One of the trends I've noticed early this year is an almost complete preference for an open three over a post shot.  Even teams with top notch post players will prefer a kick out to an open shooter over sending that big guy into the defense for a hard two.  Many teams are treating a single post defender the way we've traditionally seen post players handle double teams.  Not sure if it will continue, but it looks like teams are taking a 35% chance of three over a 60-70% chance of a two.

Quote from: stlawus on November 24, 2025, 10:17:52 PMIs the top 25 about who are the best teams at the end of the season or who are the best teams right now?  Otherwise what is even the point of doing a poll if results aren't going to matter.

I think voters have different perspectives on that question, honestly.  Pat doesn't dictate what the Top 25 should signify.  I do think it's got to be more than results, though, because the computers are far better at calculating that sort of thing than any group of humans could.

I do think results matter, but I still try to evaluate programs based on more than one game.  I watched the entire Tufts-Babson game.  It was Tufts first real action of the season and they were awful in the first half.  The came back in the second and made it close.  Yes, they lost it, but if they played 10 times, I'd pick Tufts to win more than 5 of them.

I approach my ballot much more focused on the future.  If two teams played tomorrow on a neutral court, who do I think would win?  The results inform that decision, but they don't dictate it.

Quote from: stlawus on November 24, 2025, 06:14:32 PMHow on earth is Tufts still ranked.  I've never seen a program get more excuses.

Tufts often look pretty poor in the early going and then end the year pretty well.  Bringing back almost the entire roster from a team one bucket away from the Sweet Sixteen.  Losing close games to Babson and Endicott are not ideal, but not terrible.  You get the benefit of the doubt early when you're a known quantity.  It's not like they won't have plenty of opportunities to prove it if they're really not very good.

The CUNYAC has had some decent teams near the top in recent years, however the two best programs since COVID, John Jay and Baruch, both had coaching changes this offseason and I think that may be reflected in performance early.

It might not be wrong to say the CUNYAC is, right now, the worst league in D3, although, you know, people in glass houses...

It's funny, sometimes, how games work.  I watched Middlebury's games with Skidmore and Union.  Just from the eye test, I would've said Union was better than Middlebury, who was better than Skidmore - and, of course, the results said the opposite.  Obviously they're all pretty evenly matched teams, but it is interesting how these things play out.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 19, 2025, 04:44:49 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on November 18, 2025, 02:23:53 PM

Quote from: ChickenHoops on November 18, 2025, 01:02:57 PMCalvin has some big AA guy who is a stud but was injured last year as well.

I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but this is a pretty great flex.  Just to put it in context, Jalen Overway is a Jack Flynn level post presence for Calvin.  They haven't quite figured out how this group is going to play around him, but he's been consistently great so far this year, coming off a major injury.

Probably more like Levi Borchert. He basically averaged a double double his whole career. Would have had better career numbers if not for the 7-game COVID year. 2020-2023. Flynn is a good comparison, height-wise.

He doesn't play like Borchert, though.  That's more what I was thinking.  You don't see a ton of really big, back to the basket guys at our level.

Quote from: ChickenHoops on November 18, 2025, 01:02:57 PMCalvin has some big AA guy who is a stud but was injured last year as well.

I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but this is a pretty great flex.  Just to put it in context, Jalen Overway is a Jack Flynn level post presence for Calvin.  They haven't quite figured out how this group is going to play around him, but he's been consistently great so far this year, coming off a major injury.

Babson and Endicott are going to end up being "good" losses.  Obviously you'd like to have those wins, but I suspect both of those teams will be 20 game winners or very close to it.

Quote from: Tigerfan on November 16, 2025, 07:15:04 AMThe Jackets did a great defensive job on Zevi Samet - 6 points.  Hw was the Region 3 POY last year and has averaged 22 ppg for his career.  He'll finish his career with well over 2000 points. 

They definitely did a great job keeping him from getting the open threes he thrives on.  He was also hampered by foul trouble and I suspect, given they had to play again in 16 hours, coach rested him at the end when things were already out of hand and he was very frustrated.

Quote from: ChickenHoops on November 14, 2025, 11:48:23 PMI listened to the broadcast from Bloomington of Oshkosh vs. Maryville. Oshkosh won; the announcers seemed to see that as an upset.  Why is that? 

Maryville is ranked.  Oshkosh isn't.  I suspect that's why.

Tufts started the second half really poorly and worked their way back against a good team on the road.  They'll be fine.

Yeshiva was really sloppy in their opener on Wednesday.  I'd expect they'll be pretty locked in, but RMC is perhaps the best team in the country and capitalizing on mistakes, so this could really go one of two ways for the Macs.  They've been anticipating this game for 5+ years, though, so I expect the motivation to be at 100%.

Quote from: TheProvider on November 13, 2025, 03:37:24 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on November 11, 2025, 10:47:45 AMSurprisingly, CNU's admission rate is somewhere in the mid-80s (86% for the class that entered last year per CNU itself).  Of that 86%, only 18% actually enrolled.

FWIW, my daughter got an acceptance letter from CNU recently even though she hadn't applied for admission.

Do you live in Virginia?  That's a state school staple!

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 12, 2025, 10:36:14 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on November 12, 2025, 07:43:25 PMIf past matchups are any indication System vs System basketball is darn near unwatchable!

Now that the game's been archived on watchmidwestsports.com my curiosity is getting the best of me, and I'll probably try watching it just for kicks.

Grinnell had a stellar night.  I didn't get to watch much, but I'm sure, given the result, that a rewatch would be worth the time.  Those shooting stats are out of this world, especially at volume.  You'll still have to sit through a lot of FTs, but you can always fast forward on rewatch!

If past matchups are any indication System vs System basketball is darn near unwatchable!