MBB: NESCAC

[middhoops]

To GTRs point, the NESCAC football board is populated by fans from more than half the schools as well as plenty of outsiders.  Williams fans were very quiet last season.  amh63 can address this better than I, but the Eph\LJ fans are a minority there.
Since most of us don't know squat about the minutiae of admissions at each school, we are left to take the Eph\LJ group's word for the specifics.  And, since we Midd fans will never know what it's like to bring in two D1 transfers....and, since most of the participants on this board are Eph and LJ fans, it's up to us to either bring up a discussion more to our liking or join in theirs.
Come November, teams will lace 'em up.  Hopefully we can attract more fans from Bates, Colby, Trinity, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Tufts and Conn College.  Then we can talk basketball instead of the distractions of the interminably long part of the year that is not D3 basketball season.
amh63, maybe we need to recruit more of these guys for football season.  Remember, you need a body guard.  Or two.

[madzillagd]

Williams fans were very quiet last season. 

Well there are two paths you can choose from when your team doesn't perform - you can defend them and make excuses or you can a call like it is and move on.  I think if you look back those of us that posted we called it like it was: the QB play was poor, the coaching at times confusing, and while they showed signs they just never got it together.  Wasn't much to say because it was a broken record from week to week.  Hopefully we'll have something more to talk about this year but I won't believe it until I see it. 

[amh63]

Loose end responses to items raised by others.
First,....Toad...nice informative post wrt to Williams "democratic" spread of slots.  plus K to you.
Two sports players?  These days it has become rarer, IMO.  Yes met two of them in an elevator..football players.  At Amherst, two BB players in their freshman year are now starters on the football team...lost to the round ball.  Football and basketball is hard...football to baseball is easier, IMO.  It should be pointed out that though Williams is slightly larger...in enrollment...than Amherst, Williams has more varsity teams to be allotted slots for champion caliber student athletes. 
GingerBaker and Nescac 1....on your inquiries pertaining to Pollack.  Here is the info I have knowledge on.  First, Pollack was injured his senior year of high school...foot injury...but was strong in his freshman year...getting much PT as the season progressed.  Last year he was injured early in the season...do not know the injury.  However, talking to his mother at a game after he had an operation, Pollack had repairs to his knee region.  Believe one to correct an ACL tear and another to fix something else found.  In Salem, Conner Green and his father were nurses for Pollack.  Conner mention that he was taking responsibility this summer for his roommate's recovery.  I feel that Pollack is a quick healer, but seems to be injury prone...historically.   
Coach Hixon has had talented players lost to him in recent years...Logan Buckner is an example.  Actually, several 6'7" front court players were absence during the season due to injuries, beside Logan.  Levine was slowed down in his development.  Therefore, a player with SiZE from Arizona may be most welcome...as GingerB...put it nicely...to bounce off on for slim players like Nabatoff and George.
Yes, Sanderson has played...even in his freshman year when he was under 200 lbs.  Last year he was up to 220 but still need to develop his offensive skills.  Aggressive rebounder and has good natural footwork.  Late bloomer from a small HS.  He and his family are from England.  Even scored a few points in Atlanta his first year.
Thanks Midhoops for the Bodyguard remark.  I believe I have that area under control...at least for the Wesleyan football game in Middletown.  Seems I am invited to the Cardinal football tent by a parent, along with my bodyguard.  Do not worry about the game with Williams...it's homecoming and I have my back covered .

[P'bearfan]

Intuitively, I find it hard to believe the best players on the top D3 teams aren't as good as the bench players on lower level D1 teams.

Agreed, and even more when you look at D1 teams like Hartford, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, New Hampshire, Maine or Vermont, there are any number of players at NESCAC, NE10 or even some LEC schools that could get significant playing time. It really comes down to which AAU team, who knows whom, whose Coach has a connection. Other than the top programs and some bigs, there is but a fine line between most good players.

Agree with your perspective and have an interesting example.  Two years ago, Amherst saw film of Brooks Doyle - a great spot up shooter from Atlanta - and started recruiting him hard even though it was January of Brooks' senior year.  Brooks has incredible range and would have been an outstanding NESCAC player (he's similar to Duncan Robinson from outside though not as dangerous off the dribble).  For many reasons Brooks decided to go to Ga Tech where he was a preferred walk on.  He saw action in 8 games this past season.  So yes, top NESCAC players are at least as good as bench players on some D1 teams.  I think the key question is: what type of experience do you want?

[amh63]

P'Bear.....fine thoughts.  Amherst does have some valuable connections in Atlanta.  In Atlanta in 2013, a local alum made arrangement for the BB team to get some practice time after the plane ride down...in a private school facility.  It is also interesting that there was another practice time in a Ga. Tech facility.  Amherst alum arranged and funded the after game reception.  Would be nice to think that Amherst and the "lost Ga." recruit made some contact.  Just hellos...not for recruiting purposes.
Madz....one good thing happen for Williams football in the upcoming season.  No Bates!  Amherst has to meet the Bobcats.  Williams, I believe, gets the hopeless Hamilton team.  New HFC at Hamilton that arrives on June I.  See a better chance for Williams to open the season with a win over Hamilton than Bates.

[P'bearfan]

It's not a reflection on these individual players.  I'm sure they could have been admitted out of high school.  But if you think that most other NESCAC coaches can add two D1 transfers to an already huge seven man recruiting class, you think wrong.

Yeah, I'm pretty confident that would never happen at Bowdoin. 

[jumpshot]

amHerst's approach to athletics has been explicitly stated by the "front office" (president, athletic director, retiring head of admissions) and reported on this board previously. In short, as toad suggests, athletic teams are tiered and considered either a major sport (basketball, soccer, tennis, etc., in which impact players provide a huge advantage) or minor sport treated with polite indifference.

The stated intent every year for the major sports at amHerst is to win a national championship. For example, amH63 points out the men's tennis won this year's Division III national championship without noting the team played 39 matches (36-3) , including three in one day on several occasions. Williams who has won national championships in tennis and is routinely selected for the NCAA tournament played 23 matches, almost half as many. Other observers on related boards have noted the emphasis on soccer and lacrosse with the accompanying pressure manifesting itself in behavioral issues by coaches and players. Recent losses in to Williams in Elite 8 or Final Four competitions carry disproportionate weight with amHerst loyalists.

According to amHerst alumni and administrators, this approach has merits, including the "marketing" of the school, avoiding directly competing with Williams' success in the Directors' Cup, distributing "tips" across fewer teams, concentrating transfer students in filling needs, etc.

Conversely, Williams College supports more varsity teams (a total of 30, including rowing, skiing, wrestling), as well as more junior varsity and club teams. This approach results in the broadest possible participation with a record of consistent excellence sustained for many years in which tips are managed fairly and transfers are rare. At the end of the day, it is all about emphasizing academics first, maximizing participation, and competing to win.

Other NESCAC schools, perhaps Middlebury, Bowdoin, and an emerging Wesleyan approximate this same approach as Williams.

I agree with toad that each school does and should do what is in its best interests ---and it is healthy for amHerst (and its posters here to dilute their obsession with Williams; ever notice that most of amh63's posts include some reference to Williams regardless of topic).

So, as pointed out previously, the NESCAC landscape has changed in recent years to a far more differentiated environment.

It is the reality at the moment ---so let's all remember the games are for the players.

[amh63]

Jumpshot...need to focus in your posts...what is your point..hard for me to understand...trying,since you mentioned me.
Anyway, an explanation to the number of Men's tennis matches.  Relative new coach has big squads.  When the team goes to the West Coast for matches, early in the season, the coach  sets up matches with a number of schools in an area.....splits up his squad into several teams and lets them play. Counts all contests, even with Div 1 schools.  Let's his players get experience, etc. Does not have a J.V. Squad and allows him to mix and match players on squads...often for evaluation purposes.  Approach seems to work for his players, the coach...and for me.
On other appropriate boards, I have posted that the Amherst baseball team will travel to Japan in August....and that the men's soccer team was in Paris for an Amherst Alum event..this week.  Point out these events here to show that Amherst alums think about the players too, as well as the school.

[nescac1]

One more Amherst recruit announced: George Beecham, a PG from Chicago.

[amh63]

NESCAC 1.....Thanks!   As always...my question to you remains...where do you get this info?
Makes the freshman class a trio. .... Or as Hoya 74 views it, now a class of 5.

[frank uible]

amh63: A correction - Williams' 2014 football schedule will include Bates but will drop Colby in favor of Bowdoin.

[amh63]

Frank U. ....thanks for the info.  Shows how I take a bit of info and extrapolate it down an incorrect road.  No excuse. Just remember that Amherst exchanges it's first  game between Bates and Hamilton in recent years.  With the great improvement in the Bates team, the Bobcats are a different "cat" to open a season.

[amh63]

Looked up the new "recruit" from the Chicago area.  See him as a player  that could develop into a fine back-up  PG down the road...not an impact player presently.  It is interesting that he is in a region not far from Berman and it would not surprise me if Amherst's heir to the PG spot has not made contact.

[jumpshot]

Women's lacrosse ----Breaking News!

Trinity upsets Cortland while Salsbury buries amHerst. amH63 at the game, calls for investigation of amHerst athletics while passing the hat among stunned lord Jeff loyalists who were promised a national championship to raise funds for lacrosse recruiting budget, more transfers, etc.

[middhoops]

As Vandy would tell all of you guys: the Trinity women's lacrosse coach is a Middlebury townie and a Midd alum.  She baby sat my daughter.  Both parents were high school classmates of Vandy.
We Midd fans are all about Trinity now.

Someone here should be.