MBB: NESCAC

[nescachoopsfan]

as for opening the season, tufts has quite the opener.  they are playing in rochester's tip off tournement and their first game is against wittenberg and if they win they will most likely play rochester.  it should be quite a test to see how they do early on.  as im sure most of you guys are thinking they probably will loose to wittenberg but i think tufts can play them tough.  wittenberg lost all of their back court to graduation, but they do have their returning all american big man and another returning big man.  tufts big man dan martin has a big test to look forward to and i think if they can neutralize the all american tufts might have a chance.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Wittenberg has had some early season slip-ups the last few seasons.  Not that they lost to bad teams, but certainly high-level teams with underrated talent, not unlike Tufts.  Certainly the Tigers will be the favorites in that game, but I give Tufts a 20% shot to ruin the attmepts at a Rochester-Wittenberg tourney final.  I'll be rooting for it to happen.

[formerbant10]

Tufts was able to beat Trinity last year with their All-American inside player.  I wouldn't sleep on them, they seem to find a way to win a lot of games. 
I like that they are testing themselves early, it'll help them in the NESCAC play in January and February.  I feel like Trinity is doing the same in going down to F&M.  Playing in a gym out of your region against high level teams is a great way to start and end the year.  Let's hope someone from the NESCAC can get that done.

[Pat Coleman]

was last year's under-achievement the main reason for it?

Yep, that was basically it. They'll need to re-prove themselves to me, at least.

[formerbant10]

Pat,  fair enough.  Seems like everyone had the same thinking for Trinity to not even receive a single vote.

[nescac1]

There have seldom been years with as many super-hyped newcomers to Nescac as this year, so the first weekend of the season should be very interesting: two Division I transfers, Pat Martin and Adolphe Coulibaly, frosh Paul Rowe at Trinity, and sophomore Jeremy Black at Tufts (hurt last year) have all been very highly touted here and elsewhere as immediate difference makers as starters or sixth-men.  In addition, Amherst, Williams, Trinity and Bates all look like they have other frosh with tons of potential.  Williams doesn't seem to have one incoming superstar, but given its needs on the perimeter and the sheer number of frosh guards on the roster, I imagine several will get big minutes.   And Midd, Conn College, Colby, Wesleyan and Bowdoin will all need to play frosh by necessity because of very thin groups of upperclassmen (as a group, they have, other than Petrie, pretty much no impact seniors). 

On another note, who would the pre-season all conference team be?  Hard to say because of the questionable impact of the new guys, but I would say:

First team: Bedford, Rhoten, Petrie, Ray, Stockwell (pretty easy, really)
Second team: Newton (if healthy), Casnocha, D. Cohen, A. Olson, P. Martin
Third team: Coulibaly, Stone, Dan Martin, J. Weitzen, J. Ashe

With J. Black, C. Rose, P. Hasiuk as possible break-throughs.

On another Nescac note, Yvonne from Springfield over Bedford as pre-season all american is crazy.  Both are equally adept scorers, but Bedford is a much better all-around player. 

[nescacfan33]

Leary is not playing basketball this year for Williams. That is definite. Big loss in the interior for Williams. Going to be in trouble if Newton isn't near 100 percent. Leary had another good soccer season though (all nescac again).

Ashe is just returning from soccer (also all nescac again this year). Wesleyan made an incredible run through the NESCACs, winning the tourney, and then making the 2nd round of the NCAAs. He will only have three or four days of practice before opening night. WES could struggle mightily with so much reliance on unproven/unknown sophs and Frosh.

[formerbant10]

I'm telling you right now that Paul Rowe isn't the only very good freshman at Trinity.  I doubt Pat Hasiuk will have a break through year, he's been on crutches much of the year and, last I heard, will not be playing this year.  The Bants are a little thin in the backcourt, but they'll have some good lineups for the early games, I wouldn't worry bout them.
Who is Jeremy Black?  What position?
My pre-season All NESCAC:

1st Team:  Rhoten, Bedford, Petrie, Ray, P.  Martin
2nd Team:  Stockwell, Cohen, Olsen, Coulibaly,

Those nine are above the rest of the league for now, but there are always surprises.

Yvon from SPFLD is a very good offensive player.  Very different than Bedford b/c SPFLD runs the flex almost exclusively for Yvon, while Bedford was not the main focus on his team in recent years.  Both move w/o the ball well.  Both have good size for the 2 and can play inside-out.  Both could be very good defenders if they wanted to be.  I wouldn't say it is crazy to have Yvon over Bedford, that makes it seem that Yvon is not deserving, which he is.  And just remember that Pre-season polls aren't nearly as important as end of season polls.  Bedford will get the recognition he deserves.

[nescac1]

Bummer about Leary -- why is he not playing, just too much with the long soccer season?  Newton better be fairly healthy and Weisbrot better be ready to play 20 plus minutes per game, otherwise it could be a long year for the Ephs. 

Interesting re: Hasiuk.  Losing him, Halas, Farrell and Robert Taylor is a LOT from the perimeter for Trinity, even if they have, as you say, some great guards coming in.  That makes Amherst look all the stronger by comparison -- just look
at the size on their roster -- they have tons of swingmen (let alone bigs) in the
6'4-6'8 range, unheard of for a Division III school.  They may bring in a SECOND five that runs 6'9, 6'5, 6'6, 6'4, and 6'0, most of whom can light it up from the outside -- scary.  On paper, this may be the most talent they have had in their recent run. 

As for Jeremy Black, he was co-NY state player of the year in his division, along with A.J. Price of UConn.  Not to say he is the equal of A.J. Price, but that is pretty impressive company.  He is a point guard and I recall folks from Tufts claiming that he was definitely a  better point guard than Olsen from Amherst at this time last year.  Whether that is true, who knows, but add him to Tufts' other sophomores who looked good last year, and that is a nice nucleus for the next few years.  He is certainly at this point the prime contender, along with Martin and Coulibaly, for the league's top newcomer. 

[toad22]

If I were to guess, I would say that Leary isn't playing because he wants to spend more time on his soccer. He is really very good, and might have a professional career in his future.

[JeffRookie2]

The guy people aren't talking about is Adolphe Coulibaly, a sophomore transfer from Brown. He once scored in double figures against Missouri. If he can score on Div I defenders, I imagine he will be pretty hard to stop in the NESCAC. Both Baskauskas and Coulibaly play the 2 guard, but I'm pretty sure Coulibaly well get much more playing time, if not becuase he is more talented then because Hixon is averse to playing freshman.

[JeffRookie2]

The guy no one on this site seems to be talking about is Adolphe Coulibaly. He is a sophomore transfer from Brown that scored in double figures against the University of Missouri last year. If he can score on Div. I defenders, I cant wait to see what he will do in the NESCAC. He plays the same position as Baskauskas and I think he will get much more playing time, if not because he is more talented than at least because Hixon is wary of playing freshman.

[JeffRookie2]

hey look at that, i thought page 1 was the front, not page 14, so i accidently posted twice. sorry.

[formerbant10]

That's ok...just like your name says...ur a rookie.

What High School did black go to....cuz I've never heard of him.  AJ Price on the other hand, I had been hearing about since he was a freshman at Amityville.

Amherst does look very good on paper, but a lot of those big swingmen haven't played big minutes yet...so let's hold the phone on them.  Bedford, Casnocha, Olsen, Zalaski, and Wheeler have the most experience and are all very good players.  Most teams will still be trying to figure out their rotation for the first 4 to 6 games, so we won't really know who can play till then.

Yes Trinity has lost quite a bit on the perimeter, maybe more than most people realize....but there is no player in the country that can carry a team like Tyler Rhoten can.  I don't see anyone in the conference that can guard him, especially now that he is a senior....I'd like to see some rookie try and slow him down. 

Trinity has the size to matchup with those guys from Amherst though.  They have 4 big guys down low that are 6'6" to 6'9", their 3 rookies are 6'5", 6'5", and 6'6" and very long.  Martin is a very very big point guard and Clarke is one of the quickest guards around.  They will provide some tough matchups as well. 

Can't wait for this weekend!

[JeffRookie2]

To be fair, I posted a good bit last year, but I forgot my password and had to make a new account, and they changed the format over the summer. (My old name was JeffRookie). As for Tyler Rhoten, I agree whole-heartedly that he is the best player in the conference, but I think it will be interesting to see if he can be guarded now that John Halas is no longer around to provide a secondary threat. I've heard Trinity has a very good incoming class, but I think someone will need to step it up to fill Halas' shoes. If anyone in the conference could guard Rhoten it would have to John Casnocha, who is seriously underappreciated as a lock-down defender. He finished top ten in the NESCAC in steals and blocks and was 11th in rebounding. I think the Jeffs will win the NESCAC again, maybe even without losing, but I do think that their #5 preseason ranking is way too high.