MBB: NESCAC

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

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nescac1

Nice article.  Eph fans are closely familiar with Turrel's game.  And of course there is the obligatory Duncan mention.  I gotta say I don't see him as one of the best NBA prospects I've seen in D3 or anything.  He'd have to improve his three point shot to absolutely elite levels because he's not an elite athlete or anything.  But I'm rooting for him!

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-03-17/ryan-turell-the-next-next-jewish-jordan

nescac1

One of the Amherst fans mentioned this months ago but confirmed that Fru Che trying to go D1: for his last year of hoops:

https://twitter.com/charleyneisner/status/1373373994452332550?s=21

He's one of the few Nescac seniors who I think who could translate because he can defend wings at a high level and shoot the ball, which are both prized commodities.  Grant Robinson, Jack Farrell, Tommy Eastman and Luke Rogers are other seniors who come to mind with that potential, but I think all may be back next year?   Robinson for sure, Rogers I believe yes, and the Midd duo, not sure?

SpringSt7

https://athletics.bowdoin.edu/news/2021/3/30/mens-basketball-coach-tim-gilbride-announces-retirement-from-bowdoin.aspx

Tim Gilbride has announced his retirement from Bowdoin. Another coaching position opens in the NESCAC.

nescac1

I always liked Gilbride as a coach.  He certainly gave Williams fits, often with much less talented teams (5-5 in last ten vs Williams during a stretch when the Ephs made two elite 8s and two final fours). He leaves a great legacy at Bowdoin. That will be a tough rebuild as for a variety of reasons the new coach will not inherit much talent at all.  But nice to start will mostly a blank slate. 

So next year in NESCAC: 50 percent of the rosters around the league mostly new; three new coaches and a fourth in his second "real" season; some schools with impact fifth-year seniors, others without; in short, there is no way to have any clue whatsoever what to expect!

P'bearfan

Quote from: SpringSt7 on March 30, 2021, 09:13:30 AM
https://athletics.bowdoin.edu/news/2021/3/30/mens-basketball-coach-tim-gilbride-announces-retirement-from-bowdoin.aspx

Tim Gilbride has announced his retirement from Bowdoin. Another coaching position opens in the NESCAC.

Tim Gilbride is a great coach and a class act.  Like most great coaches it's hard to describe the total impact he had on his players, including my son.

The article in the link below is worth reading though if you want to get a sense of the man and coach Tim Gilbride is.  All the best to coach in his retirement.

https://newengland.com/today/living/profiles/wil-smiths-fast-break/

amh63

Three long term coaches have now decided to retire!  Nescac 1's comments touched on all the key points to consider when basketball in the Nescac returns again...full season.  It was always a challenge to play Bowdoin in basketball...men and women...at home and up in Maine.  The Bowdoin announcer always brought a smile to my face.  The 21-22 season should be most interesting....new coaches' imprints to observe.


nescac1

#28417
Been awhile since an updated recruiting list.  A few additions here based on announced recruits or the schools that have posted rosters.  Now, all of this is more uncertain than usual.  For example I imagine a bunch of the 2024 guys will reclassify as 2025 players, but I have listed all of them as 2024 until that is confirmed.  And maybe some guys have dropped off with such a long gap between being recruiting and next season.  But, this should roughly give a sense of who will be new to NESCAC next season.  So far, there have been an unusually small number of guys committing in the Spring.  I'd assume that is due to fewer slots for athletes, or really anyone, across the conference due to so many gap years.  And the admissions landscape is crazy overall, with heavy reliance on waitlists expected, so I imagine some guys may trickle in VERY late, maybe even into June.  Amherst, Williams and Colby, for example, each admitted only 8 percent of applicants (pre-waitlist) for the class of 2025! 

For the schools that posted full rosters, and have recruits missing, I think it's a likely bet those recruits ended up taking a gap year ...

Amherst:
Bobby Sommers, 6'3 G/F, St. Marks (#49 in MA)
Mohammad Alausa, 6'4 G/F, New Hampton (#142 in New England, #26 in NH)
--
Noah Helmke, 6'6 F, Berkshire School (#37 in MA)
Will Scherer, 6'9 C, Gonzaga College H.S.
Jack Boyle, 6'1 G, Poly Prep (baseball recruit)
Canin Reynolds, 5'8 G, Berkshire School (#41 in D.C. area class of 2020)
Ryker Vance, 6'7 F, Community School of Naples
CJ Mitchell, 5'8 G, Hotchkiss (#70 in CT)

Bates:
Trace Gotham, 6'5 F, St. Sebastian's (#58 in MA)
Stephen Ward, 6'6 F, Beaver Country Day
Simon McCormick, 5'6 G, Cony H.S.
Devin Harris, 6'7 F, Sanford School (DE)
--
Drew Sachs, 6'1 G, Governor's Academy (#75 in MA)
Garvin McLaughlin, 6'3 F, Milton

Bowdoin:
Burke Chebuha, 6'7 F, Walker H.S. (Marietta, GA)
--
James McGowan, 6'0 G, Westwood (#68 in MA)
Cole Hannin, 5'11 PG, Bullis (DC)
Henry Rovillard, PG/SG, 6-3, Holy Spirit (NJ) (PG year at Phelps in PA)

Colby:
David Basich, 6'0 G, Green Farms Academy
Henry Westrich, 6'4 G/F, Bangor (#24 in Maine)
Liam O'Connell, 6'4 G, Bridgton Academy (#17 in Maine)
Lucas Green, 6'5 F, Princeton Day (NJ)
Eric Baier, 6'3 G, Summit (NJ)
Clay Bolster, 6'1 G, Cushing Academy
Henry Pohle, 6'6 F, New Canaan
--
David Stewart, 6'8 G, Mt. Zion Prep
Ben Kaczmarek, 6'4 G, St. Sebastian's (#59 in MA)
Nate Godin, 6'2 G, Central Catholic
Jack Richard, 6'4 G, Rivers School (#62 in MA)

Conn College:
Jarron Flynn, 6'3 G, Kimball Union Academy (#128 in New England, 24 in NH)
Billy Whelan, 6'0 G, Williston Northampton (#60 in MA)
Nathan Rogers, 6'10 C, Bromfield (MA) (not listed on 20-21 roster?)
Andrew Hartel, 6'9 C, Kimball Union Academy (#118 in New England, #21 in NH) (not listed on 20-21 roster?)
Ben Rice, 6'7 F, Whitman-Hanson (MA) (#106 in New England, #30 in MA)
David Murray, 6'6 C/F, Collegiate School (NYC)
Henry Fine, 6'2 G, BB&N
--
Cameron Lewis, 6'3 G, DePaul Prep (IL)
Kevin Baxter, 6'5 G, Choate (#73 in CT)

Hamilton:
Julius Nagin, 6'3 G, BB&N
Ryan Michaels, 6'6 F, Berkshire School
Christian McDaniel, 6'3 G/F, Mt. Zion Baptist
Brendan Gagan, 6'7 F, Guilderland Central (NY)
--
Graham Robinson, 6'10 C, St. Paul's (#18 in NH)
Max Freishtat, 6'4 G, Sidwell Friends (D.C.)
Hank Morgan, 6'5 G, Berkshire School

Middlebury:
David Brennan, 6'5 F, Roxbury Latin
Adrian Watts, 6'4 F/G, St. Andrew's (DE) (not listed on 20-21 roster?)
Lamine Cisse, 6'2 G, Success Academy (NY)
Dean Smith, 6'6 F, Delbarton (NJ)
--
Jaden Bobbett, 6'0 PG, Cushing Academy (#31 in MA)
Sam Stevens, 6'5 G/F, Willison Northampton (#45 in New England, #27 in MA)

Trinity:
Will Dorion, 6'1 G, Needham (#47 in MA) (not listed on 20-21 roster?)
Charlie Campbell, 6'2 G/F, Canterbury
Garrett Kirk, 6'2 G, Northfield Mount Herman (not listed on 20-21 roster?)
Sean Okpoebo, 6'4 G/F, Cushing Academy
Gilbert Otoo, 6'5 F, Perkiomen School (PA)
---
Sean Macarchuk, 6'5 G/F, St. Thomas Moore
Kualim Johnson, 6'5 F, Marianapolis Prep (#42 in CT)

Tufts:
Jay Dieterle, 6'4 G, Rivers School
Liam Murphy, 6'5 F, Wilbraham & Monson (#54 in MA)
--
Mohamud Ali, 6'3 F, Boston Latin
Quinn Cain, 6'3 G, Hinsdale Central (IL)
Makai Murray, 5'8 G, St. George's (#11 in RI)
Bobby Stewart, 6'8 C, St. Andrews (FL)

Wesleyan:
Kiran Kling, 6'9 C, Maret (D.C.)
Jared Langs, 6'8 F, Lovejoy High School (TX)
Olu Oladitan, 6'6 F, Brooks (#56 in MA)
Dylan Ward, 6'5 G, Williston Northampton
---
Cole Bryant, 6'4 G, St. Luke's School (#47 in New England, #29 in CT)
Nicky Johnson, 5'9 G, The Rivers School (#40 in MA)
Shane Regan, 6'3 G, Williston Northampton (#51 in MA)
Jacob Pofsky, 6'1 G, Shalhevet H.S. (CA)

Williams:
Brandon Roughley, 6'8 F, Salisbury (#103 in New England, #42 in CT)
Noah Dinkins, 6'4 G, Andover (#50 in MA)
Declan Porter, 6'6 G/F, Exeter (#116 in New England, #19 in NH)
Dan Lee, 6'1 PG, Dublin Jerome (OH)
--
Evan Glatzer, 6'3 PG, Friends Seminary (NY)
Charles Willmott, 6'1 G, Lincoln (OR) (football / hoops)


amh63

Nice effort/job nescac1 :)
Will be a lot of sorting out when the Nescac returns to a full basketball season.....I believe. 
Amherst's new HC has added an assistant coach recently.  Bowdoin and Tufts have both "lost" Head Coaches to retirement....with both schools not providing any info wrt new coaches.  Did notice that both Tufts and Bowdoin have the smallest list of Recruits.  Expect some interesting battles in the 21-22 season....fingers crossed comment.


nescac1

Great story, thanks Jefffan. 

Any word on whether Fru Che is getting any bites from D1 schools?  I imagine that it's a pretty tough year to try to transfer in as a graduate student, because there will be SO many student-athletes with an extra year of eligibility due to COVID. 

nescac1

#28421
Based on what has been reported here and elsewhere, the rosters SOME teams have posted, and a healthy dose of speculation, my thoughts on what NESCAC teams are likely to look like next year.  To repeat, there is a LOT of speculation involved here, but for around half the league, we seem to have a pretty good idea.  Here is part one of four (listed alphabetically):

Amherst: no roster posted for this year.  Most of the uncertainty involves how the new coaching staff will change the style of play, as opposed to the players at the top of the rotation.  Coach Sears announced that seven players are taking a gap year.  Those players are confirmed (I believe!) to include Grant Robinson, Garrett Day, Tim McCarthy, Mike Schretter, Dan Schlakman, and Bobby Sommers, who reclassified from class of 2024 to 2025.  So that leaves one more guy, I'm guessing either Devonn Allen or Will Phelan, but just a guess.  I believe that group excludes Fru Che, Isa Maguire, and frosh Mohammed Alausa. 

Short term prognosis: good-to-great.  A Robinson, Day, Allen backcourt trio, if Robinson is back to 100 percent, will be among the very best in the country.  The frontcourt is far more uncertain, with an entirely new starting group after losing Sellew, Che and Cherry to graduation.  A McCarthy/Phelan/Schlakman trio at forward and a Maguire/Schretter duo at center (all of them highly regarded recruits), plus maybe Alausa in the mix as well, has plenty of talent and could be good enough to compete for a NESCAC title with that loaded backcourt, but whether they get there depends on what kind of strides that group has collectively made.  A big question is will there be enough shooting, because other than McCarthy, no one from that group has shown any outside game to date. 

Long term prognosis: totally uncertain.  Coach Sears inherits a loaded senior class, but likely very thin junior and sophomore groups (will probably be around four guys total in those classes, none of whom have been major impact players).  He did bring in a large and what appears to be a fairly strong first recruiting class, which benefits from Sommers dropping back.  How fast that group develops will determine whether Amherst stays a top-half-of-NESCAC team after the rising senior class departs.  My guess is that after next year, there might be a few years of growing pains.  But as long as Sears is at least above-average as a coach, Amherst basketball sells itself and will always be a contender in NESCAC more years than not, even if returning to the 2003-2016 pinnacle of the Hixon years will always remain a longshot for any coach. 

Bates: full roster posted for this year, no indication on the roster, or elsewhere, of who is taking a gap year.  But it probably does not matter much for Bates for the 21-22 season, as its class of 2021 has made little collective impact to date.  Bates would benefit most if its stellar frosh trio from last year, Omar Sarr, Jacob Iwowo, and Stephon Baxter, take a fifth year.  That group is one of the more talented trios I've seen come into the league together on one squad in recent memory, in terms of upside potential.  Sarr in particular could easily be a first-team all-American center based on the growth he already showed as a frosh.  Sarr and Iwowo, however, both still have a looooong way to go to reach their potential. 

Short term prognosis: Bates lost four key seniors from last year's mediocre team.  It was probably poised for a rough year this year.  More than anyone else, save possibly for Wesleyan and Williams, Bates will benefit from the gap year because of its non-impactful class of 2021 and many guys who could really benefit from some long-term growth as players.  Nevertheless, Bates seems like a year away from competing for a top-three spot in NESCAC.

Long term prognosis: it all depends on Sarr, Iwowo and Baxter.  If that trio sticks around (especially if they do so for an extra year) and grow a lot as players, Bates just needs to put a few wing shooters around them and it could be more dangerous than it has ever been in the Furbush era. 

Bowdoin: no roster posted for this year, no information on who may be taking a gap year, new coaching staff needs to be hired.  Bowdoin had a mostly rough season despite David Reynolds' absolutely heroic efforts, what a shooting year he had despite defenses being all over him on nearly every possession.  Between some bad luck with recent recruits and the coaching transition, Bowdoin has very limited young talent on hand.  Its two best players by far are Sam Grad and Xavier Rucker.  If both of them return for a fifth year, Bowdoin may be able to compete for tenth place in NESCAC.  If neither do, with all that Conn has added and solid cores of young talent everywhere else, it will take a miracle to avoid eleventh. 

Short term prognosis: terrible at best, potentially brutal
Long term prognosis: no matter what, this is a long-term rebuilding effort.  The right coaching hire can certainly right the ship, Bowdoin has plenty of history of good hoops in the past to draw upon, but it's going to be a 4-5 year rebuild no matter what.  And perhaps longer if Bowdoin doesn't give the new coaching staff more support than it seems to have given its football coaches.  Without the right hire, Bowdoin could be mired in the NESCAC cellar for a long time. 

nescac1

#28422
Part two: 

Colby: Colby is one of the few schools we have a clear picture of heading into 21-22.  Colby has posted its roster and, based on that as well as Colby Hoops' input on this board, it appears that only Matt Hanna and Noah Tyson are taking gap years among significant players.  Colby will lose the services of Wallace Tucker next year.  [Update: thanks to Colby Hoops who notes that frosh Liam Oconnell and Eric Baier also appear to be taking gap years].

Short-term prognosis: very good, but not likely 20-21 level good.  Colby lost four seniors from last year's squad, and it struggled a bit down the stretch without a few of them (particularly Sam Jefferson) when they were injured.  Tucker is another big loss, meaning only three guys return from Colby's healthy eight-man rotation: Hanna, Tyson, and Will King.  Those three guys should be, together, as good as any trio in NESCAC. The question is who emerges around them from an untested group.  There are some pretty good clues from Colby's four games this year as well as the end of last season.  Jonah Obi will likely man the center spot, he should be effective but doesn't give Colby the five-shooter look it was able to employ in such a deadly fashion last year.  Alec McGovern will likely be the other starting guard.  Lucas Green and Cooper Wikala look like the top two contenders off the bench (although keep an eye on Eric Baier who did not play this year), that gives Colby some nice size in reserve.  Coach Strahorn seems to have a bunch of other three point specialists surrounding the group for depth.  I doubt Colby wins 24 games again next year, but 18-20 is certainly possible. 

Long term prognosis: excellent.  Hanna should be the only loss to graduation after next year.  The following season a team led by Tyson and King, with loads of experienced guys around them, will be tough to beat.  Strahorn's apparent vision of an entire deep rotation of mostly interchangeable guys between 6'3 and 6'6, nearly all of whom who can shoot from deep and handle, will come to full fruition that year.  Colby clearly has something going across its entire athletic department, and the new hoops arena cannot hurt with recruiting. 

Conn College: this year's playing roster is posted; guys taking (presumably) gap years are not listed.  We also have a great sense of what Conn will look like next year.  Of likely rotation players, Ben McPherron, Dan Draffan, Chris Towey, Matt Carlin, and highly-ranked frosh Andrew Hartell are not on the roster. Along with whomever returns from that group, some frosh recruits who will surely play a lot next season took some lumps in Conn's five games (plus two scrimmages vs. Trinity) this year: Jarron Flynn, Billy Whelan, David Murray and Ben Rice, all of whom started all of those games.  [Update: Conn's hoops newsletter notes that Draffan and Zimmerman are both graduating.  That definitely lowers Conn's ceiling for next year]. 

Short term prognosis: trending up next year.  Look for the rising sophomore class to form the bulk of Conn's rotation next season.  That group, while very green, is more talented than anything we've seen in years from Conn, with loads of size, and while it is still a young rotation overall, by season's end Conn may not be fun to play.  I predict that they will be far more competitive, and won't be winless in NESCAC again.   

Long term prognosis: if Conn's new coaching staff keeps adding recruits like those it has been bringing in to date, and (as opposed to the old regime) convinces those recruits to actually stick around all four years, there is no reason that Conn can't return to some approximation of its brief Glenn Miller glory days within 2-3 more years.  But it will take some time.   

Middlebury:  Midd posted its "practice roster," but that gives no insight at all into who is taking gap years.  The only notable name missing is Alex Sobel.  However, I recently saw (since I originally posted this) that Midd's seniors are not returning for a fifth year.  Assuming that Sobel is not returning to hoops as well, that means that Middlebury's top returning scorer is ... Charlie Moore, at 2 ppg.  It's a whole sale rebuild for Jeff Brown and co. in Vermont. 

Short term prognosis: I have enormous respect for the Midd program culture, but this team will feature almost entirely guys who have never played a meaningful minute of college hoops next year.  Just making the NESCAC playoffs would be a massive accomplishment.

Long term prognosis: so long as Jeff Brown is coaching, it's never going to be terrible, and Midd brings in a pair of really good frosh in Bobbitt and Stevens this year, both of whom will get every chance to play a ton of minutes right away.  But realistically, Midd is a few years away from returning to NESCAC contention while it rebuilds the roster after losing essentially everyone who its relied on for the past few seasons. 

nescac1

#28423
Part three:

Hamilton: Hamilton has its 20-21 roster posted, but it is not clear who is taking a gap year.  I imagine that it's unlikely that Vince Conn sticks around for a sixth year.  He's had a lot of tough luck in his career.  The only other seniors are Mike McEneney and Spencer Kendall.

Short term prognosis: each of the three seniors on the roster were helpful players for Hamilton, and Conn and Kendall would have likely had much bigger roles as seniors.  Still, either way, Hamilton will return the bulk of its productive players who did not graduate in 2020.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that Hamilton was below .500 even with Kena Gilmour on the roster, the same Kena Gilmour who led the team in points, rebounds, assists, and three pointers made, and who was the only guy on the roster to average even two FTAs per game.  Hamilton does have a slew of good-but-not-great players, including a really nice sophomore class, and the return of Nkosi Cooper from injury should help, but overall, it's hard to imagine Hamilton competing for a spot in the NESCAC top four next year.  Who will be the go-to guy on offense?  It's far from clear.

Long term prognosis: Hamilton should continue to plug along somewhere in the 3-9 range in the conference, with solid talent overall, but it may be awhile before another player like Gilmour sets foot on campus. 

Trinity: Trinity has its 20-21 roster posted, and it played two scrimmages vs. Conn (splitting the two games), but no stats were posted for those games.  Although it's not clear who may be taking a gap year, a few important names are missing from the roster: recruit Will Dorion, Steven Lora, and star center Donald Jorden.  Colin Donovan played in the Conn scrimmages and will be graduating, but may play as a graduate student at Trinity. 

Short term prognosis:  Trinity has been the definition of mediocre in NESCAC the last four years, going between 4-6 and 6-4 in league play each season.  The Bants always seem like a tough and athletic, but offensively limited, team who can beat, or lose to, anyone on any given day.  That's probably the best possible outcome for next season.  If Donovan and Jorden are both back, Trinity has two stars to build around while the young talent gets its feet wet.  Those are the only two of the top seven scorers who could potentially return.  If either (or worse yet both) of them are not on the roster, Trinity could struggle to finish in the top eight. 

Long term prognosis: probably more of the same solid but not spectacular play.  Trinity seems to bring in solid recruiting classes every year, and always has decent talent and plays really hard, but it's been awhile since the Bants brought in a big time offensive star who made a major 3-4 year impact on the hardwood. 

Tufts: it does seem that Tufts has a 20-21 roster posted: https://www.gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/roster.  So, at the very least, Luke Rogers and Will Brady, neither of whom are listed, are likely to be back next year.  Because Tufts has a grad program, there is certainly a possibility that any of the three seniors listed could be back as well.  Most important, hoops-wise, of that group is Brendan Morris, who is by far Tufts' best returning shooter and one of the really elite shooters in NESCAC.  I believe he is, in fact, playing as a graduate student at Tufts next year.  Justin Kouyoumdjian could also be an important player if he returns, his junior year was severely limited by injury but he brings a lot to the table when healthy. 

Short term prognosis: With Rogers, Aronson, Morris, Cohen, Brady, Thoerner, and McClaren apparently back next year, Tufts is clearly the favorite in NESCAC and a top-10 team nationally for certain.  Indeed, with that great veteran core returning, Tufts looks like a top national title contender in 2022.  The Jumbos should have extra motivation from being denied a legit shot at a national title in 2020.  Luke Rogers has only gotten better and better over time, so it's likely he'd be an absolute monster as a fifth year senior, and clearly the best player in the league.  No one will be able to stop him.  While Eric Savage is a huge loss, Tufts is still loaded with talent on the wing with Dylan Thoerner, Casey McLaren, and Morris, as well as this year's highly-regarded shooter Jay Dieterle, who collectively should be able to make up a lot of his production.  Tufts is very deep and super-experienced at guard, and had a pair of frosh bigs in 2020 who sat the bench but  I assume will be ready to step into bigger roles up front.  The only question is whether one of the guards/wings steps up into Savage's role as a guy who can take control of a game late from the perimeter, but Aronson and Thoerner seem like good candidates for that role.  Obviously, who the coach is will make an impact, as well.

Long term prognosis: uncertain.  The senior class will be a massive loss after 2022 (especially Rogers, who is irreplaceable), and a lot depends on who the new coach is and how he is able to recruit.  Still, it's clear that Tufts should always be able to attract a lot of talent and there is no reason that, with the right coach at the helm, Tufts can't compete for a NESCAC title more years than not. 

lumbercat

NESCAC 1
Thats a lot of information and a lot of work!
Thanks for posting, very informative.