MBB: NESCAC

[P'bearfan]

With three ace perimeter shooters graduating, Bowdoin's biggest hole / question mark next year is scoring from deep on the wing

Absolutely agree - Bowdoin lost a great deal of offensive firepower with the graduation of Mathias, White and Madlinger.  Hopefully we'll see some guys step up and grab the opportunity.

[P'bearfan]

http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/sports/general/2014/number5

Bowdoin's athletic department has been releasing a list of the top 10 plays of the year.  Matt Mathias' last second, game-winning shot against Bates in December was #5.  I won't forget that game (or that play) for a long time.

[madzillagd]

Midd with a mention in the last Rick Reilly sports column...

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/11049946/rick-reilly-last-column

[grabtherim]

Midd with a mention in the last Rick Reilly sports column...

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/11049946/rick-reilly-last-column

Rick Reilly's ability to express his honesty with sly humor and self deprecation always made him a great read.  His last column hits great points and puts an exclamation point on an impressive career.   

[jackson5]

Mike Maker linked to Marist job.

http://www.nycbuckets.com/2014/06/perception-marist-job-strong-candidate-pool/

[NothingButNESCAC]

Absolutely agree - Bowdoin lost a great deal of offensive firepower with the graduation of Mathias, White and Madlinger.  Hopefully we'll see some guys step up and grab the opportunity.

My prediction is that we see one of the Palecki, Pieri, or Fuller group play pretty extensively on the wing especially if Bowdoin remains a predominantly zone team on defense because that way none of them could be exposed by a quick wing on defense.

As for backup PG, Jake Donnelly has played pretty sparingly in his first two years and was robbed of most of last year because of injury, but he will still be a junior who has shown he is good enough to get on the court and not combust into a pile of turnovers. He won't change games, but he is going to be a sturdy guard who will play hopefully about fifteen minutes a game.

Finally in relation to the small recruiting classes that HBC is forced to bring in. This is true across just about every sport (hockey might be the one notable exception) and is also felt on the football field to a large degree. It increases the pressure to not miss on a single recruit, something that Bowdoin has actually done exceptionally well in recent years.

[toad22]

This Marist opening is very bad news for Williams basketball. I don't know what Maker's attitude toward the job is, but Marist seems to like his offensive style, which is quite unique, and might be good for them, because they are looking to impose more academic rigor on their athletes than the rest of their league. Maker's style doesn't require that the players be as athletic as their opponents.

[nescac1]

Coach Maker is a class act and a great basketball mind who absolutely deserves a shot at D1.  He will get it, for certain, sooner or later.  As an Eph fan, I'd really love to see him stick around to try to grab that elusive national championship that has so BARELY eluded him, and with Duncan Robinson around for three more years, I think there will be at least one or two more good opportunities to do so.  But I can't begrudge Maker the chance to grab a Division I offer, and I wish him luck.  If Maker does leave, the Eph coaching vacancy is certainly a plum one, given that the last two coaches before Maker are now, respectively, the AD at Dartmouth and a succesful head coach at Bucknell, and the returning talent on hand is tremendous. 

[amh63]

NothingButNescac......very interesting post from a Polar Bear fan.  There seems to be an inference that Bowdoin is somewhat "handicapped" in the recruiting aspects to sports...numbers?, etc.  Would be interested if you care to elaborate or just tell me that I read too much in the post .  I feel that Bowdoin is the closest to Amherst among the schools in the conference....in size, academic reputation, etc....so I am curious.  Have several classmates that have sons that excelled in sports at Bowdoin and is a topic of conversation when we gather.

[jackson5]

I don't know how well Maker would do in D-1. Williams was already a national champion before him, and while he's gotten them close a couple times he still hasn't won one yet. Plus there's the whole issue of what connections he has with division 1 athletes instead of just division 3, and if he can recruit scholarship players instead of non-scholarship guys. Marist would be better off going with a D-1 assistant or a d-2 head coach before allowing Maker to make the job all the way to D1.

[madzillagd]

J5 - Maker was a D1 assistant for 17 years before taking the Williams job. For much of that time he was the lead assistant and head recruiter with the programs he was at. He would have no problem recruiting D1 kids. He's already got at least twice as much D1 experience was most D1 assistants that land their first job, and he's already proven he can win as a head coach.

[P'bearfan]

I don't know how well Maker would do in D-1. Williams was already a national champion before him, and while he's gotten them close a couple times he still hasn't won one yet. Plus there's the whole issue of what connections he has with division 1 athletes instead of just division 3, and if he can recruit scholarship players instead of non-scholarship guys. Marist would be better off going with a D-1 assistant or a d-2 head coach before allowing Maker to make the job all the way to D1.

It seems that all of these arguments would have applied to Dave Paulsen before he took the Bucknell job.  If you compare Paulsen and Maker's time at Williams they have eerily similar (and outstanding) accomplishments:

Paulsen:
8 years
170-53 (0.762)
4 Tournament appearances
1 nat'l championship
1 nat'l runner up

Maker:
6 years
147-32 (0.821)
4 tournament appearances
2 nat'l runner up

Based on these data, Maker would make an excellent choice for a mid-major D1 program.  Also, he's clearly been able to recruit D1 talent (aka Duncan Robinson). 

Objectively speaking I think Maker would be a great fit at Marist.  Less objectively, I hope he gets the offer, takes the job and Robinson decides to go with him (that guy can just kill you from anywhere on the floor).

[middhoops]

PB, I'm not touching that except to say there is little to negative upside for Duncan Robinson to transfer to Marist.  As for the rest, good luck with Eph fans.  +k for your grit.

[Bucket]

I don't know how well Maker would do in D-1. Williams was already a national champion before him, and while he's gotten them close a couple times he still hasn't won one yet. Plus there's the whole issue of what connections he has with division 1 athletes instead of just division 3, and if he can recruit scholarship players instead of non-scholarship guys. Marist would be better off going with a D-1 assistant or a d-2 head coach before allowing Maker to make the job all the way to D1.

It seems that all of these arguments would have applied to Dave Paulsen before he took the Bucknell job.  If you compare Paulsen and Maker's time at Williams they have eerily similar (and outstanding) accomplishments:

Paulsen:
8 years
170-53 (0.762)
4 Tournament appearances
1 nat'l championship
1 nat'l runner up

Maker:
6 years
147-32 (0.821)
4 tournament appearances
2 nat'l runner up

Based on these data, Maker would make an excellent choice for a mid-major D1 program.  Also, he's clearly been able to recruit D1 talent (aka Duncan Robinson). 

Objectively speaking I think Maker would be a great fit at Marist.  Less objectively, I hope he gets the offer, takes the job and Robinson decides to go with him (that guy can just kill you from anywhere on the floor).

The far more relevant criteria, as far as recruiting DI athletes, is Mike's proven track record as a D-I assistant—at Creighton, West Virginia, Samford, and Dartmouth. It's the perfect blend, really—recruiting elite athletes and players at Creighton and Wes Virginia; recruiting DI talent to places like Samford and Dartmouth, two teams that require a specific type of player to be competitive in their conferences.

[amh63]

When the topic of the HBC of Williams being a possible candidate for the Marist position, I was interested enough to look up the school.  Still do not know if it would be a place that Maker would consider other than a stepping stone to another D1 job ...like an Ivy or Patriot league position or Northwestern or Vanderbuilt job...where academics enter the pic in recruiting and coaching.
In any case, I decided to avoid the topic.

However, PB and Middhoops posts brought a smile to my face...in that I too thought about a Duncan R. transfer.
In any case, if Maker does make a move, best of luck to him.  The conference will miss him, IMO.