MBB: NESCAC

[Pat Coleman]

hoops fan,
just to set the record straight- in 1999, matt hunt was first team all-nescac.  mike shantz from hamilton was the nescac player of the year.  hunt was named honorable mention all-america by the basketball news, which picked 5 for its first team and named 15 honorable mentions.  unfortunately, i couldn't retrieve the names of the other players selected, but got the story from the archives on the williams site.   it "bodes" well for hunt that basketball news, at the time, believed he was one of the 20 best players in the country.  maybe d3hoops thought he was the 21st best player.....

OR, the ninth-best at his position, since we like our All-American Team to be made up of two actual guards, two forwards and a center.

Interesting that that All-Am team doesn't exist anymore but we still do.

[soze]

Pat Coleman

In 2003 and 2004 I have a hard time believing that Ben Coffin was the ninth best player at his position, your All American teams are  not always correct.  He was a better player than Seth Hauben hands down.  I would argue strongly that he was top three at his position. It was a travesty that he was not listed with the string of games he has in the Nescac tournament and run to a National title.

To the Senator, yes Coffin was that good on defense that he shut Zieja down in that game at Williams. Oh I forgot Zieja was injured.  I guess Matt Hunt's broken finger doesn't matter as an injury and Williams was lucky all those years to.  Well I guess all that does matter is a National Championship banner hangs in Williamstown and everything else on this board is hearsay.

[gobombers15]

NescacHoops, we'll have to agree to disagree about Tufts then. By all accounts Fisher played one of its worst games in the past two months and still won by 16 points. Utica just doesn't play well against Fisher, I think it's more of a mental block than anything. How they played against WPI, a team many considered to be the second best in New England, is more representative of how good they are. Tufts is a good team but in my opinion Utica is better and Tufts is definitely not better than Fisher. I guess I can expect the inevitable "Tufts is definitely better than Fisher" posts after todays game, huh? Gotta stick with your region, I understand that.

bennett cant guard bedford. bennett is just too big and slow. nobody can stop bedford. you may not notice how many pts he has, but he will drop 25 on you no problem. and yes, amherst stormed the court in one of the most exciting basketball games of the year, d3 or d1. sorry their fans are into the game. i cant wait til they own fisher tomorrow.

We'll find out tomorrow. That's definitely the first time I've ever heard Bennett called big and slow. People tend to use the words "strong and physical" but you're entitled to your opinion. Just remember, Amherst is only alive today because of a birthday shot that goes in 1 out of 100 times. I would think some of you Amherst fans should be counting your blessings a little more and talking a little less noise. And by the way, he won't drop 25 on "me" or "my team" because my team didn't even make the tourney. Does my name indicate in any way that I'm a Fisher fan? Try Ithaca, bud.

Soze, you're kidding that Coffin was better than Hauben right? I'm serious, you're kidding right? Do you expect for people to take you seriously when you say stuff like that? Hauben basically carried an overmatched team to the National Championship game last year. Seth was one of the 3 best D3 players I've seen in the last 6 or 7 years. Hauben's real bad, that's why he owned you guys in the Sweet 16, right?

[gobombers15]

Prediction for Tonight: Fisher 83, Amherst 81. Cards shock the world!! Just one man's opinion.

Also, Soze,  you're making an argument based on individual ability and then cite a team accomplishment as why an individual is better. Come up with some better arguments, man.

[soze]

I'm serious bud.

Ben Coffin Named New England Div. III Player of the Year;

Dave Paulsen Coach of the Year

WORCESTER, MA -- Williams College junior forward Ben Coffin (Westford, MA) has been named the New England Div. III Player of the Year by the New England Basketball Coaches Association (NEBCA) and Eph head coach Dave Paulsen has been named the region's Div. III Coach of the Year by NEBCA.


Coffin led the 31-1 Ephs to the NCAA Div. III title by leading the team in scoring (13.6) and rebounding (9.1) and he was the 'unofficial' MVP of the NESCAC Tournament, Most Outstanding Player in the Northeast/East Sectional Tournament and the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament.


"I'm really pleased that the New England coaches have recognized Ben's contributions to our team," said Paulsen. "From about the middle of January on Ben was truly outstanding. We always knew Ben was capable of playing at this level and we were just wondering when he would assert himself."


Previously Coffin was accorded All-NESCAC First Team honors, ECAC-New England First Team honors and NABC New England First Team honors. Coffin currently has 542 career rebounds and needs just 245 to become the Ephs' all-time leader. Coffin snared 291 rebounds this season. He is on target to crack the 1,000-point plateau as well with 753 points to date. Coffin needs just 247 points in his senior year to reach the 1,000-point plateau..

Coffin and Crotty were greatly responsible for the Class of 2004 establishing a Williams all-time best record of 104-16 (.867). In addition the Ephs qualified for post-season play all four years. In 2001 the Ephs won the ECAC-New England title and in 2002 they advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament; in 2003 they won the NCAA title and in 2004 they finished second in the NCAA Tournament. Along the way Coffin and Crotty helped the current Ephs to tie the all-time Williams record for most consecutive wins (of 28 set in 1908-11 and lifted the current home court win streak to an Eph best 60. The Chandler Gym win streak of 60 is currently the longest home court win streak in NCAA men's basketball. The senior duo also contributed mightily to the record for most wins in a season (31) set in 2003.

Coffin graduates as the all-time leader in rebounds at Williams in Div. III play with 836. He was named the Most Outstanding Player – a first at Williams – at the 2003 NCAA Tournament. Coffin played in 116 games, starting the last 92 in a row. He ranks 8th all-time in Williams' Div. III scoring with 1,274 points. Coffin was named the 2004 NESCAC Player of the Year and against Keene State in the Elite Eight game this season he collected 21 rebounds to establish a new Williams record for rebounds in one NCAA Tournament game


One more thing GoBombers, I am am a Williams fan and Amherst will beat Fisher by at least 15.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm worried about amherst tonight.  Not that Tufts is bad, but the psychological edge of Fisher winning their game without it coming down to the wire and then watching Amherst struggle to win theirs.  A lot of confidence coming into tonight.

It should be another good one.

I also think no matter who wins tonight, they match-up better in the final four now that Hope is out.  Not to say they will be favorites, but Witt and Nosferatu U both match-up a little better against either Fisher or Amherst.

[gobombers15]

Soze, great, nobody is saying Coffin is a bad player. I'm just saying he's not better than Hauben. No shame in that.

I think today's game will be a war. Fisher, a senior-laden squad, will battle tooth and nail the entire way. It's good to hear Amherst's coach respects Fisher and knows how tough they are. Maybe he can convey those thoughts to some of these Amherst fans (hoopsfan, excluded). But maybe the Amherst fans just know more about basketball than their own coach.

[cuse2003champs]

I will be in Amherst to hopefully watch fisher win, then a bar to hopefully watch cuse win, if anyone who was their could give me some advice on if i shoudl take 87 at all along with where to sit, when to get their for tix, and what bar to go to afterwards for cuse would be much appreciated, great yr for the empire 8 and college basketball

[walzy31]

cuse,
go to rafters sports bar

gobombers,
yes, all the amherst fans are cocky, bias, and have brilliant basketball minds. are you bitter from Ithaca's season or something? at least you didn't copy and paste a writeup from 2004 and post it in here. THAT is living in the past. Soze, Coffin is good. But people don't care about the 2001 ECAC title or anything else in that article other than he was named D3 Player of the Year in NE by the NEBCA.

Amherst -6.5 Vs. St John Fisher   152.5

[gobombers15]

cuse,
go to rafters sports bar

gobombers,
yes, all the amherst fans are cocky, bias, and have brilliant basketball minds. are you bitter from Ithaca's season or something? at least you didn't copy and paste a writeup from 2004 and post it in here. THAT is living in the past. Soze, Coffin is good. But people don't care about the 2001 ECAC title or anything else in that article other than he was named D3 Player of the Year in NE by the NEBCA.

Amherst -6.5 Vs. St John Fisher 152.5

Absolutely not, friend. I know our team is the epitome of mediocre. I'm not bitter at all about our season. In fact, they ended the season on a high note winning the ECAC's as a 7-seed and have a couple nice young players returning. Ithaca's a football school anyways, you should know that.

[gobombers15]

Actually, we're usually good at everything EXCEPT men's basketball.

Go Cuse! No matter what happens to them tonight and in the tournament, I won't forget about these last three games for a very long time. I'm happy to see McNamara finish like this. It makes me sick to hear people talk about how "overrated" he is.

[mrmike88]

There is video of Olson's shot online at http://www.jumbocast.com/  It feels good to see it again.

[superman57]

Being a big Fisher fan but a bigger basketball fan, if Fisher plays the way they played last night I don't think they can beat Amherst,  but Amherst should not start planning their trip to salem quite yet, the 5 seniors lost on this court once, and by g-d I doubt they will lie down again.  I left before the Amherst game, but com on,  You didn't see fisher storm the court at all this year, will it happen if we win tonight, possibly, but act like you've been there before

[D3Cast]

There is video of Olson's shot online at http://www.jumbocast.com/  It feels good to see it again.

We sent it to one of the Springfield TV stations last night, and were trying to get it through to ESPN. Don't know how that turned out. Holler if you see it anywhere (besides D3hoops, of course  ).

It was a heck of a shot -- just wish that bald guy's head hadn't been in the way. Ah, at least this way you can't see where his feet came down. 

Just an amazing, amazing game, and I'm incredibly impressed (as I was in the NESCAC final) with Amherst's ability to hang in there and counterpunch. That said, they get outrebounded by 15 again tonight, and they can call it a season.

LeFrak was electric last night; there have only been a few times since the mid-80s that Tufts has gotten to play in an atmosphere like that. I dont know about mrmike, but I don't have much of a voice today.

Steve Clay
JumboCast

[BooBallsCasRay]

steve clay - excellent work on the game, everyone at Amherst appreciates your efforts.

to everyone else who says act like you have been here before-
this year, the amherst spring break is a week later than it usually is. that can explain the "electric" crowds here this weekend; and in fact, most of the students never have been here before, because they are usually off grinding rock hard bodies on the dance floors of destinations such as cancun, acapulco, and the bahamas. if you think we can cheer, you should see us dance.

the crowd will be out in full effect tonight, i am just hoping that a few more guys from fisher can make it here to make it a competitive crowd atmosphere like last night.

go jeffs

p.s. the casnocha 3ball is DEADLY. beware of his no-jump trey ball from wayyyyyy back wasdin