MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Mendell is a good candidate for ROY with 13 pts and 5 boards in 30 minutes/game. I haven't seen him play, so can't evaluate anything beyond stats.

I would advance Midd's Ryan Sharry as well, whom I have seen in 8 games: 8 pts, 5.5 rebounds in 18 minutes/game. He has 27 blocks and has been a force in Midd's defensive front, with Smith sub-par most of the year. He's been important to Midd's success. He shoots 60% from the floor, 75% from the line - 6'7" with a nice stroke. Midd is deeper than Wes - minutes are harder to come by.

Sharry's been very good.

[lefrakenstein]

The Lord Jeffs win more recruiting battles than they lose, however....

Not sure that's true when they're competing with the Ivy League, which they often do. I have no inside info for the basketball team, but I know the football coaches were often very frustrated by the amount of recruits they lost to the Ivys.

[ephoops]

...Update on Geoghegan, broken fibula: http://www.thetranscript.com/sports/ci_11609700, which sounds season ending to me with only a few weeks left in the year, but who knows... 

A broken bone heals with time.  If he had ligament damage, that could potentially be a more difficult recovery.

Let's hope he can have a productive, injury-free senior year.

[CCsalive]

The tension is mounting as we approach Saturday's Conn v Wesleyan showdown. For some reason, my wife is protesting driving to this game. What else is there to do on a Saturday but obsess over NESCAC basketball?

In all seriousness, Wesleyan lost to Salve last night and they play again tomorrow against Eastern CT. The Camels, on the other hand, have the entire week off to prepare for the travel-partner clash of the titans. Also of note, Wesleyan ends the season vs Bard after they have played there final NESCAC game?

It looks to me like Coach Reilly was left with an empty cupboard regarding scheduling and he had to scramble just to get his guys some games. That said, game experience could help the Cardinals during an otherwise slow week.

Did anyone see Kobe's 270-degree pivot into the leaner-jumper? 61 points a new Garden record. Could Kobe beat Tufts by himself?

[Pat Coleman]

Could Kobe beat Tufts by himself?

Well, he'd have a hard time inbounding the ball.

[lefrakenstein]

People in the know, what do you think Amherst's situation with regards to a pool C bid is? Do they need to win the rest of their regular season games to have a chance? Would 4 wins and a loss to Middlebury knock them totally off of the bubble?

[walzy31]

Could Kobe beat Tufts by himself?

Well, he'd have a hard time inbounding the ball.

If the game were played at Tufts or a YMCA gym he could pass it off the wall to himself.
If the game was played in an arena he could pass it off of the hoop structure to himself.
If the game was played at Bates he could pass it off the bricks to himself.
In either case, he would be unstoppable on offense, and would have a tough time slowing down the 5 on 1 break every Tufts possession.

Think outside the box Pat.

[ephoops]

Amherst loses its second straight game for the first time since the 2005 - 2006 season with a loss at RIC, 72 - 61.

Pool C is looking tenuous at best...

[eclinchy]

One thing that is starting to clear up: the all-conference race.  I'd say Baskauskas, Pierce, Schultz, Rudin, Choice are looking like a pretty solid first team at this point, with Baskauskas and Rudin fighting it out for POY.

Not necessarily saying I disagree with you; just posing this question for the sake of sparking a discussion.

Is it possible to win POY on a bad team? How ridiculous do your numbers have to be?

Just throwing it out there.

[nescac1]

eclinchy, I'd say it is possible with HUGE year but when the four top teams all have viable candidates (Baskauskas, Schultz, Rudin, Choice), two of whom are seniors, I can't imagine a junior from a team towards the bottom would have much of a shot -- at some point, you have to elevate the play of those around you and not just put up numbers ...

When was the last time, if ever, NESCAC had only one team in the tourney (since 93 of course when eligibility began)?   Very real possibility this year -- in fact, if Midd wins the conference tourney, I'd say likely since everyone else would have at least five losses if Midd wins, and given that the top four still have two games left against one another before conf. play starts, everyone would likely have 6-7.   Amazing.  Midd may be the only hope for Pool C ...

NESCAC will be back strong next year ... most of the league appears likely to be much improved.  But this has to be the weakest year overall since 1993 ...

[Hugenerd]

One thing that is starting to clear up: the all-conference race.  I'd say Baskauskas, Pierce, Schultz, Rudin, Choice are looking like a pretty solid first team at this point, with Baskauskas and Rudin fighting it out for POY.

Not necessarily saying I disagree with you; just posing this question for the sake of sparking a discussion.

Is it possible to win POY on a bad team? How ridiculous do your numbers have to be?

Just throwing it out there.

I have more experience with the NEWMAC, and from what I have observed over the past couple of years it is not possible to win POY from a bottom-half-of-the-league team (this may or may not apply in the NESCAC).  Jimmy Bartolotta has been head shoulders above everyone else in the NEWMAC the last 3 seasons (sophomore, junior, and senior seasons) and he was snubbed the last two years.  In 2006 Bartolotta averaged 21.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1.9 spg, 1.0 bpg. Compare that to Ryan Cain's 19.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.2 spg, and .2 bpg.  Last year it was even more disparate, with Bartolotta averaging 23.9 ppg (53.3% FG, 41.5% 3PFG), 5.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.3 spg, and 1.0 bpg. Meanwhile, the POY winner, Antoine Coleman, averaged 14.5 ppg (48.7% FG, 31.9% 3PFG), 6.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.4 spg, and 0.5 bpg. 

So judging from that, I would say that if you want to win POY, it is better to be on the best team in the conference with decent numbers rather than on one of the lower ranked teams and have incredible numbers.

[CCsalive]

That NEWMAC stuff is crazy. These occasional 2,000pt guys are clearly higher level players and there's no reason why they shouldn't be two-time POYS. I recall Willie Chandler at Misericordia in PA...they guy was a Jim Thorpe type: MLB draft pick, D-I football recruit, but wanted to stay home and ball. Won the Jostens. Same for Junuzzi at Wilkes.

I agree that NESCAC appears weak. But, I'd be shocked if Midd wins the tourney. I still say it's Amherst's to lose. Frankly, I find it a little annoying that more of us are not mocking the Lord Jeffs and their consecutive losses. At the same time, casual references to Midd being the favorite, being the #1 team etc are equalling annoying b/c they deserve much more credit after years of obscurity. Bravo to Old Guy for his Panthers and for keeping us informed.
Rudin is the hands down POY. You could argue that Midd's entire rise to the top of the league is thanks to their PG with the 300 horse-power engine.
Should Colby continue to win big games; Choice is a strong candidate.
I believe that Amherst and Williams are balanced enough to discount a POY candidate.
Huh?
There is such a thing as star power and when combined with MVP status (to one's own team) and top-half of the league standings, I's prefer the POY go to a Rudin or choice even if those two teams come in 3rd and 4th.
Schultz, Basko, etc. do not win me over.

[massd3fan]

The problem with these kinds of awards always lies in the defintion of the award.  POY & MVP....

Is the award supposed to honor the BEST player, or the MOST VALUABLE?  As others here on these forums have pointed out to me, the Jostens is not representative of the BEST PLAYER.

My feeling is these "disputes" would be best settled by handing out two awards, a POY AND a MVP.  with very distinct defintions of each.  That is not to say in some years, one player may win both.  But a very good player on a highly talented team may not accumulate the numbers of a similar player on a low end team.  A purely statistical analysis would deny that Valuable player.  At the same time, (As in the case of Bartolotta last year, the best player may miss out on an award because his team was not successful.

No system will be perfect, but this debate has been going on for many, many years in most of the professional sports.

College football may be the most foolish.  Does the Heisman always go the the Best Football Player  in the nation?  Since it is almost exclusively won by QBs, RB's or WR/KRs, it would seem not.  So other awards were created...The Outland Trophy &  The Butkus Award.

I believe it would be simpler for each conference and even at the national level to have BOTH a Best Player (POY) award and a Most Valuable (MVP) award.

Even at the D1 level, we have the  John Wooden Award,  the Naismith College Player of the Year award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy!

"The Wooden Award, presented annually to the outstanding collegiate basketball Player of the Year, was founded in 1976"

"The Naismith College Player of the Year award, named for basketball inventor James Naismith, is given annually by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to college basketball's top male and female player. The first award was given to Lew Alcindor, now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in 1969."

"The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to outstanding men's college basketball players by the United States Basketball Writers Association. The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 1959."

These awards are not always won by the the player with the most impressive stat line.

[Hugenerd]

NCAA Regional Rankings are up (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ncaa/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/DIIIMBBRANKING2-4-09.pdf)

Middlebury is 2nd, Colby is 7, and Amherst is 9.

[Pat Coleman]

Willie Chandler did not win the Jostens. Derek Reich won the Jostens in Chandler's senior year.