MBB: Conference of New England

[joehakes]

Ralph,

One thing that you should know about New England is that a drive that would seem like a trip to the corner store where you are is an overnight trip here.  People in Boston talk about driving to western Mass like it is the Lewis & Clark expedition.

[Pat Coleman]

It might be a situation where Anna Maria steps into the NEFC to replace Maine Maritime, which could then play with its NAC brethren in football as well.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is there any chance that the growing CCC might shoot for its own football AQ eventually?  I honestly don't know anything about d3 football, so that could sound stupid, but I'm guessing AMC adding football and lacrosse (was it?) is more likely to stay in the CCC than leave.

At this point, some of the lower performing schools are probably more worried about getting kicked out than moving to a new conference.

[Ralph Turner]

Is there any chance that the growing CCC might shoot for its own football AQ eventually?  I honestly don't know anything about d3 football, so that could sound stupid, but I'm guessing AMC adding football and lacrosse (was it?) is more likely to stay in the CCC than leave.

At this point, some of the lower performing schools are probably more worried about getting kicked out than moving to a new conference.

Actually, I think that this is the way that some fans view this.

The playoffs are stuck at 32 bids and will not expand to 64.  Each conference gets a Pool A bid.  The leftover bids are allocated to Pool B and Pool C.

The independents like Salisbury, Wesley, and Chapman,  the conferences in transition like the SLAIC, the Northern Athletics and conferences that did not have 7 members, like the President AC and the Northwest Conference recently are placed in Pool B.  The number of Pool B bids are determined by dividing the # of teams playing in the 22 Pool A conferences (in 2007) by the number of Pool A conferences.  You can see that 16 teams from the NEFC in that numerator incrementally increases the access ratio.  There were three Pool B bids in 2007, leaving 7 Pool C bids for everyone else.

Any future Pool A bids will come from the allocation to Pool B and C.  IMHO, the best team in the North Atlantic Conference will not be good enough as determined by the Pool B criteria to earn a Pool B bid in most years.  Therefore if I am the conference AD, I work towards getting the Pool A bid.

"Trading an AMC for a Maine Maritime", i.e., arranging a replacement for Maine Maritime to come to the NAC and letting AMC fill that vacancy in the NEFC as Pat Coleman suggested, works towards the NAC getting their Pool A bid.

[Pat Coleman]

Is there any chance that the growing CCC might shoot for its own football AQ eventually?  I honestly don't know anything about d3 football, so that could sound stupid, but I'm guessing AMC adding football and lacrosse (was it?) is more likely to stay in the CCC than leave.

The NEFC would be football only -- other CCC members play football in the NEFC (Nichols, Curry off the top of my head).

[backboard]

Here are the seniors leaving the CCC:

Curry ->  Tim Jones, James Bartelle, Loice Williams, , Marvin Lamarre
RWU ->  Ben Camobreco, Dan Gumb, Geoff Baranger
Gordon ->  Justin Kaufman, Keith Krass, Jon Marstaller, Michael Schnackenberg
WNEC ->  Asif Abdul-Wadud, Ryan Hernandez, Jim Bayne, Ronelson Lovaincy
UNE ->  Isaac  Stickney
Wentworth ->  Ed Bolton, Gil Ward, Sherrad Prezzie-Blue
CSC ->  N/A
Endicott ->  Cameron Twiss, Gary Corbett, Todd Burton
Nichols ->  Ron Powers, Eric Foster, Chris Vallee,
Salve->  Chris Goodridge, Quinn O'Brien, Steve Walsh
Regis ->  N/A
Anna Maria ->  Mike Chamblain, Jim Daigneault, Quincy Nunnally, Adam Richards
NEC ->  Ryan Jaziri, Kingsley Onyechi
ENC ->  Luc Jasmin, Jeremy Hueston, Jean-Paul Marcellus, Andrew Brown

If we thought the CCC was weak this year . . .

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Don't we have a specific board for this sort of thing?

[backboard]

This has to be one of the most quiet summers I've seen in a while.  Anyways, the following schools have a preliminary schedule posted on their respective websites:

Wentworth, Gordon, WNEC, UNE, ENC, Nichols, and Salve

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Well most of the schools have at least returning rosters up now.  I was going to make the rounds and post about strengths of schedule and any big surprises on the rosters so far.  Then I realized that my life became too busy last year and it's gotten to the point where I don't even recognize half the names on the rosters.

I might have to work my way into this season and do some serious homework as games begin.

[scout]

I think I'm in the same boat.

It's rough having moved out to the Midwest. There are almost no DIII schools within close to 150 miles from me. So, like you Hoops, I'm going to have to stick to stat sheets, audio (video in the case of Gordon) broadcasts, and the friendly confines of D3Hoops.com

A little under a month to go.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's rough having moved out to the Midwest. There are almost no DIII schools within close to 150 miles from me.

I've done it for five seasons now.  This should be my last one out here.  Where did you end up?  Are there at least some good road trips nearby?  I enjoyed by trip to Grinnell.

[scout]

we're in kansas city, but my wife and I drove by Grinnel on our way here (we made a stop in Illinois).

It's rough, but I have season tickets for KU basketball. Quite a bit different, but still very exciting.

I'll miss the CCC and D3 up-close. As I said, I'll have to keep up as much as I can.

We actually might catch two Gordon games in Minnesota in January. I think they play Northwestern College and someone else, but that'll be fun.

[dwebbs]

I guess anybody who is anybody has moved out of the NE region. This is absurd. No scrimmage updates? No freshman to watch? No trash talking?

Usually by this time in the year, someone from Roger Williams is making a case that their PG should be First Team All-CCC.

[backboard]

The pre-season coaches poll is out:

1.  Colby-Sawyer 181 (5)
2.  University of New England 178 (7)
3.  Roger Williams 161 (2)
4.  Gordon 148
5.  Wentworth 142
6.  Endicott 131
7.  Curry 114
8.  Western New England 111
9.  Nichols 85
10.  Salve Regina 61
11.  Regis 52
12.  Anna Maria 46
13.  Eastern Nazarene 33
14.  New England College 27

I wonder if more than 5 people even read this board anymore . . .

[Ethelred the Unready]

The pre-season coaches poll is out:

1.  Colby-Sawyer 181 (5)
2.  University of New England 178 (7)
3.  Roger Williams 161 (2)
4.  Gordon 148
5.  Wentworth 142
6.  Endicott 131
7.  Curry 114
8.  Western New England 111
9.  Nichols 85
10.  Salve Regina 61
11.  Regis 52
12.  Anna Maria 46
13.  Eastern Nazarene 33
14.  New England College 27

I wonder if more than 5 people even read this board anymore . . .

For what it's worth...I do.  I'm interested in the league, particularly UNE, but don't know enough to comment about any of the teams.  Loved the UNE campus and really liked the previous coach.