NCAA men's basketball D-III Sweet 16

Coachster

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Three New England teams still in the mix, with games tonight.

The pride of Dudley MA, Nichols College is in Pennsylvania to play Richard Stockton at 5, followed by my employers, Keene State College, who take the court at 7 to play the hosts Swarthmore at 7. Here's the link for the Keene-Swarthmore game: https://www.centennialconference.tv/swarthmoreathletics/?B=541749

Down in Virginia at Christopher Newport, St. Joseph's of Connecticut takes on Wheaton (Illinois). St. Joe's is the program that Jim Calhoun, former UConn coach used as a stepping stone to retirement. I've heard there are some funny stories about how the current roster at St. Joseph's got there.

Anyway, D-III basketball at it's finest.
 
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Kliq

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I was actually going to bump your Volleyball thread the other day because of how outrageously good Keene State is for a D3 New England State School. Rooting for them to go all the way, they must have some coach.
 

Coachster

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I was actually going to bump your Volleyball thread the other day because of how outrageously good Keene State is for a D3 New England State School. Rooting for them to go all the way, they must have some coach.
Ryan is a terrific young coach. He's the all-time leading scorer at WPI and Keene was his first head coach gig. He's certainly made the most of it. We've spent some time talking about coaching pedagogy, and his head seems to be on straight about the value of D-III, as I don't believe his ultimate goal is to go higher. (He's acutely aware of the sacrifices you have to make to become a D-I head coach.)

The unusual thing for me is how great a group of quality guys he's assembled. (It's way too easy to recruit a bunch of thugs and dummies at D-III.) He's kept a huge roster, and is up-front to them about the fact they might never play, but if they are there to be part of the experience and to help, he's OK having them around. They are the biggest fans of my team, and are loud and funny as hell at our home matches.

If you watch, keep an eye on #3 Octavio Brito, 6'4 sophomore, with unlimited potential. When he's on, he's fun to watch, and usually defends the opposing team's top scorer.

@canderson , can we slip him a couple bucks to put his finger on the scale?
 

ctsoxfan5

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St. Joe's is the program that Jim Calhoun, former UConn coach used as a stepping stone to retirement. I've heard there are some funny stories about how the current roster at St. Joseph's got there.
I'd be curious to hear some of these stories if you can say.
 

JOBU

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Let me put it this way: it seems like a lot of the guys on the St. Joe's team aren't paying much money to go to college.
??? Couldn’t you say that about most college basketball programs? Scholarships etc?? Or is there something else going on?

edit I was unaware that d-3 schools did not provide athletic scholarships. I was under the impression though that st joesephs was in the process or of transitioning to d1? Maybe I’m completely uninformed about that though?
 
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Kliq

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My understanding is that St. Joseph's (CT) didn't even have a men's basketball team until a few years ago when Calhoun became the coach. They quickly became competitive, is that because of Calhoun bringing in good players because of his reputation, or other means? Who knows.

D3 hoops is largely dominated by two types of schools. Public schools in the MidWest, particularly from Minnesota and Wisconsin, which due to a lack of D-1 or D-2 public schools in those regions and a lack of private schools, relative to the Northeast, are able to recruit a high caliber of local talent. The other dominant factor is wealthy (often academic-focused) schools in the Northeast, which can offer strong financial aid to students, essentially making them "scholarship" athletes even if they aren't on athletic scholarships. They can also get a lot of D2 or even D1 caliber players with the advertisement that they can go to a top school. Would you rather be a D1 player at UMASS Lowell, or a D3 player at Tufts or Williams? If you don't think you are going pro, the degree from the D3 schools is very attractive.

That's why I noticed Keene State, a small, state school from NH, being so highly ranked as a remarkable achievement, because it's rare a state school from New England is that competitive in D3 hoops.
 

Coachster

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My understanding is that St. Joseph's (CT) didn't even have a men's basketball team until a few years ago when Calhoun became the coach. They quickly became competitive, is that because of Calhoun bringing in good players because of his reputation, or other means? Who knows.

D3 hoops is largely dominated by two types of schools. Public schools in the MidWest, particularly from Minnesota and Wisconsin, which due to a lack of D-1 or D-2 public schools in those regions and a lack of private schools, relative to the Northeast, are able to recruit a high caliber of local talent. The other dominant factor is wealthy (often academic-focused) schools in the Northeast, which can offer strong financial aid to students, essentially making them "scholarship" athletes even if they aren't on athletic scholarships. They can also get a lot of D2 or even D1 caliber players with the advertisement that they can go to a top school. Would you rather be a D1 player at UMASS Lowell, or a D3 player at Tufts or Williams? If you don't think you are going pro, the degree from the D3 schools is very attractive.

That's why I noticed Keene State, a small, state school from NH, being so highly ranked as a remarkable achievement, because it's rare a state school from New England is that competitive in D3 hoops.
That's a pretty good summary, @Kliq . What makes Keene's achievement even more remarkable is that we are easily the most expensive public in our conference. (Remember, in 2010 the tea-party asshole legislature in New Hampshire cut higher education spending by 52%. Our state is 50th in the country in higher-ed spending. Yes, even Mississippi has left us in the dust.)

A colleague has a high school senior son who will attend a state college in Massachusetts for thousands less than he'd pay in-state in New Hampshire. The fact Coach Cain can get guys to Keene is an achievement.

Game time!
 

Coachster

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Well, that was awful. You shoot 29%, they shoot 51%, it's not going to be pretty.

The Bison of Nichols College remain as the only New England team in the elite 8.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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??? Couldn’t you say that about most college basketball programs? Scholarships etc?? Or is there something else going on?

edit I was unaware that d-3 schools did not provide athletic scholarships. I was under the impression though that st joesephs was in the process or of transitioning to d1? Maybe I’m completely uninformed about that though?
D-3 and the old NAIA had some of the most creative financing you’ll find in any business back in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s that I’m specifically aware of. I can’t imagine that changing much over the last 30 years.