MBB: NESCAC

[CCsalive]

Friday night's loss to Williams cost Conn the 6-7 seed tie-breaker. Unlike PolarBear's reasoning behind Bates v Bowdoin, I think Conn would have loved a chance to beat Midd two weeks in a row. Note: At one point in the second half today Conn was up by 25 pts.
Trinity has always ben a NESCAC Titan...formbant has been a little more quiet this year...I feel I know less about this Trinity team minus Clarke, P Martin, etc.

Everyone has been giving my Camels a good amount of respect of late...do people feel the Camels can win in Hartford? Side note: The non-existence of of Connecticut in-state rivalries  is disappointing. Trinity thinks their too good for it, and Wesleyan doesn't care. Is Wes the only team on this board w/out a fan? CC sure could use one more!

Congrats to Colby!

[Old Guy]

Wish I could provide some first-hand observations on the Midd-CC track meet. The teams scored 109 points in the second half - CC shooting 82%, but I missed my first home game this year. Duty sometimes calls at inconvenient times. 

I'm glad I wasn't there; on the other hand, it must have been a wonderful game to watch. The main difference between this year's Midd team and other fairly talented Midd teams of the past decade has been their commitment to defense, every game.  But . . .  96 points. CC must have been in the "zone" big-time. Take a look at the box score:

http://cat.middlebury.edu/~sports/winter_sports/mens_basketball/archive/2007-08/CONN.HTM

Smith 8-9 from the floor last night; 7-8 today. Pretty efficient.

CCsalive: you better get a tape of this one. Nice way to finish. Watch it when you need a lift.

[fpc85]

what a great defensive struggle at lefrak...the jeffs may have had their best defensive performance of the year last night vs. trinity. the bants shot 32% for the night and 26% from the arc. trinity had superior ball pressure and worked had at taking away the 3pt shot for the jeffs. amherst was 2-10 from the arc. all by jones. 60-57 with 2 min. to go and the jeffs outscore the bants 9-1 to finish it out. big ups to all involved in the sr. festivities before the game and during the team dinner. great job. btw who was that guy in that hideous royal blue warm-up suit. someone should have told him to take the batteries out of it before he wore it.

[nescac1]

Congrats to the Ephs on showing some resiliency this weekend.  Still can't throw the ball in the ocean, but the inside play and rebounding in particular was huge.  Middlebury is a team they can certainly beat, but not if they continue to shoot 20-25 percent from 3 as a team.   Joe G., Weisbrot, and Whittington had a huge weekend inside to offset the continued struggles from the shooters.  Nice to see Schultz put up, against Wes, the sort of line that was common for him at the end of last season.  He has the potential to be a difference maker in the tourney.

I heard the Ephs are bringing in a very solid point guard from the west coast for next year, but that is unconfirmed. 

My thoughts on all conference now that the season is over.  And man, this is not easy this year.  First team:

Olson, Walters, Pierce, Stone, A. Harris

Second team:

Wholey, Geoghegan, B. Jones, A. Choice, R. Martin

Third team (even though there is none officially):

R. Taylor, Hippert, Sargeantson, Shalvoy, Baskauskas

(Any of the third team guys could make a case for second, and lots of other candidates as well such as Rudin, Weitzen, Fliegel, Ellis, Bernier).   Only 5 of those 15 return next season. 

POY Walters / Olson
ROY is obviously Ellis (hope he is healthy for post season). 
COY has to be Hixon.  Every other team was way too inconsistent.  Although special mention to the Wesleyan coach for not finishing last in the conference and for keeping lots of games close despite a pretty depleted roster this season.  He definitely earned the full time job. 

[Denton]

Heart breaker for the P Bears yesterday.  How do you call a travel on the inbounds pass when the player is tackled with 16 sec and 1 pt difference.

It did set up an interesting situation of Bowdoin hosting both Bates teams next Saturday (Women at 2 and Men at 4).   Morrell will be packed for sure.

Hey FormerPolarBear - we better see you there next week.

[nescac hoops]

Forget all conference accolades, Walzy where is the all crazy team! I'd say the front runner for the Crazy of the Year has to be the player from Bowdoin posting on this forum. I think he was #33. In one post he claimed, "Id say Bowdoin might have the strongest senior class in all the NESCAC with Andrew Hippert, Jordan Fleigal and Andrew Sargeantson...all at least 3 year starters...all candidates for All conference come the end of the year" - I guess Olson and Walters (2 POY canidates with a national championship ring) don't compare

[La Verdad]

who was that guy in that hideous royal blue warm-up suit. someone should have told him to take the batteries out of it before he wore it.

Yeah seriously.  Lucky for me I had my shades on... 8)

[lefrakenstein]

what a great defensive struggle at lefrak...the jeffs may have had their best defensive performance of the year last night vs. trinity. the bants shot 32% for the night and 26% from the arc. trinity had superior ball pressure and worked had at taking away the 3pt shot for the jeffs. amherst was 2-10 from the arc. all by jones. 60-57 with 2 min. to go and the jeffs outscore the bants 9-1 to finish it out. big ups to all involved in the sr. festivities before the game and during the team dinner. great job. btw who was that guy in that hideous royal blue warm-up suit. someone should have told him to take the batteries out of it before he wore it.

It was a great game yesterday... lots of fun to watch. For me, it was the story of two halfs. In the first Trinity kept Walters on the bench with foul trouble and dominated the boards to keep themselves in the game despite a low shooting %. In the second, Walters was a monster, grabbing 10 boards in the second half, and just missing a double-double in the second stanza alone with 9 points. Despite a quiet night from Baskauskas the Jeffs survive.

I thought all three of Trinity's freshman looked very good, especially #22. Ford can play, but he was too lose with the trigger yesterday. Fels looks very competent for a first-year point.

[walzy31]

2008 All NESCAC All-Crazy Team
Enjoy!


On the Sunday after the NESCAC Quarter-Finals in 2006, I posted the inaugural "All NESCAC All Crazy" Team. I thoroughly enjoyed the draft, and received lots of positive feedback on the forum. With much more help last year than the first year, I did it again and enjoyed it again. This year's team marks the THIRD annual All-NESCAC All-Crazy team!

For those readers who are unfamiliar with this, it is not too hard to follow.
5 first teamers and 5 second teamers.
Maximum of one alum pick allowed for each team.
Nicknames are strongly encouraged, but are not required.
Coaches, Fans, etc. are selected at the end.
Craziness is required.

Let the drafting begin...

[walzy31]

Ladies & Gentlemen! For the first time in history, you will witness the jersey retiring ceremony of an All-NESCAC All Crazy Legend!

(In a college president's voice)
"He may have matriculated from college already.... but this man will be remembered.
He will be remembered as... an innovator.
... Blake Curry.
... The One.
... The Only...
I think back two years ago...to the inspiration of the Crazy Team...and similar to Patrick Ewing Junior not being able to be here without Patrick Ewing...  the All-NESCAC All-Crazy team would never have been here without Mr. Blake Curry.
A good man...An honest man... A poor rapper... An unpredictable basketball player... A two-time first pick of the Crazy Team... A college graduate... A father figure... And of course... Insane!
Blake... you are forever immortalized.
May your future pick-up basketball games lead to as many crazy ventures as did your three years of playing ball in the NESCAC.
Thank you.

And with the first pick...

1st Pick – Jordan "Roids" Fliegel (Bowdoin College)
Fliegel was so amped up about his selection to the squad last year (2nd overall) that he went to a tattoo parlor during the summer to celebrate. He deliberated about what kind of tattoo to get, and where to put it (he couldn't select only one muscle on his body that would look good with a tattoo on it). So as not to play favorites with his muscles, Jordan elected that the back of his neck would be the location for the tattoo. As for the content of the tatoo, he decided that in capital Gothic font letters his tattoo would read:
6'6''
260
His logic?

If someone saw him walking down the street and came up to him from behind, they wouldn't have to ask the tiresome and oft repeated question of him, "How big are you?" Everyone will just read the tattoo.

Jordan "Shawne Merriman / Roids" Fliegel becomes the first ever three-time All-Crazy Team selection (all three as first-round picks). He was the 5th overall pick as a Sophomore in 2006, the 2nd overall selection last year as a Junior, before being the first man not named Blake or Chester Green to ever be taken with the top pick.

When not in class, playing ball, or being read about on the All-NESCAC All-Crazy team... Jordan can be found on the Mitchell Report.

2nd Pick – Tom Selby (Tufts University)
   Tom Tom earned his spot as a first round pick from his performance in the Clark University game this season.
True story:
Five minutes into the game, Tufts was leading 13-11 and had the ball and was going left to right. Jon Pierce catches a pass on the low block and then fumbles the ball to the ground. Pierce dives to the ground to recover and ends up in a mild tussle with a Clark player.

Queue Tom Tom.

Tom Tom heroically sprints at full speed to Pierce's rescue, only to be greeted and restrained by his teammates. The refs proceed to assess Tom Tom with a technical foul.

What makes this All-NESCAC All-Crazy team worthy you ask? Well I forgot to mention that Tom Tom was not in the game at the time of his heroic dash. Nope. He actually was sitting on the Tufts bench (left side of court) 50 feet away and made the sprint to the other end of the court while still wearing his warm-ups. What bumped him into first-team contention was the fact that Coach Sheldon immediately walked over to Tom Tom and made him leave the bench and go to the locker room. Selby didn't record any minutes played that night, but he did manage to make it into the box score.

Luckily, JumboCast got a mid-game interview with Selby inside the Jumbo's locker room. "Tom, why did you run on the court after a meaningless loose ball foul?"
"Man, you think you know me?. I'd take a bullet for Jon Pierce. Coach Sheldon reads a Bobby Knight book and he thinks he knows me? He don't know me."

[walzy31]

3rd Pick – Jimmy "JOK" O'Keefe (Bates College)
Jimmy was honorable mention a year ago, and while this season the NESCAC witnessed his playing time increase, they also witnessed the rise of his craziness.
Jimmy doesn't have a Pirate look...he is the freaking second coming of Jack Sparrow.
When the refs blow a play dead, he often intentionally nudges or elbows opposing players and threatens to attack upon their team bus with cannon fire. When asked about his post-whistle elbows and nudges Jimmy replied, "Arrrr, it is all part o' the intimidation o' bein' a pirate life. Aye, me parrot concurs." When asked what parrot he was talking about (there was no parrot in the room that the interviewer could see), Jimmy said "Ahoy, me don't have t' explain myself t' nobody. Garrr."
Jimmy is also known around the league as "Jimmy-The-Pirate" and "Pirate JOK."

4th Pick – Jake Weitzen (Tufts University)
Joining Fliegel as the only players ever named to all three All NESCAC All-Crazy teams, Jake sure knows how to rack up the accolades (and pounds).

Remember the barrage of random Tufts If/Then statistics?
"When Jake Weitzen takes 11 of more shots in a game, TU is 2-6"...TRUE.
They forgot the most important one of all: When Jake Weitzen eats 11 twinkies at half time, he scores double figures in the second half every time. Astonishing!

As a Freshman, Jake was 6'3'' 250 and averaged 11.1 points/game.
As a Senior, Jake beefed up to  6'3'' 275. Of course this correlated directly into more points: 14.0 points/game as a senior. If he had been able to get up to 400 pounds he would have been averaging 28.5 points/game!

There is nothing wrong with having your idols and role models be: Prince Fielder, Vince Wilfork, David Ortiz and John Daly. However, for an all-conference caliber NESCAC basketball player, it just means you will also get all-crazy team recognition. When asked about the weight/points correlation Jake replied, "I had the Econometrics class run that analysis for me my second year in Medford. I was delighted to find that if I stuffed myself at half-time, it would translate directly into more points. The Physics class told me that the only thing holding me back from averaging 30 points a game is the weight I lose each game from sweating. It's like I take two pounds forward and one pound back."
Last year Weitzen traded his 1,000th point ball for a cheeseburger. He wanted to get to 2,000 this year because, "I really wanted that double-cheeseburger."

5th Pick – Moritz Kraus (Wesleyan University – Alum)
Moritz, or "Motor-Kraut" as he was more affectionately known by friends and family, was Trinity's bald-headed grad student from Serbia... or Russia...or Latvia...one of those countries out there. Strikingly bald. Strikingly pale. Very similar in appearance  to Cleveland Cavaliers great, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Also, very similar in appearance to fresh snow powder on a Vermont ski mountain. Kraut was in his mid to late thirties during his final season in the NESCAC. By now he is most likely Agent Marty K, a spy or a double-spy for his homeland of Romania.

2008 All NESCAC All Crazy First Team

1st - Jordan Fliegel (Bowdoin)
2nd – Tom Selby (Tufts)
3rd – Jimmy O'Keefe (Bates)
4th – Jake Weitzen (Tufts)
5th – Moritz Kraus (Wesleyan – Alum)

[walzy31]

6th Pick – Paul "Nescac33" Sellew (Bowdoin College)
   As part of its latest legal filing, the FTC dropped the bombshell that Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey had, for several years, been posting on the Yahoo Finance message boards under a pseudonym (the pseudonym was an anagram of his wife's first name), cheerleading his company's success and denigrating its rival, Wild Oats. He even made predictions about the company's stock price, putting out extremely high estimates for its performance. It's not clear that what he did was necessarily illegal, but his posting seems unethical and highly foolish, at the very least. If nothing else, the company's stockholders should wonder about what the boss is doing with his time.
   As part of its latest crazy filing, the All-NESCAC All-Crazy Team dropped the bombshell that Bowdoin College Sophomore Forward, Paul Sellew had, for several days, been posting on the d3hoops.com message boards under a pseudonym (his athletic conference –NESCAC- with his jersey number cleverly tacked on at the end -33-), cheerleading his team's success and denigrating its rivals, Tufts University, Bates College, and Colby College. He even made predictions about the team's upcoming games, putting out extremely high estimates for its performance. It's not clear that what he did was necessarily in violation of the NCAA rule book, but his posting seems unethical and highly crazy, at the very least. If nothing else, the team's coaches and fans should wonder about what the player is doing with his time.

7th Pick – Pat Sullivan (Tufts University)
   Sully lands a spot on the team after finishing as a 2007 honorable mention.

What is his secret to success in the crazy draft?  Soft hands.

Soft hands?
Yup, soft hands, soft jump shot, soft voice, soft screen setter and soft defense. For a big guy in the NESCAC, lack of aggressiveness is rarely rewarded. There have been successful and (sometimes) respected big men in the 'CAC that did not rough it up in the paint with the other bigs (think "Mr. Softee"). But as discussed once or twice on the forum this season, the reason for Tufts slip in the standings is due to the loss of Dan Martin and replacement by #21 Casey Sullivan. Sully. You make everyone under six feet tall go crazy watching you not use your height or size to your potential.

8th Pick – Mike Holsey (Amherst College) / Troy Whittington (Williams College)
   Legit Bounce. Mad Ups. Hops. Pogo Sticks.
No matter how you say it, these two kids have crazy good jumping abilities. They have both won slam dunk competitions. They have both dunked on twelve foot hoops. They both posterize opponents night in and night out. They both say that their secret to their vertical leaping ability is.........  practicing their gymnastics floor exercise routines at local gymnastics clubs. Huh?
Whittington loves to work out at the "Williamstown Lil' Dancers Gym," but his membership is currently under suspension due to taking vault runs that ended up with him jumping over twelve year old girls who were practicing their balance beam routines.
Holsey is a member of the "Smith College Step Gym." He hops around the gym like a frog in a pond, but recently he has been temporarily dismissed from the facility because he was caught "endangering the students" when he jumped across the Connecticut River on his way to gymnastics class. His punishment was to visit Troy in Williamstown and play "Skip It" with him.

9th Pick – Ian Fels (Trinity College) / DJ Carcieri (Amherst College)
Fels & Carcieri are long lost brothers. They think their high schools were in the hard parts of town (Carcieri went to Philips Exeter Academy and Fels went to Dr. Krop High in Miami). Carcieri was questioned as to how he has coped with his knee injury which has sidelined him for most of his Sophomore campaign and he replied, "We just be lucky 2 B livin'."

Carcieri, when not playing ball or attending class, can be found serving Rhode Island as their Republican Governor. He has rooted mafia connections (the Frank Lucas variety) in his tiny home state.

Fels chose Trinity because he wanted to appreciate that Hartford love. Or in his own words, "I gats 2 preciate dat heartbeaaat loooove. Ain't nut'n betah than bein' a hot minute away from da Haaaave."

I hope that in the next two years we will get to see these long lost brothers unite and match up against one another on the court.

10th pick – Harlan Dodson (Williams College)
Dodson is 6'8'' 170 lb (Weitzen's inverse). Harlan's shot selection alone is reason enough to take the risk and select him with the 10th pick. I also don't think he can see the basket because his hair gets in the way. Sure, there might never be another Blake Curry (also known as: "The Craziest", "Chester Green", and "That Psycho Kid On Wesleyan Who Will Shoot From Half Court and Whose Eyes Parallel a Serial Killer"). But I refuse to neglect Dodson's potential. Unlike Nick Farrell of Colby who emerged with the Blake-Shot-Selection® in his senior year (only garnering him honorable mention on the 2007 team), Harlan has three more years to get even crazier. Who knows? Maybe he will start wearing a headband, start a career as a rapper, and shoot turnarounds from just over half court. Maybe he will grow the hair out and leave it down for games. Maybe he will put it in a Pony or do a French Braid. I am drafting him for the potential.

[walzy31]

Additional Comments/Honorable Mentions:

Fletcher Walters (Amherst College) – Can be found tripping Williams players, tackling 3pt shooters, shoving balls into kids' chests after being fouled, laying on the court like he's at the beach. Where did this all come from? Perhaps he still is harboring some discontent from the Appalachian State / Michigan football game? Or perhaps he thought that going crazy would get him more conference POTW awards? Crazy either way.

Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg (Wesleyan University) – Was rated the #1 most requested Santa Claus in all of the shopping malls in state of Connecticut. When asked what that meant to him he replied in a very soft, almost inaudible voice, "I just hope that the kids got all the presents that they asked me for. It's sad to watch disappoint. A perfect example was what Coach Johnson wanted for Christmas. "Santa, all I want for Christmas is two conference wins in 2008."
Sorry coach Jay!

You Caught My Eye ...Maybe Next Year
Ashton Coughlan (Middlebury)
Jeremy "Swampa$S" Black (Tufts)
Stan Grayson (Wesleyan)
Billy Butler (Amherst)
Ryan Uszenski (Trinity – Alum)


THE REST OF THE TEAM:

Coaches – David Paulsen (Williams College) / David Arsenault (Grinnell College)
   Arsenault makes the cross-conference leap for the whacky game plan at the beginning of this season against North Central: "I want my son to break the NCAA record for assists in a game. I don't want him to just break it, I want him to get 34 assists so that it will last as long as possible. If we can win the game while this record is being broken, then that is great too, but sacrifices will have to be made in order to accomplish this goal. It is okay for us to do this because I say it is and everyone has bought into that. I think the back-up point guard will benefit the most in this contest from watching my great son play for 40 minutes."
   Once Coach Paulsen read the Grinnell story on D3Hoops.com's The Daily Dose, he was so inspired that he decided a donation to charity was necessary. However, since he has not been outside of the town of Williamstown in the past five years, he thought that drinking a cup of water during Eph games in honor of each of Davey's assists was a deductable donation from the IRS. He will most likely figure out that drinking 34 cups of water does not alleviate any of his taxes, and that all it will most likely to is make himself urinate more frequently.
   (Runner up: Coach Whitmore –the 2006 coach and 2007 honorable mention- was seen taking off his loafer and slamming it against the team bench in response to a referee's call that he disagreed with. He is the default craziest coach in the NESCAC.)

Fans – Jeremy Black's mom (Tufts University) / Freud Valentine (Amherst College)
Mrs. Black – No hidden meaning to this post. I am not trying to offend anyone's mother or family. Jason Priestley's mom just has a few screws loose that leads to many expletives being shouted inside gymnasiums while she is enjoying Jumbo Basketball. If she has Turrets Syndrome, I sincerely apologize.
Mr. Valentine – Freud, when a team travels from the middle-of-nowhere Maine on a Friday to play a top-5 ranked team in basketball, and only shows up with two (non-related to the team) fans at the game... you have to be crazy to make it your objective for the evening to pick a fight with them. Freud set the NESCAC career record for basketball games in which referees kicked him out of the gym (13).

D3hoops.com NESCAC Forum Fan – CCSalive (Connecticut College)
   Obviously the Bowdoin player who actually posted up was a serious thought for being drafted in both categories (think Charlie Ward). The All-NESCAC All-Crazy committee just wasn't quite ready risk him turning both offers down and going back to school. Instead, CCSalive is given the nod as sort of a "career achievement award." Every December and January CCSalive kills us softly with chatter (some posters call it "Camel Dung") of how good the Camels are... and every February he watches the Camels fall off the face of the earth.

We know your love for C. Stone and the Camels supersedes the world.
Yes, Charles Stone is a great talent.
No, he is not more attractive than Jessica Alba.
Yes, they are a team heading in the right direction.
No, they do not play the Princeton offense the second best out of any school in the country.
I applaud the dedication to your team, but I have to point out your craziness for lying to yourself for two months... every year.

Radio Announcer – JeffRookie (Amherst College)
No one else can beat the top 25 poll horse or the All Decade Team horse for as long or as well. Remember when Pat Coleman said he had Amherst at number two on his ballot, a day after saying that Amherst wasn't one of the three teams in contention for the number one spot? Well JeffRook remembers too. He still remembers. He will always remember. Laces out, Pat! LACES OUT!

Sports Information Director – Alex Kantor (Amherst College)
Kantor was a member of last year's crazy team's honorable mention team, but I never thought he would dethrone Brian Katten of Wesleyan. (Katten sings the national anthem at Cardinal home games) But let us not forget the most controversial few pages in recent history on the NESCAC forum. One pre-season feature story written on Amherst's Adolphe Coulibaly was posted on D3hoops.com and it became instant "he said she said" classic.

Kantor claimed that the paper had been stolen from sparknotes.com.
D3hoops claimed it was delivered by a stark the night before the mid-term was due and nobody had written their name at the top of the paper.
The disciplinary committee (other posters) discussed the matter for way way way too long, only to come to the conclusion that Kantor shall be awarded the duties of traveling with the 2007-2008 All-NESCAC All-Crazy team.

Kantor has elected to share hotel rooms with Motor Kraut (this year's 4th pick) because, "When Kraut gets underneath the white covers in bed, I can't even see him anymore anyways so it's like I am rooming by myself. My other option was Paulsen...but who wants to be peed on?"

Ladies & Gentlemen, the complete 2008 All NESCAC All Crazy Team

1st – Jordan Fliegel (Bowdoin)
2nd – Tom Selby (Tufts)
3rd – Jimmy O'Keefe (Bates)
4th – Jake Weitzen (Tufts)
5th – Moritz Kraus (Wesleyan – Alum)

6th – Paul Sellew (Bowdoin)
7th – Pat Sullivan (Tufts)
8th – Mike Holsey (Amherst) / Troy Whittington (Williams)
9th – Ian Fels (Trinity) / DJ Carcieri (Amherst)
10th – Harlan Dodson (Williams)

Coaches – Paulsen / Arsenault (Will / Grinn)
Fans – Mr. Valentine / Mrs. Black (Amh/Tuf)
D3hoops.com NESCAC Forum Poster – CCSalive (Conn)
Radio Announcer – JeffRookie (Amh)
SID – Alex Kantor (Amh)

RETIRED JERSEYS of the ALL-NESCAC ALL-CRAZY TEAM:
#44 - Blake Curry (Wesleyan Univeristy)



Thank you to everyone who helped create this crazy team.

[nescac1]

Wow, I'm speechless Walzy.  Impressive stuff. 

[lefrakenstein]

Amherst to win the NESCAC tourney in 3 blow-outs! The field is weak, and Amherst will be playing at home throughout - irrespective of the field's seeding, seeds 2-8 will comprise a bunch of deck chairs on that well known ocean liner.

As an Amherst fan, I hope you're right, but I dont share your optimism. Despite going 9-0 in the NESCAC, Amherst has not had the blowouts they usually have. On one hand, I like the ability of this year's team to win close games, but on the other hand, I'm sick of being nervous late in the second half. Hopefully you are right about the eventual outcome though.

Walzy, love the all-crazy team as usual. I haven't been posting that long but I've been around long enough to see them all. I'm sure if JeffRookie were around he would be very honored to have been included.