"7 figure revenues".  Nothing to sneeze at.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49470625/2026-world-cup-college-teams-embraced-international-teams

Riley Naclerio, WPI assistant and SLU alum is reportedly headed back to SLU as HC. I think he had his name out there for other HC openings the last few years.

Quote from: NYHoopsGuru on July 03, 2026, 04:23:58 PMBabo -

Can confirm, the news is true. Chris Down's Sr, upon the graduation of Chris Downs Jr, switched over to the women's side of things. He will be taking the reins of the Saints Womens basketball program. In the meantime, Riley Naclerio - an obvious choice and one of the SLU greats - will be the interim for mbb. Interesting to see how this plays out.

- Guru

Thanks.  Why the "interim" tag?

I saw an unconfirmed report that Riley Naclerio, WPI Asst. and SLU alum, was headed back to SLU.  Do they have a HC vacancy?

Watching Spain today is a reminder that you can achieve excellence without heavy fouling.  I think the final tally was 8 fouls in 95+ minutes, with none rising anywhere close to yellow level.

I'm not so naive that I think it will change behavior for D3 coaches and players who are surely watching, but a guy can hope for improvement.

Agree with the hockey comparison.  I'd like to see 10 v 10 and shorten the field by 10 yards at both ends to manage fatigue.  Yeah, you'd have to re-line the ends but it's more like the soccer you've been watching for 90 minutes instead of something you could go several games without seeing (PKs).

I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention in the lead up to the tournament.  Thanks for the feedback.

Now, wanna eliminate jersey grabs, especially off set pieces in the penalty area?  Make everyone wear those sliding mitts that baseball players wear when they get on base.  Put a Velcro strip on the back to allow throw-ins and just slide your hands back inside like the old Westerns re-holstering their guns.

I wish they opened up the offsides rule a little to increase scoring and excitement (as I watch yet another "goal" taken away, this time for Sweden by a correct call).

Instead of ruling offsides if any part of the body is offside, rule it onside it any part of the body is onside.

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.