Category Archives: General

We’re on the move

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After nearly 16 years in the Washington, D.C., metro area, I’m moving to Connecticut.

This move has been a long time coming. I’ve worked at USA Today for a dozen years now, mostly with Baseball Weekly/Sports Weekly, but starting later this month I’ll be taking a job at NBCSports.com.

Although I don’t fully yet know what days and nights of the week I’ll be working, you can assume that I’ll be showing up at games in and around the area.

What else does this mean for D3hoops.com? The site is not going away — shoot, D3hoops.com/D3football.com experience helped me get this job. But we’ll be relying on other people within the organization to do a little more on game nights, when I’m at work, in terms of doing the first updates on the front page, stuff like that. Our recently announced partnership with D3Scoreboard.com will help out as well, since it will improve our collection of scores as well as server performance.

The transition period might be a little rough, and there will be entire days where I am away from the computer, most likely. The job search also has contributed to the somewhat quiet nature of the blog this summer. We ask your patience. But yes, I do have a full-time job, and D3sports.com is not it. We have to pay the bills and feed the three kids, after all.

One shining dream

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Alright, basketball withdrawal is painful, apparently. It’s now even invading my dreams.

The other night, amazing detail. I’m sitting courtside in Salem with Rick Seidel, broadcasting the national semifinals. Pretty good crowd on hand. NYU is playing UW-Platteville and Platteville has just taken a three to go up by two with seconds left. NYU pushes the ball up the floor and has it knocked out of bounds with 0.1 seconds left.

So NYU has to go for the tip-in. But their inbounds pass misses everyone and actually hits me in the face. Ouch.

Platteville needs to inbound the ball to advance to the finals. But they throw deep into their frontcourt to avoid the tip-in and they, too, miss everyone. So it’s still 0.1 seconds left, NYU inbounding underneath its own basket again with a chance to tip-in and tie, but Platteville deflects the inbounds pass and time expires.

And there’s still nearly four months to tipoff.

The legend of Jeff Gibbs grows

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Roster inflation is a wonderful thing, seriously. I’ve seen some doozy heights in my time, to be sure.

Jeff Gibbs was one of the biggest recipients of inflated height that I’ve ever seen. The Otterbein center dominated Division III from the low post with his leaping ability and rebounding. But oddly enough, he had different heights on Otterbein’s football and basketball rosters, magically gaining two inches every fall and losing them every winter. (Perhaps the football team measured him in his cleats.)

You see, I know Gibbs was not his listed 6-3. I stood next to him at the Final Four in Salem and he is 6-1 at best. That’s because I’m 6-0 (though I would be listed at 6-2, no doubt).

But apparently Gibbs has grown since graduation. A local newspaper referred to his performance with the Columbus Cyclones and said he was 6-5. Yeah, 6-5. Then later in the piece, the writer says:

He went to some football team camps with the goal of latching on as a tight end in the NFL. But once again, he was told he was too small.

“I got the same thing I’ve heard my whole life,” said Gibbs, whose scored 15 points against Cuyahoga Falls on June 3 in his first game with the Cyclones. “I was told I was too short.”

Thankfully this guy isn’t an NFL scout, because a true 6-5 isn’t too short for an NFL tight end. But it’s too tall for Jeff Gibbs.

Then again, when it comes to Gibbs’ game, size doesn’t matter.

Replacing Duda and today’s other news

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Lot of news posted in the past 24 hours. Since some of it is already off the front page, let’s recap the stories:

Widener coach Dave Duda hired at St. Joseph’s: Not only does Duda get a D-I assistant’s job out of it, but it opens up a relatively attractive coaching job. This could be John Dzik’s chance to get back to the Philly area — you remember, he was run out of Cabrini at the end of the 2004-05 season? Well, the administrator who pushed him out has since been pushed out as well. Too late for Cabrini but perhaps to Widener’s advantage. Corey Stitzel, recently hired at Neumann but with Widener connections, might be cursing the timing. Chris Carideo, an All-American at Widener and 1996 graduate, might also be considered a frontrunner. He’s been head coach at Kings Point since 2001-02 and since then the Mariners have gone 24-5, 21-9, 15-11, 16-11 and 10-16. Widener assistant Ian Simon, also an alumnus, will get consideration. Lower Merion HS coach Gregg Downer, Chestnut Hill coach Jesse Balcer and Gwynedd-Mercy coach John Baron could all be candidates as well. Have not heard if NBA journeyman coach and D-III washout Chris Ford is interested.

Fisk coach Larry Glover out: Took us a while to collect enough info to verify this, but we got that solid yesterday as well. It’s a blow for us because Glover was the only person at Fisk who communicated info to us. This may also lead to Fisk leaving the Great South Athletic Conference, which would drop them pretty much off the radar entirely.

Clark gets its coach back: And maybe its groove as well. Paul Phillips, who left the school two years ago despite two recent trips to the Elite Eight, is back. How long before the Cougars are contenders again? Good question. Clark was 13-12 in Phillips’ final season.

Skyline Conference adds SUNY-Purchase: They won’t be eligible for the NCAA playoffs for at least three more seasons but it does stem the tide for a conference that was losing members.

Medaille hires Canisius coach: Mike MacDonald was fired at Canisius but doesn’t even have to relocate to take the Medaille job. But it’s a long way down from Canisius to Medaille, ranked No. 378 in D-III in the Massey Ratings. Then again, Cansius was No. 247 in Massey’s D-I ranking, with an overall rating that was behind D-III schools.

Recruiting: The rewards of success

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The University of Chicago women put together a 17-8 season last winter, their second consecutive season of 16-plus wins. Here’s what that success netted them on the recruiting trail, from a school release, including three six-footers. Devaney has been featured previously.

Kaitlin Devaney (San Diego/Scripps Ranch) was a four-time most valuable player at Scripps Ranch High School. A four-time first-team all-league selection, the 5-8 Devaney led Scripps Ranch to a 20-9 record this past season. A four-year member of the honor roll and a four-year starter, she averaged 18 points, seven rebounds, and six assists her senior year.

Jill DiNucci (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler Area) finished her career as the third-leading all-time scorer at Shaler Area High School with 1,387 points. The 5-11 DiNucci was a four-year starter. She averaged 14.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 2005-06 as Shaler Area notched a 16-7 record.

Molly Hackney (East Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic) garnered all-state, all-district, and all-conference recognition in helping lead Lansing Catholic HS to the state final four twice during her four-year career. A three-year starter and an academic all-league pick, the 6-0 Hackney averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as a senior.

Jamie Stinson (Topeka, Kan./Shawnee Heights) was a second-team all-state selection for Shawnee Heights High School, where she averaged 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists per game. The 5-9 Stinson, who graduated first in her class, was a three-year starter and helped lead Shawnee Heights to three top-four state finishes.

Christine Walczak (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) earned all-state honorable mention accolades for Sandburg High School. The 6-1 Walczak averaged 14.2 points and 11.8 rebounds per game for Sandburg, which in 2005-06 posted a 23-12 mark and claimed regional and sectional titles. An all-area and all-conference pick, Walczak collected 22 double-doubles during her senior campaign.

Anna Woods (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion) was a four-year starter at Lower Merion High School, which she helped lead to a pair of league championships. The 6-1 Woods averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game as a senior en route to earning first-team all-league recognition. Woods served as a team captain in 2006 and was named a Scholar-Athlete in 2005.

Are you a school looking to release your recruiting class and have them included here? Log in and post the release on the site, or e-mail news@d3hoops.com. (Hint, if you’re a fan, or a parent, you must provide published confirmation of the player’s commitment. We aren’t kidding.)

Men
We have the first announced recruit for defending champ Virginia Wesleyan: Portsmouth Christian’s Chris Battaglia, a 6-7 forward, will attend, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

Rob Tenenini, a 6-4 swingman at Fox Chapel HS (Pa.), will play at Wooster next year, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. He averaged 16.5 points and 9 rebounds.

Marcus Sun, a 6-2, 185-pound shooting guard from Santa Fe Christian in California, is heading to Wheaton (Ill.). The Division V player of the year for the San Diego section, Sun averaged 19.5 points per game.

Some more newly announced members of the Wheaton (Ill.) recruiting class:

David Eseke, 6-4 F, Santa Barbara, Calif. (Laguna Blanca)
Drew Olson, 6-1 G, Wheaton, Ill. (Wheaton Warrenville South)
Brad Smith, 6-5 F, Holdrege, Neb. (HS)
Steven Young, 6-3 G, Little Rock, Ark. (Pulaski Academy)

Greg Hernandez joins LaSalle HS (Miami) teammate Michael Santiago in the Maryville (Tenn.) recruiting class. Hernandez is 6-7 and averaged 14.5 points, 12 rebounds, according to the Maryville Daily Times.

Monmouth is getting Scott Ubbenga from Hartsburg-Emden HS, according to the Lincoln (Ill.) Courier. He scored 21.9 points per game and had 70 three-pointers this past season.

A pair of Bridgewater incoming big men were recently featured in The Daily News Record of Harrisonburg, Va. Forwards Segar Jordan of Fork Union Military Academy and Elijah Spruill of East Stroudsburg, Pa., Area HS are described as having a chance to play right away. Point guard Joey Osborne of Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville, Md., is also coming, as is D.J. Billups, a 6-1, 165-pound guard from Kingsway HS in Swedesboro, N.J. Also coming to Bridgewater: Hughesville, Pa., HS guard Taylor Volpe; guard Daniel Guffey from Forestview HS in Gastonia, N.C. and Robert Rice, who is technically a transfer from Longwood but did not play there, spending time as practice fodder as a freshman.

The UW-La Crosse incoming class:
Making verbal commitments are Nick Fredrick of Milton, Wis., Milton HS; Jay Langdon of Hudson, Wis., Hudson HS; Brady Olson of Spring Valley, Minn., Kingsland HS; Ian Roberts of Poynette, Wis., Poynette HS; Austin Scott of Lake Zurich, Ill., Lake Zurich HS; Sean Walker of Strum, Wis., Eleva-Strum HS and Derek Wilcox of Hartford, Wis., Hartford HS.

The LaGrange recruiting class:
Cole Crowe, Woodward Academy, Jonesboro, Ga.
E.J. Gresham, McEachern High, Powder Springs, Ga.
Drew Stewart, Chestatee High, Gainsville, Ga.

St. John’s
Aaron Traut, Rocori HS, Minn.
Mike Stiller, Albany HS, Minn.
Brian Hosfield, Robbinsdale (Minn.) HS

Hamline
Chad Rich, Blake HS, Minn.
Erik Gusaas, Richfield (Minn.) HS

From the Newsday list: Matt Troiano, Commack HS, to Fredonia State

Women’s
Georgetown (Ky.) post player Julie Leach is transferring to Transylvania, the school announced. She averaged 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds a game last year for a Georgetown team that won 24 games and qualified for the NAIA national tournament. She ranked seventh in the Mid-South Conference in scoring while connecting on 62.8% from the field and 84% from the free throw line.

Minnesota-Morris announced three incoming players:
A two-time All-State honorable mention, Brittany Quistorff was a first team All-State for the 2005-06 season. She averaged 20.4 ppg and 5.5 rpg, and finished her basketball career as the all time scoring leader at Osakis HS with 1,647 career points. Her Osakis teammate, Kristie Swenstad, averaged 8.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists and is heading to Morris as well. Rebecca Hillman (Ortonville HS) holds the school record for rebounds in a game (20), in a season with (274, 10.96 per game), and in a career (683). She is fifth in field goal percentage at 44%.

The News Herald of Morganton, N.C., reports three Freedom HS players are heading to Salem, which is a provisional member of Division III. The three are Alexandrea Ervin, Stephanie Wilson and Michala Michaux. “All will play a lot right away,” Salem coach Jim Jackson says. “That will get them good Division III experience.”

Not sure I agree with that last sentence. Salem was 3-13 against four-year schools last year, 0-7 against Division III. Good Division III experience for Salem last year was the 104-28 loss to Greensboro. It might be a few years before Salem people recognize “good Division III experience.”

Meredith Piersma is heading from Illiana Christian to Calvin, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana. She’s a 5-4 point guard.

Abbey Davenport tells the Greeneville (Ohio) Daily Advocate that she will play at Capital. She played at Franklin Monroe HS.

Becca Carden of Miami (Okla.) HS told the Joplin Globe she was attending University of Dallas and playing both basketball and soccer.

The Ursinus incoming class:
Carolyn Konstanzer, Hilltown, Pa., Pennridge HS
Laura Krieger, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Our Lady of Lourdes HS
Julie Bown, Lower Gwynedd, Pa., William Penn Charter School
Hannah Malinkowski, Livonia, N.Y., HS
Jen Norton, Quakertown, Pa., Area HS

Newcomers for Emmanuel:
Tommia Davis (Gloucester HS, Mass.)
Kate McKenna (Holyoke HS, Mass.)
Jillian Degnan (Saint Francis Prep, N.Y., transfer from D-II Concordia, N.Y.)
Abagail Brenkach (Coleman Catholic, N.Y.)
Jackie Pannell (Suffield Academy, Conn./transfer from D-II Franklin Pierce)
Iman Davis (St. George’s School, R.I.)
Ashley Wolfe (Centennial HS, Idaho/transfer from Walla Walla CC)

Incoming student-athletes at Hood:
Jenn Willison (Hancock, Md., HS)
Jessica Nease (Bermudian Springs, Pa., HS)

From the Newsday list: Kate Harrison, Cold Spring Harbor, Moravian