MBB: NESCAC

[SpringSt7]

Nolan Ames*

Oops - fixed, where did I get Miles from?

[NEhoops]

NESCAC connections to Maine Mr. Basketball award winners 

2026   Nolan Ames - Camden Hills --- Colby   
2016   Nick Gilpin - Hampden Academy --- Bates College   
2003   Zak Ray - Bangor --- Bates   
1991   Matt Gaudet - Mountain Valley --- Colby

[D3BBALL]

Sam Norris from Trinity NCAA top academic athlete award at final 4! Congrats

[SpringSt7]

There will be no repeat as Trinity loses an absolute heartbreaker against Mary Washington. They led by 16 at half, and 7 at the under 4 timeout but never made another FG.

Unfortunately all of the little things that we had worried about for the Bants popped up all at once. Berry made some terrific plays off of the bench in place of Ayles but had a few costly turnovers down the stretch as well. Cosgrove had McDonald in for Davis late and he couldn't come down with a defensive rebound that Davis certainly would have grabbed that turned into the eventual game winning 3. Trinity shot 7-29 from 3 and 1-13 in the second half. Vetter and Okorougo just weren't dynamic enough as scorers to overcome the shortcomings of their personnel.

An unbelievable run for Trinity the last 3 years and an all time senior class that deserves to be celebrated and will in due time I am sure but that was a heartbreaker

[D3BBALL]

Cosgrove had to have coached his worst half of basketball maybe in his entire life. How he continued to let that first team just chuck up bad shot after bad shot after bad shot.

[D3BBALL]

There will be no repeat as Trinity loses an absolute heartbreaker against Mary Washington. They led by 16 at half, and 7 at the under 4 timeout but never made another FG.

Unfortunately all of the little things that we had worried about for the Bants popped up all at once. Berry made some terrific plays off of the bench in place of Ayles but had a few costly turnovers down the stretch as well. Cosgrove had McDonald in for Davis late and he couldn't come down with a defensive rebound that Davis certainly would have grabbed that turned into the eventual game winning 3. Trinity shot 7-29 from 3 and 1-13 in the second half. Vetter and Okorougo just weren't dynamic enough as scorers to overcome the shortcomings of their personnel.

An unbelievable run for Trinity the last 3 years and an all time senior class that deserves to be celebrated and will in due time I am sure but that was a heartbreaker

Trinity lost the game way before that play. It didn't come down to one play. Came down to the first 10 minutes the second half where they didn't take one good shot. That is on Cosgrove.
The first team gave away an 11 point
Leading to start the second half, 2nd gave them back a  5 point lead and starters gave it back.

[SpringSt7]

Of course it didn't come down to one play but it was a 7 point game with 4 minutes left. So it's natural that the analysis starts from there. I agree that the shot selection was poor but the reality is that they really did not have anyone who could create off of the dribble and get into the paint nearly the entire season. Honestly, Jared Berry was their most capable on ball creator he is just not a very good decision maker. Lazarre is an undersized boom or bust jump shooter. I feel like a little silly for being so pro Vetter when he really couldn't drive by anyone all season and it all reared its head tonight at once, just really unfortunate. They did not play a good offensive game for weeks so to say they lost tonight because of shot selection feels a little hollow to me. If they grabbed one rebound they are playing Emory and maybe they could've had two weeks to do something about the offense.

They deserve a ton of credit for making it as far as they did despite these shortcomings. It honestly feels like they made it to the Final Four and won the NESCAC off of sheer force of will more than anything basketball related besides a really good defense

[D3BBALL]

Agree only Berry consistently tried to take it to the rim. The first team was all one on one stuff way too much. First team had 4 assists second team had 4 assists in a lot less minutes.
But sometimes Cosgrove has to figure it out and change it up offensively. Defense is elite as you say but have to coach offense.
But it was the starters who lost the game. I would have had McDonald and Davis in at the end.

[D3BBALL]

3 straight Final Fours for Trinity. One or two games away from having some uncomfortable conversations that Willimas/Amherst fans do not want to have...

Guess with trinity's loss yesterday, all 3 now can make an argument.

[toad22]

As a very long time observer of Williams basketball, it is my view that truly great seasons are about making the Final Four. Sure, there are big goals short of that, like the NESCAC championship, making the NCAA tournament, and in our case, winning the Little Three, or winning 20 games. There are lots of smaller goals as well. For example, Mike Maker always made it a goal for his teams to make more foul shots than our opponents takes. Now my comments are all from the point of view of a fan. I have learned that coaches have different perspectives. Coaching is their career. Their relationship with their players, past and present, means so much to them, other factors are very important to them beyond winning and losing. The fan usually just wants to win, no matter what. As a fan, that's where I am. As a friend of the coaches, my view changes. I am writing as a crazy fan.

I am very pleased for our players and coaches when we get to the round of 16, or 8. However, I reserve the term "great season" for one where we get to the Final Four. You in really rarified air at the Final Four. Winning it all is great, so is getting to the final game, but just getting there defines greatness for me. It is so hard to get there. Anything more is just the cherry on top of the chocolate sunday. Trinity has done it three times in a row now. That is real greatness in a program.

[toad22]

I seem to want to write about basketball today. I was thinking about why winning programs seem to keep winning and weaker programs seem to struggle to get better. Certainly there are a few factors: first, the level of institutional support. Does the college or university give the basketball program the players and support necessary to be good. Second, coaching, including recruiting and actual coaching. I have asked a lot of coaches the question of how much winning and losing is the result of recruiting, and how much is coaching. The answers varied a bit, but all were between 70-90% recruiting over coaching. The average was around 80% I would guess. Recruiting, of course, is a combination of the coach convincing good players to come, and admissions admitting them. A third factor, mostly overlooked, is the fact that good teams get to practice and play games for many more weeks each year. Using Williams and Trinity as examples, this year Williams' season ended on February 14th, with our win over Amherst. Trinity's season ended yesterday, March 21st. That gave Trinity five more weeks of practice, and seven more games. Last year Trinity had four more weeks of practice and seven more games. Taken over a four year cycle, that is 4-5 more months of practice for a player in the program, and many more games. I think this is a somewhat hidden reason good programs tend to stay good and weak have trouble rising.

[JEFFFAN]

For me, Aaron Toomey is the Amherst GOAT but Andrew Olson is obviously also a solid choice.

For the related question of the Amherst Mount Rushmore, I think I would currently have it as Toomey, Olson, Willy Workman and John Bedford, with honorable mention to Brian Baskauskas. But I only started following NESCAC basketball in 2001 so I cannot evaluate Wilson or Rehnquist.

Toomey might be the Amherst GOAT - no argument for me - but when asked, Hixon stated that not only was Rehnquist the Amherst GOAT but also the best basketball player he had ever seen at the D3 level.  Lot of praise for a guy who either played or coached D3 from 1971 until his retirement five years ago. 

[Colby Hoops]

https://x.com/hoopdirt/status/2035846401003811305?s=46

Linton in the mix for the Dartmouth job. Feel like the earlier conversation about him missed out on the fact that recruiting is the most important part of the job -- he's done about as well as you can do on that front in the Nescac.

[nescac1]

This really could be one of the craziest and most uncertain NESCAC off-seasons we've had (or maybe just part for the course now in college hoops, this is nothing compared to the uncertainty D1 teams face basically every year):

Will Cuevas, Civello and Watson return or get picked up from the portal?  They are each critical, all-league players for teams in the middle of this year's standings.  And will anyone else test the portal (only a few more guys who really even could, realistically, at this point).  If they do not return, next year's all-league squad and POTY contenders looks as wide open as its ever been.   

Will Rutigliano and/or Linton end up moving up to D1, and if so, where does that leave those programs?

And it's already quite a transition year for NESCAC.  Trinity loses its top three guys and its top reserve from a core that has dominated the league for three years.  Are there young guys ready to step up who have been patiently waiting their turn?  Tufts will no matter what feature a very different look with its two star big guys graduating, but there is a lot of firepower on the perimeter returning.  Wesleyan is probably the most stable of the big three but does lose two starters including an all-league point guard as well as a steady sixth man who has been all-league in his career.  I think those three still go into next year as the co-favorites, but all of them will be very different teams who could easily fall back into the pack a bit. 

Amherst and Bates made big leaps and return some of the best players in the conference, but Amherst loses its two frontcourt starters from a pretty thin group and Bates loses its top shooters, also from a pretty thing group.  After both made their first tourney appearance in years, will that prove to be a one-year blip?

For Middlebury, do they make strides in the new coaching regime?  What does his first recruiting class look like?  Does Tristan Joseph return?  Can Williams rebound from an unusual two-year streak of erratic play (especially offensively) and look more like the Williams of old?  Can the Ephs find some guards who can score, and can they ever stay healthy for a full season?   

Hamilton and Bowdoin seem likely to be the bottom of the league (assuming Cuevas goes D1, which feels pretty safe to assume), but after that, I think it will be a wildly unpredictable year, especially if some of the coaches / players noted above do not return.

Overall, I'd be stunned if NESCAC runs up the type of non-league record next year that it would need to get five teams into the tourney.  Four might end up being a stretch as the league-wide NPI won't benefit (almost certainly) from three top-ten national teams next season.   

[el_jefe_90]

There has certainly been talk about the best 3 year run a NESCAC school has had. In my opinion, it is certainly between Amherst, Trinity and Williams. Here's what I think are the schools best three year runs:

Amherst: 2006 to 2008 and 2012 to 2014
2006 - 28-4, NESCAC Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA Final Four (4th Place)
2007 - 30-2, NESCAC Regular Season Champions, NESCAC Tournament Runner Up, NCAA National Champions
2008 - 27-4, NESCAC Regular Season Champions, NESCAC Tournament Semifinals, NCAA National Runner Up
85-10 overall record

2012 - 26-3, NESCAC Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA Sweet 16
2013 - 30-2, NESCAC Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA National Champions
2014 - 27-4, NESCAC Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA Final Four
83-9 overall record

Trinity: 2024 to 2026
2024 - 30-2, NESCAC Tournament Champions, NCAA Final Four
2025 - 30-3, NESCAC Tournament Champions, NCAA National Champions
2026 - 29-3, NESCAC Tournament Champions, NCAA Final Four
89-7 overall record

Williams: 2002 to 2004
2002 - 22-6, NCAA Second Round
2003 - 31-1, NESCAC Tournament Champions, NCAA National Champions
2004 - 30-2, NESCAC Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA National Runner Up
83-9 Overall Record

I would say for three years, Trinity has the best run with Amherst's first run following that. Both had three straight Final Four appearances. While Amherst went to back to back title games, Trinity winning 3 straight conference tournaments, all of them on the road, has to be accounted for. That Amherst run only accounted for 1 NESCAC tournament championship. For Amherst's second run, losing in the Sweet 16 that first year I think hurt them. Fans might remember they had to go to Franklin & Marshall despite being a better seed. I think the Amherst women hosting might have had something to do with that.

The best two year run still might be the Williams runs in 2003 and 2004. 61-3 record. Two NESCAC tournament championships and were essentially one great shot away from going back to back for National Champions (I think the game was tied before the shot, but you never know what would've happened in OT). Maybe they had some better runs in the '90s, but none of them got a National Championship, or a conference tournament championship for that matter since those didn't start until 2001.

Fun stuff to look back on!