MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is the NABC ever going to actually update their website so we can see all the awards?

[daoustian]

I've been wasting time looking at the Amherst and Williams basketball pages online, and its pretty clear that the Amherst site is much better organized and professionally put together. I would think this would be an important factor in recruiting. The Williams athletics site makes the school look bush-league. Does any anyone know if Paulsen is upset about this? Are there plans to re-do the site? As an Amherst fan, I hope not.

Major difference between the two schools is that Amherst's Sports Information is done through the Public Affairs Office while Williams does theirs through Athletics.  It puts a different slant on the content and site layout to be certain.  It used to be the case that the writing on the Amherst site was also more neutral than Williams for a long time -- a mix of Amherst wanting to send out clean releases to media outlets and Williams having too many caffeinated students running the asylum.  However, that's not as true as it used to be thanks to slightly better clips from Billsville and a decline in quality from Amherst.

Otherwise...this board is getting boring now that the season is over.  New discussion question: if you put Amherst into this year's D1 tournament, where should they be seeded?  Surely they could beat Jackson State -- right?  Or maybe not.  Watching the game on Saturday in a bar with the D1 tourney on an adjacent TV, it was striking to notice the faster pace and improved flow by the D1 teams -- an even bigger difference than I'd expected -- and not just because the D1 games were broadcast in HD.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

[daoustian]

Andrew Olson was named NABC Co-Player of the Year, along with Guildford's Ben Strong.  Congrats to AO, but I wonder what else he has to accomplish. 

Yeah, AO should declare himself eligible for the draft.  No point in coming back for his senior season.

I'm waiting to see a series of AO Facts a la the Chuck Norris bit from a few years ago (http://www.thechucknorrisfacts.com/).  Or a Colbert Report type thread: AO: great player, or greatest player?   

If I had gone to a D1 school, I would have declared early, just to see my name in the papers when they listed all of the underclassmen who are eligible.  I'm surprised that I haven't seen some random sophomores from Duke who isn't even on the team file whatever paperwork is needed with NBA league offices to make that happen.  I'd totally forgo all remaining eligibility if I wasn't even on an organized basketball team just to see my name in the NY Times...err...USA Today.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm surprised that I haven't seen some random sophomores from Duke who isn't even on the team file whatever paperwork is needed with NBA league offices to make that happen. 

This actually happens quite frequently, but the NBA usually weeds them out before making up the early entry list.  However, either last year or the one before, some kid from LSU made it through.  One of the newspapers didn't recognize the name and investigated only to find that he had briefly been a team manager and had not played organized ball since his sophomore year of high school.

Well done, my friend.  Well done.

[dman]

I've been wasting time looking at the Amherst and Williams basketball pages online

jeffrookie,
couldn't have said it any better myself.......

[walzy31]

I've been wasting time looking at the Amherst and Williams basketball pages online

jeffrookie,
couldn't have said it any better myself.......

dman,

Perusing the Williams basketball page is a tough undertaking, wouldn't you agree?

[diehardfan]

Given the fact that Williams has been a constant force on the national scene, their website is seriously lacking. The first time I went there was some time during the middle of the season they made their second consecutive final four run. My reaction was... huh? There's a lot of people who are going to looking at the site who aren't from Williams and it doesn't give an accurate impression of their soorts programs.  Even keeping the attention of alums and making it easy for them to stay involved (translates to $$$)  is enough motivation to have a better site. I can imagine it would hurt recruiting on some minor level. While it doesn't necessarily mean this at all, the state of the site comes off as seeming like Williams doesn't have a particularily high commitment to athletics.

Amhert's site is hardly the best in D3, but it's several notches better. 

[formerbant10]

Daoustian,

If Amherst shot 70% or better, they could beat Jackson St.

The level of athleticism between Amherst, or most DIII teams, and the DI tourney teams is far too great for their solid team play to overtake.

Imagine VCU's Maynor pressing Olson for 40 minutes. 

Skillwise, some of the Jeffs are on par....but the athletes that go to DI schools are superhuman.

[BooBallsCasRay]

Now that Amherst has won the National Championship, I wonder if Hixon is going to change how he schedules out of conference opponents. While I doubt that there will be much change, it would be great if Amherst went out to the midwest over the extended winter vacation as well as tried to play one of the low level DI programs (like Williams did the year after winning the Championship). I know it is difficult to schedule those matchups since the Holy Crosses and Ivy's will be very hesitant to play Amherst, but it would be a great experience for the players as well as a great recrutiing tool. Hopefully this championship will show everyone that you do not need to be 30-2 to be considered "respectable" if you come from the Northeast and will cause Hixon to become more adventurous on how he puts together his schedule. I can't imagine that the players love winning by 30+ as they did routinely though the beginning of the season.  

[nescac1]

Amherst should definitely try to sucker a D-I program in.  Williams has played D-I teams twice in the last ten years, taking Davidson to OT and of course beating Holy Cross, which had made the NCAA's the year before (of course, the 2004 Holy Cross team was missing several key guys from the NCAA run and was a mediocre Patriot League team when all was said and done).  In the Holy Cross game, the skill level (and definitely the shooting ability) of the Williams guys was at least as high, I'd say higher, than their Holy Cross counterparts.  Williams had one great athlete who was able to pretty much shut down Holy Cross' star player.  Otherwise, as formerbant says, the main difference was that Holy Cross was just so much bigger, stronger, quicker and more athletic, and they dominated Williams on the boards.  But Williams' shooting and composure enabled a victory. 

Next year's Amherst team might actually scare some pretty decent Div-I teams because they are (1) very experienced with six seniors and a junior as their top players and (2) much taller than most Division I teams, even (they could start a 6'10, 6'7, 6'8, 6'6, 5'10 lineup), so could possibly hang on the boards.  Olson as a senior is probably as good as a good number of Div I point guards, much like Crotty against Holy Cross he would keep the team composed.  As forrmerbant said, the main problem would be a major deficit in quickness and athleticism, as Amherst has superior size and superior skill but not a lot of really quick athletes, and D-I caliber perimeter guys would just blow right by Amherst's perimeter defenders, especially with the two best defenders graduating.   But I bet Amherst could nonetheless give any team in the bottom 20 percent of Div I a very big scare, and as a result I doubt many of those teams would want any part of scheduling the Jeffs.  Just way too embarassing to lose to a non-scholarship program -- ask HC if they would ever risk it again.   

[formerbant10]

Holy Cross, along with most low-mid DI's won't play any DIII's unless they absolutely need some guarantee games.

As for this year's teams.

I've played against both PG's.....even though Thomas didn't have a great game in the NCAA game, I'd still pick him over Olson.  Not by much though.

I love Olson as a player, very very very talented and is a much better shooter than Thomas.  Thomas is a tremendous on the ball defender and is quicker and stronger than Olson.  Plus, Thomas is one of the toughest competitors I've seen play....sometimes his kryptonite, as he tries to do too much himself.

Amherst's squad next year would do pretty well against the lower half of DI.  They wouldn't win every game they play, but they would find a way to be competitive.  Well prepared and confident going up against a team that would not take them as seriously as needed.....spells disaster.

[feces monkey]

dman,

Perusing the Williams basketball page is a tough undertaking, wouldn't you agree?

That's what happens when your website is run by Grizzly Adams and Butterbean.

<http://www.williams.edu/athletics/contact.php>

[JeffRookie2]

Haha. Good find monkey.

Speaking of scheduling, looking at the open dates thread on the this site, it looks like it wouldn't be that hard to schedule some tough competiton. Schools like Wittenburg, UW-Platteville, Ramapo, Wheaton (Ill.), etc, etc, all seem to be looking to fill open dates. Hopefully Hixon will beef up the schedule. As a fan I would love to see us play some strong competition, but I certainly wouldn't want it to come at the expense of an at-large bid into the tournament.

[Amherst95]

I've been wasting time looking at the Amherst and Williams basketball pages online, and its pretty clear that the Amherst site is much better organized and professionally put together. I would think this would be an important factor in recruiting. The Williams athletics site makes the school look bush-league. Does any anyone know if Paulsen is upset about this? Are there plans to re-do the site? As an Amherst fan, I hope not.

I made a lot of visits to the Williams site recently to see how they changed some of their wording after last weekend.  The part where they say approximately "First (just changed from "only") New England and NESCAC team to win d3 National Championship -- 2003" is squeezed between the pics from the NESCAC title game.  Some of the words aren't even fully visible.  Is that what it looks like to other visitors?

On the Amherst site, I've always liked the look of the individual team pages with the list of accomplishments at the top.  It also strikes a reader well that these achievements are listed without preening embellishments.

[Amherst95]

Re the non-conf. schedule, like most I would like seeing some more tough games but I don't know what the budgetary concerns are.  The last two years they did travel for some tough games, including coming out to L.A. to play Pomona and Oxy.  (Speaking of that, the SCIAC reminds me of NESCAC a lot -- elite private colleges that get most of their challenges playing each other.  Except for Caltech, which has one one game over the last four years if I'm not mistaken.)  Williams made a similar trip this year, while of course Amherst went to Trinity U.

I would like to see us invite some better competition to the Ken Wright invitational to start the season.  In '04 Williams had Wheaton (IL) at their invitational and Wheaton ended Wms' home winning streak.  Had to like that scheduling, though.