MBB: NESCAC

[walzy31]

Props to some recent Amherst Assistant coaches. Hixon's tree continues to grow:

Adam Hutch - Head Coach Washington & Lee
Luke Flockerzi - Head Coach Skidmore
Mark Gilbride - Head Coach Clarkson*
Koby Altman - Assistant Coach Southern Illinois University*
Jamie Snyder Fair - Assistant Coach Yale University*

*Denotes 2009 hiring.

Looking forward to seeing where this year's two assistant wind up in a year or two.

[nescac1]

Congrats to the Ephs inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame:

http://athletics.williams.edu/sports/General_News_Items/Frew-_Paulsen-_2003NCAA_Champs_-_Quinn_named_to_NE_Basketball_Hall_of_Fame

Been pretty quiet on the board, any pre-season buzz on new frosh, break-out players, etc.? 

Williams schedule posted:

http://williams.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2009-10/Schedule

Not too many non-conference games of note.  Salem State, Randolph Macon (if they meet in that tourney) and Hamilton look to the best squads they face outside of NESCAC, unless there are good teams they hit in the second round of their own home tourney.  Of course, NESCAC should be MUCH improved next year (I wouldn't be surprised if the league, collectively, doubled its non-conference win total from an unusually down year), so the league schedule will be tough for everyone.  With Wesleyan, Conn and Tufts all likely to be much improved, won't be any gimme games anymore ...

[JustAFan]

The fall edition of the Williams basketball newsletter lists the Ephs 6 incoming freshmen players:

Dan DiVietri, a 6'4" shooting guard from Chaminade HS, Long Island NY (all Long Island 1st team, Class A 6th team all-state)

Chase Hicks, a 6'4" 2/3 swing player from Winston Churchill HS in Silver Springs, MD (1st team all-Montgomery County)

Sean Hoffman, a 6'7" forward from Lewis and Clark HS in Spokane, WA (2d team all region)

James Klemm, a 6'3" guard from Heritage HS in Highlands Ranch, CO (Class 5A 2d team all-state)

Parker McClelland, a 6'5" forward from Port Townsend HS, Port Townsend WA (Class 1A first team all-state, local region MVP)

Nate Robertson, a 6'3" guard from Pioneer HS, Ann Arbor MI (4th team all-state, 1st team all-west and 1st team all area)


While DiVietri, Klemm and  and Robertson have gotten most of the attention so far (and give the Ephs a promising backcourt rotation for the next 4 years) McClelland's background also impresses me and Hicks, who is very athletic, may be the sleeper of the group.

[BankShotCharlie]

It's almost been 2 weeks since the last post.  Has the 2010 NESCAC Basketball season been canceled?  Can we get some chatter in here?

[ephoops]

Williams announced its new president -- Adam Falk, 44, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins.

I watched the video of his speech to the campus yesterday.  He went out of his way to mention that he's a big hoops fan.  He grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and is an avid Carolina fan / Duke hater.

He should fit right in with the Williams / Amherst rivalry...

As I've noted previously, Morty Schapiro was a big supporter of NESCAC and NCAA post season playoff participation.  Falk's initial remarks appear to indicate that he will continue to be an advocate of NCAA post playoff participation as well.  Nonetheless, we'll need to take a "wait and see" approach on the issue.

His support is important because there was more than one occasion during Morty's tenure where he had to convince a majority of the NESCAC presidents to continue the policy of post season NCAA play.  

NESCAC fans don't realize how close we came earlier in this decade to the presidents deciding to eliminate post season NCAA participation...

Here's the link to the announcement and video on the Williams website:

http://www.williams.edu/admin/president/17/

[senatorfrost]

 Ephoops:
   Do you know which presidents wanted to drop the NCAA's? A couple years ago I was told that the Middlebury president as well as the Amherst president were all for playing in the NCAA's. Of course that came from someone I was sitting next to and who knows what he really knew or didn't know. Also do you know about what year the almost gone thing actually happened.
  I watched a few minutes of the talk and for a moment he almost convinced me that Williams was the best college in the country. Then I came to my senses and realized that Swarthmore is still #1.

Hail the Topaz! or is it the Garnet?

[ephoops]

Sen. Frost:

I will not name names but I think it's fair to say that the NESCAC presidents presiding at schools that have had broad-based success competing in post season NCAA tournaments are, for the most part, supportive of NCAA post season play.  Certain schools that have not enjoyed this success would not mind seeing NESCAC go back to the old system of not participating in NCAA post season tournaments.

The events I alluded to happened earlier in the decade.

There is no question that Morty Schapiro was, by far, the biggest supporter of NCAA post season play.  With Morty at Northwestern, the anti-NCAA "bloc" among the current NESCAC presidents may feel that they have an opening and a potentially sympathetic ear in Falk.  I hope that is not the case...

[walzy31]

Congratulations to Glenn Wong (Amherst '09) for signing a professional contract for the UL Eagles of the Superleague in Limerick, Ireland.

[fpc85]

Way to go Glen!! I love those Amherst ballers!

[frank uible]

Wouldn't it be a wonderful open mindedl idea for each liberal arts college to decide its own and only its own participation or non-participation as it sees fit, irrespective of the decisions of other liberal arts colleges - thereby avoiding any illiberal attempt to impose its values on others?

[lefrakenstein]

Not really, no. How would we handle a post-season tournament if the winner receives an AQ? Would the league still get an AQ? Would having post-season eligible teams and non-postseason eligible teams in the same league skew the level of competition (with the better kids going to the schools with a chance to play for a national title)?

I like the sentiment, but I don't think it's practical. Have to decide as a conference.

[amh63]

frank U.
  Suggest you do not dream about the good old days.  I remember the days of two way football players; when Amherst's terrible BB teams would play Holy Cross with Jack "the shot" Foley...the All American; when Amherst's soccer team would play Harvard and UConn.  There were no specific NCAA divisions.  One played regional teams and the NCAA was not the monster organization it now has become.  In most sports, the coaches would schedule teams that would give their team a good game.  Amherst football would schedule Springfield, the Coast Guard Academy and even AIC.  I do not believe the college President worried about the NCAA or title X.  He was expected to show up at the critical games and cheer.  Where did sports among the conference schools go wrong?

[frank uible]

NESCAC colleges conspire against students and prospective students by agreeing to limit competition among the colleges for the students in terms of more attractive football and possibly other athletic scheduling.

[met_fan]

Can anyone enlighten me about this recruiting formula?  Here's an excerpt from a student newspaper column talking about Hamilton's full entry into the league with the AD:

"The recruiting budget is based on a system and uses a formula based on numerous factors. According to this formula, according to Jon Hind, other schools (like Amherst, whose budget, according last week's Spectator editorial, is $51,093) are grossly over the recruiting budget."

Here's the full column:

https://my.hamilton.edu/Spectator/nescac.html

[walzy31]

Too many uses of the word "according" in that quotation...

Marcus Bradley - Amherst '09 just signed a contract in Denmark on the same team that Brian Baskauskas is playing for.