MBB: NESCAC

[frank uible]

We aim to please.

[nescac1]

Regarding recruiting, it has been unusually quiet but I imagine now that admissions decisions are out, more news will be forthcoming.  In addition to Labove, here is the info I've seen so far (some of this has already been posted here, but I'll put it all together for those who missed it).  You KNOW Hixon has some top notch guys coming in -- he always does -- so I figure it's only a matter of time for that to leak out.  A few teams suffer HUGE losses without any obvious guys around to replace them, especially Colby, Tufts, and Bowdoin, so this is an important recruiting year for those schools in particular.  Tufts and Colby, in particular Tufts, could be seriously hurting next year without at least a few impact recruits, considering the percent of team production each graduates:

It appears that combo guard Hayden Rooke-Ley is indeed going to Williams, where he will join two other pacific northwest players already on the roster:

http://www.oregonrebels.com/

More on Rooke-Ley:
http://video.aol.ca/video-detail/prep-athlete-of-the-week-hayden-rooke-ley/575623048/?icid=VIDURVNWS06
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/24372384-41/ley-rooke-team-axemen-south.csp

Evan Kulak to Bowdoin:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellesley/sports/high_school/x190607675/Athete-of-the-Week-Kulaks-a-shooting-star-for-boys-basketball

Middlebury landed big guy Jack Roberts, who sounds like a guy who can step in and fill Locke's shot-blocking role once he graduates:

http://www.nehoopnews.com/news/506/New-England-Hoop-News-Dish-November-13-2009.php (that article also mentions Trinity recruit Kevin Lubin)

More on Roberts:

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=94830&season=2010

Another Midd recruit, Albert Nascimento:

http://rallynorth.eagletribune.com/localsports/teams/story/7186?story_id=7235

Middlebury also landed another NJ point guard who sounds like he may be a tough player in the Wolfin mode, Joe Kizel:

http://millburn.patch.com/articles/top-male-co-athletes-of-the-winter-kizel-and-rosenberg

His slightly-more-acclaimed teammate apparently considered Williams but decided to aim for D-1:

http://njhighschoolbasketball.blogspot.com/2010/03/im-back-recruiting-news.html

This discussion group notes another player, from Kentucky, who has been "offered" by Williams:

http://www.bluegrasspreps.com/showpost.php?p=3774625&postcount=26

Interesting how few New England guys there are in this group, and how many top D-3 prospects in New England were snagged by Brandeis and other local D-3 teams ...

On another note, congrats to Eph hoops alum Pat Duquette, who was named interim head coach of Boston College.  It is probably a major long shot for Duquette to become permanent head coach, but hopefully the exposure will help him, as he is in line to eventually land some sort of D-1 head coaching gig after a long and successful stint as the top BC assistant.  

[ac08]

I remember coaching against Kizel in a league game this past summer, he puts a lot of stress on the defense. He needs to mature physically, but he'll be a major contributor one day.

"That season Kizel led the team in points, rebounds, steals, assists and blocked shots." (Taken from the article posted by nescac1)

Is that a misprint?

[amh63]

Amherst mailed out its regular decision letters last Thursday and e-mailed them on Friday.  My first inquiry from a friend with respect to any players in the DC/Va/MD area did not prove helpful.  I should get the admitted students list in my area this Friday.  Of course, the Baltimore area and the Va. area around Richmond are in different admit regions.  Rest assure the Landon BB player that Williams is interested in did not apply to Amherst!
Amherst, IMO, real depth need is in the backcourt.....point guard area...for depth.  I do believe Noon will become a good point guard with a respectful long range shot.  I also believe that the post player R. Bryant will develop into a contributor.  He is thin but is very long.  I also believe Tim Prowitt will become a good 4 player.  He is a local NVa boy with good bloodlines.  His older brother was a solid contributor at Stanford.  Amherst has a solid base for Nixon to mold into a winning team next year regardless of any new impact recruits.  Hixon played more young players this past year than he has for a very long  period.  He player rotation increased.  I believe it was partly do to injury but mainly due to not finding the right combination of players to start strong, defend hard and to finish a game well.  Will stop here to avoid getting into trouble.  Here is hoping that out of the 1226 admits from 8088 applicants that a few BB "gems" will be available for polishing.

[old_hooper]

Heard that Amherst was working on a PG transfer from D1 Arkansas.  Player's desire to be pre-med student but other issues needed to be resolved.

[nescac1]

At first I thought that comment was an early April Fools joke, but there is a pre-med underclassman point guard on the Arkansas roster:

http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=30749&SPID=2421&DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=204817514&Q_SEASON=2009

He attended the same high school as one of the stars on the Williams football team, so I imagine it is a fairly strong academic high school. 

Really, all Amherst needs to get back to contender status is a little better luck with injuries, the development you'd expect out of their very talented / athletic underclassman, and the addition of a quick guard or two who can credibly defend players like Wang (quick guards absolutely murdered Amherst last year) and ease Meehan's ball-handling burden / need to play 40 mpg, which would wear anyone down.

[Titan Q]

At first I thought that comment was an early April Fools joke, but there is a pre-med underclassman point guard on the Arkansas roster:

http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=30749&SPID=2421&DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=204817514&Q_SEASON=2009

He attended the same high school as one of the stars on the Williams football team, so I imagine it is a fairly strong academic high school. 

Note, Nick Mason is a walk-on at Arkansas.  There is an enormous difference between a D1 scholarship player and a D1 walk-on.  Most D1 walk-ons (even at majors) are typical D3-type players.

[amh63]

Needless to say, interesting discussion on a "possible recruit/transfer".  To keep some discussion going, here is my take.
Div 1 walk-ons at a major.  Really a unclear area.  A family relative was an "invited walk on" to the UNC national championship women's Lax team.  A fine HS player that didn't need a scholarship to play at that level.  With respect to Div1 transfers, a while back there was a BB player that transferred to Amherst from Brown who played well at Brown, I believe as a freshman.  A 6'5" wing player, he never seemed to me to contribute much on the floor for Amherst.  I posted earlier about a NE player that walked on a UVa.  He was considered a solid player for UVa when only Yale and Amherst showed some interest in him.  He did not need a scholarship to go to college.
Mr Mason, the young person in question seems to be the perfect Div3 player for Amherst.  He has a fine high school BB background.  He is as multi-sport player...Football, BB, and track.  He indeed is a point guard and his track background indicate some quickness.
His parents are both listed with Drs. titles.  I assume here that he did not need a scholarship to go to Ark.  That maybe why he was a walk-on.  Why give a scholarship to a student that does not need one.
With regards to the state of Arkansas, there was an Amherst student in the 70's from that state.  He never played football in high school.  He watched a roommate go out for the football team.  He decided to try out for the team.  Freddie Scott went on to set records in receiving at Amherst that still stands today.  He went on to play in the NFL at Baltimore and was voted MVP  for the Detroit Lions where he finished his career.  Oh yes, he attended medical school in the off-season and was voted into the College Hall of Fame, awhile back.  I know this is about football, but it points out that you can never tell about walk-ons from Ark.

[Gregory Sager]

His parents are both listed with Drs. titles.  I assume here that he did not need a scholarship to go to Ark.  That maybe why he was a walk-on.  Why give a scholarship to a student that does not need one.

That's not how it usually works. Even the athletes who have the financial means and/or the academic credentials to have their schooling paid for by other means generally receive and accept athletic scholarships. Why? Because the scholie is part of the prestige, part of the bona-fides, of being a "real" D1 athlete. You get no cred from your peers if you tell them, "Well, I could have had a basketball scholarship, but since I had the grades (or parents with beaucoup bucks) I didn't need it, so I told the coach to give it to someone else in order to make the team better. Meanwhile, I'll play as a walk-on." Eighteen-year-old basketball players are generally not that altruistic or forward-thinking, and they're just as susceptible to peer pressure, ego, and the standards of American athletic culture as anybody else.

It's a rare bird indeed who will be offered a scholie and then hand it back to the coach while agreeing to play for the team as a walk-on. In our country's scholastic sports culture, getting that scholie means that you've "made it" as a basketball player.

My guess, based upon seeing dozens and dozens of Nick Masons over my three decades of following D3 basketball, is that Q has described him perfectly:

Note, Nick Mason is a walk-on at Arkansas.  There is an enormous difference between a D1 scholarship player and a D1 walk-on.  Most D1 walk-ons (even at majors) are typical D3-type players.

That doesn't mean that Mason doesn't have star potential at the D3 level. He very well might. Then again, he might not. But I strongly doubt that he was a scholarship-quality player (or had the potential to become one) at the high D1 level.

[Gregory Sager]

He attended the same high school as one of the stars on the Williams football team, so I imagine it is a fairly strong academic high school.

I imagine it isn't. Jonesboro, Arkansas has a very low per capita income and a high poverty rate. Given the economic demographics of the city, it's not likely to have a great school system.

[frank uible]

Generalizations based on minimal facts in situations such as this one are an extremely perilous means of reaching a worthwhile conclusion. That's why scouts are employed to see a prospect play and to look at tape.

[ac08]

I'm with F. U..

What good is making an inference that yields nothing positive?

[ephoops]

Holy Cross fired its head BBall coach after ONE season. 

HC was the pre-season favorite to win the Patriot League this past season...the team finished 9-22 overall with a 5-9 league record resulting in a 7th place finish (out of 8 teams)

When a team in the Patriot League resorts to firing its head coach after one year, that is a disturbing sign that D-1 college basketball is heading in the wrong direction.

The deciaion by the AD to axe the coach after one year is a travesty...

[speedy]

His parents are both listed with Drs. titles.  I assume here that he did not need a scholarship to go to Ark.  That maybe why he was a walk-on.  Why give a scholarship to a student that does not need one.

That's not how it usually works. Even the athletes who have the financial means and/or the academic credentials to have their schooling paid for by other means generally receive and accept athletic scholarships. Why? Because the scholie is part of the prestige, part of the bona-fides, of being a "real" D1 athlete. You get no cred from your peers if you tell them, "Well, I could have had a basketball scholarship, but since I had the grades (or parents with beaucoup bucks) I didn't need it, so I told the coach to give it to someone else in order to make the team better. Meanwhile, I'll play as a walk-on." Eighteen-year-old basketball players are generally not that altruistic or forward-thinking, and they're just as susceptible to peer pressure, ego, and the standards of American athletic culture as anybody else.
. . . .

That's exactly right. Pat Ewing Jr played for Georgetown a few years ago on an athletic scholarship as did Doc Rivers' son, Jeremiah. Obviously both of their families had the means to pay their way to Georgetown but their sons were nonetheless given schollies like all other Georgetown recruits. The Georgetown b-ball team usually carries a couple of genuine walk-ons, most of whom are D3-type players whose primary contributions are to serve as extra bodies in practice and cheer lead from the bench, with an occasional appearance during garbage time in the last-minute of blow-out games.

[jesseowenssmoked]

Completely agree with the discussion that most D-1 walk-ons are very similar to the majority of D-3 players.  I remember my roommate freshman year at Colby had a recruit who stayed with him overnight (who from what they told me was nothing special on the court) and is now a walk-on for the BC basketball team.  A lot of the importance for these walk-ons at D-1 programs is competence on the court but really the ability to post a high GPA in order to keep the teams GPA as whole looking better than it truly is.