Husson had a game canceled against Williams a couple of weeks ago, so both were looking for a game.

At least Amherst doesn't need to drive all the way to Bangor- they are meeting in the middle-ish at a high school outside Portland.

Setting aside the handling of the coaching/administrative issues, the Maine schools being a combined 0-15 is part of a larger malaise (debacle?) around college football state wide.

The entire state is 4-36, and one win (UNE over Maine Maritime) was intrastate.

The reasons are varied, and each school has its particularities, but the slow death of Maine high school football isn't helping.  No, UMaine (1-6) and the CBB schools have never relied on Maine for the bulk of their athletes, but you've got to have SOMETHING locally just to add depth and have some low hanging fruit to recruit to bolster your numbers.  And all four schools have had Maine kids excel at their programs.  Husson and Maine Maritime are feeling this the worst because they should be fielding rosters that are 75% local (UNE is very new, so this isn't a radical departure for them).  Go around to high school fields in Maine on a Friday night and you'll see top class schools show up with 25-30 kids, total, on their sidelines.  There are exceptions, but the vast majority of programs are running very thin.  It's hard to coach kids up, it's hard to develop future collegians, if you're just triaging every position every week.

And, yes, Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin aren't looking for Waterville or Brunswick or Lewiston High Schools to provide them with the bulk of their rosters.  But it's a lot easier to find a backup linebacker 5 miles away than it is to find one in California, or at a NEPSAC school recruiting against Williams and Middlebury and Tufts. 

Who knows, last week SP+ projected Indiana Wesleyan to beat Judson 86.3-0.  The final score was 90-0.

As a UMaine fan I've been enjoying following the futility of the State this year.  Maine Maritime has been hovering around dead last in the all division SP+ rankings (currently ahead of only Hilbert).  The entire State is presently 2-27 (UMaine beat Towson on opening night but has lost 5 straight, Husson beat WNEU this past weekend).  Because the three NESCAC schools and the three CNE schools all play each other the final record won't look quite as ugly, but it will be bad at the end of the year).

On the plus side, Maine would be a projected underdog against five D-III schools on a neutral field.

https://www.pressherald.com/2026/08/20/adrienne-shibles-hired-as-colby-college-womens-basketball-coach/

Quote from: WUPHF on May 28, 2026, 10:16:43 AM

Quote from: SpringSt7 on May 28, 2026, 09:49:03 AMI hope Bentley goes D1, it would be a shame if they ended up D3. They would fit best as a UAA school but Brandeis already has that occupied.

Bentley would not be eligible for UAA membership as they do not have strong graduate programs, one of the more unusual requirements in college sports.

It's really moot.  They'd burn the rest of their athletic department to the ground to keep hockey D-I.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on May 18, 2026, 01:55:50 PM

Quote from: Stickthe3 on May 18, 2026, 12:20:56 PMWow, that's big news about Ippolito.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the current climate of college basketball, but that's a tough loss for Trinity.

On an unrelated note, Bentley HC Jay Lawson just announced his retirement.  It's probably too late for Nolan Ames to make any changes at this point, but got to feel for the kid as he initially committed to Colby, only to decommit after their coaching change, and now the coach he was planning on playing for is retiring (assuming he did not know about Lawson's plans).

I think that Bentley timing is weird.  Very late to make that announcement.  I'm watching this in conjunction with the rumors that more of the NE10 are exploring d3.  If (and I have no reporting on this at all) a school makes the decision to go that direction, it's often during this time of year.

No chance Bentley goes D3.  They have D1 hockey, just built them a brand new arena, and have been to the NCAA tournament two years in a row.  The barn door has closed on D3 play-ups.  If anything, they'd move up to D1.

Did we ever get an answer on what happened with Fort Kent?  Local media has not reported on anything, but then there's been no media reports or announcements with UM-Augusta either.

Huck signs with Portland Hearts of Pine: https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/12/hearts-of-pine-sign-bowdoin-standout-tyler-huck/

Quote from: stlawus on March 02, 2026, 09:03:15 PMThe dials in soccer are different.  You had a team that was 7-6-3 and lost in the NESCAC quarterfinal make the tournament.  The rest of the country was better at soccer. 

That Amherst team was actually 8-5-3 going into the NCAAs, and was 4-0-1 in the regular season non-conference.  They lost 1-0 in OT in the first round to an undefeated Catholic team, despite Amherst outshooting them. 

I'd hear an argument that Amherst had proven that they couldn't beat the top of the NESCAC and thus did not deserve an at large in favor of a team with a better record that hadn't yet had the opportunity to lose to Tufts or Bowdoin or Wesleyan.  I'm not sure I'd put much stock in an argument that any team not in the NCAA tournament was actually better at soccer than Amherst.  I'd take Amherst on a neutral field against any of the "snubbed" teams.

The NPI is designed to be conference agnostic, and is intended to answer the question of which teams are stronger.  I think it does that fairly well. 

Quote from: stlawus on March 02, 2026, 06:17:39 PM

Quote from: D3BBALL on March 02, 2026, 05:37:22 PM

Quote from: stlawus on March 02, 2026, 05:16:47 PMNPI is not the NESCAC Protection Index. This is part of the deal if you're getting a lot of teams in under the current system.

That's funny, like that.

When you say current system are you talking the new NPI sytems?

Either way as I said in another post, if it was the top 3 UAA teams all in the same bracket, I would say the same thing. I not complaining because it is NESCAC, it just a bad way to feature all the best teams in the country. UAA could have 4 teams in the final 4, all top 25 teams. NESCAC with 3 top 10 teams in NPI can only get 1 of those 3 to the final 4.

New system, yes.  I get the argument, but the UAA is so geographically spread out as is. I don't really have an issue with the new system, at least for basketball.  It is way worse in soccer, no conference should be getting 8 teams in hence the NESCAC Protection Index.  I just think that this kind of bracket is a bit of an equalizer.  If you're going to benefit from NPI in getting at large selections I don't think you can quibble about where you get placed in the bracket.

If the rest of the country doesn't want 8 NESCAC soccer teams to make the tournament, the rest of the country should get better at soccer.

Does UMFK need to be at the sport minimums at the time of application?  They just announced adding softball, M/W XC, and men's golf in December.  Baseball is set to play its first season this Spring.

I went back and watched the Board of Trustees meeting where both applications were approved, the language was identical but did not say "will apply Spring 2026" or anything so I think there's some leeway in when they actually apply.  The meeting was a bit light on technicalities, once they explained to a few Trustees what the NCAA is, and that no, UMFK and UMA will not be in a conference with Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on January 30, 2026, 11:38:30 AM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on January 30, 2026, 10:43:33 AMMany of the NAC schools have been playing UMPI and UMFK like travel partners the last two seasons.  If you're making the trip up there, no real reason not to play both.  It'll be helpful to have both count in the future.

There's been open speculation that Cobleskill and Delhi are not long for the league, plus there's a real possibility one or both of the NVU campuses end or scale back athletics to the point they can't be in the NCAA.  Lots of unknowns, but I'm sure the league wants to be clear of the minimum.

It's not inconceivable in a couple years you'd have 7 Maine schools and Lesley.  I don't really know anything about Lesley's financial status, but that's certainly a similar profile to a lot of schools that have been closing.

I reviewed the USCAA and NAIA websites. There are no more likely candidates for D3 members in New England. Bay Hill is USCAA (Soccer, Softball Volleyball) and the remaining schools are small. Fisher College (NAIA Boston) has only 4 & 4 sports; probably needs to add Cross Country. Vermont State - Randolph (USCAA) is resuming baseball in "Fall 2026" to get to 5 & 5 sports.

The only four year schools left in Maine that aren't in the NCAA system don't offer sports, and I can't imagine that College of the Atlantic or Maine College of Art & Design are champing at the bit to start an athletics program.

It is WAAAAAY up there.  About 90 minutes on a bus north of UMPI, which is 2 hours 30 minutes north of Husson in Bangor, which is four hours from Boston. 

Both the University of Maine at Augusta and the University of Maine at Fort Kent have received Board of Trustees approval to apply to join D3 and the North Atlantic Conference.

https://public.onboardmeetings.com/Meeting/qpRiuKxn8GpWkrSY1EpjQ0sgspu0Q1G7Pak1pWiR6McA/ZbOMKPobXdYApAoxVXulhox4iU0XN4aXjpppEOhgP5wA

Quote from: Kuiper on November 12, 2025, 01:37:29 AMAll the Brazilian forwards are players you'll want to watch if the conditions allow it, including top scorer Lucca Torres, who scored the winning goal in the SLIAC championship game, and Matheus Nunes, who scored in the semifinals, as well as MF Christian De La Rosa and D Tomas Biasi were also first team All SLIAC, but midfielder Micah Rangel is someone you can't help but watch on the field.  He's generally not an offensive threat, but at 6'4" with what seems like another 5-6 inches of hair, he can block everyone's view defending a corner kick.  You might be able to spot him in this story about the team winning the SLIAC tourney.

Speaking of conditions, driving past Bowdoin's field this morning it had about 2 inches of snow on it.  Looking like highs in the upper 30's Friday and Saturday, a little warmer but dumping rain Sunday.