MBB: NESCAC

[ronk]

 John Feinstein column in Washington Post today re Dave Hixon

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/16/42-years-amhersts-dave-hixon-was-one-best-coaches-you-never-heard/

[Greek Tragedy]

I mean Bo Ryan has to be the GOAT.  Four titles in 15 years.  A better than 90 percent winning percentage for an entire decade.  The best D team in D3 history.  Most successful D3 coaching alum.   He has to be the first choice.  Hixon, Djurikovich, Robinson, Moore, M. Edwards all good candidate for next three spots.  Hixon is a lock I'd say.

Add Scranton's Bob Bessoir to that list with 2 titles, a 2nd and a 3rd place with an NCAA tourney record of 31-18.

That's pretty good with only 49 tournament games under his belt. I think Point's Semling has a similar record in the postseason.

edit: Point's overall NCAA record is 38-11 with 4 titles.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I think postseason records are nice, but there is more to a resume than just the post season. I was working on an unexpected project of late and was diving into some women's coaching resumes. I actually ended up removing a few when I dove deeper. As great as the snapshots seemed to indicate, when you saw the regular season numbers it was rather interesting.

I think a coach who shows consistency - especially very few if any losing seasons - with a strong winning percentage plus got it done in the postseason (where they visited consistently as well) would be the ones in consideration.

[nescac1]

Nice article on Declan Porter and his decision to attend Williams:
https://www.nny360.com/sports/collegesports/college-athletics-ex-canton-star-porter-commits-to-williams-college-in-massachusetts/article_0add23ab-c348-544a-8d8b-69918fe99859.html

Ben Rice, an intriguing late bloomer, just committed to Conn.  The Camels are bringing in what seems to be a very strong class to help out the entire returning roster.  They won't be winless in Nescac play next year or going forward ....

https://newenglandrecruitingreport.com/in-the-news/unsigned-senior-spotlight-ben-rice

Updated list of announced NESCAC recruits:

Amherst:
Bobby Sommers, 6'3 G/F, St. Marks
Mohammad Alausa, 6'4 G/F, New Hampton

Bates:
Trace Gotham, 6'5 F, St. Sebastian's
Stephen Ward, 6'6 F, Beaver Country Day
Simon McCormick, 5'6 G, Cony H.S.

Bowdoin:

Colby:
David Basich, 6'0 G, Green Farms Academy
Henry Westrich, 6'4 G/F, Bangor
Liam O'Connell, 6'4 G, Brighton Academy (#16 in Maine)
Lucas Green, 6'5 F, Princeton Day (NJ)
Eric Baier, 6'3 G, Summit (NJ)

Conn College:
Jarron Flynn, 6'3 G, Kimball Union Academy
Billy Whelan, 6'0 G, Williston Northampton
Nathan Rogers, 6'10 C, Bromfield (MA)
Ben Rice, 6'7 F, Whitman-Hanson (MA) (#35 in MA)

Hamilton:
Julius Nagin, 6'3 G, BB&N
Ryan Michaels, 6'6 F, Berkshire School

Middlebury:
David Brennan, 6'5 F, Roxbury Latin

Tufts:
Jay Dieterle, 6'4 G, Rivers School
Liam Murphy, 6'5 F, Wilbraham & Monson

Trinity:
Will Dorion, 6'1 G, Needham
Charlie Campbell, 6'2 G/F, Canterbury
Garrett Kirk, 6'2 G, Northfield Mount Herman

Wesleyan:
Kiran Kling, 6'9 C, Maret (D.C.)
Olu Oladitan, 6'6 F, Brooks
Dylan Ward, 6'5 G, Williston Northampton

Williams:
Brandon Roughley, 6'8 F, Salisbury (#99 in New England, #40 in CT)
Noah Dinkins, 6'4 G, Andover (#39 in MA)
Declan Porter, 6'6 G/F, Exeter (#19 in NH)

[Titan Q]

I mean Bo Ryan has to be the GOAT.  Four titles in 15 years.  A better than 90 percent winning percentage for an entire decade.  The best D team in D3 history.  Most successful D3 coaching alum.   He has to be the first choice.  Hixon, Djurikovich, Robinson, Moore, M. Edwards all good candidate for next three spots.  Hixon is a lock I'd say.

Dennie Bridges coached 36 years at Illinois Wesleyan from 1965 to 2001.  He was 667-319 (.676) in a different era when IWU regularly played 4-5 D1/D2 teams per year for many seasons.  In the CCIW, his record was a pretty crazy 421-129 (.765) with 17 CCIW titles (in 36 years).

IWU moved from NAIA to D3 in 1983-84.  Bridges' record in his 18 D3 seasons:
* Overall: 357-146 (.710)
* CCIW Record: 213-57 (.789)
* CCIW Titles: 9
* NCAA Tourney Appearances: 14
* NCAA Tourney Record: 30-13 (.698)
* NCAA Tourney Advancement: 9 Sweet 16; 6 Elite 8; 3 Final Fours
* 1 National Championship

Bosko Djurickoivic is listed above - great coach.  For context, Bridges had 30 NCAA tourney wins in 18 D3 seasons -- Djurickvoic has 19 in 35 D3 seasons.  Bridges won 17 CCIW titles in 36 seasons (9 in 18 D3 seasons); Bosko has 7 CCIW titles in 35 seasons. 

Mark Edwards, another elite D3 coach, won 33 NCAA tourney games in 37 D3 seasons; Bridges won 30 NCAA tourney games in 18 D3 seasons.

If those two are on the list, I would think Bridges has to be?

Not sure in the big picture how this all sorts out, but Dennie is somewhere on the short list.

[NEhoops]

Well said Titan Q.

It's unfortunate that D3 coaching records aren't more readily accessible.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Well said Titan Q.

It's unfortunate that D3 coaching records aren't more readily accessible.

I have been finding the NCAA has these pretty well ... though maybe not in the detail everyone is looking for.

I start here a lot of times (it is my basketball shortcut, but you can get any sport and school here): http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?academic_year=2020&division=3.0&sport_code=MBB

I then type the school I want in the upper right hand section "Team Search." I then select the sport I want from that school. Once there, I click on the tab labeled "Coaches Summary." There are several options there: overall and year by year. And I can click on a coach and see their individual history.

I also go here for the latest record book for every sport: http://www.ncaa.org/championships/statistics/ncaa-records-books

If you want to dive deeper, that requires the school pages and now you are slaved to the willingness of an SID to have that information online or even compile it and keep it updated to begin with.

[NEhoops]

Dave, thanks for sharing. From an all-time D3 standpoint:

Steve Moore (Muhlenberg/Wooster) – 1st in winning percentage and 2nd in wins

Glenn Van Wieren (Hope) – 7th in winning percentage and 11th in wins

Glenn Robinson (Franklin & Marshall) – 13th in winning percentage and 1st in wins

David Hixon (Amherst) – 10th in winning percentage and 3rd in wins

These are the only four coaches to be in the Top 20 in both categories. Hixon is the only national championship winner (2) of the group. Mark Edwards (WashU) who has won two national championships just missed the cut. Active coaches, Bob Semling (Wis.-Stevens Point) and Pat Miller (Wis.-Whitewater) are currently 2nd and 4th in all-time winning percentage respectively and have both won two national championships. The NCAA record book has Bo Ryan listed as 3rd all-time in winning percentage on the D3 list, but it is including his entire coaching career. If they just included his winning percentage for his 15 seasons at Wis.-Platteville (.823) he would be in the top spot and it wouldn’t even be close – Moore is currently listed first (.775).   

[jayhawk]

I think when ii comes to involvement of NESCAC teams in the NCAA, the statistics are more complex
NESCAC teams could only play in NCAA tournament starting in 1994 so for example in David Hixon's case
In his 25 years his teams when eligible went to NCAA 20 times, was in 7 final fours and 2 National Champs

[Greek Tragedy]

I think when ii comes to involvement of NESCAC teams in the NCAA, the statistics are more complex
NESCAC teams could only play in NCAA tournament starting in 1994 so for example in David Hixon's case
In his 25 years his teams when eligible went to NCAA 20 times, was in 7 final fours and 2 National Champs

Good point. I did open up a thread specifically for the Mount Rushmore arguments.

[daddyhoops]

whats the word on who replaces Hixon?
do they stay w Toomey?  plenty of quality guys on the Hixon coaching tree.

[Pat Coleman]

plenty of quality guys on the Hixon coaching tree.

This kind of says it all right here, including some young guys who have head coaching experience. I'd be surprised if they don't hire a guy who played for Hixon.

[daddyhoops]

will definitely be someone who played/coached there..but who?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

whats the word on who replaces Hixon?
do they stay w Toomey?  plenty of quality guys on the Hixon coaching tree.

It is a national search ... no guarantees at all they stick with Toomey. Depending on who you talk to you will get differing opinions on whether they stick with Toomey.

I think the fact there is a such a rich alumni and coaching tree that Toomey would have a difficult time standing out in the crowd - though, that crowd would depend on who is actually interested. I know of at least some who probably would stick with where they are, believe it or not (and no, I'm not naming names).

And then the point has been raised to me by several different people for different reasons that the school might go in a completely different direction - also depending on the applicant pool which I would assume will be deep. This is an opportunity to start fresh with a different perspective ... and coming on the heels of the men's lacrosse debacle, there may be an opinion that getting someone with no connections to the school or has some particular value that is appealing might be a better option.

The one thing made clear: Dave Hixon isn't going to have any say.

[daddyhoops]

good insight..