MBB: NESCAC

[duffer]

Not to take away from the early season activity but there was an Awesome story on ESPN this morning called "Picking Up Butch." Kudos to Middlebury football and basketball players who have carried on a fifty year old tradition of picking up Butch Varno (has Cerebral Palsy) from a nursing home and taking him to every home football & basketball game. Job well done gentlemen!

[topflite1500]

What is going on at Conn College?? I noticed Demetrius Porter is no longer on the roster and two recruited freshmen have quit the team as well. Eight players quit the team last season and three have already thrown in the towel in a matter of three weeks since the start of this season.  What is Coach Satran doing and why doesn't the athletic department make a change? It doesn't seem right for him to be allowed to coach when he has ruined all these player's basketball careers in a matter of one year.

[Old Guy]

Where's "ccsalive" to explain the situation at cc? Sometimes "making a change" involves cleaning house, but that approach usually comes with a new coach, but not always.

I saw the Middlebury team for the first time on Tuesday against a surprisingly game St. Joseph's the Provider of Rutland. I showed up in Rutland for a 7:00 pm game - alas, the game started at 6:00. Nice of the Midldlebury boys to keep it close till I arrived. This was a 2 point game with 10-12 minutes to go. The tide turned when Middlenbury attacked with a half court man-to-man press.

Fun to see Kizel for the first time. He goes to the hoop, hits his foul shots (8pts, 4 assists, 4-4 from the line, in 18 minutes). His play allows Coach Brown some interesting combinations at guard again this year. Locke (17 pts, 9 boards, 6 blocks), Sharry (12 pts, 5 rebs., 5 blocks ) were too much for Joe the Pro.

In-state games in the next week: Johnson State at home, Castleton, a half hour away, Union there a week from tomorrow, then a month off.

Hope you all had a good turkeyday.

[amh63]

It is best, IMO, to let the situation at Conn. "play out" for awhile.  Went to the CC website and studied the recaps/boxscores of the games.  Several interesting points:
The roster has no seniors, all of its nine FY players, and one of its soph players is the 6'10" transfer from the US Naval Academy.  The roster, now meets the 15 player NCAA traveling squad size.
The missing junior Porter, was the high scorer in the lost to Keene St. in the Keene St. tournament.  However, Porter was not selected to the All Tournament Team.  Two other CC players were picked.   Porter was not listed in the boxscore in the following game which CC also lost.
The soph center has not contributed much to the games to date.
The coach has stated that he is trying to blend his new players into the rotation and must work on man to man defense.
The coach is a CC graduate.  In my observation of Amherst games  with CC over the past 4-5 years, his teams did not play much defense and had no real offensive sets.  Maybe the coach is trying a new approach.
I always travel to Amherst MBB games in CT. with an avid BB fan and close friend.  He does not like to watch CC play....he thinks that the CC teams have no offensive structure, too much one-on -one playing ... relying on select players to generate the points.  In brief, my friend cannot understand why the "coach" is still coaching.

[toooldtoplay]

Rick Rielly had a great piece on "Picking up Butch" a few years ago in Sports Illustrated.  It is without a doubt one of the best pieces from one of the best sports essayists I have ever read.  The article brought tears to my eyes. Kudos as well.

[sumfun]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/rick_reilly/news/2003/03/04/life_of_reilly0310/


Above is the link to the Sports Illustrated article by Rick Reilly about Butch.  Great article and Sports Illustrated still misses Rick Reilly.  Last page column hasn't been the same since he left for ESPN.

[Gregory Sager]

What is going on at Conn College?? I noticed Demetrius Porter is no longer on the roster and two recruited freshmen have quit the team as well. Eight players quit the team last season and three have already thrown in the towel in a matter of three weeks since the start of this season.  What is Coach Satran doing and why doesn't the athletic department make a change? It doesn't seem right for him to be allowed to coach when he has ruined all these player's basketball careers in a matter of one year.

How is he "ruining" the careers of these players? They chose to go to Connecticut College; he didn't force them to do so. And in all likelihood they chose to quit the team, rather than being forced to do so. Plus, there's nothing stopping them from transferring to another school and playing there, unless the player in question is a senior.

Let's not coddle these student-athletes or give in to the cultural mindset that every person who doesn't get his way must somehow be a victim who can blame somebody else for his misfortunes.

[topflite1500]

It is apparent that these student athletes did not know what they were getting themselves into. If they had they would have chosen to attend a different college. Don't get me wrong, I agree that athletes should not blame others for their misfortunes, yet for eight CC players to quit last season and three to have already quit this season blatantly shows something wrong with the basketball program. The situation at CC is abnormal, and it is also important to note that the majority of these players were upperclassmen so in some sense their basketball careers are in fact over/ "ruined."

[Gregory Sager]

It is apparent that these student athletes did not know what they were getting themselves into. If they had they would have chosen to attend a different college

That's true of the freshmen, perhaps. But it certainly isn't true of the upperclassmen, who seem to be the reason why you're employing the term "ruined" to describe the departed Camels:

The situation at CC is abnormal, and it is also important to note that the majority of these players were upperclassmen so in some sense their basketball careers are in fact over/ "ruined."

When upperclassman quit, you can't blame it upon their "not knowing what they were getting themselves into." The Conn College coach has been there for nine years now, so he recruited them and coached them from the day they entered school.

Yes, the situation at Conn College is abnormal in the sense that that's a very high attrition rate, particularly of upperclassmen. And that high attrition rate does seem to indicate some dysfunction, although the Camels have really only been down the past two seasons (they were 17-8 in 2007-08). But players being "ruined" because of "not knowing what they were getting themselves into" when in fact they're upperclassmen who were playing for the coach who had recruited them and coached them throughout their entire collegiate careers? Sorry, but that doesn't make any sense.

[topflite1500]

The bottom line is that eleven players came to CC to play basketball and now they aren't. Something is clearly wrong with the program for this to happen.

Congratulations to Satran for achieving a 17-8 record in 2007-08, but the Camels have a dismal 14-58 record in NESCAC games and have not won a playoff game in the eight years he has been coaching. Regardless of players quitting, these stats are embarrassing and it proves that the team needs a change in leadership.

[Gregory Sager]

The bottom line is that eleven players came to CC to play basketball and now they aren't. Something is clearly wrong with the program for this to happen.

Congratulations to Satran for achieving a 17-8 record in 2007-08, but the Camels have a dismal 14-58 record in NESCAC games and have not won a playoff game in the eight years he has been coaching. Regardless of players quitting, these stats are embarrassing and it proves that the team needs a change in leadership.

I'm not arguing against any of that. I simply take issue with the idea that a coach "ruins" players who quit as upperclassmen, or that somehow upperclassmen retain a sense of naivete regarding their coach.

[nescac1]

Williams 5, Middlebury 6, Amherst now in top 25 in the new D3hoops poll:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/index

Basically every New England team of note plays tonight, including all of the NESCAC teams, so it should be interesting. 

Williams has a tough road test vs. a senior-dominated (5 out of top 6 guys) 3-0 RPI team, which has won all three games to date by 14 points or more.  Southern Maine (who surprised Bates on the road) at Bowdoin and in particular Trinity at Western Conn should also be useful early-season barometers. 

[amh63]

Saw online my first Amherst game.  It was over by half time with the score 60-25, with Amherst in the lead.  Everybody played for Amherst.  First impressions:  Amherst is learning to play defense!....hence the first half score.  Amherst was playing with both Meehan and Toomey for much of the first half.  The latter part of the first half had Meehan playing the 2 guard with Toomey playing the point guard.  Meehan would use his size to go inside.  All the new guards played with Kalema and Lewis in at the same time...L. Lewis played the point.  Kalema and Toomey are both quick and fast and will take it to the hoop in traffic.  Toomey is a terrific passer.  However, his team mates often are not expecting his passes.....which I guess means that he is not now a smart passer.  It was good to see S. Noon enter the game near the end and take the point. 
Oh yes, it got sloppy near the end with "strange" combinations.  Amherst won 108 to 68.

[nescac1]

Nice road win by the Ephs, handily beating a 3-0 RPI team despite playing without Nate Robertson.  Hopefully whatever caused Nate to miss the game is not a long term situation ...

James Wang lived up to his all-American billing with 29 points, 9 boards, and 7 assists, including his usual stellar shooting, 8-12 from three.  Wang did have 9 turnovers, but he played almost the entire game and with Robertson out, likely handles the vast bulk of the ball-handling responsibilities.  I expect his TO's to go down a bit as the season wears on and the team gets more into a groove.  The Ephs shot a scorching 15-25 from 3 overall ... much like last year, this team can really light it up when it has it going

Break-out game from frosh Hayden Rooke-Ley, with 6 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists.  I think Rooke-Ley with his strength and aggressive play has the potential to be the best Eph rebounding guard since Chuck Abba, at least.  Nice to see Jordan Mickens have an efficient night in his first career start.  The Ephs seem to have settled on a rotation with a four man bench (when Robertson is healthy) of Rooke-Ley, Mickens, Epley, and Emerson.   

Nice night for NESCAC overall, going 7-2 with all seven wins by double-digits. 

[toad22]

Wow, Wang almost had a quadruple double!?!? Seriously, without Robertson (inflamed elbow from a fall last game), Williams played pretty well against excellent pressure D from RPI. Wang was on fire from 3. Most of his 3s were from 3-4 feet beyond the arc. He was sloppy with the ball tonight but I'm not too worried. There was a nice Williams crowd there tonight.