New Jersey continues to produce amazing basketball players at all levels. Thinking through potential D3 all region / all american players this season, I found it amazing to see how many are from New Jersey. In no particular order, here is a list of some really special players who hail from the garden state.

- Hank Morgan (Caldwell NJ / Tufts) - NESCAC POY, 2 time first team all NESCAC, 2024 All Region, #3 most efficient player in nation, #20 in nation in total points, 53% FG, 82% FT, scored in double figures in every game this season, best player in top 3 conference in country
- Jacob Morales (Pascack Hills NJ / Montclair State) - Breakout star after transferring from Rutgers (walk-on), 1st team all NJAC, led nation in 3 pointers made, #17 most efficient player in nation, 51% FG/46% 3PFG/91% FT
- EJ Matthews-Spratley (Cherry Hill, NJ / Stockton) - 1st team all NJAC,  11th leading scorer in nation, #5 in 3 pointers made, # 5 in nation total points, 89% FT, 5 30+point games
- Peter Gorman (South Amboy NJ / Ramapo) - NJAC POY, 2 time first team all NJAC, 2024 NABC All District, #14 in nation in total points, top 10 in nation minutes played, 47% FG/42% 3PFG/85% FT
- Scott Gyimesi (Fair Haven NJ / Tufts) - 2 time first team all NESCAC, 2024 All Region, 2024 NABC All District, #13 in nation in double doubles, #14 in total rebounds, 58% FG, #68 most efficient player in nation
- Jack Spellman (Westfield NJ / Stevens) - 3 time MACF DPOY, 3 time first team all MACF, 2023 & 2024 All Region, 2024 NABC All District, #3 in nation blocks, #6 in nation rebounds, #12 in nation double doubles, #24 most efficient player in nation, 56% FG, 1k pts/1k reb/300 blks (first D3 player since 2010), # 11 all time in D3 blocked shots
- Nick Koch (Hawthorne NJ / TCNJ) - 2 time first team all NJAC, #15 in nation in total points, 22 PPG/4.5 APG/50% FG, scored in double figures in all but one game this season, absolutely electric ball handler and passer
- Jordan Stafford (Galloway NJ / Gettysburg) - 2025 CC DPOY, 2024 CC POY, 2 time first team all CC, 2024 NABC All District, 57% FG, Led conference in minutes played, tremendous all around player 

Congrats on tremendous seasons (and careers) to these Jersey Boys.

The MAC Freedom All Conference awards seem pretty close to how I would have voted with a couple of small exceptions. Co-Player of the year was interesting as while I had Redding as a first team lock, I think Lazdowsky was more consistent across the entire season and probably should have been the single choice. A third straight DPOY for Spellman was a no-brainer. Coach of the Year could only be Coach Kaba. Gibbs had to be in consideration for first team, but DeSales finishing out of the playoff picture likely resulted in him dropping to second team. The two that I would have switched would have been Goodall from Stevens and Pair from Del Val to second team, with Atkinson from DeSales and Timochenko from LVC moving to Honorable Mention.

Congratulations to Delaware Valley on capturing the MAC Freedom championship with a win over Stevens in an amazing game Saturday in Hoboken. A great deal of resiliency by the Aggies, along with a great team defensive effort on Stevens perimeter game holding them to only 6 made 3 pointers on 29 attempts. Redding continued his great play and received a well-earned tournament MVP award. In a odd way, the absence of Herrin may have actually allowed a guy like McGinty to really step forward as he was without question the unsung hero of both the semi-final and championship games. Herrin's absence over the last few weeks also certainly allowed for more shot attempts from Redding, and boy did he take advantage of that.

As for Stevens, it was honestly a case of you live by the three ... you die by the three. They certainly had plenty of opportunities to extend leads earlier in the game, but consistently settled for contested three point attempts with plenty of time on the shot clock. A tough way to end a great career for senior Jack Spellman who was just magnificent in defeat on both ends of the floor trying to will his team to a victory. Equally tough way to end the career of grad student Mike Goodall who's attempt of the game winning shot bounced around and hung on the rim for what seemed like two seconds before falling off.

As a Stevens fan I am of course disappointed, but full credit to Del Val and best of luck to them in the NCAAs.

Now that Swat is out of the picture for 2025, will we see Hopkins follow a similar path so the stranglehold these two programs have had on the Centennial championship for the past 8 years can finally be broken? Gettysburg has looked like the most talented team all season, but has unfortunately disappointed in big situations several times over the past couple of years (including losing at home to F&M a week ago with the regular season title on the line). F&M has won 10 straight (including wins over the 3 other semi-final teams), so you would expect them to be extremely confident in their quest to take home the title. Ursinus may have the best player on the floor in Wall, but they will likely have to play some defense to reel off an upset or two ... that may be a bit outside their comfort zone. Hopkins of course has the championship pedigree, along with a very balanced line up that makes it very difficult for opponents to key on just one or two players. Kind of rooting against Hopkins here if for no other reason than I have grown tired of the Swat / Hopkins thing.

Del Val with another tough performance to grab a semi-final win over Misericordia and continue their multi-week run of great play (winning 6 of their last 7 games). Based on a recent win on the road vs Stevens, I would expect the Aggies to be feeling pretty good going in to the championship game on Saturday. Meanwhile Stevens turned up their defensive intensity while taking much better care of the ball, and ran away from Arcadia in their semi-final victory. Should be a high intensity match-up in Hoboken on Saturday.

I found it kind of funny after the discussion earlier this week that IWU went out and lost to an inferior team (not trying to slight North Central - just stating that in comparison to IWU they are inferior). Maybe the IWU ceiling isn't quite as high as some folks believe. 

Curious ... does anyone have any insight on Eastern? They were pre-season choice to win the MAC Commonwealth, went 7-4 in non-conference including wins over Roanoke, Hopkins, and Salisbury, and all of their non-conference losses were against quality teams. They now sit dead last in the conference following eight straight losses. I watched them play Hopkins back in November and Eastern looked like a very good team. I don't believe they lost any of their main players to injury or other, yet their season just went completely south. Really puzzling.

Ryan - I appreciate you sharing your reasoning on why you voted IWU # 1 in your poll this past week. Like many of us, I think you may be over-analyzing things a bit. Maybe at their best IWU is the best team in the country. But in a weekly top 25 poll at this point in the season, I think it is the job of the voters to rank teams based on the accomplishments of the season to date. If you do that, then right now the vote has to be an undefeated Wesleyan team. 

Just an observation on this weeks Top 25 ... the three voters who gave Illinois Wesleyan their # 1 vote over Wesleyan in the latest poll either have their own agenda (I know Bob Q did not vote IWU #1 as he shares his votes on social media), or they are essentially not paying attention. One undefeated team in the country who plays in a top 3 conference in the country, and just defeated another top 10 team last week, and you give IWU who needed OT to get past a bad Carrol team last week your #1 vote? Of course IWU is a top 3 or top 5 team right now, but until Wesleyan loses a game you seriously cannot vote anyone else # 1. 

Quote from: SpringSt7 on January 29, 2025, 08:02:58 PM

Quote from: Stretch4 on January 29, 2025, 02:54:32 PM

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 28, 2025, 07:07:18 PMJumbomumbo's Tuesday Fact of the day:
Not a single starter on Tufts can legally drink a beer.

Mumbo - You may need to check the ID of Morakis  . He was definitely a HS class of 2021 kid in NY before reclass at prep school.

If a NESCAC basketball player did an extra year of high school or is old, Stretch4 will make sure to let you know

I love it when the NESCAC fans whine about not having grad programs, yet there rosters are loaded with 23 year olds! 

Quote from: jumbomumbo on January 28, 2025, 07:07:18 PMJumbomumbo's Tuesday Fact of the day:
Not a single starter on Tufts can legally drink a beer.

Mumbo - You may need to check the ID of Morakis  . He was definitely a HS class of 2021 kid in NY before reclass at prep school.

For anyone who did not see or hear about it, an amazing career milestone was achieved yesterday during the game between Stevens and FDU. The Ducks pre-season d3 hoops All American, and reigning two time DPOY, Jack Spellman eclipsed the 1,000 career rebound mark becoming the second player in Stevens history with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. It does not end there, as with his 1,000th rebound he became just the sixth known player in NCAA D3 to ever accumulate 1k points, 1k rebounds, and 300 blocked shots in a career, and the first since 2010. It took him only 94 games to achieve this crazy milestone - extremely impressive! Congrats to Jack Spellman on joining an extremely exclusive club.

To me Misericordia is very interesting. They had 5 5th year guys move on after last season and I expected them to take a significant step back this season (of course they still have POY Lazdowsky). However, from what I have watched this year they seem to be playing more cohesive than last year. So I was honestly surprised by their non-conference results. I don't put too much stock into the Centenary and Rosemont games. But I did watch their win over Swat and without question Mis was the better team that night. Depth may be a concern for Mis. They probably can't afford to have either Lazdowsky or Prociak have an off night. I do think Del Val has a chance to compete for a playoff spot. With a lot of mystery around their roster, I feel the coaches poll probably underrated Del Val a bit. Pair, Redding, Herrin, Gombs are all tough players who will continue to gain confidence if they perform a bit more consistently and rattle off a few more conference wins. I believe their next three games are all at home, so there is definitely an opportunity for them to make an early statement in the conference.

The grad student vs non-grad student advantage is not always what it is perceived. In the MACF lets take Stevens and Del Val. Stevens has 3 23 year old grad students on their team all who are HS class of 2020. One has been at Stevens since day one, another transferred this season from Colby, and a third transferred this season from Vassar. Two played zero games and one played three games during the 20-21 season. So, all legitimately using the COVID year. By comparison Del Val has no grad students listed on the roster. However, they have a 5th year soon to be 24 year old senior who spent two years at two different jucos, and now in his third year at Del Val, another 23 year old 5th year senior who has been at Del Val since 2020 (who played 10 games for Del Val during the 20-21 season), two 22 year old juniors HS class of 2021 on their third and fourth schools respectively, and finally a 23 year old junior HS class of 2020 on his third school. From an age and playing experience perspective, the grad school option is not providing any advantage here when you look at these two rosters.

Great basketball this past Friday and Saturday at the Stevens Holiday tournament in Hoboken that seemed to fly a bit under the radar with the D3 basketball "experts". Four great teams and several All-American level players . All four teams (Hamilton, Stevens, York PA, and Oswego) are teams you can certainly see playing in the NCAA tournament this year. What I found very interesting is that of the four, Oswego clearly gets the most respect on a national level given their success over the past 15 years and particularly over the last 3 years. However, based on what I watched, Oswego was without question the number 4 team in this group right now (they will probably win something like 14 of the next 16 and take the SUNYAC given I just said this).

Hamilton is a really good team with great experience, size and a much stronger bench than they get credit for. Their team and their star player Hank Morgan definitely deserve a bit more respect than they get from the NESCAC posters on these boards. Morgan was extremely impressive. Plays with tremendous confidence and can really score the ball. I'm sure they may drop a few games playing the brutal NESCAC schedule, but I expect this team to be right there with the NESCAC elite come the end of the season.

Stevens is the MAC Freedom favorite and is also a really tough team with great defense, balanced scoring and an interior defender and rebounder in Jack Spellman that is probably second to none in the country (I was shocked to see four different Hamilton players at 6'7" or taller not even attempt a shot from inside five feet when he was anywhere near them). They lost to Hamilton by 11 but the game was much closer than that as Hamilton used a 3 minute period during the middle of the second half with Spellman on the bench to outscore Stevens 11-2. Stevens then turned around and dominated Oswego in a game that was much more lopsided than the 15 point victory indicated.

York PA is also a very good team who should without question make a strong run for the MAC Commonwealth title and NCAA berth. A bit undersized but they are well coached, very aggressive and really play well as a collective unit. Rugged 6'4" Kai Cipalla is an absolute force on the floor. He gets anywhere he wants to go on the floor and defends taller players very effectively.

Great weekend of basketball in Hoboken. Congrats to Hamilton on winning the tournament, and kudos to Stevens for putting on a great event.