I had to pull up UMass' roster for myself because I've never seen a circumstance where 8 PLAYERS from a particular high school attend the same college!! UMass still has their 2019-2020 roster up on their official website, I was going to list all 8 players from Woodstock Academy here. I guess Shawn East transferred out because he wasn't part of the Woodstock crew!!! 

If UMass becomes an elite/NCAA Tournament caliber team within the next 2 years this should be a big story nationally. UMass did play a lot better during the 2nd half of the conference schedule(after GW beat them down in Amherst), so there's a chance that they could make a leap to an upper-tier A10 team next season. 

https://umassathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster  

fungerhall,   Looking at the this season's UMass roster, the Woodstock alums are from several states on the East coast, so it appears as if Woodstock Academy is a reincarnation of a diploma mill, but the diploma mill schools are a LOT smarter than the one(s)(Philadelphia Lutheran??) that the Washington Post wrote about 15+ years ago, which included some GW players. I recall those early to mid 2000's diploma mills had the basketball coach doubling as the full-time teacher to his players, and they'd hold "classes" in coach's living room!! HA!  Nowadays, the diploma mill schools have legit classrooms, teachers and possibly the players having to wear a dress shirt and tie every day for school, so even if the kids are just playing basketball all the time, it has the look of an elite academic institution.

Welcome TJ!

Thomas wrote:

TJT85 wrote:

Woodstock Academy is a very legit school that dates back to 1801.  It describes itself as a private school but the state classifies it as public. These different descriptions are because it is incorporated like a private school but essentially functions much like a public school.  The towns in and around it do not have their own high schools.  They pay a fee to send their students to WA. Families outside these towns can also send their children to the school but they must pay a tuition fee.

I have been there.  It has a location right in the center of historic Woodstock-CT with a multiple buildings campus.  It has a typical New England prep school vibe.

Thanks for the information. I'm mostly familiar with D.C.area high schools and a few big-name schools outside of this area. I'd never heard of Woodstock Academy, so I assumed that they came into basketball prominence a short time ago and could be considered a diploma mill/basketball factory. 

While it has a very long and distinguished academic record, its basketball ascension is relatively recent per my understanding.  Seems it has joined several other high school/prep schools in the northeast corner of CT that have very much upgraded their basketball programs in the alst decade.  Among these are Pomfret and Putnam Science Academy.

Last edited by TJT85 (4/12/2020 9:38 am)