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.

At this point in the season, I think I have seen every team play at least once. I wanted to throw an All-NESCAC team out there. There were 7 on both teams last year, so operating under that assumption.

First Team
Gyimesi, Tufts
Morgan, Hamilton
Regan, Wesleyan
Vetter, Trinity
Johnson, Wesleyan
Lawson, Colby
Morakis, Tufts

Second Team
Pouye, Bates
Okorougo, Trinity
Joseph, Middlebury
Espinosa, Conn.
Poulton, Colby
Singh, Hamilton
Lee, Williams

I'd like to get the leagues top shooting percentage and blocks leader in Bernstein on there, but I do think they'll try to get a Williams player on there. Cuavas will likely be ROY, but miss a team. I think Cormier, Stephens, Reilly, Brennan and Scherer all could make it too, but not sure.

Thoughts? 

Quote from: rdanie03 on February 09, 2025, 02:56:14 PMI think the most likely underclassman all-american in the NESCAC is probably Dylan Reilly. Elite shutdown defender and one of the best catch and shoot guys in league history

Love Reilly, he's very good. I think even could end up being an "All" something player. But to say one of best catch and shoot shooters in league history is maybe a tad premature. As someone around the league for a while, not sure he's to that level quite yet. Maybe one day, and I hope he does. Do love watching him play defense, with him, Watt and Medley, the perimeter defense for Tufts can be elite.

I couldn't watch the Tufts-Conn game in real time but was able to afterwards (thank you Jumbocast), and was pretty blown away that Conn didn't get away from their zone as just a mix-up or maybe just try something different. It was completely ineffective against Tufts, it was obvious that Gyimesi working that spot was going to kill Conn plus the skip inside to Bernstein was unstoppable too. I get having an identity, but you got to be able to adjust, right? I like Sweeney too, good coach, but that was surprising.

So, I have a question...what happened with Wesleyan?

They had a strong (16-9), but not overly dominant team last year, losing in the NESCAC quarters at home to Colby. They had losses to Emmanuel and Farmingdale last year.

Is it just bringing most of everyone back and them making incremental improvements? Langs is fifth in scoring after being lower in the lineup last year. Obviously, Regan, Johnson and Cormier all back and better is a reason, but is there anything else that sticks out? I did notice last year they gave up 72 points per game, this year its 58.3? Their scoring is down a point, so obviously the offensive efficiency is still there? Anything else of note?

It's almost exactly what happened with Trinity last year, 16-9 in 2022-23, then exploded in 2023-24...weird things going on in CT.

Ty Richardson has transferred to UC Davis. Was announced on their Twitter recently. Tough loss for Jumbos.

Watched the game against Rochester yesterday, but didn't get a chance today against Brandeis. First thoughts, Rochester is not very good. No offense to them, maybe they have some injuries, but boy they're in some serious, serious trouble this year in the UAA. They don't shoot it well, they're kind of soft and with all of that height, they get muscled around. Good to see Tufts pretty much dictate that entire game Saturday. Sunday looks like it was similar, but that the Jumbos just shot the ball very well. Morakis had another 24 points on an efficient shooting night, and Dylan Reilly made five threes Sunday too. Jon Medley does a little bit of everything, I just love his game so much. If this Jumbo team makes consistent shots from the perimeter and can get steady point guard play, they're going to be a very tough out. Good to see Bates get a win today too in the UAA Challenge.

Just had a chance to rewatch the Tufts-Keene State game...

Couple of things stuck out to me. The coaching staff at Tufts is really good at seeing what is working in that particular game and then adjusting gameplan based on that. Linton and his coaching staff saw that the Kennelly, Gettings duo was working with Medley, Gyimesi and Reilly. Wooten, Morakis and Bernstein still had a big impact, but the game flow dictated a different lineup. And the coaching staff at Tufts saw that and managed it well.

Brito picked up his fourth foul with 14 minutes to go, and I'm kind of surprised they waited so long to bring him back. It was around the 4 minute mark. I feel like I would have liked to see him around the 7 minute mark, and if he fouls out he fouls out. But that's game time you can't get back when he's sitting on the bench. Full credit to KSC though, as the team still managed to keep it close when he was out.

The compete level on both sides was unreal. People diving on the floor every other possession, lots of fouls and contact, it was a very exciting and enjoyable game to watch on the stream.

I feel like both of these teams are Sweet 16 caliber right now. Good test this weekend to finish the semester for Tufts against Rochester and Brandeis.

Just came across the fact that Tufts HC Jay Civetti was on the most recent episode of Tufts podcast. Talked for a good while, worth the listen, mentioned playoffs and roster limits, also had a lot of great things to say about the league and its teams. Seems like a good guy, at least for me who has never met him. Here's the link if anyone wants to listen, he starts at 53 mins in.

https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/2024/10/17/the-bo-show-podcast.aspx