Cuevas to Brown...how are we feeling?

Quote from: el_jefe_90 on March 09, 2026, 02:31:26 PMWanted to shoutout Amherst, Trinity, Tufts and Wesleyan for their first round wins and the latter three for their second round wins. It was a tough weekend for all but glad to see 3 teams advance to the Sweet 16. Hoping Gyimesi can play but Bernstein has been unbelievable as of late!
I'm really looking forward to that Hood/Trinity matchup. Hood is a great offensive squad that usually wins their rebounding matchups. Yarbrough certainly looks like the real deal! Sometimes these matchups end in runaways but I'm thinking this one will be competitive. Trinity I believe will win as long as Okorougo is healthy enough to go.

As a Liberty League fan, I can give some color on Trinity's matchup against Hood. Hood has probably one of the most explosive offenses in the country, 4th in d3datacast offensive efficiency. Everything runs through Yarbrough...but don't let that fool you. Any of their starters is capable of going for 20+ points. Their offense is really fascinating and their coach draws up amazing ATO's. Not sure what Trinity does defensively, but Hood does a great job of attacking switches off the ball. Defensively, they don't really care if you score. And like mentioned, they tend to win their rebounding matchups by crashing like madmen.

Trinity can and should win. However, they cannot get caught up playing Hood's game. Nobody plays run & gun better than them (the reason why they've made it so far despite being terrible defensively). Trinity has to slow the game down and play at their own pace, while also keeping their preferred matchups on defense. If Trinity holds Hood to under 75 points, it should result in a win. Vassar was able to maintain control in the first half by doing so. A 10-0 run in the first minute of the second half blew the game open. So like I said, Trinity is winning this game by defending, not by scoring.

Aside from that, I would love to see another Trinity/Wesleyan matchup. Regardless of who wins that one, it would be a cool Final Four story potentially against NESCAC alum Shane Regan to head to the national championship.

Happy awards day. Here are my predictions, let's see how many I get right.

First Team:
Jack Plesser (POTY)
Shea Fitzgerald
Tanner Tedesco
Adam Dudzinski
Evan Cabral

Second Team:
Parker Neuenhaus
Andrew Deppe
PJ Scalisi
Braeden Burns
Matthew Zenker

Third Team:
Dan Anderson
Alex Moesch
Jacob Gooden (ROTY)
Josiah Turner
Paki/Dufort/Garside/Feeks/Denham

Some notes. That last spot really depends on what the coaches value. Paki had the most productive season out of those 5 individually, but was on the worst team. Dufort, Garside, Denham, and Feeks were all important supporting cast on the most consistent regular season times, so can't go wrong with any of them. I believe that Neuenhaus played himself into some first team conversations, however, wasn't consistent enough to start the year. Cabral had somewhat of an opposite trajectory, as he started the season off being in POY conversation but regressed slightly (mostly due to his injury). Aside from that, there is a chance Roy makes a team over Gooden, given that Roy played the whole season and improved as the season went on (although 35/25/77 splits don't help his case). Anderson and Zenker could also be flipped, can't go wrong with either on either team. As I've said previously, the DPOTY award is a toss up. Likely going to one of the RPI or Vassar guards.

While on paper it would seem that an RPI player should win DPOY, I'd have to disagree. As great as their team defense is, the one thing it lacks is a Dom Black-esque defender. This RPI team lacks the ability to shutdown an elite perimeter scorer. Players like Tedesco (averages 21.5ppg vs RPI), Fitzgerald (24ppg vs RPI), Gooden (20ppg vs RPI), Moesch (20ppg vs RPI), and Anderson (20pts vs RPI), to name some, have all scored well above their average against them. If it were to be an RPI player, I would vote Deppe. While he doesn't put up any flashy stats, he does a great job of guarding some of the leagues best interior players. Regardless, this goes to show how much of a toss up this award will be this year. 

Now that we are heading into the final weekend of regular season play, I think it's time we should start talking about awards. Let's start off with player of the year.

Although Plesser has pretty much sealed the deal (and well deserving of course), I believe that the conversation still has to be had. This conversation needs to start with his partner in crime, Tanner Tedesco. Tedesco is the motor of Union's offense and everything runs through him. One could argue that without Tedesco, Plesser is not scoring nearly as many points per game, as Tedesco is leading the league in assists and 11th in the country. Union's lack of a secondary ball handler is evident to how important Tedesco is to his team. However, if the conversation is to be had about importance to their respective team, then Fitzgerald is making his case for a back-to-back. The Brewers have been without their leading scorer, Avery Lee, for the whole new year, and Fitzgerald has shouldered the Vassar offense. Although his numbers aren't what they were last year, his in-conference numbers are still up there and he is also a plus defender (which Plesser and Tedesco aren't). Whoever gets it will surely be deserving, but I rest my case with Tedesco.

As for DPOTY, there isn't a clear top dog. If we look at the league's patterns with this award in the past, they usually lean towards the league leader in steals. If they follow this logic this year, it will go to Anderson or Cabral. While Cabral is a great one on one defender, Ithaca's defense is so sub-par that it would be an interesting choice to give it to him. SLU's defense is elite, however, they don't prove anything one on one given that they play a zone in 100% of their possessions (and Anderson averages half the steals of the last SLU player that won the award). The same goes for Dudzinski, who is the leader in steals + blocks, but doesn't prove anything as a lockdown defender in their zone. Nonetheless, I think he is the most likely to win it. If we are strictly talking lockdown one on one defenders, then the case needs to be made for Karaguezian from Vassar. He is the top perimeter defender on the top defensive team in the conference (according to d3datacast), and he is matched up with the opposing teams best guard every game in a guard heavy conference. He has shut down Tedesco (3/14 FG & win, 6/15 FG & win), Gooden (3/17 FG & win), and Anderson (2/5 & win), just to name a few examples. He is also ninth in steals per game. Again, whoever gets it will be deserving, but there are many interesting cases to be made with no clear top dog leading the pack.


As for ROTY, there really shouldn't be a debate here. Although this is a fairly strong class, with Abernethy, Phelan, and Driscoll all having good rookie seasons, Gooden has shut this conversation down. Even with missing the last 5 (and assuming the next 2 + playoffs), the gap between Gooden and the next rookie is too drastic to make a case for anyone else.

Does anyone know why Skidmore and Union didn't play last night? If I remember correctly, something similar happened last year with Skidmore and RPI

WPI89- it's kind of a tale of two ends with SR: they are one of the best Catch and Shoot teams in the country, but their 3-0 start to league may be eye candy. Wins over Emerson, MIT, and Clark don't move me as much as WPIs start. However, keep an eye on potential NEWMAC POY (and potential All American) Jack Margoupis. He is a mismatch nightmare, and if WPI couldn't even handle Dudzinski from SLU, not sure how they will handle him. As much as I would love to tune in to this marquee matchup, I will be away from the area and I am personally boycotting FloSports. Will be tuned into the box score though.

Am I missing something? All this talk about Okorougo, Lazarre, Pouye, Cuevas, etc for being POTY - well deserved, of course - yet, there is no talk about the season Henry Vetter is having. Second leading scorer on ridiculous efficiency (52/46/88), while taking every teams best shot. Vetter is usually handling the other teams best defender. If Trinity wins out, and Vetter keeps this efficiency up, we shouldn't even be having this discussion. Cuevas has outstanding numbers, but they must win games. Reminds me of an interesting situation from a season ago...

Great wins for Vassar over the weekend, got improved production from the bench following the Lee injury. The first road league games are going to be the real test though. Union has looked very strong and RIT is an extremely capable team, both will be tough wins for the Brewers. They'll be looking for improved offensive production from guards Shea Fitzgerald and Sebastian Medina while looking to keep up flashes of the high level defending displayed this weekend. At 0-3 in away games this year it is still left to be seen whether this group can perform on the road, this will be a make or break weekend for Vassar's chances of winning the league.