MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[Dance Major]

Congratulations to Brian Rouse of Emerson for scoring his 1,000 point last week.  The junior big man is averaging 23.3 ppg on 57% from the field, and 53% from 3-point range.  I was able to watch Endicott at Emerson this past weekend, and Rouse was phenomenal -- 28 points on only 13 shots, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.  His ability to finish at the basket with either hand, his footwork, and his shooting ability make him one of the best low-post scorers I have seen at the D3 level.  Even as undersized as he is for his position at 6'4", he is nearly impossible to stop 1 on 1 in the post.

[ephoops]

Congrats to Rouse.  He gets the most out of his talents...

[coach4407]

Rouse is a good player, everyone is aware of this. Him and Jeremy Shannon make the Emerson team. But when Emerson plays teams with good post players they seem to struggle. Even though Rouse is skilled sometimes he is too short for his position. Otis from Mount Ida ALWAYS seems to dominate in the games against Emerson. And rookie post player Robert Thurman from Norwich gave Emerson trouble in their loss to Norwich. So maybe Emerson should get a good sized post player with some of Rouse's skills.

[All-around]

While you may be right Emerson needing bigger guys.

In the 2 games they've matched up this year...Otis Thompson has scored 3 points and 6 points to go with 3 rebounds and 7 rebounds.. While Rouse has put up 22points, 5 rbs, and 26 ponts with 11 rebounds. Wouldnt quite call that dominating by Thompson to say the least. Actually looks like Rouse dominated Thompson.


May want to check your facts before you make these so called statements.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Emerson's needed bigger guys for as long as I can remember.  They always seem to be slightly undersized to make a run at the top teams in the region.

[coach4407]

Points aren't everything in a match-up. 5 rebounds is a horrible amount of boards for a big man. The true big men in the GNAC create problems for the Emerson team in general, they only beat Mount Ida  by 2 and 3 with both match ups and they lost to Norwich, which to be honest NO ONE saw coming. And we have yet to see them play against Lasell this year.

[All-around]

And 3 rebounds by Thompson?? Rouse out rebounded Thompson in both games.

[BornBalla]

Rouse is perfect for Emerson & their system. I think the Emerson coach prefers undersized, tough forwards. Anytime I'v seen them play over the years, this is how they looked. Having bigs doesn't guarantee success in NE or nationally. Virginia Weslyan won titles and went to another with a VERY undersized team. They had Brandon Adair(who was 6-5 at best) the year they won it & another 6-4ish kid off bench. They played hardnosed def & spread the floor offensively. I remember Anna Maria squads in mid 90's with their 6-4 post guy who scored over 2,000pts & a bunch of guards. It's really about the having talent & using it the right way. At D3 size is overrated. The guys above 6-5/6-6 at this level are usually stiffs. I'd take a kid like Rouse anyday.

[coach4407]

yes most are stiffs, but when you do find a tall player who is a quality player that team will dominate because size is so rare in D3. Like Jose Guitan. As I said before I believe the young man from Norwich, the 6'11 kid will show to be dominate in the GNAC for his career here. What do you think?

[Hugenerd]

Rouse is perfect for Emerson & their system. I think the Emerson coach prefers undersized, tough forwards. Anytime I'v seen them play over the years, this is how they looked. Having bigs doesn't guarantee success in NE or nationally. Virginia Weslyan won titles and went to another with a VERY undersized team. They had Brandon Adair(who was 6-5 at best) the year they won it & another 6-4ish kid off bench. They played hardnosed def & spread the floor offensively. I remember Anna Maria squads in mid 90's with their 6-4 post guy who scored over 2,000pts & a bunch of guards. It's really about the having talent & using it the right way. At D3 size is overrated. The guys above 6-5/6-6 at this level are usually stiffs. I'd take a kid like Rouse anyday.

In the northeast it seems that way, but its a different story in other regions (especially in the west/midwest).  There are a bunch of examples of tall players that are not 'stiffs' in d3.  I could go through some of them, but all 5 centers on the preseason all american list are at least 6'7" and there are many more.  I think the northeast, more than most regions, tends to be guard oriented and smaller conferences, such as the GNAC, are especially so.  Therefore, shorter big men can put up big numbers and dominate.  If you go to conferences like the WIAC and CCIW, and even the UAA, almost every team has a big man that can play.

[nescac1]

Yes, if you look at the teams that actually succeed on a national scale from New England, they almost always have big guys who can really play.  The recent strong Amherst teams, in addition to a great point guard of course, had a 6'8 kid in the class of 03, 6'7 Schiel in the class of 05, 6'6 Casnocha in 06, and then four guys, all at least 6'7 (one 6'10) who were all serious athletes / could run the floor, dunk, shoot, etc., in last year's graduating class.  Amherst doesn't have a dominating inside presence this year and it's hurt them against the better teams.  The Williams team that nearly won back-to-back titles had Coffin, a 6'8 guy who was by his junior year easily a D-I caliber talent (just ask the Holy Cross bigs who he dominated) and was the key to their tourney success.  It's telling that no other new england squad has made the final four since 200.  And Rochester, which generally has been loaded with huge, strong guys inside, has been the biggest roadblock for the New England powers in doing so. 

[ephoops]

Yes, if you look at the teams that actually succeed on a national scale from New England, they almost always have big guys who can really play.  The recent strong Amherst teams, in addition to a great point guard of course, had a 6'8 kid in the class of 03, 6'7 Schiel in the class of 05, 6'6 Casnocha in 06, and then four guys, all at least 6'7 (one 6'10) who were all serious athletes / could run the floor, dunk, shoot, etc., in last year's graduating class.  Amherst doesn't have a dominating inside presence this year and it's hurt them against the better teams.  The Williams team that nearly won back-to-back titles had Coffin, a 6'8 guy who was by his junior year easily a D-I caliber talent (just ask the Holy Cross bigs who he dominated) and was the key to their tourney success.  It's telling that no other new england squad has made the final four since 200.  And Rochester, which generally has been loaded with huge, strong guys inside, has been the biggest roadblock for the New England powers in doing so. 

Also, the one drawback of the two Williams teams that Nogelo led to two final fours in the 90's was that these teams did not have a dominant big man.  This was acutely the case when Williams played UW-Platteville in the semi finals.  Williams started off hot and had a double-digat lead in the first half.  Then there was a stretch for several minutes where Williams just could not get a rebound.  Plateville had a hot shooting guard that game but if you ask Sheehy, Williams lack a true center who could rebound with the big kids from the Midwest is what prevented Williams from winning two national championships with Nogelo.

Coffin and DeMuth allowed Williams to compete inside with the midwest bigmen...

[ScouteamCEO]

 Anyone have a line on this tall kid from Norwich. I saw him at Duke just before winter break...if he's 6'10" I'm Barney's love child. He's GOT to be 7"1" at least....

yes most are stiffs, but when you do find a tall player who is a quality player that team will dominate because size is so rare in D3. Like Jose Guitan. As I said before I believe the young man from Norwich, the 6'11 kid will show to be dominate in the GNAC for his career here. What do you think?

[All-around]

Riv clips Lasell. Emmanuel thrashes Emerson. Seems like the league is up for grabs this year!

[34whistle]

Lets be honest Lasell had an off day, they are still the team to beat, and looking at the remainder of their schedule there is no one tht can touch them.