MBB: NEWMAC

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

7 students at Emerson were injured... treated at a hospital... and released on Monday evening at some time.

[rlk]

I haven't heard anything directly, but I've seen facebook photos suggesting that the MIT basketball team is fine.  Most of them live in a fraternity on Bay State Road, which is the other side of Mass. Ave. from where the bombs went off.

I hope everyone from Emerson is also OK.

I've since heard from one member of the team that nobody he knew was hurt, and I've seen a letter from MIT president Rafael Reif that no member of the MIT community was among the direct casualties.

I hope the Emerson students who were injured are doing well.

[rlk]

Mitch Kates and Will Tashman are getting an extension on their basketball careers.  They're playing for the US in the Maccabiah Games (an Olympics-type event for Jews and Israeli citizens).  See http://www.maccabiusa.com/seclect-a-sport/basketball/581-usa-basketball-team.html .  Mitch's sister Jackie is on the women's team.

They've been blogging sporadically: https://bobisrael.wordpress.com/

Looks like they lost their first pool game to Argentina: http://www.maccabiah.com/Data/Uploads/basketball%20open%20men.pdf .  They're playing Germany today and Australia Tuesday.  Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck finding a box score.  It looks like the rest of the roster is mostly D1 players (or alums) -- see http://basketball.eurobasket.com/Israel/news/USA_Open_Mens_Hoops_Maccabiah_Roster_Revealed/314096

We at MIT have been extraordinarily fortunate to have them for the past 4 years.

[rlk]

Mitch Kates and Will Tashman are getting an extension on their basketball careers.  They're playing for the US in the Maccabiah Games (an Olympics-type event for Jews and Israeli citizens).  See http://www.maccabiusa.com/seclect-a-sport/basketball/581-usa-basketball-team.html .  Mitch's sister Jackie is on the women's team.

They've been blogging sporadically: https://bobisrael.wordpress.com/

Looks like they lost their first pool game to Argentina: http://www.maccabiah.com/Data/Uploads/basketball%20open%20men.pdf .  They're playing Germany today and Australia Tuesday.  Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck finding a box score.  It looks like the rest of the roster is mostly D1 players (or alums) -- see http://basketball.eurobasket.com/Israel/news/USA_Open_Mens_Hoops_Maccabiah_Roster_Revealed/314096

We at MIT have been extraordinarily fortunate to have them for the past 4 years.

So far the US team lost to Argentina 86-83 (Tash had 17 points), beat Germany 89-55 (no box score), beat Australia 111-57 (Kates had 14), and just today beat Russia 84-31 (Tash had 10).  So it certainly looks like they're making solid contributions on a D1-dominated team.  I was expecting Russia to be a strong team, after winning their first three games, but apparently not.

They have one more game left in group play, against Guinea-Bissau, which has already lost to Russia, Argentina, and Germany by 40+ points.  Assuming Argentina beats Russia tomorrow, they'll win the pool 5-0 and we (assuming we beat Guinea-Bissau) will be 4-1.  If Argentina loses to Russia, all three teams will be 4-1.  I wonder how they'd break a tie.  If it's point differential, we should be in good shape, since we lost to Argentina by 3 and beat Russia by 53.

From there on out, it gets complicated, as they say.  The semis are on Sunday, I presume it's the winner of group A against the runnerup of group B and vice versa.  On Monday, there are four(!) games: final, places 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 (however they figure that out).

There haven't been a lot of close games in our bracket other than our loss to Argentina.  There's basically Argentina and the US, and everyone else.  Russia looks to be the best of the rest.

http://live.maccabiah.com/GameSelect.aspx?sportType=Basketball&id=63

[rlk]

So far the US team lost to Argentina 86-83 (Tash had 17 points), beat Germany 89-55 (no box score), beat Australia 111-57 (Kates had 14), and just today beat Russia 84-31 (Tash had 10).  So it certainly looks like they're making solid contributions on a D1-dominated team.  I was expecting Russia to be a strong team, after winning their first three games, but apparently not.

They have one more game left in group play, against Guinea-Bissau, which has already lost to Russia, Argentina, and Germany by 40+ points.  Assuming Argentina beats Russia tomorrow, they'll win the pool 5-0 and we (assuming we beat Guinea-Bissau) will be 4-1.  If Argentina loses to Russia, all three teams will be 4-1.  I wonder how they'd break a tie.  If it's point differential, we should be in good shape, since we lost to Argentina by 3 and beat Russia by 53.

From there on out, it gets complicated, as they say.  The semis are on Sunday, I presume it's the winner of group A against the runnerup of group B and vice versa.  On Monday, there are four(!) games: final, places 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 (however they figure that out).

There haven't been a lot of close games in our bracket other than our loss to Argentina.  There's basically Argentina and the US, and everyone else.  Russia looks to be the best of the rest.

http://live.maccabiah.com/GameSelect.aspx?sportType=Basketball&id=63

US beat Guinea-Bissau 141-66.  Mitch had 15 and Tash had 13 (and apparently the only foul by the US team).  Nobody scored more than 21.  Must have been wild and woolly.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=af92915f-84d6-e211-b658-0050568e71c3

Russia's actually leading Argentina 51-42 in the third quarter.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=ff0540a0-d9d0-e211-b658-0050568e71c3 .  If Russia does hang on, assuming that point differential is the first applicable tiebreaker, then we win the group handily (we lost to Argentina by 3 and beat Russia by 53).  Our total point differential is 213; going in to the final pool game, Argentina was +88 and Russia +19.

[rlk]

US beat Guinea-Bissau 141-66.  Mitch had 15 and Tash had 13 (and apparently the only foul by the US team).  Nobody scored more than 21.  Must have been wild and woolly.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=af92915f-84d6-e211-b658-0050568e71c3

Russia's actually leading Argentina 51-42 in the third quarter.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=ff0540a0-d9d0-e211-b658-0050568e71c3 .  If Russia does hang on, assuming that point differential is the first applicable tiebreaker, then we win the group handily (we lost to Argentina by 3 and beat Russia by 53).  Our total point differential is 213; going in to the final pool game, Argentina was +88 and Russia +19.

Russia hung onm, although Argentina put on quite a rally during the 4th quarter.  It was 60-51, then a few minutes later 60-59.  It doesn't look like Russia ever lost its lead, but it stayed close.

So I wonder how they're going to seed the finals.

[rlk]

US beat Guinea-Bissau 141-66.  Mitch had 15 and Tash had 13 (and apparently the only foul by the US team).  Nobody scored more than 21.  Must have been wild and woolly.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=af92915f-84d6-e211-b658-0050568e71c3

Russia's actually leading Argentina 51-42 in the third quarter.  http://live.maccabiah.com/ShowGame.aspx?gameId=ff0540a0-d9d0-e211-b658-0050568e71c3 .  If Russia does hang on, assuming that point differential is the first applicable tiebreaker, then we win the group handily (we lost to Argentina by 3 and beat Russia by 53).  Our total point differential is 213; going in to the final pool game, Argentina was +88 and Russia +19.

Russia hung onm, although Argentina put on quite a rally during the 4th quarter.  It was 60-51, then a few minutes later 60-59.  It doesn't look like Russia ever lost its lead, but it stayed close.

So I wonder how they're going to seed the finals.

Looks like the seeding was in fact by point differential.  The semis were therefore US-Israel and Argentina-France (France won group B).  The US won its semi, 77-73, so it was a very close game.  Mitch Kates didn't have that big of a game (6 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 4 steals), but Tash had 16 points and 17 boards.  If I'm interpreting the box score correctly (which can be found at http://live.baskethotel.com/ibba/ -- you have to click on the game and then the box score, since it's all a flash app), they both started.

Tash didn't have a very good shooting night, though (4/12 from the floor, 8/12 from the line), but Team USA didn't as a whole (40% from the floor, 72% from the line).  In any event, they're clearly not at all out of their depth.

Argentina's leading France with about 6 minutes to go, 70-63.  So we may have a rematch.

[rlk]

Looks like the seeding was in fact by point differential.  The semis were therefore US-Israel and Argentina-France (France won group B).  The US won its semi, 77-73, so it was a very close game.  Mitch Kates didn't have that big of a game (6 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 4 steals), but Tash had 16 points and 17 boards.  If I'm interpreting the box score correctly (which can be found at http://live.baskethotel.com/ibba/ -- you have to click on the game and then the box score, since it's all a flash app), they both started.

Tash didn't have a very good shooting night, though (4/12 from the floor, 8/12 from the line), but Team USA didn't as a whole (40% from the floor, 72% from the line).  In any event, they're clearly not at all out of their depth.

Argentina's leading France with about 6 minutes to go, 70-63.  So we may have a rematch.

US beat Argentina 87-76 in the final.  Go to http://live.baskethotel.com/ibba/, look for the arrows at the bottom of the page, and click on the right arrow to go to page 2.  Mitch and Tash didn't start the game, but they both had good minutes; Tash was on the floor almost 37 minutes, and had a nice game (12 points, 7 boards).  Mitch didn't put up big numbers, but he did have a team-high 6 assists, and it's often hard to judge how a point guard contributed just based on the numbers (the US had 4 guys in double figures, so there was no shortage of options).

Press releases at http://www.maccabiah.com/news-item/usa-men-team-wins-the-basketball-gold-medal and http://www.maccabiah.com/news-item/maccabiah-news-update---29-7-2- .  I'm sure there were lots of scouts, and I wonder if either of them will play overseas next year.

[WPI89]

Thanks for the recaps on all the Maccabiah games guys - fun read.  Should be some schedules coming out soon - look forward to talking hoops in the coming months.

[toooldtoplay]

Both the MIT players were pivotal for the USA team in the Maccabi finals and semifinal. 

Will was the dominant inside force for the US team with 16 points and 17 rebounds against Israel. The Israeli point guard was Tom Mayaan - played last year at Seton Hall. Overall Will was probably the team MVP as the other starting big - Ben Carter from Oregon - played mostly a perimeter game.  Will started every game for the USA team. The MVP was given to Danny Rubin from Boston College who had a great finals.

Mitch came off the bench backing up Stuart Douglas formerly of Michigan who played last year in Spain professionally.  Although not starting he played point most of the game and finished all games.  In the final Douglas fouled out on an offensive foul and a curse leaving Mitchell to play the entire second half against an Argentina team featuring mostly pro players. 

We can be very proud of how Will and Mitch represented their country, NEWMAC league and MIT.
 

[rlk]

Both the MIT players were pivotal for the USA team in the Maccabi finals and semifinal. 

Will was the dominant inside force for the US team with 16 points and 17 rebounds against Israel. The Israeli point guard was Tom Mayaan - played last year at Seton Hall. Overall Will was probably the team MVP as the other starting big - Ben Carter from Oregon - played mostly a perimeter game.  Will started every game for the USA team. The MVP was given to Danny Rubin from Boston College who had a great finals.

Mitch came off the bench backing up Stuart Douglas formerly of Michigan who played last year in Spain professionally.  Although not starting he played point most of the game and finished all games.  In the final Douglas fouled out on an offensive foul and a curse leaving Mitchell to play the entire second half against an Argentina team featuring mostly pro players. 

We can be very proud of how Will and Mitch represented their country, NEWMAC league and MIT.

Were you fortunate enough to be there?  I haven't seen this level of detail anywhere.

Apparently a lot of international bigs play a very perimeter-oriented game, where Tash is a classic American low post player.  Looking at the numbers, at least, I have to figure opponents had to double him up a lot of the time, which surely opened things up for guys like Rubin and Douglass.

I wonder what their plans are going forward.  I know Mitch's resume on-line only mentions that he was captain of the basketball team and one or two of his biggest awards, but given what you said I'd be very, very surprised if at least a few Israeli teams aren't interested.  Those two have become best friends over their 4 years at MIT, and I suspect that particularly if someone offers them a chance to extend their careers together they'd find it very hard to say no.  They can always go into their engineering fields (CS for Mitch, materials for Tash), but they won't have a lot of chances to play competitive basketball.

[rlk]

MIT announced its recruiting class.  Looks like a couple more bigs (a pair of 225 lb. Tims, one 6'8" and one 6'10").

http://mitathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/2013-14/releases/20130806t9z75q

[middhoops]

Great recruiting class for MIT.  Here is an interesting article about Higgins, the 6-10 player from VA.
http://www.sungazette.net/mclean-greatfalls-vienna-oakton/sports/local-basketball-player-head-to-cornell/article_8bf0bca7-a337-5a35-89ec-8a7000ce103a.html

[rlk]

MIT's not going to lack for size, that's for sure!

Assuming everyone plays, there will be 2 6'10" (Lampros Tsontzos, Tim Higgins) and 5 6'8" (Matt Redfield, Dennis Levene, Miles Nolting, Andrew Acker, and Tim Butala).  Redfield is surely going to anchor the frontcourt; he caught fire the second half of last season.  But they're short on experienced guards.  Paul Dawson is an excellent ballhandler and on-ball defender, but he's not Mitch Kates (then again, there aren't a lot of guys who are, at least in D3).  Ryan Frankel is going to be the backup PG.  Justin Pedley's natural position is forward, and I think he was power forward in HS, but he's got a good outside touch, is mobile, and I suspect he's going to be called upon to play a lot of 2.  Todd Cramer (who was a star at Caltech, but got very little playing time last season after he transferred) and Nicholas Prus are the only other returning guards.

[WPI89]

Many schedules posted.  I see both WPI and MIT will play Tufts.  Springfield goes to Williams also.  At a quick glance, I did not see any other top tier vs. top tier NEWMAC/NESCAC match-ups - at least measured from the last couple of years.

MIT tips again against Harvard as well.