WBB: NESCAC

sumfun · December 10, 2011, 07:46:23 AM

Amherst can't take post graduates or 5th year players that had an "injury" year as there is no graduate school. Schools in the UAA can have a 5th year player like Jamie McFarland for Wash U who is now playing in Europe.

amh63 · December 10, 2011, 11:35:05 AM

Nice post Sumfun.
Jumpshot tends to be a "pot stirrer" on several boards with his posts mainly directed at Amherst. I'm guessing he is a Williams supporter. Against my better judgement, I will now respond to his post.............Amherst tends to attract talented student-athletes primarily because they provide FREE webcasts of key sporting events.

ECSUalum · December 10, 2011, 01:10:06 PM

Thanks guys, always an interesting debate. Switching to men. I know when I was at ECSU in the early 70's (student pop, +/-1200, 95% CT residents), Warriors baseball, for example, played a lot of bigger and now D-I schools, ie St Johns U, U of North Carolina, East Carolina U, (UConn chickened out), and beat or was very competitive with all, but of course when D-III conferences were formed in the early 80's that level of competition pretty much went away. Today in basketball RIC plays URI,, (RIC not much success), I think UW Whitewater plays U of Wisconsin, UWW w/o much success, there must be a few others but certainly rare for D-III to play D-I schools and more rare for D-III school to beat the D-I school.

sorry, this is in the wrong thread

Wydown Blvd. · December 10, 2011, 02:29:03 PM

Quote from: sumfun on December 10, 2011, 07:46:23 AM
Amherst can't take post graduates or 5th year players that had an "injury" year as there is no graduate school. Schools in the UAA can have a 5th year player like Jamie McFarland for Wash U who is now playing in Europe.

I heard these grumbles already from the CCIW/IWU folks about the 5th year. Amherst (and any other college) can offer a 5th year player the option of a second bachelors (BA, BS, BSBA, etc), while universities (including those in the UAA) can offer graduate school as an option for the 5th year. All schools have the opportunity of extending its student-athletes a fifth year.

The second option... that all schools have (and that the military academies use esp. for football) includes having the student-athlete take the semester off. The third option, which is more reasonable for the NESCAC, is to extend the degree (fewer hours and/or less degree requirements per semester).

The fifth year option is rarely taken by student-athletes... Even if you look at the UAA, how many 5th year players have we seen over the past 5 to 10 years. Not many, with WashU having the two high profile cases of 5th years on the mens and womens side.

Jumpshot does bring up a good point.

But, regardless of the sport, each school/conference in D3 has its own recruiting advantages (tips, location, degrees, prestige, international presence, etc.). The best conferences and athletic departments are the ones that utilize those advantages the best.

amh63 · December 13, 2011, 09:26:26 AM

Three conference teams remain in the Top 25. Amherst at #1. Williams at #11 and Colby at #20. Bowdoin has a couple of points.
Amherst last game of the semester is tonight at Springfield. Need to stay focus.....before their trip to Nevada.

amh63 · December 14, 2011, 04:08:11 PM

Didn't catch Amherst's last game of the semester last night against Springfield away but the write-up and the boxscore is most revealing.
The score was Amherst 69, Springfield 26....with Springfield scoring the last 4 points.
The game saw the play of Amherst FY player, Uju Momah, for the first time. The 6' FY player from Ct. is another front court player for Amherst. She was recovering from an injury. Everyone dressed played. Still not seen is Sally Marx, a soph. guard. The scary part of the game is that it seems Amherst is tuning up the defensive end of their play.....scary to opponents. Though the outside shooting was not up to par...only 69 points.....the game was won by defense. Amherst had 7 blocks, 9 steals and forced 22 turnovers by the Pride while making only 8. Coach "G" expects good defensive efforts of the players....and more time on the floor comes with defense.

daoustian · December 18, 2011, 10:12:52 PM

Early start on the class of 2016 for Amherst:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20111217/SPORTS02/312170002/Con-Ed-Scholar-Athlete-Week-Irvington-s-Marley-Giddins

Good player though Irvington is a very small school playing in a small school division against a lower level of competition in NY. Hopefully it works out.

amh63 · December 19, 2011, 11:35:30 AM

In any case, she will get a great education and should enjoy the experience. Coach G is pretty good about evaluating players that will fit into his "system"...if there really is one. Coach G has a history of players that do well in the classroom and on the floor and being athletic (track high jumper). I may have met her during Homecoming weekend....in a around about way. Was talking to Stedman about the team/coaches while she was leading a "future student" around the campus.

amh63 · December 20, 2011, 07:53:49 PM

Forgot to mention that the latest top 25 rankings are out. What is of interest for this board is the drop of Williams. All conference schools are in exams, in holiday break, etc.....no game activities. The drop must be the result of other schools wins....changing selectors minds. Still, the size of the drop is surprising with the few games that are being played.

amh63 · December 28, 2011, 04:53:46 PM

Amherst beats Concordia (Wisc.) 67-37 in its first game at the LV D3hoops tournament today. Everyone played except for Sally Marx. It was a 11 point lead at the half. The court has an "open" end which seemed to affect the foul shooting in particular as Amherst's shooters missed most of their shots at the open end in the first half. The story of the game seems to be the Amherst's coaches shirts worn during the game.....can be seen on the D3hoops website for the tournament. Next game is with WPI on Thursday afternoon. These games will be a nice warm up for the team after the end of exams. First game in the new year will be with Williams. Oops...first game is with Wes., wrong "W" team.

formerbant10 · December 28, 2011, 05:45:37 PM

No doubt the shirts were inspired by Coach Gromacki's favorite TV Show

gordonmann · December 28, 2011, 11:02:54 PM

Good to see you're still prowling these boards, Former Bant.

NE Hoop Guy · December 29, 2011, 02:23:00 PM

I do not know anything about the shirts, but it is an interesting tournament. How come there are some really good teams out there at the tournament and Amherst gets two of the less competitive teams? Do they decide who they are willing to play or does D3hoops make the assignment? I know they play a tough league schedule and they may want to not take on any major out of league foes, but it seems odd. They will KILL WPI today and it was pretty easy yesterday.

gordonmann · December 29, 2011, 03:29:30 PM

Agreed. I would love to see Amherst against UW-River Falls, Carthage, Simpson or Thomas More.

Pat Coleman makes the schedule with two priorities -- not repeating prior match ups and getting teams regional opponents, which helps them in the NCAA tournament selection process. Teams also have to agree to play each other, though. Some teams are not enthusiastic about playing Amherst for obvious reasons.

amh63 · December 30, 2011, 01:14:03 PM

Amherst beat WPI by a whole lot. Write-up and score on both this board and on the Amherst website. Important thing is that all of the Amherst players played, including Sally Marx and no injuries of note. Rizzo did get an elbow in the face that required the trainer to evaluate and stoppage of the game. It was a learning experience for both teams and should help Amherst in the start of conference play.