Wow, that's big news about Ippolito.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the current climate of college basketball, but that's a tough loss for Trinity.

On an unrelated note, Bentley HC Jay Lawson just announced his retirement.  It's probably too late for Nolan Ames to make any changes at this point, but got to feel for the kid as he initially committed to Colby, only to decommit after their coaching change, and now the coach he was planning on playing for is retiring (assuming he did not know about Lawson's plans).

Connor O'Leary transferring from Assumption (D2) to Trinity (CT)

He has not, but he'll be running his Pine Tree Camp out of the Hyde School in Bath this year.

Hoopdirt reported on campus interviews were happening this week at Colby. Hopefully a decision is made soon.

James LaFrance tweeted 4 days ago he was still in the portal. Another tweet said these schools have expressed interest:

"AIC
Barton
Cedarville
Ky. Wesleyan
Loyola New Orleans (NAIA)
Malone
Missouri S&T
STAC

NESCAC & UAA programs also in the mix."


Not sure about any of the others.

Not NESCAC related but St Anselm is dropping from D2 to D3 and joining the NEWMAC for 2027-28 and will be fulltime D3 in 2029-30.  They went 25-8 last year and historically are a pretty solid program at the D2 level.  It will be interesting to see the ripple effect of this change.

It's especially tough considering how stable that position had been prior to Rutigliano being hired - only 2 coaches over 55 years!!

Further highlights how much of a colossal f-up the AD made when unceremoniously firing Strahorn and replacing him with someone who viewed the job as a steppingstone. But I digress...

I found it somewhat interesting that at last night's Zero Gravity College Night series, the 2 remaining Colby assistants were in attendance scouting.  With that and the Ben Miller transfer news, sounds like they are business as usual while they figure out the head coaching situation.

Hoopdirt is reporting the following coaches are associated with the opening at Colby:
former Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin, Army associate head coach Jarren Dyson, Hampden-Sydney associate head coach Bryson Gibson and a current head coach in the Liberty League.  I don't know anything about Dyson and Gibson but a quick search showed no ties to Colby/New England/NESCAC, which is a big concern for me as an alum.  We saw what happened in the short time Rutigliano was there. 

The anonymous head coach in the Liberty League is interesting - wondering if it's RPI's Mark Gilbride?  Bowdoin '02 alum, assistant coach at Amherst when they won the title in '07, and son of former longtime Bowdoin coach Tim Gilbride.

Needless to say, very curious to see what direction the AD goes with this hire.

It goes without saying that this is a huge hire for Colby and the direction of the program.  They've already messed up bigtime with the Strahorn situation that completely fractured the (formerly) very tight alumni base in exchange for hiring a coach to what amounted to ~8 months.  I think everyone knew Rutigliano wasn't the answer for the long haul, though even I didn't anticipate it ending THIS quickly.  Here's hoping they get someone who either has Colby ties, and/or at least a connection to the Maine/New England region, as well as the NESCAC, and lead this team and program for the next decade plus.

Nolan Ames*

Quote from: NEhoops on March 18, 2026, 07:38:23 PMA few other players to recognize:

Colin Tabb: Trinity   
Steve Zieja/Andrew Schiel: Amherst         
Ben Rudin: Middlebury - he deserves credit for taking that program to the next level. His senior year (08-09) was the first of five straight seasons of 24+ wins. 
Troy Whittington - Williams

Crazy to think that Sam Clark at Colby (00-01) was the NESCAC player of the year but wasn't an All-American.

Interesting reporting regarding Rutigliano. Seems unnecessary for an assistant role. No matter how it plays out, it's not helpful for him retaining/recruiting players.

Not sure through which publication but Sam Clark WAS in fact an All-American that year.

The topic of whether Gyimesi is the GOAT at Tufts got me thinking - who are the GOATs at each NESCAC school?  Here's a shot at it.  Would love to hear what everyone thinks, especially those people that are representatives/fans of each school.  Let's not get all offended if someone isn't listed – this isn't meant to be too serious! This is more to discuss each of these great players and hopefully bring out some others who might have been forgotten about!

Amherst – Aaron Toomey
Bates – Herb Taylor (no idea, he's the only All-American that's listed on their website, class of 1984)
Bowdoin – Lucas Hausman (?).  Cuevas is certainly on track if he stays, which seems doubtful. I'll throw my old coach Dick Whitmore into the mix just for fun.
Colby – Matt Hancock
Conn College – Kareem Tatum
Hamilton – Mike Schantz
Middlebury – Alex Sobel
Trinity – Tyler Rhoten, Henry Vetter could be in the mix???
Tufts – Scott Gyimesi
Wesleyan – Leo Jones (?), Shasha Brown (?)
Williams – Mike Nogelo

They look AWFUL.  Cannot make a shot. All out of sorts.

Quote from: jumbomumbo on March 05, 2026, 08:42:23 AM

Quote from: ImTold on March 03, 2026, 04:44:17 PMI'm Told Scott Gyemesi has a broken ankle

I'm told this is incorrect.

So is he playing on Friday??

I agree with D3BBALL on Civello - I think he is the perfect D3 player given his size and skillset.  Going D1 would be a tough adjustment considering his (lack of) athleticism.  He could become a solid player at the Ivy/Patriot league level I'm sure, but I think he would really thrive staying D3. He's got All-American written all over him.

I don't know what his options are or where he is thinking of possibly going, but FWIW, word on the street is when he went to ask Coach Rutigliano about the possibility of entering the portal to explore his options, the Coach told him if he entered he wouldn't take him back.  Which, IMO, is a WILD move by the coach to not only not support him as a player, but possibly not take back a 6'11" player with his skillset!! Especially given Colby underperformed this year. If that is true, that likely means Civello is as good as gone and also a massive, massive blunder by the Colby coach.