MBB: NESCAC

[Greek Tragedy]

Biggest preseason poll margins

2015 #1 Augustana (23) 161 pts over #2 Amherst
2009 #1 Wash U (25) 99 pts over #2 JCU
2004 #1 UWSP (24) 90 pts over #2 IWU
2014 #1 Whitewater (18) 88 pts over #2 Amherst

Wash U only team to be unanimous #1

Only 3 other teams have had 24 1st place votes.

[Greek Tragedy]

Calvin might be good this season. Some hack, who was hurt all last season, returns, I believe.

[el_jefe_90]

@Greek - Slight correction for 2015-16 preseason. Virginia Wesleyan was ranked #2 behind Augustana. Amherst did receive the other two first place votes however.

https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2015-16/preseason

[nescac1]

Greek, is Overway (especially coming off a year's injury absence) > than Egekeze + Varnado?  I'm not sure, probably about a wash.  He's certainly enough for Calvin to be a top 25 team, no doubt! 

Given the probable lack of a consensus number two, I imagine Trinity will have one of the highest-ever margins over whoever number two is (Emory, UChicago, Redlands, Lacrosse all will likely get some votes, at least, along with maybe some others). 

[D3BBALL]

Agree with most of these posts. I break down the league into 3 tiers. Don't really know any of the freshman coming in for anyone, so can't say how that will help any teams. Top 2 teams not sure Freshman will play much.
First tier - 2 Teams
1) Trinity - 8 of their top 10, 80% of minutes, 85% of scoring all coming back. (Vetter, Lazarre, Okorougo no need to discuss all will be in running for POY), While the NESCAC doesn't have a ton of height this year as NESCAC stated, Trinity's 2 bigs both play way taller than they are. Davis so athletic and strong. McDonald smart and just as strong, both tough to score on down low on a consistent basis and both can guard on the perimeter. Will be interesting to see who ends up as the 3rd. They lose Macarchuk, can Norris or some freshman fill those minutes. Everyone will be after them as said above, but this group has not won a NESCAC regular season, has not beaten Williams in the regular season. Their out of conference schedule not great, yet again. But they do play Babson (who beat them last year) and St Joes. They have goals to keep them motivated, like winning a 3rd straight NESCA championship and go to a 3rd straight final 4. They have 4 seniors that could go down as one of the best NESCAC classes ever. Watch out for Berry.
2) Tufts a lot of returners, but they seem to lose some of their big depth. Gyimesi as good as anyone in the league, except when he plays Trinity. Not sure any of their bigs really bother Trinity that much. Tufts as I said this past year will come down to their guard/wing play. Can they score consistently from the outside and can guards/wings defend. Can Bernstein be more consistent especially in NESCAC play. Can Morakis step up against Trinity. They should have all the motivation or more than anyone in the league to beat Trinity. They play Trinity at home, probably will decide the league. Reilly may end up being the best player on this team. I say they beat Trinity at least once this season.

2nd Tier - 5 teams not in any order
3-7) Colby - they can score, can the new coach get them to defend. Civello should be a force with Poulton and watch out for Hinman, can light it up.
3-7) Wesleyan - They still have a lot of talent in Cormier, Hauser, Lyttle, Cameron and Polman and Edleman. They will be very well coached and will have motivation to prove it wasn't just a Johnson/Regan team, similar to Trinity when they lost Gold and Smith. Can they close out games without Johnson and Regan. Watch out for Edelman, if he can find a low post game, will be difficult to defend.
3-7) Williams - a ton of talent, will they play to that level, will they stay healthy. Like Wesleyan lots to prove after a down year for that program. Some of their games were just ugly last year. Hanson as NESCAC stated, will have some advantages playing the 5 handling the ball and playing out in the perimeter, but he won't have the same advantage down low on either end. They weren't a great rebounding team even with Roughley. They do have talented guards and wings and they always seem to bring in Freshman that play right away.
3-7) Bates - just like the make up of this team. They bring back 7 of their top 8 scorers. They have some depth, need to have everyone healthy. They played well down the stretch, they are my sleeper pick to get in top 5. Coyne, Psyhogeos, and Pouye are all very good and Pouye is my sleeper for player of the year.
3-7) Conn - Might be a bubble team for this tier. They lose a lot in Schainfeld, toughness smarts, always played hard, was their glue. Tough to replace a player like this. They do have Espinosa, but he can't do it alone and not a great defender. Look for Watson and Clar to pick it up if they are to stay in this tier.

3rd Tier
4 teams fighting for 1 spot, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Hamilton, Amherst. Not in any order
Bowdoin, best Freshman last year, can he get some help, they need height and strength up front.
Middlebury - New coach, can they stay healthy. Can McKersie stay healthy and impact the game on both ends down low. Lose a lot in Brennan, not scoring, but a lot of intangibles. They will need someone to step up and help Joseph and Cwalina with scoring.
Hamilton - Huge loss in Morgan, now a very much unproven roster. Morgan was the only player on the team that scored more than 10 points a game in conference play and teams were throwing doubles at him a lot, so there were lots of opportunities for others and none could step up consistently. Who is going to step up this year, when teams won't have to play off these players. Keyhani, Rideout, will lead but just too many question marks.
Amherst - played well down the stretch and had a shot to take the lead against Wesleyan with 1 minute to play in first round of playoffs. But they lost 5 seniors who played and lose 5 out of their top 8 scorers. Coach plays around with lineups and minutes way too much to breed consistent play.

[D3BBALL]

Greek, is Overway (especially coming off a year's injury absence) > than Egekeze + Varnado?  I'm not sure, probably about a wash.  He's certainly enough for Calvin to be a top 25 team, no doubt! 

Given the probable lack of a consensus number two, I imagine Trinity will have one of the highest-ever margins over whoever number two is (Emory, UChicago, Redlands, Lacrosse all will likely get some votes, at least, along with maybe some others). 

Agree with NESCAC on Calvin. Overway is very good, but they were down close to 15 against Trinity before he was injured and I think he had 1 field goal. He will need help and players to replace Egekeze and Varnado for Calvin to be elite.

[nescac1]

While we are waiting for rosters and such to be posted, a bit of recruiting news from the class of 2030 - here are the commitments I've seen so far:

Amherst:

Hunter Stoll, 6'7 F, Choate
Dempsey Gonya, 6'4 G, St. Ann's (NY)
Grant Moses, 6'2 G, Meadows School (NV) (I wonder if he is related to former Amherst star Dan Moses)

Bowdoin:

Zach Baum, 6'8 C, Noble and Greenough


Connecticut College:

Sam Clachko, 5'11 G, Staples


Wesleyan:

Packy Doherty, 6'2 G, Scranton Prep (PA)


Williams:

Joseph Terreri, 6'7 F, Hill School (PA)
Gavin Dodge, 6'5 G, Acalanes H.S. (CA)

[toad22]

A couple of comments on Williams. First, D3BBALL had it right that the the Ephs need to avoid injuries. Last year, and the year before as well, the season was severely impacted by injury. If they can avoid so many bad injuries, they should be very good, and very deep. Alex Lee and Hudson Hansen will be the senior leaders. Both had good junior seasons, and look to be improved, based on scrimmages I have observed. Other seniors who will be very helpful, are Sammy Cooley and Isiaha Dickens. There is also a chance that Onyera Chibuogwu, a junior year walk-on will see significant time. Most everybody calls him O, and he has come out this year with fire in his eyes. He is a very tough, explosive guard, who love to play against tough opponents.

Look for both juniors, neither of whom have played many minutes in their careers, to make strong bids for playing time. Tyler Van Gorp is a 6'10" center, who came to Williams with only a couple of years of basketball under his belt. He has improved each year, and now I believe that he could be a strong back up. Matt Devine has been hurt for nearly all of his first two seasons. He seems to be healthy now, and playing great in scrimmages. He is a 6'4" G/F with outstanding athleticism. He shoots the 3 well, and seems to me to be the best 1-1 and 3-3 player on the team. The only question is whether he can play 5-5 as well. To be determined.

There are three sophomores that played a lot last year. Aiden Yates started from the beginning of the league season onward. As a starter, he averaged in double figures, while shooting 41% from 3 and 46% from 2. I see him as a future All League player. Jackson Rein is a 6'7" wing, who had a good FY season, but with many ups and downs, as befits most freshmen. Rein has come back to school very much improved. He is a lot stronger, perhaps a bit taller, with a much improved shot, both from the midrange and from 3. Rein should be a very significant player this year. Justin Belcher, a very quick guard, should play a lot. He shoots and scores well, and loves to play aggressive defense - in his first year, sometimes a bit overly aggressive. The last sophomore that seems to have a good chance to play this year is Matthew Nachamkin, a 6'7" wing with a great shooting touch and fine overall basketball skills. He has looked great in scrimmages.

I'm not going to single out First Year players. As a group, these five are very talented and I expect great things for all of them. There is not a single one that I doubt will be on the court during their careers, perhaps several this year. There are no "program players" in this group.

 I hope, and expect, that Williams will be severely underrated to start this season.

[nescac1]

The D3 hoops top 25 is out and, unsurprisingly, Trinity is an overwhelming choice for number one (I'm only surprised that they were not a unanimous selection).  NESCAC did very well (and I think the voters did a good job assessing NESCAC teams) overall with Trinity 1, Tufts 4, Wesleyan 13, Williams just missing the top 25 at 26, and Hamilton at 32.  Of those, Wesleyan seems maybe 10 spots too high given two all-American players departing, but as a returning final four team with nearly everyone else back plus a strong incoming class, giving them the benefit of the doubt seems appropriate. Trinity and Tufts have both posted their rosters and both look absolutely loaded this year, clearly the national favorite and a top contender, respectively, as expected. 

https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2025-26/preseason

Other notable New England teams - WPI at 19, St. Joseph (CT) at 25, St. Joseph (ME) at 27 (seems slightly low they bring a ton back from a very good team), Keene at 48.  Again, seems fair, although I'd be surprised if Keene does that well considering their massive losses to graduation.  Albertus Magnus seems like a dark horse in New England with some huge incoming transfers bolstering a decent returning core.

If I was ranking the region 1 and 2 teams (combined), I think I'd go with something like 1. Trinity, 2. Tufts, 3. WPI, 4. St. Joseph (ME), 5. Williams, 6, Wesleyan, 7. AMC, 8. St. Joseph (CT).  With Keene, UMass Dartmouth, Hamilton, and Babson as other teams to watch. 

 

[nescac1]

Unless there are guys they for some reason haven't posted, Amherst basketball (based on IG posts) will have a very small (both in numbers and size) roster this year.  After years of playing huge front courts, it appears Amherst has only one center on the roster, a 6'10 FY, with neither Charlie Randall nor 6'10 Giovanni Tam mentioned in the social media posts.  It seems like Amherst has only seven returning players, and is bringing in five players (including a D1 transfer guard), all but one 6'4 and under. 

On the plus side, with only a 12-man roster, on average maybe 10 guys will be available per night so Sears won't be tempted to play massive rotations.  And also, all the Amherst fans who have been calling for more pacey guard-centric offenses will certainly get their wish, especially with at least two capable lead guards (Garraud and Shin) leading the way plus the first year Neville seems like he can play as a lead guard as well.  And I think Hammond may benefit offensively from playing up at the 4.  But wow Amherst is gonna be small, with very little rim protection especially in contrast to the last few seasons, and the FY center as the only interior player will likely need to play big minutes. And there is very little margin for error with injuries especially up front.   

[stlawus]

Unless there are guys they for some reason haven't posted, Amherst basketball (based on IG posts) will have a very small (both in numbers and size) roster this year.  After years of playing huge front courts, it appears Amherst has only one center on the roster, a 6'10 FY, with neither Charlie Randall nor 6'10 Giovanni Tam mentioned in the social media posts.  It seems like Amherst has only seven returning players, and is bringing in five players (including a D1 transfer guard), all but one 6'4 and under. 

On the plus side, with only a 12-man roster, on average maybe 10 guys will be available per night so Sears won't be tempted to play massive rotations.  And also, all the Amherst fans who have been calling for more pacey guard-centric offenses will certainly get their wish, especially with at least two capable lead guards (Garraud and Shin) leading the way plus the first year Neville seems like he can play as a lead guard as well.  And I think Hammond may benefit offensively from playing up at the 4.  But wow Amherst is gonna be small, with very little rim protection especially in contrast to the last few seasons, and the FY center as the only interior player will likely need to play big minutes. And there is very little margin for error with injuries especially up front.   

Ironically, I think this could help Amherst.  My number 1 tenet/philosophy of d3 hoops is size for the sake of size tends to not work out the way you want it to.  If you have someone above 6'8" at the d3 level they usually have to be an elite rim protector/rebounder and/or someone who can shoot above a 30% clip from the arc.  The latter is especially extremely rare and usually comes with poor defense. None of the bigs I saw the past few years at Amherst were difference makers in this regard.  Randall was a decent shooter but didn't give them much on defense.  The other two bigs just didn't have the impact they should have on defense.  Of course, a lot of this comes down to coaching or a lack thereof which I have frequently mentioned with Amherst, but changing things up a bit in terms of personnel is probably worth trying.

[jayhawk]

Have been very frustrated with Amherst and coaching. That said curious about several of the freshman including the 6'5' Brandon Margolin who may be a tough small forward. The freshman   Ryan Hempfling is 6'10' 220 lb center from one of the best basketball prep schools in the country , Blair Academy. Unusual is that he is rated on ESPN basketall recruit rating,
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/258905/ryan-hempfling
I believe unusual for a D3 player to be rated by ESPN. I am sure someone will write about others