MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

It's too bad no video of that Bernstein block seems to be available. I'd also love to see highlights of the Williams win (besides just the Cole play) but those just don't seem to be readily available from D3 tourney games. 

jumbomumbo, do you know if Jay Dieterle is planning to return for his COVID year?  Jon Medley should be able to step right into the McClaren defensive stopper role, and if Dieterle is back I think Tufts will head into next year as no worse than a pre-season top 10 team, and more likely, top five.  Even if he does not, Tufts is still loaded, as Khai Champion is already essentially a starter, and Dylan Reilly looks ready to play a bigger role next season. Tufts does seem stacked for awhile led by that stellar soph class, which still has plenty of upside to grow into. 

Turning to this year, while Tufts' defense has mostly been stellar, Trinity seems to have had their number this season, averaging 81 ppg and a 14 ppg margin of victory in two games, neither of which were played at Trinity.  There is the old saying about how tough it is to beat a team three times in one season, and I have a feeling this will be a more competitive game, but Trinity will certainly head into this game as the favorite and riding high as they've been flat out awesome since losing to Williams, bulldozing nearly everyone in their path with relentless energy.  Will Dorion and Jarrell Okorougo, not typically big scorers for Trinity, have been particularly successful against Trinity this year - averaging 15.5 and 22 ppg respectively.  Checking Callahan-Gold and Vetter is always a challenge against the Bantams, but when any two of those two guys or Dana Smith really go off, there's just no chance.   

[toad22]

After watching Cole Prowitt-Smith score 27 points last night and make the spectacular buzzer beater shot to win the game, it made me think that he is one of the more talented players to play in the NESCAC and never win any league awards. I know there are many, though the only Eph player that comes immediately to mind is Nate Robertson. Thoughts on others from the rest of the league?

[nescac1]

Great topic, Toad!  I think I could put together a pretty nice team of Williams guys never to make all-league (from 2001 forward, since the earlier records aren't available): Chuck Abba, Kyle Scadlock (an untimely injury robbed of him of, probably, two all-league honors), Nate Roberton, Cole Prowitt-Smith, James Klemm and Tim Folan ... all those dudes were key players on really good teams who were overshadowed by bigger stars. As for the rest of the league, I'd defer to fans of those teams.  But the one guy who definitely comes to mind is Amherst's Allen Williamson, who was one of the top players in the entire 2013 D3 tournament. 

[SpringSt7]

In recent memory - just spitballing, not a comprehensive list or a bar to clear by any measure, just some players I liked on winning teams that never got any recognition: Matt Folger, Mike Grassey, Fru Che

[nescac1]

Great choices, Spring.  I am surprised Folger never made all-league, I would have assumed he had.

I watched the last six minutes of the game again - at least for now, it's available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfIkAr8FU28

What really stood out, besides of course Cole's brilliant offense, was the incredible number of hustle plays made by Noah Dinkins during that stretch.  Oswego had all the momentum, going up four on a huge three and things did not look great for Williams.  On the next possession, Cole set Dinkins up with a very slight advantage thanks to a quick pass, and Dinkins had a gorgeous spinning take to the basket for two.  That play was pretty, the rest were pure grit, alertness and hustle. 

Dinkins also: (1) missed a layup but did not give up on the play, ripping the board away from an Oswego player and muscling in it for two; (2) batted a ball away from Sparks (Lee was playing awesome positional D on the play as well) which looked like a TO but Oswego kept possession; (3) had the best defensive possession of the season for Williams, switching onto Sparks and simply taking the ball away from him; (4) alertly came out of nowhere and harassed Bowman into a turnover during an advantage situation for Oswego; and (5) batted a critical rebound to Nate Karren when Bowman had perfect position all alone under the basket (because Nate had to help on Anderson's potential go-ahead shot) for what likely would have been an easy put-back but for Dinkins' huge play.  Five ELITE hustle plays (plus one great skill play) in a six minute stretch.  The kind of stuff that coaches absolutely love. 

[AmherstStudent05]

As for Amherst, I'd say the two standout players who never got all league recognition were Allen Williamson and Tim McLaughlin. Interesting both made all NCAA Tourney teams and Allen was named the most outstanding player.

Allen almost certainly deserved all league recognition but his senior year Toomey, Willy and Big Pete all got it and there was just no way Amherst was getting four guys on all league teams — especially back when the teams were five aside.

TMac was perhaps a lot like Nate. A very solid "role player" on excellent teams who was much beloved by fans of the team but didn't exactly light up a stat sheet

[ItsATuftSituation]

Was at both games this weekend at NYU...what an atmosphere.

Great wins for the Jumbos. To me, Friday, the biggest play was Dieterle hitting a three-pointer midway through the second half to keep the game against Stockton from getting away from them. That was a huge confidence booster for Tufts to get it going.

Saturday, you just kind of kept feeling like NYU was one 14-2 run from the roof coming off. But Tufts did a good job to fend off the late run by the Violets, and the three-pointer out of the timeout by Champion was one of the coldest shots I've seen in recent memory. Down the stretch, the defensive cohesiveness of the Jumbos was the difference. Was a fun site.

Excited about more basketball for the 'Bos, but just more basketball.

Ohhh...and here's the Bernie block.

Bernstein Block

[toad22]

Cole Prowitt-Smith perhaps should get some kind of career award - though I know there is no such thing in the NESCAC. In four years he has played in 102 games, and has, so far, scored 1190 points - 11.7 per game for his entire career. This on a team that was quite deliberate during his years. In addition, he averaged 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He has generally been considered the best rebounding guard on the team. Cole was instrumental in winning a great many games for Williams. Maybe there should be something like a "Career Achievement Award" for players like Cole. Playing at a high level for an entire career seems to me to be deserving of some recognition. Of course, his career isn't over yet, so maybe I'm being premature.

[nescac1]

Perhaps we can develop a "grade inflation all-stars" to reward guys who would have earned all-conference under the current 14-man system?  I looked back at the past two years and in my view, last year, Conner Rood (I'd say the first man out, and another guy for the never-made-an-all-league-all-stars list), James McGowan, Steph Baxter, and Gabe Ravetz would have been all-league players under the current criteria, and the prior year, Cole Prowitt-Smith would have been the obvious next choice, along with Noah Tyson, Noah Osher, and Grant Robinson (there are some others who could have been in contention as well).  None of those guys would look at all out of place on an all-league team, and several of them made all-league other years.

Turning back to the tournament, thanks for posting the gif of the Bernstein block, ItsATuftSituation.  Because he's 6'11 he makes it look easy but that was a FANTASTIC play.  Look where he is when Freedman started his drive - he had one foot at the top of the key.  Bernstein read the play from the first moment Freedman put it on the deck, moving without any hesitation toward the paint where he timed his jump perfectly to meet Freedman's shot despite him going to the back side of the rim. A very high-IQ play.

There are some very intriguing potential Elite 8 match-ups in the Trinity-Tufts sectional.  Calvin has the best center in the country in Jalen Overway, he is massive with tremendous touch and post moves, and Bernstein defending Overway would be a really fun match-up.  I'm sure Tufts would also use a lot of zone in that one, but not many teams have a center who is a physical match for Overway.  Randolph-Macon v. Trinity would be really interesting as well, as they are likely the two best defensive teams (if not, two of the top five for certain) in the country.  Neither is overly big, so each will / would have their hands full with Overway, but they both are extremely quick and aggressive 1-5 and give opposing ball handlers no room to breathe at all, and match up very well against one another. That game would be a veritable defensive clinic. 

[Colby Hoops]

Long time no talk, glad to have the boards back!

Would definitely put Noah Tyson on the best players to never make all NESCAC (probably ahead of everyone mentioned so far). Won NESCAC ROY, winningest player at Colby in more than two decades, averaged 12.7 and 7.4 for his career and was one of the best defensive players in the league for four years. He was likely in the mix for a second team spot each of his four years.

On to this year -- what an unbelievable turnaround by the Ephs. They look like an entirely different team, even with all of the injuries they've faced. That has to be Cole Prowitt-Smith's best game in a Williams jersey against Oswego -- what a time for that. Nescac1 and SpringSt have done a great job highlighting everything, but I'd add a shoutout to Alex Stoddard for some of the recent success. He didn't shoot well against Oswego, but he brings a confidence, energy and quick trigger that the Ephs really need. And he played great in the NESCAC tournament and against DeSales.

I like Trinity's chances against Tufts -- the defense from Smith, Okorougo (he's a future star) and Dorion is impressive. And Vetter and Callahan-Gold can shoot it from anywhere.

[D3BBALL]

Very good weekend for all NESCAC teams and not surprising at all, that all won 2 games. Unfortunately for Tufts/Trinity they have to play for the 3rd time in sweet 16.

Williams has been heading in the right direction for the last 2 months. Beat Trinity in a close one and then lost in a close one. They have the most talent in the league top to bottom. They may have the best shot to get to final 4, they just seem to have someone different step up each game. If Roughley and Karren play well, they will be tough to beat.

Tufts/Trinity should be another close one, will be interesting to see what kind of defense Tufts comes out with. In 2nd meeting they went with box and 1 against Callahan-Gold, held him to 4 points but still gave up 80 points.  They had no answer for Okorougo and got out rebounded by 10. Gyimesi played much better in 2nd game and will need a repeat performance if Tufts is going to win.

Regarding the awards, whether it was the coaches or someone at the conference, the reason to change from 10 to 14, had to be about trying to give credit to players on bad teams and having the awards be shared throughout the teams. I think 100% wrong, it just waters down the entire awards process. Usually, we can argue about 1 maybe 2 selections, this year way more than that. As stated by someone in an earlier post, if anything, they should have gone with 3 teams of 5 players. The first team I don't think anyone can argue with those 7, except whether to be on first or second team, but they all belong. I still think Johnson should definitely be on 2nd team. That would have left 2 spots if only 10 players. All of the rest you can make an argument one way or the other. But to say that because they play on bad teams, that hurts their chances, I would counter it is simply an eye test. And Hamilton had 4 wins and got 2 players. I have watched enough league games this year and I don't believe there is one decent coach in the league that would take Poulton, Schainfeld, Singh, Espinosa, Osher, Scherer over Roughley or Smith or even Okorougo. All 3 do some much more for their teams on both ends of the court than any of these. And if they didn't have to defer to the talent of their teammates, their stats would be even better, it's a simple eye test. While Scherer was certainly a defensive force, offensively he didn't do a lot in conference (and you can argue that is not his fault). But Bernstein then should get a look as well, both are about the same. I might have taken one of them along with Roughley or Smith if it was just 10 total players. But all of the 6 mentioned should not be part of the 14, maybe 2-3, but all 6 it's all about keeping everyone happy and that is not what the awards are about. Both Roughley and Smith are simply better players. Leaving them off a top 10 list is ok, leaving them off a 14 list, is wrong.

Go NESCAC this weekend!!

[nescac1]

A few random notes on various NESCAC hoopers:

Ben Rice will be using his COVID year at D2 Johnson University: https://twitter.com/CoachSharp24/status/1764471895989108773

Alex Sobel continues his fine play in D1, where he was recently named his conference's player of the week:
https://sacredheartpioneers.com/news/2024/3/4/mens-basketball-sobel-named-nec-co-player-of-the-week.aspx#:~:text=Alex%20Sobel%20brings%20in%20his%20first%20NEC%20weekly%20award&text=Sobel%20averaged%2017.0%20points%20per,two%20steals%2C%20and%20one%20block.  He was also just named second-team all conference.  His impressive level of D1 success to me validates his place on the NESCAC Mount Rushmore of the NCAA era, along with Mike Nogelo, Andrew Olson, and Andrew Toomey.

Meanwhile, Dylan Thoerner continues to be a steady, productive rotation player for a Cal Irvine team which is currently first in the Big West and thus has a good chance of heading to the D1 tournament. 

In addition to the three NESCAC teams playing this weekend, Preston Maccoux and Will King continue to make big contributions for Case Western and CMS, respectively, as they advance in the tournament. Both had extremely efficient games in the round of 32: for King, 15-3-2, plus two steals and no TOs, on 5-5 shooting from the field and 5-6 from the line; and for Maccoux, 15 points on 6-7 shooting, including 3-4 from deep. 

Besides Rice, the seniors who have a COVID year who are worth tracking include David Murray, Ben Callahan-Gold, Jay Dieterle, and Michael Simonds.  I think any of those players would be hot commodities at D3 schools with grad programs, and Murray or Callahan-Gold could also be of interest to scholarship programs.   

[NESCACBBALLFAN]

Very good weekend for all NESCAC teams and not surprising at all, that all won 2 games. Unfortunately for Tufts/Trinity they have to play for the 3rd time in sweet 16.

Williams has been heading in the right direction for the last 2 months. Beat Trinity in a close one and then lost in a close one. They have the most talent in the league top to bottom. They may have the best shot to get to final 4, they just seem to have someone different step up each game. If Roughley and Karren play well, they will be tough to beat.

Tufts/Trinity should be another close one, will be interesting to see what kind of defense Tufts comes out with. In 2nd meeting they went with box and 1 against Callahan-Gold, held him to 4 points but still gave up 80 points.  They had no answer for Okorougo and got out rebounded by 10. Gyimesi played much better in 2nd game and will need a repeat performance if Tufts is going to win.

Regarding the awards, whether it was the coaches or someone at the conference, the reason to change from 10 to 14, had to be about trying to give credit to players on bad teams and having the awards be shared throughout the teams. I think 100% wrong, it just waters down the entire awards process. Usually, we can argue about 1 maybe 2 selections, this year way more than that. As stated by someone in an earlier post, if anything, they should have gone with 3 teams of 5 players. The first team I don't think anyone can argue with those 7, except whether to be on first or second team, but they all belong. I still think Johnson should definitely be on 2nd team. That would have left 2 spots if only 10 players. All of the rest you can make an argument one way or the other. But to say that because they play on bad teams, that hurts their chances, I would counter it is simply an eye test. And Hamilton had 4 wins and got 2 players. I have watched enough league games this year and I don't believe there is one decent coach in the league that would take Poulton, Schainfeld, Singh, Espinosa, Osher, Scherer over Roughley or Smith or even Okorougo. All 3 do some much more for their teams on both ends of the court than any of these. And if they didn't have to defer to the talent of their teammates, their stats would be even better, it's a simple eye test. While Scherer was certainly a defensive force, offensively he didn't do a lot in conference (and you can argue that is not his fault). But Bernstein then should get a look as well, both are about the same. I might have taken one of them along with Roughley or Smith if it was just 10 total players. But all of the 6 mentioned should not be part of the 14, maybe 2-3, but all 6 it's all about keeping everyone happy and that is not what the awards are about. Both Roughley and Smith are simply better players. Leaving them off a top 10 list is ok, leaving them off a 14 list, is wrong.

Go NESCAC this weekend!!

I have been an avid reader of these message boards for quite some time, and am pleased to say that I agree with roughly 75% of said in any given comment (perhaps a conservative estimate). However, to say that Smith, Roughly, and Okorougu are definitively, objectively better players than the six players in this years second team (and that any "smart" coach would trade one for the other in a heartbeat) is blatantly incorrect. In the case of Smith and Okorougu, their offensive performance this season has been heavily dependent on the emergence of Vetter and BCG as first team all conference players (maybe all region). They command so much defensive attention that players such as Smith, Okorougu, and Dorion are able to find seams in the defense to exploit. If you took these players and put them on the rosters of the Maine schools (where they would immediately be the primary offensive weapons), I would guess that they struggle. I do not think that Smith or Okorougu- both incredible perimeter defenders - have taken a difficult shot the entire year. Roughly, one of the best post scorers in the conference, might also experience a decline in production if he isn't playing alongside Karren. The players on the second team this year - specifically Poulton, Singh, Osher, etc, require far more defensive attention and are still producing. They may not have experienced as much team success, but I am more inclined to respect impressive offensive performances from players who are able to perform when the entire gym knows who is going to shoot the ball as opposed to players who shoot uncontested shots because the primary offensive weapons on their teams are being doubled/tripled.
There is a reasonable possibility that I am absolutely incorrect in my assumptions, as I often am. But to say that the three players you mentioned are objectively better than four 15+ ppg guys on the second team seems to be a miscalculation.

[Bucket]

Very good weekend for all NESCAC teams and not surprising at all, that all won 2 games. Unfortunately for Tufts/Trinity they have to play for the 3rd time in sweet 16.

Williams has been heading in the right direction for the last 2 months. Beat Trinity in a close one and then lost in a close one. They have the most talent in the league top to bottom. They may have the best shot to get to final 4, they just seem to have someone different step up each game. If Roughley and Karren play well, they will be tough to beat.

Tufts/Trinity should be another close one, will be interesting to see what kind of defense Tufts comes out with. In 2nd meeting they went with box and 1 against Callahan-Gold, held him to 4 points but still gave up 80 points.  They had no answer for Okorougo and got out rebounded by 10. Gyimesi played much better in 2nd game and will need a repeat performance if Tufts is going to win.

Regarding the awards, whether it was the coaches or someone at the conference, the reason to change from 10 to 14, had to be about trying to give credit to players on bad teams and having the awards be shared throughout the teams. I think 100% wrong, it just waters down the entire awards process. Usually, we can argue about 1 maybe 2 selections, this year way more than that. As stated by someone in an earlier post, if anything, they should have gone with 3 teams of 5 players. The first team I don't think anyone can argue with those 7, except whether to be on first or second team, but they all belong. I still think Johnson should definitely be on 2nd team. That would have left 2 spots if only 10 players. All of the rest you can make an argument one way or the other. But to say that because they play on bad teams, that hurts their chances, I would counter it is simply an eye test. And Hamilton had 4 wins and got 2 players. I have watched enough league games this year and I don't believe there is one decent coach in the league that would take Poulton, Schainfeld, Singh, Espinosa, Osher, Scherer over Roughley or Smith or even Okorougo. All 3 do some much more for their teams on both ends of the court than any of these. And if they didn't have to defer to the talent of their teammates, their stats would be even better, it's a simple eye test. While Scherer was certainly a defensive force, offensively he didn't do a lot in conference (and you can argue that is not his fault). But Bernstein then should get a look as well, both are about the same. I might have taken one of them along with Roughley or Smith if it was just 10 total players. But all of the 6 mentioned should not be part of the 14, maybe 2-3, but all 6 it's all about keeping everyone happy and that is not what the awards are about. Both Roughley and Smith are simply better players. Leaving them off a top 10 list is ok, leaving them off a 14 list, is wrong.

Go NESCAC this weekend!!

I have been an avid reader of these message boards for quite some time, and am pleased to say that I agree with roughly 75% of said in any given comment (perhaps a conservative estimate). However, to say that Smith, Roughly, and Okorougu are definitively, objectively better players than the six players in this years second team (and that any "smart" coach would trade one for the other in a heartbeat) is blatantly incorrect. In the case of Smith and Okorougu, their offensive performance this season has been heavily dependent on the emergence of Vetter and BCG as first team all conference players (maybe all region). They command so much defensive attention that players such as Smith, Okorougu, and Dorion are able to find seams in the defense to exploit. If you took these players and put them on the rosters of the Maine schools (where they would immediately be the primary offensive weapons), I would guess that they struggle. I do not think that Smith or Okorougu- both incredible perimeter defenders - have taken a difficult shot the entire year. Roughly, one of the best post scorers in the conference, might also experience a decline in production if he isn't playing alongside Karren. The players on the second team this year - specifically Poulton, Singh, Osher, etc, require far more defensive attention and are still producing. They may not have experienced as much team success, but I am more inclined to respect impressive offensive performances from players who are able to perform when the entire gym knows who is going to shoot the ball as opposed to players who shoot uncontested shots because the primary offensive weapons on their teams are being doubled/tripled.
There is a reasonable possibility that I am absolutely incorrect in my assumptions, as I often am. But to say that the three players you mentioned are objectively better than four 15+ ppg guys on the second team seems to be a miscalculation.

Well said.

[nescac1]

Tough loss for Williams to the defending champs, who were pretty much in control of the game for most of the second half.  Congrats to CNU which is gonna be a nightmare for the next three plus years with an insanely talented group of FYs leading the way. 

This is the second time in a tournament game the Ephs were rolling offensively coming into the game and CNU totally flummoxed us. The opening tip set the tone, it went right to Collin Hines and he got an uncontested dunk, one of two on the day.  The Ephs certainly didn't play their A game today which is a bummer, lots of uncharacteristically sloppy ball-handling, missed free throws, and nothing could drop from outside other than some unlikely shots (threes by Hansen and Arnold).  No one on the Ephs could get going offensively at all, other than Roughley, who fouled out in only 18 minutes of play.  Just seemed like a lid on the basket for Williams today and the Ephs looked nothing like the brilliant offensive squad from the prior weekend.  A lot of credit goes to CNU, they were incredibly quick and relentless defensively and had a tremendous game plan, every time the Ephs put the ball on the floor CNU was causing havoc. Dozier and Collin Hines were particularly menacing, as a duo they reminded me of Okorougo and Dana Smith, respectively.  Dozier, Hollanbeck, Henderson, Hamad, and Ward is one of the best single classes I've seen in D3 - they are just scratching the surface and should get much better in future years. 

Endings are always tough but still a tremendous run for an Ephs team that looked dead in the water in late December and grew massively into a formidable squad over the last few months.  They beat two top 20 teams in the tourney and will certainly finish in the top 20 themselves.  A great three year run for the seniors: two NESCAC finals, two NESCAC regular season top seeds, two sweet 16s,  a round of 32, and two 1000 point scorers, despite three years of almost constant illness and injury adversity.  Good luck to Trinty and Tufts going forward ...