WBB: NESCAC

[remsleep]

It's Bowdoin and then everyone else in NESCAC this season.
Bates will be thin and opponents will probably double and triple Sarah Barton -- who is the real engine of the Bates team.  The other four on the floor won't be good enough to lead them to championship caliber -- don't get me wrong, they will definitely win their share of games -- just not an elite team.   Bowdoin is going to continue to dominate this conference until the day that Coach Pemper decides to leave.  Anyone who watches a lot of NESCAC games knows that she is light years ahead of her coaching counterparts -- and perhaps most importantly, she outworks them by a substantial margin  ( check out the local, regional and national camps, check out the local high school games and see who is there -- ask her assistants what is expected of them, etc).  Anyhow, to me the most intriguing team to watch in the next couple of seasons will be Colby with the addition of Coach McBride.  They will be "not good" this season but McBride comes with a resume somewhat similar to Pemper when she showed up at Bowdoin seven or eight years ago.  P.S.  On paper, USM looks almost unbeatable

[Red1]

Bates has no one other than Sarah Barton who can lead a championship calibur team?!  Let's examine this shall we?  There's Meg Coffin, she was second team all Nescac and is shaping up to be a star.  She might very well be the best player on the team.  Oh well, we'll just ignore her and maybe she'll go away, or perhaps Barton (the league leader in assists last year) won't be able to see a 6-1 center wide open under the basket for the easy layup.

Perhaps they cover Coffin while double or triple teaming Barton, somone has to be open.  How about Matia Kostakis who was also a rookie of the year last year.  Another big scorer, rebounder, and blocker, not unlike Olivia Zurek. Perhaps she's too young to be a championship calibur player.

Maybe she'll find Kyla Decato in the corner.  Not that Kyla can shoot or anything.  She only led NESCAC in 3pt shooting % last year.

The point being, Bates isn't good because they have one or two or three players of a certain calibur.  They're good because they have a talented team.  If Zurek was the only championship calibur player then double and triple teaming her would have shut Bates down.  As teams learned, it did nothing of the sort, because if Zurek was double or triple teamed then there were 2,3,or 4 other people with more than enough talent to put the other team away, one of whom was always open, and if they didn't double team her, she'd win the one-on-one every time.  It's the multi-faceted threat that makes Bates so tough.  You double team someone they find the open player who takes it to you, you don't double team, and any one of them can beat you one-on-one.  It's not about the individuals, it's about the team as a whole, that's why Bowdoin and USM are so good too.  They don't win because they have one or two or three championship calibur players, but because they meld so well as a team.  A significant portion of the credit for this should go to the coaches of each of these teams too.  Bates and Bowdoin split their games home and home last year, and will likely do so again this year.  The conference game is at Bates this year.  If you really believe that Bowdoin will run away with it this year, I think you're in for a surprise.

As for the USM comment, they look almost unbeatable on paper because they are almost unbeatable.  That "almost" is extremely important.  They are beatable every once in a while, but very rarely.  USM has won 20 games every year since the mid to late '70s (I'm not exactly sure which year, but it's in that area.)  The Huskies are truly a dynasty in Women's DIII basketball.  I think that winning at least 20 games a year qualifies as "almost" never losing.  They were almost unbeatable last year too, but Bates and Bowdoin both took advantage of that "almost" as did Milikin.

Cheers,
Red1

[bearswatcher]

I rooting for Brandeis to beat Bates, Not only because they are in the UAA but because you guys are almost as obnoxious as me, but I am still a student so I don't count

[senatorfrost]

  These guys aren't obnoxious at all. They are just fans. If Brandeis beats Bates stick around and you will see concentrated obnoxiousness. She'll be back.

[myepa]

First of all, Red, you took the words right out of my mouth. Second of all, anyone who denies coach murphy's work ethic is a fool...last year he won nescac coach of the year in both soccer and basketball, he must be doing something right. and stephanie may be a hard working coach, ill give you that, but she does still wear a sweater with a polar bear on it.

[newtonnancy]

New season, read some posts, and since I am in Chicago still, I have been keeping tabs on UC since I am removed from Brandeis (Allen, come I need some reports) and hear they played Northwestern (yes BIG 10 Northwestern) even up yesterday at NWU.

Congressman, I wthought I'd make your day

[myepa]

 

[deiscanton]

Angus--

1.) It is not my fault that Bowdoin decided to go to the Eastern Conn. tip-off tourney-- my ultimate dream Brandeis tip-off tourney would have Brandeis v. S. Maine in the opening round with Bowdoin v. Bates as the second game.  Winners face off against each other for the title.    However, since I can't get it this year, I am more than satisfied with the tip-off field that I got.  The rest of the non-conference schedule, though, does look like typical "bread and butter." 

2.)  The NCAA field is now 63 teams, starting this season.  There are 21 Pool C bids now, so the scenario that befell the UAA last year where only the UAA automatic qualifer went to the NCAAs will not happen again this year-- unless Wash U wins the league by 4 games or more, which won't happen.   I expect NESCAC to send at least 2 or 3 teams to the NCAAs this year in this new field, too.  This change is well deserved.

3.)  Regardless of what happens, I will be in Springfield, MA on March 17, 2005 to see the national semis and championship game.   If the NESCAC makes it to Springfield,  I will look forward to it.

4.)  Brandeis does have the team to win 19 or 20 games again this year-- it is just a matter of playing these games one at a time.  The same goes for the top NESCAC teams.

I hope that you have an excellent NESCAC season, Angus.

[angus_king]

1. Considering recent history, Bates and Bowdoin will see enough of each other without meeting in a tip-off tourney. With three meetings almost assured already, I think fans will get enough of that rivalry. If I had to put together an enticing tourney, Brandeis is not among the four.

2. My point still stands: if Brandeis gets thrown into a Pool C scenario with that schedule, they will be a low seed, if qualifying at all.

3. I hear Springfield is lovely in the spring. Make sure to lock your hubcaps.

4. It's impossible to play more than one game at a time under the currently accepted space/time continuum theories, which I believe have been adopted by the NCAA...

On a side note, I would take Justine Pouravalis (D3H HM Preseason AA) over Ashley Marble (2nd team).

[senatorfrost]

  I am not familar with all the NESCAC W coaches. I do know that Murphy is the Soccer Coach and that McBride is an Asst. Football coach. Does Pemper coach anything besides basketball?  I heard there are some coaches who are assts. and then they take off to coach Basketball towards the end of the other sport.
Murphy and McBride stay with their Fall sport until the end. It's easier if you have nothing to do but coach one sport. Not saying that is the case, I am merely inquiring.

[speedy]

. .  Does Pemper coach anything besides basketball?  I heard there are some coaches who are assts. and then they take off to coach Basketball towards the end of the other sport.
Murphy and McBride stay with their Fall sport until the end. It's easier if you have nothing to do but coach one sport. Not saying that is the case, I am merely inquiring.

The only sport that Pemper coaches at Bowdoin is basketball but I think that she also has administrative responsibilities of some sort in the Bowdoin athletic department.

[senatorfrost]

 Then she certainly has it a lot easier than McBride and Murphy and probably some others. I had always thought you had to be involved in coaching two sports as either a head coach or an Asst. I guess I was mistaken.

[Red1]

Just a little addition to the conversation on coaches:

Coach Murphy and the soccer team just ended their season, falling in the second round of the NCAA championships.  For the last 2 weeks Coach Murphy has been attending practices and performing full coaching duties for both of these teams at the same time.  (Players as you know are not allowed to be in two sports at the same time, but apparently coaches can.)  He's really been doing double duty, and had the soccer team won, he'd have been forced to miss the Brandeis tip-off tournament in order to coach the soccer team.  (Meg Coffin, also, would have been forced to miss it as she is on the soccer team too.)

Along with the sorrow of losing in the NCAA tournament comes the joy of knowing that the women's basketball team won't be travelling to Brandeis without their star center and head coach.  That could have resulted in disaster.  Actually the assistant coach for the basketball team (Carla Flaherty) is also the assistant coach of the soccer team, so I don't know who would have coached the basketball team next weekend if soccer had won.

This long winded post was just to give everyone an idea of how hard Coach Murphy works this time of year.

Cheers,
Red1

[myepa]

Did anyone hear about the Bates alumni bball game this past weekend? I've received word through the grapevine that those alumni really gave bates a run for their money. a real nail biter i heard. a barn-burner, if you will. another thing i heard about the game was that there was a whole lot of straight hair flowing about. anyone else notice that?

[angus_king]

While not up to the workload of an asst. football coach (perhaps the rarest women's hoops combo out there, up there with Harvey Shapiro's former role as w. hoops/baseball duo) or a two-sport varsity coach, Pemper is not sitting around fishing out of season. I believe her administrator duties include being the SWA, which is a year-round job.

With a little research:

Amh: McBride - Asst. Football
Bates: Murphy - W. Soccer
Bow: Pemper - SWA
Colby: Gear-McBride -  unknown (I'd guess asst. softball like O'Brien)
Conn.: Hungerford - none listed
Midd: Pecsok - Asst. Softball, Club sport liasion
Trin: Davis - none listed
Tufts: Berube - none listed
Wes: Mullen - Adjunct Professor
Will: Manning - couldn't find anything, but i believe she is an asst. with another team

Purpose? I think good coaches are good coaches, regardless of the workload. I would argue the workload of a good coach might be increased just because they have shown success. Murphy stands out because of his ability to have his teams at such a high level in consecutive seasons (a little more common in the fall/spring double).