2017-18 All American Predictions

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not convinced that Jack Nolan is even the best freshman in his conference. Nolan is the better shooter, but Romin Williams of Emory is a force of nature unto himself. I've watched him online several times, and I can't figure out where his ceiling is as a player.

A few people have told me that Quentin Shields of UW-Platteville is the quickest freshman that they've seen this year. But I've seen both, and Williams makes Shields look like he's standing still.

[4samuy]

If this was a 2019-2020 All American Predictions thread, I might add Jack Nolan.  He is shooting 53% from the field, 49% from three and 93% from the line.

I think he will be a 1st Team All-American as a sophomore.

Respectfully disagree, but do not dispute his talent.

WashU is losing a huge senior class and I'm pretty sure all of their starters.  I will admit that I don't have insider knowledge of their bench, but I would guess Jack will need to be the primary scorer on what may be a younger team, which will get him a lot opportunities, but Will WashU have some good secondary options as scorers next year?  I guess that will play out.  If not, good coaches will game plan for him making it extremely difficult.  If he does become an All American, he will certainly have earned it.

[guest323]

http://d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2017-18/boxscores/20180202_8d99.xml

Kirkendoll > Levi

[WUPHF]

I'm not convinced that Jack Nolan is even the best freshman in his conference. Nolan is the better shooter, but Romin Williams of Emory is a force of nature unto himself. I've watched him online several times, and I can't figure out where his ceiling is as a player.

This is old news at this point.

I think I referred to him as the UAA newcomer of the year before he played his first Division III opponent.  That prediction willl stand, but Williams is not exactly running away with it.

Williams is averaging 16 points per game overall and 14 points per game in the conference while Nolan is averaging 12 points per game overall and 13 points per game in conference.  Washington University had the more difficult non-conference schedule by a margin.

Williams is playing a few minutes more, but the rest of the stats are not extraordinarily different.  Williams has twice as many assists, but he turns the ball over just as often.

However, these two players are expected to play very different roles on very different teams.

I am not sure if the committees discriminates on the basis of conference affiliation when choosing the all-Americans, but maybe it is time for the league to feature two all-Americans.

[irapthor]

Sam Toney from NJCU is a lock to be the NJAC Player of the Year as a sophomore and should on this list of All-Americans. In the NJAC alone he already has scored 30+ points five times, including 42 at Ramapo.

Even more amazing when you consider his life story:

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/nj-hoops-haven/2018/01/30/homeless-to-hoops-stardom-sam-toneys-inspiring-journey-to-njcu/109932438/

[magicman]

Jon Patron, junior forward at Plattsburgh State, wasn't on anybody's radar early on as he had to sit out the first semester because he lost a half year when he transferred to Plattsburgh in 2015. He missed the first 8 games that Plattsburgh played and the Cardinals went 4-4. Since he joined the team on December 30th they have went 19-0 and now have the longest current winning streak in men's basketball, all divisions.

Patron is averaging 23.7 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. He has scored 426 points this season and now has 1244 career points. He is on pace to break the all time Plattsburgh State career points mark, held by former D3hoops All American Anthony Williams(2005 to 2008).

Jon saved his best for last weekend's SUNYAC Final Four as he had 35 points and 13 rebounds against Oswego State on Friday. He followed that with a 41 point, 9 rebound performance, in the Championship game on Saturday, against Oneonta, as the Cardinals claimed the Conference Tournament title to go along with their regular season crown. Jon was a combined 31x44 from the field, 4x6 from downtown, and 10x12 from the line.  He was the MVP of the tournament and has won the SUNYAC player of the week award on 4 other occasions this year.   He will most likely be named the MVP of the SUNYAC conference in the next few days. Three weeks ago he was on the D3hoops Team of the Week and his stats this past weekend certainly merit consideration for this week's award.  Hopefully, the folks at D3hoops will see fit to bestow All American status on this outstanding player.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Rookie of the Year candidates are always the most difficult to parse out.  Off the top of my head, I'd want to consider:

Romin Williams - Emory
Jack Nolan - WashU
Spencer Levi - UDallas
Darne Duckett - Whitman

I'm sure there are a few others - I know the NESCAC's got a bunch of freshmen getting big PT.

[nescac1]

Austin Hutcherson of Wesleyan is definitely the top rookie in NESCAC and a likely future all-American.  He is super versatile at 6'5 with pg skills.  But I would not say he is a candidate for national ROY barring a big leap forward in the NCAA tourney. Regional ROY, perhaps, as no other obvious New England candidates come immediately to mind other than MIT's Hamilton Forsythe. 

[nescac1]

More generally, I earlier said that these guys were the top candidates in New England:

Jake Ross, Springfield
Jack Daly, Middlebury
James Heskett, Williams
Jaqhawn Walters, Albertus Magnus
Raheem Anderson, Husson
Marcos Echevarria, Nichols
Tarchee Brown, Eastern Conn
Bradley Jomard, MIT
Ty Nichols, Keene State

Jomard, unfortunately, suffered a serious injury and has missed the last seven games, knocking him out of contention.  Nichols and Anderson's squads didn't make the NCAA tourney and neither was so dominant individually to warrant all-American honors, in my view.

That leaves Walters, Echevarria, Brown, Heskett, Daly, and Ross as the New England candidates.  I think those six are fairly closely grouped; except for maybe Ross none are realistically in contention for first-team all-American, but all could make a case for second team or lower, and all but Walters (who to me is an all-American talent, he just didn't get enough help) will have a chance to make a stronger case against out-of-region competition in the NCAA tourney. 

[Smitty Oom]

So it sounds like the D3 Recee's All-Star rosters will be named in the next couple days, according to Dave on Hoopsville today. Should be noted that only seniors that have played their last game are eligible for this game. All of these players had great senior years to go along with great careers at their school. Just a couple of accomplishments from each player is lister afterwards.

So here is my list, in no particular order:
1. Nate Axelrod - OWU: Josten's Trophy Finalist, 3x NCAC POY, 2000+ points, 500+ assists
2. Tyheim Monroe - Cabrini: 2x CSAC POY, 2000+ points, 1400+ assits
3. Tarchee Brown - Eastern Connecticut: LEC POY, 1900+ points, 4x All-LEC 1st team
4. Chimaechi Ekekeugbor - Baruch: CUNYAC POY, 2000 points
5. Jaqwan Walters - Albertus Magnus: 2x GNAC POY, 1800+ points, 1100+ rebounds
6. Patrick McDonald - SUNY-Matitime: Josten's Trophy Finalist, 3x All-Skyline, 1500+ points, 1000+ rebounds
7. Colin Olmscheid - Augsburg: MIAC POY, 1800+ points
8. CD Douglas - UM-Morris: UMAC POY, 3xAll-UMAC, 1900+ points
9. Kevin Grow - Carleton: Josten's Trophy Finalist, 1400+ points, 1000+ rebounds, 200+ blocks, 3xAll-MIAC
10. Michael Scarlett - CMS: 2x SCIAC POY, 1300+ points
11. Andrew Sanders - WashU: UAA POY, 1200+ points, 500+ rebounds
12. Jay Howard - Catholic: Josten's Trophy Finalist, Landmark POY, 2100+ points, 700+ assists
13. Andy Orr - Leb Valley: Co-SIDA All-District, Josten's Trophy Finalist, 3x All-MAC Commonwealth
14. Raheem Anderson - Husson: 2x NAC POY, 2414 points

Others in the mix, feel free to add people to this list as this is in no way all encompassing:
Hamed Shamseldin - Brockport
Alex Sorenson - NCC
Nate Burger - ONU
Chad Roy - Wittenberg
Sam Light - Lebanon Valley
Dejaun Smith - Albright


Players that could make it but are currently still playing in the NCAAs:
Tim Howell - Whitman
Jack Daly - Middlebury
Adam Gigax - Emory
Brandon Federici - F&M
Thomas Bonacum - Ramapo

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The All-Star rosters come from the NABC All-American teams - so, likely, those will be out soon, too.

[guest323]

Travion Kirkendoll and Keenan Gumms

[Riley056]

Add Jack Davidson (Wabash) and Quinten Shields (Platteville) to ROY list

[hopefan]

When do the Regionals come out?   This weekend?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

When do the Regionals come out?   This weekend?

D3hoops.com All-Region teams? Early next week.