This afternoon Carl took part in the Reese's NABC D3 All Star Game. He finished with a really impressed statline in only 22 minutes. Carl finished with 14 points, 15 boards, and 4 blocks. 22 minutes sounds like the amount of minutes he was playing earlier in the year. His team, the West, also won the game 92-81.
On top of his stellar performance, he was named to the D3Hoops.com All American Third Team. Here is the official list from D3Hoops.com.
Here are his list of accomplishments for this season:
All MIAC
MIAC Player of the Year
All Region (West)
2nd Team All American (NABC)
3rd Team All American (D3Hoops.com)
Doesn't get much better than that as far as individual accomplishments are concerned.
St. Thomas won the D3 National Championship today after beating Wooster (OH) by 20 in the title game. They beat Middlebury (VT) last night in the semis. I'm shocked that they won. After playing and coaching on team's that only made it to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8, I thought they had too many holes to win it. Their style definitely gave both teams major fits. Those teams couldn't handle their pressure at all. As with any tournament format, it's all about matchups (ask Louisville). St. Thomas created problems with every team they played because of their pressure and none of the teams they played could hang tough for all 40 minutes.
Them winning is definitely encouraging for our program. We beat them and then had them on the ropes in the playoff game. We aren't that far off. We get a year older and more mature with another quality recruiting class, things could get interesting on Snelling and Hewitt.
There has been a lot of talk on the D3Hoops message boards about potential transfers throughout the conference and especially with us. There are quite a few people of the message boards that have no idea what they are talking about, if they did they would be coaching college basketball right now. They'll attack Nelson on a consistent basis after he has done nothing but bring Hamline back to respectability.
Our job as coaches is to bring in players every year that will help our program. Our ideal goal is to bring 5 guys that are just as good if not better than what we have (our guys know that). If we don't, we aren't doing our job. Competition is the key to having a good program. We have to have competition in the classroom, in the weight room, and on the floor for the program to be successful.
Look at St. Thomas, their freshmen wait their turn to play. They have 5 seniors that all play significant minutes for their NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP team. Their freshmen don't play and only one sophomore plays (he is junior age wise). I'm sure their practices are competitive as all hell because the younger guys want to get some time but the older guys won't let them take it. That's the sign of a very good program.
I'm going to leave you with a lyric from one of my favorite songs by Nas
"People fear what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer"
Just wait...
Unfortunately, Hop, you are finding out what others before you also sadly learned. Most people love you when they are sure they can beat you. As soon as you get good (and HU had a very good team this year), you are no longer everybody's bestest friend.
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis is spot on regarding St. Thomas' remarkable run. I happen to think it is a tribute to just how good the MIAC really was this year. In another set of circumstances, HU, GAC or Carleton could have been playing in Salem. The margin between the top four teams was very thin.
In the end, as good as the win was for St. Thomas (and you have to admire their pluck and a coach who has been party of a program for 1000+ games), it may end up even a better thing for the conference. When you go to talk to a recruit now, you can tell them accurately, "You come play for us and you are joining a competitive league that will make you a better player every game you play." I was never much of a player. If I was, that kind of promise would motivate me greatly.
It will make for a better league in the future.
Finally, congrats to Carl for a terrific final act for his college career. One hopes that he gets a chance (if he wants one) to play somewhere next year. He always played with heart ... and that isn't something you can coach.
Agree with you totally Dave. Everybody loves a loser and a consistent one. Just ask the Cubs. We have gone from the surefire win to knowing you are going to have a slugfest every time you play us. I'd like to be the "hunted" instead of the ones doing the "hunting."
ReplyDeleteAs Geno Auriemma said after Stanford snapped UConn's winning streak, "This losing stuff is getting old."
Coach Hop - I would have thought Carl deserved 2nd team instead of 3rd team. I love watching MIAC basketball and between Carl accolades and UST winning the Nat'l Championship, this brings the MIAC even more notoriety. After watching how hard Carl worked, how teams defended him, the consistent "no calls" by MIAC refs, and not getting him the ball consistently...in my mind, he deserved 2nd team. Congratulations to Carl on a wonderful career.
ReplyDeleteThe NABC All American Team is the one that is nationally recognized and he got 2nd team there and that is voted on by the coaches, so they understand. The way that voting is based of the All District Team. Carl was 2nd in votes behind the kid from Whitworth who was Western Region Player of the Year. Hence, the 2nd Team All American.
ReplyDeleteThe D3Hoops is probably viewed by a lot of people and anyway you look at it, it's an honor to be mentioned on any of those teams. D3Hoops is based a few coaches, Pat Coleman (who runs the site and lives in the Twin Cities and saw Carl play when we played UST in the MIAC semis), and a bunch of SIDs.