MBB: NESCAC

[nescacobserver]

Wow, Nogelo must have been good.  Never saw him play. Jumpshot and Nescac1, did you ever see Matt Hancock from Colby play, in the late 80's?  Kid scored over 30 ppg his senior year, tops in the country, and totally dominated games.  He was only about 6'1 but could play any position on the court.  Got invited to both the Celtics and Warriors rookie camps.  Duncan had a good freshman year and had tremendous upside, but not sure he was the player that Hancock was. Not as tough. But that was a different era....

[polbear73]

Have any of the more experienced posters ever tried to put together an all time All NESCAC team? I imagine it would be an impossible task, but think of the comments and arguments that would arise!

[nescac1]

I never saw Hancock, but by all accounts he was one of the all-time greats in NESCAC.  It's a shame that NESCAC did not compete in the NCAA tourney back when he played. 

I can't recall if anyone has ever tried to do so, polbear73, but I'm guessing we must have.  I think an all-time first-team might actually be fairly uncontroversial: Sheehy-Rehnquist-Nogelo-Hancock-Toomey.  That is a top five that would be really, really hard to crack -- those dudes are all absolute legends, five of the best to ever play D3 ball according to anyone who has seen them play.  The bigger battles would be on the second team, where there are a whole slew of roughly equal candidates with stellar credentials (guys like Olson, Crotty, Coffin, Mayer, Sharry, Rhoten, J. Wilson, Tatum, Tabb, Whittington, Schultz, Zieja).  As great as all of those guys are -- and that group includes several national players of the year -- it would be hard to make a case for any of them to beat out the top five listed above.   

[P'bearfan]

I believe there is far less disparity between the best NESCAC players and mid-major DI players. Just look at Jayde Dawson: he got legit minutes at DI Fairleigh Dickinson and was not an instant impact NESCAC player at Amherst,backing up Reid Berman.

Bucket - I agree with your larger point but your example of Jayde Dawson doesn't really bolster your case.

Dawson appeared in 29 games for Farleigh Dickinson, averaging 7.5 min and 2.6 points per game so at first blush it looks like he "got legit minutes" as you mentioned.  However, if you look more closely at his stats you notice something very different.  Dawson averaged 12.3 minutes / game during the first 6 games but this dropped off dramatically as the season progressed.  He wound up the season playing less than 5 minutes in 13 games - almost half the season.  For many of these 13 games he logged just 1-3 minutes. 

In other words, once the FD staff saw how he performed in games, Dawson stopped getting "legit minutes" pretty quickly.

Again, I agree that many of the top NESCAC players could play meaningful roles on mid-major teams.  I just wouldn't use Dawson as a representative example of how a mid-major D1 player getting reasonable minutes would perform in the NESCAC.

[grabtherim]

D3 versus D1 players has has no definitive answer or rule.  There are always exceptions or guys who end up at D3 who could have or should have played D1.  Clearly Duncan Robinson is one and Sharry is another.  Given the chance to develop under a good D1 coach at a mid major, Ryan would have put up some good numbers. 
That said, I think overall guards at both levels are closer in skills (but probably not speed or ability to get to the rim) than the guys up front are.  To me, Toomey is the perfect example of this.  Put him in a game of 3 on 3 with any D1 guard and he would look great, do the same running full he is likely to be exposed on both ends.  Not a knock on him, the kid is one of the best D3 guards any of us are likely to see, but I believe physically a good D1 guard would dominate a great D3 guard.   

[amh63]

Watched a bit of the williams' OOC game....not much....and saw what previous posters cited.  The passes of the Williams players were crisp and there was a more " relaxed" pace to the game by the Ephs.  Looked like they were running plays in a scrimmage game vice reacting to the situation and often faster pace in a CAC game.  Did notice that Williams had added several players to the team...a backcourt player player or two?  Any comments on the addidtional players?...other than my eyesight .

[nescac1]

No new players, amh63, just went deeper into the bench in this game. 

[nescac1]

Check out this game-saving play from last night's Albertus game, helped secure their home winning streak, which now stands at 53 games:

http://sportzedge.com/2015/02/17/tavon-sledge-hits-clutch-three-at-buzzer-albertus-magnus-completes-crazy-comeback-to-beat-emmanuel-in-ot/

Tavon Sledge, by the way, is the highest profile D1 transfer to come into D3 in quite some time -- he was an impact player at the  high D1 level, and obviously has been an even bigger-impact guy in D3.  The NESCAC tie-in to all this?  Albertus is fast advancing on Williams' D3 record 63-game home winning streak (set way back in 2005).  Of course, the level of competition Albertus has faced in building up that streak is night and day vs. what Williams had to overcome, including multiple wins over an elite Amherst team.  And while I think it's a likely bet that Albertus breaks the record next season, all of their stars are seniors (knowing the coach there, they will surely reload with more monstrously talented transfers), so if they face some tough competition early in the year, anything can happen. 

[grabtherim]

Tavon can play and can do so over the rim but if you want to have some fun, count up the high schools and colleges he has played for.  Bring your calculator. 

[lildave678]

Tavon can play and can do so over the rim but if you want to have some fun, count up the high schools and colleges he has played for.  Bring your calculator.

You don't even need two hands...2 high schools, and 2 colleges before Albertus.

[grabtherim]

Well I guess five schools (St. Bene's, Half Hollows, Iowa St, Iona, and Albertus, correct?) is not so many in the five or so years that I have been watching him. He is really talented and at 5'9" he can throw down with ease.   

[booyakasha]

Tavon can play and can do so over the rim but if you want to have some fun, count up the high schools and colleges he has played for.  Bring your calculator.

You don't even need two hands...2 high schools, and 2 colleges before Albertus.

Not that many from an absolute perspective, but five is 150% more than the likely median (two), and 100% more than my scientifically developed estimate or the average (two and a half, complete wild guess). Boom middle school statistics, consider yourself roasted

[booyakasha]

Also, been away for the last week and wanted to ask about the Sinnickson (sp?) commentary wrt the possibility of playing another year in d1.

I don't have a great read on his abilities, but by all accounts he is clearly a very good NESCAC player and gifted athletically. I find myself wondering how many coaches would want to take a flyer for only 1 year on a guy who is not going to be a complete stud at that level, or have some really special talent like being a specialist 3 point shooter or something. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Another option would be to head to whichever UAA school has the best returning team next year (with appropriate graduate degree program of course). That way you'd have a great school academically, get to travel around a bunch, and be a sure fire impact player on a team looking to compete at the national level.

Either way, I find myself envious of his position.

[amh63]

FYI....Amherst prez announced today the selection of it's new AD.  Nice writeup on the Amherst athletic website.   The interim AD has become the AD...as I had hoped.

[P'bearfan]

http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/sports/mbkb/2014-15/releases/20150217w3whm9

Nice recognition for Lucas Hausman.  Also, I didn't realize that Bowdoin's 2nd seed was it's highest ever.  Great job!

GoUBears!