MBB: NESCAC

[Greek Tragedy]

I would guess there's some kind of minimum requirement to be "forced" to play. As nescac1 pointed out, I assume teams just want to play and to not play because "we might lose" seem ridiculous and, really, against the integrity of the game.

[WUPHF]

I think that is right.  Washington University played Emory on the road without their second and third leading scorers.  If they were going to skip a game, that would have been it.  Teams learned the hard way that the season can be cancelled without notice and so they just want to play.
____________
pardon the humble brag

[maineman]

Only Williams among NESCACS is given any respect in this week's poll at #13.  There are three teams in Wes, Midd and Amh just off the top 25.  Wes has a huge weekend at Will and Midd.  If the Cards sweep the weekend they'll be given plenty of respect in next week's poll.  It will not be an easy task.

[quicksilver]

Some recruiting updates. Really impressive class from Marlon Sears. Also, Berkshire is turning into a destination for NESCAC's as they sent six kids to NESCAC's in the past two years with three to Amherst alone. Really impressive stuff.

Amherst:

Christopher Hammond, 6'6 W, Campbell Hall (CA)
Drew Martin, 6'7 W, Rivers School
Giovanni Tam, 6'10 C, Cushing Academy, #38 in MA
Charlie Randall, 7'0 F Berkshire School, #20 in MA, #56 in New England

Bowdoin:

Alex Halpern, 6'0 G, NMH
Jaden Hill, 5'7 PG, Belmont Hill
Nolan Bessire, 6-9, PF, Montgomery HS, CA
Kevin Reeves, 6-7, PF, Columbia Academy, OH

Colby:

Miles Drake, 6'1 G, Darien HS
Max Poulton, 6'4 G, Rivers School, #37 in MA

Hamilton:

Yashiya Crespin, 6'5 PG, Grace Christian (Raleigh NC)
Garret Keyhani, 6'8 F, Juniperro Serra (CA)

Middlebury:

Edward Witherington, 6'6 F, Fairhope H.S. (AL)
Jackson McKersie, 6'8 F, Dexter Southfield (MA)
Mark Newell, 6'5 F, St. Sebastian
Tristan Joseph, 6'2 G, Brunswick School
Evan Flaks, 5'9 PG, Taft School

Trinity:

Trevor McDonald, 6'5 G, Canterbury School
Drew Herer, 6'3 G, Beaver Country Day
Henry Vetter, 6'3 G, Canterbury School

Tufts:

Josh Bernstein, 6'10 C, Berkshire School
James Morakis, 6'3 G, Salisbury School, #40 in CT
Scott Gyimesi, 6'5 F, Rumson Fair-Haven (NJ)

Wesleyan:

Alex Justh, 6'3 G, Berkshire School

Williams:

Ben McGraw, 6'3 G, Bolles (FL)
Alex Lee, 6'2 G, Clear Lake (TX)

You can add 6-6 SF and Maine native Andrew Szwez to the list of Bowdoin recruits. Looking forward to the reinforcements that will be arriving in Brunswick in the fall!

[nescac1]

Speaking of Morakis, he had a huge game vs a strong Berkshire squad last night.  He should be very good for Tufts:

https://twitter.com/nerrhoops/status/1488587962359201792?s=21

Bernstein could also end up being very good for Tufts.  He seems to consistently (statistically, at least) outperform Randall, his more heralded front-court partner on Berkshire.

I expect Bowdoin big guy recruits will play early and often next year.  P'bears have zero inside right now other than Workman ...

I like what I've seen of Eph recruit Alex Lee.  He is a very consistent performer in a very tough region of Texas hoops. Not an elite athlete but tough and knows how to play.  Of course, right now Eph fans just want them to be able to field a squad soon!

Colby seems to get one recruit each year who makes a big impact right away and I imagine Poulton will be that guy next year. 

Amherst sure is stacked up front for years to come, three deep (or more) at every front-court spot, but they badly need a ball-handling guard who can play, with all they lose to graduation on the perimeter .... I imagine they will add at least one as Sears seems to be able to bring in a lot of guys. 

[nescac1]

Wesleyan-Williams now playing on Monday per the Williams site.  Assuming that game goes forward, Williams will be coming off a 16-day layoff with who knows what kind of roster ready to go.  But, at least they'd be playing again!  Hopefully they can find SOME way to make up another game or two but the season is getting very short .... I still wish that rather than go to an 11 team tourney, NESCAC has just moved the quarterfinal game to Wednesday before the semis so that it opened up an entire extra weekend of make-up games.  But, I guess it was not to be ...

[Painter66]

At a time where Williams is running out of time to reschedule games, as are others, it seems odd that another game is postponed. Wesleyan will be at Midd on Sat. so they extend their road trip. The league could do itself a favor by coming forth with some transparency for schedule changes. At present, some teams will play full schedules, while others are rescheduling games and are unlikely to play a full slate. The issue will be the seeding and the home games. I agree that lengthening the season by a few days could have prevented some of these issues. But a strange season gets stranger.

[Colby Hoops]

Wesleyan-Williams now playing on Monday per the Williams site.  Assuming that game goes forward, Williams will be coming off a 16-day layoff with who knows what kind of roster ready to go.  But, at least they'd be playing again!  Hopefully they can find SOME way to make up another game or two but the season is getting very short .... I still wish that rather than go to an 11 team tourney, NESCAC has just moved the quarterfinal game to Wednesday before the semis so that it opened up an entire extra weekend of make-up games.  But, I guess it was not to be ...

The small silver lining for Williams is that students who have tested positive are out of the testing protocol for 90 days once they are cleared. So asymptomatic positive covid tests won't be an issue for the Ephs if they can regain form and make a postseason run.

[Colby Hoops]

Schedule only going to get more impacted given the snow/ice storm that will almost certainly impact some games tomorrow.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Hoopsville Marathon is here!



The show is hitting the air at 12:00 PM ET and going for at least NINE hours for the 8th Annual Hoopsville Marathon Show.

Show link: www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2021-22/marathon

This year's show featured coaches, administrators, student-athletes, and many others around Division III who gave us a sense of the season to date and what is to come. There is only a month or so left in the regular season, so there was plenty to talk about.

The marathon is also a chance to celebrate the final month of the Division III basketball regular season.

Guests include (in order of appearance, subject to change):

• Conner Delaney, Johns Hopkins men's senior
• Frank Marcinek, Susquehanna men's coach
• Dan Krikorian, Chapman men's coach and Co-Host of "Slappin' Glass" podcast
• Minority Coaches Panel:
  
• • Larry Anderson (MIT men's coach)
  • Kam Gissendanner (La Roche women's coach)
  • Jason Harris (UMass-Boston men's coach)
  • Gary Stewart (Stevenson men's coach)
• Gary Stewart, Stevenson men's coach and NABC Board member
• National Committee Chairs:
  
• • Michael Schauer, Wheaton men's coach and men's committee chair
  • Megan Wilson, Luther Associate AD and women's committee chair
• Dan Kenny, John Jay men's sophomore and volunteer firefighter
• Jina DeRubbo, Washington & Jefferson women's coach
• Cameron Hill, Trinity (Texas) women's coach
• Stephen Gabel, Nazareth men's senior
• State of DIII with Louise McCleary, Interim Vice President for Division III
• Jim Haney, Division III Men's Officiating Coordinator
• Fred Roggin, NBC4 LA Sports Anchor and AM570 LA Sports Host
• Top 25 Women's Double-Take with Gordon Mann and Scott Peterson
• "Happy Hour" with friends of Hoopsville and D3 basketball

[toad22]

At a time where Williams is running out of time to reschedule games, as are others, it seems odd that another game is postponed. Wesleyan will be at Midd on Sat. so they extend their road trip. The league could do itself a favor by coming forth with some transparency for schedule changes. At present, some teams will play full schedules, while others are rescheduling games and are unlikely to play a full slate. The issue will be the seeding and the home games. I agree that lengthening the season by a few days could have prevented some of these issues. But a strange season gets stranger.

There is a big risk that Williams won't be able to play on Monday. The way it stands, if somebody gets hurt, or somebody else gets COVID, I'm not sure that they will have enough to play. I wish we could sign some players to ten day contracts so we can get through this! The NBA can do, why not us?

[JEFFFAN]

Nothing wrong with adding a few kids from the intramural squad, right?  No one is getting paid to do this!

This storm has to be threatening NESCAC games.   What a rough season between weather and Covid.   Feel sorry for the kids.

[amh63]

Seems the Amherst game with Colby...shown on D3hoops...for today is now set for Sat!.  According to the Nescac site.   The Ladies game at Colby is also scheduled for Sat.  Reason for the date change is presently unknown.  Oh well...glad both games will be played.  Oops. Seems the schedule date/time/opponent here on D3hoops are different from the Nescac and Amherst sites.  On Sat...Amherst plays Bates and Colby on Sunday.  Reasons for switches on everything not given....playing the games sometime, somewhere are important....to have 20 plus games played! 

[quicksilver]

Amh63 -- the reason for the change in schedule for this weekend is weather related.

[maineman]

I realize that Williams game with Wesleyan this weekend has been changed to Monday, but why would they already cancel a midweek 2/9 Trinity game altogether and change the following weekend games at Bates and Tufts to Saturday and Sunday.  They are the travel partner with Middlebury.  Shouldn't they be playing on Fri/Sat?