Agree that the Trinity senior class of Vetter, Okorougo, Lazarre, McDonald and Jordan is in contention for best NESCAC class of all time and if they win another national title I think I'd give them GOAT status. It's hard to pick one guy from that group as definitively the best - if forced to I go with Okorougo, but really it's how they play as a group that makes them truly special. 

Other contenders for greatest NESCAC class of all time:

1998 Williams: Mike Nogelo, Grant Farmer, Brendan McGuire (injury to Farmer limiting his impact as an upperclassman knocks them out, but that core did get to two Final Fours and Nogelo has the best individual resume)
2004 Williams: Ben Coffin, Mike Crotty, Chuck Abba - and Blake Morgan was supposed to be up there with them before a severe injury
2008 Amherst: Andrew Olson, Fletcher Walters, Matt Goldsmith, Kevin Hopkins, Brandon Jones, Adolphe Coulibaly
2010 Williams: Blake Schultz, Joe Geoghegan, Alex Rubin, Ethan Timmins-Schiffman, Charlie Cates, Will Hardy (do you get extra points for being the best hoops coach NESCAC has ever produced?). 
2013 Amherst: Willy Workman, Allen Williamson, Peter Kaasila (yeah Toomey was the best guy on that squad but still an insanely good trio by the time they graduated)
HM to 2019 Williams: Bobby Casey, James Heskett, Kyle Scadlock, Michael Kempton, Marcos Soto, Jake Porath (not really a contender but the biggest what if - if Scadlock hadn't gotten injured I think they'd be right up there, but as is, just didn't win enough). 

My current rankings: 2008 Amherst, 2026 Trinity, 2004 Williams.  I think the Trinity group has to win another title to eclipse that crazy 2008 Amherst class.  Olson is better than any current Trinity player, Trinity's next two are clearly better than Amherst's next two, but Amherst had a bigger class with more quality depth and a similar level of overall success - it's close. 

Just wanted to give a shout-out for the exhibition of Jewish hoops brilliance on display last night in the Wesleyan-Yeshiva game.  Obviously, all the Yeshiva players, but also Oscar Edelman and Sam Pohlman (both definitely members of the tribe) and Zach Wolinski (unconfirmed, but my radar says yes) having big games.  As a fellow tribesman with a more stereotypical level of hoops ability, I solute you! 

On a different note, in response to D3bball's belief that coaches got POTY wrong last year, I think this year has only helped to confirm that Hank Morgan was deserving.  Hamilton, a tourney team who could compete with anyone last year, has totally fallen apart without Morgan (and Singh too, but Morgan was obviously the driving force behind their success).  Wesleyan lost Regan AND another all-American and while clearly worse are still a very strong team overall.  I realize that Morgan did get worn down by the end of some key games but he had to carry SUCH a heavy load last year.

For similar reasons I'm on team Cuevas (so far!) this year.  Vetter, Okorougo, and Gyimesi are all absolutely deserving candidates but they also benefit from having SO much more talent around them.  Cuevas is having the best statistical season in the league and (like Morgan last year) scoring with incredible efficiency despite being the one guy that every scouting report is going to key on.

The current senior class in NESCAC is loaded and has a lot of guys who even as FYs clearly had a big-time future (although of course some of the development over time far exceeded even high expectations).  I think this current FY class is, likewise, one of the most loaded with high upside talent we've ever seen.  And this doesn't even include, really, whatever Trinity has on its bench, since they have so much depth that FYs never see the floor in a meaningful moment.

Amherst: KJ Neville has really come on since entering the starting lineup and looks like he could be a special player (especially once he gets his free throw shooting straightened out), his rebounding for a guard is particularly stellar and he's hard to stay in front of, and Sherron Woodberry looks likely to be one of the best shooters in the league over the next four years.

Bates: Jamari Robinson, lightning quick off the bounce and seems like he has a ton of upside, he will be a three-year starter for Bates for sure. 

Bowdoin: Mason Dawkins is one of the best athletes in the conference and probably is leading the league in dunks (certainly in highlight-reel dunks).  If he gets his outside shot straightened out the sky is the limit for him, he's doing everything else on both ends of the floor.  Probably still the ROTY favorite but so many guys on coming on strong, it's hard to say. 

Middlebury: Dominick Ducree is leading the team in scoring and clearly an elite shooter, hopefully his injury is a short-term thing so he can be in the ROTY picture as well.  Justin Fuerbacher is starting as a FY and seems like a solid all-around player who will be a bigger factor for Midd going forward. 

Tufts: Ricardo Nieves has slowed down from his hot start but is still a key player for a ranked Tufts team and seems like a future contender for defensive POTY in NESCAC. 

Wesleyan: Ian Plankey and Jaalan Watson are playing fairly short minutes but both are noticeable presences when they are on the floor and I expect both will be starting by next year.  Watson is very small and it often takes undersized guys a bit of time to figure out where to find their shots, but he is extremely skilled and athletic and he has started to come on in recent weeks, and Plankey is already an overpowering physical presence, very hard to move around, who will be a real handful as his skills keep developing. I suspect both will see heavier minutes as conference play continues. 

Williams: EJ Sommers can do it all at 6'9 and is improving rapidly, he had some really spectacular plays against Trinity and was the best player on the floor for Williams in that game, and Solomon Marshall really popped this weekend and is another electric athlete among the FYs, I expect he will get a lot more time in the second half of the season. 

This is not meant as an exhaustive list, but that seems like a particularly high-upside group of FYs to keep an eye on.  Over/under on all-Americans from that group I'd put at around 2.5 or 3.  And it's going to be a stellar ROTY race. 

Rough, rough weekend for Williams. The main bright spots were FYs EJ Sommers and Solomon Marshall who absolutely looked like they belonged playing against the best team in the country. And both are really exciting players to watch, especially Marshall, who is the most electric Eph guard to watch in a long, long time.  He's going to be a fan favorite for the next four years.  Sommers sure looks the part of a future all-American.  Dylan Shepherd also had his best weekend as an Eph and he has improved dramatically since the start of the season, if the three point shot can get there he's a starting-caliber two-guard.  Rein and Yates I'm confident will bounce back from a tough weekend, Wesleyan and Trinity have some of the best perimeter defenders in the country between them and I think it was a learning experience facing that Okorougo/Lazarre/Cormier/Cameron etc. gauntlet. 

Trinity is going to be very, very tough to beat this year.  You need to have an elite ball-handler at the point of attack to have a chance, once they get a run fueled by turnovers it's so hard to recover, and that's unfortunately for Williams been a big problem all year given all the injuries and guys rotating in and out at guard.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a D3 team which is better able to pressure the ball well past the three point line in the half-court so effectively without giving up many open paths to the basket when the defense (purposefully) overextends.

Man, Lazarre and Okorougo are the key to everything Trinity does defensively, either would be a worthy DPOTY but I'd go with Okorougo just because whoever he is guarding basically has no chance one-on-one, so strong, fast, and balanced.  It's gonna be another great POTY race this year between Cuevas, Okorougo and Gyimesi.  Tristan Davis is also physically imposing, although he did get into foul trouble in that half. 

I really like when Williams plays Sommers, Marshall and Shepherd together as a group.  They are obviously very inexperienced as a trio but enable Williams to play with more pace, and they really seem to work well together. 

Quiet a weekend for Wesleyan and presumptive POTW Wolinski bouncing back from a brutal team offensive showing against Amherst. 

Welp, obviously a much better half for Williams as they got the huge halftime lead all the way down to  at one point before Wesleyan closed it out with some tremendous foul shooting through the entire game.  Yates, Hansen and Marshall (more on him in a bit) were as on fire from 3 in the second half as they were ice cold in the first, but you just can't have a collapse of that nature in the first half. 

For Williams, Hudson Hansen was absolutely heroic in the second half, playing with such massive effort when he certainly could have folded, his energy was amazing.  I just hope he (and the rest of the team!) didn't burn themselves out with this doomed comeback and have something in the tank for Trinity.  The biggest issue for the Eph offense was Jackson Rein barely seeming to even touch the ball, I assume Wesleyan was denying him opportunities but you can't have such a quiet day from your top guy and hope to win a game like this. He HAS to be more involved than that.

On the plus side, Solomon Marshall was a revelation and clearly looks like the Eph point guard of the future (and probably the present as injuries continue to mount at that position).  18 points in only 13 minutes, including 4-4 from 3, is pretty wild, he won't always shoot the ball like that, but he just seems obviously in command of the team when he has the ball, he's been looking more and more confident as a lead ball-handler even before today - also helps to have a PG who is a threat to shoot it! Combined with EJ Sommers, who seems like he's going to be a monster as so many shots that miss seem to just BARELY miss, and a strong soph class (which had a bit of an off day today but still had some moments, especially Dylan Shepherd), I do think the future is bright for Williams.  But other than Hansen, they got very little from their upperclassmen today and that's not going to cut it against a veteran team like Wesleyan.

For Wesleyan, Pohlman always kills Williams and I'll be glad to see him graduate, very crafty, heady player who has improved a lot each year, he's an all-league guy for sure.  Wolinski was on fire today, the Ephs just gave him too much room, you gotta be right up in his face and even then he'll make some but today it was too easy for him.  Hauser was also on fire today.  And those three on offense plus lighting it up from the line were enough to hang on. Credit to their first half D which was what won the game.   

The big surprise in day one in NESCAC is Amherst beating Bates with such ease.  Amherst seems to be on a major roll led by the emergence of dynamic FY point guard KJ Neville, who is tough to stay in front of and with good size to boot. 

Cuevas continues to light it up, he doesn't get enough help which is a shame because he's legit one of the best players in the country. 

Utterly disastrous half for Williams as Wesleyan puts the game away in the first half, I think the worst Little 3 performance for an entire half I can ever recall for Williams.  Wesleyan played very smart, mixing up the defenses with match-up zone, 1-3-1 press, and man, and Williams just seemed totally flummoxed the entire half and had no idea what to do with the constantly shifting defense. 

Wesleyan basically dared Williams to shoot it in the mid-range and the lack of really anyone who feels comfortable even just taking an open mid-range pull up hurt Williams.  The Ephs were also simply WAY off from 3 as a team, especially the team's ace shooter Yates, and Hansen was way off as well, so some of it was just an off day, the open 3's weren't even close for the most part.  First years EJ Sommers and Solomon Marshall were the only bright spot, the rest of the team was a mess.

Wesleyan was simply awesome and looked like an entirely different team offensively than they did vs. Amherst, tons of ball movement for open shots and hit some tough ones when they weren't open, played with a ton of energy and very crisp.  Wolinski was on fire for Wesleyan his shot is really pure - the Ephs simply don't have that guy who can pull up and nail it off the bounce like that - and Jaalan Watson, Pohlman, and Hauser also played great. 

Hey, the good news is, it gets a lot easier tomorrow against ... ughhh, never mind. 

Following up on SpringSt7's point about Trinity's turnover ratio, I looked up a few national stats:

Trinity is first nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (Bates at 14 and Tufts at 16, which has been key to their success).  Trinity is also first nationally, by a wide margin, in turnover ratio at 13.3 per game (Grinnell playing its weird system is second-best at 10.3) and ninth nationally in turnovers forced per game.  Trinity is also second nationally in FG percentage defense - just an insane combination to be able to force so many turnovers through intense ball pressure AND hold teams to such a low shooting percentage; usually a risk-taking defense will give up a good number of easy shots.    Unsurprisingly given all that, Trinity is first nationally in ppg allowed by a wide margin.  To beat Trinity, NESCAC teams will have to keep the turnover margin much closer to even. 

Some other NESCAC stats of note - Tufts, let by Bernstein and Gyimesi up front, is 7th in blocks per game.  Trinity is 15th, and Bowdoin, surprisingly, is 19th. 

Speaking of field goal percentage defense, the eye test does not lie for Amherst, which is first nationally, even ahead of Trinity, in field goal percentage defense at an astounding 33.8 percent. And they've done that without an elite rim protector inside; all their guys stick like glue on opposing ball-handlers and few shots seem to be wide-open.  It helps of course that Amherst has played a terrible schedule, but they showed against Wesleyan that they can lock a good team down.  Williams is not too far behind at 8th nationally in that department.

Bates is first nationally in rebound margin per game despite mostly playing a lineup that isn't huge.  Pouye is a monster in the paint, O'Leary and Sparks rebound extremely well for their size, and Mayen is a major force on the offensive glass in his limited minutes off the bench.  NESCAC teams generally rebound it very well, with 6 teams in the top 35 nationally in rebounding margin - none of them Trinity (which is mere 47th )!

NESCAC teams generally fair well in ppg allowed - in addition to Trinity first, Amherst is 3rd, and Williams 11th.   

Where do we see almost no NESCAC teams?  In any of the team leaders in any offensive category.  Three point shooting continues to be particularly rough - no NESCAC team is ranked in the top 50 nationally in three point percentage (the 50th ranked team is at 36.36 percent).  The NESCAC team three point percentages range from Bates at a solid .356 down to Hamilton at at brutal 28 percent.  Wesleyan is also really struggling to hit outside shots, sitting at 31 percent.  Trinity is the best (surprise) in the league at a solid 29th nationally in overall field goal percentage. 


So, the pattern we've seen in recent years seems to be the same this year - this is a defense-first league featuring a slew of nationally-elite defenses, led by Trinity's best defense in the nation, where a lot of teams really struggle to shoot the deep ball, and we can expect, starting with this weekend, a heck of a lot of low-scoring defensive grinds in league play. 

McDonald would def be a loss if he doesn't come back soon.  A really tough player. 

On the one hand I feel like Berry is too good a shooter to keep shooting like that.  And clearly the coaches are fine with him launching his way back into rhythm. But on the other it's crazy how much better the starting group is shooting from outside this year (from a group that still managed to win a title while being a mediocre-at-best shooting team!).

Last year, Vetter/Okorougo/Lazarre/Ayles shot between 21 and 38 percent from 3.  This year they are all between 42 and 47! Now I assume they will revert back to the mean a bit especially in tougher league games, and that's what will have to happen for them to ever lose.  But if a good amount of that improvement is as real as it seems, it's pretty scary. 

Wesleyan, Conn College and Williams, all likely middle of the pack NESCAC teams, beat Worcester State by 31 combined points. Trinity beat them (on the road) by 50 tonight.  It really feels like Trinity is going to cruise through the league unless they completely fall asleep (not in their character) or have an abominably bad shooting day while an opponent is hot.

Trin 9-0 I think I got those sack numbers from the NESCAC site, not sure why Bantams omitted, but maybe the stat-keeping only goes back t0 91 or 92 for some reason? 

Williams announced its captains for next year, and they include Michael Sheskey, a former starter who sat out this past year with an injury.  Although Ngnombouowo is a big loss, the Ephs should return the other four starters from this season, including senior Cam O'Brien who I believe is returning after missing one year due to injury, from a very strong OL unit.  And then will add Ethan Shames, another former starter who I believe was injured this year, Sheskey, and two huge rising juniors who saw some situational time this year, Patrick Sullivan and James Muller, plus a few incoming FYs who seem highly regarded, to the mix, so OL should have quality depth.   

While the Ephs will definitely have some question marks on defense, where defending the pass has been a major issue, the offense could be one of the most stacked units in recent Eph history.  Owen Johansen, another captain, obviously needs to stay healthy, but when healthy no one was able to stop him last year and now he has the benefit of experience.  There is at least some quality depth behind him with Drew Renzella and Mustafa Mozawalla returning as experienced options after playing solid football when forced into action, but Johansen is possibly the best returning overall athlete in NESCAC and brings a different level of dynamism. 

The Ephs should have a ton of weapons for Johansen to throw to, led by Zach Falls, who was unstoppable last year and whose illness-related absence really hurt in the Amherst game, and Jimmy Montesano, another huge target who fell victim to the Ephs' injury plague, but who was almost impossible to cover around the goal line.  Brady Stahelski I assume returns from a season-long injury, giving the Ephs three massive targets down the field.  Henry Machnik really came on after switching positions from QB to WR mid-season, I assume he will have a bigger role next year as a slot receiver.  Holden Gehring remains a wild card if the Ephs want to use him at WR, but I assume next year they play it safer, at least until very late in the year, as he is far more valuable at this point on the defensive side of the ball.  For the first time in seemingly forever, the Ephs will have a sizable array of big-time targets in the passing game.

The only real question on the offensive side of the ball is at tailback and H-back.  Jon Oris is a huge loss and I imagine will be replaced by a committee approach, let by Matt Bott who did have a very impressive sophomore year and brings some speed to the position.  Riley O'Connell is another all-conference player loss and was a powerhouse lead-blocker who will be difficult to replace.  The Ephs could spread it out more with so many receiving options, but they generally like playing an H-back, and typically move a high-level, versatile athlete to that position.  A huge wild-card is Owen McHugh, another elite overall athlete who will return from injury next year.  I assume he could be used at any number of positions, WR, TB, wildcat QB, returner, but he will certainly see time on the field. 

Yeah I feel like something shifted in D3 hoops after the pandemic, not sure if it's just a phase or it will sustain, but the types of teams who have been winning titles are consistent.  In the past, you could win with size, skill, shooting and elite offensive movement, but now, it feels like you have to have quickness and one of the top defenses in the country to be the champ.  Teams can be just good enough offensively (certainly need to be at least good in all phases to win a title), they don't need to have a star big man, they don't necessarily need to be elite outside shooting teams (though it helps), but the last four title teams - RMC, CNU, Trine and Trinity - have all been deep, fast, and absolutely relentless on defense, and have been able to hold in check some very good offensive teams in the title games (averaging only 60 points allowed in those four title games in the aggregate, which is pretty crazy given the caliber of opponents). Collective speed and relentlessness to the ball creates easy second-chance points and points in transition, mitigating the need for star offensive players to create on their own every trip down the court.   

And Trinity and RMC, clearly the top two right now and really over the course of this decade, play the same style this year.  RMC's starting five is like an average high school team in terms of size - 6'0, 6'1, 6'2, 6'3, 6'6 - but it doesn't matter one bit because of how fast and disciplined and creative their defense is.  Trinity is a little bigger but still no one over 6'6 out there in the first unit.  But they lock-down opposing ball-handlers and give you no room to breathe out there and are strong enough that taller players don't really worry them and then they bring in a second five all at once who play six minutes like rabid dogs.

Emory is to me the team to watch with a different approach.  Their defense is not at the level of RMC / Trinity but they are much bigger inside and light it up offensively nearly every game.  And Emory's guards are so good that perhaps they will be less bothered by the pressure these defenses put on ball-handlers.

I think that this shift explains WIAC's relative title drought.  From 2010-2019 there were five WIAC winners and one runner-up (although to be fair Whitewater, which won two, was more like the recent speedy defense-first champions). And this decade, no WIAC team has yet to make the final game.  Those precise offenses with lots of big, burly, high-skilled players who can shoot it at a very high level aren't getting across the finish line anymore against teams that simply play faster across the lineup. 

This year, a LOT can change but RMC and Trinity would certainly both profile like the next champion if they stay healthy, and if they meet in the tourney it would be an epic defensive grind.  But I do think Emory is as explosive an offense as we've seen in awhile and has the athletic guards needed to knock either of those teams off, plus maybe their huge size edge inside causes some issues.   

By the way, we've certainly seen this dynamic play out in NESCAC where some very good Tufts teams have been owned by Trinity because they just can't match up with Trinity's quickness advantage. 

Whelp, credit to Amherst / Coach Sears, I thought for sure this would be an exhausted Amherst team who lost easily to Wesleyan, and not only did they throttle Wesleyan's offense today, they did it playing only seven guys (one of whom played only 13 minutes)!

This was a typically UGLY Little 3 non-conference game.  Chris Hammond was the only guy who could do anything consistently on offense, he was on fire and scored 20 including 8 of only 18 Amherst made field goals.  He also outplayed Wesleyan's bigger interior players in the paint, excellent two-way game for him.  Elias Chin also had a stellar two way game with 11-7-5 plus 2 steals and three blocks. He is one of those guys who can control the floor without putting up a ton of points. Hammond, Chin and Drew Martin (probably the best game I've seen from him despite not hitting his shots) did a great job of protecting the rim today. 

As for Wesleyan, what a brutal game, their offense was truly putrid.  They were 5-25 from three and while some of that can be chalked up to just being cold, Amherst's D deserves a ton of credit as there were almost no clean looks from the outside, Amherst was definitely the much quicker team.  Zach Wolinski was the only guy who had any juice at all for Wesleyan, the rest of the team just looked a bit lethargic and uncertain.  Ben Lyttle did not play which certainly didn't help as Wesleyan is thin on wing offense even with him.   

Sears has earned some of his criticism here but he does know how to coach up a defense and Amherst is usually very tough on that end, especially in the Little 3 games when they always come hard.  Despite being much smaller than recent Amherst teams, this group more than makes up for it with team speed and toughness, and Martin and Hammond play bigger than their listed size defensively.  The offense is still not terribly pretty but they at least spread you out and make you guard a bunch of guys who can penetrate off the bounce. 

As for Wesleyan, they really have to do well in this next part of the schedule, if they lose I'd say more than one of the next five, the odds of a Pool C get very thin given that Trinity, Tufts and some other very tough games are waiting on the back end of the schedule. 

Now that we are just about to the half-way point of the season, and with conference play about to start, a bunch of thoughts on the state of the league.

Eight out of eleven teams are well-positioned in terms of NPI to make a run at an NCAA bid.  With so many teams highly-ranked, most NESCAC wins will really provide an opportunity to move up.  Trinity is already a virtual lock (barring something truly crazy and unforeseeable), but I think the magic number for the rest of these teams is probably between 8 and 9 more wins total, which seems likely for probably around 2 to 4 more NESCAC squads:

Trinity 1, Bates 16, Tufts 17, Colby 31, Conn 41, Bowdoin 51, Williams 62, Wesleyan 65.  This will change radically over the next few weeks as these teams start facing one another (starting with two big NESCAC v. NESCAC games today, in particular Colby-Bates, where the winner will start league play with a VERY high NPI), but it's a good place to start league play at.

POTY rankings I think go something like this:

1. Ray Cuevas: 23-5-3 plus one spg on ridiculous 53/53/87 splits despite being the primary focus of every single defense with so many guys in and out with injuries for Bowdoin.  To me he is, to date, the clear POTY in NESCAC and likely a first-team all-American if this continues.  I have to think a lot of D1s are going to be coming after him the way he is playing, but if he sticks around he may be the best-ever at Bowdoin. 

2. Scott Gyimesi: 18-9-2 plus 2.5 stocks on 60/40/72 splits, a two-way monster.  With Morakis moved to the bench and Medley and Reilly both missing significant time with injuries, he's had to carry Tufts to an unexpected degree and is like Cuevas having a clear all-American season.

After that, I'd go: 3. Jarrel Okorougo, 4. Dan Civello, 5. Henry Vetter, 6. James Lafrance, 7. Jackson Rein / Babacar Pouye.  For the rest of the second-team all-conference, I'd go with Sam Pohlman, Zach Wolinski, Hudson Hansen, Drew Lazarre, Brady Coyne and Elias Chin.  Other guys in the mix: Greg Cantwell, Aidan Yates, Josh Bernstein, and Sam Hinman.

ROTY had a solid group of contenders: 1. Mason Dawkins, 2. Dominic Ducree, 3. Sheron Woodberry, 4. EJ Sommers,  5. Ricardo Nieves, 6. Jamari Robinson.

DPOTY I think Drew Lazarre has to be the guy, but you could make the case for any number of Trinity players.  Really, it's the team defense that makes them the best team in the country. 

Nice win today for a Williams team led, by necessity, by a lot of young players.  Worcester State is a very hard luck 2-8, a talented team that has played competitively against some very good opponents.  They will be a top-two team in MASCAC at worst and probably are the best team in that conference.

For the Ephs, three seniors continued to be in street clothes and a fourth, Hudson Hansen, left after 11 minutes of play (though did not look visibly injured on the sidelines).  In total, upperclassmen played only 68 minutes for the Ephs in this game.

The sophomore class looked as good collectively as they have in their careers to date.  Aidan Yates was fully in the zone and put up a very efficient 24-8-2 on only 11 field goal attempts.  Rein played his usual gritty all-around game highlighted by an impressive dunk in transition.  Justin Belcher I thought had his best game of the year and if can play like this as a starting point guard, the Ephs are a very tough team to guard.  Even with the shot not falling, he played patiently and made great decisions with the ball against a team that puts on a good amount of ball pressure, finishing with 10 assists (and those were very real assists) against zero turnovers. He added three steals, five boards, and a block of a much bigger player for a great all-around two-way game.  Dylan Shepherd also really flashed both offensively and defensively in limited minutes, and looked very fast going to the hole, he has definitely improved since the start of the season. 

Among the non-seniors, Matt Devine had some of his trademark gorgeous finishes at the rim, nailed all four of his field goal attempts in the paint, if his can get the FTAs to fall he's a big-time weapon off the bench.  And the Ephs also backed up the sophomore class with three FYs seeing time in the rotation, including Wes Gudeman, who had been playing well in garbage time, playing his first meaningful minutes and getting one of trademark mid-range leaners to fall.  EJ Sommers continues to look great and he also had an impressive dunk in traffic. 

This Eph team has a TON of upside but the question is how fast they realize it and how App juggles the rotation with seemingly 8-9 guys still in the picture for the guard and back-up wing spots.  With the seniors injury-plagued and only one Junior in the rotation. there are a ton of young players to choose from.  Rein and Yates are clearly the go-to guys now and for the next few years, with Sommers I think likely to join them next season as a major scoring threat.  If Belcher can play with the poise he showed today and focus on setting up teammates, he will continue to be the starting point guard.  Sammy Cooley will also play big minutes in the backcourt rotation and Sommers and Dickens have locked down the back-up big men spots.  But there are a lot of other guys who all seem roughly equal as players and a lot of of them have idiosyncratic skill sets.