MBB: NESCAC

frank uible · April 03, 2013, 02:09:05 PM

Next season is closed for lack of competition pursuant to one of our posters declaring that Williams will be "scary good".

grabtherim · April 03, 2013, 03:08:37 PM

Quote from: nescac1 on April 02, 2013, 03:31:26 PM
I thought this article might interest folks as one of the players quoted (defending the coach, in that case) is Ithaca forward Frank Mitchell, who played in the NCAA tourney vs. Middlebury. Makes "box out" (or for that matter, any antics by NESCAC coaches) seem pretty tame ...

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9125796/practice-video-shows-rutgers-basketball-coach-mike-rice-berated-pushed-used-slurs-players

Eric Murdock, by the way, is an alumnus of my high school and an absolute class act.

He may have been a class act when you knew him or up until he attempted to extort a payout from Rutgers which he did not receive, but he is not today with all of the facts of this sad case coming out fast and furious. Fact 1: Murdock put together the tape we all saw on ESPN yesterday taken over two years of his employment. Fact 2: Murdock brought this tape to the AD at Rutgers with the promise to release it if he could not come to a financial agreement with the Rutgers on what he calls a wrongful termination versus what Rutgers calls the end of his contract. Fact 3: Rutgers did not come to an agreement with Murdock, took the pitiful action they did in December in suspending versus firing Rice. Fact 4: Murdock not satisifed with Rutgers settlement or lack thereof with him released the tape and consented to a self serving interview on ESPN designed to do little else excpept support his wrongful termination lawsuit against Rutgers.
What Murdock has not realized, but soon will is that he is now a pariah in the coaching/athletic administration world. No matter how horrible Rice's actions were, coaches and ADs will never tolerate or hire a known whistle blower, especially one who only blew that whistle after he could not get paid for holding his breath on it. Murdock seems to be a perfect illustration of saying that it takes a lifetime to gain a great reputation but a second to lose it. Shame on him, Rice, Pernetti and anyone else who knew about this horrible behavior and kept their mouths shut for so long. To me Murdock is reprehensible as his silence was not just there but offered up for sale.

middhoops · April 03, 2013, 08:56:52 PM

A Tufts fan! Hooray.
Welcome, Jumbo. There is general agreement here that you have great things to look forward to.
I, for one, have 'Sabety envy'.
Invite your friends to join you here.

amh63 · April 04, 2013, 10:20:28 AM

Jumbo fan...welcome to the board! Be prepared to join a feisty group and get a "hard hat"

Amherst leaves today on a "business trip". Interesting blog interview with Coach Hixon on the Amherst site...final 4 running blog....for interested posters.

My take of the upcoming game. Battle of two experienced coaches! MHB "upset" three ranked teams with a talented team and a knowing coach that made the right moves. However, in the champion ship game, MHB will meet a talented team that also has an experienced coach.

Hope I can figure out the broadcasting channel....CBS College sports?

pick and roll · April 04, 2013, 01:05:01 PM

Let's go MHB - oops did I say that out loud!

lefrakenstein · April 04, 2013, 01:30:17 PM

Quote from: pick and roll on March 23, 2013, 08:12:07 AM
Some of the other Midd posters have said go Amherst - really hard for me to cheer them on - maybe that will change by the time they get to Atlanta - sorry but not yet.

Maybe not I suppose? The Midd vitriol at Amherst is surprising. It reminds me of Maryland fans whose hatred of Duke and UNC is met by complete indifference.

grabtherim · April 04, 2013, 02:12:45 PM

I think Amherst posters would be just as torn if Williams or Midd was in the game. It's OK not to root for your rivals. Think Red Sox fans want the Yanks to win the World Series? In all honesty I feel that Amherst should win this one easy.

lefrakenstein · April 04, 2013, 02:19:45 PM

Quote from: grabtherim on April 04, 2013, 02:12:45 PM
I think Amherst posters would be just as torn if Williams or Midd was in the game. It's OK not to root for your rivals. Think Red Sox fans want the Yanks to win the World Series? In all honesty I feel that Amherst should win this one easy.

I guess I've just never considered Midd to be our rival. I could not root for Williams in a championship game. I think I could and would root for Midd in a championship game. I think Amherst fans think of Midd the way Red Sox fans think of the Blue Jays.

frank uible · April 04, 2013, 02:43:00 PM

None of the Chinese know, much less care, and 99 44/100ths percent of Americans don't care.

grabtherim · April 04, 2013, 02:47:47 PM

Quote from: frank uible on April 04, 2013, 02:43:00 PM
None of the Chinese know, much less care, and 99 44/100ths percent of Americans don't care.

Funny, the same percentage who dont think your drivel is funny other than you.

toad22 · April 04, 2013, 04:51:44 PM

It is certainly true that D3 basketball defines "small time". I still like it a lot.

nescac1 · April 04, 2013, 04:54:53 PM

Amen, Toad. And at least no D-3 school would have retained Tim Rice. Look at how Hamline treated their situation -- immediately suspended, then fired, the coach despite an infraction that was far more indirect (severe player misconduct outside the coach's presence).

pick and roll · April 04, 2013, 05:51:51 PM

Leaf - that's funny because I could easily root for WIlliams and Mike Maker who is a class act BTW - just not your Jeffs - sorry for the vitriol didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Grab - I also think Amherst will win just don't want them to.

middhoops · April 04, 2013, 09:08:34 PM

Are you guys serious? This is going to cost me serious K, but c'mon. You would root for a non-NESCAC team winning the championship? Next year I'll root for my team to beat the LJs, but in Atlanta I hope Amherst wins by 30. Maybe more.

Vandy74 · April 05, 2013, 02:40:38 AM

Quote from: middhoops on April 04, 2013, 09:08:34 PM
Are you guys serious? This is going to cost me serious K, but c'mon. You would root for a non-NESCAC team winning the championship? Next year I'll root for my team to beat the LJs, but in Atlanta I hope Amherst wins by 30. Maybe more.

Careful Cuz,

I'm still the one drawing the heavy fire. Let me walk point. There is a lot being missed here. First of all, the success that Amherst and Williams have had recently in the tournament benefits Middlebury and all other NESCAC schools' basketball programs. Recruiting and ranking immediately come to mind.

Secondly, Amherst and Middlebury are not rivals in the traditional sense of the word. They have played some very important games against each other in recent seasons but if three years down the road they both have mediocre teams with no post season aspirations nobody will get too bent out of shape concerning the outcome of the contest between them. Amherst and Williams, on the other hand, have a rivalry going on that predates their NESCAC competition by over hundred years or so. Wesleyan is also involved. Meetings between these schools are big games regardless of team records. If Amherst were to win the NESCAC each year for the next 5 seasons, win a national title and go to 2 other final fours but lose to Williams each time the two schools played, the alumni would be all over Hixon's ass. As for my willingness to root for Amherst in games not involving the Panthers I've already mentioned my father and two brothers who went there. I grew up listening to an LP of Amherst fight songs while my father cooked breakfast on Sunday mornings. The father of my best friend next door, a Middlebury College English professor, was a loyal Amherst grad. My father was a state politician who lost an election in 1964. The press made a big deal of a democrat beating a republican. What bothered my father the most was that he was beaten by a Williams man. So I'm sorry if some of you don't like my support of the Lord Jeff's this weekend. If it makes you feel any better I would be much less inclined to root for Williams if they were the NESCAC team still playing.

Thirdly, much if not most of the animosity Midd fans are directing at Amherst involves the coach, not the players. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers an Amherst player (sorry, I don't recall which one it was) helping Kizel up off the floor when none of his Middlebury teammates were around to do it. These are fine young men, on both sides, playing a game. The BO incident is a done deal. It didn't determine the outcome of the game. Move on. Please. The only one directly involved with the right to hold a grudge is Jensen. I expect he'd tell you the same thing two players on my high school team told me when I asked if a series of unusually loud comments from the stands had distracted them during an important game. The taunts seemed to be coming from adults rather than students which is what made it of interest and I was covering the game for the local paper. They said that if they let such things get to them they didn't have their heads in the game. 'Nuff said. And while Jensen did miss that first shot he made the second along with 80% of the rest of them he took during the remainder of the season. Collectively the rest of the team did the same so they must have kept their heads in the game as well. This stuff entertains and bothers the peanut gallery, not the players.

Well, so much for my Karma. Middhoops, agreed. This weekend Lord Jeffs by 30. Next season Middlebury mops the court with 'em.