MBB: NEWMAC

[rlk]

Video link for this Friday's Harvard/MIT matchup:

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/harvard.portal#

Who else is planning to attnd in person?

[Hugenerd]

I'm no longer in the area, but here is a "preview" video put together by the team.

[amh63]

Hugenerd....Nice!

[WPI89]

The fact that dunks make up about 8 of the top 10 plays every night on SC drives me nuts.  But somehow for d3 team - the dunk montage really worked!  Well done MIT - thanks for sharing Nerd.

[WPI89]

What do you guys think about Toomey 1st team and Kates 3rd team pre-season all American?  Seems backwards from the games I watched toward the end of last year.  Am I off on that?

[Hugenerd]

What do you guys think about Toomey 1st team and Kates 3rd team pre-season all American?  Seems backwards from the games I watched toward the end of last year.  Am I off on that?

I agree with you,  but All-Star voting is not a democracy,  just a few people's opinion.  It works both ways, the year Bartolotta won POY, it was also highly contested and could have gone a number of ways.  I am surprised at the number of guards that jumped him based on last years end of year rankings, though.

[GoTech73]

I'm no longer in the area, but here is a "preview" video put together by the team.

So awesome. Thanks for this, Nerd. and the video link.

[MikeCarr]

Hello NEWMAC Posters,

My name is Mike Carr, father of WPI's Matt Carr.  I promised my son & my wife that I would not post out here until Matt was done playing.  I should have written this a few months back, but just never got around to it, so please indulge a proud parent for a few moments.

First, I wanted to thank everyone here for their comments about my son over the past few years and a special thanks to WPI89, Mass_D3fan and HugeNerd.  I was an avid reader of this site and obviously of this forum.  I found your comments very fair, both those of a congratulatory manner and those that were critical. My wife and I are very proud of the man our son has become. Athletics has been a large part of his life and given him some very hard times and some very rewarding ones. It has prepared him for the fact that life can throw you a curve at any time and things are constantly changing. Basketball was not his primary sport until he was a junior in high school. He went from a reserve on the bench as a sophomore  to starting every game and being selected as an All-State player.  He had a great summer of development and then just minutes into the first practice of his senior year, he tore his ACL. For those of you here who are old enough to have a child play athletics, you understand how devastating that kind of injury is not just to your child but to the entire family. There is nothing you can do or say that will help.  All you can do is be there.  Matt got through it a bit easier because he still had college ball in front of him.  Losing that senior year was important though as he lost a vital year of experience.  In first season at WPI he did not play much at all.

He played a big role off the bench as a sophomore and finally got to start in the NEWMAC tournament that year.  We are so very proud of what Matt accomplished on the court in his final two years at WPI, especially last year.  It was just two days before the opening game and my father passed away from a very aggressive form of ALS.  Matt played in opener against Husson knowing he would be leaving right after the game to return to Maine and attend the funeral.  Two days later he played in VT against Castleton St. He dedicated his season to his grandfather and there were some great games and some that were more difficult.  Matt had two goals for his final season, becoming a 1st team Academic All-American and winning a team championship.  Ideally, the championship would have been the NEWMAC title, but winning the ECAC tournament was very special.  He got to do what so very few ever get to do - walk off the court in the final game of your career as a champion.  That was very special for us.  Matt came to WPI just wanting to help continue the winning tradition that Coach Bartley had built there.  After 4 years,  he had become a 2-time First Team All-Conference player, 2-time Academic All-American, a  Josten's Finalist, D3Hoops All-Region team selection and chosen to the D3Hoops All-Star team that went to Europe.  It was quite a career for a kid that was striving to play college baseball just 6 years ago.

I do wish to thank Coach Bartley, Coach Southall , Ryan Cain all his teammates  for all they did for Matt over these past 4 years.  Chris stood by him and was very supportive after the knee injury and that was greatly appreciated.  I won't say I always agreed with Chris when it came to the games, but what parent ever does?  I just appreciate that he saw something in Matt and did give him the opportunity to have the success that he achieved.   Also, I want to thank Dr Philip Lahey Jr. who performed Matt's ACL reconstruction. He did a great job from the first time we met him until the final checkup and Matt never had any issues at all with the knee after the surgery.

Matt is now living in Virginia and has a great job there.

We will continue to follow WPI more from afar now, but we hope to get to a game or two each year.  We wish a successful season for all the players and their families. All I can say to them now is enjoy every second of it, the end comes so fast and I will for one admit I miss the I will not see Matt running out there wearing #31. I saw the roster a couple of days ago and it looks like Coach Bartley brought in a couple of new big guys, one of them being 7'3".  Unfortunately, I can't help you people out here as I have no insight into their ability or how Chris sees them fitting into the program.  The team looks awfully young though as only two seniors and 2 juniors are on the roster of 15 players.

Before I forget I also want to thank Pat Coleman & his staff here D3 sports. The coverage you give to these dedicated young men & women is fantastic and is appreciated by all parents of D3 athletes. We also appreciate your honoring Matt with an All-Region nod and selecting him to the D3Hoops.com team that went to Europe in May. He had a great time and enjoyed playing with that elite group.

Lastly, if the rumors here are correct, I want to express our get well wishes to Noel Hollingsworth & Jamie Karraker and their families.  We know all too well the pain that goes with an injury that causes you to lose a senior season. "Ënemies" or not, we hate it when we see any young athlete lose time to an injury. I had the opportunity to talk a few times with both Noel & Wil Tashman after games over the past couple of years.  They are both fine young men.  We will miss not seeing Matt banging around with you two.
 
Thank you all and enjoy the upcoming season to its fullest.

Mike Carr

[nescac1]

Mike, that was the classiest post I've ever read on these boards.  Well said, and thanks for sharing your perspective. 

[Hugenerd]

Very nice post, Matt was a great player.

Here is some information on on WPI's 7'3" freshman.  He actually played prep ball around here:

This is an article on ESPN that mentions him, although the mention isn't about his play, just how tall he is:
http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/boys-basketball/tag/_/name/mark-overdevest

Here is some video from last season:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMh4VP5TNI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jp6Qubevu0

Based on just watching these videos, he is obviously a really big guy, but it appears the opposition had him well scouted.  On defense, the strategy of keeping the man he was guarding on the perimeter seems to have worked very well, with his size being negated on the interior and the quicker player being able to drive around him.  On both ends of the court, he wasn't very active either, letting himself be boxed out by much shorter players and he was even blocked on a put back because it appears he doesnt jump all that well.  With that said, you can't teach size and it will be interesting to see how he develops under Coach Bartley.

[remsleep]

Attended the Harvard-MIT game  this evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.  MIT acquitted themselves quite well the difference being the superior athleticism of Harvard's bigs....official stats showed 10 blocked shots but am pretty sure it was a few more than that.   Continue to marvel at the level of play that Mitch Kates of MIT demonstrates ....nobody who watched that game could reasonably conclude that any player other than Mitch was the best out there... strong entrance into the season for him and should bear watching to be D3 national poy......if he gets hurt MIT will be cooked despite their other strengths...can't wait for the real games to begin!

[rlk]

Well, no magic upset of Harvard, I'm afraid.  But 69-54 isn't typical of a D3 team losing to a D1, even if Harvard isn't quite what it was last year.  Even without Holligsworth and Karraker, MIT definitely belonged on the same court.  Harvard's probably going to beat a few D1 teams by more than 15 points.

MIT actually took the lead, 10-0, but then went cold, giving Harvard a 20-2 run (which was more a matter of problems on offense than on defense) before settling down to trail by 6 at the half.  From there on out, Harvard led by 5-11 points until the last few minutes, and the starters didn't come out until about a minute left.

Our D was solid; Harvard had to work for its points.  However, ultimately we didn't have the size or athleticism to handle some of Harvard's bigs inside; even with excellent defense, our guys couldn't completely prevent them from getting to the rim.  One of their bigs is a monster shot blocker who was giving our guys problems all evening, and without Karraker, we didn't have the outside threat needed to counter that (and Hollingsworth would have helped inside).

Mitch Kates was absolutely abusing the Harvard point guard all game.  He's pretty much unstoppable.  He wound up with 20 or so.  He had his share of spectacular drives to the rim, but he did get a bunch of drives rejected hard.

Photos are being uploaded; there will eventually be 209.  http://www.smugmug.com/photos/new_add.mg?AlbumID=26436069

[rlk]

Photos are being uploaded; there will eventually be 209.  http://www.smugmug.com/photos/new_add.mg?AlbumID=26436069

Let's try again: http://rlk.smugmug.com/Sports/Basketball/MIT-Harvard-20121109/26436069_RDDGBT#!i=2205918290&k=N3VHrrN

There was a reception after the game; Coach Anderson said a lot about other MIT fall teams not being able to attend because they were in tournament runs of their own this weekend.  MIT's always had a very extensive athletic program, but these days we've become a real D3 power (dare I say a D3 Duke?  After all, Jimmy Bartolotta's fiancee, Abby Waner, played for their women's basketball team), which I'm sure is going to help recruiting for all sports.

I think everyone left feeling very optimistic about the season.

[WPI89]

Mr. Carr - welcome to this side of the curtain!  Great post - although I only saw 4 or 5 of Matt's games in person, I always enjoyed his intensity and non stop motor.  Been almost 25 years since I wore the Crimson and Gray (albeit to nowhere near the accomplishment level of your son) and I still miss it.

I apologize to the MIT faithful as I feel like it is my fault - I was watching the Harvard video feed - saw MIT jump out 8-0 and then we lost power (thankfully for only 3 hours instead of 8 days).  Next thing I saw was the final score on my blackberry.

[BBallers]

I agree with rlk with the D3 versus D1 teams.  MIT will have to approve on its 5 assists and 18 turnovers, but it was their first game (or I guess scrimmage).  Harvard did not look nearly as strong as prior years with graduations and suspensions.  Harvard appeared to have difficulty creating open shots.  Despite these limitations, we still allowed them to shoot 40% of their 3-pointers.  I fully expect MIT defense to keep improving.  With a healthy Noel and Jamie, I believe we could beat this Harvard team.  Despite the loss, I wish MIT would be able to play more D1 teams, but I don't believe there are many D1 programs that want to risk losing to a D3 school.