Major blow for any hopes Brandeis might have had for next season. Alex Zakheim has entered the portal. If he leaves Brandeis will need to really load up on transfers to be competitive in the UAA.

You never know about recruits until they get on the court, but a potential impact recruit for Brandeis, Javi Lopez from Mass HS power Central Catholic. Lopez has smashed the school's all time scoring record and this year he is averaging 30 points a game.

Emory also has plucked a top Massachusetts player 6'6" Harrison Miles from Deerfield Academy.

Toby Harris, D3 transfer from Brandeis to D1 Iona is having a terrific season. He is the team's second leading scorer averaging 12 points per game despite only recently moving into the starting lineup. He is shooting over 40 percent from three and 962 free throw percentage. To top it off he won conference player of the week after scoring 26 points against Vermont.

Rough day for the conference yesterday. Previously undefeated Bates lost by 38 to Emory. Bates was down 29 at the half. No one played more than 22 minutes for Emory.

Wesleyan lost in OT to previously 6 - 4 Nichols.  Conn was edged by Hartford, another 6 - 4 team who had lost three straight.

The only bright spot if you can call it that was Midd crushing winless Medgar Evers. 

Toby Harris grad transfer from Brandeis to D1 Iona scored 20 points in 19 minutes of action against University of Missouri Kansas City last night. He shot 6 for 9 from three and seven of ten overall with his other basket being a dunk.

Pre season rankings are out. Emory — 3, Wash U — 5, Chicago - 11.  I think Wash U may be a bit high and Chicago a bit low.

No other teams are ranked or receiving votes.  No surprise there.  Still with all these teams having so many newcomers it will be interesting to see how the season plays out. 

All the teams have their schedules posted except for CMU. Highlights include:

Brandeis — Yale (treated as an exhibition for the Judges) and 2025 NCAA teams Western New England and Clark. Brandeis has played Clark 55 times but not since 2012.

Case and Rochester both play Bowdoin and Middlebury in the UAA NESCAC challenge.

Emory plays D2 Augusta and has challenging games with Hampton Sydney and Christopher Newport.

NYU plays D2 Assumption, takes a West Coast trip to play Cal Lutheran and George Fox and plays local power St Joseph Connecticut.

Chicago and Wash U both play Illinois Wesleyan.

Jai Deshpande is also returning to Brandeis for a sixth year. He was named second team all region at Whitman by D3hoops.com, was first team all-league and averaged 18 points a game in 2023-2024. He scored over 1,100 points at Whitman. He transferred to Brandeis last year for a grad year, but was hurt most of the year.

Some of the teams have posted at least partial rosters for the upcoming season. Most notably, Chicago has posted its full roster. Nineteen players, including freshmen Kahn, Randall, and Ward and high impact grad transfers Nick Roper (IWU) and Shane Regan (Wesleyan), all of whom have previously been mentioned on these boards. Other incoming frosh are Yuki Dai from Virginia, and Daltyn Simon from Miami. Otherwise, no surprises.

Brandeis and Rochester have rosters up not including freshmen and transfers.  The biggest name is Brandeis' Aeden Using, who returns for a sixth year. He missed one entire year due to injury and another due to COVID. Aeden was UAA defensive player of the year in 2023-2024. He led Brandeis last year in rebounds and blocks. Odd statistic -- last year he had more luck shooting three pointers (19 of 38) than free throws (14 of 29). Brandeis is also adding another freshman, Emre Bayazit from IME Academy.

Class of 2029 commits
Brandeis -- Gur Dhillon -- Brewster Academy NH by way of Texas; Asher White, Fox Chapel PA; Landon Sullivan IMG Academy Fla.
Carnegie Mellon -- Luke Seltzer Andover Academy Ma.; Carter Klaus, North Central Ind.
CWRU -- "Junior" McFadden Malvern Pa.; Alex Vincent Oak Park/River Forest Ill; Gideon Greenberg Posnack School Fla; Simon Moshin Highland Park Ill; Michael Ngo Maumee OH; Will Taylor Woodson  Va.
Chicago - Ryan Ward Cushing Academy Ma.; Drew Kuhn Nobles & Greenough Ma.; Jacob Randall Severn Md.
Emory - Gus Fried New Hampton School NH; AJ Mickens Hun School NJ; Giacomo Kaplan Belmont Hill School Ma.
NYU - Chase Garcia Millbrook School NY; Zach Koloja Blair Academy NJ.
Rochester - Jackson Labkon St. Andrew's School RI; MJ Young Baldwinsville NY; Zach Koloja Blair Academy NJ; Jordan Owuso Pennington School NJ; Tariq Bridges St. Pius Cal.
Wash U -- Josh Kim Andover KS; Theo Rocca Evanston Ill; Colby Smith New Trier Ill.

Please add additional commits to this list when identified.

Chicago has loaded up with Wesleyan grad transfers: Wesleyan's Shane Regan and Nick Roper from Illinois Wesleyan. This should make them prohibitive favorites for the UAA next season and national contenders.

Emory and Wash U also can be top 25 teams.

It's difficult to see anyone else in the mix for the post season, but let's wait until we see the rosters before counting them out. 

DJ Courtney is headed from Kalamazoo to Brandeis University! Major pickup for the Judges as they land a rising star in D3 hoops.

It is well known that Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau got his start at the D3 level as a player, assistant coach, and head coach at Salem State but there also is a UAA connection to the Knicks coaching staff. Darren Erman attended Emory (but did not play basketball there) and Erman, Larry Greer, and Andy Greer were all Brandeis assistants.

Elias Rodl
@EliasRodl14221
·
22h
after some consideration i have decided to stay at Brandeis University for my senior year #Rolldeis

That's a big boost for Brandeis. He should be a top contender for first time all league next year.

NYU is graduating all its starters and around 80% of its scoring so the next coach will have his work cut out for him. Sanders is a good piece to build around though.