MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

nescac1,
   Today in a write-up of an all-star MBB game held in Wash. D.C. on the 9th of April, there was mention of a    local player from W. Churchill HS that Williams is "recruiting".  The player, Chase Hicks, a 3-year starter and a county all-star "has been in contact with schools such as Drexel (Pa), Williams College (Mass.) and Rochester (N.Y.)."   Williams has historically recruited well in the suburbs of D.C, in particular the Maryland side.

[JustAFan]

If this is old news I apologize but the NERR has 6 foot point guard Spencer Noon from Farmington HS in Connecticut headed to Amherst next year.  He was all-state in the smaller school division in CT.  He sounds promising.

http://www.newenglandrecruitingreport.com/recruits/player/520/Spencer-Noon.php

[JustAFan]

Sorry, this is the soccer/basketball player that others have already mentioned.  Sure hope he plays hoops as well as soccer because it sounds like he can play. Looking at the links opposite his bio on the NERR site you find a couple of 30 plus games and a bunch of 20 plus games in the state tournament and recent spring AAU tournaments against some good competition.  Looks like the kid can penetrate and dish or get to the rim--in one game this year 18 of his 32 points came from the line. Don't know how well he can handle the ball but he's certainly got some basketball upside in addition to his soccer abilities.

[met_fan]

Anyone heard anything further regarding Hamilton moving to a full NESCAC schedule?  A couple months ago I received an email from Hamilton's AD saying they were evaluating switching to a one-league format (either Liberty League or NESCAC).  Not to overestimate their strength in basketball, as they haven't fielded a team that would likely have contended for a title in several years, but they would definitely add to the depth of the league and an 11-team league would be a beast.  Then again, the one-game NESCAC schedule would negate some of that difficulty.  In any case, I think most Hamilton fans (certainly I would) would welcome a return to competing fully in NESCAC again.

I wasn't sure if this was ever going to happen, but it looks like the AD wasn't just blowing smoke when he gave me that information.  Looks like it will be a while before this affects basketball, though.

[nescac1]

I would be pretty surprised if Hamilton did switch to NESCAC rather than Liberty League in this economic climate for one reason: travel costs.  Hamilton is pretty close to most of the Liberty schools, while it is for almost every school in NESCAC (except Williams) at least a five hour and often far longer trip ... but please keep us posted. 

[Woops, I feel dumb with that prediction, I see that your post references the following news -- I gotta say, I am surprised given how costly this will be for Hamilton.  With a top NY region team added to the mix, NESCAC could get even more teams into the tourney in future years, and will be even stronger top to bottom]

http://www.wktv.com/news/sports/local/43122562.html

In any events, some pretty solid teams are gonna be left out of NESCAC playoffs next year, Hamilton or no Hamilton.  I would not be surprised if NESCAC close to doubles its out of conference win percentage overall; if you look at the bottom half of the league from this year, Tufts, Wesleyan, Bates, Trinity and Conn, all of those teams should be immensely improved: Tufts is very experienced now and brings back all but one contributor and seems to have some recruits who may help with depth issues, Wes gets Kaminer back plus that loaded recruiting class, Bates brings all of its key players back, Trinity will have a lot more experience and depth, and Conn has Bernier plus the reinging ROY as anchors.  None of those teams are likely to be regularly blown out the way Conn, Wes and Tufts often were this past season ...

[met_fan]

I would be pretty surprised if Hamilton did switch to NESCAC rather than Liberty League in this economic climate for one reason: travel costs.  Hamilton is pretty close to most of the Liberty schools, while it is for almost every school in NESCAC (except Williams) at least a five hour and often far longer trip ... but please keep us posted. 

[Woops, I feel dumb with that prediction, I see that your post references the following news -- I gotta say, I am surprised given how costly this will be for Hamilton.  With a top NY region team added to the mix, NESCAC could get even more teams into the tourney in future years, and will be even stronger top to bottom]

http://www.wktv.com/news/sports/local/43122562.html

With regard to expense, I think (for basketball, anyway) the single-game scheduling format somewhat negates any extra costs.  A weekend trip to Maine is not going to cost that much more than a weekend trip to Clarkson/St. Lawrence or Albany - I think the difference would be more in travel time.  There are more road trips in a Liberty League schedule than in a NESCAC schedule and I imagine they will fill out their schedule with teams that are close by.  Who knows - as an alum, I'm just glad that they're back in the loop for basketball.   

[speedy]

This will also put Hamilton in the NESCAC for lacrosse and soccer.

[lefrakenstein]

Bad news for Williams. Hamilton has really given them a tough time the past few years.

[dman]

lefrak,
hamilton beat williams this year for the first time in a really long time, but some of the other games have been close, so i'm not sure why it's bad news for williams....

      it's really good news for the league, but bad news for hamilton, at least in basketball.  the lack of a travel partner will put them at an extreme disadvantage in league play, and is the reason they left nescac in the first place.  i doubt the coaches are really overjoyed about this.  it may help slightly with recruiting, but to really balance the league, nescac needs an even number of schools.....

[frank uible]

Didn't Williams lose to Hamilton in 2007-2008? I think I remember talking to Paulsen about it.

[ephoops]

It will be interesting to see how the scheduling will work with the addition of Hamilton, given that they don't have a travel partner.

One approach may be to have two games on the weekend when travel partners play each other.  This would necessitate Hamilton traveling either on a Friday or a Saurday, more likely Saturday for the longer trips (Maine, Tufts, Conn).  Not sure how the rest of the schedule would play out.  They could play home games during the week (although that requires the BBC, Tufts and Conn to make some long trips during the week).  Not ideal...

One solution would be to attract another upstate New York school to NESCAC to get the conference to 12 members.  Union is the most logical candidate.  Rochester and St. Lawrence are too far. 

Or, Holy Cross could abandon the Patriot League and drop down to D-3.  It's obviously not in Upstate NY but there are certain factions in Worcester that would like Holy Cross to trade off participation in D-1 athlethics and the Patriot League for the upgrade in academic prestige that the NESCAC embodies.  This is a real long shot but it has been discussed as a potential option within Holy Cross, albeit an option that is probably of low likelihood.

[TheHerst2and4]

I realize you have already stated that it is a long shot but I'd like to expound upon Holy Cross more.
Having ties with Holy Cross I have found it is more the distant alumni and Bill Simmons who have stated the case for Holy Cross to drop down in divisions. The athletic department and coaches are looking to continually improve their athletics. There would be a few issues with Holy Cross dropping down. The disatisfaction stems from Holy Cross' secondary sports (and for a period of time their football team) not being able to compete within the patriot league (or on a national level without scholarships). However I believe I read that the school has a plan to allocate more scholarships to more sports. The other problem is that the school's hockey team (frozen four a few years back), basketball team (recently have been in the mix for the NCAA tourney), and (gaining more and more momentum every year) their football team, are on a different level for the NESCAC. I see both sides of the argument. I have trained the football and basketball teams and know that the upper level players on the NESCAC team can certainly hold their own with the Holy Cross kids. I know Williams beat them in 03-04 in hoops, and I think that NESCAC isn't leaps and bounds away from the Patriot League level (in any sport). I think another issue (maybe not) is the facilities. Holy Cross' athletic facilities are suitable for a division 1 school and are superior to the other NESCAC schools. Their football stadium isn't first class but seats 23,500, the Hart Center (basketball) seat 3600 and the baseball facility is virtually brand new and one of the finest college facilities of any division in the northeast. I'm not sure how that would affect recruiting or the status quo the NESCAC seems to generally agree upon for the athletic budgets.
I guess in a nutshell my point is that the Athletic department doesn't forsee Holy Cross moving down

[lefrakenstein]

lefrak,
hamilton beat williams this year for the first time in a really long time, but some of the other games have been close, so i'm not sure why it's bad news for williams....

      it's really good news for the league, but bad news for hamilton, at least in basketball.  the lack of a travel partner will put them at an extreme disadvantage in league play, and is the reason they left nescac in the first place.  i doubt the coaches are really overjoyed about this.  it may help slightly with recruiting, but to really balance the league, nescac needs an even number of schools.....

Hamilton has beaten Williams two years in a row. The two years before that were both squeaker wins for Williams in which Hamilton led for stretches in the final 5 minutes.

[formerbant10]

One solution would be to attract another upstate New York school to NESCAC to get the conference to 12 members.  Union is the most logical candidate.  Rochester and St. Lawrence are too far. 

Union used to be in the NESCAC and left....highly unlikely they come back.  Rochester will not be leaving the UAA.

[frank uible]

Union has a black mark against it, which can't be remedied.