Pre Tournament Review – Knight D3 NonConf Classic Season 126
Becker (Carlbuzz)
Knight World Knight World History::
6x National Champion, 114th Consecutive Season Coaching at Becker. Hasn’t lost more than 10 games since Season 67. Early 2nd Round exit in last season’s NT and looking to redeem itself this season with a deeper run.
Team Review – Led by George Jefferson’s grandson, PG Jonathan Jefferson. Deadly outside shooter and great distributor, Becker’s offense will run thru him. Becker also sports a strong interior presence and will be difficult to stop once the ball gets into the paint. Centers Ross Bak, John Lee and PF Joseph Cooper and Allen Cottle will control the boards. Great team athleticism will keep it close in all games.
Dickinson (mfnmeyers)
Knight World History:: 2x National Champion, 53
rd consecutive season coaching at Dickinson. Coming off two Elite 8 appearances in the last 3 years. The AD has trouble scheduling Tournament at the appropriate windows. Rumor has it that the Athletic Department is embroiled in a K-Pop scandal involving BTS and Seventeen – two boy bands that wish to have its members play US collegiate basketball. Coach mfnmeyers had no comment.
Team Review: Young team with not a lot of depth. This may hurt the team’s offensive prowess as there is not a lot of firepower in the starting 5 or coming off the bench. Athletically, the team is among the elite of the D3 though and that may be enough to provide the necessary wins for a run in the tournament. The over/under for 3 Pt FGs for the season is 20. The O/U for FTs is 35/game.
New York (TrentonJoe)
Knight World History:: 2x National Champion 76
th consecutive season at NYU. Ended last season with a Sweet 16 loss. A prolific poster on the Forum page – rarely stoops to the juvenile banter that eventually occurs in the more popular posts.
Team Review: Rivals Dickinson and Ozarks as one of the most Athletic teams in D3, led by 4 year starter SF Tommy Steptoe with Zhuang Chin and Bradley Brewster adding a strong inside presence will present problems to most opponents in controlling the boards. It is also one of the more experienced teams with 6 seniors. Feel good story: Has kept Charles Ibanez on the roster for 3 years now despite only playing in 2 games total for NYU. Certainly not a star player when recruited, Ibanez’ battle with palmar hyperhidrosis has made him a NYU fan favorite – although the court floor wipers would disagree.
Nazareth (Kevutz formerly Sportsbulls)
Knight World History: No Championships. Kevutz is the first year coach following Sportsbulls escape to sunny California. Team made the Final Four last year . Remains to be seen if Coach Kevutz will stay for more than a year though.
Team Review: 7 players stay for Nazareth, led by SF stud and 1
st Team All-American Michael Bohner. Although a prolific outside threat, his teammate SG Joel Jones routinely beats Bohner in end of practice 3 point shooting contests. Both will be shooting from downtown this year. PF William Reid and C Charles Cross are both seniors and will pick up any loose rebounds for easy putbacks. Gotta play this team honest. Depth will be an issue as no one bothered to recruit any significant talent.
Ozarks (ab90 formerly cwaldenj)
Knight World History: 6x National Champion plus 3 runnerup finishes in 9 of the last 10 seasons. Getting bored with the same success year after year got to CW who made it known early that he was leaving the reins to ab90 and left for D2 land.
Team Review: 9 players return for Ozarks led by Thomas Woods - All-American Honorable Mention. He’ll be lighting up the 3 point line. Refs will have sore shoulders signaling all the 3s this guy takes. Not a large inside presence though. Ozarks plays lock down press defense that will create many turnovers. Very athletic team.
Concordia (JamesPan)
Knight World History: 7
th season for Coach JamesPAn. Coming off a disappointing 1
st round NT exit last season.
Team Review: No significant outside threats exist on this team, but woe is to the opponent that allows the ball to go inside the paint where Concordia dominates. Depth may be an issue as there is not a lot of talent on the bench especially in the backcourt. Hope PG Robert Ross and SG Burton Garibay don’t get into too much foul trouble.
Whittier (JLKennedy44)
Knight World History: 11 seasons and NO NT Tournament appearances. The tournament organizers sure fell asleep when they sent the invite out. (“Whittier? I thought we invited Whitman. Some intern is going to pay for this mistake!”)
Team Review: There is some size inside led by Seniors Tony Thompson, Mark Moss, and Joseph O’Bryon. No real outside presence though and an inexperienced backcourt will spell a 20+ loss season for sure. Maybe next year? Probably not…
Franklin (Taggl)
Knight World History: 3 consecutive NT appearances with a Final Four and Sweet 16 to show for it. Only 7 seasons at Franklin and the turnaround is complete. Coach Taggl is also our tournament’s illustrious host and prime organizer. Thanks for rounding up a tough Tournament field.
Team Review: Young team with only 2 seniors SF David Plourde and PG Timothy Teagle yet these two provide a powerful inside/outside game. Teagle is a strong court general and will control the tempo and dictate play as he is known for his sharp decision making skills.
Early Predictions:
New York 5-2
Becker 4-3
Nazareth 4-3
Ozarks 4-3
Concordia 4-3
Dickinson 3-4
Franklin 3-4
Whittier 1-6
OTHER NOTES:
8 Pre-season All-Americans are playing in the tournament, including two first teamers.
Team entrants have 16 NT Championship seasons. Some with different coaches.
Hope to get some Game Recaps in as the Tournament progresses over the next few days. Thanks for letting me be a part of it!