Ruggered, after listening to all of this hype about Nolan, I finally have the courage to speak out. I agree with you. I have seen him play, although without the frequency of others. If he were to come to Fairfield next year, he could play for us but only because we are less than mediocre. For most other Maac teams he would be a sub. When a team recruits a player from the suburbs, it takes a chance. Why do we not get more players from urban areas. Many of the great players who suited up for Fairfield have city backgrounds. Joe DeSantis, Kim Fisher, Flip Williams, Tony George, Jon Han, Mike Branch, Pat Burke, Jim Brown, Darren Phillip, Troy Bradford !Billy Jones to name a few. For us to be successful our recruiting must improve. But in the current circumstances that is not likely to happen.
Agree about the city thing runningman. Have been clamoring for years to get our coaches to recruit the Philly area more vigorously. Thought with Syd being from Princeton and all, that we'd get more players from that area. Yes, we did get Smith and the Gilberts. But it is such a hotbed of talent. I am a little biased, but give a tough "Philly Guard" any day of the week to run my team. Btw Flip Williams was from the "city" of Neptune, NJ
Ruggered, after listening to all of this hype about Nolan, I finally have the courage to speak out. I agree with you. I have seen him play, although without the frequency of others. If he were to come to Fairfield next year, he could play for us but only because we are less than mediocre. For most other Maac teams he would be a sub. When a team recruits a player from the suburbs, it takes a chance. Why do we not get more players from urban areas. Many of the great players who suited up for Fairfield have city backgrounds. Joe DeSantis, Kim Fisher, Flip Williams, Tony George, Jon Han, Mike Branch, Pat Burke, Jim Brown, Darren Phillip, Troy Bradford !Billy Jones to name a few. For us to be successful our recruiting must improve. But in the current circumstances that is not likely to happen.
Well RM I have seen him play as much as anyone I believe. Actually I think you have nailed it as far as next year if he plays-playing time that wouldn't be available on other teams in the league might indeed be with the Stags because the guard situation is so unsettled at the present time. Career wise to be determined down the road, but I have to say that I am not nearly as excited as I was about Tyler Nelson when I saw him a few times last year. But Tommy does have some ability to do certain things even better than Tyler such as drivng to the hoop, tougher D., being more physical, etc. I do think what may be a focal point with his game is whether his outside shot, a source of great inconsistency this year, can get better. That could make a big difference. And I do like his intensity and spirit on the court, something that might be a strong positive to the Stags IF he uses it in the right way. As far as urban areas as compared to surburbs, yes we could use more. It's really getting the right ones however. For instance a couple of guards no longer here in Justin Jenkins (NYC) and Lincoln Davis (Pittsburg) didn't pan out. And I would be careful about putting a label on Prep players as being from the "suburbs." They play at the highest level in Connecticut which isn't bad (although admittedly not as good a competition as NYC, DC, Memphis, etc'). But these kids also compete in the spring and summer against some of the best players in the country in the AAU circuit. So that in itself should not be a deal breaker IMO. And BTW two recent grads from this program are now performing important roles for their teams at the D-1 level in college. Terry Tarpey at William and Mary has been spectacular. And Pascal Chukwu while considered a bit of a project for Cooley at Providence in this his freshman year, nevertheless has a tremendous upside, something I think will start to come out next season when the guy ahead of him (Carson Derossiers) graduates.
I have only seen Tommy Nolan on video, so its hard to see his whole game. I do like it when I hear that he has some toughness and some leadership qualities. Hopefully he has the skillset and athleticism to go along with it. So the question still remains..... is he closer to TOT or John Tice? And on the upside, does he have the PG skills to be a Jared Jordan, formerly of Marist. While Jordan had a lot of skills, one of his greatest assets was that he was a "tough" player who knew how to make plays.
Last Edit: Mar 14, 2015 10:15:40 GMT -5 by JoeStag
As far as City or Suburb players, we need both. Just like we need both Athletic and Skillful players. In all cases, they have to be good and Multi-talented. I do think city players are quicker and are better in general for Guards and SF's. However we have had some pretty good Suburban Big Men..... Robbie Thomson, Mark Young, Steve Balkun, Jeff Gromos, Pete Debisschop and Deng Gai (from the suburbs of Africa)
As far as getting Philly players, there is a lot of talent. Niagara and Siena lived off Philly players between 2000-2009. And Rider just continually stockpiles those type of players.
As far as City or Suburb players, we need both. Just like we need both Athletic and Skillful players. In all cases, they have to be good and Multi-talented. I do think city players are quicker and are better in general for Guards and SF's. However we have had some pretty good Suburban Big Men..... Robbie Thomson, Mark Young, Steve Balkun, Jeff Gromos, Pete Debisschop and Deng Gai (from the suburbs of Africa)
As far as getting Philly players, there is a lot of talent. Niagara and Siena lived off Philly players between 2000-2009. And Rider just continually stockpiles those type of players.
Look at the coaches: Joe Mihalich (LaSalle) formerly of Niagara, Kevin Baggett (St. Joe's) of Rider. The Philly pipeline at Siena started under Fran McCaffery (Penn) now at Iowa. They know where their bread is buttered.
Last Edit: Mar 14, 2015 9:11:02 GMT -5 by HawkStag
Alumni Hall was rocking, might have been a sellout crowd. Haven't seen that in a while........ Made me think of the olden days of Stag basketball. I think that Prep is primed to run since that devastating loss to Career. Just see that Hillhouse beat Ledyard in OT, 60-59. I'm guessing they play round 3 in the Arena on Wednesday. We did that last year against Greenwich in the semis. I've been told the Arena isn't booked for Wednesday so that would be a neutral court. The final would be either Hartford Public or Westhill. Personally I'd like a shot at Westhill and Livingston if we both get that far. Nolan and he are both ranked about the same in recruiting.
Tweet indicating Tuesday's Prep-Hillhouse game will be played at Shelton HS.
Joe Morelli @nhrjoemorelli Hearing Fairfield Prep-Hillhouse Class LL semifinal will be at Shelton Tuesday.#ctbb
As I have been Tommy Nolan's #1 fan on this board, here are some thoughts on him at this time. I have seen him play most of his games this year, both home and away, as well as maybe half his games the previous 2 years as well. I agree with nash and some others that he is a combo guard more than a pure point guard, a position he has taken over with the injury to Ray Featherston early this season, and done it admirably well. Tom has a great supporting cast in Ryan Foley and Rich Kelly, the three of them together are as good as any 3 guards in CT. The difference with Prep is that they play as a team and no one player makes the difference between winning and losing. Many times subs come off the bench and give the team a big lift, and that includes Freshmen and Sophomores. That being said, Nolan usually draws the opponents best defensive player, last night it was Chad Pederson from Ludlowe. Tom did not have his best game, he did lose the ball a couple of times and wasn't hitting his 3's, but still scored 11. In most games he is not the high scorer in fact, Foley usually gets that honor, or maybe Kelly or Harding (the center). He doesn't need to be the high scorer either because he does so many other things well to make the team play like 'a machine' as someone has said or as the Ludlowe coach said they play 'at a different level'. He is undisputedly the team leader, don't think anyone would question that. He is a tough kid with a great deal of spunk. Whether he is more like TOT or Tice you can decide that when he finally gets to play in a Stag uniform. As nash indicates he plays better D than Tyler, can dribble through traffic and go to the hoop better, break the press, is more physical, steals the ball, etc. Tyler is a better shooter however. Tom can be inconsistent shooting but makes up for that in other ways. They do have different skillsets and I believe in that way can complement each other on the court. Tyler is not one to force action and it way too tentative in my opinion, he doesn't want to make a mistake so he doesn't take chances to create opportunities like Tommy does. If you combined the skills of Tommy with the shooting of Tyler, you'd have Joey D. Nash has told me that we still may not have recruited our next point guard yet, that may be true. The key to Nolan's success lies with whoever the coach will be when he plays and the type of system that the coach employs. If it's the currently employed 'princeton' offense I believe that it will strangle not only how good Nolan potentially can become, but also how good the team will be. Let me put it this way, Nolan would fit much better into Iona's system much better than SJ's. Potentially there is great upside and he will someday be mentioned in the same category as runningman mentions in his post.......
Stagal, it was mentioned by Nash in a post that Nolan's shot was a little inconsistent this year. Since he had to move to PG for a portion of the season, do you feel his shooting suffered because of that move to PG. Sometimes, all the tasks that a PG has to do, does have an effect on a shooter. Needham is an example along with Kiki Clark and Jerry Johnson.
When Prep played Newtown the other night Nolan had missed some 3's early in the game but the coach doesn't tell him or any other player to stop shooting, in fact more the opposite if they have an open shot. Tommy came back in the second half with 2 straight 3's and broke it open. I think that if his role was to not to be the point guard that perhaps his shooting might be somewhat better. Keep in mind he is also up against the best defender of the opponent's team. I see more of the unselfishness being important, getting an assist rather than forcing a shot, the quick passing (sometimes no look or behind the back), court vision to break a full court press. The kid is not perfect, makes mistakes like any other. He has the ability to take control of the game. I'll take some ridicule from others on this board, but if I had an entire team with his attributes we'd be MAAC champs!
When Prep played Newtown the other night Nolan had missed some 3's early in the game but the coach doesn't tell him or any other player to stop shooting, in fact more the opposite if they have an open shot. Tommy came back in the second half with 2 straight 3's and broke it open. I think that if his role was to not to be the point guard that perhaps his shooting might be somewhat better. Keep in mind he is also up against the best defender of the opponent's team. I see more of the unselfishness being important, getting an assist rather than forcing a shot, the quick passing (sometimes no look or behind the back), court vision to break a full court press. The kid is not perfect, makes mistakes like any other. He has the ability to take control of the game. I'll take some ridicule from others on this board, but if I had an entire team with his attributes we'd be MAAC champs!
Good coaches tell good players to keep shooting. Good coaches make players feel confident.
Stagal, again, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but stop with the Joey D. stuff. Desantis had HS games in the high 30's without a three, against teams that had multiple D 1 players. He got drafted by the Bullets. Please read.
Thanks for the info, sobro. He was certainly one of a kind and has been my Stag idol. Perhaps you should read again what I wrote in bold print above... That is why I'm hoping for a backcourt of Tyler and Tommy.
I like what I'm hearing about Nolan's distaste for losing! We need someone throwing chairs and expressing anger. How refreshing after watching our coaches sit on their hands!