Category Archives: General

Chandler still pouring in points

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Willie Chandler finished his Division III career at Misericordia just 42 points short of the all-time scoring record (2,940, Andre Foreman, Salisbury State). And in his third season in the USBL, he is scoring at about the same pace. Chandler is third in the league in scoring at 25.0 points per game. He’s also tied for fifth in the eight-team league at 1.9 steals per game.

Schoetz mug shotHe’s not the only Division III alumnus in the league, of course. Badou Gaye, drafted this season out of Gwynedd-Mercy, is third in the USBL in rebounds (10.1 per game) and second in blocked shots (3.3 per game). He’s recorded five double-doubles in 10 games. And there’s a brand-new player in the league as well, Dshamal Schoetz.

Haven’t heard of Schoetz? Neither had we, but he (at right) was listed at 7-0 at center for Greensboro, averaging 8.8 points per game and shooting 47% from the floor in 2003-04. He joins Chandler on the roster of the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs.

Last night in their most recent head-to-head meeting (or as head-to-head as a power forward and a shooting guard can get), Chandler scored 11 points but shot just 3-for-16, while Gaye shot 4-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-10 from the line, but had nine rebounds and four blocks. (Schoetz played in his first game, committed four fouls, had four rebounds and scored three points in 13 minutes.) Westchester won 90-84.

Williams leads director’s cup… again

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Despite not getting any points from basketball, Williams holds a comfortable lead in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings, 142.25 points ahead of UW-La Crosse.

The standings, which are based on national finishes in various sports, major and minor, are as follows:

1 Williams 739.75
2 UW-La Crosse 597.5
3 UW-Stevens Point 582.75
4 Washington U. 508.75
5 Middlebury 499
6 Trinity (Texas) 482
7 Calvin 456
8 New Jersey 443.5
9 Springfield 407
10 Wartburg 395
11 Amherst 379.5
12 Wheaton (Ill.) 355.5
13 Emory 345
14 Geneseo State 334
15 Messiah 330

Williams gained its winter points from fourth-place finishes nationally in women’s track and men’s and women’s swimming. The Ephs finished 12th in wrestling and 14th in the ever-popular women’s skiing, though that accounts for just 24 points. UW-Stevens Point got 100 for its repeat performance in Salem, but also placed in women’s track, wrestling, men’s swimming, men’s track, women’s swimming and women’s ice hockey.

Millikin, which won the Division III women’s basketball title, is ranked No. 51 with 184 points — 100 from women’s basketball and the rest from wrestling and women’s swimming.

Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 18 sports: nine women’s and nine men’s.

New coach in, All-American out at Willamette

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Vanessa WyffelsWillamette hired a new women’s coach this past week. But according to the Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal, Bruce Henderson will not have last year’s leading scorer and the nation’s leading shooter around to ease the transition.

D3hoops.com second team All-America post player Vanessa Wyffels is not returning. “It’s a personal decision and has nothing to do with the coaches,” she told the newspaper. “I know everyone is excited and there is a positive feeling.”

Wyffels, who was featured in a midseason Around the Nation column (click here, scroll down), ended up leading the team with 19.1 points and 9.7 rebounds. At 5-10, she shot 74.2% from the floor and made more than twice as many baskets as any of her teammates. Her closest competition nationally, Webster’s Kim Sheets, shot 63.3%.

Willamette went 8-17 with Wyffels last season under Tom Steers, who resigned. Wyffels transferred to Willamette from Division I Wagner. She told the newspaper she intends to attend Portland State and no longer play basketball.

How old are you? Jenkins’ rookie year winds down

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Horace Jenkins, with William PatersonHis college career ended in the 2001 national championship game at the Salem Civic Center, when the William Paterson guard kissed the floor on the way out of a 76-62 loss to Catholic. But his journey to the NBA was just beginning. Snubbed on draft day, Horace Jenkins took his skills to Europe, where he honed them into a package that the Detroit Pistons were willing to guarantee money to.

Even though Jenkins only played in 15 games for the Pistons and averaged just 2.8 points, the year’s oldest rookie, at age 30, still has been the subject of many a news piece. Here’s the latest from the Associated Press, via Mlive.com.

Strike 2 for the deeper 3-point line

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For the second year in a row, attempts to redraw the three-point line and the lane in basketball have been defeated.

The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rules Committees have pushed for a deeper three-point line. Division III has objected. In fact, a search of NCAA News and NCAA releases on the topic reveals many times this topic has been raised and rejected.

This point in the process seems key: “Because the basketball rules committees’ proposals involve financial impact (institutions would have to budget for new court lines), the divisions may consider the recommended changes separately and, on a division-specific basis, ask the Executive Committee not to apply the change.”

And here we are, still at 19-foot-9. That’s because this is not free. A member of the rules committee told Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis in a recent column that stripping and repainting three-point lines would run about $15,000 per school.

While that seems high to some, throw in a trapezoidal lane and you’re still running into a lot of money — money which Division III schools can’t afford.

Let’s just say it is $15,000 to strip and repaint each three-point line and lane. In a spot-check of Division III basketball budgets, that could run anywhere from 17% to 60% of a school’s combined men’s and women’s basketball budget, according to our analysis of numbers provided to the U.S. Department of Education for the 2003-04 school year.

I pulled 20 Division III schools at random and checked what their institutional budget was for men’s and women’s basketball, then their overall athletics budget. Four of the schools were state schools, in keeping with the nature of the Division III membership. On average, the $15,000 would take up 27% of the schools’ basketball budgets, or 5% of the overall budget. (It’s higher at schools that don’t have football.) And if you don’t think that 5% is a big deal, consider that next time you’re asked to go without an annual raise.

I’m not personally against moving the three-point line to 20-foot-6, which is the most recently used number. But I’m against unfunded mandates, and unless the NCAA would like to filter down some money to the Division III schools as a grant to repaint their floors, I’m against the effort.

And you should be too.