MBB: NESCAC

Old Guy · June 16, 2015, 09:21:57 PM

Quote from: grabtherim on June 15, 2015, 02:56:10 PM
Former Middlebury player Andrew Locke '11 doing his best to make the world a better place. Way to go Andrew.
https://vimeo.com/129616691

Nice piece. Andrew is the real deal. It will be interesting to follow his career. He told me of his experience looking at colleges as a high school student. He went to one Ivy League school and mentioned to the coach that he wanted to major in neuroscience - and the coach said that would be impossible. He said, in effect, "thank you very much, arrivederci." We were the beneficiary - so much fun to watch those great Middlebury teams with Andrew guarding the rim. Unforgettable. Carry on, Andrew.

JustAFan · June 16, 2015, 11:52:49 PM

The Williams men's basketball summer newsletter confirms that the Ephs will be the league's "stand alone" team for the next 2 seasons and will play league games on Fridays and Sundays. Will the women follow the same schedule? Any insight on why this is a two year penance as opposed to being rotated on an annual basis among all league teams?

grabtherim · June 17, 2015, 05:40:34 AM

Not sure how it works, but did you raise the same concern before it was Williams turn to get this honor? Simply put, going through it stinks.

amh63 · June 17, 2015, 10:35:19 AM

"Stand Alone"?...I infer that means not having a "traveling" partner. I do not remember if any post here discussed the impact factors of such a position...if there is an impact. Question of back to back games, etc are so intertwined with the team make-up, opponents to face and the depth of teams to suggest a few.
Since this is Summer time slow period...may I suggest it to be a topic? Other conf boards have talked of out-of- conference scheduled opponents....a hot topic when conferences are changing members, etc. The CAC does not have that immediate problem, but it does have the same "strength of schedule" concerns when the post season bids become into focus.

Bucket · June 17, 2015, 04:18:47 PM

Quote from: amh63 on June 17, 2015, 10:35:19 AM
"Stand Alone"?...I infer that means not having a "traveling" partner. I do not remember if any post here discussed the impact factors of such a position...if there is an impact. Question of back to back games, etc are so intertwined with the team make-up, opponents to face and the depth of teams to suggest a few.
Since this is Summer time slow period...may I suggest it to be a topic? Other conf boards have talked of out-of- conference scheduled opponents....a hot topic when conferences are changing members, etc. The CAC does not have that immediate problem, but it does have the same "strength of schedule" concerns when the post season bids become into focus.

We've talked about this ad nauseum! As discussed at great length, Midd just went through this horrible set up for two years. Hamilton had the honors before that. Now it's Williams's turn. I suspect that Amherst will follow...

Williams will not play back to back games this year, yet on each weekend they play, they will still have two games to play while their opponents will have just one, with the biggest advantage going to the Sunday opponent.

nescac1 · June 17, 2015, 05:13:00 PM

NESCAC needs to poach another school to make the schedule (in many sports) work better. I vote Vassar: a perfect fit academically and would add to NESCAC's overall cache. Liberty League would be left with an even ten schools, while NESCAC is up to an even dozen. A natural traveling partner for Hamilton (even though they are pretty far apart geographically, it's an easy trip). An easy trip from Williams, Amherst and from all of the Connecticut schools (a brutal trip from Maine, but the trip to and from Maine is brutal for almost everyone). It would give NESCAC more of a foothold closer to NYC. We could even one day divide NESCAC in half for a double round-robin play in each half: NESCAC west, Hamilton, Vassar, Williams, Midd, Amherst, Wesleyan, and NESCAC east, Trinity, Tufts, Conn, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, yeah, west would be pretty stacked in men's hoops, but in most sports, would be fairly balanced). Make it happen, NESCAC presidents!

amh63 · June 17, 2015, 05:52:32 PM

Bucket...again..I needed that! My older brain remembers details of the far past than some more recent info. Anyway, if I recall...some of the Panthers troubles seemed to be due to difficult weather conditions that made travel delays, short practice times, etc.
I have been informed that the present "stand alone" arrangement is because of the 11 basketball playing conference schools resulting in.....5 pairs plus 1 stand alone team. The two year cycle is due to the H/a cycle. Hamilton was the first school, followed by Middlebury last year and now Williams. Amherst will follow Williams.
Nescac1, interesting proposition. However, it maybe a good situation for BB with the addition of Vassar or Sidmore. However, the conference does NOT need another former women's college with no history of a football team....if they would be interesting in joining. Be more realistic in inviting Union back into the conference....or Rochester...or MIT. Thought better of going after RPI. College Prez needs to go to a 9 game schedule in football first!

Old Guy · June 18, 2015, 02:05:12 PM

Quote from: amh63 on June 17, 2015, 05:52:32 PM
Bucket...again..I needed that! My older brain remembers details of the far past than some more recent info. Anyway, if I recall...some of the Panthers troubles seemed to be due to difficult weather conditions that made travel delays, short practice times, etc.
I have been informed that the present "stand alone" arrangement is because of the 11 basketball playing conference schools resulting in.....5 pairs plus 1 stand alone team. The two year cycle is due to the H/a cycle. Hamilton was the first school, followed by Middlebury last year and now Williams. Amherst will follow Williams.
Nescac1, interesting proposition. However, it maybe a good situation for BB with the addition of Vassar or Sidmore. However, the conference does NOT need another former women's college with no history of a football team....if they would be interesting in joining. Be more realistic in inviting Union back into the conference....or Rochester...or MIT. Thought better of going after RPI. College Prez needs to go to a 9 game schedule in football first!

NESCAC1 makes some very good points. amh63 too. Would MIT consider something like this? Rochester's so far - can you imagine driving all that way, on I-90, in winter! From Maine! Also does it matter that the NE in NESCAC stands for"New England"? I would love further reason to go to Saratoga Springs.

amh63 · June 18, 2015, 02:45:46 PM

Some random thoughts on adding another BB playing school to the conference.
First...adding a school with a football team would really be pushing the Presidents...a 10 game schedule, etc.
Giving the above complexity....it is still possible to have a football school enter the conference for BB only or exclude football. I remember reading that the UAA schools are making some moves in that direction as conference memberships are in flux.
There is also the possibility of getting NYU into the conference. It has a strong history of good Teams for both women and men....oh yes..the Big Apple....would not hurt SOS.
To respond to Old Guy's inquiry wrt Skidmore....IMO, the basketball programs at Skidmore are stronger presently than at Vassar...plus it is a shorter trip for the present conference schools. Better eating spots, shopping, etc. academically, there is little difference between Vassar and Skidmore.
I maybe in trouble with a number of Vassar grads here...especially the wives of classmates. Nah...I will be OK.... they are not strong sports fans!

Old Guy · June 18, 2015, 08:27:00 PM

Quote from: amh63 on June 18, 2015, 02:45:46 PM
Some random thoughts on adding another BB playing school to the conference.
First...adding a school with a football team would really be pushing the Presidents...a 10 game schedule, etc.
Giving the above complexity....it is still possible to have a football school enter the conference for BB only or exclude football. I remember reading that the UAA schools are making some moves in that direction as conference memberships are in flux.
There is also the possibility of getting NYU into the conference. It has a strong history of good Teams for both women and men....oh yes..the Big Apple....would not hurt SOS.
To respond to Old Guy's inquiry wrt Skidmore....IMO, the basketball programs at Skidmore are stronger presently than at Vassar...plus it is a shorter trip for the present conference schools. Better eating spots, shopping, etc. academically, there is little difference between Vassar and Skidmore.
I maybe in trouble with a number of Vassar grads here...especially the wives of classmates. Nah...I will be OK.... they are not strong sports fans!

Like I said, it's the NEW ENGLAND Small College Athletic Conference. If it were otherwise, I would favor almost any of the old Presidents' Conference members (Rochester, NYU, Johns Hopkins, CWRU, Carnegie Mellon, et al, hell, even Wash U of St. Louis): they would be naturals, generally about the same size as Tufts, no? So I would endorse MIT because it's actually in New England. Am I being picky? Brandeis?

quicksilver · June 19, 2015, 04:06:06 AM

Sadly, Aaron Toomey's playing days are likely over due to the head injury he suffered in Spain this past season. He'll be serving as an assistant to Coach Hixon during the upcoming season.

P'bearfan · June 19, 2015, 11:51:19 AM

QuoteSadly, Aaron Toomey's playing days are likely over due to the head injury he suffered in Spain this past season. He'll be serving as an assistant to Coach Hixon during the upcoming season.

Thanks for the update.

Very sorry to hear that Toomey's playing days are over. Glad he'll still have his hand in the game though. Best of luck to him.

grabtherim · June 19, 2015, 04:21:18 PM

Not easy to go out when you feel you have have more games left to play. Good luck to him in whatever the future holds.

JustAFan · June 20, 2015, 12:30:51 PM

The Tufts coaching staff suffers a big loss as assistant coach (and primary recruiter) Keith Zalaski has left to take the head coaching position at the Rivers School in Weston, MA, where he will also teach mathematics. Zalaski has coached at Tufts for the past 5 years. A 2006 Amherst grad and 2 sport athlete (hoops and co-captain of golf) with a masters from Tufts, Zalaski was the head coach at 2 other independent schools before joining the Tufts staff. He did a great job recruiting a lot of talented Jumbo players the past 4 years, and I hope that Tufts keeps him on its short list of potential candidates to succeed Coach Sheldon when he is ready to retire. Good article here on Coach Hixon helping a guy who was "probably the most talented, underplayed guard" in his 35 years at Amherst get his first job:

http://tuftsdaily.com/sports/2012/02/06/mens-basketball-amherst-alumnus-keith-zalaski-finds-home-on-tufts-bench/

amh63 · June 20, 2015, 02:52:17 PM

JustAFan.....thanks for the link and the news!. The "old Tufts article" dated 2012 brought back memories....of watching the Amherst games during the Keith years in LeFrak and in Salem, Va.
I remember meeting and chatting with his father in the stands in LeFrak and elsewhere. Once in Lancaster, Pa., my youngest son, Joshua, Amh95, and I went up to watch Amherst play a regional NCAA final game. We needed to get a quick bite before the game. Keith's parents asked us to join their table...avoiding a long wait. A modest man, Keith's father never made mention of his professional connections to BB or education. Oh yes, Amherst won the game at the Franklin & Marshall Gym and went on to Salem, Va. It was in Keith's soph year...'03-'04.
The news is surprising timing of sorts...to me. First, Keith is returning to coaching at the prep school level...and teaching. Amherst just lost a top assistant...a teammate of Keith...to the HBC at TCNJ, and would seem to have a vacancy on the bench presently.
In any case...Fair Winds to Keith! He can wear Purple again.
Made a mistake...thinking Keith was on the '07 title team. The Tufts article had the correct graduation year but made a statement that he was a year ahead of Olsen...he was TWO years ahead. Olsen made POY in ' 07 and '08. Anyway, playing time was hard for a guard...two D.C. guards...Harper and Lee got mucho time...Harper was, IMO, one of the best defensive guards in the conference during his playing years at Amherst.