MBB: Centennial Conference

[Gabriel]

What have people heard about the freshmen classes? I have heard a few schools recruited a bunch of people (F&M and McDaniel) but those programs have brought in large classes in the last few years as well (and may over-recruit a bit). The Ursinus class, although small, looks pretty impressive on paper.

ddm,

Coaches have different philosophies regarding recruiting and squad size.  Many coaches like large squads, you mentioned F&M and McDaniel.  Ursinus prefers a small squad, in the 12 to 13 range.  Coach Small does not recruit any player unless he thinks they will contribute significantly in game situations by the time they are juniors.  He prefers to bring in 3 or 4 players per year.  Ursinus' three recruits look good on paper, but the jury is still out on whether or not they can play.  I am betting they are better than your typical DIII freshmen.

[ddm1027]

You can't maintain even a large squad bringing in 8 or 9 recruited kids a year though. You have to assume a pretty high rate of attrition in a program like that. I don't think it is necessarily wrong to recruit a high number but I think some of the recruits are often surprised by how many people were brought in (this is the case at McDaniel this year and at F&M in the past). The coaches tend not to mention all the other guys they are looking at. Luckily, most of the CC programs seem to favor the middle-ground. Hopefully this year is just Curley replacing a large senior class and getting his first big group together. The more elite academic schools in the conference (Haverford, Swat, JHU) also couldn't recruit large numbers of players in a given year if they wanted to (they only have a certain amount of admissions pull and are very lucky to get 5-6).

[ddm1027]

Are many CC guys from the 2000s getting into coaching? I have listed the ones I know, including at least three who are D1 assistants:
Jimmy Martelli from Dickinson is the #2 or 3 assistant at Robert Morris.
Josh Loeffler from Swarthmore is the top assistant at Lafayette.
Chris Prior from McDaniel stayed there.
The Ursinus trio of assistants has stayed there.
Eran Ganot of Swarthmore is the #3 assistant at Hawaii.

[old ends]

Nice story about a former Ursinus player
http://www.ursinus.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=353&srcid=1038

enjoy

[old ends]

Well it now just around the corner;

Friday, November 20
Hobart      at Dickinson
Keystone  at Ursinus
Haverford  vs. Kenyon
Washington at Hood
Stevenson  at Johns Hopkins
New York City Tech at F&M
St. Mary's   at McDaniel
Oneonta    at Muhlenberg
Middlebury at Swarthmore

Saturday, November 21
Dickinson Tip-Off
Swarthmore    vs. Kenyon
Middlebury      at Haverford
F&M Rotary Tip-Off
Gettysburg Tip-Off
Pride of Maryland Tournament
Scotty Wood Tournament
Hamilton Tip-Off

Sunday, November 22
Pride of Maryland Tournament

[old ends]

Just checking out the Conference site and noticed that most teams  have not updated rosters.

I see Dickinson has a new coach and wish him sucess.
http://dickinson.edu/sports/article.cfm?articleIndex=1621

Does anyone have any idea (hopefully not the day before) rosters will be released.

[Gabriel]

Well it now just around the corner;

Friday, November 20
Hobart      at Dickinson
Keystone  at Ursinus
Haverford  vs. Kenyon
Washington at Hood
Stevenson  at Johns Hopkins
New York City Tech at F&M
St. Mary's   at McDaniel
Oneonta    at Muhlenberg


One small correction.  Keystone and Ursinus meet at Hamilton, not at Ursinus.
Middlebury at Swarthmore

Saturday, November 21
Dickinson Tip-Off
Swarthmore    vs. Kenyon
Middlebury      at Haverford
F&M Rotary Tip-Off
Gettysburg Tip-Off
Pride of Maryland Tournament
Scotty Wood Tournament
Hamilton Tip-Off

Sunday, November 22
Pride of Maryland Tournament

[Gabriel]

Well it now just around the corner;

Friday, November 20
Hobart      at Dickinson
Keystone  at Ursinus
Haverford  vs. Kenyon
Washington at Hood
Stevenson  at Johns Hopkins
New York City Tech at F&M
St. Mary's   at McDaniel
Oneonta    at Muhlenberg
Middlebury at Swarthmore

Saturday, November 21
Dickinson Tip-Off
Swarthmore    vs. Kenyon
Middlebury      at Haverford
F&M Rotary Tip-Off
Gettysburg Tip-Off
Pride of Maryland Tournament
Scotty Wood Tournament
Hamilton Tip-Off

Sunday, November 22
Pride of Maryland Tournament

One small correction to this.  Ursinus and Keystone meet at the Hamilton Tip Off, not at Ursinus.

[2twotoed]

I was curious if anyone knew anything about the freshmen recruits at Washington College. They recruited a point guard from Virginia and I was interested in how he was doing. They never seem to get much attention on this board.

[old ends]

One small correction to this.  Ursinus and Keystone meet at the Hamilton Tip Off, not at Ursinus.

The information I posted came straight from the Conference home page. Let Mr. Steve know also.

[ddm1027]

Swarthmore also looks like it has a fairly large and deep incoming class:
6-0 guard Sean Conroe (Santa Cruz, Calif.) averaged 12 ppg., 5 apg., and was named second team all-league. 6-5 forward Will Gates (Wilseyville, N.Y.) averaged over 26 ppg. and was named second team all-state. 5-11 guard Jordan Martinez (Oakdale, N.Y.) averaged 12 ppg. and 7 apg. and was named all-tourney in the prestigious Sleepy Thompson Tourney. Eugene Prymak (Middletown, Pa.), a 6-6 post presence, averaged 11 ppg. and 6 rpg. and was named a conference all-star. 6-6 post Ramsey Walker (Kuttawa, Ky.) averaged 19ppg. and 9 rpg. as a senior and was twice named All-Region.

This is a feature about Will Gates, who from the short clips here looked ready to play in the CC as a high school senior: http://www.wbng.com/sports/academicallstars/37249984.html?video=YHI&t=a

[Swat Fan #1]

We are hoping for better times at Swarthmore this year! I can't wait for the season to start. Those were nice comments about Swarthmore, thanks!

[lizalan07]

Checking out the Hopkins roster for this season, besides the 4 seniors that graduated, it appears that two other players won't be back. One a senior and the other a junior. This has got to hurt. Although, I believe that the Blue Jays can put a good starting five out on the court, the bench will be lacking. They will have 7 new freshmen, (4 listed as guards and 3 as forwards) on the team this year. Hope these freshmen can fit in early into the season.

[division3]

good luck to swarthmore.i hope they do better than last year...i felt bad for the players last year.
they lost their best player but have a bunch of new kids. maybe they will get a few wins.

[Reserved Seat]

F&M's new roster posted today.  A lot of changes for a team that had only one senior last year.
Six freshmen are listed on the roster including two 6'8" freshmen.  From the looks of things, F&M should be as talented as last year with more height off the bench.  Repeating last year's accomplishments will be difficult, but should be possible.  It sound like several teams have also made significant improvements.  It will be interesting to see how the year turns out.