I agree with you nescac1. i should have included them in the 5-9 range where it's hard to project just where any of those teams will fall. My tentativeness with the mammoths may also be biased by the recent success of young bigs across the nescac. For the last couple of years we've been spoiled with young bigs coming in and being dominant right away (I.e. Rogers, Karen, etc.). While Amherst's young bigs have had their share of good games, I'm just not sure who takes the jump this year, especially given the rotations Sears ran last year. Felt like every big fella got decent minutes but enough to dominate. I agree with you Amherst certainly has top 3 size in the Nescac but let's not conflate size with skill. All in all a very interesting season ahead for the whole league.

Way too early prediction of NESCAC Final standings:

1. Williams - too much continuity year to year to see any real fall off. Williams remains loaded with size and skill thag I'm not sure any other team can match.
2. Middlebury - talented core stays intact minus Sobel. Think Sam has a bounce back year and underclassmen bigs seem ready to go.
3. Trinity - really like the core group of guys Trinity has and freshman class looks very good. BCG set for a massive year .
4. Hamilton - lost a number of senior players this year. Wouldn't be surprised if they finish even higher behind Singh & co.
5. Tufts - Tufts keeps a number of important pieces but loses big pieces in Aronson and Thoerner. Really could've put team 5-8 in any order. Not sure how it'll play out with these 4 teams.
6. Bowdoin - Think the polar bears make a big jump year 3 under Lloyd. As mentioned in other posts, the team success is dependent on a healthy McGowan but have brought in a talented frosh class.
7. Wesleyan - Wes is the big question mark for me. Had a really successful year last year and are very well coached but I just don't have a sense for who replaces maccoux, ravetz, etc.
8. Conn - While conn didn't lose a lot this off-season, the camels remain on the smaller side and haven't seen too many underclassmen ready to contribute
9. Amherst - still not sure what to make of the mammoths recruiting strategy. Really tall bugs and short guards. Won't be shocked to see them surprise people but I'll have to see it to believe it .
10. Colby - Another roster that lost a lot of seniors this year. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out for them
11. Bates - Baxterless bates seems like they may be in for a tough year

To echo nescac31hoops, I expect the polar bears to be in rare form next year. The size and length of the young bears in Brunswick is nothing to overlook. Couple that with the fact that well placed moles in Brunswick, Maine are telling me that McGowan has only gotten better since his foot injury last season... could be scary for opposing teams to enter the igloo next season