions will be critical in its success.  I think that the Presidents of the NEAC may actually be doing a better job in growing and adapting with the changes in the NEAC than possibly any other conference in D3.  I wish them vision and luck.

[bballfan44]

Well thank you Mr. Turner,

I am just a big basketball fan, and I love the college game.  I will def. be talking on the board everday from here on out. 

Talking with someone in the NEAC they know they are losing some teams this year and next year but they are alrady searching for schools to take their place to keep the leageu big plus keep the Automatic Bids, because those bids will help the team grow because it is a big recruiting tool.

Anybody got any word on recruits for the NEAC.  I heard caz got Toombs.  He played Class D and was named to the all-state 1st team this past year.  He is a guard, they say he can score at will, but is alittle weak, hopefully he bulks up.

[WNYHoops]

Being from Buffalo, I can just tell you where I have heard some of the local guys are going ... not all to the NEAC obviously.

Medaille got a bunch of new players in. I heard a couple guys from Fairport in Rochester (one a big guy like 6-6 and wide), but they also landed Milicki from Pioneer and Adrian Wood from Will South.

Hilbert got a little guard from the southern tier who was 1st team all-state in Class D.

Kendrick, the long-range bomber from Jamestown HS is going to Nazareth.

D'Youville got Shane Canahai, the all-time leading scorer at Starpoint who has an old-school game, and DeJuan Hardy from Riverside, a big upside point who really sees the floor and plays strong but inconsistent. They also have at least 4 JUCO transfers, including Greg French and Derrick Ware from ECC who will combine for a great backcourt in the NEAC.

Buff State landed at least a couple city kids I am aware of. John Whitlock and Vic Arroyo, both of Lafayette, will play for the Bengals. Fredonia got Julius Bryant from Hutch-Tech.

And I don't know if you have heard of Jonny Flynn from Niagara Falls???!?? But he will be running the show at Syracuse next year!!

[bballfan44]

Yes i know who Flynn is, being from the Syracuse area and being an Orange fan i know who he is. 

Well it sounds like the teams in Buffalo made out pretty good with some of their recruits.  To bad Medialle and Hilbert don't join the NEAC so you guys could have a battle of Buffalo, just like it use to be when it was the original NEAC made up of Hilbert, Medialle, D'Youville, Keuka, and Cazenovia.

[WNYHoops]

Medaille and Hilbert may be better fits for the NEAC then the conference they currently play in. All those teams are from PA. At least in the NEAC you have a little NY connection with Keuka, DYC and Caz along with Wells just coming in.

The schools still all play each other non-conference ... but it just is not the same. Medaille has really stepped up its efforts, but their indoor facility is very small and like DYC they have no outdoor fields. Hilbert has the space, but their school only offers like 8 majors ... so they are limited that way. But you are right, it would be great to see all three back together in the same conference to foster those old rivalries.

[bballfan44]

Early perdictions for next season:

1- BBC
2- Cazenovia
3- Keystone
4- D'youville
5- Keuka
6- Penn. St-Berks
7- PBU

[WNYHoops]

You forgot Penn State-Harrisburg as the 8th team. But I do like where you are going with the predictions. My 2-cents:

1) BBC
2) DYC
3) Caz
4) PBU
5) Keystone
6) Keuka
7) Penn State - Berks
8) Penn State-Harrisburg

     Baptist Bible, on paper, is the favorite on this first day of summer. They have virtually their entire team returning that was one of the top 4 teams last year in a tougher league. DYC will be much improved ... enough to contend?? That will depend on how their talented newcomers come together. As I stated before, I think they have the talent to get it done. Caz could beat anyone on any day, but also loose to anyone too. They are so up and down, but have to be scary for opposing coaches. But I have a feeling they will really miss their little point guard Winans. PBU has probably the top forward in the league, but lost their perimeter shooter. Keuka is in total rebuilding mode but always competes. Keystone is unknown with a new coach. How many of the guys remain on the squad?? They have a great backcourt, but a new system. Berks has one good player and not much else. Harrisburg struggled in the league they were in last year which is below the NEAC.

[bballfan44]

Your right about PBU they do have one of the best forwards in the league but that is about all they have......their is no way they will be better then Keystone and Keuka, and I think DYC has a better big men then PBU does.  Well Keuka maybe look like their in a rebuilding year but you might be surprised when they do good next year but I won't be.   They have some good kids coming in and even two transfers that will be big time threats....And your right about Caz, they can beat any one on any day.  They do i think have the second best player in the league behind Askew of course.  And I think Berks will do better then you think because Askew is that good to where they will win plenty of games just because of him.....but we have a long time before we find all this stuff out....can't come soon enough

[WNYHoops]

I'm not really sold on Askew as the "best player in the league." Looking at his stats, he does score a lot of points, but takes a ton of shots to get them. He is a slashing type player who you can control if you force him to take a jump shots. I think teams will be able to focus their defense on him since he does not have a lot running with him.

And who do you refer to as the second best player in the league from Caz? I hope you don't mean Harris. Too 1 dimentional for me. Great stationary jump shooter but that is all. Make him put the ball on the floor and he has trouble.

I love talking basketball in June. And like you said, the season can't come soon enough for me. I just hope the NEAC will survive with teams shuffling conferences so much.