That sounds solid, Nescacman.  Next year seems like a loaded one in the league, especially offensively.  By my count, barring unexpected defections, 14 of the top 16 rushers, virtually every starting QB (at least either to start the season, end the season, or both) other than Middlebury, and 12 of the top 16 receivers are back, not to mention a lot of prominent offensive players who were injured fairly early in the season or missed the entire year with injury.  The QB position in particular seems like it should be dramatically improved after a year in which a lot of inexperienced guys developed into stars over the course of the season (Fitzsimmons, Johansen, Weidman, Hill, Carroll) and now should be ready to go on day one next year, and there is also experienced depth behind all of those guys. 

A lot of very strong defenders return as well, although Colby, Amherst, Trinity and Wesleyan each lose multiple important all-league players (but all were deep enough defensively last season that they should still be very strong).  Other than Middlebury, every team in the league might be better, offensively, at least on paper next season, and Midd returns the top TB in the league to build around so it's not like so if they figure out the passing game as they typically manage to they could rebound offensively. And few look significantly down on defense.  So, the first NESCAC participant in the NCAA tourney figures to be a very strong squad by historical NESCAC standards.

2030 recruiting update:

Amherst:
Hunter Stoll, 6'7 F, Choate (CT #44)
Dempsey Gonya, 6'4 G, St. Ann's (NY)
Grant Moses, 6'2 G, Meadows School (NV)

Bates:
Alexander Gordon, 6'0 G, Brewster Academy (N.H. #19)

Bowdoin:
Zach Baum, 6'8 C, Noble and Greenough
Corey Baylor, Jr, 6'0 PG, Phelps (PA)

Colby:
Riley Clarke, 6'6 F, Brooks School (MA #29)
Max Vogel, 6'4 W, New Trier (IL)
Ty Lander, 6'8 C, St. Ignatius (CA)

Connecticut College:
Sam Clachko, 5'11 G, Staples (CT #33)
Finn Brennan, 6'4 W, Holderness (N.H. #27)

Hamilton:
Cyrus Hutchinson, 6'6 W, Brewster Academy (N.H. #25)

Middlebury:
Pharoahe Dixon, 6'3 G, Northern Highlands (NJ)
Foster Kettering, 6'6 W, Summit H.S. (OR)

Trinity:
Rowan Introzzi, 6'5 G, Greenwich CDS (CT #24)

Wesleyan:
Packy Doherty, 6'2 G, Scranton Prep (PA)
Nolan Weathers, 6'1 PG, Riverdale Country School (NY)

Williams:
Joseph Terreri, 6'7 F, Hill School (PA)
Gavin Dodge, 6'5 G, Acalanes H.S. (CA)
Elijah Webb, 6'9 F, Deerfield (MA #40)
Alec Roumph, 6'4 G, Perkiomen (PA)

As for the rest of the NESCAC, the league is as easy to handicap at the top spot as it's ever been - Trinity looks utterly dominant and seems way ahead of everyone right now - but extremely difficult to predict in spots 2-10. 

As for 11, Hamilton is off to a brutal start with three early losses including a bad loss to SUNY Dehli.  They have some tough games coming up - F&M, IWU, Utica and Keene - and the record could get pretty ugly barring rapid improvement.  Garret Keyhani, who they really need, has only played one game and is presumably injured.  Jalen Reese, who is ideally a 3rd-4th option on offense who can focus on elite defense and rebounding, is leading the team in scoring.  Really, the change in Hamilton's fortunes is a reminder of just how elite a player Hank Morgan was (and they miss Singh as well).  In the Morgan vs. Regan debate, it was always clear that Regan had a ton more talent around him, and Wesleyan is still very competitive without both him AND Nicky Johnson.  Hamilton relied SO much on Morgan and it shows. 

But for the rest of the league, who knows.  Starting with last year's NCAA teams, Wesleyan, elite last year, is still very good and I expect a top-five sort of team in NESCAC, but is not going to be close to 30-2. Tufts is off to a bit of a rocky start but seems to have mostly righted the ship and has enough talent that it should be a top four team in the league again.  Hamilton, obviously way down from last year.

Meanwhile, the bottom 7 teams in the league may ALL be improved this year, some significantly so.  Going from last year's order, Conn is currently starting three transfers, two of whom are its leading scorers; Williams I covered in my last post, they at least seem feistier; Colby seems to be a lot more balanced and Civello is off to a scorching start (20-8-4 on 59/60/69 splits, wow); Amherst has four blow-out wins (with a tough loss to Springfield the only thing marring the resume) and is benefiting from an infusion of young talent while playing with a lot more pace; Middlebury has benefitted from an out-of-nowhere leap from junior Ian Murray and a strong frosh season from Ducree; Bates is as expected looking like a very improved team behind a strong veteran core led by Pouye and Coyne; and Bowdoin seems massively improved too, with an impressive blow out over Springfield last night.  Ray Cuevas is (as largely expected, but still impressive) absolutely lighting it up from everywhere and could make a bid for all-American honors if anything close to his current pace continues. 

In sum, Trinity barring some sort of injury disaster is a lock for the NCAA tournament.  NESCAC is sure to get 2-3 more teams in when all is said and done, but who those teams will be, and who will be fighting Trinity for the league crown looks fairly wide open right now, with only Hamilton on the outside looking in already. 

Some early season thoughts on Williams:

This is a very atypical Williams team.  The team is not as big and not as skilled as most past editions, but is quicker, more athletic, more aggressive and plays at a MUCH faster pace.  The strength of the team is the starting frontcourt: Yates, Rein and Hansen are all stellar two-way wing/forwards, all can defend, rebound, score off the bounce, move well without the ball, and work well together, and Yates and Rein are also excellent three-point shooters. When EJ Sommers returns, he gives an extra dimension off the bench with more length, but also is a similar sort of versatile player who can attack off the bounce and shoot despite his size.  Dickens and Nachamkin are solid role players who compete hard and defend behind the top group in the rotation.

The evolution during the course of non-conference play of the star-less backcourt is what will make or break this team.  With Glatzer and Dickens graduating and seniors Lee and McGraw unfortunately out with significant injuries (and also, until recently, Cooley), four guys have been playing who had very little previous on-court experience.  The group does not feature high-level outside shooting, is smallish overall, and doesn't appear to have that one guy who can carry the offense for a long spurt of play like Lee could. 

But last night's game (granted, against one of the least talented teams on the schedule) showed the upside case for what the guards can potentially be as a group. Chibuogwu is really a great story, a guy who joined the team as a walk-on last year, barely played, and is now improbably the starting point guard.  And he's played very well, he goes at full-speed every play on both ends, pushes the pace relentlessly on offense, is physical inside the paint, creates for his teammates, and gets to the rim.  If he can improve just a bit in the free throw and three point shooting areas he will have a great senior year, but even if not, he's shown he's a legit starting PG.  Dylan Shepherd has also been a surprise starter, and while his stats are modest, he is a pest who makes a lot of hustle plays on defense and the glass and helps keep the pace up, with a lot of room still for growth as a player.  Justin Belcher is one of the most electric players on the team, extremely fast and always a threat to blow by a defender or steal a sleepy pass, his impact will grow as he hopefully learns to eliminate turnovers and other negative plays.  Yesterday was him at his best with 8-7-4 and two steals against only one TO in only 17 minutes, when he plays like that, it makes a huge difference for the team.  Finally Matt Devine I think has the most upside as a scorer of this group, after two injury-ridden years he's looked increasingly comfortable as a heat-check offensive player off the bench.  He is someone the Ephs are gonna need to have some double-digit scoring games here and there as the season goes along, because they can't just rely on the front-court to do it all offensively.  Sammy Cooley is now also back in the mix as another veteran athletic guard who can also back-up at the wing, and hopefully add some badly-needed outside shooting.  And deep in the bench Solomon Marshall is an elite athlete (per the Berkshire Eagle he has an insane 37-inch standing vertical ) who provides added depth in case of injury, and Tyler Kuehl is another wing shooter with size.

The backcourt will continue to be a challenge for App without one go-to player back there and I assume he will continue to mix and match guys in short spurts to allow them to play at a frenetic pace at both ends.  One wrinkle that having a lot of quick, interchangeable guards, none of whom are alone indispensable to the offense, may permit as the season goes along is more aggressive ball-pressure on opposing guards.  If Williams (as it seems) isn't going to play any of its guards more than around 20-22 mpg, they can use that depth and relative freedom to accumulate fouls on the perimeter to harass teams that have shaky ball-handlers or to wear down opposing star guards, turning a weakness into an asset. 

Thoughts on the rest of the league later ...

Overall, a very solid start to the season for NESCAC teams.  After a shaky 11-6 collective first weekend (typical for the conference with a late start to practice), the league has since gone 23-2, for a total collective record of 34-8.  While extremely early, NESCAC has four teams in the top 25 of the NPI rankings, and all I think can fairly be called surprising: Colby at 8, Conn at 15, Middlebury at 18, Bates at 21. The conference may be deeper than anticipated, with two new coaches off to strong starts and Conn in particular benefiting from a big infusion of talent.  Really, now that Tufts seems to have kind-of righted the ship after a huge comeback win against Yeshiva, only Hamilton is off to a very rough start (the only NESCAC team outside the top 100 in NPI, at a brutal 308). 

Again it's early, and this is mostly based on a combo of stats and pedigree, but a few sophomore leap guys and a bunch of newcomers to watch in NESCAC this year:

Sophomores taking a leap:

Dan Civello, Colby
Ray Cuevas, Bowdoin
Elias Chin, Amherst
Jackson Rein, Williams
David Ayles, Trinity
Zach Wolinski, Wesleyan

(Cuevas and Civello were great as FYs of course but so far are putting up first-team all-conference type stats, and Rein, Chin and Wolinski have emerged from bench roles as FYs to become the top options on their teams.  As for Ayles, he seems to have slid right into Will Dorion's role for Trinity, which was expected, but still answers the biggest question facing Trinity heading into this season). 

Newcomers to watch:

Dominick Ducree, Middlebury
Jackson Bleeker, Bowdoin (missed last year with injury)
Mason Dawkins, Bowdoin
EJ Sommers, Williams
Jamari Robinson, Bates
Ricardo Nieves, Tufts
James LaFrance, Conn College (sophomore transfer)
Greg Cantwell, Conn College (junior transfer)
Cole Craffey, Conn College
Sherron Woodberry, Amherst
Ian Plankey, Wesleyan
David Melson, Hamilton

Bowdoin has faced a very weak schedule, but still encouraging for them to see Bleeker and Dawkins emerging to help out Cuevas on the perimeter.  Conn seems to have massively benefited from the transfer portal.  Assuming the transfers aren't eligible, Ducree is an early name to watch for ROTY, with an absolutely money game-winning shot already under his belt and strong early stats for Midd. 

Some big games coming up before the December break:

Vassar (25 NPI) at Williams, December 2
Bates at Bowdoin, December 2
Babson (23 NPI) at Trinity, December 6
Williams at Wesleyan, December 6
CMU (52 NPI) at Bowdoin, December 6
Rochester (7 NPI) v. Midd, December 6
Midd v. CMU, December 7
Rochester at Bowdoin, December 7
WNEC (19 NPI) at Wesleyan, December 13

Lots of chances for early NPI boosts for NESCAC teams in these games, with December 6/7 an especially big weekend, or of course tougher competition could bring some teams with strong early records down to earth ...

Bowdoin did make the Final Four in 2010.

Sorry to change it up from the endless sportsmanship discussion on the eve of three NESCAC sweet 16 games, but ...

NESCAC performance in NCAA tournament to date:

Tufts, four titles
Amherst, two titles, three runners-up, seven total Final Fours
Williams, one title, two runners-up, seven total Final Fours
Conn College, one title, one runner-up
Middlebury, one title, two total Final Fours
Bowdoin, one final four

Tufts which is peaking at the right time has a golden opportunity to tie for second all-time with five national titles (Messiah will never be caught on that metric) and show that they weren't just a product of Shapiro's excellence.  Williams has a chance to basically move into the Amherst category with an improbable national title run. Conn has a chance to cement itself as a permanent member of the D3 elite with a third title game appearance.  Bowdoin has a shot at its first title game appearance and has to feel some pressure to do well this year with Huck graduating.

What's scary for the rest of the country is this is really a transition year for NESCAC.  There were only two seniors on the first-team all-conference team, which has to be a record-low and probably by a wide margin.  Tufts, Conn, Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Middlebury and Bates all had impact FYs and return most of their key players, and all could be better or even significantly better next year.  NESCAC is going to be insanely loaded next season and nearly every game will be a war, with a loaded group of upperclassmen across the league, with especially strong senior groups at Tufts, Conn and Wesleyan.     

The left side of the bracket is stacked with deep tourney experience with that NESCAC group, plus 2023 champion St. Olaf and Messiah, which clearly is still to be feared while on a hot streak. 

A few guys in the transfer portal:

Grad transfers Nolan O'Brien (as previously reported) and Damian Carrano from Amherst, Bates DB Xavier Jackson, and Keller Rogers, WR/KR from Tufts.  Rogers would be a big loss for the Jumbos, who lose their other all-conference receiver to graduation, as an explosive weapon in the passing and return game.   

Nice, scrappy win for Williams despite being ice cold (2-20) from three.  This version of the Ephs is very different from past versions.  They play with a lot more pace, go after offensive rebounds a lot more aggressively, and are just generally pests around the ball, but they lack the polish and shooting of a more typical Eph team.  Even if it's not always elegant I think it's fun to watch. 

Alex Lee out with an injury is such a huge loss to the backcourt, which now lacks a guy who is capable of really going off as a scorer and also misses his steadying influence as a ball-handler.  But the quartet of Belcher, O, Shepherd, and Devine, while lacking an elite offensive player, are good athletes who grab a lot of loose balls and can make things happen going to the rim when they have an opening, they combined for 5 steals and 15 boards today.  Shepherd had a particularly important stretch in the second half. 

Hansen and Rein owned the interior today, both having excellent games.  Rein is so much smoother and more confident this year in terms of getting his own shot, while still excelling at making plays off the ball. Those two and Yates did a great job on the glass up front.  Winning the battle of the boards 51-36 was key in a game Williams was badly outshot, and a change from the usual Oneonta game, which in the past usually featured the opposite sort of ratio.  FY Sommers also makes big contributions in light minutes and I imagine he will keep seeing more time. 

Williams can play better as it cleans up some of the sloppy turnovers, hopefully shoot it much better, and do a better job sticking with three point shooters as the competition gets tougher. 

NESCAC all-conference out:

https://nescac.com/news/2025/11/19/nescac-football-awards-announced.aspx

From a Williams perspective, I was a bit surprised to see Jaffe sneak on (although the lack of impact TEs in NESCAC this year surely helped), and to see Luke Mangini excluded, but every other Eph on there I would have picked as well.  Of course, the late-season injuries were the story for the Ephs, as all-conference players Johansen, Yedid, and Falls all missed the Amherst game, as well as Jimmy Montesano, who would have easily been first-team all league had he been healthy for enough of the season.  Hopefully all those guys return 100 percent next year and are joined by Owen McHugh and Brady Stahelski, who both missed the entire season with injuries.  Montesano's brother is already committed to the Ephs, and Falls' brother has been offered, which hopefully ends any possibility of those guys considering transferring up (I think both probably could if so desired). 

The Ephs do have to replace a lot of blocking on the edge with two all-league tackles graduating as well as two all-league blocking tight-end / HBs, but the Ephs always find top-tier athletes to fill the HB role and have several massive experienced back-ups at the OT position who should be ready to step in.  I also suspect that with so many experienced QBs and receivers coming back, the Ephs will open up the offense a bit next season and rely less on the running game.  All-league tackle Maguire has another year of eligibility as well, though I've not heard  for sure that he's returning (edit - I believe, however, that he is).  Jon Oris is also a huge loss for the Eph offense, but Williams will be absolutely loaded at both QB, WR, and TE, and the OL should again be stellar. 

Williams brings nearly everyone of note back from a young defensive unit and with (hopefully) better health and a LOT more experience, I suspect will be much stronger defensively next season.  I really like next year's potential D-line led by Gale, Yedid, and Baker, who looked like he will be a force assuming he's a full-time defensive end next season, and that is an area where the Ephs seem to be adding some strong recruits. 

Luke Harmon has been a dominating presence for three years and I continue to think is worthy of at least co-DPOTY. 

Williams had a rough end to the regular season / NESCAC playoffs but great to see them make their third Sweet 16 in the past four years.  Not really sure what happened down the stretch to the Ephs' defense, the Ephs had some untimely late-season injuries to key players Zach Greer, Lorcan Mitchell, and Henry Kirkman, which I imagine didn't help. Kirkman is back now, but Mitchell appears to be out for the year.  One interesting very late addition to the roster is Cole Moriello, who starred for the Ephs as a FY, and didn't play the last 2.5 years, only to join the roster for the last three games, all of which he has seen significant minutes in. 

Alex Bethencourt, who has been dangerous all year, has been on fire of late, scoring five of the Ephs' seven goals over their last three games and helping to replace the finishing lost from Mitchell's absence; he will surely get a lot of defensive attention next weekend.  JJ Ruehlmann has been quiet of late, with no goals and only two shots on goal over the past five games, and I think the Ephs will need something from him to upset St. Olaf on the road.  Henry Kirkman has had a flare for the dramatic in the past and hopefully has rounded back into shape after a month away from the pitch, he's another guy to watch on offense. 

D3Bball, Zene did not play, maybe still recovering from injury? 

ThumannsOwn, pretty crazy re: Rein - Williams is certainly delighted to have him as he looks like he's primed for a great career for the Ephs.  Of course, to be fair that 10th place prediction was only an uneducated guess - after seeing the impact of their newcomers, I'd probably have pegged Amherst a few spots higher than 10th, they probably have more talent right now than Midd or Hamilton.  But certainly not in the top half of the league.  Amherst has not made the NCAA tourney since 2019, and if they don't this year - and I'd be very surprised if they did - we are talking about a 7-year run with no NCAA appearances.  From 2000 to 2019, they missed the NCAAs two times TOTAL.  So yeah, not exactly the level Amherst fans are accustomed to. 

A few other random early-season NESCAC thoughts:

Wesleyan seems pegged about right as a bottom-of-the-top-25 kind of team, playing TCNJ, which is also in that range, dead even after a game one blowout over an outmatched opponent.  Wesleyan has a lot of capable players but no clear star who is going to carry them every game, I'd say.  They do however have one of the top ROTY contenders in Jaalan Watson, an all-state player in H.S. who clearly is utterly unafraid to shoot it and is an elite athlete.  At a VERY generous listing of 5'10 155, he's putting up 13-5.5 in only 16 mpg and definitely is going to be a fun player to watch. 

Tufts, others have already made good points about, somehow this team loaded with talent has managed to lose four of its last five games going back to last season.  I agree with others that the early season schedule has certainly not helped.  I assume Tufts rights the ship and still ends up as an NCAA tourney team, but they've given themselves very little margin for error going forward if they want to end up as a high NCAA seed.  There is no way James Morakis stays on a 7 ppg pace and a return to his expected all-American level would by itself right the ship.  I note that Liam Kennelly has not played through two games, I assume injured, and he is someone who I suspect they really miss - one of my favorite guys to watch in the league, he really raises the energy level for the entire team. 

On another NESCAC note, Trinity's national title run is paying dividends in recruiting, they received a commitment from Rowan Introzzi, a highly ranked, physical wing/guard who looks like he has potential to give them a lot of what they will lose when Vetter graduates, similar profile of player at least. 

Some early-season NESCAC observations, part one.  Overall, not a super-impressive first weekend for the league, with five teams already picking up losses, and several others struggling to put away weak opponents. 

Two teams that seem to be benefiting the most from newcomers are Conn College and Amherst.  Conn beat a usually-decent Emerson team despite a very quiet night from Espinosa thanks to big games from two scholarship-level transfers, James Lafrance and Greg Cantwell, and FY Cole Craffey.  A third transfer, PJ Johnson, also played off the bench.  Seems like a huge talent infusion for Conn, which plays an easy first-semester schedule and could rack up a lot of wins while all the new guys figure out how to play together. They may be a team to watch if those newcomers keep lighting it up.  I saw a few minutes of Amherst and they too seem to be benefitting from newcomers as well as a very different style of play, a ton of dribble-drive and kick on offense.  With Chin, Garraud and solid transfer Adnan, Amherst starts three players who can make plays off the dribble and pressure the ball on defense, FY Woodberry is a shooter, and FY Margolin looks like a solid glue guy off the bench.  Amherst has very little inside on offense or in terms of rim protection, especially with the FY center seemingly out with an injury for now and Randall not playing for at least the first semester, but may not be tested too much by an extremely weak first-semester schedule.  I think both Amherst and especially Conn project a bit higher than I figured based on projections from last year's returnees.   

Conn and Amherst both are, for now, playing smaller, quicker lineups, so it will be interesting to see how they hold up against bigger frontcourts, but really, other than Tufts, there aren't a lot of NESCAC squads who figure to be powerful inside in any event this year.  Nearly the entire conference is playing fairly small. Speaking of very small, Middlebury started a 5'9, 5'10, 6'4, 6'5, 6'6 group in its first game - that's like an average high school team!  I assume yet another NESCAC team that's going to try to play fast with guards who look to push the pace. 

I haven't been able to see much of Williams but SpringSt7 and Toad's takes seem like good ones.  Right now the backcourt is hurt by injuries with Cooley yet to play and Lee out for game two, if Lee is out for a significant period of time, it's obviously a huge loss for Williams.  I think the frontcourt is a strength with Rein looking great, and Hansen and Yates will both get it going I have no doubt, and I agree that Sommers just looks like he belongs already and adds a different element on both ends with his length, and hopefully will get more playing time as the season moves long, a ton of upside there.  That groups offers a ton of length, shooting, and skill up front. 

On the other hand, with the veterans who are out (also senior Ben McGraw remains injured as well), it feels like a trial-and-error hodgepodge at guard, which isn't ideal but there is at least time to figure out more definitive roles over the next few weeks.  With Lee out, Belcher and Devine are the two most dynamic athletes/creators/scorers back there and seemed to have good moments against Alfred, and I do think the upside of the team involves them both playing well in larger roles, but clearly App is trusting other guys who are may be steadier hands right now.  Chibuogwu is a great story and clearly has earned his spot in the rotation with hard-nosed play on both ends (especially defensively), but he's not going to be a big scorer or anything on the perimeter.  Cooley when he returns will add a steady, physical two-way presence with a bit more experience and will certainly play big minutes in the perimeter rotation. Williams clearly has great depth but need to figure out who will pair with Lee in crucial moments, and if Lee is out for an extended period, then Williams desperately needs someone to take a big step up from role player to primary creator at guard.   

Clark is a team in transition with a lot of new guys, but wow are they long.  Their starters went 6'8, 6'9, 6'8, 6'4, 6'6, with 6'8 and 6'0 the first two of the bench, plus another 6'8 FY who saw time.  They played a lot of FYs and only one senior in their first game, so they may take some time to come together, but that is size across the board you rarely see in D3.