Ames off the board to Bentley - definitely a tough loss for Colby.

Two more to add, both from Salem State, both freshman.

Raheim Orleans - 6'8" big man that was 2nd Team All-MASCAC this year after averaging 13.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game on 65.3% shooting from the floor.

Jamel Walker - 6'3" guard that averaged 13.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Shooting is a question mark, 14.0% from three on 43 attempts.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 25, 2026, 01:18:47 PM

Quote from: nescac1 on March 25, 2026, 11:06:07 AMSoren Richardson vs. Ray Cuevas is an interesting all-American debate and I think Cuevas deserved a slight edge there (although it's hardly egregious, they were very, very close).  Their stats are almost identical, about as identical across the board as two players can be.  Both were the overwhelming focus of opposing defenses on mediocre teams in strong leagues.  But Cuevas did it in a conference with a substantially higher NPI this season, indicating that he faced somewhat tougher competition (especially on defense, NESCAC had teams 1, 3, 7, 16, 21, 36 and 43 among the defensive NPI ratings, CCIW had 6, 44, and no one else in the top 100).  In his six games against teams in the top 21 nationally in terms of defensive rating (including two vs. number one Trinity), Cuevas averaged right around 20 points. 

Richardson  - 22.4/4.2/2.8 on 48/36/84 splits plus 1.5 spg
Cuevas - 22.2/4.4/2.6 on 49/45/81 splits plus 1 spg

And just to prove I'm not showing my NESCAC bias here, as awesome a year that Shane Regan had, I would have swapped him onto the second team and Kye Robinson (or maybe even Zamet) onto the first. Robinson is just that good.  Very, very, very tough year for guards, Zamet, Geiger and Robinson all had legit first-team all-American years, and Vetter, Yarbrough, and Barnette are all guys who would have been higher up in the pecking order plenty of other seasons. 

You're right.  It's splitting hairs, for sure, at that point.  You've got, honestly, 10-12 guards who all are perfectly deserving.  For my part, when I've watched him, I've not been super enamored with Cuevas' defense - also, against good teams, when his shots aren't falling, he's not been super capable of scoring in other ways.  He's quite versatile against lesser defenses, but overly reliant on outside shooting against good defenses.

I know, super nitpicky, but that's kind of where we land at the end of these things.

As for Dartmouth, I think if Kosmalski wants it, he'll be ahead of all the d3 candidates.  We've seen - and in talking to coaches, they believe - you need to have a D1 job on your resume to get the D1 look.  So much of the hiring process is about perception now, "top D1 assistant" looks better to local media (who may not understand d3) than "top d3 HC."

This is the path we saw Shane Loeffler take from Hopkins to Cincinnati to Loyola.  It seems to be the path Landry is looking for as well.  I think he gets a HC gig this summer, whether it's Dartmouth or not.  The people hiring know his abilities from Swarthmore and the resume is burnished with the year at Campbell.

Wouldn't Linton qualify here with the 5 years at Army? Or are you specifically saying that the path is to make the jump directly from your D1 experience to the D1 head coaching level? Get it either way, but would have to think Linton's 5 years at Army look as good as Kosmalski's 1 at Campbell, no?

Quote from: D3BALL13 on March 25, 2026, 03:25:10 PMI think Tyler Ackley is someone who deserves consideration for the Colby job. He's done an impressive job rebuilding Saint Joseph's College of Maine into a consistent contender (back to back championships) in the GNAC while also changing the entire culture of the program in just a couple of years. He was also part of a top-5 team at Colby College, contributing to that program's success alongside Damian Strahorn. He has carried the experience and basketball expertise he gained from legendary Nebraska Wesleyan coach, Dale Wellman wherever he has gone and showed that he can make a difference, whether it is in one year as an assistant at Colby or what he has done the past five years at SJC. I know he isn't the "D1" guy but he is most definitely capable of bringing Colby to the next level.

I do think Ackley has done a good job at St. Joe's - particularly over the last three years.

I also think you're overselling the "cultural turnaround" just a bit. In the 40 years prior to Ackley getting the job, St. Joe's had a .672 winning percentage. The coach prior to him went 275-190 (.591) and was a 3x GNAC Coach of the Year. The coach prior to that went 466-176 (.726) and was the league's coach of the year 10x. If anything, Ackley (86-54, .614) has continued the proud tradition of Monks basketball. (Shout out to the old GNAC - anyone who knows about those 2010 through 2019 Albertus teams, plus a couple of unreal groups from Johnson & Wales, knows what I'm talking about).

Now - Ackley's connection to Colby and prior success at Nebraska Wesleyan, in combination with what he's done at St. Joe's, certainly beef up that resume.

I'd expect there to be TONS of interest in the position and hope Colby can make less of a near-sighted decision this time around - that program has everything it needs to succeed for quite some time if it gets the right person in those doors this summer.

Octavio Brito, the NABC Division III National Player of the Year.

Heck of a way for the Keene State star to cap off his career.

Named LEC Rookie of the Year as a freshman, then followed that up with three 1st Team All-LEC selections, three All-America selections, and an LEC Player of the Year award.

Quote from: nescac1 on March 18, 2025, 02:23:14 PMI've never seen Westfield play but their FY who won ROTY must be really good to beat out Ray Cuevas, who lit it up as a rookie the way few in NESCAC can do. 

I get that this is a NESCAC board, and yeah, Cuevas was the league's ROTY, but it probably wasn't even that close regarding Cuevas/Rogers. In fact, I'd think an arguement could be made that Cuevas would've been third in a voting behind both Rogers and St. Joe's (ME) Silvano Ismail, particularly given that the latter two helped lead their teams to NCAA Tournament births.

On top of that, Rogers was not only the MASCAC ROTY, but also the league's Co-POTY, which I'm sure held some weight.

Cuevas:25 G / 371 PTS / 15.5 PPG / 41.1% FG / 38.3% 3PT / 3.7 RPG / 1.8 APG / 19 STL (Bowdoin 11-13)

Rogers: 28 G / 517 PTS / 18.5 PPG / 45.1% FG / 31.5% 3PT / 8.9 RPG / 3.8 APG / 47 STL (Westfield 21-7)

Ismail: 27 G / 445 PTS / 16.5 PPG / 56.4% FG / 42.6% 3PT / 6.7 RPG / 4.4 APG / 50 STL (St. Joe's 24-5)

Regardless, Region I had a loaded group of first-years!

https://thegnac.com/sports/mbkb/2024-25/releases/24-25MBBPreseasonPoll

It appears that rosters are starting to trickle out, at least at Keene and Castleton, which means the season can't be far away.

With that in mind, here are (what I believe to be) the three most significant off-season developments in the Little East.

1. Brito's return to Keene State.
This one should be obvious. While they have a new coach, getting back a potential 1st team all-American is about as big of a boost as you could ask for. On top of that, Keene retained Siow-Jean Baptiste-Aronson-Odiase and brought in a few potential impact first years and transfers. The Little East still runs through Keene, NH.

2. Dartmouth's roster continuity.
Word out of southern Massachusetts is that Dartmouth's roster returns mostly intact. The Corsairs had one of the deeper perimeter units in the league last year and the potential return of Lopes-Boyd-Marcille-Percy-Leonard should have them near the top of the league standings. Add in Flauto and a full year of Dunbury and these guys could be really good.

3. Sanicola steps away from Southern Maine.
After a 3-year stint at Southern Maine, including back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 30 years, Sanicola departed for a job in the G-League. That's a tough loss for a program that looked like it was starting to build something. It sounds like their roster is mostly intact and will be interesting to see how the group adjusts under their new head coach.

Things are quite elsewhere, but will be interesting to see if East Conn or UMass Boston can turn it around and what Coach Ferry was able to do with his first recruiting class at RIC.