MBB: NESCAC

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

To ALL:I know No easy solution! I just feel sorry for Whitman not getting a fair shake  The problem is money! we all agree!  God Bless you guys!

But I disagree with you that Whitman didn't get a fair shake. They hosted the opening weekend. Three school flown to them. Compared to ten years ago and they are on the road for that weekend no matter the circumstances. Sure, we all wish DIII had more money to afford more flights in all their championship tournaments, but I think Whitman actually got a pretty good deal this year being able to stay at home the opening weekend. That might come back to bite the committee next year.

[NEhoops]

A few other venues to share. All great places to watch a game.

Payne Whitney Gym – Yale
Yale is hosting the Ivy League tournament – the final is set for this Sunday (12pm on ESPN2). The semifinal matchups are Saturday – Penn/Harvard and Princeton/Yale

Memorial Gym/The Pit – UMaine
Both the men’s and women’s teams play their home games at the nearby Cross Insurance Center in Bangor so there are limited chances to acutally see a game in this venue. Recently, due to a scheduling conflict at the CIC the women’s team beat Albany at the “The Pit” in the America East semifinals

Patrick Gym – UVM
Vermont will be hosting UMBC this Saturday (11am on ESPN2) in the America East final. In this same matchup last year UMBC beat Vermont and then went on to beat Virginia in the first ever #16 seed over #1 seed upset in NCAA tournament history

I think the future is bright for St. Joe's (CT), but keep in mind Coach Calhoun is 76 years old and not in the best health. Interestingly enough, his associate head coach is Glen Miller who enjoyed a successful run at Conn College. In six seasons, beginning in 1993, he led them to unprecedented heights, including a 28-1 record, a #1 national ranking, and a berth in the D3 Final Four in 1998-99.

The Rowan team mentioned earlier was led by John Giannini and went 110-12 over a four year stretch, making three Final Fours, including winning one National Championship. Giannini went on to coach at UMaine for eight seasons and LaSalle for 14 (Sweet 16 in 2012-13). Giannini is now back at Rowan in an administrative role and the basketball program is now led by Joe Crispin of Penn State fame.

[Gregory Sager]

The Rowan team mentioned earlier was led by John Giannini and went 110-12 over a four year stretch, making three Final Fours, including winning one National Championship. Giannini went on to coach at UMaine for eight seasons and LaSalle for 14 (Sweet 16 in 2012-13). Giannini is now back at Rowan in an administrative role and the basketball program is now led by Joe Crispin of Penn State fame.

Giannini was a D3 ballplayer, too. He played a major role in the resurgence of the long-moribund North Central program back in the early '80s, being named twice to the All-CCIW team.

[ContinentalDomer]

Now that is a great place to hoop (Laguna Beach court). 

On a different note, congratulations to Hamilton's Kena Gilmour - a 1st Team All-American. See press release here:

https://athletics.hamilton.edu/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20190314gn45ix

Here's the list of the 3 All-America teams:

2019 NABC COACHES' DIVISION III ALL-AMERICA FIRST TEAM

Ben Boots, UW Oshkosh, 6-1, Senior, Guard, Kimberly, Wis.

Booker Coplin, Augsburg, 6-3, Junior, Guard, Shakopee, Minn.

Jack Davidson, Wabash, 6-1, Sophomore, Guard, Fishers, Ind.

Kena Gilmour, Hamilton, 6-4, Junior, Guard, New Paltz, N.Y.

Edvinas Rupkus, Skidmore, 6-4, Senior, Guard, Naujoji Akmene, Lithuania

Sam Toney, New Jersey City, 6-4, Junior, Forward, Plainfield, N.J.

Dimitrius Underwood, UT Dallas, 6-2, Junior, Guard, Mesquite, Texas

Cam Wiley, Swarthmore, 6-0, Senior, Guard, Atlanta, Ga.



2019 NABC COACHES' DIVISION III ALL-AMERICA SECOND TEAM

Buzz Anthony, Randolph Macon, 5-11, Sophomore, Guard, Arnold, Md.

Marcus Carter, Christopher Newport, 6-2, Senior, Guard, Williamsburg, Va.

Aston Francis, Wheaton, 6-1, Senior, Guard, Tyler, Texas

Ryan Garver, Nebraska Wesleyan, 6-3, Senior, Forward, Lincoln, Neb.

Ty Nichols, Keene State, 6-3, Senior, Forward, Springfield, Mass.

Jonathan Patron, Plattsburgh State, 6-2, Senior, Forward, Huntington, N.Y.

Christian Taylor, Staten Island, 6-1, Junior, Guard, Staten Island, N.Y.

Austin Schreck, Capital, 6-3, Senior, Guard, Erlanger, Ky.



2019 NABC COACHES' DIVISION III ALL-AMERICA THIRD TEAM

Jason Bady, York, 6-0, Senior, Guard, West Chester, Pa.

Austin Butler, Whitman, 6-3, Senior, Wing, Los Angeles, Calif.

Will Carius, Monmouth, 6-7, Junior, Forward, Bettendorf, Iowa

Ryan Clamage, Rochester, 6-5, Senior, Guard, Lake Forest, Ill.

Will Crumly, Covenant, 6-9, Sophomore, Forward, Marietta, Ga.

Cam Fails, Hanover, 5-11, Senior, Guard, Cincinnati, Ohio

Bradley Jomard, MIT, 6-6, Senior, Guard/Forward, Paris, France

Gabriel Leifer, Yeshiva, 6-5, Junior, Forward, Lawrence, N.Y.

jumpshot....thanks for the playground review

Laguna Beach CA - Bill Walton's haunt when he could still move

[nescac1]

Congrats to Kena.  Man, Aston Francis not-on-the-first-team has already not aged well.   He will get his chance to prove it vs Boots, much like Hakeem-Robinson back in the day. 

Speaking of Francis, he finally took down Mike Nogelo's long-standing record (20 years!) for points in a tourney. If he can play two more games, he may set a record that will never be broken.  Pretty nice run for Nogelo though!

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Kena.  Man, Aston Francis not-on-the-first-team has already not aged well.

It's an indictment of the whole NABC All-American selection process ... not just because they blundered in naming Boots as Central Region POY ahead of Francis (and I doubt that even UWO fans would argue that), but because the fixed-regional-representation policy by which each of the eight regions is automatically allotted one slot on each of the three NABC All-American teams is inherently flawed. This year shined a spotlight on that flaw, because it kept the NABC from putting Aston Francis on the first team even if it had wanted to put him there alongside Boots.

Speaking of Francis, he finally took down Mike Nogelo's long-standing record (20 years!) for points in a tourney. If he can play two more games, he may set a record that will never be broken.  Pretty nice run for Nogelo though!

The amazing thing is that it took Francis only four games to shatter a record that it took Nogelo six games to set. Even if Francis encounters some unforeseen catastrophe that keeps him from suiting up tomorrow night, a player whose team reached the championship game (i.e., a player who appears in six games in a tourney) would need to average better than 30 ppg over those six games in order to break Francis's new record, outdoing Nogelo's six-game total by at least four points. And the odds that Aston Francis will not suit up tomorrow night and will not score another point in this tournament are pretty slim.

[Vandy74]

Man, Aston Francis not-on-the-first-team has already not aged well.

It's an indictment of the whole NABC All-American selection process ...  the fixed-regional-representation policy by which each of the eight regions is automatically allotted one slot on each of the three NABC All-American teams is inherently flawed.

This is what what happens when selecting an all-star team based on merit becomes secondary to arranging a group hug.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Man, Aston Francis not-on-the-first-team has already not aged well.

It's an indictment of the whole NABC All-American selection process ...  the fixed-regional-representation policy by which each of the eight regions is automatically allotted one slot on each of the three NABC All-American teams is inherently flawed.

This is what what happens when selecting an all-star team based on merit becomes secondary to arranging a group hug.

I learned a little more about the process tonight - also that a fair number of CCIW coaches aren't NABC members and thus don't get to vote.  The WIAC clearly came through for their guy.

The NABC doesn't actually do a national selection - the NABC member head coaches from each region rank players 1-10 and the all-region teams are determined that way.  The national team is selected from each region because that's the only way they're selected; there is no national vote.

[Gregory Sager]

Man, Aston Francis not-on-the-first-team has already not aged well.

It's an indictment of the whole NABC All-American selection process ...  the fixed-regional-representation policy by which each of the eight regions is automatically allotted one slot on each of the three NABC All-American teams is inherently flawed.

This is what what happens when selecting an all-star team based on merit becomes secondary to arranging a group hug.

I learned a little more about the process tonight - also that a fair number of CCIW coaches aren't NABC members and thus don't get to vote.

Perhaps that's why the NABC misspelled Connor Raridon's name on the press release.

[frank uible]

Selecting an all-star team is akin to making the proverbial sausage.

[Gregory Sager]

Some sausages are better than others.

[frank uible]

It depends on whether one prefers ears over snoots.

[Gregory Sager]

Every All-American team has its own methodology, and the d3hoops.com and NABC D3 men's basketball All-American teams are no different. As Ryan said, the NABC constructs its All-American team by having coaches who are NABC members pick and rank from 1-10 the top players in their regions, with the highest-ranked player named as the regional Player of the Year. Each of the eight regional Players of the Year are in turn automatically named as first-team All-Americans. My guess is that the second-highest-graded players from each region thus make up the All-American second team, with the same holding true for the third-highest-graded players and the All-American third team. Hence, Vandy74's comment that this is more about a group hug among the coaches than about actual merit.

The d3hoops.com team is picked by a panel of observers (you'd have to ask Ryan or Pat who is on the panel), and is not restricted in terms of representation the way that the NABC team is. A region could theoretically supply all 25 players to the overall All-American team, or it could be shut out altogether. The only restriction is in the formation of the five All-American teams; each has to have either three guards and two forwards or two guards and three forwards. In other words, each team has to consist of five players who could theoretically function together on the court as an actual team.

I'll leave it to you to decide which is ears and which is snoots.

[middhoops]

some sausages are better than others.
but the process is still ugly.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Every All-American team has its own methodology, and the d3hoops.com and NABC D3 men's basketball All-American teams are no different. As Ryan said, the NABC constructs its All-American team by having coaches who are NABC members pick and rank from 1-10 the top players in their regions, with the highest-ranked player named as the regional Player of the Year. Each of the eight regional Players of the Year are in turn automatically named as first-team All-Americans. My guess is that the second-highest-graded players from each region thus make up the All-American second team, with the same holding true for the third-highest-graded players and the All-American third team. Hence, Vandy74's comment that this is more about a group hug among the coaches than about actual merit.

The d3hoops.com team is picked by a panel of observers (you'd have to ask Ryan or Pat who is on the panel), and is not restricted in terms of representation the way that the NABC team is. A region could theoretically supply all 25 players to the overall All-American team, or it could be shut out altogether. The only restriction is in the formation of the five All-American teams; each has to have either three guards and two forwards or two guards and three forwards. In other words, each team has to consist of five players who could theoretically function together on the court as an actual team.

I'll leave it to you to decide which is ears and which is snoots.

We're not quite to strict in the G-F alignment, just the mandate that you'd have to be able to take the floor with the team chosen (which is the mandate for all our teams - including Team of the Week).  Sometimes it's four guards, sometimes there might not be a traditional post player.  I suspect this year is going to be a little less conventional with the talent weighted so heavily towards smaller players.  You won't ever just see five PGs out there, though, even if they're among the five best players in the country.  We try to keep a 1-2-3-4-5 alignment, but that's not really how basketball works as much anymore, so there's some flexibility.