Predictions for the weekend:

Friday
Colby 72 Conn 59
Bates 65 Amherst 69
Williams 66 Wesleyan 65
Trinity 87 Middlebury 60
Tufts 77 Bowdoin 70

Saturday
Wesleyan 70 Middlebury 56
Tufts 80 Colby 71
Trinity 80 Williams 57
Conn 76 Bowdoin 81

Sunday
Bates 75 Hamilton 61

Quote from: jumbomumbo on December 21, 2025, 08:20:41 PMTufts wins their second game in Miami 111-51, think that was the score. Tufts sophomore Lukas Schmidt with a casual 35 points on 21 mins. Hardly sees the rotation! Tufts may have some injury issues but they do have depth

Website release said 117-51. The 66 point win was the largest in program history for Tufts. That's pretty lopsided, but when you go to those tournaments in FL and PR it can be hard to dictate opponents.

Not sure what's up with Medley and Reilly, hopefully they're back at some point.

As of December 9...here are the national Massey Ratings.

Trin - 2
Wes - 26
Tufts - 28
Bates - 36
Conn - 47
Colby - 59
Williams - 66
Amherst  - 75
Bowdoin - 102
Midd - 109
Hamilton - 211

So, what's the most shocking thing about this? That the NESCAC five teams in the Top 50 or that Hamilton is over a 100 spots behind the 10th place team?

All UAA teams in are in the Top 100, as Case is 95. If you were comparing the top five for each conference, it would be:

Trin - 2
Wes - 26
Tufts - 28
Bates - 36
Conn - 47

WashU - 4
Emory - 9
NYU - 10
Chicago - 13
CMU - 37

Based on Massey Ratings, NESCAC is currently the 3rd rated league behind UAA and WIAC. Seems about right.

Don't post on here a lot but I was at the game yesterday and that was quite possibly one of the best sporting events I've ever seen in person. Both teams controlling the game at time, punch counter punch, drama, passion, the atmosphere was unlike anything I've seen before.

To have that composure with the announcer counting down and knowing your career is seconds from being over and to connect on a shot like that to beat a keeper who had been so good. One of the best sporting moments in my lifetime.

On my drive home, I did really start to feel for Coach Paul and his kids. They were far clear of Tufts in the first 45 minutes. Trinity did about as much as you can do to win it, and to have it taken like that. I can't imagine what the five minute intermission was like going into OT. How do you refocus after that?

Just drama to a degree I've never seen before.

Had a chance to get to the Lasell-Tufts game yesterday.

It's been pretty cool to see the maturation of a guy like Jon Medley this season, who's playing as well as anyone is in the league right now. The guy has always been a tough defender and a gritty competitor, but he has worked on his game and is shooting the ball better and attacking more off the bounce. Always a good passer, that has continued to be a big part of his game.

Kudos to this coaching staff as well, which I think has had to do more management than maybe previous years but seem to have figured out the best 9-10 rotation for this personnel. With Reilly out, it's been cool to see Sidney Wooten step up as well.

Four more games until NESCAC play, but some tough non-conference games against WPI, Clark and even Saint Vincent is solid. We'll see soon.

Watched the Jumbos-Ephs game yesterday on the Internet. First thoughts, Tufts kids on Jumbocast do an amazing job with the broadcast. They had a pregame and halftime show with a table like Gameday, the broadcasters were prepared and had obviously done tons for preparation with graphics and it was breast cancer awareness day at Tufts so they had a QR code to donate on the screen. It was a very good watch.

The game was pretty much just about Tufts offensive unit figuring it all out and now they look like one of the best units in the league with Weidman under center. Efficient and dangerous, tons of weapons. The defense allowed yards but made some huge takeaway plays late in the game.

Johansen didn't look right...maybe he was favoring something but he wasn't his elusive self except for a few plays. The defensive line did a solid job on Oris, and despite Falls being great, Tufts limited pretty much everyone else.

Tufts has put up 38 and 41 points in their last two games, interested to see how it fares against Colby's solid defense next week.

Also, congrats to HC Jay Civetti on tying the all-time wins record at Tufts with his 60th win. A record that's stood since 1945.

Quote from: nescac1 on October 18, 2025, 06:52:41 PMHas any NESCAC receiver ever had better back-to-back weeks than Zach Falls just did??  10 receptions for 332 yards and 5 TDS plus a two-point conversion, including 84 and 76 yard TDs, from three different passers, when all other receivers combined from an injury-riddled unit accounted for a grand total of 80 yards over those games (so by himself, over 80 percent of all receiving yards).  He is definitely a - gulp - D1-caliber receiver, and only a sophomore.   

Phil Lutz had...checks notes...21 receptions for 353 and 8 TDs in the final two games of the 2022 season for Tufts. That included a six touchdown game against Middlebury, which featured a 63-yard TD, a 44-yard TD and a 70-yard TD.

But yea, Falls is a fantastic player, excited to see him this weekend in Somerville.

Quote from: Charlie on October 07, 2025, 10:56:00 AMHad the luxury of channel checking many games this past weekend. I noticed two glaring takeaways. The NESCAC has to allow a preseason contest. If you look at that the play now versus week one simply amazing. I know this is topic for off season but even to get the young kids coming in some game experience I just think would make week one better football. Again topic for off season.

The second observation I happen to watch some of the Trinity/ Tufts game is it just me or does Trinity football players just look bigger ,stronger and faster then there opponents. The size differential against Tufts was large. I also noticed this in watching the Trinity/Bates game as well. Do these other NESCAC programs have strength and conditioning programs. There seems to be a clear size and speed differential amongst these teams. The only team that appeared to be close in size was Williams College. When I watched the Bates/Colby the players looked completely different in size and stature.

When the president's voted to use their Pool A bid and the 84-man roster limit, they but in a 10-year moratorium on making any more football changes. So, don't expect non-conference or preseason football anytime soon.

I was at the Bowdoin-Tufts game today in Brunswick. Beautiful setting for a football game, Whittier is always a great trip, I've always enjoyed my times there.

The game had a weird feeling to it, Tufts was dominating most statistical categories, had the ball for 15 more minutes than Bowdoin. Felt like was in total control. But something was missing. No real killer instinct offensively, had chances including a muffed punt to put the game away but couldn't take advantage. Defense looked solid, but the secondary wasn't really tested much. I didn't get a sense of what either team was, to be honest.

We shall see next weekend in the Oval against Wes, different test all together.

I feel like Tufts will have plenty on offense to make up for the loss of Cade Moore and Mike Berluti. Getting Jack Elliott back for another year, along with Shapiro and Reece returning. I'd also look to sophomore WR Keller Rogers and Granville Anderson getting more involved as weapons, and Ned Righellis at TE in his second year after transferring in from SMU. Defensively is where I'm curious to see how the Jumbos rebound from losing 7 starters on that side of the ball. They return Jeff Xu, Riley Yaker, Vince Gilchrist and Johnny Ferrelli, but the entire secondary will be different. I know they're excited about Cam Pineda and Amari Watson, and Nate Sousa, Ryan Saccu and Steven Rauso have all played a lot as well. I'm fairly confident that there's enough talent there to still be competitive in the conference.

I'm so glad that the NESCAC teams will be able to compete for a national title, you've got to think it will help recruiting and maybe take some recruits from schools like Hopkins, Carnegie-Mellon and some Centennials along with Patriot and Ivies.

I'm thrilled with the decision, but a small part of me is sad that the tradition of the NESCAC title being the ultimate prize in football is now gone.

Quote from: olddog on March 10, 2025, 07:46:51 PMTuffSit,

Thanks for your take...

What was said during the game to generate that reaction from the U of R players ?

Nice post

Where I was sitting across the way from them, so I couldn't quite hear. But it seemed like the crowd (looked like football guys, they were big guys) were just being loud and from what I could tell were somewhat taunting a few UR players. Curry and Gates were catching it the most, but they were interacting back with the crowd. I thought it was good natured ribbing, I saw that during the NESCAC tournament with Alex Lee, and he pointed towards them once and that was it. But the game was emotional, guys hitting shots to save their careers, diving on the floor, fouls everywhere, it was physical. And when you get to a point where it all climaxes at the end like that, the emotional toll just comes out with what happened at the end. The UR guys were excited and showed it, and the Tufts fans just saw their friends hearts ripped out. I think it was all pretty perfectly understandable.

I was at the game on Saturday at Tufts. There's so much dialog about everything, but nothing is going to change. The crowd was fine, the Redlands reaction was close to the line but I still thought it was honestly not the worst thing ever. The 4-5 guys that ran on the floor were out there for half a second, and retreated to the bench. It wasn't enough in my opinion to make that tech call. In the end, Redlands made one more play that Tufts did. That's sports. It's no one's fault, no one's to blame, that's just how it goes sometimes. People are upset understandably because they care so much, but name calling and saying Tufts has a reputation of this or that is unfair. I was there both days, and personally I thought the event was well done, administrators were everywhere and handled issues fine and it was a great experience despite the Jumbos loss.

The lamest argument in D3 men's basketball is UAA vs. NESCAC.

Sorry, it's played out and doesn't mean anything anyways.

Quote from: jumbomumbo on February 23, 2025, 02:43:33 PMRyan Scott's Twitter projection for the NCAA tournament has all of Wesleyan, Trinity, Tufts, and Hamilton hosting an NCAA tournament pod. By far the best conference in D3 this year. No one counter with UAA please - they couldn't compete in last years tournament.

I've watched a fair amount of UAA basketball this season, along with a fair amount of NESCAC basketball, and I'd agree that the NESCAC is having a better season top to bottom. But it doesn't really mean anything.

I do think the ODAC as a league is also very competitive year in and year out and has had teams win the national title recently while the NESCAC hasn't of late. Maybe not quite as deep as the NESCAC but the top 5-6 teams could all play with anyone.

Excited for this weekend, the four best teams all season are still playing and I think that's gonna make for a great two days of hoops in Middletown.