MBB: NEWMAC

Started by nehoops4life, March 03, 2005, 10:39:13 AM

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MeOak21

Update: scrimmage is at 7 on Friday night...

hoops

Should be a very interesting scrimmage. Tyler Kathan is legit and very good. I still dont know what happened to Nate Anderson but if he is gone then that is pretty big lose to the team. WPI will have to find someone to replace Cain too.

interestedfan

MeOak21,

   How did the scrimmage go?  who shined & who struggled ?

MeOak21

I caught most of the four 10 minute quarters and saw a wide range of level of play. The first two quarters were competitive and close with both teams executing on the offensive end but the second half was lopsided throughout with WPI outplaying and outscoring Keene by double digits in both quarters. The WPI defense was disruptive out front as they challenged passing lanes and slowed down ball movement. Keene was allowing penetration for kick outs to open shooters who weren't missing many 3's. It was obvious that coaches were experimenting with lineups, which is to be expected, and the vast majority of those lineups saw WPI ouplaying Keene on both ends of the floor.
I really couldnt name off too many individual standouts so I'll hold back on that for the time being. I am not familiar enough with the WPI players names to give you much of an idea. It appeared that some key players for Keene struggled and vice versa for WPI.

hugenerd

Coleman gets selected as honorable mention preseason all-american by d3 hoops. Its a nice honor. However, in my opinion, he isnt one of the top 25 players in the country, I dont think he is even the best big man in the conference (i think prebeck and craig johnson, who didnt play last year, are better all around).  I guess you get the benefit of the doubt sometimes playing on a successful team.  Anyone have any thoughts? I am sure there are some people out there that disagree with me.

interestedfan

MeOak21,

   Thanks for the review, it looks like I should get to see some good ball when I finally get to see the team play.  Best of luck to you in your season !

Hugenerd,

   I'm not sure about Coleman's ranking, but I can say its very rare  that a player who missed a season (can you elaborate on the reason - injury, grades, etc) would be placed on a preseason All-America listing.

  Your right about it being an honor, but now Coleman and each player listed there must live up to the expectations of that honor.

nescac1

Seems to me that Coleman should rank below Jimmy Bartollota for certain, and also below Chris Rose and Jake Weitzen from NESCAC.  I can understand the NESCAC guys because the conference already has three reps, but Bartollota is clearly the top returning guy in the NEWMAC (his stats were unreal last year despite I'm sure being the focus of every defense).  If MIT had a stronger supporting cast (which they might this year if a few guys who took hiatus return, plus I believe they had conf. rookie of year last year) perhaps he would get more pub ... in any event, it's the end of the year that counts.  Should be an interesting year at NEWMAC, with a lot of balance at the top but no one likely in the same league as Brandeis and the top NESCAC / Little East squads. 

hugenerd

#487
Quote from: interestedfan on November 07, 2007, 08:19:50 AM
MeOak21,
Hugenerd,

   I'm not sure about Coleman's ranking, but I can say its very rare  that a player who missed a season (can you elaborate on the reason - injury, grades, etc) would be placed on a preseason All-America listing.

  Your right about it being an honor, but now Coleman and each player listed there must live up to the expectations of that honor.

Johnson missed the year do to some sort of sabbatical (religous or otherwise).  He was actually named to the sporting news preseason all-america team (the only representative from the NEWMAC) this year despite last years absence.

Quote from: nescac1 on November 07, 2007, 08:39:54 AM
Seems to me that Coleman should rank below Jimmy Bartollota for certain, and also below Chris Rose and Jake Weitzen from NESCAC.  I can understand the NESCAC guys because the conference already has three reps, but Bartollota is clearly the top returning guy in the NEWMAC (his stats were unreal last year despite I'm sure being the focus of every defense).  If MIT had a stronger supporting cast (which they might this year if a few guys who took hiatus return, plus I believe they had conf. rookie of year last year) perhaps he would get more pub ... in any event, it's the end of the year that counts.  Should be an interesting year at NEWMAC, with a lot of balance at the top but no one likely in the same league as Brandeis and the top NESCAC / Little East squads. 

I agree with the evaluation of Bartollota, but since they dont play the exact same position, I dont think they would be in competition for a spot against eachother.  Bartollota's numbers last year were the best in the conference hands down and if he had a better team he definitely would have won more awards.  As for MIT as a team, they have some people back but again have lost a key piece.  From what I hear, and from the posted roster on the website, it seems like the returning FOY, Bracht, is taking the year off.  They do get Soumare back from study abroad, who is a much better athlete and defender than Bracht, but not as good an offensive basketball player.  Mroz is also back this year, after leaving the team half way through the year last year and Gampel, who started when he played last year, should be back healthy. They also have a couple promising freshman, although I do not know if they are in the class of the freshman that a team like WPI might get, we will have to wait and see.  I think where MIT is going to be hurt the most is in the post.  They have no big men with real experience.  Soumare didnt play last year and another one of their big men, Bagley, hasnt played in two years (when he was a freshman).  All the other post players either dont play much or are freshman.  That is why they will really miss the absence of Bracht. 

Pat Coleman

My understanding is Prebeck is a 4 and Coleman is a 3. Those two weren't really compared head to head.
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

clarkie

There has been a lot of talk about WPI and some about MIT, but I wanted to see if anyone knew anything about Clark. It looks like the Cougars' roster has been posted and though there is a not a lot of information posted about the new players (both freshman and transfers from what I have heard), they do have Mark Alexander who was Second Team All-NEWMAC as a freshman and Peter Normandin who is tough in the post.

Has anyone heard anything substantial? Would love to hear.

Looking forward to some good games this year for my Cougars.

hugenerd

Quote from: Pat Coleman on November 08, 2007, 03:19:25 PM
My understanding is Prebeck is a 4 and Coleman is a 3. Those two weren't really compared head to head.

Well, in that case, there are a lot better 3s out there than Coleman, Bartollota being one of them. There are a lot of guys who put up 12 points and 6 boards per game (in an average conference).  I thought he was considered a 4 because he led the team in rebounding last year (obviously not a great criteria) and he seemed to match up with opponents post players on D.  My guess is that another 12 point, 6 rebound season wont get him on the season ending all-american team.

Pat Coleman

Sure. But a preseason team isn't about how they played last year as much as how we expect them to play this year.
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

hugenerd

Quote from: Pat Coleman on November 09, 2007, 01:27:51 AM
Sure. But a preseason team isn't about how they played last year as much as how we expect them to play this year.

What metric do you use to judge the upcoming season other than the previous year.  It seems like the only applicable data.  In that case, what makes the voters (or whoever makes these decisions) think that a guy like Bartollota wont go for 21 ppg, 9 rpg, 2 spg, 1 bpg, etc. again this year?  According to the argument you gave for Coleman, these numbers should only go up.  Actually, since Coleman is a 3 and so is Bartollota (although he handles the ball alot), we can compare these two head to head.  Bartollota was at or above Coleman in EVERY statistical category (FG% 48-48, 3P% 38-32, FT% 87-62, RPG 8.7-6.4, APG 4.3-2.7, SPG 1.9-1.2, BPG 1.0-1.0, PPG 21.2-12.1).  Anyway, this isnt going to change anything, but I thought I would bring it up anyway.

I also dont understand the logic behind "expecting" a player to play that much better this year than last year.  What do you guys go by if not by last years stats? Do you have scouts at practices and scrimmages?  Do you go by word of mouth?  I ask this sincerely, because I would truly like to understand.  The only major advantage I see in favor of Coleman is the success of his team, but you would think individual achievement would play some role in the decision making for an individual award.

heythere

someone from wpi most be voting for this, last year it was cain  and now coleman????

Pat Coleman

Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 14, 2007, 05:39:20 PM
No nominations from MIT.

That actually drew a four-letter word  from someone on our staff, someone who isn't known for such. But we can't hand-hold schools. No way to make sure every worthy player is nominated.

Hugenerd: Just a reminder as to why Bartolotta isn't in the pipeline for preseason honors. It's all one set of nominations, and though we try to make sure we get the missing pieces the following preseason, it isn't a replacement for getting the nominations in in March.
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.