Top 25 talk

[Titan Q]

My conversation with UST's Johnny Tauer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbhACpxSZ3o&feature=emb_logo

0:00 Mixed Emotions
2:15 His journey at St. Thomas
4:02 Incredible MBB success at St. Thomas
8:05 No more brackets of death
10:00 Getting kicked out of the MIAC
16:15 Leaving something (D3) that has meant a lot
19:35 Moving to D1/The Summit League
22:45 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons (COVID)
27:48 Logistic of moving from D3 to D1 (scholarships, etc)
33:38 Returning players in 2021-22
39:10 Adjusting mindset from dominant program to building program
41:37 Mike Maker (Assistant Coach)
46:08 Chancey's battle w/ cancer
48:34 New addition to the family on the way
51:20 Jack going D3
57:26 What will he miss about D3?
1:00:27 Final thoughts

[PoppersMacsLive]

Anthony is returning. If Leifer returns, Yeshiva is a sure-thing top 4 pre-season team. IWU, RMC, and Trine are the other teams in that group of 4 which appears to rise above the rest on paper. Not sure which Emory seniors are staying for a 5th year. Tufts, WashU (Nolan returns, not sure about Webb), St. Joseph CT (if Powell returns), Wheaton, and UWO (if Meunch returns) all have the potential to be top-5, certainly top 10.

So based on what we know or can reasonably speculate on, who are the top contenders for pre-season top 10 accolades?  It's of course still incredibly hard to figure out with limited information, but based on what I've seen on and off these boards ...

Randolph Macon (is Anthony returning, that's a big question I guess?), Yeshiva, Swarthmore, Emory, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, IWU, Tufts, Marietta, Wheaton (IL), and Trine seem like the best bets.  I'm sure I'm missing a few.

[nescac1]

Others have reported on these boards that Emory's key guys are back for a 5th year (or at least most of them).  So they should be loaded.  The UAA is gonna be really, really tough next year - it has a big advantage with every school having top-tier graduate programs, which makes a fifth year a much better option than conferences comprised of, say, liberal arts schools.  Indeed, in addition to Nolan and the Emory guys, Brandeis, Case Western, and Rochester all landed important graduate transfers.  Rochester may not be a top 5 contender, but they are certainly a team to watch ... they hung with Yeshiva last year and return all but one player, led by all-American Ryan Algier, and add Dan Masino, an all-Liberty League player. 

I think Swarthmore has to be included in any list of potential pre-season top five teams.  Based on their roster this year (only ONE guy listed) everyone is taking a gap year.  That means they return their top three scorers (including the D3 national ROY), and all but two rotation players, from the squad that was the top team in the country for most of the 2020 season.  Yes, they lose two great big guys, but they had some frosh big guys on the 2020 roster who should be ready to step in right away, and they bring in two highly ranked recruits from New England next year, one of whom is a big guy who could help early on.  Kosmalski always makes the most of his talent, and each year, seems to be able to bring in more and more talented recruits.  To me, Swarthmore, RMC, Yeshiva, IWU and Emory look like a pretty rock-solid top five, with maybe Emory getting bumped for someone like Trine, UWO, or Tufts.  But those first four squads in particular look loaded. 


Next year's top ten just looks ridiculously stacked over all.  Of the ten guys on the first and second team all-American squads, I think 8-9 are returning.  Plus throw in sure-fire all-Americans like Luke Rogers from Tufts and Nolan from Wash U. (among others) who didn't play at all last year.  It's just gonna be a crazy stacked year in D3. 

[PoppersMacsLive]

I didn't know Rochester was bringing in Masino. That's a nice add. They should be borderline top-10. I'm not as high as you are on Swat yet--unless they bring in a stud forward transfer, they will offensively be quite a different team, a much smaller team, than 2019-20, which could take some time to come together. I don't believe they had practices last year, which also could hurt them when it comes to taking time to gel. I need to see them play a little before considering them as a top-5 team. Lastly, they won't land in anyone's top-10 to start the year, but Penn-State Harrisburg could certainly make their way into it. That team is stacked.

[Titan Q]

My conversation with Ryan Whitnable...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDUCCvTVgPk&t=161s

0:00 Why D3 & Fit
6:50 Ryan's D3 story
8:32 Marietta MBB Program; Jon VanderWal era
14:38 2019 Elite 8 game
19:27 This Week in Great Lakes Basketball podcast
23:57 Importance of support from your spouse
25:34 Great Lakes Invitational tournament
32:38 Approaching the pandemic from a media perspective
35:45 Cancellation of the Division III Tournament
38:25 Finding common ground; driving conversation to find solutions
41:15 Voting in the D3hoops.com Top 25
49:23 2021-22 season expectations
53:05 Thoughts on Yeshiva
55:18 OAC vs NCAC
58:19 Hope & Calvin
1:01:13 Final thoughts

[nescac1]

Regarding Swarthmore, I think Kosmalski is the best coach in D3 and he's been able to win a ton with less talent than he will have on hand next year.  Whenever he loses a key guy to graduation, someone is ready to step in right away.  And he's been able to attract more talent as the profile of the program had grown.  Plus, 8 of the top 10 guys back, including the ROY, with two years of recruits added (including this year, two top-60 New England guys) is nothing to sneeze at! 

His last three years:

25-6, elite 8
29-4, national title game
28-1, number one wire-to-wire

That's a pretty scary trend line. 

I think so long as Swarthmore has the majority of its key guys back, and it seems that it will, it has to be no worse than number 3 to start the year and it's probably a toss-up with RMC for number one. 

[PoppersMacsLive]

Does anyone know if Delaney or Kern are going to stay a 5th year at Hopkins? That's a team that was top-5 good on paper if they would have played last year, and they brought in a scary good recruiting class last year too.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Does anyone know if Delaney or Kern are going to stay a 5th year at Hopkins? That's a team that was top-5 good on paper if they would have played last year, and they brought in a scary good recruiting class last year too.

Delaney is expected back. Kern is walking on as a grad transfer at Minnesota.

[PoppersMacsLive]

So then as of now, the list we have is

Teams which will almost definitely be Top 10 to start the season: RMC, IWU, Yeshiva, Swarthmore, Emory, Trine
Teams in Top 10 consideration to start the season: Tufts, Hopkins, Rochester, Saint Joseph CT, Oshkosh, Wheaton, Marietta, WashU
Teams which should be surefire Top 25 to start the season: WPI, Penn State-Harrisburg

That's 16.

[nescac1]

That looks pretty rock solid to me, PoppersMacLive.

The only team I can think to add to the "surefire top 25" category is Mary Hardin-Baylor, which returns a first-team all-American, and adds several scholarship-level transfers, including a highly-regarded D1 transfer. 

[tomt4525]

UW-Lacrosse and UW-Platteville are top 25 teams for next season.

[Titan Q]

That looks pretty rock solid to me, PoppersMacLive.

The only team I can think to add to the "surefire top 25" category is Mary Hardin-Baylor, which returns a first-team all-American, and adds several scholarship-level transfers, including a highly-regarded D1 transfer.

UMHB should be great...agree.

[Titan Q]

UW-Lacrosse and UW-Platteville are top 25 teams for next season.

Without question.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's very difficult to make the kinds of lists early.  I'd also want to guard against group think. It's very easy for familiarity to become consensus. Given the last 18 months, I'd say this is the most difficult season to predict we've probably ever had. I hope our preseason poll has 45 or 50 teams named. If we've got more than 10 teams on every single ballot, I'll worry about the diversity of the voting pool.

[WUPHF]

Teams in Top 10 consideration to start the season: Tufts, Hopkins, Rochester, Saint Joseph CT, Oshkosh, Wheaton, Marietta, WashU

I think Rochester will be good given who is returning and incoming and I liked the look of the back-up point guard for Rochester, but I'll stake my d3boards.com reputation on Brandeis finishing higher in the UAA.  It will be a tight race either way.

But Rochester did play last season so they may get the benefit of the doubt.