MBB: NESCAC

Started by cameltime, April 27, 2005, 02:38:16 PM

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amh63

#14730
One more game to watch tonight and the season is over for me.  Fan of the UConn WBB  program.   Do not follow pro BB much.
LeFrak's remark that he met two of Amherst's recruits at the post game reception...one from NC and one from New Trier Ill...Got me thinking about next season....as other posters have done.  Going over the D3 pics of the game....the last batch In particular. ...there are a number of the returning players holding the trophy.  One in particular struck me....it has Kalema and Toomey with Green and Pollack.  There was Logan Buckner...the injured "big", Levine, and several other front court players. To the right side is Coach Hixon walking by with his head turned to the group....as if he was looking over the core of his team for next year.  I thought...Amherst has talent  and great potential.  Size, length and even experience.  Many of the younger players have played against the likes of Kaasila, Workman and Williamson....the injured players returning knows the defensive schemes, etc. 
Amherst will not be a watcher next season, I predict now.  If  a team can be molded again by Hixon and crew...Amherst will be right there for another conference title!

toad22

There is no question that Amherst will be very, very good next year.

middhoops

The big difference in Amherst's game next year will be the loss of perhaps the two most athletic players in the NESCAC.  The flexibility that Workman and Williamson gave the LJs on offense and defense was enviable and nearly impossible to replace.  That is NOT to say they can't be replaced with great basketball players.
We Midd fans appreciate Willy Workman's talent and tenacity.  However, we're going to miss him next year like you missed Sharry this season.

toad22

You have mentioned the two most feared players in the NESCAC in the last two years -- Sharry and Workman.

AmherstStudent05

Quote from: middhoops on April 09, 2013, 08:32:44 PM
The flexibility that Workman and Williamson gave the LJs on offense and defense was enviable and nearly impossible to replace.

I like to think of Willy and Allen as "movable chess pieces" to borrow a term from the indispensable Greg Cosell of NFL Films (himself a proud Amherst alum).  By the end of the season, I think Amherst fans would have been perfectly comfortable running the offense through any of Toomey, Workman, Kaasila, or Williamson. That is quite a luxury, and our seniors will surely be missed.

Madzilla, I appreciated your take on Williams. Naturally, I disagree with your view that Williams's starting five was better than Amherst's.  Of the 10 people, Killian may well be the least valuable (some one has to be at the bottom of that august group, but even if he is, the Magnet still has a knack for knocking down a clutch three or corralling a key rebound).  However, I think Toomey, Workman, Kaasila, and Williamson more than make up for any difference, although I acknowledge it is a fairly close question.  I completely agree with you though that Williams's lack of bench scoring really hurt them this season, both against Amherst and in general.  Most noticeably, Williams was a completely different team with Wohl out when McClelland and Weinheimer were called upon to pick up the slack.  I actually have a lot of respect/admiration for this Williams team, but I honestly don't think Williams would ever have much of a chance against Amherst without its full starting five (whereas, I do think Amherst could still be a real threat to Williams even if they were down a starter -- even a Workman or a Toomey).  But when fully healthy, Williams was a handful to deal with -- particularly when Klemm found his range (as evidenced, I think, in the difference in how the two Amherst-Williams games unfolded in LeFrak).

Vandy74

Quote from: amh63 on April 09, 2013, 04:40:29 PM
One more game to watch tonight and the season is over for me.  Fan of the UConn WBB  program.   Do not follow pro BB much.
 


amh63

Likewise a fan of UCONN WBB.  Discovered the women's game in the late 80's when a VT high school player went to Vanderbilt and starred four 4 seasons at point guard.  3 Sweet 16's and an Elite 8.  It was then that I also learned of a lady named Pat Summit.  What a shame her great career was cut short so unfairly.  I must have at least half a dozen UCONN-UT games on VHS stored away somewhere.  I never missed one if it was on the tube.  I never learned what the disagreement she had with Auriemma was that put an end to that great regular season RIVALRY game.  Fitting that the UCONN women would be the team to stop Louisville from becoming the second school to win both the men's and women's national championships in the same season.  A great ending to a great season.  Now I have to catch up with my Vandy #2 ranked baseball team.  Seems they have a kid in the outfield named Yazstremski who passed up pro ball to stay for his senior year.  Most of the pitching staff is from New England as well. 

amh63

Vandy 74......After the game last night....the announcers posted a message from Pat S....congratulating UCONN.

Right now going to watch the Masters this week.  Do not have a Spring sport to follow.  Interested for years in Lax.....followed the Amherst women lax team since the start of the 21th century.  Seems the game, even on the women side is changing...do not mean the glasses and all....confused by all thel calls that slow down the game.  Maybe...the men's team is having a tough time.  Did play tennis in college but it is little like watching grass grow....I know...that comment is taken from crew racing.
Put off kidding Old Guy about the sweep of Midd baseball games by Amherst recently....Amherst's star pitcher just missed a no hitter in a 11-0 game. :)
Probably will shift to the Baseball board to chat with ECSU and others......until the Fall where football battles with Frank U. can resume along with the fine Trinity and Tufts posters....maybe even Cardinal fans.  That brings up a comment.  Recently there was a possible new recruit from Detroit mentioned here.  The possible recruit is also a football player as is the tall NC recruit coming to Amherst.  Amherst has "lost" at least three BB players to football presently!

grabtherim

Quote from: Insider Recruiting News on April 10, 2013, 12:08:20 AM
URGENT NEWS:

RYAN SPADAFORD A D1 TRANSFER OPENS UP HIS RECRUITMENT!!

A D1 transfer has now opened up his recruitment after finishing his freshman year at the Naval Academy. RYAN SPADAFORD a 6'4" 188(lbs) Shooting Guard for the NAVY Midshipmen decided that the military is not going to be for him. He recently opened up his recruitment last week. This will be great news for many NESCAC coaches considering Ryan was highly recruited from almost every school in the conference last year. Towards the end of the year he began getting more time on the court including a decent amount against Bucknell( who lost in 1st round of the NCAA tournament to Butler). I think the coaches who still need players for next year who haven't reached out to him already will do so in hopes to bring him in and bring success to their programs. Amherst College talked very highly of him last year but he was unable to get in due to a 27 ACT score and 92gpa.

Being from LI New York and 10 minutes away from future TUFTS recruit Hunter Sabety, he has told sources he would love to play with Hunter and be a part of that great recruiting class Tufts has for next year. For anyone interested in finding out more news on Ryan or his recruiting don't hesitate to email me at BasketballInsider@aol.com. Thanks a lot!

I guess you can decide that "the miltary is just not for him" and opt out.  At first blush, it seems a bit odd to see a recruting service touting a kid here and being very specific about where he wants to go, Tufts.  It will be interesting to see if he ends up in the NESCAC or elsewhere.  Here is what the Navy coach said about him last August before he arrived at Annapolis:

Ryan's the kind of guy who's a tough kid that can play a couple different positions. At 6-4, he can score around the basket. He can shoot, and he kind of does a lot of things well. I don't have him penciled in for a [specific] position because I think you can move him around. His versatility is a great attribute for us, because he can drive against bigger guys with the basketball, post up smaller guys and shoot the 3. He's a versatile player. We can move him around and play different spots. His versatility is really important for us.

jayhawk

Re: Ryan Spadaford

It is not uncommon for a player to not get into a college originally and then transfer into that school after freshman year
Since NESCAC college coaches have a certain number of "slots" it is unclear whether Spadford entered the Amherst recruiting landscape too late to be able to be selected and supported by Amherst coaches
I think it is odd to discuss someone board scores and grades so openly on an internet website but I guess that is the world we live in

That said the article indicates that Amherst College has standards



nescac1

Belated congrats to the Lord Jeffs.  To answer an earlier question, as a Williams fan, I generally can't ever root for Amherst.  Probably the only exception to that rule in my rooting history was the game vs. North Central, just because some of the fans from that region have, over the years, been so dismissive of NESCAC teams.  Given that NESCAC squads have now won three national titles in the last 11 years, with three more runner-up finishes, I don't think that will be an issue going forward (but who knows, I may be surprised!). 

Regarding next year, we need to wait another month until all the recruiting news has come in before being able to make more precise predictions.  This much is clear: Amherst, Williams, Midd and Tufts should all be top-25 caliber teams, with Amherst and Williams, at least, probably top-10 caliber.  Midd also has top 10 talent but they lose a ton of leadership and experience, and Tufts has to prove they can beat one of the big three before they are treated as a serious contender.  Bowdoin is the only other NESCAC team that poses a real threat next year, but this could be the best Polar Bear squad in many years.  Colby is a dark horse, but probably needs another year of maturation, at least, from a young team. 

Next year's pre-season all-NESCAC team will be nearly unanimous, I expect: Toomey, Mayer, Kizell (all of whom who should be pre-season all-Americans, as well, and legit national POY candidates), Epley and Ferris.  There is a big group of contenders for the second team, including Matt Hart, Matt Vadas, Tom Palleschi, Daniel Wohl, Connor Green, David Kalema, James Jensen, Keegan Pieri, Mike Boornazian, and Bryan Hurley.  All of those guys are talents potentially worthy of the first team, but the rising senior class is just so strong in NESCAC that it's going to be VERY difficult to crack that group next year.  The rising junior class, on the other hand, is not terribly deep with talent.  Bowdoin seems to have easily the best group of rising juniors, which could make the Polar Bears particularly dangerous in another year.  As loaded as the top of NESCAC looks next year, there are a lot of really, really loaded teams returning in D-3 next year, in particular Illinois Wesleyan, Wisconsin Whitewater, and Wisconsin Stevens Point, all of whom return virtually all of their key contributors and in some cases add key guys who were out or severely limited by injuries.  Those three, I expect, along with I'm sure a few others will fight Williams and Amherst for the role of pre-season favorite. 

One more note: I was watching the Michigan-Louisville game and I observed that Spike Albrecht (who had the game of his life, but is clearly a very talented player) had the look of a NESCAC-style point guard.  Great deep shooter, very steady and precise ball-handler, fairly quick and very tough, but small and not especially athletic.  After a bit of Googling, I saw that he was actually being recruited by Williams (he is an NMH product like many NESCAC guys), before ultimately choosing Michigan (and he had only two D-1 offers, Michigan being the only high-level one).  Sort of shows the small margin between a guy starring at the NESCAC level and playing an important role for in a national title game!  At the very least, I think that Toomey, Workman, Williamson, Mayer, Epley, Ferris, Wohl, Kizell and Thompson are NESCAC guys who could be valuable role players for even a very good D-1 team ... probably Connor Green and Palleschi as well, once they gain more experience. 

Charles

Quote from: Insider Recruiting News on April 10, 2013, 10:38:18 AM
You are right the grades are unimportant in this conversation so I decided to take them out of the article.Thanks for the feedback! Nescac looks tough again next year. Excited to see a few of the top games next year.   

Article as follows:

A D1 transfer has now opened up his recruitment after finishing his freshman year at the Naval Academy. RYAN SPADAFORD a 6'4" 188(lbs) Shooting Guard for the NAVY Midshipmen decided that the military is not going to be for him. He recently opened up his recruitment last week. This will be great news for many NESCAC coaches considering Ryan was highly recruited from almost every school in the conference last year. Towards the end of the year he began getting more time on the court including a decent amount against Bucknell( who lost in 1st round of the NCAA tournament to Butler). I think the coaches who still need players for next year who haven't reached out to him already will do so in hopes to bring him in and bring success to their programs.
Being from LI New York and 10 minutes away from future TUFTS recruit Hunter Sabety, he has told sources he would love to play with Hunter and be a part of that great recruiting class Tufts has for next year. So we will see where he ends up playing, most likely in the Nescac somewhere.  For anyone interested in finding out more news on Ryan or his recruiting don't hesitate to email me at BasketballInsider@aol.com. Thanks a lot!
Not sure how he even got into the Naval Academy with those grades. Something is fishy with this post and website. If he was this good why is this  website shopping him around?

lefrakenstein

#14741
I cant even find an Insider Recruiting News website anywhere online. Also weird that it's the first post. Also, @aol.com? What millennium are we in?

survive and advance

Quote from: lefrakenstein on April 10, 2013, 02:43:16 PM
I cant even find an Insider Recruiting News website anywhere online. Also weird that it's the first post. Also, @aol.com? What millennium are we in?

sounds like his dad to me..

toad22

I watched Spike Albrecht play a JV game at Williams last winter. He was completely out played by Matt McCreary. This is one more reason why I would never want to be a coach and be responsible for recruiting!

madzillagd

Quote from: toad22 on April 10, 2013, 04:55:34 PM
I watched Spike Albrecht play a JV game at Williams last winter. He was completely out played by Matt McCreary. This is one more reason why I would never want to be a coach and be responsible for recruiting!

Funny you should say that.  I was watching the game on Monday night and I texted my brother:  Isn't it funny how Spike is going off right now in the championship game and if he had gone to Williams he would have sat all year behind Matt McCreary.