Quote from: Dr. Acula on July 28, 2025, 06:22:18 PMI was reading up on the Berg hire of Mike Summey and I'm not sure what to think.  Almost no HC experience, but a lot of D1 experience at a lot of places.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  Here's his resume I pieced together since the Berg bio has some holes in it: 

97-99  Graduate manager, NC State
99-03  Asst. coach, St. Francis (PA)
03-04  Asst. coach, Queens University
04-06  Asst. coach, The Citadel
06-08  Asst. coach, North Florida
08-09  Head coach, Bethany
09-13  Dir. of ops, Miami (FL)
13-15  Assoc HC, St. Francis (PA)
15-20  Asst. coach, BGSU
20-22  Asst. coach, NC State
22-24  Asst. coach, Campbell
24-25  GM, Utah

He's been placed in a difficult spot just trying to field a roster. Between transfers and graduation, there's not much left. Markell Johnson-Nichols appears to be staying. But otherwise, the team looks to be very young. Bucheit brought almost all of his freshman recruits to Marietta.

Bucheit has overhauled the Marietta roster in short order. Impressive list of incoming transfers that are now confirmed on social media (with some additional ones rumored):

BJ Busbee - Mount Aloysius to Marietta
Elijah Harden - Heidelberg to Marietta
Jaiden Guerra-Howard - Heidelberg to Marietta
Jackson Beasley - Heidelberg to Marietta
Kevin Reynald Jr. - Heidelberg to Marietta
Mason Wisniewski - Heidelberg to Marietta
Sky Thomas - Penn State York (USCAA) to Marietta
John Castrilla - Bryant & Stratton (JUCO) to Marietta
Deuce Blake - Iowa Central (JUCO) to Marietta

Social media confirmed incoming transfers to Marietta:

BJ Busbee - Mount Aloysius to Marietta
Elijah Harden - Heidelberg to Marietta
Jaiden Guerra-Howard - Heidelberg to Marietta
Jackson Beasley - Heidelberg to Marietta
Kevin Reynald Jr. - Heidelberg to Marietta
Mason Wisniewski - Heidelberg to Marietta
Sky Thomas - Penn State York (USCAA) to Marietta
John Castrilla - Bryant & Stratton (JUCO) to Marietta
Deuce Blake - Iowa Central (JUCO) to Marietta

Outgoing transfers:
Danny Flood - Marietta to Trine
Jayden Bradshaw - Marietta to Trine
Michael Roberson - Marietta to Trine

I truly do not understand the economics of this. $30,000 - even for the smallest of D3s - is not "game changing" money. Add in the possibility of increased production costs, and the net profit is even less. Is that worth alienating parents and donors, all while limiting the overall exposure for your program?

If we're talking $100,000/year, maybe I'd understand. But this is selling your soul for a ridiculously low price. The fact that entire conferences are willing to go along with this is mind-boggling.

If I were a president or AD, I would literally laugh at the offer.

Carter Reese from Ohio Northern transferring to D1 Ohio: https://x.com/WNWarriorHoops/status/1918736046671507503

Elijah Harden, Heidelberg (one year) in the portal after the coaching change: https://x.com/baller_harden23/status/1923013002288111960

Marietta fans keeping their fingers crossed...

Bucheit now official: https://pioneers.marietta.edu/news/2025/5/15/mens-basketball-marietta-college-names-andy-bucheit-mens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

The big question now...will there be any portal transfers to follow?

Bucheit has frankly out-recruited Marietta consistently over the last 4 seasons. Much higher talent level overall on those recent Berg teams. Will be curious if any of his guys hit the portal and follow.

It is a tough time for Berg to be looking. The dominos continue to fall from the Brooks Miller to CMU move. Would Keandre Graves be under consideration for the promotion?

The obituary for Marietta basketball was written a bit prematurely. Andy Bucheit is an OUTSTANDING hire.

Quote from: scottiedawg on May 10, 2025, 12:54:37 PMMarietta is in bad financial trouble right?

No more than most similar schools. I'd rather be Marietta than several others in the OAC (BW, Berg, Wilmington, etc.), if you look into the financials, endowment, etc.

18 years is a long time to be at the same place. One thing missing from this discussion is that the last 3 seasons for Vanderwal have not been good. 5-13 record in the conference last season. I think it's a case of get out before your stock gets too low and have a chance for a fresh start.

Honestly, it's probably best for both sides. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. Marietta fans will be forever grateful for how he built the program. Rumors are there are some pretty big D3 names interested in the position. Marietta basketball will be just fine.

Quote from: Dr. Acula on February 10, 2025, 01:17:21 PMWhile I agree it's a strong hire, thinking the Pios may have upgraded is a bit of a stretch to me at this point.  His predecessor was hired away because he had built the program up and won games.  Maybe Kaufman will continue to elevate the program.  I just don't want to discount what Waddle did there.  There's a reason stuff like that has only happened a couple times in the past 30 years.

Fully agree. Kaufman has a great resume, but Waddle did the heavy lifting of building the program. Hopefully he can build on that success, but it's a lot easier to take over an 8-3 team than a 1-10 team.

Great hire. Reality of today's world is that your first recruiting pitch is your current roster.

Hopkins and WR Jay Melchiori both in the portal. Prevailing opinion is that they may be Valpo bound to join Coach Waddle. But if there's any chance of keeping them, Kaufman should be reaching out ASAP.

There have amazingly been maybe 5-7 Marietta commits to a program without a head coach (hats off to the interim, Tom Hinkle). But Kaufman needs to be hitting the trail today! A lot of ground to make up.

Quote from: D3fanboy on November 08, 2024, 12:38:52 PMMarietta has a fan?

Tell me you've never been to a Marietta sporting event without telling me you've never been to a Marietta sporting event. 

I expect a tight game tomorrow. I think Marietta has the better defense and Mount has the better offense. If I was putting money down, Mount probably wins by 7-10. But like someone else said, a range of outcomes wouldn't surprise me.

With NPI, am I wrong in thinking that Mount (or anyone) has little incentive to schedule challenging teams going forward? It just doesn't seem to be worth the risk.

Under the new selection process, your goal is really just to finish 9-1 or 10-0. The marginal benefit of a "good" vs. "middling" vs. "poor" non-conference opponent seems to be minimal.

Per Logan Hansen's projections, Marietta would be a #7 national seed with winning out. That includes a non-conference win over a likely 3-7 St. John Fisher team. To me, this confirms that - at least in a stronger league like the OAC - your non-conference opponent doesn't need to pack much punch.

Quote from: Onward on, John Carroll on July 15, 2024, 08:57:03 PMI have to challenge the insinuation that JCU is dodging competition. As they did last year, the Streaks are opening the season with Wisconsin Whitewater. If JCU was trying to protect 9-1 and an at-large playoff berth, that would not be the way to do it.

Worth mentioning that the Wisconsin Whitewater series was put in place before the introduction of NPI as the selection criteria. With SOS significantly deemphasized, I'd expect their future schedules to not be seeking opponents of that caliber.