MBB: Liberty League

[stlawus]

Tristan Wennersten is in the portal for Ithaca.  They've kept a lot of 5th years recently so I thought there would have been a good chance of him staying, but he's getting D1/D2 interest.  The main drawback with the 5th year players at the D3 level is missing on recruiting cycles.  Ithaca had a ton of 5th years in 2022-2023 and I think that played a big role in their below .500 year this past season.  They had a lot of first years and upperclassmen who did not get a ton of playing time being behind the 5th years which clearly affected their results down the stretch.   

RPI is one of the best suited for getting/retaining 5th years given their grad programs but Gilbride has struck the balance to set them up for long term success.  They could have brought back a ton more 5th years than they have over the past 3 seasons, but they mainly kept 1 high impact 5th year each year which has led to them hitting on 4 year recruits that they otherwise might have missed out on.

Have not seen anyone else of note in the portal.  Every day I expect to see Adam Dudzinski in the portal given his incredible season and original D1 interest coming out of HS, but so far it seems he's committed to SLU for the long haul.  The Saints can do some serious damage next season if everything falls into place.

[stlawus]

Big blow for Skidmore with Charlie Fantom in the portal.  Before his injury he was on pace for a ROY season.  Was averaging 16 PPG. Has a lot of range along with good size and length for a point guard at any level. 

[stlawus]

Took a look to see if there has been any recruiting news in the last month or so.  One that stands out is Tyson Repa's commitment to Union.  He was NY first team all state in Class A this year.  A is obviously not AA and AAA but still a solid pedigree and good get for the Garnet. Byram Hills is a solid program and has produced some great Liberty League players. Union still remains a complete wild card in my view.

One thing that's stood out so far is SLU dropping Potsdam from the schedule.  First time since at least the 60's that SLU and Potsdam will not play each other.  This is clearly an SOS influenced decision, as even with the away multiplier that game put a dent in SLU's numbers last year. The full schedule has not been released, so I'm interested to see what kind of slate gets crafted for the upcoming season. Downs said in the post season recap that the team has a lot to prove to themselves next year, which would be the expectation with all of the returning players.   Big summer ahead with a good amount of the roster playing in the Salt City Pro Am league. That paid dividends last season for team chemistry.

[Jersey42]

Tristan Wennersten is in the portal for Ithaca.  They've kept a lot of 5th years recently so I thought there would have been a good chance of him staying, but he's getting D1/D2 interest.

I recently read that he is going to D1 NJIT. 

I also saw a while ago that there was at least some "interest" from a bunch of D1 programs: Binghamton, Delaware, Elon, Iona, Liberty, Maine, Marshall, Mount St. Mary's, South Alabama, Southern Indiana and UNC Wilmington.  I have no other information.  It all came from posts on "X".

[stlawus]

Yea he's confirmed heading to NJIT.  Ithaca has held onto 5th years the past few seasons, but I think that actually hurt them this year in terms of recruiting.  Losing him really hurts next season but might be beneficial in the long run. 

[cmack]

Ithaca has a transfer big coming which is a huge get. They should be back up there at the top of the league this year.

[stlawus]

A 6'9" d2 transfer with a decent amount of experience in his first year will certainly not hurt things.  Ithaca will need to revamp their team defense to be back up at the top of the league though.

[cmack]

Agree, my guess he is an all league player next year

[stlawus]

Agree, my guess he is an all league player next year

For Ithaca's sake that would be optimal obviously. Lots of good bigs in the league right now though. Cowan, Cork, Meshanic, Cummings etc.  With that size though likely comes some more defense which can give you the upper hand in all league selections.  I will definitely be intrigued with him matching up with Cowan, a true battle of the bigs.   

[Greek Tragedy]

We're at the tail end of a fantasy league draft involving All-Region and All-American players and who we think will make the teams next season. It's interesting to see that the Liberty League POTY, Jonny Angbazo, didn't make any of the D3 hoops All-Region teams, while Ryan Miles-Ferguson (1st), Logan Wendall (2nd team), Adam Dudzinski and Pat Healy, Jr. (both 3rd team) all made it.

[stlawus]

We're at the tail end of a fantasy league draft involving All-Region and All-American players and who we think will make the teams next season. It's interesting to see that the Liberty League POTY, Jonny Angbazo, didn't make any of the D3 hoops All-Region teams, while Ryan Miles-Ferguson (1st), Logan Wendall (2nd team), Adam Dudzinski and Pat Healy, Jr. (both 3rd team) all made it.

I was pretty surprised he got POY.  He was a great player and RPI's engine, but I thought for sure Ryan Miles-Ferguson would get the award given he was a 20+ ppg scorer and excellent 3 point shooter.  Angbazo offered a ton on the defensive side though, so that might have been why he got it in the end.

D3hoops.com awards rarely make sense anyways.

[Pat Coleman]

We're at the tail end of a fantasy league draft involving All-Region and All-American players and who we think will make the teams next season. It's interesting to see that the Liberty League POTY, Jonny Angbazo, didn't make any of the D3 hoops All-Region teams, while Ryan Miles-Ferguson (1st), Logan Wendall (2nd team), Adam Dudzinski and Pat Healy, Jr. (both 3rd team) all made it.

He probably would have gotten more votes if he had been nominated.

I was pretty surprised he got POY.  He was a great player and RPI's engine, but I thought for sure Ryan Miles-Ferguson would get the award given he was a 20+ ppg scorer and excellent 3 point shooter.  Angbazo offered a ton on the defensive side though, so that might have been why he got it in the end.

D3hoops.com awards rarely make sense anyways.

Region 3 SIDs are not very good at informing D3hoops.com about their basketball teams, unfortunately.

[Jersey42]

Now that RPI has posted their schedule, I believe these are the out of conference games for each team.  Ithaca plays four NCAA tournament teams **. Unless I missed some, all the others have zero or one.  Let me know if I made any mistakes.

Bard
Sarah Lawrence (@ Sarah Lawrence Tournament)
Washington College (@ Sarah Lawrence Tournament)
@ Sage
@ Mount St. Mary (Hudson Valley Tournament)
SUNY New Paltz** (Hudson Valley Tournament)
Hartwick
@ Merchant Marine

Clarkson             
Washington and Jefferson (@ Oberlin Tournament)
Oberlin or Lawrence (@ Oberlin Tournament)
@ SUNY Canton                               
@ NVU Lyndon               
SUNY Poly         
SUNY Potsdam                 
@ Alfred State 

Hobart
@ York (Pa.)                     
St. John Fisher                 
Keuka (Hobart Tournament)
Penn State Behrend or Buffalo State (Hobart Tournament)
Rochester                         
@ Utica**
@ SUNY-Maritime

Ithaca
Rowan** (@ NYU Tournament)
Babson** (@ NYU Tournament)
Cortland             
@ Utica **
@ Rochester     
Hamilton                             
Carnegie Mellon **

RIT
Fitchburg State (RIT Tournament)
Utica** or Lehman (RIT Tournament)
@ Rochester (@ Rochester Tournament)
Nazareth (@ Rochester Tournament)
St. John Fisher
@ Brockport
@ Geneseo

RPI
Cortland (@ Nazareth Tournament)
Nazareth or SUNY Potsdam (@ Nazareth Tournament)
Castleton
SUNY Cobleskill
SUNY Delhi
SUNY Canton (@ St John Fisher Tournament)
St John Fisher (@ St John Fisher Tournament)

Skidmore
@ Plattsburgh State       
Regis (Mass.)   
Alfred State       
SUNY Potsdam                 
Hartwick
@ Occidental College
@ Pomona-Pitzer

St. Lawrence
Oswego State**
Clarkson
@ Plattsburgh State
@ SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Poly
@ Nichols
@ Clark

Union
SUNY Cobleskill
Sarah Lawrence               
@ St. John Fisher           
NVU Lyndon (Union Tournament)
Colby or Plattsburgh State (Union Tournament)
LaGrange (@ Emory Tournament)
Emory (@Emory Tournament)

Vassar
Ohio Northern (@ Gettysburg Tournament)
Gettysburg or Arcadia (@ Gettysburg Tournament)
@ Sarah Lawrence
New Paltz** (Hudson Valley Tournament)
Mount Saint Mary (NY) (@ Bard - Hudson Valley Tournament)
Middlebury College (@ Middlebury Tournament)
Cortland or Saint Joseph's (ME) (@ Middlebury Tournament)

[stlawus]

Top 3 teams should be SLU, Hobart and RPI in any order.  RPI is getting Eugster back for a grad year which should help them, though Angbazo graduated.    I'd be disappointed if SLU wasn't top 2, but the league has cannibalized itself in recent years.  All the top 3 teams have clear strengths and weaknesses.  For Hobart their strength is rebounding, they've always been an elite rebounding team.  Weakness would probably be perimeter scoring, though they aren't terrible in that regard. SLU's strengths are elite defense (#1 rated adjusted team defense on D3 Datacast last season) and transition offense.  Weakness can be halfcourt offense.  RPI is also an elite defensive team with their packline defense, but have scoring woes which has reared its head the last 2 seasons.   

Other than that, this is a pretty wide open league.  Bard is bringing back most of last year's starters for a grad year so they could be a darkhorse for a top 4 spot, I will definitely be keeping an eye on them having all that experience.

[LLFan23]

Agree, my guess he is an all league player next year

For Ithaca's sake that would be optimal obviously. Lots of good bigs in the league right now though. Cowan, Cork, Meshanic, Cummings etc.  With that size though likely comes some more defense which can give you the upper hand in all league selections.  I will definitely be intrigued with him matching up with Cowan, a true battle of the bigs. 

Meshanic is the only lock for all league on that list, Cowan is a good candidate because of the value he provides as a defensive anchor but his offensive contributions have never been flashy in the SLU offense.
Cummings was losing his role to the collection of other competent bigs at Union.
Cork may put up better counting stats this year in Fergusons absence but he is not an all league level player.