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Messages - rlk

#1
Region 2 women's basketball / Re: WBB: NEWMAC
March 17, 2023, 03:08:06 PM
It appears that Smith is the first NEWMAC team to reach the Final Four in women's basketball (Clark did in 1982 and 1983 -- I remember they were a power in men's basketball around then, too -- but NEWMAC and its predecessors didn't exist then, and Clark didn't join until 1994).  Good luck to the Pioneers!
#2
Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on September 12, 2020, 05:08:01 PM
There are a number of DIII connections in the NBA. Dave Hixon's plan during his sabbatical (before his father's health and the coronavirus) was to tour a number of places.

There is a connection at CLE I just can't remember off the top of my head.

And Gregg Popovich left Pomona-Pitzer for the NBA to be an assistant under Larry Brown. He had taken a year of from Pomona-Pitzer to be an assistant under Brown at Kansas, but was still mainly a DIII coach (after being an assistant at Air Force).

Popovich played at Air Force in addition to being an assistant at Kansas.  I'm really thinking in terms of someone with no basketball affiliation beyond Division III.  There surely aren't many, at most.
#3
I'm really thinking in terms of direct moves to assistant (or head) coach, not interns or scouts.
#4
Region 2 women's basketball / Re: NEWMAC
September 12, 2020, 05:02:09 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 12, 2020, 04:14:39 PM
Quote from: rlk on September 12, 2020, 10:24:54 AM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 11, 2020, 12:07:46 PM
Big news from the NBA, too bad nobody reads this conference's board:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1304443132176670722

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn

The Grizzlies hired MIT women's coach Sonia Raman as an assistant coach, team says.

Some of us do.

I wonder whether she's the first NBA coach (male or female) with no professional, D1, or D2 background.

I don't think I'm giving away any secrets when I say that she's a brilliant coach and (so far as I know) adored by her players.

A lot of NBA coaches catch on as interns and move up the ranks.  Williams grad and SA assistant is one of them.  He'll likely be an NBA head coach soon without having coached anywhere but the Spurs organization.

This isn't quite catching on as an intern -- she's starting out as a full-fledged assistant coach.
#5
MIT head coach Sonia Raman is joining the Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant coach.  What an amazing opportunity, and I'm sure she'll do MIT and Division III as a whole proud.

I'm wondering whether anyone else has made the leap from Division III to the NBA or WNBA as a coach without intervening experience in Division I or II or any pro league.  Boston's head coach Brad Stevens played at DePauw, but he was head coach at Butler (very successfully, at that).
#6
Region 2 women's basketball / Re: NEWMAC
September 12, 2020, 10:24:54 AM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 11, 2020, 12:07:46 PM
Big news from the NBA, too bad nobody reads this conference's board:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1304443132176670722

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn

The Grizzlies hired MIT women's coach Sonia Raman as an assistant coach, team says.

Some of us do.

I wonder whether she's the first NBA coach (male or female) with no professional, D1, or D2 background.

I don't think I'm giving away any secrets when I say that she's a brilliant coach and (so far as I know) adored by her players.
#7
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 10, 2020, 04:41:30 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 10, 2020, 04:07:18 PM
Quote from: grabtherim on March 10, 2020, 03:54:23 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 10, 2020, 03:13:18 PM

I've been trying to read up even more today.  Some info I had seen, but not fully processed is that people under 30 are just not showing symptoms very often.  Even if they test positive, it's like minuscule percentages that ever actually get sick.  I can see more reason for colleges to be vigilant with on campus stuff, especially if they're bringing back thousands of asymptomatic carriers from all over the world.

I still think games should probably be played places that are still willing to host fans, but I'd never begrudge schools making their own calls (even if I might potentially disagree with them).

Interesting note, though, currently Amherst and Bowdoin at least - maybe Tufts, too - have said no school sponsored travel to states with States of Emergency.  Ohio is on that list.  That might complicate the women's Final Four (being played in Columbus).

Curious if you have a child who is a college aged student? I'm guessing you don't.   I have a kid who was a NESCAC athlete, and a competetive one at that from the time he was five until he his took his last shot. I can tell you with a great degree of certainty if you were in my shoes or a parents now, you would not be so cavalier and dismissive.

I do not have a college student.  I do have a seven year old.

I'll just propose that perhaps we presume that all of us has the best interests of everyone else in mind regardless of our opinions on how to respond to a virus outbreak.  I don't think any discussion would be super productive if we start attacking each other's motives or perspectives.

I intended the post above to be conciliatory and recognize a perspective and group of facts I hadn't considered before.  I'm sorry if it didn't come off that way.

Certainly came across as thoughtful and anything but cavalier to me.  This is a very difficult and unique situation and schools have to be extremely careful.
#8
Region 1 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NESCAC
March 10, 2020, 01:08:52 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 10, 2020, 08:07:29 AM
Quote from: nescac1 on March 10, 2020, 07:45:50 AM
Ryan, no.  Contagion doesn't work that way.  If a non-vulnerable person gets sick, any vulnerable person they contact is placed at risk.  E.g., a brother or child of a health care worker, who then mass infects patients, or a food service employee, who mass infects customers.  No one can just opt out of getting a disease.  And treating this as inevitable ignores the massive toll rapid and overwhelming exposure levels will take on our health system.  Again, read what is happening in Italy.  This is a report from the front lines, from a medical professional.  Do you really think fans attending sporting events is worth THIS outcome.  America is not taking this seriously enough, not even close, and it starts at the very top.  I hope we don't pay a severe price.  But each day that goes by that we bury our heads in the sand and fail to take even relatively painless preventative measures puts people at greater and greater risk.

https://twitter.com/silviast9/status/1236933818654896129?s=21

I mean, if Ireland can cancel St. Patrick's Day, America can survive one or two months without festivals, sporting events, concerts, and so on.  Containment seems to be working in South Korea.  It can at least slow the spread of this disease dramatically.  Which is critical for our health care system to function.  If Amherst is wrong, the costs are real but very small.  If Amherst's critics are wrong, on the other hand ...

I guess maybe I'm just pessimistic (of course all pessimists would say they're realists, right), but the results as described in that link seem inevitable.  The only variable being how quickly it happens.  Maybe I'm wrong about that, and, if so, then these precautions are justified - but with infections in 80 countries and the incubation period and the percentage of infected people who are asymptomatic, it just feels like these precautions are fighting an unwinnable battle.

How quickly it happens really, really matters for two reasons:

1) Slower spread means that the burden on the medical system is spread out over a longer period of time, making it easier to cope.

2) It also buys time for development of treatments (and hopefully a vaccine, but that's almost surely a lot further out).
#9
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 07, 2020, 10:38:43 PM
Quote from: WPI89 on March 07, 2020, 09:44:04 PM
Yikes that is a haunting finish for Springfield. They missed all but one of their last 20 shots (maybe not exactly) to lose at the "buzzer".

NEWMAC 1-4. Too bad.

Can't wait for next Nov.

Lowther is all  NEWMAC minimum. Maybe pjj ok sure of the year. Looking forward to a strong WPI team.

Good luck to the sweet 16 this year.

The women, however, are still in -- Smith won tonight to go to the Sweet 16.
#10
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 06, 2020, 03:04:40 PM
And speaking of the game...it looks like WPI has a mountain to climb in the second half (51-30 YU).
#11
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 06, 2020, 03:01:56 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 06, 2020, 02:03:40 PM
Quote from: BaboNation on March 06, 2020, 12:40:41 PM
Has there been any explanation given as to why the tip-off has shifted from 1pm to 2pm?

"Paperwork."

That's going to make things somewhat tight for the Yeshiva team, particularly if it goes into OT.  Sunset is apparently around 6:05 PM, and they have to be back at their lodgings 30 minutes or so prior.
#12
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 03, 2020, 04:26:38 PM
Regardless, wishing Babson, Coast Guard, Springfield, and WPI the best in the tournament.  Do NEWMAC proud!  It benefits all of us.
#13
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 03, 2020, 12:22:04 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 02, 2020, 04:58:55 PM

Probably one of the worst possible matchups for WPI.  Yeshiva is a good passing team with lots of movement and many different capable scorers.  They naturally run an offense that will give the WPI defense trouble.  Obviously WPI is very good at what they do, so execution will be very important.  Gabe Leifer is an All-American and he got beat out for Skyline POY by his teammate Ryan Turrell.  They've also got a 1500 point scorer who's a dead eye three point shooter - and they'll be playing in Baltimore (where senior center Dani Katz is from) with a large Jewish community and it'll likely feel like a home game for them.  I know JHU is looking into splitting the session to accommodate Yeshiva fans.  I'm planning to be there, but it will be an incredibly uphill battle for WPI.

They'll probably get fans from NY/NJ.  They wouldn't have time to get home after the game, but I suspect some people will find friends to stay with.  I've only seen Yeshiva once, and not relevant to today (mid 1980's) when they visited us at MIT (we won by 10-15 points).  It was practically a home game for them, based on fans.  I think it was a midweek game, so more convenient for those traveling from New York, but I'm sure if anything that their fans are even more intense now.  Very raucous crowd, too (if you've ever been to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, you'll know exactly what I mean).  At one point, one of their photographers yelled something at the ref when he didn't like a call.  The ref stopped the game and told him to shut up or he'd be out of there.  Something I know better than to do when shooting games (I keep quiet and just concentrate on photography and stretch out during breaks).

WPI fans are quite capable of being loud themselves.  Hopefully it's not just for MIT that they do that.

Yeshiva likely has older players, because in Israel everyone does military service for a few years after high school.

Splitting the session would be a really good idea.  This was a problem for MIT a few years ago at Ramapo, when they sold tickets for both games in one session.  Because of all the Ramapo fans buying tickets for the second (Johns Hopkins) game, there were very few seats in the MIT section left to buy, even though it was largely deserted since the Ramapo fans hadn't shown up yet.
#14
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
March 02, 2020, 04:12:02 PM
Looks like interesting early-round matchups.

If Babson gets by Ithaca, they run into the Swarthmore buzzsaw.  We (MIT) prefer not to remember them.

I'd expect Coast Guard to have their hands full against Brockport, but the Bears have been peaking at the right time.

Springfield looks like they ought to take care of SUNY-Canton; if they do (and St. Joseph beats Hobart), then it's the Pride vs. Jim Calhoun.

WPI and Yeshiva.  Quite a record, Yeshiva has.  But not exactly in the strongest conference.

Well, we're on the outside this year  :( and unfortunately Smith beat our women in that final, so for the first time in a while just spectatin'...
#15
Region 2 men's basketball / Re: MBB: NEWMAC
January 20, 2020, 09:42:50 PM
Quote from: BaboNation on January 18, 2020, 04:52:12 PM
And, just like that, Emerson takes down Springfield.  Just 4 games into the conference season and there are no undefeated teams left.

The wild and woolly NEWMAC strikes again!!