MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Trinity seems to be recruiting a lot of guys right on the edge of D1.  You obviously get huge talent in that way, but you can also lose guys very late in the recruiting cycle (worst ever in that regard was back when Williams lost Miye Oni to Yale) or after a year or two as transfers.  But when it works out, you get four years of Vetter and Okorougo and a chip! Trinity still has a loaded incoming class, but with so many wings fighting for minutes I doubt all of them stick around for four years. 

It's very hard to be very heavily reliant on transfers in D3 without grad programs.  NYU, Case and Chicago dramatically raised the ceiling of their programs thanks largely to grad transfers. Even among those, only NYU has the juice to make it a permanent program builder. Trine had a huge title year thanks in part to undergrad transfers but I think the big one was the brother of a guy already in program.  I agree that the odds of a NESCAC program vaulting into contention with transfers is very slender, just too hard to find guaranteed impact guys who aren't grad transfers, but they can help at the margins as gap fillers.  For example, Amherst had a massive hole at the 5 and the center they are bringing in from F&M will give them a guy who makes them competitive at that position. 

[stlawus]

Trinity seems to be recruiting a lot of guys right on the edge of D1.  You obviously get huge talent in that way, but you can also lose guys very late in the recruiting cycle (worst ever in that regard was back when Williams lost Miye Oni to Yale) or after a year or two as transfers.  But when it works out, you get four years of Vetter and Okorougo and a chip! Trinity still has a loaded incoming class, but with so many wings fighting for minutes I doubt all of them stick around for four years. 

It's very hard to be very heavily reliant on transfers in D3 without grad programs.  NYU, Case and Chicago dramatically raised the ceiling of their programs thanks largely to grad transfers. Even among those, only NYU has the juice to make it a permanent program builder. Trine had a huge title year thanks in part to undergrad transfers but I think the big one was the brother of a guy already in program.  I agree that the odds of a NESCAC program vaulting into contention with transfers is very slender, just too hard to find guaranteed impact guys who aren't grad transfers, but they can help at the margins as gap fillers.  For example, Amherst had a massive hole at the 5 and the center they are bringing in from F&M will give them a guy who makes them competitive at that position. 

Amherst has Ryan Hempfling who had plenty of d1 interest.  I'm surprised he didn't play much last year, and seemingly is not getting starters minutes this year. I don't begrudge anyone taking the opportunity to get an Amherst education, but he'd play 30+ minutes a game elsewhere.

[NYHoopsGuru]

Incoming freshman from Canterbury that was going to Trinity now going to URI. Losing a 6 10 athletic big never good,  but more of a hurt down the road than this year.

D3BBALL-

In what is supposed to be a stacked Trinity freshman class touted to replace the legendary '26 class, I thought Dash Mabilon had the most potential and was certainly going to be my preseason pick for ROY and even possibly an all conference team. Clearly Coach Archie Miller and staff at Rhode Island see a lot of potential taking a freshman this late in the offseason, after a whole summer of practices. That conversation with Coach Cosgrove could not have been an easy one, but only time will tell if the bantams will be able to make up for this loss and continue the winning pedigree that we are all so used to by now.

-Guru

[nescac1]

stlawus, I too was surprised Hempfling got the fewest minutes of the Amherst FYs last year, despite playing a position of need for Amherst.  He did barely play behind two highly recruited D1 bigs in H.S. so perhaps needed a year to adjust. I imagine he will get an opportunity next year as even with the transfer, Amherst only has two real bigs on the projected roster.  With only three boards in 36 minutes I imagine to get PT he will need to play more physically.  And physicality is the strong suit of the F&M transfer, as opposed to Hempfling, who seems to have more outside game. 

[stlawus]

Incoming freshman from Canterbury that was going to Trinity now going to URI. Losing a 6 10 athletic big never good,  but more of a hurt down the road than this year.

D3BBALL-

In what is supposed to be a stacked Trinity freshman class touted to replace the legendary '26 class, I thought Dash Mabilon had the most potential and was certainly going to be my preseason pick for ROY and even possibly an all conference team. Clearly Coach Archie Miller and staff at Rhode Island see a lot of potential taking a freshman this late in the offseason, after a whole summer of practices. That conversation with Coach Cosgrove could not have been an easy one, but only time will tell if the bantams will be able to make up for this loss and continue the winning pedigree that we are all so used to by now.

-Guru

Everyone was courting him, he most definitely would have made an instant impact in my opinion. UAA, NESCACs, several Liberty League teams and plenty of d1's were after him. He's not actually 6'10", but he's still all of 6'8". He has lots of range though and is very good beyond the arc. I wasn't surprised he chose Trinity given that he'd probably get immediate playing time with his skill set being unicorn like for d3.  Probably going to see fewer and fewer of these players go d3 now (if they don't have the academics for schools like Tufts/Williams/Amherst). 

[SpringSt7]

I was surprised Ryan Hempfling looked at how things have gone for bigs at Amherst and how things have gone for bigs at Williams and decided to go be a big at Amherst.

[D3BBALL]

Incoming freshman from Canterbury that was going to Trinity now going to URI. Losing a 6 10 athletic big never good,  but more of a hurt down the road than this year.

D3BBALL-

In what is supposed to be a stacked Trinity freshman class touted to replace the legendary '26 class, I thought Dash Mabilon had the most potential and was certainly going to be my preseason pick for ROY and even possibly an all conference team. Clearly Coach Archie Miller and staff at Rhode Island see a lot of potential taking a freshman this late in the offseason, after a whole summer of practices. That conversation with Coach Cosgrove could not have been an easy one, but only time will tell if the bantams will be able to make up for this loss and continue the winning pedigree that we are all so used to by now.

-Guru

Everyone was courting him, he most definitely would have made an instant impact in my opinion. UAA, NESCACs, several Liberty League teams and plenty of d1's were after him. He's not actually 6'10", but he's still all of 6'8". He has lots of range though and is very good beyond the arc. I wasn't surprised he chose Trinity given that he'd probably get immediate playing time with his skill set being unicorn like for d3.  Probably going to see fewer and fewer of these players go d3 now (if they don't have the academics for schools like Tufts/Williams/Amherst). 

He could quite have been the roy or a big part of the team or maybe a part time player or just garbage time, we will never know. But at 6'8 or bigger means he was going to play the 4 or 5 imo, and they have Davis and Norris and then they have Holmes and Freisthler, who I believe both would have played last year for pretty much every other NESCAC team except tufts, maybe not a ton of minutes but played some meaningful minutes. I have not watched him a lot and just not sure he can play the 3, sounds like you have seen him shoot beyond the arc. I have heard mixed thoughts on his 3 point shooting and even his high lights from this past season has limited 3 point shots. And with Coz he better had wanted to play defense and play it hard. It's surprising that he didn't choose a D1 team earlier. Might just be a sleeper who ends being a steal for uri. Trinity's biggest need this year are wings that can score, that being said maybe he would ended up starting for them.

[SpringSt7]

Alright everybody relax. Rookie of the year? All-Conference as a freshman? Come on. He would've played 12 minutes a game behind some combination of Davis and Norris. The NEPSAC is pretty well covered and I don't remember hearing a whole lot about this kid anywhere during the winter and really all that much since the discussions regarding the incoming classes have begun. Most discussions about Trinity's stud recruits have revolved around the wings. I get that people want to raise red flags and alarm bells about the team that has been on top of the league for so long but this does not fit that bill. URI needed an extra body for super cheap and found one. This kid was like Trinity's 4th recruit. And he's definitely not 6'10

[NYHoopsGuru]

D3BBall-

Correct, his 6'10 listing is definitely overstated, but that's not to say he doesn't play well above the rim. For example, Davis is listed at 6'6, but really more like 6'5. A great example of someone who is not as tall as listed but still plays above the rim. Though Dash's outside shooting isn't that of Norris, his offensive game is already far more developed than Davis. Needless to say, that trio of bigs would give NESCAC frontcourts some real problems from many different angles. I don't believe Holmes and Freisthler will be much of a threat regardless, simply because they are too slow or not skilled enough. 

Spring-

Being 6'8, or whatever he is, there is such a thing as being a late bloomer (especially in the low D1 / high D3 world). Over the course of the summer, Dash has played alongside many division 1 level players (including big men) and out played them. He has played in NYvsNY (NYC tournament full of high major D1 players) and even won game MVP. Many of the other NESCAC rookies from the area didn't even get invited, and even less so would they win player of the game. Regardless, this is all hypothetical, so we will see how this all plays out.

-Guru

[nescac1]

For all the talk of who isn't showing up to Trinity, I'm more curious about who is ... of the five well-regarded wings Trinity is bringing in, who is expected to make the biggest impact?  What other NESCAC FYs are worth keep in an eye on? 

[D3BBALL]

For all the talk of who isn't showing up to Trinity, I'm more curious about who is ... of the five well-regarded wings Trinity is bringing in, who is expected to make the biggest impact?  What other NESCAC FYs are worth keep in an eye on? 

My guess is that it is pretty wide open. First Cosgrove doesn't usually play a lot of freshmen. He played 4 four years ago. Vetter, Okorougo and McDonald all played a lot, Lazarre played some but there were just too many guards in front of him. The year before 21-22 season he played Dorion and McEachern with Dorion a starter. While Dorion was considered a freshman, he lost a year between his senior year of high and the 21-22 season, if no Covid he would have been a sophomore. 3 Years ago, only Berry played, Davis (who some thought would be in running for ROY) played very little meaningful minutes, although he was fantastic against Calvin in the elite game, but he played in that game because Okpoebo was injured. 2 years ago, Ayles was the only freshman to play, this past year no freshman played.
Trinity has 4 players that will be sophomores or juniors in Closeil, Holmes, Steward and Freisthler that have a shot at 1 of those 5 positions available. 0f the 7 freshmen/transfer coming in, I would say that Spinoso, Brown, Sonkoua, O'Leary and Jones have the best chance to play a lot, Introzzi and Echevarria may have to wait a year.
But as someone said, my guess is that not all stick around. In the last 3-5 years, 7-8 players have left the team or transferred, just like many teams.
Cosgrove will play more than 10 during the non-conference and see who he thinks can play in the conference games. My picks on the freshmen/transfer are Sonkoua, Spinos and Brown will play along with either Holmes or Freisthler in 4 of the open spots, with 1 other spot up for grabs. And by conference play I think there is a chance that a freshman starts which hasn't happened in a while, Okorougo and McDonald are the last freshmen to start any games for Cosgrove, but this year it could happen again.

[D3BBALL]

D3BBall-

Correct, his 6'10 listing is definitely overstated, but that's not to say he doesn't play well above the rim. For example, Davis is listed at 6'6, but really more like 6'5. A great example of someone who is not as tall as listed but still plays above the rim. Though Dash's outside shooting isn't that of Norris, his offensive game is already far more developed than Davis. Needless to say, that trio of bigs would give NESCAC frontcourts some real problems from many different angles. I don't believe Holmes and Freisthler will be much of a threat regardless, simply because they are too slow or not skilled enough. 

Spring-

Being 6'8, or whatever he is, there is such a thing as being a late bloomer (especially in the low D1 / high D3 world). Over the course of the summer, Dash has played alongside many division 1 level players (including big men) and out played them. He has played in NYvsNY (NYC tournament full of high major D1 players) and even won game MVP. Many of the other NESCAC rookies from the area didn't even get invited, and even less so would they win player of the game. Regardless, this is all hypothetical, so we will see how this all plays out.

-Guru

Either Holmes or Freisthler are going to play, maybe both now that Mabilon is not coming in. They don't have any other bigs, and with the exception of Sonkoua, not sure any of the new players can defend at the 5. And remember T Davis barely played as a freshman, so there is just no guarantee. And IMO Freisthler is a better outside shooter than Norris, with Norris the more athletic, stronger and better defensive player. Holmes reminds me a lot of T Davis, maybe not on the same talent level, either of these 2 would have played meaningful minutes on most of the NESCAC teams last year.

I agree with Spring, we all have a tendency to over value players. 2 years ago, some thought Will Davis was going to play as a freshman, he barely played meaningful minutes and left the team after thanksgiving. He now plays at D2 AIC and played ok this year. That being said Trinity won the NCAA without him and losing another big at the same time. So not sure it would have been automatic that Mabilon cracked the lineup this upcoming year, and if he did, agree with Spring, most likely a 10–15-minute player a game.

[Bucket]

For all the talk of who isn't showing up to Trinity, I'm more curious about who is ... of the five well-regarded wings Trinity is bringing in, who is expected to make the biggest impact?  What other NESCAC FYs are worth keep in an eye on? 

I'm a homer, obviously, but it will be worth keeping a keen eye on Pharoahe Dixon.