MBB: NESCAC

[geronimo]

Alright Friar, answer me this. If Kevin Hopkins is so good, what is he doing at Amherst.

Your realization doesn't change the fact that this was perhaps the most moronic post in the history of d3hoops.com. 

Your post could conceivably be tied, but it can never be surpassed. 

Even guys who routinely put up crappy posts are like, "Man, that was a crappy post."

You're like the Tex Cobb of posters.   

[eclinchy]

How about a neutral arbiter to settle this?  I nominate Tufts' always blunt coach, who presumably has a fair eye for talent, and is without a doubt the most entertaining coach in the league (I'll take his dry, unblemished commentary over Paulsen's coach-speak and Hixon's whining any day of the week):

For those who don't want to cut and paste that monster, Sheldon says Cohen is the best big man in the league, but only when he chooses to "bring it," which, apparently, is not always.  So Cohen is more talented and better at his best, Hopkins more consistent.  Fair enough?

On one hand, thanks for quoting my article.  It's nice to know I'm getting read off campus as well as on... that's flattering.

On the other hand, I don't appreciate you putting words in Sheldon's mouth, or my keyboard.

Who said we were comparing Cohen and Hopkins?  In actuality, that quote was from me starting off with a basic stock question, something along the lines of "what'd you think of Cohen's performance," and he just came right out and said Cohen was the league's best big man.

I'm getting tired of this Amherst bias I'm seeing in about half the posters here.  Why is it that when I write an article about a Tufts-Colby game, everyone tries to spin it into being about Kevin Hopkins?  While I can't read Sheldon's mind, I have interviewed him after every home game this year, and I'm guessing there's a decent-sized list of big men he'd rank ahead of Hopkins.  Do the names Stockwell, Wheeler, Stone, Martin, Kelly, Pierce or Smith mean anything to you guys?

There seems to be a double standard going on in Amherst's favor, by the way, with regard to the whole rate stats debate.  People here are comparing Hopkins to Cohen because Hopkins' stats are good on a per-minute-played basis.  I tried to do the same thing by comparing Jeremy Black to Zak Ray, and no one would listen.  Explain that, please.

[nescac1]

Harsh, geronimo.  I've gotta say booyakasha's post, whatever you may think of it, is FAR from "the worst" ever on this page ... browse through the archives, and there are plenty of worthy candidates.  I can only imagine that your judgment on this point is impaired by hormonal imbalance.  Since your fellow Jeffs won't step up (I guess they are too busy interrupting national anthem renditions and harassing photographers at various venues across the land), let me congratulate you on your birth, which we can all agree is far more significant than the Hopkins/Cohen debate.  May your child be healthy, wealthy, and wise enough to choose Williams over Amherst (especially if they can ball -- and with those dimensions, it's quite possible).  

eclinchy, sorry, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth (and by the way, I'm hardly biased in favor of Amherst on anything, let alone this, personally I'd take Cohen), I was just following the logical implication of Sheldon's comment -- Cohen, when he "brings it", is the best NESCAC big, but doesn't always play hard -- which indicates to me that he is better than Hopkins (or any other big man in the league) at his best, but that he might not be better than other bigs ALL the time due to inconsistent effort.  Essentially syllogistic logic that follows from a general statement applied to a specific argument, fair enough?

[ephoops]

Recruiting Update:

It appears that Tufts is getting a very good point guard from New York City's Regis High School - Matt Galvin.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032007/sports/no_regrets_for_boateng_sports_dan_martin.htm   (See the bottom of the story for the blurb on Galvin in the NY Post newspaper)

I called a friend who follows high school hoops in NYC.  He has seen Galvin play several times and rates him very highly.  He's a three-year starter on a very good team in the very competitive Catholic league.

He's a 6'1" lefty who is a quick, very good floor general with an above average shot.  My friend was actually very surprised that Galvin is going to Tufts because he believes that Galvin is good enough to play right away for a lot of Ivy/Patriot/ Mid-major D-1 schools.

Dman / Nescac1 - Sounds like Galvin would have been a great fit for Williams to replace Shalvoy.  I wonder if Paulsen tried to recruit him?  Apparently Regis is a very strong academic high school, so grades should not have been the issue with him getting accepted to Williams....

[hoopjunkie]

Why would one want to play for Williams & Paulson , when you could go
to Tufts & play for Bob Sheldon ? I have seen Paulson scream non stop for 3 years
& Sheldon enjoy his players & enjoy coaching . Again Im not going back 5 years ago ,
I am a new comer to nescac basketball for only 3-4 years but to be 15 minutes from
Boston & play at Tufts seems pretty good to me .

[booyakasha]

Hopefully you spend as much time with Ipcah as you do on this mocking people on this messageboard, otherwise she might become firepower for democrats to fight anti-abortion supporters. You should also check out the section in Freakonomics where the author compares the relative success children with odd names vs. normal names. Very interesting.

(I'm going to say preemptively that this is a joke, I don't know you or feel qualified to judge your parenting skills)

[booyakasha]

Sounds like a good pickup for Tufts. Anyone know if Pierce is planning to stay through all four years of his eligibility? I'm guessing he probably will.

[nescac1]

I have no comment on the Paulsen / Sheldon thing as I have no idea what either is like in person, in practice, etc.  But there are lots of reasons to choose the Williams program or the Tufts program, depending on how you weigh size of school, support / interest in athletics among student body and locals, academic style, campus appearance, urban / rural, in addition to coaching style.  Looking at the rosters, Tufts has a lot of top notch NYC kids, while Williams, predictably, tends to draw more kids from rural / suburban areas.  A good get, indeed, for Tufts, and needed, with shepherd graduating and Black entering his senior year (although he has two years of eligibility left as well). 

So, recruiting summary so far: Bennett to Amherst, Paladino to Trinity, Galvin to Tufts, and possibly Carroll to Williams (although the fourth is not finalized).  Perhaps not coincidentally, those four project as the top four teams next year ...

[heart4rose]

Sat directly across from Lord Jeffs fans at Trinity.  As mentioned before, it was only a very small percentage (less than 10%) who embarrassed themselves.  The 2 guys who were escorted out of the gym may or may not have been involved in the National Anthem shouts...could not tell as they were not ejected until much later in the game.  One guy in the 1st half, the other in the second.  Not sure what they did.

Another guy in the front row was so hammered he could barely stand up (they all stood at the rope line all game).  He kept yelling F U over and over as loud as he could to a Trinity free throw shooter 2 minutes into the game.  Ref (who was right in front of him) did nothing (like point him out to security).

Otherwise, fans of both teams made lots of noise...the place was rockin!

Olson's fade away 3 as the shot clock expired looked like a dagger at the time.  Wow....what a shot.  Big time cred to Trin for responding with big plays of their own.  Westbrooks, Taylor, Clark each hit huge shots to eat away at the Lord Jeffs lead.

Pat Martin saw Olson in Clark's shorts so he had no choice but to take it himself...

The Trinity clock guy then forgot to start the clock when Herst in bounded the ball.  Herst got to mid court before the refs stopped action to re-set the clock.  Martin's 3 went through the net with about 2 seconds left so you figure the clock stops at maybe 1.7

The refs re-set it to 3 seconds and the Jeffs got the ball at mid court!  So much for the home court advantage on the clock.

Olson had a nice look after a nice head fake but it was just short. 

Awesome seeing the court flooded with fans.  Memories of the Conn Coll game Tabb's senior year and Halas' half court 3 at the buzzer over Wes.

A Great Time in Bant-ville Saturday!

And remember, the Bant's top scorer did not play.  Here's praying for a rematch in 2 weeks!

[eclinchy]

Anyone else catch the name of the NY Post writer?  Talk about a coincidence...

nescac, I wouldn't put it past Middlebury to be among the top 4 teams next year.  There's definitely a lot of returning talent there.

[mrmike88]

New Top 25:

Amherst drops down to #3 following the Trinity loss, but three voters still think the Lord Jeffs are #1 (UWSP has 21 first-place votes, and #2 Virginia Wesleyan has the other one vote).

Trinity enters the Top 25 for the first time this year, at #22.  Congrats, Bants.

[formerbant10]

They picked up quite a few votes....but even more surprising is that Bates still has 1 point in the voting.

Good win to go into the tournament with.

Added note, I've seen the top 10 lists in more than a few away messages today.  Great stuff.

[thunder32]

Hey guys thought that I would make a little come back haha but anyways I dont have time to read all the posts that I missed (20 pages worth) but I just wanted to say that I went to the Tufts games this weekend and then hung with them for a while after the game.  They were not happy that they didnt get a home game but from what I felt they will have their game faces on come tourney time and in the NESCAC playoffs it is a different game.  I was looking at the standings pretty crazy. Should be a very interesting playoffs.  Possibly an eight vs six finals.

[nescac1]

NYTimes article on the possible break-up of Division III:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/sports/othersports/13ncaa.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=sports

Amherst, Williams, Midd and Colby are all prominently featured.  Personally, I don't see the point of a break-up.  Sure, there are different priorities, but no different than say a Duke vs. a UCLA vs. a George Mason.  And it's not like either type of school is hurt by competition -- a place like Stevens Point has a huge advantage in the type of athletes it can recruit due to lower admissions standards, more flexible aid and recruiting policies, etc., but then again, an Amherst or Williams have advantages in terms of reputation and resources, so it kind of evens out.  Seems like championships are pretty well split between the smaller schools with tons of programs like Midd, Williams, etc., and the schools with fewer resources or a more concentrated focus on just a few sports, like Messiah and the WIACs.  I don't really understand the push for a change ... the fundamental bedrock premise (no scholarship athletes and not a factory for pro careers) remains in place.  Sure, a few schools push the concept of scholar-athlete too far to the athlete side, but they are definitely outliers in Div III. 

[frank uible]

One major objection is the possible stigma designation as a DIV member would cause. The solution  for that possibility is easy. Create a DIIAA (with its own set of requirements and non-requirements distinct from those of both current DII and also DIII) up to which the current DIII reformers can move, leaving DIII in place for the traditionalists. Thus no one has been demoted; yet the reformers have effected their reform; and probably the current DIIers would be indifferent to the change.