Quote from: Kuiper on June 04, 2026, 02:10:43 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson

Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end.  Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament.  They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute.  This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's.  No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season.  Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.

Turns out Babson's schedule that I discussed was a work-in-progress as @BaboNation suggested.  It certainly doesn't get any stronger with the additions though.

On the 9/5-9/6 weekend that I pointed out was surprisingly free of games, Babson will be traveling to New Hampshire to play the Keene State tournament against Keene State and Ramapo.  No disrespect for those two teams - they both had winning records last season, albeit barely - but not quite the same level as UMass Boston or Oxy or the rigors of travel to Covenant/Oglethorpe.  Perhaps there are more games coming.

I agree with your assessment.

I still think Sat. 9/13 likely gets filled at least. I can't remember the last time the team was in town and didn't play on a Saturday.  They can't be traveling far that weekend with a home game with Roger Williams on the following Tuesday.

Staying within the NEWMAC I'd really like to see Wheaton step up a level in SOS with their non-conference.  They should be very good again this year.

Quote from: ziggy on June 03, 2026, 10:47:54 AM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 24, 2026, 10:45:30 AMThere's nobody in the NEWMAC who shies away from competition.  Maybe CGA, Emerson, and Salve could do a little better, but they're not dragging anybody down.  The teams need to be good enough to win some of those games, but you've got a lot of serious programs and serious coaches.  I don't think it'll be an issue for NPI.

In strict NPI terms, if you go 0-5 in your toughest non-conference games, you over-scheduled. If you go 5-0, you may have under-scheduled. A conference's at-large chances really comes down to each team in the league being able to find and perform at their sweet spot waaaaay more than whether a conference schedule is 14 or 16 or 18 games.

I just think that as the number of conference games increase and as the number of non-conference (discretionary) games decrease the overall strength of the conference can play a big factor, good or bad.  And the overall strength of the conference can be measured by how well you do in those discretionary games, which are ideally against reasonably good teams.  If too many teams within the conference find their sweet spot in the 225+ rankings they'd better do well in those games.

It sounds like both senior starters Spann and Delgado-Gonzalez (former NEWMAC ROY) are returning for a graduate year (neither played a sophomore season).  If so, MIT will have 9 seniors and 2 grads on their roster and everyone will be returning.

And I hear BJ Dunne has been recruiting hard.

Maybe, just maybe, they've turned the corner.

https://x.com/mitengineersmbb/status/2061495299755987448?s=61

Quote from: Kuiper on June 01, 2026, 10:10:28 AMBabson

Babson had a down, or at least uneven, year in 2025 by their lofty standards, that looked a lot better by year's end.  Ties to UMass Boston and Covenant were troubling, but both teams ended up having pretty strong seasons, and an uncommon three game losing streak with losses to Roger Williams, Brandeis, and Amherst, plus four dispiriting conference results - ties to Salve Regina and Coast Guard and losses to Emerson and Wheaton - put Babson at risk of not making the NCAA tournament.  They turned it around to win the NEWMAC tournament and then beat Oneonta to advance to the second round before falling to Conn College on two PKs, the second in the 81st minute.  This year's schedule is a bit less challenging than last year's.  No extensive travel to Georgia, no UMass Boston or a good Occidental team to push them on opening weekend, and they get Amherst, Salve Regina, Emerson, and Coast Guard at home this season.  Tufts away will be a big hill to climb and Brandeis and Wheaton away should be challenges again, but they get newly resurgent Bates at home instead of Wesleyan. Plus, with the exception of a couple of players on the backline, they get all their starters back, including all their top scorers (especially Yablonovskiy), and their freshman/sophomore starters will have a year of experience under their belts.

I wonder if this is still a work in progress.  Only 14 games listed after regular seasons of 19-19-18 the last 3 years.  September seems particularly light.

Quote from: stlawus on April 30, 2026, 10:11:52 PMShay John To Buffalo

Buffalo coach Halcovage probably got a lot of scouting info from his former HC at Babson (Brennan) and his former Villanova coaching friend and current Babson AC (Flannery) who have watched John for 2 years in the NEWMAC.
I think he'll get plenty of chances to prove he belongs at the D1 level.  Really tough for Buffalo to recruit and hold onto talent in the portal age.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 24, 2026, 10:45:30 AMThere's nobody in the NEWMAC who shies away from competition.  Maybe CGA, Emerson, and Salve could do a little better, but they're not dragging anybody down.  The teams need to be good enough to win some of those games, but you've got a lot of serious programs and serious coaches.  I don't think it'll be an issue for NPI.

Emerson actually finished the regular season with the best Massey SOS in the NEWMAC.  I posted those numbers a few pages back.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 23, 2026, 02:09:11 PM

Quote from: Gray Fox on April 22, 2026, 03:49:50 PMSt. Anselm stated that NIL was one of the driving forces due to the instability it causes.

Looks like a smart move.
Quesyion for any NEWMAC lurkers on this board to speculate/prognosticate...

Who else in the northeast has this mindset and mission/vision to follow St Anselm?

If you're asking about a school that could follow the exact same path to the NEWMAC it wouldn't shock me to see Bentley do that.  Their educational profile would fit, the geography would fit, the mix of athletics would fit.
But in my ideal scenario I'd prefer a D3 university from the same city.  If Brandeis ever gets tired of the travel required by the UAA I'd roll out the welcome mat.

Quote from: OUVan59 on April 23, 2026, 01:22:26 PM

Quote from: BaboNation on April 22, 2026, 02:08:09 PMWithout looking it up are there even any 10-team conferences that play H&A?

The Landmark Conference expanded from 8 to 10 teams three years ago and play a full round-robin schedule. Didn't love it when it was announced but it's been a success. I find Conference games much more interesting and important and, at least with the Landmark, it expanded the playoff field from 4 to 6.

I appreciate the feedback.

The NEWMAC already has a 6-team tournament field.  I too like the H&A and conference games.  I liked them a lot more when they were fewer and there was a long history between opponents.
In this new NPI age there is a strong correlation between adding teams and losing Pool C bids.  When you're limited to 7 non-conference games everyone needs to be scheduling a fair number of strong programs and winning a fair share of those games.  There's a huge difference between 12 conference games and 18 conference games.  That's the jump the NEWMAC will have made in 15 years.  The women's side will increase to 13 teams with 3 women's only institutions, but they don't play round-robin.

As a Babson fan I also foresee an end to road holiday tournaments.  With just 7 non-conference games and typically scheduling the best of the UAA, NESCAC, GNAC, LEC, etc., the math just doesn't work.  Next year they'll be playing in the inaugural champions tournament against Christopher Newport and another previous champion TBD.

Now that it's gotten this far they may as well go to 11 teams.  At that point a round-robin is completely unsustainable.  But I'd rather lose the H&A and gain lots of games against elite competition.  That would also give Babson much more control over their NPI number.

Not a fan of this at all.  I have nothing against St. Anselm's, just as I had nothing against Emerson and Salve Regina.  This would now be 3 additions in 15 years.
Sticking strictly with basketball and leaving everything else aside, if they stay with the Home-Away model this would now eat up 18 of 25 regular season games.  There are already too many teams with lackluster out of conference schedules.
Without looking it up are there even any 10-team conferences that play H&A?
And I'm not a fan some sort of 2 division conference either made up of 5 teams each, if that's what they're thinking.
Oh well, they didn't ask my opinion, so I'll just have to adjust.
But all this expansion is subtraction by addition if MIT ever jumps to the UAA where they are more closely aligned.

Aiden Johnson (three years remaining)

University of Jamestown (D2) to University of Wisconsin-Stout (D3)

https://x.com/aidenjohnsonn_/status/2046219878357500141?s=61

Quote from: Kuiper on April 17, 2026, 12:42:36 AMFrench National Team moves home base from Babson to Bentley

https://thewellesleynews.com/23335/news-investigation/french-national-football-team-chooses-bentley-over-babson/

Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things, but it would have fun to have the top ranked team in the world training at a D3 school

"The men's French national football team, Les Bleus, will train at Bentley University in Waltham during the World Cup this summer, despite having previously committed to training at Babson College. According to French football reports, the change was sparked by prolonged financial negotiations and an impasse between Babson, the French Football Federation (FFF) and FIFA.

Les Bleus are the top-ranked team in the World Cup as of April 14.

On March 26, Bentley's athletic director, Vaughn Williams, announced that the French team will arrive on June 10 and train at Bentley for the duration of the World Cup. The university will serve as a training site that the team will return to, no matter how far they travel for their tournaments, which are scheduled to happen across the country."

Disappointing, but we'll probably never get the full story.  I too was looking forward to having a World Cup team train there as they have numerous times in the past, and not just for WC matches.  Babson has been very accommodating in the prior years.
I suspect and expect Babson will still get a team.

Quote from: SpringSt7 on April 10, 2026, 08:35:20 PMIronically enough if his grades are half decent that sounds like a Babson player to me. To this point, Trinity and Conn have been the only players to take transfers in the past few years unless I am forgetting some key ones. Amherst took Adnan, but can't remember any notable others in the portal era

His grades are good.  I saw some reports (not always trustworthy) that he had drawn some NESCAC interest so I thought I'd mention it here.  Your point about Babson is true (particularly if he stays with an Int'l Business focus) but I don't think he'd get the kind of minutes and offensive focus to which he's accustomed.  He's not going to bump Mulvey and Ferdinando from starting guards, not to mention a second set of guards who'll continue to get minutes in Frauenheim and Fiore, and Murphy and Begin are almost locks or getting 20+ minutes at wings.  What they need most are replacements at the 4 and 5 to replace 4 year starters in Lauder and O'Toole. The incoming recruits are all wings/forwards.  Any impact transfer would need to address those positions IMO.

My guess the kid ends up in D2.

It will be interesting to see where Drew Hamilton from Maine Maritime lands.

He's in the portal with 3 years remaining and was their 2nd leading scorer (16.0) and leader in minutes played (32.8) and 3-pointers made (71).  3-level scorer, with a stat line of .489/.415/.786.
Before dismissing the caliber of competition it should also be noted that given the travel challenges from their remote location they played all of the NESCAC BBC and Hamilton scored in double figures in each game, so those coaches got a good look.

The kid is from TX, so there's no guarantee he stays in the ME area, and there's a lot of other factors to consider, including whether he's willing to stay at the D3 level, but my eyes say right now he's a better basketball player than Miller.

I think in this era, it may sound crazy but private schools in general with under $50M in endowment should see cautionary signs.  Money doesn't go as far as it once did and the explosion in administrative staff combined with flat or falling enrollment puts institutions on the brink.

It strikes me as especially strange in this era of computers, automation, and AI, that it takes more non-teaching staff than before all of this existed.  I'm not naive about institutional hiring, but trustees would have to explain to me how it is in the school's interest to close doors permanently instead of righting the ship when bells and whistles were sounding.

Chris Ketchum (not on list)

8.8/5.2 (two years remaining)

transferring from Millikin to Elmhurst (staying in the CCIW)

https://x.com/chrisaketchum/status/2041206556155392364?s=61