Doing the Conference Shuffle

Every day there are rumors and supposition regarding conference realignment and expansion.  “Super” conferences. The end of the Big East. The end of the Big XII. The expansion of same. Overtures made. Invitations sought. Repeat.

While the primary focus of these machinations is football (and the money that sport’s automatic bids and bowl structure bring), men’s basketball is seemingly overlooked, save for those awkward (and more common) “member-for-football-only” followed by “all-other-sports-will-be-in-Conference-B” announcements.

That being said, it is helpful to sort through the speculation and determine what changes are already in place.  Below are the conference membership changes for this 2011-2012 season: … Continue Reading

Lots of Learning Ahead in the CAA

We’re going to learn a lot about the Colonial Athletic Association this season. That might seem obvious considering many will be interested to see how the teams in the conference respond after the great success of last season, but there’s a different angle in mind with that: it’s a conference in some transition from a personnel standpoint. It’s not exactly the “get a program” type of transition, but suffice it to say that as we enter the season, a lot of teams have more questions than answers in that area.

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CAA Hopes Postseason Success Helps Continue Its Rise

The postseason success of last season for Colonial Athletic Association schools is both fresh in our minds and a distant memory at the same time. George Mason won a game in the NCAA Tournament, Old Dominion nearly knocked off national runner-up Butler in the first round, and no one will forget VCU’s magical run to the Final Four. Getting three teams in the NCAA Tournament made it a historical year for the conference; having the added postseason success, especially with a second team making it to the Final Four in six years, was more than just the icing on the proverbial cake.

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TIQ Player Ratings Reveal Top Returning Talent

It’s good to be a fan in the Midwest, if the top returning players according to the Total Impact Quotient ratings mean anything.

As we prepare for the 2011-12 season, let’s take a look back at the top players from the 2010-11 season. To tally the top 50, I added the top players in various statistical categories to the list of players from major conferences. That adds the likes of Cleveland State’s Norris Cole, College of Charleston’s Andrew Goudelock and Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried to a list that predictably includes Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker and Derrick Williams. … Continue Reading

Hoopville Unveils the 2nd Generation of the TIQ Player Rating System

Hoopville has a new and improved Total Impact Quotient player ratings ready for the 2011-12 season. This might be the most logical rating system we’ve seen for NCAA players, and it has massive advantages over last season’s version.

During the off-season, I grabbed a few books about player rating systems, focusing mostly on John Hollinger‘s “Pro Basketball Forecast” and Dean Oliver‘s “Basketball on Paper.” Armed with those books and a notepad, a couple of cross-country flights felt like short bus rides rather than five-hour journeys cramped into a seat with inadequate leg room for a 6’3” numbers nerd. I feel personally indebted to Oliver, who saved me from an unwanted conversation with an anti-Obama religious conservative from Pensacola, Fla., who seemed determined to lecture me on stock options and/or the likelihood that a Jew marrying a Buddhist would likely end poorly. Give me Advanced Basketball Stats 201 any day of the week. … Continue Reading

Midnight Madness lit up the night. Join Hoopville for another great season!

This year’s Cinderella waited until midnight to get the party started.

In a month noted for pumpkins, fairy tale seasons start with the NCAA’s Midnight Madness. Fans across the country reveled in massive basketball-themed parties last night in which coaches, players and special guests hyped the potential of a magical run to the Final Four.

It’s a time for optimism, and sometimes, that energy carries through all the way to April, regardless of preseason expectations or conference affiliation. Just ask VCU and Butler.

Hoopville also is looking forward to the rapidly approaching 2011-12 season. We’ve celebrating our 10th season of excellent Division I coverage — from the recruiting trail to the final whistle in the championship game — and we’ve got several new or improved features for you.

• This will be our first full season with our redesigned site.
• We’ve recruited a bunch of great new bloggers to expand and diversify our content. You can find their work in the second column of the home page and story pages in the Conference Coverage box.
• Michael Protos is revamping the Total Impact Quotient player rating system, making it far more accurate and easier to understand. Look for the final results from 2010-11 to come soon.
• Phil Kasiecki is working tirelessly to expand Hoopville’s events for high school players on the East Coast.

As always, you can expect superior reporting from Phil — dare we say the hardest-working observer of the New England recruiting trail and most comprehensive reporter of a half-dozen Mid-Atlantic and Northeast conferences. And as the season progresses, Michael will continue to maintain the Full Court Sprints news coverage, and later in the season, he’ll break out the Bracket Breakdown NCAA Tournament projections.

You can join the conversation with Hoopville at our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Game on!

Wilbraham & Monson Tries to Contend With a Plethora of Guards

WILBRAHAM, Mass. – Back in July, Wilbraham & Monson Academy looked like its quick rise since Chris Sparks took over the program was poised to reach a high point. Two big-time prospects, both good friends and travel teammates, had committed to come to the school. In the end, one went back to the public school he attended his first three years and the other opted to go to college instead of a post-graduate year. While the projections for this team won’t be the same as they were in July, the Titans will still put a good team on the floor, albeit one with a little less size.

Leading the way will be three main point guards, starting with Jaylen Brantley (5’9″ Jr. PG, Springfield (MA)), who returns for his second season at the school. A consistently good point guard for the BABC program the last couple of years, he’s always calm and can just as easily burn a defense with several three-pointers as he can by finding teammates. On Sunday, his mid-range game was on display.

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2011 Season of Beantown Slam League is Underway

DORCHESTER, Mass. – The 2011 Beantown Slam Basketball League is in full swing, and as has always been the case the action is competitive. The renovated Dorchester House is still home to all the action, with many games having a packed house for an audience.

While the league once again boasts most of the schools from the Boston City League, there is good company for them from outside the city. Plenty of good schools from outside the city like Boston College High School, Catholic Memorial, Lynn English and Newton North are competing and at least giving the city schools all they can handle. A couple of them came up just short on Saturday in mid-afternoon games, and with that, we take a look at some notes from the league up to this point.

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New Feeling as Tabor Tries to Contend Once Again

MARION, Mass. – There’s a feeling of newness at Tabor Academy, a school that once upon a time was among the best in New England. It was only a decade ago that they were winning NEPSAC championships back in the days of Jermaine Watson and Torin Francis, along with a host of good supporting players. The landscape is very different, with Tabor now being in the new Class A, but thoughts of contending for a championship are very much there for Chris Millette’s team.

Part of the newness is obvious once you step onto the court. The floor is new, and there is new lighting in the building. It was done this past off-season in addition to work done on the athletic fields right behind the facility, so there is something of a new lease on life at the school right by the water near Cape Cod.

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2011 Hoop Group Fall Top 100 Recap

BOSTON – The Hoop Group Top 100 moved to a new location this time around, as Basketball City right near the Boston Garden was the site for this one. The event brought a decent amount of talent into the gym, although it had to compete with the SAT for upperclassmen and a team tournament elsewhere in the area.

Here, we take a look at some of the talent that competed on Saturday.

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