Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

How bout the former Clarkson and Hamilton guy Tobin Anderson, incredible!!

[UfanBill]

Is Tobin Anderson the first former Liberty League/UCAA/ICAC coach to win a division I tournament game since Paul Evans?  Trying to think back to who coached in the UCAA days and can't come up with anyone who made the jump and/or won a tourney game.

Former Union player Bill Carmody '72-'75 started his coaching career as an assistant at Union before moving on as an assistant to Gary Walters at Providence and Pete Carril at Princeton. He followed Carill as head coach at Princeton in 1996 where the Tigers made the tournament twice in 1997 and 1998, winning a game in '98. He became the head coach at Northwestern 2000-2013 going to four straight NITs while being slighted for the NCAAs. He then became HC at Holy Cross and took the Crusaders to the Big Dance his first year 2016. Quite a career. 

[stlawus]

Suppose it's time for an updated commit list. 

Ithaca-

Yoav Regev, 6'5" F, Worcester Academy MA
Jaylon O'Neal, 6' G, Central Valley Academy NY
Jose Padilla, 5'11" G, Newton North HS MA
Alex Penders, 6'5" F, Foxborough HS MA


SLU-

Colton Suriano, 6'4" G/F, New Hartford HS NY
Brayden Shepardson, 6' G, West Canada Valley HS NY
Troy McPherson, 6'1" G, Brighton HS NY


Hobart-

Alex Moesch, 6'1" G, Chittenango HS NY


RPI-

Patrick White, 6'6" F, Tabor Academy MA
TJ Halloran, 6'4" G, Westfield HS NJ
PJ Scalisi, 6'3" G, Monsignor Farrell HS NY
Andrew Deppe, 6'5" F/C, Hopedale HS MA

Skidmore-

Dillon McCafferty, 6'3" G, East Chapel Hill HS NC
Aidan Roy, 6'1" G, Mamaroneck HS NY
Charlie Fantom, 6'4" G, Wilbraham & Monson Academy MA
Jack LaGarde, 6'7" F, Nashoba HS MA

Vassar-

Collin France, 6'4" G/F, University School of Nashville TN
Kale Elmhorst, 6'6" G/F, Lakeland HS FL
Kreekor Karageuzian, 6'1" G, St. Ignatius Prep CA


Clarkson-

Ben Phillips, 6'7" F/C, Ballston Spa HS NY


RIT-

Brody Brown, 6'4" G, Lowville Academy NY


Union-

Matthew Garside, 6'2" G, Kings Park HS NY
Aidan Duffy, 6'6" F, Portsmouth Abbey School, RI


Bard-

Elijah Looney, 6'4" G, Trinity Valley HS TX



As always, this list is incomplete.  Feel free to add if you know others.

[Jersey42]

Vassar
Shea Fitzgerald, 6'1" G, Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, CA)


RPI is also expected to return two freshman from last year who never got off the injured list
Chris Faughnan, 6’5” F, Our Lady of Lourdes (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Nate Boateng, 6’7” F, Fordham Prep (Bronx, NY)


People have told me that Union commit Matt Garside is a player. Big time scorer against good competition and Suffolk county player of the year (Newsday).

[stlawus]

Garside's tape looks pretty good.  Union needed a recruit like him, they lose four 5th year players and most of their scoring.  They bring back the LL ROY so hopefully they are back on the right track. 

Lots of good players inbound for next year.  Ithaca has a great point guard recruit, as does Skidmore.  RPI pretty much never has sub par classes. 

Still some unknowns as far as returning players.  All of Vassar's starters have one more year of eligibility but it remains to be seen if any of them use it.  Harder for them since Vassar doesn't really have a graduate program apparatus.    RPI is guaranteed to lose Dom Black, and their remaining seniors have the extra year.  Easier for them since RPI has an extensive grad system, but again who knows if they play one more year. 

Kupstas is in the portal for Skidmore, and they lose the older Skoric and Eichelberger.  Quite a bit to replace but as I said they have a pretty good class coming in. 

Hobart is a bit of a wild card.  Losing Jackson Meshanic is going to leave a major hole in the program.  But it's still Hobart, you can never count them out even in a year where they seem to be rebuilding.  For all we know the younger Meshanics will take a huge step forward.  The same can be said for Ithaca.  They also lose four 5th year players which includes one of the league's best players in Radovich.  They are bringing back 2 5th year players for next year, and as I said have a great point guard recruit. 

SLU's in a pretty good spot, especially if the Macaulay twins improve even more than they have already.  Expectations will be high, but being the defending champs they'll have a target on their back which changes the dynamic.  Not unusual for successful teams returning a lot of players to come up short the following season.  I thought they were in a pretty good situation before the transfer news, but now there's reason for genuine optimism.  Whether it materializes remains to be seen.

[Jersey42]

Now that all of the NYSSWA all state teams are out, here are where the Liberty League recruits (based on slawus' list) ended up on the various teams.  This may have little bearing on their college production, but some may find it interesting.  If I did not miss something, all but one made at least honorable mention.

Ithaca-
Jaylon O'Neal, 6' G, Central Valley Academy NY  (Class B 1st Team)

SLU-
Colton Suriano, 6'4" G/F, New Hartford HS NY  (Class A Honorable Mention)
Brayden Shepardson, 6' G, West Canada Valley HS NY  (Class D 2nd Team)
Troy McPherson, 6'1" G, Brighton HS NY  (Class AA 11th Team)

Hobart-
Alex Moesch, 6'1" G, Chittenango HS NY  (Class B 3rd Team)

RPI-
PJ Scalisi, 6'3" G, Monsignor Farrell HS NY  (Class A 1st Team)

Skidmore-
Aidan Roy, 6'1" G, Mamaroneck HS NY  (Class AA Honorable Mention)

Clarkson-
Ben Phillips, 6'7" F/C, Ballston Spa HS NY  (N/A)

RIT-
Brody Brown, 6'4" G, Lowville Academy NY Lowville  (Class B 15th Team)

Union-
Matthew Garside, 6'2" G, Kings Park HS NY  (Class A 2nd Team)

[stlawus]

Tautvydas Kupstas is heading to division II, will be playing for West Florida next season.  Great player who more than earned a chance to play a level up.   

[stlawus]

Former Saint player and assistant coach Corey Begley was just announced as the new HC at Washington College.  The Downs coaching tree continues to grow.

[Caz Bombers]

Bard head coach Mike Lenahan to Willamette of the NWC.

https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/releases/20230519mo8jvs

[Bearcat Press]

Bard head coach Mike Lenahan to Willamette of the NWC.

https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/releases/20230519mo8jvs

Hi everyone; Willamette alum here.  We don't see teams from the Liberty League very often out in Oregon, so I was wondering if any of the folks on this board could give me some insight on what we're getting in Coach Lenahan.  I see his record at Bard was only 15-35, but I also see that the team was 0-24 the year before he arrived.  How would you all assess the rebuilding job he did?  (For context, we haven't had a winning season in 15 years ourselves, so he's in for a big rebuild here too.)

[stlawus]

Bard was a lot more competitive with him.  Even with their record they were never an easy out, every team regardless of standings had to bring their A game because they could punish you.  For most years that was not the case with Bard. They shot a lot of threes under Linehan and were a lot more uptempo than previous Bard teams.   He seemed to get a lot out of his players who also seemed to enjoy playing for him. 

[Bearcat Press]

Bard was a lot more competitive with him.  Even with their record they were never an easy out, every team regardless of standings had to bring their A game because they could punish you.  For most years that was not the case with Bard. They shot a lot of threes under Linehan and were a lot more uptempo than previous Bard teams.   He seemed to get a lot out of his players who also seemed to enjoy playing for him.

That's great to hear. Thanks!

[Jersey42]

RPI posted their commit list yesterday.  It includes the four mentioned by stlawus back in March plus two more for a total of 6.
https://rpiathletics.com/news/2023/6/8/six-sign-mens-basketball-celebratory-letters.aspx

That makes 11 recruits over the past two years, and I believe everyone but Dom Black from last year still has eligibility.  I have no knowledge of who may or may not return.   
RPI usually has a fairly large roster, but I can't see them keeping a 22 players 

[stlawus]

Didn't see this earlier in the week.  Out with a Liberty League alum on the Conn College staff, in with another.  Pat Mahoney joins the Camels on the bench for next season.  https://camelathletics.com/news/2023/7/5/conn-college-hires-mahoney-as-mens-basketball-assistant.aspx

Great opportunity for Mahoney.  Sweeney of course has a lot of familiarity with him from his time at Hobart. 

[d3d3d3]

Bard makes a hire. Third HC in four years for the seniors:

https://bardathletics.com/news/2023/7/27/mens-basketball-david-sloan-named-head-mens-basketball-coach.aspx