MBB: NESCAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Marlon Sears gets his first commitment, Noah Helmke:

https://twitter.com/middlesexmagic/status/1290690961350242305?s=21

From Crotty's AAU team, too.

[SpringSt7]

We are definitely seeing earlier commitments this year on a COVID related timeline. Crotty knows the recruiting landscape as well as anyone, it will be interesting to see how this plays a role in a couple of years. For example, I think any school with a lot of young talent---Williams, Hamilton, Colby, for example, although there are certainly others---will be able to get kids they otherwise might not have gotten because of limited early opportunities for playing time. But now, these kids might just have to take what they can get.

[SpringSt7]

Marlon Sears gets his first commitment, Noah Helmke:

https://twitter.com/middlesexmagic/status/1290690961350242305?s=21

From Crotty's AAU team, too.

It is kind of incredible how far Crotty's Middlesex Magic have come in the last decade or so. When Duncan was on the team, I think their best player/biggest name ended up at Princeton or something like that. Cole Prowitt-Smith's teammates went to Harvard and George Mason. Noah Helmke didn't even play on Crotty's main 17u team. Just crazy.

[nescac1]

Speaking of Duncan, this is unreal.  He's the best shooter currently healthy and playing in the NBA.  He's come a loooooong way in just six years ... if you watch him now teams freak our defensively whenever he's a tiny bit open on the perimeter.  Changes the entire defensive strategy (as you'd expect for someone who averages generating 1.35 points each time he touches the ball with a clean view of the rim). 

Miami's Duncan Robinson has 252 3's this season on .446 shooting from beyond the arc.

The only other player in NBA history to make that many 3's and shoot them that well over a full season?

Some guy named Stephen Curry.

[amh63]

As usual, was scanning the Nescac schools website.  On the Bates' site, there was a notable writeup wrt to the passing of a Bates' alum that worked in the Admission office and loved/supported the Bates' BB team.  In the long writeup there was a pic of him shaking hands with a former Admission dean/alum who happen to be the father of Old Guy, a frequent poster on this board.  Old Guy! Hope you and your family are well. Hope to read your post here if we ever have a Nescac Season.

[PolarBear16]

Speaking of Duncan, this is unreal.  He's the best shooter currently healthy and playing in the NBA.  He's come a loooooong way in just six years ... if you watch him now teams freak our defensively whenever he's a tiny bit open on the perimeter.  Changes the entire defensive strategy (as you'd expect for someone who averages generating 1.35 points each time he touches the ball with a clean view of the rim). 

Miami's Duncan Robinson has 252 3's this season on .446 shooting from beyond the arc.

The only other player in NBA history to make that many 3's and shoot them that well over a full season?

Some guy named Stephen Curry.

Was coming to comment similarly about how freaking good Duncan Robinson is. It is crazy to think that he became a 6th man his senior season at Michigan but has become this good this quickly in the NBA. He made some huge 3's against the Celtics last week to win it for the Heat. I'm sure it was sweet for him to play that well against his hometown team.

I'm a pretty young guy so I have to ask: is Duncan Robinson the best NESCAC player ever? I'm not talking about what they did when they played in the NESCAC but their career as a whole. I don't know if there are other NESCAC players who ended up going to play in the NBA or not.

Also, I'm watching the Utah Jazz game right now and hear the name Miye Oni. Oni is now on the fringe of the Jazz rotation. Took me a minute to remember, but Oni had committed to Williams before changing and going to Yale. Would have been something if he went to Williams, even if he went the transfer route after one year like Duncan did.

[nescac1]

Duncan is without question the best NESCAC player ever.  I don't think any NESCAC player is even remotely close.  Now, he didn't have the best career because he only played one year.  But there has been no NESCAC player who was better than Duncan was as a frosh and certainly no one who's had a career even close to approximating what he's done.  There are a handful of guys who were arguably better as juniors/seniors than Duncan was as a first-year, but no one who was nearly as good at the same stage. 

I can't imagine we will ever see a NESCAC player becoming an NBA starter for at least many decades to come.  Duncan was the perfect storm ... first, when he was recruited to Williams, the three point shot wasn't nearly as important in hoops as it has become, nowadays a shooter like him with good size would never slip past big-time D1 programs (and of course even in 2014, Duncan was considered a steal for Williams).  The entire game of hoops changed after Stephen Curry's shooting revolution and now everyone is desperate for generational three point shooters.  He is also a late bloomer physically, as he put on two inches, a ton of muscle, and a ton on his vertical between his time at Exeter and his first year in the NBA.  And there is basically no one out there, anywhere, who works harder on his craft, so of course he's improved by leaps and bounds in terms of his hoops skills.  Forget just NESCAC - the only other D3 player in the last 30 years who has made an impact in the NBA was Devean George, and he was even more of a later bloomer physically than Duncan, sprouting from 6'2 to 6'7 (or something like that) while in college. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

DR is what he is today because of his work ethic and the U of Michigan strength coach.  He was already probably the finest pure shooter I ever saw in person (in Salem in the 2014 FF), but I described him then as 'wispy' and got several posters who agreed with that description.  There is no way he could have even survived the Big 10, much less the NBA, without considerable physical development.  Now making an all-star team or two would not at all surprise me.

This is probably going a step too far, but at the rate he has already developed could the HoF be in his future?

[SpringSt7]

While I wouldn't say I "expect" anything out of Duncan's further development, it seems ridiculous to put a ceiling on him as well. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

What's even crazier is that this was probably a make or break year for his career. Not a lot of 26 year olds get second chances. I'd say he made it.

[nescac1]

What's the over-under on his forthcoming contract?  I'd say 5 years, 60 million ...

[Mr. Ypsi]

What's the over-under on his forthcoming contract?  I'd say 5 years, 60 million ...

Unless COVID has totally crushed market prices, I'd say 60M is way low.  But ... with no spectators for the foreseeable future, COVID may have crushed market prices.  Weird (and unknowable) times.

[toad22]

I heard one of the many sports talking heads say recently that Robinson would probably  get roughly $60mm for four years. That sounds reasonable to me. Duncan is older, and he is essentially a specialist. He may very well be the best shooting specialist right now, but he won't get paid like a major star.

[SpringSt7]

Duncan is also not an upcoming free agent, so much of this will depend on his performance next season, although he has certainly proven himself worthy of a big extension. Furthermore, he will be a restricted free agent so much of it will depend on the Heat's salary cap situation and their priorities.

Speaking of Duncan and the bubble, he has also been joined by his former teammate and classmate, Mike Greenman:

https://pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/local/linwood-resident-and-st-augustine-grad-enjoying-life-in-the-nba-bubble/article_8c363fc9-9422-5dcf-8096-aac4d319fa1b.html

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The off season has hit August and with it has come news of Division III Fall Championships being canceled for the same reason Winter Championships were derailed and Spring Championships pulled earlier this year: COVID 19 Pandemic.

The decision came on the heals of a vast majority of DIII institutions curtailing fall sports and many pushing winter sports starts on their campuses until January at the earliest.

What does this mean for the 2020-21 season of college basketball? Specifically what does it mean for Division III? Will there be a basketball season? Will it be a six-week-or-so-sprint? Or is there a way to adjust things?

On the Mid-Summer edition of the Hoopsville Podcast, we try and get some answers to those questions. We talk to one coach who actually has put together a proposal to start the season in January, with some changes to make it work including crowning a champion in April. And we talk to an administrator who also serves on the DIII Management Council to better under stand the decisions made to cancel championships and if shift a season like basketball is even possible.

Plus, we honor the best of the best in the last decade of Division III women's basketball. Gordon Mann joins us to discuss how the 2nd D3hoops.com Women's All-Decade came together (and hints of work on the men's list).

Guests include:
- Philip Ponder, Oglethorpe men's coach
- Jason Fein, Bates Athletics Director and DIII Management Council member
- Gordon Mann, D3hoops.com Senior Editor

And of course, there is always the Hoopsville Notebook. A few things we take note of that have made headlines since the beginning of July. We also tip our hat to a few of those who have always helped the show be it's best.

You can listen to the podcast here: https://bit.ly/3kGZ962

Hoopsville broadcasts from the WBCA/NABC Studio. All guests are featured on the BlueFrame Technology Hoopsville Hotline. The offseason plan is to do a podcast each month. The shows will be audio-only leading up to the start of the 2020-21 when we will restart the video shows.

If you have questions, ideas, or want to interact with the show, feel free to send them to hoopsville@d3sports.com or use any of the social media options available.

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[magicman]

Duncan is also not an upcoming free agent, so much of this will depend on his performance next season, although he has certainly proven himself worthy of a big extension. Furthermore, he will be a restricted free agent so much of it will depend on the Heat's salary cap situation and their priorities.

Speaking of Duncan and the bubble, he has also been joined by his former teammate and classmate, Mike Greenman:

https://pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/local/linwood-resident-and-st-augustine-grad-enjoying-life-in-the-nba-bubble/article_8c363fc9-9422-5dcf-8096-aac4d319fa1b.html

Nice article...thanks for posting. Plus K.