MBB: NESCAC

[frank uible]

The  Presidents at the NESCAC colleges work their wonders in mysterious ways, but I am sure that none of them causes his respective college's basketball schedule to be established for the petty objective of marginally increasing his college's chances of participating in the NCAA DIII basketball tournament - they have much bigger fish to fry.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Right, but that might be a good reason for them to not even consider changing it.

[fpc85]

Seems to me all the other ocnfs. should adopt the schedule format that the NESCAC has.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That is an equally valid and equally impossible argument to make.

[Knightstalker]

who cares who the pre-season top teams are???  i'd rather be no. 1 at the end of the season.  the wiac's days are done, at least for a while.  they couldn't even get a team in the sweet 16.  i think the lack of red-shirt production in that conf. means they will take a few years to get back to national status.  just look at their non-conf. record this year....

I doubt that you're all that well informed about the WIAC, dman.

First, I took your advice and looked at that league's non-conference record this past season. Yes, it was down as compared to past WIAC seasons. But here's how it stacked up to the other power conferences that play double round-robins (conference tourney games excluded):

UAA 67-22 (.753)
NJAC 60-23 (.723)
WIAC 55-27 (.670)
CCIW 61-34 (.642)
OAC 42-27 (.609)
MIAA 55-36 (.604)

(I should point out that the NJAC can and does fatten up its non-conf records in the postseason ECAC tourney, a benefit none of the other five leagues can enjoy.)

The WIAC may have been down a little from its previous standards, but a .670 cumulative winning percentage is still ridiculously high. And it paid off for them -- the WIAC got two Pool C bids. If they're "done," then the CCIW -- which claimed the national third-place team and a Sweet Sixteen team as well -- is even more "done."

Power conferences don't automatically get teams into the Sweet Sixteen, especially when they're bracketed into the much tougher competition in the loaded sectionals that involve the West, Midwest, and Great Lakes regions. The WIAC didn't get a team into the Sweet Sixteen in 2001, either. It didn't mean anything other than that their lone representative got knocked out early. In fact, the WIAC's non-conference record that year in regular season play was a whopping 69-12 (.852). This year two of the WIAC's three tourney teams lost in the home gyms of a couple of power-conference champions (Augustana and Calvin) and the third faced a senior-laden juggernaut that got hot at the right time (Illinois Wesleyan).

You're misreading the whole redshirt thing. It'll affect the WIAC only slightly. Regardless of whether or not they're allowed to develop their talent with a non-playing year, they're still going to get that talent. The WIAC will still be picking up most of the cream of the prep hoops crop in the state of Wisconsin.

The reason why the WIAC was down as compared to previous years was simple: Too many underclassmen, not enough seniors. Take a look at the 2005 All-WIAC team, and then take a look at this year's. The WIAC class of 2005 was loaded, starting with Kalsow and Bennett of UWSP and going on from there. Ten of the 18 players on the All-WIAC team were seniors. By comparison, only seven of the 19 players on this year's All-WIAC team were seniors -- and the consensus in the WIAC room is that the caliber of this year's seniors was a notch below that of last year's, even among the All-WIAC group.

Leagues as a whole have these sorts of fluctuations in terms of talent by class. I'm sure that the same thing has affected the NESCAC at one point or another. To draw the sweeping conclusion that the league is "done, at least for a while," is to completely misread the evidence.

Put  the NJAC at 56-20 this year and it is still pretty good.

[Knightstalker]

I have always thought the NESCAC would benefit from a two division format like the NJAC is going to.  Play a double round robin in division and the other division teams once each.  This could eleviate travel concerns due to distance and academics.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Amherst and Williams are part-way there, seeing as they play each other every year.  You just have to add four more games to that schedule.

[formerbant10]

The 2 Division format works for NESCAC Baseball, no reason it couldn't work for hoops.

What would be the best way to split 'em up?

The Maine teams would be in one group with Tufts also, but who's the 5th team there?

The CT teams plus Amherst are all close enough they could play weeknight games.  Throw Williams in there to keep the Little 3 intact. 

That means Midd goes with the Maine crew? 

The playoff system would then have to be changed, top 4 in each get in.  E1 v. W4, etc...

I doubt that Conn or Wes would be happy knowing that they had to play Trin, Amherst and Williams twice....but all one of them has to do is beat the other to get into the playoffs, so it's not a terrible deal.

Both "divisions" would complain that their's is the tougher one and small riots may ensue during the conference calls.  I think it'd change year to year....but looking at the last 2, the both "divisions" had semifinalists and finalists. 

Good idea, I like playing more conference games...I think the players would like that too.  I still don't see it happening though, nor do I really know what steps must be taken to change the current format.  But it's the thought that counts.

[Knightstalker]

For the playoffs the NJAC takes the top three teams from each division with each division first place team getting a bye. 

[formerbant10]

The NESCAC originally had the top 7 making the playoffs with the #1 getting the bye to the Semi's along with hosting the Semifinals and Finals.  I think there was only 2 seasons with that format then expanded to 8 teams. 

I doubt they would shrink the field to 6 though.  I don't really see the reason for that either.

[All-around]

How good will williams be next year? And is Amherst going to be the top dog again?

[formerbant10]

Amherst is at the top till someone takes them off.  Didn't happen this year, could next year.  But they have a ton of guys itching to play.  Kind of like Trinity's football squad, they keep reloading and the talent hasn't dropped yet.

[Midd Range]

Hey guys,
    I'm living in Boston this summer and looking for a good league to play in.  Anybody know of some typically good leagues to play in or around Boston?  Thanks.

[d3bballinboston]

The Watertown Rec. Department has a very good team. I kno win the past Williams, Bentley, Emerson,Newbury and many other local schools have played in it.  check out http://www.pcentola.com  That is the link to that department website.

[All-around]

I know some guys who are looking for players. Whats your stats like. I could possibly talk to them. They I believe are putting a team into the watertown league. Whats your height, stuff like that