Quote from: nescac1 on November 05, 2025, 12:51:07 PMNow that every team has its pre-season roster posted, thought I'd take a more informed shot at a pre-season ranking, while emphasizing that 3-11 are REALLY tough to peg between personnel losses, coaching changes, and a lot of balance generally in the league after the top two. I also picked an "x factor" player for each team, a newcomer or returning player who with a big leap could raise the team's ceiling.
1. Trinity - virtually everyone back, plus added a potential impact transfer. National title favorite with no glaring weaknesses. X-factor: Nathan Freisthler.
2. Tufts - again, virtually everyone back, and may get some extra juice off the bench from a talented group of underclassmen. Legit national title contender. X-factor: Dylan Reilly. Huge gap after these top two teams.
3. Williams - a top-tier core of Lee/Hansen/Yates/Rein should lead the way, and plenty of young talent to draw upon in support. Rebounding / interior defense is a question mark as they may feature a very small starting five, depending on how things break. If they can figure that out, strong contender for an NCAA bid. X-factor: Jackson Rein.
4. Wesleyan - Regan and Johnson were the engine of everything they did on offense, who will step up as go-to playmakers? But still have a ton of length and athleticism, defense should again be elite and a lot of Final Four infrastructure returns. Outside shooting is once again a big question mark. Contender for an NCAA bid. X-factor: Oscar Edelman, who needs to provide a ton of outside scoring.
5. Colby - hard team to predict with a new coach, but there is plenty of talent on hand, with most of the team back, a legit go-to guy in Poulton, and a lot of size in the talented rising sophomore class. Will there be more emphasis on defense with a new regime? X-factor: Dan Civiello. Long-shot contender for an NCAA bid.
6. Bates - dark horse team, a lot of talent and a team which lost a LOT of very close games last year including three league games on OT. If Babacar Pouye, who can do it all but needs to do it more consistently, takes another leap and plays to his full potential Bates could be in the mix for third. A team which could realistically end up anywhere between 3 and 10. X-factor: Pouye.
7. Conn College - hard team to place - they will be a pain to play as always as the zone throws everyone off. Espinosa is a top player in the league and Clarr could eventually be an all-league guy as well, but after that, there are a lot of questions on where the offense comes from, especially on the interior. They have a few transfers who if they are factors right away would raise the ceiling considerably. X-factor: Garrett Clar.
8. Hamilton - lost a ton to graduation, Morgan did everything on offense for the last two years and there is no obvious replacement for him, they have a strong junior class but are probably going to have a transition year this season. X-factor: Garret Keyhani, who needs to return to his sophomore form or ideally better for this team to have a shot at cracking the top four.
9. Middlebury - losing Stevens and Joseph is a tough blow for the offense, and Brennan created so many extra chances with his rebounding, also difficult to replace. But the biggest loss is Jeff Brown who never lost a battle of which team was most prepared. A strong senior class can move them up a few notches if they can finally remain healthy, but this looks like a transition year with a new coach and few proven scorers. X-factor: Edward Witherington.
10. (tie) Amherst - close call between them and Bowdoin for the last spot. They go from among the biggest teams in the league to maybe the smallest, with only one big guy on the entire roster, and he's a first year. Only 12 guys on the roster, period, which is dangerously thin, and only three returning players who scored more than 3 points per game (none of whom were in double-figures). I do like the talent at guard with Garaud, Chin, and newcomers Neville and Adnan, and I assume they will look to push the pace and take advantage of their ballhandling depth in the backcourt, but interior play is a total mystery, and outside shooting looks pretty rough. X-factor: Ryan Hempfling.
10. (tie) Bowdoin - hard to put a team with an elite player like Cuevas here, but they were 1-9 last year, although they did suffer some tough-luck losses, and lose their other three perimeter starters (including Logue who is not on the roster). Should be solid at center with the Reeves/Bessire/Simond trio among the most experienced big-man groups around, but Cuevas is going to get a TON of attention on the perimeter and unclear who is going to step up as the second and third creator on offense. Outside shooting again likely to be a problem for this team, and they lost their defensive ace in Achufusi. X-factor: Ben Chilson. Edit: Logue is now on the roster, which is enough to bump them into a tie for tenth.
Seeing Amherst in a tie for 10th/last in this preseason NESCAC poll must be so frustrating for any of the Lord Jeff/Mammoth fans on these boards knowing what the program accomplished between 2000-2019. Quite a precipitous fall from grace and sources close to the program claim there is very little connectivity between the current regime and the very prideful alumni hoops network/brothrehood built by Coach Hixon.
Interesting side story here is the emergence/development and seemingly bright future of Jackson Rein at Williams. His father, Ben, played for Coach Hixon at Amherst in the early 1990s and Jackson apparently didn't even get a sniff from Coach Sears during his recruitment despite some expressed interest on the part of the family. Maybe there is something to these disconnect rumors.
One has to wonder if and when the current AD/administration considers a coaching change.
