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Messages - P'bearfan

#1
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
November 29, 2023, 09:43:21 AM
Congrats to Bowdoin for last night's 91-77 victory of Thomas (ME).  It was a story of two halves as the Polar Bears shot 50% from the field in the first half and only 33% in the second half.  I watched part of the 2nd half and while the Polar Bears were moving the ball well and attacking the rim they just couldn't finish.  Free throws seemed to be the key as Bowdoin got the line 16 times in the 2nd half and converted 75% (vs 6 attempts in the first half).  Still it's the 2nd win a row which must feel good.

GoUBears!
#2
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
November 19, 2023, 12:41:36 PM
Tough loss for Bowdoin yesterday as they fell to UM-Farmington, 56-65.

Watched the second half and I was impressed with the offense - lots of good ball and player movement that created open looks.  Bowdoin played mostly man defense and the players were on their assignments.

The box score highlights the improvement areas:  the Polar Bears only shot 36.7% overall and just 20% from behind the arc.  Hopefully they find a consistent shooting stroke soon.  The other area that stands out is turnovers where Bowdoin committed 20.

If Bowdoin tightens up those two elements, they'll be alright this season.

GoUBears!
#3
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
November 17, 2023, 09:23:20 AM
Congrats to the Polar Bears for notching their first win of the season by defeating Bates 79-63.  Didn't get a chance to watch the game but it seems that Bowdoin finally found their shooting stroke.  Hopefully this is the first of many to come this season!

GoUBears!
#4
Quote from: Nescacman on October 29, 2023, 11:22:31 PM
Quote from: The Mole on October 29, 2023, 07:55:54 PM
Worst Coaching Jobs in NESCAC last 5 years

Malik Hall, Bates
Jack Cosgrove, Colby

I will gladly post the coaching records again for your entertainment

Can we pile on here?!? You know we can't help ourselves.  And why limit it to just the last 5 years...let's go back 15 years. We'd add the following woeful performances to the list, in order:

1. The OG HCOF Aaron Kelton: His first year in 2010, he won with the Whales-recruited and possibly one of the best top to bottom Eph rosters of all-time. As we were told at the time, "NESCACMAN you could have gone undefeated coaching with that team". Completely, single-handedly trashed a storied program. They are still feeling the effects of the HCOF Kelton legacy to this day.
2. J.B. Wells: Came to Bowdoin after starting/building a program at Endicot. In his less than memorable 4 years with the Polars, went 3-31 for a winning percentage of .088. Actually, made Polar supporters miss Dave Caputi, which is really saying something.
3. Dave Murray: Yeah, we know they just beat the Tufts but let's look at the complete body of work. The guy was a legend at Alfred (and did a nice job at Cortland) but proved how tough it is to recruit student-athletes at a highly selective college with little to no football legacy like Hamilton (no offense to Alfred and Cortland State) compared to his prior places of employ (sounds familiar, right HCOF Cos?).  His record since he came to Clinton in 2014 is 21-55 (.276 winning percentage). Program went 2-7 each of the last two seasons and has not really shown any positive direction, other than a few blips like last Saturday.

And for the record, we concur on HCOF Hall and HCOF Cos as well. Probably time for Colby to move on.

Many Bowdoin fans are nodding in silent agreement....
#5
Quote from: quicksilver on October 26, 2023, 10:26:22 AM
Everything is up in the air. Both Bates and Bowdoin are in lockdown (the shootings happened in Lewiston but the shooter is from a small town close to Brunswick, is very much on the loose and was last in a small town midway between Lewiston and Brunswick).  We will not know about what will happen with this weekend's games until the shooter is captured.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this needless tragedy.  Hoping the students at both Bates and Bowdoin remain safe and that the authorities are able to bring the shooter to justice quickly.
#6
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 09, 2023, 12:33:29 PM
Quote from: nescac1 on March 07, 2023, 11:36:56 AM
Whoops I forgot about Will King having another year left!  I saw that Tufts posted a video of Thoerner highlights, so I imagine he may also be looking for a fifth-year opportunity.  If I was a UAA coach I'd be all over both of those guys. 

To continue the list of players graduating:

6. Williams - Spivy - a huge loss, but the Ephs do return everyone who played in the rotation in the two NCAA games, giving the Ephs a jump-start on next year's team, which certainly looks loaded with talent; the question is how the pieces fit together as Spivy's versatility enabled him to play in lots of different sort of lineups. 

7. Bates - Baxter and Riley -- Baxter is the only loss from the top ten scorers, but was by far Bates' best player last year.  Another guy who may try to play a fifth year elsewhere.  Big loss for a team that struggled even with him last year, but some of the first-year guys figure to make a leap heading into next season. 

8. Trinity -  Redd, Smith and Hoch - losing a solid group of role players, including two strong wing defenders.  Trinity's offense won't miss a beat with the frosh coming up behind them, but those guys will be missing for their D and rebounding. 

9. Amherst - Phelan, Zarroug, Oranye, Schretter -- basically everyone on roster was in the rotation at one point but none of these guys were consistent regulars.  Since they probably didn't really fit into what Sears wanted to do, and Amherst just played too many guys period, this should open up more badly-needed minues for young players.

10. Bowdoin - Werkman - Bowdoin's best interior guy but there seems to be a lot coming up behind him in the rising sophomore class as well as one impact frosh big man. 

11. Conn College - everyone is back. 

Without taking into account transfers, defections, and rookies, Amherst, Bowdoin and Conn should be trending way up. Trinity, Williams and Bates (just because they can't get any worse) slightly up.  Coby way down.  Midd, Wesleyan, Tufts and Hamilton also will have a tough time overcoming their losses but all return a good amount of talent as well. 

So, what does that all mean?  Williams enters next year as the clear favorite, but also entered this year as the clear favorite and (while having by far the best overall W-L record of any NESCAC team) fell a bit short of incredibly high expectations.  Still, if the Ephs are healthier next year they do come into the season with the most overall experienced talent in the league.  Conn College, if they can add just one or two more real pieces in the recruiting class, could be a big riser next year; Murray looks like one of the top three players in the league next year (along with Nate Karren and Nicky Johnson). 

Amherst on paper should be dramatically improved after playing so many underclassmen big minutes; at the very least, they should be in the NESCAC tourney and above .500, as a floor.  Will Sears be on the hot seat if he can't contend in NESCAC with, I'd say, very clearly one of the three most talented returning rosters?   Bowdoin will be better but still looks likely to be a year away from being interesting.  Colby I think is sure to drop back a bit from this year's record, just so much to lose from one class.  Bates seems likely to have another rough year. 

As for the rest?  Feels very, very hard to predict and will probably depend a lot on first years players as well as guys taking unexpected fifth years.  Midd, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Tufts, Trinity all have the talent to be top-three teams in NESCAC but all of them could slide into the bottom 4-5 teams, as well.  Of that group I think Midd and Tufts have the highest floor, but Sobel for Midd, and all those playmaking guards for Tufts, will be very difficult to replace. 

If I was taking a wild stab at ranking the league heading into next season (without the benefit of seeing frosh classes), I'd say: 1. Williams 2. Tufts 3. Conn 4. Trinity 5. Midd 6. Amherst 7. Hamilton 8. Wesleyan 9. Colby 10. Bowdoin 11. Bates.  Amherst has considerably more upside than 6, but we first need to see a Sears team succeed before pushing them higher.  I do not feel remotely confident about just about anyone in these rankings, outside of Bates bringing up the rear, and Williams being comfortably in the top three.

Here's hoping you're right and the Polar Bears take a big step forward next year!
#7
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
December 04, 2022, 02:16:39 PM
Quote from: Old Guy on December 04, 2022, 09:00:54 AM
Quote from: nescac1 on December 04, 2022, 07:26:16 AM
I've not seen the Rochester gym but it can't possibly be any tighter than the Bates gym, can it?

MUCH tighter on the endlines. Bates gym (I grew up in that gym — my dad worked at Bates, I went to Lewiston High) has ample space at either end. Now, the sidelines at Bates . . . very intimate! Great place to watch a game!

Old Guy, what a great description!  The other thing that makes playing at Alumni Gym such a challenge is that the students pack the place - they're passionate, vocal, and they know good basketball.
#8
Congrats to the Polar Bears for defeating Colby 21-14.  It's the first 3 win season for Bowdoin since 2011.  Nice way to finish the season.
#9
Quote from: The Mole on October 22, 2022, 09:17:19 PM
Give Polar Bears credit for winning the game. Handed them 3 scores with poor special teams play. 9 yard punt giving them the ball at the 19 yard line. Fielded a punt at 6 and fumbled it away for another score. Also, after intercepting them at the goal line, the next play--deflected pass and pick 6 for 10 yard score. Made it 28-14. Wesleyan scored with about 6 minutes left to make it 28-20, XP blocked! Got ball back and scored with 152 left and made it 28-26 and 2 point play stopped. Cardinals 502 total yards vs 261 for the Polar Bears.

Quote from: MidDay on October 22, 2022, 03:48:48 PM
And down goes Wes!

I only saw the last few minutes, but it seemed Bowdoin was ahead most of the game.  How'd that happen?  Any given Saturday.

All I can say is that I am very happy for the Bowdoin players and coaches.  Bowdoin has struggled the last several years and this year it seemed to be on the verge of taking a step forward.  Hope they take time to celebrate this win and then build on the lessons and confidence from this game.  GoUBears!!
#10
Quote from: maineman on October 06, 2022, 10:20:30 AM
Quote from: LochNescac on October 05, 2022, 10:08:59 PM
Quote from: JumboJerry on October 05, 2022, 12:13:47 AM
Hearing there will be a fly over of three F35 Lightning Jets during the national anthem prior to Tufts vs Bowdoin Community College at Ellis Oval Stadium this Saturday. Pretty cool.

pretty DAMN cool....
The F-35 is the joint strike fighter so it could be Air Force, Navy or Marines.  I wonder how this was arranged? I have to figure, one or more of the pilots is a Tufts or Bowdoin alum and got permission to do a training flight over Medford.

More than pretty cool!!

I was once at a Ga Tech v ND game in Atlanta and they were projecting a cockpit view of a GT alum flying a fighter plane on the jumbotron.  We all assumed he was in Iraq but just as he finished his radio greeting, his plane dropped down a bit as he flew over Bobby Dodd stadium.  It was wild (also made me glad he was on our side).
#11
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
September 29, 2022, 08:29:36 AM
Quote from: ziggy on September 26, 2022, 02:30:17 PM
The-person-known-on-these-boards as KnightSlappy and I launched a D3 basketball youtube show last month (link in the sig) and one of the topics we discussed for this time leading up to the new season is a D3 basketball bucket list. We have been trying to solicit feedback for that via the YT channel and twitter but wanted to put out the call here as well as we know not everyone is connected on those platforms.

We got started with a few items of our own and some feedback from others already but are looking for as much input to consider as possible. If you have a game, venue, event, etc. you think is essential bucket list material for any D3 basketball fan please send me a private message this week and we will be sure to add it to the list. Thanks!

Suspect you will get lots of answers here, but mine would be a Bowdoin v Bates game played at Alumni Gym.  Bowdoin and Bates are in-state rivals and Bates' Alumni Gym is the Cameron Indoor Stadium of D3 basketball.  The feel is old school, the students are raucous and sit almost on top of the action.  Good times (especially when John Swords is your center).
#12
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
July 28, 2022, 09:40:50 PM
https://athletics.bowdoin.edu/news/2022/7/28/tyler-papadinis-named-assistant-mens-basketball-coach-at-bowdoin.aspx

Hope everyone is staying cool this summer!

Wanted to share a little basketball news from Brunswick as Bowdoin hires Tyler Papadinis as the Assistant Coach of Men's Basketball. 

Never too early to wish the Polar Bears good luck with the upcoming season.

Stay safe everyone!!
#13
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
April 13, 2022, 02:03:05 PM
Quote from: quicksilver on April 10, 2022, 06:54:04 PM
Another Bowdoin commit:

Will Logue, SG, 6-2, Santa Rosa (CA) HS

Glad to see Bowdoin adding size (per earlier post) and geographic diversity in their recruiting class.  Williams, Midd, and Amherst have always had strong national recruiting classes.
#14
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 28, 2022, 09:34:04 PM
#15
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 24, 2022, 08:37:38 AM
Quote from: JEFFFAN on March 23, 2022, 02:57:06 PM
Quote from: toad22 on March 22, 2022, 10:27:46 PM
NESCAC was relatively down this year. Will it return to its typical place among the top 5 conferences next year? Since I am a total Eph homer, I am the wrong person to break down a bunch of other teams in NESCAC in detail. A few facts I am certain of are 1) Middlebury will be a lot better. They got hurt as bad by COVID as any team in the country, and Jeff Brown is such a good coach, that things will only get better for them. 2) Amherst needs a year to regroup after losing their senior guards. If they are better next year than they were this year, I will be shocked. 3) Wesleyan will miss Jordan James more than most believe. He moved the needle big time. I'm not sure Wes will absorb the loss without some significant diminution of wins. Beyond that, I look to others .....

Good points all.  I think that when trying to project we have to look at changes to both coaches and administrations in terms of how that impacts a program.   At Amherst, for instance, there was a new Admission Director three years ago - a new coach this year - and now a new President whenever that person is announced soon.   That is a ton of change as all three of those positions impact what the future holds.   Typically a new coach gets some help in admissions at any school at any level when they first start - sort of a given as normally the new coach is taking over a troubled program.  Amherst is different in this regard because the new coach replaced the GOAT in Hixon.  (Amherst GOAT not necessarily NESCAC GOAT!)   

As a Lord Jeff fan, I am not as optimistic because I don't think that recruiting bigs - which I believe NESCAC1 has identified is occurring with Amherst - in a division that thrives on guards is a good idea.  The best players in Amherst history were guards.  I am also a little concerned because the new admissions person came from MIT, a school that has not typically pushed athletics.   Call me concerned!

All the Bowdoin fans nodding their head and thinking..."Yes, this is exactly what should happen..."