I need an assist

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I’m having a hard time deciding how to process the record set by Grinnell point guard David Arseneault. He was credited with 34 assists in the Pioneers’ 151-112 blowout of North Central (Minn.), a team barely in Division III and 1-5 against a schedule consisting primarily of bible schools and members of the UMAC, probably the worst conference in D-III.

If this were at all achieved within the normal framework of a basketball game, I’d be thrilled and you wouldn’t be reading this blog. But as you may have read on the front page, Arseneault played 38 minutes, perhaps the norm for a top-notch point guard but nowhere near normal for a System player. Here’s how much coach Dave Arseneault played his son through the first seven games: 17 minutes, 22, 19, 21, 20, 23, with 27 minutes in the most recent contest before Saturday.

Then there’s what was said afterward:

“Coming into the game we had a game plan looking to get John Grotberg a lot of points, and maybe me getting the assists record in the process while also getting Keith Chamberlain some points,” Arseneault explained. “Everything went well. At halftime we looked at the situation and said we’ll give it a further shot, and everything turned out.”

Is that what basketball is reduced to? Trying to get someone a record? Taking advantage of a bad team to get your name in the record books?

I’m not sure this is so much better than what Lincoln did to Ohio State-Marion last December, scoring 201 points.

At least those numbers are on the scoreboard, for everyone to see. Assists are a matter of rulebook interpretation, and trust me, awarding of assists vary widely.

“They were keeping track on the bench,” he said. “Sometimes when a group came on the court they’d tell me how close I was.”

And then he stayed on the floor after assist No. 27. And 28, etc. That’s what bothers me — we make a mockery of the record book, push a great performance by Robert James of Kean on March 11, 1989, onto history’s recycle bin.

March is a great time to set a record. You know it has to be in a meaningful performance, in a game that means everything.

Not a game where the goal is to run up as big a stat line as possible.

Insider: Ball at MIT

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I want to start out by sending my best wishes to WashU and Sean Wallis. Sean is a tremendous athlete and person and D3 basketball is surely not the same without him. However, I know that MIT and the rest of the nation expect success for WashU and a speedy recovery for Sean.

I would also like to thank Pat Coleman for getting me involved with the Insider Team. D3hoops.com is a great site with great coverage of the basketball that we all love.

I am from Littleton, CO so coming to the east coast was somewhat of a weather and culture shock for me. In MIT talk, I’m majoring in Course 15 and Course 8. At our school all classes and majors are given a number like 18.01 (Calculus). The students, faculty, and even coaches communicate with these numbers rather than the name of the class or major. Thus, when I say that I am a Course 15 and a Course 8 major it means that I am majoring in Business Management and Physics.

Here at MIT, basketball and academics create a rather interesting dynamic. First and foremost, recruiting is one of the big issues that our coaching staff has to deal with. Unfortunately (from my perspective as an athlete) our school does not grant any slots or point systems that help kids get admitted. The application process is essentially the exact same for athletes as it is for non-athletes which ultimately makes recruiting a difficult process.

Second, overcoming the stereotypes of an MIT athlete also proves to be difficult. I was no different from many of the prospects that set foot on our campus. I thought, “How terrible, nerdy, and socially inept is this team going to be?” Initially this was more of a rhetorical question but to my pleasant surprise, the basketball team and a good portion of the school transcends that stereotype.

I have come to learn that at most D3 programs, recruits often believe that the level of play in D3 is not very competitive. I would adamantly argue that the opposite is true. Once you play against the shooters in the NESCAC or the defense in the NEWMAC you realize the extraordinary talent at this level. We play for the love of the game, the competition, and the relationships that we develop with coaches/teammates/opponents. Recruiting simply becomes a matter of how well you can express and display these great attributes to a prospect.

Lastly, adjusting to the MIT rigor is one of the hardest things to do as a student-athlete. MIT is a place that encourages communication and group efforts. I was blessed enough to meet three amazing teammates and friends at the beginning of my college career. Bradley Gampel (Miami, FL), Brandon Suarez (Tampa, FL), and Bill Johnson (
Everett, WA) quickly became like brothers on and off the court. We have had countless nights in which we have worked on Problem Sets until the sun comes up. Without that group support, school can be unbelievably overwhelming.

As you can imagine, scheduling becomes a major issue as well. At MIT it is said that a student can choose two of the four S’s and excel at them or choose three of the four and perform at an average level. Almost all students would agree that it is basically impossible to do all four of the categories. The “S” categories are Sleep, School, Social, and Sports.

I truly believe that our team is committed to including Sports as a major priority and that this attitude will be reflected by our success on the basketball court this season. I am very excited to grow and develop as the year progresses. I expect this will be a very special year for our program.

Our season has started off on a decent note. Looking forward, we have a game on Tuesday against a very solid and undefeated Emerson team. After the game I’ll be back on this column to recap the first part of the season for our team, the recent close game with #1
Amherst, and touch on some of the topics floating around the D3 basketball community.

Take care and good luck!

-Jimmy Bartolotta

Insider: Recovery and adjusting

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First, the good news: surgery last Tuesday went well. They did a scope on my knee to make sure everything looked like they expected (it did, and actually included a tear in my meniscus which shouldn’t really affect anything) then he fixed up the fracture by inserting a plate and four screws (which, no, won’t set off metal detectors at the airport haha).

The next two days were as miserable as any two days I’ve had in a long, long time. The pain was so intense and on top of that the pain medication made my stomach pretty uneasy—it seemed like it’d be a never ending cycle. I can’t really put into words how unbelievable it was having my mom (a former nurse) come down from Chicago to St. Louis to take care of me for the 5-days after the operation. My mom kept on saying how lucky she was for getting to spend such “quality” time with me and how there aren’t any moms that get to spend a week with their college sons during school—and all I kept thinking was that I’d be home for a week for winter break in a month and I would have rather had THAT been the week we spent together!

I’m currently still in a pretty serious leg brace (with absolutely no mobility) and about 15-pounds of wrap around my right leg. I’m in the same leg-dressing I got after the surgery and am EXTREMELY excited for tomorrow when I head to the doctor to hopefully get less-restriction on the brace and wrap that is removable. The removable aspect of the brace and wrap is probably the highlight because I’ll be able to shower for the first time in nine days!!!! You never really stop and appreciate the little things, like showering, but the ridiculous amount of wash cloths I’ve used in the past week makes me look forward to that warm shower tomorrow.

I’m also pretty excited for tonight. Coach Whittle and I are heading over to Fontbonne to scout their game against Webster. We play Fontbonne next week so it’ll be my first true scouting experience as a “coach” as I get to soak in some SLIAC basketball. These two teams are pretty big rivals and are probably the cream of the conference crop so it should be a good one to watch.

Last weekend I looked on as we were able to take down the 24th Annual Lopata Classic. I was bummed I wasn’t able to partake in the banquet and pre-tournament activities that make the invitational such an upscale and special tournament for the Division III level. Between the special gift (a classy dress watch) and meals I know it’s a tournament visiting teams must enjoy being a part of.

Friday night we enjoyed a nice home crowd on the way to a 94-64 win over Earlham. It’s always fun when 13 people score and the kids that don’t normally get a chance to get on the court get to play with family and friends in the crowd.

Saturday was one of the eeriest games I’ve ever watched. It was relatively close the whole way. I can’t really go through and explain or describe all of it but if you have a chance, check out the last 3-minutes of the second half from the play-by-play in the box score. Between the missed free-throws, steals, big time performance by Kyle McDonald (from Babson… I mean he was ridiculous) and Tyler it was just a weird game. Babson missed a lay-up as time expired and we escaped with the 68-66 victory.

There’s been a lot of talk of how will Wash U be without me (see the poll from last week and the movement of us dropping in the d3hoops.com poll ). To be honest, I don’t think anyone knows and no one will know for a few more weeks- it’s too early to really judge as people are still trying to adapt to new roles on the court and hopefully by the time conference swings around we can have this ship going confidently in the right direction.

That being said, since I’ve been out there has been absolutely no better player in the country than my best buddy Tyler. In the past four games (3-1 without me) he’s averaged 24.8 points per game, shooting 69.0% (40/58) from the field, grabbing 8.5 rebounds a game and having 10 total steals. Hopefully Ty won’t have to keep up those ridiculous numbers for us to get by and the others will start to get comfortable in their new roles but I had to give him some love.

Illinois Wesleyan is coming here on Saturday which should be fun and a good match-up. One of my best friends from high school goes to IWU and lives with a bunch of basketball guys. In the fall I visited him, and got to hang out with Andrew Gilmore, Jordan Morris, Brian Nussbaum, Elias Washington, and others so I look forward to seeing them Saturday and catching up. Last time the “green weenies” (as some people at WU may call them) were down here they were number one in the country with by far the most talented Division III team I’ve ever seen—and, man did they put a good licking on us. That IWU team from two years ago definitely painted us a picture of what it took to be one of the best in the country and I think it helped motivate us to get where we got last year.

Happy Hannukah to all that lit the menorah last night and happy holiday season to everyone else!

Check in next week—Take care,

Sean

p.s. Thanks to all for the cookies, gift baskets, phone calls, e-mails, blog responses, etc… I’m going to try and get back to you all eventually!

p.p.s. I’m REALLY excited to read about that Brandeis-Amherst game on Saturday. While I love the way Andrew Olson and the defending champs play I gotta pull for ‘Deis! UAA Unity!

Top 25 News and Notes–Week 2

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“Dropped out: No. 21 Bowdoin, No. 23 Scranton”

That’s right–you can search the women’s Top 25 high and low, and you won’t find any Polar Bears or Royals until you reach the “others receiving votes” category. The last time there was a women’s Top 25 with neither Bowdoin nor Scranton in it was the final week of the regular season in 2001, a time when most of the current players at these traditional powers were still in junior high school or below. Scranton, which had dropped from the Top 25 the week before, had just completed a strong 20-5 season with a disappointing loss to De Sales in the Freedom Conf. tournament. The Royals would re-enter the poll in the preseason the following year, and (after a one-week hiatus), stay for 93 consecutive weeks. The Polar Bears captured their first NESCAC title and made their then-deepest run in the NCAA tournament, losing to second-ranked NYU in the sectionals by a mere 4 points. Bowdoin jumped into the final 2001 poll at #19, and has been there for the past 96 consecutive polls.

Until this week, that is.

Bowdoin, ranked 11th in the preseason poll, is off to a disappointing 3-3 start, losing twice this past week (at #9 Southern Maine and at home to Emmanuel). Scranton had somewhat lower expectations, opening at #25 in the preseason, and fell out of the poll after losing at fourth-ranked Messiah. Scranton is better-positioned to regain their Top 25 status, with 52 points (equivalent ranking of #30) vs. a mere 11 points for Bowdoin. Any more trouble for the Bears and their 97-week string of receiving votes may be at risk. Scranton has never failed to receive votes in a D3Hoops.com women’s poll (a record they share with the #18 Washington U. women and the #25 Wooster men, two other storied programs off to rocky starts this season), but has a difficult week ahead with three games in five days, including a date with a 3-1 Hamilton squad.

Debutantes:
Women: None this week.
Men: One voter decided to add Emerson college to the bottom of his ballot this week, the very first vote that Lions have received in the Top 25 poll. Congratulations!

Streakers:
Women: As noted above, Bowdoin and Scranton were unable to extend their Top 25 streaks beyond 96 and 93 weeks, respectively. The same cannot be said for #9 Southern Maine and #10 McMurry, which extended their Top 25 streaks to 80 and 30 weeks, respectively. #21 Cortland St. received votes for the 10th consecutive week.
Men: Top-ranked Amherst is enjoying their 25th straight week in the men’s Top 10, while further south, #9 Virginia Wesleyan celebrates their 25th consecutive Top 25 appearance. There is no joy in Springfield, O., however, as Wittenberg’s 56-week voting streak has come to an end. Mississippi College dropped off the bottom of the poll this week, snapping their 27-week string of Top 25 appearances.

Milestones:
Women: Twenty-first ranked Cortland St. appears on the list of vote-getters for the 50th time this week. Other milestones in the “receiving votes” category were reached by #4 Messiah (110 weeks), #14 Lake Forest (60), Salem St. (60), #2 Howard Payne (40), and William Smith (30.)
Men: Albion is among the vote-getters for the 50th time, while Mississippi College has received votes for the 75th time. #1 Amherst is in the Top 10 for the 70th time, and #19 Brockport St. is ranked for the 20th time.

High-Water Marks:
Women: Seventh-ranked UW-Whitewater, #11 Thomas More, and #19 Carroll each reached a new all-time high D3Hoops.com ranking this week. Programs tying their all-time high include #2 Howard Payne, #5 Kean, and #14 Lake Forest.
Men: New all-time high rankings were achieved this week by #3 Brandeis, #5 Mary Hardin-Baylor, #16 Keene St., and #17 Stevens.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: The principal movement in the women’s poll was downward, led by #23 Calvin and #18 Washington U. Calvin fell 323 points and 17 poll places after being swept in the MIAA/CCIW Challenge; Wash U. was knocked off by new #22 Capital and dropped 9 spots and 169 points. The best gains were made by Capital (+101) and #11 Thomas More (+119 points and 6 slots.)
Men: #6 UW-Whitewater knocked off then-#2 UW-Stevens Point and consequently leaped 212 points and 14 places in the poll. #25 Wooster and #10 Augustana each lost 155 points, falling eleven and six places, respectively.

Top 25 News and Notes–Week 1

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The conventional wisdom in D3 men’s basketball has long been that there are four “power conferences” that dominate the national landscape: the CCIW, NJAC, OAC, and WIAC. Recent successes by the NESCAC and UAA have expanded this group into a “Big Six.” But this week’s poll begs the question of whether this group is still the best of the best.

There’s no argument about the UAA and CCIW, each of which has three top 25 teams this week. The NESCAC, winners of two national titles in the past five seasons, have two teams in this week’s top 10. There are signs that the WIAC may be slipping a bit, but they still have two top 25 teams, as well as two of the last four trophies. But the time may have come to reevaluate the status of the Ohio and New Jersey conferences.

The OAC was well-regarded by the voters in the preseason poll, with two top 25 teams and two others receiving votes, but these four teams stumbled to a collective 9-8 start to the season, and three of them (preseason #20 Baldwin-Wallace, John Carroll, and Ohio Northern) fell out of the voting altogether. Only #18 Capital, which fell 8 places this week, and upstart Heidelberg (with a mere five votes) remain on the voters’ ballots this week.

That’s still better than the NJAC, which has no top 25 teams at all this week. The best-placed New Jersey team is Rowan, whose 36 votes are surpassed by twenty-nine teams from coast to coast.

Overall, there are ten conferences with at least two teams in the top 25 this week, including such upstarts as the SUNYAC (#11 Plattsburgh St. and #17 Brockport St.), the ASC (#9 Mary Hardin-Baylor and #23 Mississippi College), and the NWC (#12 Puget Sound and #25 Lewis & Clark), but not including either the Ohio or New Jersey Athletic Conferences.

It is also worth noting that the Old Dominion has two of the top 5 teams in this week’s poll. Now, this is not news for the traditionally top-heavy ODAC, which has had two top 5 teams in fifteen previous polls. But on all 15 of those occasions, the two teams have been bitter rivals Hampden-Sydney and Randolph Macon. This week, neither of these teams is ranked, and the two standard bearers are #3 Guilford and #5 Virginia Wesleyan.

So what’s the lesson? Perhaps what we’re seeing is a trend towards nationwide parity in Division 3. Maybe the days of the “power conference” are waning. One thing is certain, though: never trust the conventional wisdom!

Debutantes:
Women: #10 UW-Whitewater became a top 10 team for the first time ever this week.
Men: The Student Princes of Heidelberg received 5 votes this week, marking the first time the program has attracted voting support. Both #7 Brandeis and #9 Mary Hardin-Baylor joined the top 10 for the initial time in this poll. Congratulations to these outstanding programs!

Streakers:
Women: #6 Calvin is in the top 10 for the 10th straight week, while Luther and Fitchburg St. have now received votes in ten consecutive polls. Brandeis dropped two home games and fell from the top 25 for the first time in 50 weeks.
Men: When the Wooster Scots suit up this Saturday at Cedarville University, it will be the first time that any of them will do so not as a player on a top 10 team. Wooster fell to #14, their lowest ranking since week 3 of the 2003-04 season and the first time they’ve been out of the top ten in 54 weeks, a poll record. They will have the consolation of knowing that they’ve received votes in 125 straight polls, also a record. New #1 Amherst appears in the top 25 this week for the 80th straight time, extending their poll record. #3 Guilford is in the top 25 for the 10th consecutive week, while #5 Virginia Wesleyan is a top 10 team for the 20th straight week. Both Occidental (26 weeks) and Whitworth (20 weeks) had lengthy poll-appearance streaks snapped, while voting streaks were extended at #23 Mississippi College (40 weeks), WPI (40), #9 Mary Hardin-Baylor (10), and DePauw (10).

Milestones:
Women: #21 Bowdoin was among the vote-getters this week, marking their 100th appearance on the voting rolls. Marymount received votes for the 50th time in this poll. Other voting milestones were achieved by #19 George Fox (70 weeks), #6 Calvin (60), #22 Randolph-Macon (40), and Fitchburg St. (10). The top 25 appearance by #15 Puget Sound marks the 25th time the Loggers have been ranked.
Men: #20 UW-Whitewater received votes for the 100th time this week. #14 Wooster and #16 Hope appear in the voting rolls for the 125th and 75th times, respectively. #8 Wash U. is a vote-getter for the 80th time and a top 25 team for the 60th time, while #17 Brockport St. received votes for the 30th time. Fifth-ranked Virginia Wesleyan is a top 10 team for the 20th time, while their conference foe #3 Guilford is ranked for the 10th time. #25 Lewis & Clark held on to the tail end of the top 25, their 30th appearance in that august assemblage.

High-Water Marks:
Women: #5 Kean and top 10 debutante #10 each set a new high ranking this week, while #2 Howard Payne and #25 Carroll each matched their previous high rankings.
Men: New all-time high rankings were achieved this week by #3 Guilford, top 10 debutantes #7 Brandeis and #9 Mary Hardin-Baylor, #11 Plattsburgh St., and #21 Stevens.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: #17 Thomas More, entirely overlooked in the preseason poll, defeated two recent national champions (Wilmington and DePauw) in their first four games and leaped into the poll with 207 votes. The trio of Luther, Millikin, and Brandeis, ranked #12-14 in the preseason, opened the season with a composite record of 4-6 and all fell out of the top 25.
Men: Aurora, ranked #13 in the preseason, lost twice in five days and dropped out of the poll. Preseason #1 Wash U.’s early struggles were well-documented on this site, and were reflected in their drop of 266 poll points and 7 places in this week’s poll. The strongest gains were made by #12 Puget Sound (+134 points and +7 placements) and #7 Brandeis (+135/+5).