MBB: Centennial Conference

[CCHoopster]

Very true. I was just making the point that I never met a CC coach in any of my endeavors from AAU (I helped coach), I coached at the high school level for twenty years and had numerous college players, or any other thing we did camps et al. I think many CC colleges rely on their incredible academic reputations to help recruit. I wasn't starting an argument, I was just saying the CC does not recruit around here much.

Certainly no argument here. I could have maybe phrased it better. The CC does recruit NY though is all I am saying.

Players from NY

FnM- 5
Dickinson- 5
Muhlenberg- 1
Hopkins- 0
McDaniel- 1
Haverford- 8
Swathmore- 2
Gettysburg- 1
Washington- 0
Ursinus- 1

It takes a lot of effort to successfully recruit a player. To be a PA school and have 8 or 5 or even 2 players from NY shows there is time spent there. Certainly a lot of good ones have come from there too.

[Swat Fan #1]

Just a couple things: I know tone is hard to understand in these posts, but mine was a very light tone. I was just making the point we didn't run into CC coaches around here. I am a huge fan of the CC and will always root for them!

Second, I kept my favorite 35 call from coaches on our answering machine. It is fun to listen to when I am bored. Of course my favorite is from Coach Wimberly where he always started out, "Ah, hey Will." Wimbo will always be my son's favorite coach. Regardless of what everyone else thought of him, my son adored him and is flying out to see him in Arizona in a couple weeks.

You should all know, every single coach in the league made a point of seeking out my wife and me after the last home game this year. Every coach was a class act and I will never forget it. I miss being a part of all this!

[Gabriel]

Swat Dad,

Coach Wimberly is one of my favorites too.  Always takes the time to talk and is so gracious.  First met him in 1999, my first year as a CC fan.  Bill Nelson (JHU) is another class act.  Hope Will is doing well.  After his first CC game, every coach in the league wished he was on their team.  I know Ursinus did.

[Gabriel]

Gabriel, my apologies on the wording as I meant over the past 5 years UC has been consistently down when it comes to recruiting classes.  I would probably say since Coach Rule was there they have been down when it comes to recruiting.  Not sure if I ever remember them having issues with players coming to school and either leaving or being removed from the team, and over the past handful of years they have had quite a bit of turnover with players, which, again, comes back to the recruiting over those last several years.  When was the last solid class (from a bball talent standpoint, not in anyway academically/socially)?  Noonan? Cousart?  If I remember correctly, werent those guys being recruited when Coach R. was there? 

Overall I'm sure recruiting at the DIII level is a nightmare for all coaching staffs as there are thousands upon thousands of high school players who want to play college basketball and tons of players who slip through the cracks.  Just seems like you need to be involved with so many different players at the DIII level b/c kids are going to change minds late.

Joe Rulewich was with Kevin Small from 2000 through 2006 at Ursinus.  No doubt he was and still is a superb coach and recruiter.  I think he had a hand in recruiting Shattuck, Noonan and maybe Cousart.

As you may know, Coach Small was a part time employee from 2000 until 2004 or 2005.  They did not have a full time men's basketball coach.  Joe Rulewich worked for the college but not in the athletic department----admissions, I think.  So, in 2004 Ursinus hired a full time basketball coach, Kevin Small.  They still did not have a paid full time assistant in the athletic department although Joe filled that role until 2006 when he left for Peddie.  They had several former Bears as part time assistants until Mike McGarvey was hired in 2008/2009.  He remained until 2011 when he moved on to Colgate.  Pat Price filled the role for one year until Dennis Stanton was hired in 2012.

My points are, while Joe Rulewich was there, he was a valuable recruiter and coach.  For two or three years it was Coach Small on his own---- until Mike McGarvey was able to help.  Now Dennis Stanton is doing a terrific job but still learning the nuances of DIII recruiting. 

Some recruiting years have worked out and some have not----his year's junior class for example.  Many DIII coaches say they don't know how good a class is until their junior year.  Regarding attrition, Ursinus has lost four or five players prematurely over the past 14 years.  Probably not any more than any other team.

Could Ursinus do a better job recruiting?  Most certainly, but so could others.

[centfan]

"Centfan,

Regarding recruiting, you say "NESCAC does it very well why not Centennial".  Other than Amherst, Williams and Middlebury, which of the other 8 teams in the NESCAC have made much noise in basketball recently? Also, there is a difference in that some schools have a national recruiting base such as Williams, Amherst and, indeed, Swarthmore, JHU and Haverford.  Ursinus and some others-----not so much."

Gabriel,
amherst, williams and middlebury are all "programs" that have been built and consistently get strong players and tournament bids. recently (milligan days) we had f&m, which is currently no longer that way but always in the mix. so to me that is a huge difference: 3 strong programs that are in or around ncaa every year. dickinson is on it's way due to seretti and staff, f&m's future we shall see but they tend to consistently get good athletes. (maybe grob is heading towards retirement???)
swarthmore, haverford and jhu have a national "academic" recruiting base, basketball wise they have done a pretty poor job of recruiting, born out by their records. they always hope to get kids who are on the cusp of the ivy league, but those kids are usually drawn to schools like amherst, middlebury and williams. those top teams do make nescac a better conference, even though i wish it weren't so. as we all know,recruiting is a roll of the dice and two or three kids (sometimes one) can make a big difference. there is alot of chance to it but the better programs seem to have a better way of doing it. also, a winning history and successful coach is always appealing to a kid when looking at teams. (then they find out what they get after they are in the school!!)

[HoopGuru]

Gabriel, the recruiting classes were better in early to mid 2000s for incoming classes (Noonan, Cousart being the last recruited by coach rulewich and just small before then) when head coach/asst coach was a part time position, wouldnt it make sense to have better classes when they now have 2 full time positions, plus it looks like 3 additional asst. coaches on the bench this year?  That doesnt make much sense to me. Maybe it just comes down to evaluating talent and they struggle to do that.  Either that or the lack of being able to develop the players recently when they arrive on campus, which is extremely important at all levels, especially division 3.  For example, from last year to this year, seems to me Draper hasnt gotten much better, vasturia from year 1 to now not much better, mike marciano from year 1 to now nothing special, the whole 2012 graduating class from Freshman to Senior year nothing special, and the 2013 graduating class you could argue Donahue didnt improve much, maybe Janowski improved slightly, and Ward didnt get much better from year 1/2 to his last year.  Im sure some of this, maybe even the majority of this, is on the players but still a lot comes down to recruiting/developing players and just maybe needs re-evaluated.

[Gabriel]

HoopGuru,

I'm sure it is.

[centfan]

swat dad
good to see you back
hope you have a great new year and the same to all of you on the D3 boards

[diplomaniac1]

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had two relaxing and enjoyable holidays. I am ready for the rest of the season to begin. Here are my picks for tonight's games involving Centennial Conference teams:

Catholic @ Washington:   Catholic

MCLA @ F&M:   F&M.

If the predicted winter weather arrives, safe travels to everyone. Regards.

Eric

[Reserved Seat]

same picks
I'm already parked in the lot, but need to run out to the hospital for therapy at 4:00

[Reserved Seat]

Not much of a game at F&M especially the first half.  Very sloppy second half almost like the players' heads weren't in the game.

[diplomaniac1]

Fellow Centennial Conference Fans -

Welcome back to Division III basketball. I hope that everyone survived yesterday's winter storm! It kept me away from Mayser Center last night.

Here are my predictions for tonight's contests involving teams from the Centennial Conference:

Ursinus @ Peace:   Peace (don't know anything about Peace. However, given the apparent weakness of the Bears, I will go with the home team).

Case-Western Reserve @ Johns Hopkins:   Johns Hopkins should win this game.

Delaware Valley @ F&M:   F&M.

Enjoy the games.

Eric

[njf1003]

Not much of a game at F&M especially the first half.  Very sloppy second half almost like the players' heads weren't in the game.

Apparently several MCLA players had a stomach bug so they were depleted beyond the fact that they were on a losing streak.

[Reserved Seat]

Ursinus
JHU
F&M

[Reserved Seat]

F&M earned a hard fought game with a scrappy, quick Del Val team.  Sullivan had a very impressive game for the Aggies.  Chris Moran fought hard for his 17 points.  Arnold was disappointing.  He plays an overly aggressive game and tries to draw fouls instead of getting off good shots.  Arnold is extremely quick but seems out of control at time.  F&M's height and team play won the game.  Porter and Phelps played soled games offensively and defensively.  Salandra played a very controlled game and put up high numbers without forcing the play.  F&M tried to play a lot into Moune, but with all the hand and body checks he was unable to put big number.  Subs Figueroa and Faison came up big on a night when F&M had only 7 suited players.  Morgan Lee's presence was helpful during the scrappy play.