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Messages - Enginerd

#1
Glad to hear the girls are having fun again. They really ought to win a minimum of 16 games this season with the amount of talent that the former coach was able to recruit - Hard to believe that he was that good a recruiter if he was such a lousy coach. They've got 3 kids that had multiple Division I offers as well as Reese who was a solid, solid HS PG. Add seasoned veteran Black and the heady Gallegos (whose sister is on the Mexican women's national team) and you have a hell of a group of kids that were assembled well before the new staff arrived - but to their credit they've managed to keep them all together. I'm sure the new staff were made very well aware that, if they didn't accomplish anything else this year, they weren't to run anyone off! Looks like there is a couple of capable female assistant coaches as well - which is something that was always lacking in the past, for sure. This has worked out reasonably well so far - despite the coaching search devolving from a handshake agreement last winter - to literally the flip of a coin in July. The true test will be recruiting. Since Division III and/or high academic experience held no consideration in the "search process", we'll see what they are able to bring in next year on their own.
#2
Quote from: Jester1390 on July 05, 2023, 12:47:44 AM
Hi Engine

i am aware of  many things none good.  I will send you privately emails i sent and responses i got. Would love to post on here but discretion  better serves my daughter. The school knew she was right. All the players who left said they would come back with a change and even when they cancelled the season the girls said they would still come back with a change so their former teammates wouldnt lose a season instead of cancelling it and the AD didnt even respond.

Well...that's because she needed cause to fire him. Having to cancel the season lent some weight to her decision to get rid of the coach. Why in God's name she didn't just ease him out with some dignity at the end of the 2021-22 campaign and get all those kids back when she had a chance, I guess we'll never know. Indiana is, after all, an at-will employment state and as I understand it, all RHIT coaches work on one-year contracts that are rolled-over every summer. At any rate, a dignified exit for one of the most successful and longest-tenured coaches in the department would also have probably served to help get a better pool of candidates last summer before word got out what a dysfunctional place RHIT has become. That is assuming, of course, that the AD desired a large pool of highly-qualified WBB candidates to choose from - which I'm not so sure about anymore.

The coaching search for the new women's basketball coach at RHIT was incompetently conceived, incompetently led, and, if some of the shenanigans I've heard are to be believed, sketchy.

Having said all that, I'd never in a million years wish for someone to fail. The new coach is, I'm sure, a gentleman, a good family man, and, hopefully a good coach as well. Regardless how the position came to him, he's gotten a shot, and I hope he makes the most of it and lifts up the program. Good luck, Coach Paul.
#3
Quote from: Jester1390 on June 26, 2023, 10:35:26 AM
Engine sometime today the new head coach will be announced my daughter told me . He is a guy who was out of basketball for 6 years before coming back last year  the entire staff was let go after the end of the season after going 9-21 .

DEVRINN PAUL
Paul spent three years at Marshall University from 2013-16 as an assistant coach and recruiting specialist before moving into consulting for the last six years.

Prior to Marshall, Paul was at the University of Louisville for three years as the video coordinator for the women's basketball team. Prior to being named video coordinator, he was a graduate assistant for the Cardinal women's basketball team for two years and graduated with his master's (higher education in human resources) in 2010.

At Louisville, Paul was part of the first Cardinal women's basketball program to make it to the NCAA Final Four (2009). During his time at Louisville, the Cards made four NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the national championship game twice. Louisville advanced to the NCAA final, losing to Connecticut. Along the way to the title game, the No. 5 seed Cards defeated the No. 1 seed Baylor, and in doing so were nominated for "Best Upset" at the 2013 ESPYs.

Paul's duties as video coordinator included preparing scouting reports, producing highlight videos and game film, helping with recruiting videos and developing game plans alongside the coaching staff.

Prior to Louisville, Paul attended Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Ky., where he worked as the student manager for the men's basketball team. He graduated with his bachelor's in business marketing with a minor in journalism in 2008.

A Hempstead, N.Y., native, Paul moved to Louisville at age 11 and attended Waggener High School, where he played varsity basketball and football. He received a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation scholarship award in 2003 for football, and was first team all-district in 2002 and 2003.



Jester - are you aware of any goings-on in the athletic department at RHIT? My sources still around town have reported things over the past year or so but they've all culminated for me with this recent hire. With SO many talented, hard-charging, and accomplished assistants and former head coaches out there, the very fact that this arrogant and stupefying decision was made at all is all the proof an observer would need to understand that something is really, really wrong in Terre Haute.

I probably shouldn't be surprised based on a few things I'VE heard, but just wondering if I'm the only one hearing them.
#4
Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 26, 2023, 04:56:41 PM
On another note, RHIT has their 2023-4 roster up; 10 young women, including four newcomers.  It appears that everyone who could return did.

I believe the 6'2 girl is a nice player - undoubtedly recruited by the previous staff and decided to enroll at RHIT anyway. He'll start with a cupboard that's not completely bare - with an All-conference performer in Baum, a Freshman of the Year candidate in Roland, and nice role-players in Miller and Gallegos-Rodriguez. I think there's enough talent there that Prevo would have won at least 10-11 games with this group - we'll see what happens. What he won't have, unfortunately, will be a single soul who can handle the ball in the backcourt, other than Baum. We will find out soon enough if he can coach. It'll take a couple years to find out if he can recruit.

What WILL be interesting will be the direction of the program if there are any injuries? The standard has already been laid down and if two kids go down (if Randolph remains sidelined they only have 9 players) and they have only seven players at any point in the season, they won't be able to play. Per the AD's decision last year, it will be too hard on the kids mentally - so she won't dare allow them to play with only 7 kids next year.
#5
Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 26, 2023, 04:38:27 PM
Strange hire, indeed.  Totally perplexed at what the AD at RHIT was thinking (if the hire wasn't dictated by someone in administration which given the general cluelessness shown may be the case).  Good luck to all involved.

Common sense would infer that one of two things happened here:

#1 - The search was botched because the AD has no clue how to run a candidate search at a high-academic D-III institution - to say nothing of the very different academics and demographics found at a unique school like RHIT. She's been there long enough now (18 months) that she should have some clue what she's doing. It's pretty simple. Go out there and try to find someone who's preferably coached women's basketball at the Division III level - has coached at a reasonably high academic school - and has a proven track-record of recruiting high-academic kids - or at a minimum has spent some small amount of time doing it.

#2 - It occurred to me that they might never have had any decent candidates to begin with. For whatever reason. Location? Poor pay? Poor benefits? Could it be that there's been a lot of negative talk out on the grapevine among the coaching fraternity and RHIT is now known as a place to avoid?

The more I think about this, the more bizarre this looks. There are some aspects of this that are very much open to interpretation - beginning with the fact that this "search" officially began two months ago after the position had been vacant for six months prior to that. It took TWO months for this AD to find a coach who's never coached at or recruited at a high-academic school or at the D-III level. Not only that, it took two months to find a coach who's been off the sidelines for most of the last decade.
Why was great care taken to find D-III-experienced, high-academic-experienced coaches for the other high profile programs at RHIT, but the WBB job is open to whomever will take it?

I think it's a fair question, and I'm not suggesting that experience at a high-academic school is a guarantor of future success - but for God's sake, don't you need to have some parameters for your search?

It just looks like nobody really wanted the job. Why?
#6
I wish Coach Paul the best and want to see him succeed. Hopefully he'll be able to get the numbers back up and return the program to some level of competitiveness.

Having said that, think about this for a moment if you will.

- He spent a single season, this past season, as the entry-level assistant at Cincinnati. Prior to that, he'd been completely out of college basketball for SIX seasons. Completely out of college basketball. Ask yourself this question - would the AD's at U. Of Chicago, UT-Dallas, DePauw, IL. Wesleyan, or Transy (all programs that RHIT has defeated within the past 5 years) hire someone who hadn't coached basketball at any level since 2016?

- He's never worked at, coached at, or recruited athletes to a high-academic institution.

- He's never coached in, and has no experience in Division III.

I hope it becomes a non-issue because  the new coach hits it out of the park and has great success - but it's a really, really unconventional hire.

Disagree with me about it being a strange hire? Why is RHIT's new baseball coach from WashU? Why is RHIT's football coach from U. Of Chicago? The new men's BB Coach doesn't have high-academic experience - but he DOES have Division III experience. A lot of it. A lot of success in Division III before coming to RHIT. Even the AD herself had the requisite Division III experience at both high-academic (Pomona-Pitzer) schools as well as good schools where they care about their athletics (Wabash). My question is this - Why does all that caution about having the right individual with the right experience leading a program at VERY unique and high-academic school - suddenly go out the window? Why is it suddenly ok to NOT have high-academic experience, to NOT have Division III experience, and, unlike the aforementioned coaches, who were all extremely high-functioning and successful assistant coaches at glittering D-III programs, an actual recent record of success coaching a team on the court - to say nothing of actually BEING on a court for the last several years.

With all due respect, and charitably, it is a strange hire.
#7
RHIT should be announcing the new WBB head coach soon, hopefully. Fingers crossed and we'll see if the AD has figured out that the following, at a minimum, are required of Rose-Hulman coaches.

This isn't difficult.
- Don't hire a kid who was a GA last year. The last thing the program needs is someone who's barely older than the players they are coaching. Only desperate liberal arts schools do that.

- Hire someone who knows what it's like to recruit and coach high-achieving Type-A personalities who often are perfectionists and occasionally need to be talked down off a ledge (just like myself and both daughters and every teammate they ever had at RHIT) after they've just bombed a test an hour before practice or a home game. Someone who's been at a high-academic school before as a player or coach.

- Hire someone who's been around Women's basketball and understands the differences between coaching the different genders.

- Hire somebody who has experience/understanding of NCAA Division III and wants to specifically be in Division III - and who isn't applying simply because they need a job. The very last thing this program needs is someone who  will move on from RHIT the minute something they perceive as "better" at a higher division comes along.

The young ladies deserve those things at a minimum. Hopefully that's what the AD has figured out over the past 7 months that this job has been empty.
#8
Quote from: Jester1390 on May 30, 2023, 03:39:33 PM
Hi Engine

I just returned from Rose and my daughters graduation.   I was told as you said. 4 people have been offered and turned down the job.  The remaining player's are concerned that there wont be enough players for next season.  As i stood in the gym beaming with pride as my daughter graduated and gratefull to the academic part of Rose that hasd secured her a six figure job I am still filled with rage and disgust knowing the inside problems that go back to the championship days and knowing the athletic director was well aware and chose to do nothing.   I know Coach Prevo personally and like him I even recruited for him but there were problems with his approach to players that gos farther back then just my daughters class that i was not aware of. 

The group who quit have been called  program killers.  What a farce. They were a group of very smart women who said enough is enough and drew a line in the sand   Make no mistake the program finds itself where it is because of Tweedy and President Coons.

If that is indeed true, what you heard, Jester, that ain't good. Any idea why the job is so undesirable?

Common sense tells me that any impressive applicants haven't wanted the job so far, leaving what kind of candidates at this point? I'm unsure if I've ever heard of a job search where every single finalist, in their turn, declined it. That's a bit unseemly. If indeed that is the case - for the love of God, why?

This isn't a run of the mill typical Division III liberal arts college - this is the #1 ranked engineering college in the United States. They've recently won three HCAC titles, were a single possession away from advancing in two consecutive NCAA tournaments, defeated at least a dozen ranked teams (including #7 and #13) since 2012, and were a defensive statistical juggernaut - completing two consecutive seasons (2017 and 2018 I believe) as the #3 scoring defense team in all of D-III. RHIT's facilities are in the top-10% of D-III schools nationwide, and they have a permanent spot in the single most prestigious D-III women's basketball event other than the NCAA Tournament, the Midwest Classic with IL. Wesleyan, DePauw, and WashU - and advanced to the championship game as recently as November 2021. Other than Trine, RHIT is the only school that has even come close to defeating Transy since the pandemic  - look up the two 2021-22 games if you don't believe me.

This isn't a program with no hope of even being any good. It has a bloodline. It has a pedigree. It's not a stepping-stone job. With the cost of living in Terre Haute, it should be the kind of place a great coach could come in and build a powerhouse program and stay for 20 years, racking up wins.

I don't get it. I don't understand why this isn't a desirable job. There are better jobs out there, for sure, but the RHIT job ought to at least be in the top half of D-III jobs, at a bare minimum. RHIT shouldn't be having to settle on whomever will take the job. This is a job that should be going to someone with high-academic Division III, or comparable Division I experience (the Bucknells, Colgates, and service academies) and a thorough knowledge of and appreciation for NCAA Division III - or at least the atmosphere at great academic schools.

I'd still like to know why the men's search last year took all of six weeks, while the women's search is now in it's seventh month?

Perhaps my apprehensions will be proven misplaced, and the new AD will hit it out of the park with this hire. Fingers crossed.

Congratulations on your daughter's graduation. Wish her success and happiness!
#9
We'll see how good things are in Terre Haute. I'm afraid the women's basketball program at RHIT has been dealt a "Death Penalty" every bit as destructive and program-killing as anything the NCAA enforcement folks could perpetrate - and it is 100% self-inflicted.

Suffice to say, the school's WBB program would appear to be in a heap of trouble. From former classmates who still live in the area and are either still plugged-in or know someone who is,  I heard four to six finalists all either turned the job down outright or couldn't wait for the extraordinarily lengthy process to finally play out and had to move on and accept other jobs. That might not be exactly how things happened, but RHIT is one of the very few schools that listed a women's basketball head coaching job so far this spring, that has not filled that position. Perhaps the only school not to have filled a posted position within 30-45 days. I heard that the Men's BB hiring process last summer was a complete debacle as well - at least they managed to find a good coach at the end. I fear that won't be the case with WBB. Why the pessimism, you ask? You need look no further than the last time a basketball position at RHIT was open. Coach Loyd left for DePauw at the very end of April last year. His successor was named almost exactly 8 weeks later - which means the job had been offered and accepted at least 10-14 days prior to the announcement on August 1st. Why in the world was the men's basketball position filled in 6 weeks but the women's position has now dragged-out for six months? Why would the DePauw job be so much more desirable than the RHIT job. What isn't RHIT doing or offering that is making it difficult to retain outstanding coaches and now, apparently, difficult to find them as well?
It's a bit shocking that this job was not filled the first time around. Why? Is it the pay? Is it the location? Is STEM seen as too much of a challenge? Are potential coaches scared away by the Herculean rebuilding effort left in the wake of the past 6 months.

For the love of God, aren't there any assistants from the UAA (Carnegie Mellon, Case, Chicago, etc), the NESCAC, MIT, CalTech, Stevens, Rensselaer, Hamilton, Worcester, Rochester Tech...that want to move-up? You know, RHIT had one hell of a program as recently as 2018-19. I don't get it. What's wrong that nobody (qualified) wants that job?

RHIT is extraordinarily blessed to have a great athletic department full of coaches that understand the very delicate balancing act of academics and athletics at the institute. Is it a mere coincidence that the institute plucked the perfect candidate for its football program a decade ago? He wasn't just just any candidate, mind you, he had a lot of experience in the high-academic realm at Chicago. Look what he's accomplished since. Same with basketball - the most recent former coach that was allowed to leave played (I believe) at Chicago himself. That department has been the model of stability and achievement over the past decade plus. My greatest concern is that they wind up having to settle on someone with only scholarship (NAIA, D-2, D1) experience and no inkling what a crazy-difficult, nuanced place RHIT IS, and it could set the program back another 5 years beyond its current predicament - which might as well be forever. Perhaps they will be prescient enough and fortunate enough to find someone who can learn and adapt. I hope so.

I hope my fears are misplaced.  I've taken pride in and followed RHIT athletics since Coach Touchton called my house for the very first time in 1978, wanting to talk about some school (with a hyphenated name) I'd never even heard of - and I'm really confounded. As someone who attended the institute when it was male-only, and as the father of girls, I always had a soft spot for the women's sports at Rose, particularly basketball. I'm just having a hard time imagining how long it's going to take to rebuild after all this uncertainty around the program after literally more than  half a year with nobody at the helm.

Perhaps finding and hiring Division III basketball coaches is much more difficult than I think it is, and I'm being too harsh. The RHIT job should be desirable and should have had a multitude of quality candidates. If there weren't, why? If there were, why isn't one in place already? Perhaps I'm just blinded by my fandom, and a coaching job at RHIT sadly does not reflect the same prestige as the school's academics, as the coaching jobs at UAA schools do. Perhaps the coaching search at RHIT really shouldn't be any different from that at Adrián, or Albion, or Defiance, or Anderson. Maybe RHIT isn't special and any moderately-talented coach can be successful. Perhaps a coach with high-academic experience is t even necessary. Perhaps I'm just being (unfairly) unrealistic. When I ask myself those questions, however, I'm still left with the realization that these issues should have made it much easier to find a coach, not more difficult - which suggests the job should have been filled long-ago.

Of course congrats to Transy on their first national title. There just wasn't anyone out there this year that could defend what they do. Perfect example of a coach implementing a fantastic system and finding the perfect kids to run it. If Coach Fulks doesn't move up to Division I soon, it'll only be because she doesn't want to. I'll be intrigued, as always, to see how many non-conference road games they schedule next year after having lost so many great players to graduation. It would not shock me to see them win 20+ games and return to the NCAA Tournament - because I'm sure they replaced the departing kids with the same level of talent.
#10
Quote from: True To The Cru/Riley Zayas on March 15, 2023, 05:22:53 PM
My latest feature is up on D3hoops.com, highlighting Transylvania's run to the Final Four. Had a great conversation with Juli Fulks and Madison Kellione earlier in the week. Can't wait for the matchup against Smith!

https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/women/2023/not-this-time-for-transylvania

Will be interesting, indeed. Other than a loss to Thomas More in 2019 (after very controversially hosting the first weekend) this will be Transylvania's first NCAA Tournament game played somewhere other than their home floor - since the 2014-15 season. They are all-to-aware how weak the HCAC is - so their non-conference schedule every season is carefully calibrated to play teams that aren't good enough to beat them, but just good enough that it won't blatantly look like a schedule full of cream-puffs - and even in those instances they try every way in the world to host those games - usually via their two pre-Christmas tournaments. They rightfully feel invincible at home, and their coaching staff very much believes in the power of home games...and vice versa. I'll guarantee their staff is sweating bullets today, worried about how they'll shoot the ball in a gym they aren't used to and 100% comfortable in - because there might not be a women's team in NCAA Division 3 as reliant on the 3-pointer as Transylvania - but they ARE very good at it.

Having said that, Transylvania IS really good, and extremely well-coached. I would not be surprised to see them blow-out Smith, as I was definitely not impressed with what I saw of them last weekend. Maybe it wasn't a great sample, but it will require a really, really good defensive team to take down Transylvania, and Smith ain't  it.

The key to defeating Transylvania is to defend the living daylights out of them, don't give them easy looks, make them scratch and claw for everything. The over-looked key to their success is their ability to create 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th chances and extra possessions by out-working and out-hustling the other team for loose balls and rebounds - especially Stacy and Thornton. They remind me a great deal of the 2005-2013 DePauw teams in that regard. Just relentless.

A gritty, hard-nosed defensive team that doesn't turn the ball over against their press (that's really just designed to eat up the shot-clock), and won't allow them to run up and down the floor, chucking 3's and chasing offensive rebounds, is Transylvania's Kryptonite. If you don't believe me, go and watch last year's NCAA game vs. Trine, or any 2015-2022 game vs. Rose-Hulman (when they actually had athletes). I just don't know that there's anyone left in the field that can do that. The HCAC will probably see it's first basketball trophy this weekend.
#11
Quote from: Jester1390 on December 13, 2022, 05:58:24 PM
So, grand total...26 kids
Erin Davie
Heather Finnell
Addie Johnson
Hayley Gilliam
Olivia Ottone
Kristen Belyea
Jamie Loving
Jordan Hagood
Shelby Julian
Mandy Routon
Chiarra Franklin
Brianna Glieseman
Sophie Brooks
Stacy Fox
Cassie Utley
Abby Holloway
Caitlin Young
Desirae Webster
Jordan Barlow
Kahlan Jester
Lindsey Thomas
Jenna Myers
Ashley Black
Manuella Shomba
Rowan Hein
Nosa Igehon
Plus the whole recruiting class of 2018

Hey Jester - Wondering if you know anything about a rumor that's circling around locals, particularly alums? I was told that the AD would not allow any efforts to try to find a way to finish the season even thought the players wanted to keep playing.

How crazy is that - to not act on first-hand information (and probably much more) TEN MONTHS ago, then wait until the season has begun and rip it away from the kids in order to be able to use low numbers to get rid of the coach? That's like amputating your leg to get rid of athlete's foot! If this is true, I cannot fathom why they would have waited and allowed it to reach this point. Suffice to say that it sounds like RHIT has an athletic department in deep turmoil based on this and other issues relating to other sports and their coaches.

How can a department implode like this in such a short period of time? I have friends/classmates that remain involved with the institute in different capacities, and athletics are a huge topic of conversation. 

I can see why you're upset, Jester. Had this been properly handled, your daughter would still be playing basketball, the kids who did try to play this year would have a season, and the school and athletic department would not have to suffer the humiliation of having to cancel it's most visible women's sport for an entire year.
#12
Quote from: Baldini on December 10, 2022, 09:35:23 PM
Took in the double hitter at Transylvania today and I would say the women's offense is still not in sync, but their high level of pressure defense and offensive rebounding will take them a long way. How far will depend on their 3-point shot making in games come tournament time.   

Transylvania added a game at John Carroll next Saturday to replace the lost game with RHIT, will be their toughest test of the remainder of the regular season schedule. They will need to take their A game with them to avoid a setback.

A little shoutout to the officials in both games today, thought they did a great job today. I've probably seen this women's game crew do a dozen or more games the past few years, mostly NAIA games and thought they let them play for the most part. Bluffton is a physical team and if they hadn't started so cold shooting the ball, they probably would have been in it all game. Bluffton won the second half and Transylvania never did go deep into their bench. Enjoyed watching both games.       

You're probably right about the John Carrol game - although Wisconsin Lutheran has a reputation as a giant-killer occasionally. Bluffton and possibly Hanover might give them trouble on the road, but it's all set-up for Transylvania to run the table. They are a fun team to watch, especially since they've embraced a tougher, more defensive-minded approach - actually they've been getting better defensively every year since 2019. Offensive rebounding from the perimeter really is their secret sauce.

As someone who likes to watch great basketball, I really wish they'd venture out and play better teams. I know as soon as RHIT felt like they had the talent, they really loaded-up with as many strong games as possible - almost all of them on the road. Hope, WashU, Chicago, IL. Wesleyan. Albion, Rhodes, Depauw, Texas-Dallas (when they were great)...etc. That Hope game was so much fun to watch. During the Bromenschenkel era RHIT always had a top-10 SOS until HCAC games began. I'd so much rather see Transy step-out and at least try to play some top-notch teams a couple times per year - it would be good for them come tournament time. They've stepped-out of the friendly confines of the Beck Center to play a D-III thoroughbred program exactly twice (counting the ETBU game in the pandemic year) in the past five years. It's almost as though their schedule is set-up to guarantee as many home games as possible, with any away games being against teams that aren't horrible, but aren't great either. Just enough flavor to guarantee themselves home-court advantage in the NCAA Tournament - which they have an outsized chance at getting in any given year being an NCAA favorite geographically.

I think it actually hurts Transylvania just a little bit that they don't have a halfway decent RHIT on their schedule this year. The antidote to Transylvania is a team that defends like it's hair is on fire and makes things exceedingly difficult offensively, has guards that will be tough against the slapping and reaching and can hold on to the ball and won't turn it over against their press, and gives them only one shot per possession and won't allow them to run wild from the perimeter, shooting 3's and getting long rebounds every other possession - just like RHIT did twice in close games last year and Trine did in the NCAA Tournament. The more often they see teams like this, the better prepared they'll be when the games really count. Go watch the first 4-5 minutes of the Transy-RHIT game from last weekend, and then imagine a team with talent, athleticism, and length doing the same thing - Transy would have been in a serious scrap. Hopefully, the schedule they have will wind up being strong enough to help propel them a game or two further this season. It would really help the conference to have a team make the Final Four or challenge for a national title.
#13
Other than a disastrous 2nd quarter, looks like Bluffton came the closest of anyone so far this season - to giving Transylvania a game. Three glaring stats that stand out:
- Bluffton had 24 turnovers, Cannot defeat a good team turning it over that often. Transylvania scored 28 points off those turnovers.
- Transylvania had TWENTY ONE offensive rebounds. That is an astronomical number of offensive boards.
- Transylvania was only whistled for 10 fouls while Bluffton was called for 20.  Transylvania shot 18 free throws to Bluffton's 2. To be expected in Lexington. RHIT has always struggled with the officials down there. I'll say this though, Transy is very aggressive, and officials are human and often call the game based off the more aggressive team - otherwise they'd be calling fouls all night.

Another shocking stat is that of the 66 shots that Transylvania got up today, 41 of them were 3's. 63% of Transy's shots today were 3's.

Therein lies the problem for opposing teams, and what makes Transy so difficult to defeat. When you shoot 41 shots from beyond the arc, that means there will be a lot of long rebounds. Stacy and especially Thornton are so quick and athletic, and with the floor so  spread-out when a 3-pt attempt goes up, it's very, very difficult to block them out. Thornton in particular is a match-up nightmare. Most teams have to put a legit post player guarding her, or Transy will just high-low them to death over the top of smaller players - but that taller, longer player often isn't athletic or mobile enough to block her out and keep her off the offensive glass when she starts from 15 feet away from the basket - which is usually where she is when a 3-pt attempt goes up, if not further away.

It will be interesting to see where it goes from here for Transy. They are very, very good, again. However, they aren't shooting it quite as well from the field (42.8% in 2021-22 vs. 37.9% this year) as they did last year and their 3-pt % is down as well (31.9% last year compared to 28.8% this year).  Their scoring IS a bit more balanced so far this season, with 3 players averaging 13 pts per game - while last year Kellione and Stacy accounted for over 40% of the team's points.

Only three of the seven teams they've played so far this year have winning records, with two of those teams being HCAC members Franklin and Bluffton - and Bluffton is notorious for playing weak schedules. Nevertheless, Bluffton, along with Hanover and possibly Wisconsin Lutheran, are the only remaining teams that have a prayer of beating Transy in the regular season - IF they limit turnovers, limit Transy to 12 or fewer offensive rebounds, and hold two of Transy's starters to fewer than 10 points.

Will Transy's remaining schedule be enough to prepare them for the NCAA Tournament? They still have road games at Hanover and Bluffton, which are potential stumbling blocks - but they do not otherwise have to face ANY other real tests all the way potentially to the Sweet 16. One might argue that they'll see 4-3 Wisconsin Lutheran, whose best win is over a DePauw squad that's struggled this season (plus I suppose you could argue that they played Calvin tough-who played Hope tough), and 7-0 Berea, who's played one of the weakest schedules in the MIdwest (their opponents are a combined 10-41), but that event is at home. Again, Transy, is really, really good, but an important aspect of this is how important it is for them to play at home - which, barring some unexpected losses, is guaranteed all the way through the Elite 8.
#14
Quote from: itsnotmeitsyou on December 04, 2022, 10:26:41 AM
Quote from: Enginerd on December 04, 2022, 09:10:36 AM
Quote from: itsnotmeitsyou on December 03, 2022, 10:00:41 PM
What are the issues regarding RHIT that seem only to significantly affect the women's basketball team that are being ignored by the administration?

Jester's daughter has played more recently, so I'll let him answer regarding specifics around the administration and staff. 30,000 ft view is the school now costs $75,000 per year. Its average cost AFTER financial aid is the starting point for most liberal arts colleges - which make up 95% of Division III membership. There is a very small demographic for RHIT to recruit from (females that want engineering, want a selective school, aren't intimidated by the academics, and whose families won't vomit at the thought of paying $45-$50,000 AFTER financial aid), made even smaller by the fact that engineering only attracts women at a rate of around 18-20% of the profession annually. In addition, while RHIT isn't as selective as the Ivy League, the service academies, or MIT/CalTech, they are much more selective than everyone else by a sight. The kids that can really play are also getting looks from the above schools, who all have far bigger endowments and better financial aid. Last time I had a conversation with anyone on that staff, which was in 2015'ish up at Hope, I was told that RHIT would have a low-mid Division I caliber roster in women's basketball if they even had BAD financial aid, instead of truly horrifying financial aid.
Let's face it, the key to having an elite D-III women's program is to entice Division II/NAIA/low-mid D-I kids to play down, for whatever reason. RHIT's stats always get them in the picture, then out very quickly once families realize what it will cost. Not only that, but even D-III caliber kids don't want to tackle that much debt.
Unfortunately the school, for whatever reason, won't or can't give decent financial aid, and folks have all kinds of options. If you go online and check out the salaries they are paying their top-ten administrators, it is obvious where the school wants to put its money. They held a presidential search a few years ago and couldn't find anyone outside the school that even wanted to apply for the job, given the considerable pratfalls around the low endowment
So - bottom line is high cost, extraordinarily low financial aid, competitors offering the same degree for far less money, and now issues with the coach. Why not the same issue on the men's side? Far, far more men go into engineering, and families are more comfortable with a son taking on $150,000+ undergraduate debt than they are their little girls. I would never have paid that much money for a non-Ivy when my kids were that age.
He did have a good run, those guys took all the above drawbacks and won three HCAC titles, had two trips to the NCAA Tournament (and would have advanced at least to the Sweet 16 if their best guard hadn't gotten injured right before the NCAA's in 2018), and I believe finished in the Top-5 in scoring defense for 4-5 straight years. Hopefully whomever is next tasked to lead the program will be someone with experience recruiting in hopeless situations LoL...
While helpful info., players are already IN the program and THEN leaving the team. Seems to me that the issues at the root cause of the problem aren't tuition cost/financial aid-related. Something else is amiss.

Btw - this job, if done right, is a GOLD MINE!!! Clearly you can get more talented kids than any league foe would have access to.

WBB has won as many HCAC titles and has as many NCAA appearances as Women's soccer at RHIT over the past decade. Football has indeed had a great run - but if you look at their roster they are FULL of California kids, who have nowhere to go West of the Mississippi if they want to play football and get an elite engineering degree PLUS California has far more wealthy folks willing to spend whatever it takes and everyone pays through the nose in CA even for public universities. The women's tennis team at RHIT has had one or two good years but nowhere near the amount of success of the men's tennis squad.

The one women's program that has proven your theory correct, itsnotmeitsyou, is the women's golf team. They've obliterated the HCAC since 2019, finishing 1-2 with their B team at a conference meet last year. Not coincidentally, the same person who recruited the great RHIT BB players from the early 2010's was also the women's golf coach - but they've left now as well. Jester knows why but he ain't telling! My point is that golf is a "country club" sport with a completely different demographic to choose from than BB. Soccer as well, really, if  you're anywhere near a green space in a big-city suburb on any summer Saturday, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

I'm not defending anyone. I've been hearing that the coach was a tyrant since at least the early 2000's when my kid was there and he coached the men's team - but I'm pretty sure recruiting WBB players at RHIT is harder than it looks.

Also, Roundball999, you're correct about the similarities with RPI, but RPI, (and Union, Stevens, Hamilton, MIT, Rensselaer etc...) is in NY and in an area with a much bigger population and easy access to the NY/New England corridor.  RHIT is in Terre Haute, IN. Plus, the whole world comes to Indiana to recruit basketball players and, at least 20 years ago, it was not uncommon to see those schools creeping around events in the Midwest. RHIT has never been able to "put up a fence" and get who they want from the Midwest. I'm sure WashU, Hope, Calvin, Indiana Tech, and especially Trine just murder them financial aid-wise whenever an engineering kid that can play pops-up. RHIT was my kid's most expensive option by at least $20,000 but she fell in love with the school, and were fortunate to have some family money to help with the outrageous cost - were it not for that she would have been at Hope, Calvin, or Michigan State most likely.
#15
Quote from: itsnotmeitsyou on December 03, 2022, 10:00:41 PM
What are the issues regarding RHIT that seem only to significantly affect the women's basketball team that are being ignored by the administration?

Jester's daughter has played more recently, so I'll let him answer regarding specifics around the administration and staff. 30,000 ft view is the school now costs $75,000 per year. Its average cost AFTER financial aid is the starting point for most liberal arts colleges - which make up 95% of Division III membership. There is a very small demographic for RHIT to recruit from (females that want engineering, want a selective school, aren't intimidated by the academics, and whose families won't vomit at the thought of paying $45-$50,000 AFTER financial aid), made even smaller by the fact that engineering only attracts women at a rate of around 18-20% of the profession annually. In addition, while RHIT isn't as selective as the Ivy League, the service academies, or MIT/CalTech, they are much more selective than everyone else by a sight. The kids that can really play are also getting looks from the above schools, who all have far bigger endowments and better financial aid. Last time I had a conversation with anyone on that staff, which was in 2015'ish up at Hope, I was told that RHIT would have a low-mid Division I caliber roster in women's basketball if they even had BAD financial aid, instead of truly horrifying financial aid.
Let's face it, the key to having an elite D-III women's program is to entice Division II/NAIA/low-mid D-I kids to play down, for whatever reason. RHIT's stats always get them in the picture, then out very quickly once families realize what it will cost. Not only that, but even D-III caliber kids don't want to tackle that much debt.
Unfortunately the school, for whatever reason, won't or can't give decent financial aid, and folks have all kinds of options. If you go online and check out the salaries they are paying their top-ten administrators, it is obvious where the school wants to put its money. They held a presidential search a few years ago and couldn't find anyone outside the school that even wanted to apply for the job, given the considerable pratfalls around the low endowment
So - bottom line is high cost, extraordinarily low financial aid, competitors offering the same degree for far less money, and now issues with the coach. Why not the same issue on the men's side? Far, far more men go into engineering, and families are more comfortable with a son taking on $150,000+ undergraduate debt than they are their little girls. I would never have paid that much money for a non-Ivy when my kids were that age.
He did have a good run, those guys took all the above drawbacks and won three HCAC titles, had two trips to the NCAA Tournament (and would have advanced at least to the Sweet 16 if their best guard hadn't gotten injured right before the NCAA's in 2018), and I believe finished in the Top-5 in scoring defense for 4-5 straight years. Hopefully whomever is next tasked to lead the program will be someone with experience recruiting in hopeless situations LoL...